Ghetto Muzak and New England Fall Foliage

Here's my wisdom for today.  Driving on traffic-less New England roads in the fall while listening to classic hip hop is one of life's greatest pleasures.


Ordinarily, I am not an advocate of driving. Particularly when you live in a city with decent public transportation, cars are not only unnecessary but kind of a nuisance.  Gas, insurance, and parking are a pretty boring way to spend your hard earned dollars, I think.  Moreover, there's all the assorted concerns about protecting our Earth and so forth, and its not helping you get any physically fitter, that's for sure.

But today, I have a confession: sometimes I love driving.


I don't own a car.  Well, technically, there is a decaying Saab parked in suburban Maryland that I can lay some claim to and drive when I'm there. But here in Boston, I walk, I take the train, we bike on the tandem, or Nic drives me in his car. And I'm very comfortable and happy with this situation. In fact, if a situation requires me to drive, I usually attempt to avoid, then fret and hem and haw if I have to go through with it.

Today, I had to borrow Nic's car to drive myself to a conference in Providence, and the process was not without the usual internal fussing.  But not long after I was on the road, I remembered what a treat driving can be.

Here's what I need in order to love driving:

1. Its got to be a great day. It can be night, it can be day, it can be any season at all, but the weather's got to be good.  The scenery has to be pretty decent.  Today was a perfect fall day.  The leaves were full of color and the temperature was just right.

2. I've got to be able to go at a nice speed without too much stopping.  Traffic totally ruins a good drive.

3. I like to be alone.  I get self-conscious driving in front of other people, probably because I don't drive very often and feel rusty at it.  And when you're alone, you have time to be introspective.  And you can sing as loud as you like. Which brings me to my last requirement.

4. Good music.  The radio can be alright for awhile, but it usually get repetitive, and searching the dial for something decent starts to become a real chore. I recommend having a go to CD or playlist for good drives.  Once you realize a drive is going to be an excellent one, starting up your go-to playlist just brings everything to another level.  Currently, mine is a mix CD entitled "Ghetto Muzak" that a friend made for me way back in 2005. At the time, I was in a major phase of believing that if music was popular and accessible to ordinary people it was inherently bad, and hardly gave this mix a listen. Only recently have I realized its worth and brilliance.  I'll edit in the song list later so you can better understand what I'm talking about. At this point, it is wildly scratched and skipping, but I can't let go of it.

Music, fall, and high speed driving.  Brilliant.

Menu for the Week

Listening to: Weeds - Pulp

In the interest of spending less money and time at the grocery store, and eating real, proper sit down meals at least six days a week (some days are Penguin Pizza  days, obvs), making a weekly menu is really key.  On Thursday evenings, after I've picked up the CSA, I consider everything we have in the cabinets and fridge and come up with a set of recipes that best utilizes what we have and minimizes my grocery bill.

At least, that is the goal.

Sometimes, I get carried away.  That's ok.  Food is just so incredibly exciting.  There's so many recipes out there to be tried.  Its pretty much unthinkable to me to repeat the same meals over again.  Maybe if its like totally incredible. But rarely, even then.  Eating new things is definitely what life is all about, kids.  If you're eating the same stale tired food stuffs you've eaten all your life, you're missing out on a huge piece of life.

And its not like, some piece of life that is inaccessible to those of us plebeians making thirty grand a year. This is not me being like, you're missing out on a huge piece of life if you're not spending a quarter of the year lounging on your sailboat in the Caribbean (as true as that may be). This is food, my friends.  Simple, accessible, and necessary to your everyday existence. You've got to get down with eating three times a day anyway.  Why wouldn't you want to make that an excuse to have an awesome adventure?  Eating boring, tasteless food on the reg because its easy  is like saying, "I'm totally down with making a career of pushing this gray button every day for the rest of my life because its a pretty effortless thing to do." Or, "I'm content with missionary position because  it gets the job done.  Thats all I'm looking to do."

Ok, maybe you are someone who does say those things.. I guess its your prerogative to be a waste of life or whatever.   I believe in choices and so forth.

I digress considerably.

Here's our menu for the week, as written down in a brilliant small moleskin which often travels around with me in my purse. Dates are subject to change and to unseen turns of events (such as the aforementioned pizza needs).

Saturday (tonight): Honey- soy glazed salmon with bok choy

Sunday: I'm in Providence for a literacy thing this night, no cooking for me!

Monday: An as yet undetermined piece of meat (I'm about to go check out what Stillmans has at the JP farmers market today), glazed carrots and ultra fluffy mashed potatoes

Tuesday: Celeriac gratin

Wednesday: Ribollita soup

Thursday: Beet Gratin with Gruyere and Thyme

Friday:  Spicy squash with lentils and goat cheese

All meals will be subsequently fleshed out with side and starters and desserts, probs.  I'll explain the whole minimal meat consumption at a later date.  One of the few aspects of my life in which I partake a "less" philosophy.

Photos by Molly Hall

On Why It Is Important to Always Throw Hand-Washing Delicates In The Sink As Soon As You Take Them Off

Listening to: The Old Grunt - Guided By Voices

Then you won't be like me, furiously attempting to dry my one clean pair of black tights with a hair dryer at 7:20 on a Wednesday morning.





(Yes, I'm returning from a several month hiatus with an initial post about blow-drying hosiery.  Consider this a warm up for good things to come later.)