What I Did This Weekend, or, Productivity, Thy Name is Me

The above picture is for Robert Norman, who wondered in a comment how I could manage to stop and take pictures while cooking. This is just a glimpse of the mess that explodes in my kitchen when I attempt to make something. I wouldn't want him (or any of you) to think that I am not completely in a tizzy, and barely able to form full sentences while cooking and taking pictures of cooking. Perhaps you missed the post last week when I talked about throwing things in a crock pot while running around in my bathrobe, hair a mess and fully talking to myself like the crazy lady who hangs out by the McDonalds on 40th & &7th Ave. Make no mistake, I am no domestic goddess. And if there are pictures of my cooking adventures, it probably is at the expense of the meal I'm trying to make.

There, I feel better. Good to have that out in the open. Moving on...

We did a ton this weekend. And I enjoyed it all. There was cooking, bike rides, movies, walks, cleaning & organizing and good discussions. Let me give you the blow by blow.

FRIDAY NIGHT
I went grocery shopping after work and lugged home food to make for the weekend. But was too tired to cook so we ordered fajitas from our favorite Mexican place in our neighborhood. Best salsa in 3 counties. (I just made that up, but feel that it is true.)

SATURDAY
First there was breakfast. Most important meal of the day. Coffee for me, OJ & iced tea for Geoff. And I made him this.


And opted for a tomato & Parmesan reggiano omelet for myself.


After breakfast we had a long chat on the couch...business ideas & planning and a little business related internet research. Then we retired to The Cabana. Which is what I call our bedroom. It's always so sunny in there because of our corner of windows. So we chatted some more and enjoyed all the sunshine and then I threw some things in the crock pot to make Ginger Beef Stew.



While the crock pot did its work, we walked over to the movie theatre to see The Blind Side. It's such a great story, but we felt like the film fell just shy of what it could have been. I still basically enjoyed it though.

We came home to a pretty decent ginger beef stew. I would link the recipe except I can't for the life of me remember where I found it. (And apparently it doesn't hold up well a couple days later, as Geoff said today that it was starting to remind him of cat food. So. Not the highest of recommendations. And sorry for the gross mental picture I just gave you.) Once again our grocery store didn't have the kind of beef the recipe required, and I think that ultimately that was the problem, but it was still fairly decent the day we made it. Served over brown rice with steamed broccoli...


We attempted to watch a Jane Austen movie, (Pursuasion) but it put Geoff to sleep pretty quickly, so even though I maintain that he started falling asleep just when things were starting to happen, we gave up trying and just went to bed, as we are old and lame. Maybe we'll try again sometime...

SUNDAY
After breakfast, and some Real Simple reading for me, I got a little fussy. Sometimes I do and don't know why. Yes, I know what you're thinking...very similar to a toddler. But Geoff calmed me down and we set out for the rest of the day.

There was bike riding. And for the most part, I confined myself to only taking pictures without looking through the viewfinder.....just aiming the camera in the general direction of things as it hung over my shoulder & around my neck. Got some interesting things actually....

The church a few blocks from our house


This guy I liked a lot


I know it seems like we live in the middle of an industrial park, but we don't. We just have created a bike route for ourselves through one. Not a ton of traffic that way...


We ended up back in Long Island City. Where there was lunch. And Sangria.


The wall by our table. I just liked it.


My camera's view as it hung from my neck while I was riding


Anyone need an apartment? A computer? A new church...?


I'm obsessed with these big barn doors. If I ever take headshots or album cover shots or any kind of shots, I'm going there. I love them.


Heading up one of the hills on the way home


And let me share with you a little tip I learned this weekend...biking up hill Post-Sangria is not the easiest or most advisable way to do it. Just in cast you thought it was...

Then it was back home where I organized The 4th Wall in my living room, which has been an eyesore for ages. It's one of those places that just really accumulates things. And the furniture doesn't match the rest of the room. But that's another post entirely...more on that later. I organized it a bit though and that at least felt like progress.

We had a slight casualty when Geoff was working with some steel wool and sliced his finger right open. Definitely sprayed blood on the walls, but that came right off, no problem, so once he was appropriately bandaged, we moved along to the fun stuff, and might I add, the most important element of any cooking scenario...


Clearly. And while he nursed his wound, I started on dinner.


I made Beef and Bean Chili Verde.


Really easy and REALLY good. Wish I'd made more of it to last us through the week with leftovers. It was YUM.


Also, let me just apologize for the very cooking-focused blogging that has been happening recently. I would like to think that I do and think about other things as well, but....this has been what I've been up to. So.... there you have it. But there will be other non-food related things to come. Hang in there.

Oh, PS.....there was one thing that I didn't make, but wanted to:


Chunks of banana rolled in cocoa powder and then in coconut. Relatively healthy, especially if you get real cocoa instead of this chocolate + cocoa combo that's bound to be a bit sweeter. And they didn't have unsweetened coconut (ah, teeny NYC grocery stores), so I had to get the sweetened kind. A fun idea though. I'll let you know how it is....