Hey guys, how are you doing? Keeping busy? My mom sent her day’s work-from-home schedule to the family group chat this morning. She’s a busy woman. There was cleaning of rooms, pedicuring of toes, and best yet, DOWNLOAD INSTAGRAM. That’s right y’all, my mom is officially on Instagram. Since most of the people who subscribe to my blog are her friends, let me be the first one to tell you to follow my mom! She needs followers!
Anyway, back to the schedule, she inspired me to send her my schedule for the day:
8:00 am Wakeup
8-9:00 Do hair to put on the gram
9-9:15:00 Try and be creative with a breakfast avocado meal
9:15-12:00 pm Be mad about work
10:00 Coffee date with my mannequin head
12:00 Walk around neighborhood trying not to be frustrated about work
12:30 Convince one of the boys to take a photo of my hair outside
12:45 Try and be creative with a lunch avocado meal
5:00 Try to convince one of the boys to exercise with me
6:30 Shower but probably not wash hair bc why bother
7:00 Try to be creative with a dinner avocado meal
6-11 Try not to murder Chris
See??? I’m busy too!! If you guys don’t know why there’s so much on there about avocados, the short version is that somehow we came into a free case of avocados that I am trying to eat/use before they go bad.
So back to the
schedule. If you have been on social media at all (if you haven’t… WHAT ARE YOU
DOING?!), then you’ve seen many parents’ schedules. They include wakeup times, bedtimes,
physical activities, craft activities, outdoor time, school time, scheduled meals,
etc. Basically, doing THE MOST.
God bless
those parents. I do not know how they will continue with that level of
discipline. Personally, I relate a lot more to the Israeli woman who is
screaming at her iphone in her car, trying to escape her 4 kids at home.
Then, if you hit up the meme accounts, like @no.fucksgiiven, or @wheredidmyvodkago or @fuckjerry or @quentin.quarantino , you’ll see very different schedules. Basically, trying to stay alive, trying to stay sane, spending 88% of your waking hours on screen time, and eating every single snack at your house. Also, completely giving up on all of your new year’s resolutions because like… WHY BOTHER?!
(Mommy – you should
follow those meme accounts! It may inspire your schedule for tomorrow.)
I like to
think my schedule is a healthy balance of both. I have a Zoom Happy Hour on the
calendar for Thursday (which is still 2 very long days away), but most of my
day revolves around cooking food, exercising, and trying to consciously stay
out of the kitchen to eat all of my food. I told my BFF I was going to write
this blog, and she sent me her schedule, as well. Please note, she is a nurse
in Seattle, so her life and schedule is MUCH more stressful than anything I am
dealing with, but there is still a lot of overlap.
10:00 am Wake Up
10-11:00 Read news articles about Corona and panic. Sometimes cry.
11:00 Make eggs for breakfast, but not the usual amount because I’m rationing
12-1:00 pm Open work emails and panic again
1:00 Go for a run and wonder why there are so many cars on the road
3:00 Prolong shower
5:00 Shower*
6:00 Beer*
*In the next few days, shower and beer may fall into the same time slot
Reading her schedule made me realize that I had left “panic” out of my schedule, but don’t fret, it’s an all-day event, so just assume it belongs in all of my waking hours, and sometimes my sleeping ones, too.
We have our HUGE event of the week scheduled for tomorrow… “try not to get coronavirus at the grocery store.” Wish us luck!! What are your schedules looking like? Leave them in the comments.
What are you guys up to today? Sitting at home in social isolation? #SAME. I wanted to entertain you for a bit with a blog post. I solemnly swear that I will try to post as least one blog a week while we are in these crazy solitary times! I actually wrote this blog more than a month ago, but it seems like the perfect time to share it, since we are all cooking from home, scrambling for groceries, and ordering in. I got a pleading email from Seamless to support your local restaurants from ordering in. If you DO order in, please remember to pay ahead, and let the delivery person leave the food outside!
If anyone wants to video-chat me, please feel free! Also, if you have specific requests for blogs, leave them in the comments! Want to know what I’m doing to stay active while the gym is closed? How I’m staying sane? How I’m doing on my 2020 goals so far and what I’m able to accomplish of them from home? Let me know! Be safe out there. ❤️
If someone gave you a Christmas gift that involved staying at home for an 8 hour delivery window and then cooking elaborate meals by yourself, would you jump for joy? Probably not. Well, neither did I, but that’s what happened in 2018 when my bf and I were gifted a one-week subscription to HelloFresh.
In theory it was an adorable idea. No grocery shopping, new recipes, fun activity to do together as a couple while not having to leave the house in the middle of winter. Unfortunately, I knew that is not how it would pan out in our household, since I’m the only one who knows her way around the kitchen and I’m the only one home from work before 8 pm. I wasn’t looking forward to it, so I never used the gift certificate. When Christmas 2019 rolled around and we still hadn’t used it, we got some heavy-handed reminders from the gift-giver (my bf’s sister), and she told us the gift was going to expire. I put it in my bullet journal to order for the next week. Easy, right? NO.
The gift card had been sent to my bf’s email address he no
longer used. I spent 20 minutes chatting online with their customer service representative
to place the order, until they said they couldn’t help me and told me to call
instead. 40 minutes on the phone later (one hour total), I finally placed an
order for three meals, two servings each, and I had an 8-hour delivery window
on the following Saturday.
Oh, also, they required a credit card for the “free” order,
so that they could charge me for the recurring service. There was no way to
order only one week. They said I needed to cancel the next week’s order one
week before I received the next box, but after I received the current box,
which was one week prior. Catch 22, no? I had a feeling I would be calling
their customer service people again a week later to request a refund.
As I am sure you are realizing, by the time the box actually arrived, I wanted to throw it directly in the trash. But I am a good not-yet-sister-in-law, so I didn’t throw it in the garbage – I reworked my regular meal-prepping and grocery shopping so I had three days to make the meals I received: Gouda Pork Burgers with Caramelized Siracha Onions and Potato Wedges; Cheesy Beef Tostadas with Long Green Pepper, Tomato Salsa and Hot Sauce Crema; and Parmesan-Crusted Chicken with Creamy Lemon Tomato Spaghetti. In theory, you can go on the website and make substitutions for meals or pick different ones. But after the hour I had already spent on the phone with them, I just told them to send me any three.
The meals arrived in a box with ice packs, with the meat separate, and then a big brown bag with the rest of the ingredients for each meal. I was scared to open or separate anything, so I rearranged everything in our fridge to fit these huge brown bags. Living in NYC, we have a VERY small fridge. We barely had room for the 3 bags and a Brita pitcher and a dozen eggs. In hindsight, I probably should have taken everything out and repacked it in gallon-size Ziplocs or something else so we would have more room. Anyway, the time came for me to make the first meal, and I was ready. I took the meat & the brown bag #1 out of the fridge and started following the directions step by step.
Step 1, Meal 1 (pork burgers), I looked at the recipe card, which told me what to “bust out.” These are items you’re meant to have in your house. Unfortunately, living in an NYC apartment with a minuscule kitchen, the first two items they called for (a zester and grater), I didn’t have. They also called for olive oil and butter, which I had, and sugar, which I didn’t have. In addition to the ingredients, they tell you which pots and pans to “bust out.” Spoiler alert, it’s like, your entire kitchen. or at least an entire NYC kitchen. For each meal. Usually when I make burgers it’s a one pan meal. For these HelloFresh burgers I “busted out” a baking sheet, a medium pan, a large bowl, a large pan, and a small bowl. WTF?
Ingredients with their individual paper bag.
Burgers in the pan!
Finished Product!
Meal 2, tostadas, required a medium bowl, small bowl, large pan, and baking sheet. Meal three, the parmesan chicken and pasta required a large pot, baking sheet, zester (still didn’t have one), strainer, and medium bowl. I ran the dishwasher after every meal I made! Also, there was barely enough of each meal to make my fiance and me satisfied. It was 2, small-sized servings, and if I was eating after the gym, which is pretty much every dinner I have, it was not enough food. Plus, it didn’t leave any food for leftovers to bring for lunch. I like to mealprep for lunch, but I was cooking so much for these dinners, I didn’t have the energy (or dishes left) to cook for lunches. I ended up spending far more on food for the week than I usually would have.
I know what you’re thinking… were there any pros of this
meal plan at all?? YES. The food was DELICIOUS. Honestly very, very good,
restaurant-quality food. Also, I was pushed to try cooking things I had never made
before, and I kept the recipe cards, so I could make them again on my own. Who
knows if I ever will, though, because it would mean buying all of the
ingredients. Which brings me to the next good part – it came with all of the
ingredients. As I said in the “con” section above, it was just enough of
each ingredient, so we had no leftovers. But the good part was, it was just
enough of each ingredient, so I didn’t need to run out to the store to buy
anything, except sugar. When the recipe called for sugar that I didn’t have, I
just left it out of the recipe and the caramelized onions were not so caramelly,
but still delicious. I liked that I could eat different recipes I had never
thought to make, or never knew how to make.
Ingredients and recipe card.
Gourmet Chef Emily!
Another pro was the timing. Each meal only took 35-40 minutes. If I was making more servings and I would have had leftovers for lunch, this would have been a good amount of time. Since it only fed each of us one meal (and left us a little hungry), it felt like too much time. I think I would get a bit quicker if I did it more often. For example, I learned the hard way that I should read the entire recipe card and instructions before beginning the meal. In Meal #1, step 2 called for paprika, and step 4 called for “the rest of the paprika.” But I hadn’t known that, and I had used it all in step 2. Oops. I learned to read the whole thing first, which made the recipes go much faster. If I had more practice with it, I think I would learn even more tricks to make the meals quicker.
I learned some things I will definitely use in the future,
like that crema is just hot sauce, water, and sour cream with a touch of salt. Or
that you can put tortillas in the oven with a sprinkle of olive oil and fork
piercings to make them into tostadas. Or that anything looks more
instagrammable with a lime wedge on the side.
As soon as I had my box in hand, I went online and canceled
my subscription so I wouldn’t be charged. Overall, I doubt I would order it
again, especially in such a small serving size. If I did it again, I would
double the serving size so I could have leftovers or lunch, with the same
amount of cooking time. I liked learning new things, and I would like to
eventually have a whole binder of Hello-Fresh recipes I could whip up at a
moment’s notice. Maybe someday if I win the lottery and I have a lot more time
on my hands. And sometime between now and then, I’ll get a much larger,
full-size fridge to fit the big brown bags of ingredients, and I’ll buy all of
the things a person needs in their kitchen so they can “bust them out” when
necessary, like sugar and a zester.
It’s TUESDAY!! And that means Date Night. Date Night is something that is sacrosanct in our house. It’s how I have lasted years through CFA studying, and years in a relationship in general with someone who works upwards of 70 hours/week. Every Tuesday, there is a recurring event in my google calendar, (shared with my fiancé), “Chris and Emily Date Night.”
Why Tuesday? To be honest, date night started at the very beginning of our relationship. Girls love to create their own rules to make sure they don’t seem too “available” or “easy.” My self-designated way of doing that? I told him I was only free on Tuesdays! It made me seem unattainable and super busy, it meant no sleepovers (duh I had work the next day), and it was a great way to get through the week. Both of us had busy schedules, I was teaching 3 classes/week at the gym and he was working 90 hours/week at the time. It was important to set aside time to see each other. Slowly, it became a tradition. Nowadays, if I have something else I need to do on a Tuesday, I ask in advance if we can switch date night to another night of the week. I love that it ensures that we see each other or make dedicated time for each other at least once.
When we moved in together, I didn’t think date night would
be necessary anymore, but I was wrong. Even if we fall out of the habit for a
few weeks because of work travel or other things, we can always feel the distance
start to come between us. I guess that’s what living in New York means, everyone
is so busy!
I know what you’re thinking… every week??? Don’t you run out
of things to do? Isn’t it expensive?? No, and sometimes.
When we first started dating, I used to complain that Chris’s only date ideas were going out to dinner. Not that I don’t like dinner, hello, I LOVE food, but I like doing activities. A long time ago, I sent him a list of possible ideas. Now, I have a running list of date ideas in my Bullet Journal. Some still involve dinner, but at cool spots, like a Liberian restaurant, or a Japanese place that has a prix fixe menu set to old-school vinyl. And some involve actual activities like mini golf, bowling, pottery, and holiday markets.
DANGEROUS Date Night, ax-throwing in Brooklyn.
Yummy Date Night, make your own ice cream.
Fancy Date Night, out to a Broadway show.
Casual Date Night, out for a margarita.
Some of them are relatively cheap or free, like walking around a new neighborhood, and some of them are pricier, like seeing a Broadway show. And about half the time, they don’t involve going anywhere at all! One of my favorite date nights involves cooking dinner at home, watching Netflix (we STILL haven’t finished The Wire), and maybe walking across the street for ice cream after. The purpose of date night isn’t to spend money or explore new places (although the latter is a cool perk), it’s to spend time with each other and not get lost in the hustle and bustle of New York. It gives us a designated day of the week where I promise not to teach at the gym or go out with friends, and Chris promises to try and get home from work at a normal hour.
Most recently, we went to Dave & Busters. Taking the subway and the getting out at Times Square, especially amidst the Corona situation, is not usually something I would volunteer to do. The food was sub-par and the table was a little dirty when we got there. But the drinks were half off until 7:30 (helloooo $6 watermelon margarita!) and the quality time together was so much fun! We spent an hour after we ate just playing air hockey, ring toss, skeeball, corn hole, and various other games. I think we got a LOT of tickets, but it’s all virtual on the cards now, so I can’t be sure. We had so many credits left on our play cards, that we decided we’d need to go back another time and cash out on our winnings, then.
Air Hockey Champs. By that I mean me. I am the champ (ok, I lost twice).
Lots of tickets won on ring toss.
Coronarita. DANGER.
I always think of myself as a trendsetter, but Date Night has definitely caught on with some of our friends. I recently found out that two close friends of Chris’s have take the idea themselves, and they designated Wednesdays as date night. Having a weekday date night makes it low pressure (no need for an all-night Saturday marathon date) and it’s also easier to make reservations or get tickets to things. I hope to combine some of my “Date Night Ideas” with my “New York Bucket List” items soon, like going to the Guggenheim or seeing Alvin Ailey. Good thing there are 52 Tuesdays per year!
Do you have any awesome date ideas? Leave them below in the comments!
