The Friday List (nice things you did for yourself this week)
I grew up in the desert Southwest, which means I can pretty much have beans and salsa every day of the week if I want. And sometimes I do want. It’s as much a part of my childhood as peanut butter and jelly. And these past couple of months, since I’ve recommitted to vegetarianism and almost, to veganism (let’s not quibble over farm-fresh eggs and husband-caught mountain trout right now), I’ve been relying on my old standby, bean burros, for some of my daily protein.
But last night, as a special treat to myself–and inspired by Barbara Kingsolver’s new book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle–for the first time in my life I made my own refried beans. Oh, my gosh, what a difference! Chopped onions, chopped garlic, some of the fresh chilis I bought at the local farmers market yesterday afternoon, a can of pinto beans (yeah, sorry, I didn’t cook those myself, although I might next time), some chili powder and cumin–and YUM! You saute, mix, and mash, and it’s about a hundred times better than any canned refried beans I’ve learned to love. Throw it on top of a soft, fresh, locally-made tortilla, chop some tomatoes from the farmers market–perfection. And real food. I realize what I’ve been missing lately during my 2-year passive-aggressive, undeclared cooking strike.
So there are two of my nice things this week: actually going to the farmers market the way I said I would after listening to the Kingsolver book, and cooking something new and adventurous not just once, but three times this week (also veggie fritatta and orzo with zucchini–recipes on the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle site). And guess what? My husband was so taken with the Kingsolver/Hopp family’s idea of making Friday homemade pizza night, he’s actually going to help me decorate it with ingredients of his choice tonight, so long as I get the dough rising before he gets home. It’s like a date!
Enough with me and my food. What sweet things did all of you do for yourselves this week?
Technorati Tags: The Friday List, Pampering, Self-Kindness, Simplification, Home Cooking (Again), Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Vegetable Miracle, Refried Beans From Scratch
August 17th, 2007 at 7:19 am
Robin,
I’ve decided that you and your husband live the life of those romantic Lifetime movies I only sneak in once in a while. I mean, really. Husband caught mountain trout. Awesome hiking adventures in your underwear. I think I may need to move the family out to the Southwest to see if this idyllic adventure sneaks into our lives.
There’s nothing like homemade food. I’ve got focaccia bread dough rising and spaghetti sauce simmering away right now.
As for good things: My kids were at a half day camp this week, and I had 2 1/2 hours of me time all week long. The best thing I’ve done for myself all summer.
August 17th, 2007 at 7:41 am
Mmmm, Vivian, focaccia bread and spaghetti. Can I come over? And that strategy of making the kids think you signed them up for camp for their sakes–brilliant!
As for the romantic life of freezing cold river crossings in our underwear, yeah, I realize many people wish they could give up fully-clothed civilization for a day like that. Don’t forget the dead deer and the attack ants. But I’ll admit that eating trout so fresh it curls in the pan is pretty sweet. As is hiking so long and hard all day you pass out at 8:00 next to the dog who’s been sleeping since we took his pack off at 6:00. That really is the good life for some of us who don’t mind how filthy our hands look after a few days.
August 17th, 2007 at 7:59 am
Taking my mom up on the offer to play with the girls while I got some work done . . . (I’m awful about accepting help. And it was my own mom. Yeesh, I’m pathetic).
I really am going to buy that Kingsolver book for my husband’s birthday.
Jules, who also needs to re-commit herself to vegetarianism (I’ve slipped a bit).
August 17th, 2007 at 8:05 am
I don’t know if I could ever go vegan, but I wish I were a vegetarian. Except for fish. (Don’t ask me to give up my sushi. Can’t do it.) I think I could live without most meats. But alas, I live in Texas and am married to a manly meat eater that loves to grill.
Nice for me this week? I purchased non meat italian sausages and portabello garden burger patties. The dogs were much better than the 98% fat free turkey dogs I’ve been eating on my diet. More calories, but so much better.
August 17th, 2007 at 8:11 am
This post is making me sooooo hungry (2 more hours to lunch).
I had TWO chocolate-cherry milkshakes this week!
And I just discovered that there is a Steve and Barry’s like 20 minutes from my apartment, so I think I’m going dress shopping tonight!!!!! (My girlfriend started planning her wedding on Monday, sent out the Evites on Wednesday, and the ceremony/reception is this Sunday!)
August 17th, 2007 at 8:20 am
I gave up beef almost by accident… I decided to eat less “cheap” beef (McDonald’s, etc.) primarily because cattle raising has such a bad impact on the environment. But then my chronic heartburn went away, and I got addicted to living without heartburn (who wouldn’t?). We were huge beef eaters — 5 times a week, minimum.
I don’t know if I could ever even go completely vegetarian, much less vegan, but I admire people who can stick with it!
Um, Friday List… I don’t know, I think I did a lot of low-grade nice-to-myself things this week.
August 17th, 2007 at 8:49 am
Food, food, food. Love it! I am all for high-quality and homemade food products. We’re an eat-together-every-night type of family too
Like Katie, I also have been kind to self in a low-grade way all week. After a year off, I’m back to teaching next week, so I have to prep up. I’ve been reading and listening to Paradise Lost, ’cause I’m teaching a first-year tutorial on Literature, Intertextuality and Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials.” Good news x 2. My 13 first-years seem to all be geniuses based on their profiles. Yay!! Also, I’m enjoying Paradise Lost immensely. I haven’t read it since I was a second-year English student in college (I became a Russian and History student shortly thereafter. I guess I was too young for Paradise Lost. Something to remember going into this class!)
Also “the news” has all been so scary and terrible lately, that I’ve tried to keep life low key and calm at home.
Sorry for blathering on!
August 17th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Mmm, lots of yummy food going on here. Robin, I’ve been a lacto-ovo vegetarian for - yikes! - 16 years, and I applaud you! Be strong, sister.
This week I finally got my library card in my new town, and treated myself to library books even though I’ve got a teetering pile of books-to-read-&-review sent to me by publishers and authors. The last few I read were okay, but I needed something really, really good.
Also, I made my favorite black bean salad with locally-grown tomatoes. Yum.
August 17th, 2007 at 11:23 am
This really happened last week, but since I didn’t post it last week and I’ve been out of town working all this week, I’m counting it for today. I had a milestone birthday and bought myself a new car! I wasn’t planning on buying myself a new car for my birthday, but my old car died and I had to, but I am positively reframing that into a nice present for myself.
After reading the healthy foods all of you have eaten this week, if I were to post my week’s food intake, the blog would go up in flames. To be fair to myself though, I was in a really small really rural town and the food choices were horribly limited-about the only green thing I could find was iceberg lettuce.
August 17th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
I am inspired!! Our book club turned down the Kingsolver book but I think I need to get it. the recipes on the site look yummy. I find that with just two in the house, lazy cooking takes over.
My nice things list:
Haircolor touch up.
An overnight trip to the coast with four members of my bookclub.
French pressed coffee.
Naps.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Jone
August 17th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
This should probably have counted for last week, but since there wasn’t a round-up last week and because it’s still a nice thing…
I took three weeks off from work for no real reason! It’s been a week work-free so far, and I have to say that I could get used to this. I’ve spent some of it on fun things - like pool trips with my daughters and hanging out with friends - but most of it has been turned over to digging out from some of the chaos. The actual cleaning isn’t fun, but it feels great to know I’m making progress.
I don’t go back to work until the Wed after Labor Day, and I’m not sure I’m going to be ready to return.
August 17th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Now that tomatoes are in season, I’ve been eating tomato sandwiches like crazy. That is a really good thing.
I also bought myself a new bag I’d been coveting for quite some time. Okay, and some pens. And a new pack of notebooks. HOW CAN ANYONE RESIST THE ALLURE OF BARGAIN-PRICED SCHOOL SUPPLIES EVERYWHERE SHE GOES???
Ahem. Yeah, so, I think I need to avoid retail establishments until the mortgage is paid.
August 17th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Robin, your tale of cooking for yourself reminds me now of my good meal from Wednesday. (I hope it’s non-vegetarian-ness doesn’t bother anyone — I’m a total carnivore these days.) I ended up cooking up bacon, crumbling up some co-jack cheese, and mixing both into hamburgers which I then cooked on the grill. The grill ended up a little cheesy but oh my god were those burgers great!
Other nice things I did for myself this week:
I found postcards and let myself spend too much money on them.
I took several long bubble-baths and read in the bath.
I ate a Dairy Queen sundae for supper last Sunday.
August 17th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
I am lusting after everyone’s nice things they did for themselves, especially the food! I must have a tomato sandwich this weekend.
My nice things: My kids are back in school (!!!!!!), so my life is almost back to normal. I exercised awesomely all week and I also got some good work done on my new book. I was stuck on a few things and instead of trying to write through it, I just went back to my craft books and perused them and let my mind work through some things. This morning, while driving my kids to school, I figured out exactly what I need to do. Woo Hoo!! So, nice thing = I trusted myself that I’d figure it out, and I did.
August 17th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Oh, Laura. Congratulations said with just a tiny bit of jealousy. I can’t wait until mine go back so I can get some writing done. I can blog. I can write syllabi. I can read student files. But write? No. That takes more than 5 minutes concentration.
5 more days…
August 17th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Oh, wow. Food fest going on! So I’d better get with the program and say that my nice thing this week was going to get Lebanese food with my daughter last night before I drove her to college today. And I drank green tea on the way home to keep myself awake, and listened to some guy talk about the “kitchen as the nerve center of the home” on Oprah’s satellite radio channel. He said it so many times that I wanted to go: DUH, DUDE! Everyone knows that!
August 17th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
I definitely need to do something to broaden my cooking horizons. But in the short term, I’m not taking on anything new until I start to feel more caught up.
I did, however, take a personal day this week. I spent it reading and talking to distant family members on the phone. It was very relaxing (except for that nagging urge to check email, and those nagging piles of unread books, and the nagging dirt in the house, and… OK, I tried relaxing, but wasn’t wholly successful). But I did read the new Gabrielle Zevin book, and a couple of old favorites.
August 17th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
i’m getting the kingsolver book (or, uh hum, borrowing a copy) and will see how far i get with it. i love to cook and love to poke around farmer’s markets looking for treats. (you can see i don’t have the x number of, in my case three, kids at home pandemonium anymore).
the best thing i did this week was put the skids on–no new business, restrict phone calls, take care of all my wonderfully patient clients–really felt good.
deborah, i love you bought a new car–i hope you upgraded with the best sound system available. that’s what i adore about my car, killer sound system–put my tunes in, and i’m good to go indefinitely, ahhh.
August 17th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Oh, you guys, what a wonderful feast you’ve conjured up here today! So many treats for the eyes and imagination. Thank you!
Deborah, wow on the new car!! Now that’s setting a good example for the rest of us!
Bravo to all of you who found (or made) the time this week to rest, be quiet, read, reconnect with family and friends. We can get so parched about the soul, don’t you think? I know I can go full-out for weeks, then suddenly wake up and realize I haven’t seen my friends all that time or taken time for the other simple pleasures like going to a weekend movie with my mom.
In other words, applause for all of you!
August 17th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
I trained a new co-worker.
We all got a lot done a work.
We had a successful event today.
I rehearsed.
I memorized.
I had a snitch of an Oreo brownie.
I obtained a digital camera. (My friend planned to get a new one and recycle the old one, but when she heard me musing, she gave me the older one instead!)
August 17th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Hi Robin! It’s been good to have family in town, and yet there is stress, as you know (and I’m going to miss meeting everyone at the Kidlit conference, but you are all going to have such a good time that you’ll hold it again and again). Here are some good things I did for myself this week:
1)Exercised almost every day and gave myself stickers on the calendar.
2)Went to see “Stardust” with my husband and friends last Saturday.
3)Got a proper website address: http://faridadowler.com
Right now, the website just looks like my old gig blog account. I’m hoping to get some help to make it look like a real storyteller’s website.:)