Cooking
Monday morning at 7 AM, Addison and I got back into Philly from California. We had taken a red eye flight Sunday night. Naturally, we had both requested Monday off to sleep. This we did, until about 2 PM. Then, we cleaned some.
Around 5 pm I had it in my head that I wanted a cookbook I had seen at my friend Carly's house in Seattle. Instead of buying the cookbook on Amazon, I made a Monday evening trek thru freezing cold to go see what cookbooks our local library had to offer.
We've lived in our apartment for half a year now, and neither of us have stepped foot into our branch. And it turns out, it's a pretty nice one! Lots of biographies and nonfiction, cookbooks, reference, home improvement and craft books. I wasn't looking for fiction, but they appeared to have a large selection wrapped around 2 sides of the main room. The other features were a dedicated teen lounge & YA section, and a kids library as well. On Monday nights they even host free yoga workshops!
Probably best of all, the library is across the street from a dive bar--making it the perfect low key date afternoon for Addie & I to go check out books and day drink at the bar, people watching and reading.
After the Monday evening library run I hit up the Oriental supermarket for groceries. Addison and I chose a chicken recipe that looked quick, since it had already been a long day for us both. The recipe was easy and delicious.
If it weren't for my ban on Amazon (the I-need-to-buy-this-exact-thing-right-now machine) and other big box stores, I wouldn't have gone to our library, we wouldn't have cooked a pretty meal collaboratively, and I wouldn't have fallen a little bit more in love with our neighborhood and our little home.
From "The Minimalist Cooks at Home, by Mark Bittman.
Caesar salad, sweet potatoes, wild rice, and chicken meunière.