Heard on the street

One of the interesting things about living in NYC (sometimes a guilty pleasure) is people watching/eavesdropping on the streets of the city. Sometimes it's the new parents strolling with their newborn that brings a smile to your face. Or the foreign tourists enjoying a sight you take for granted every day, reminding you why you love your neighborhood. Or the crazy person shouting to no one in particular about nothing specific or discernable.

Tonight I took a quick stroll to the market for some milk (oh, and bananas, and maybe yogurt...and why can I never walk out of the market with only what I came for??) when I was reminded how alive with activity the streets can be, even in our quiet family neighborhood on the Upper West Side. My neighborhood is a friendly one, where people will just strike up a conversation out of the blue as you share the sidewalk. Like the guy bemusing about a strikingly bright yellow sports car as we crossed the street together. Or the conversation I stumbled past, as a woman explained to her companion:

"...so we were friendly, and he said to me 'let's catch some breakfast or lunch sometime' {hands flourishing in the air}"

"then I responded nicely enough, but it was not nice, there were words or phrases hanging in the nastiness of the air, just lingering above telling me this was not"

Well, it sounded more interesting walking by :)

Apparently, I'm not the only one who enjoys listening in on street talk because there's a blog dedicated to what can be

Overheard In New York.

Til next time,

It's a BusyLife

- Danielle

Concept of space

A few weekends ago we re-organized our home (with help, thanks to a deal on personal assistance at Lambent Services), and the concept of space is quite interesting. Living in Manhattan I think my concept of space is skewed to appreciate smaller quarters to begin with. My father once marvelled how I could tolerate shared walls with neighbors and how he much preferred a private home with yard. But as our little guy comes closer to mastering walking, we realized the layout of our tiny apartment just felt tinier and with cold weather approaching, we needed some space for him to spread out on the floor with toys, toddle across the room, and otherwise not worry about bumping his head on every obstacle.

Our living room was arrange so that upon entry, the dining area was directly on on the right, TV and bookcases on the far left wall, sofa facing the entry, and behind it the far wall covered with alternative bookcases and his and hers desks. This layout worked great for 4 years with two adults and a budding teen, but was very cramped once we added a new baby and all his stuff (and they do have lots of stuff!).





















So...we ditched a few shelves, shifted the sofa back to the wall, moved the dining room to the left and voila!! The room opened right up!

I would highly recommend to anyone to occasionally take a hard look at your space with fresh perspective.


'til next time,
It's a BusyLife
- Danielle

Facebook down...now what?

Amazing how some aspects of modern life, non-existent until recently, can become integral to our daily routines. Obviously the internet is one (the vehicle to which I am communicating with you), mobile phones (I cannot even image being off the grid for more than a day anymore...more about this in a future post), and, of late, I am re-evaluating my connection to facebook.


Facebook is a phenomenal social networking tool. As previously posted, I LOVE being connected to far-flung family and friends. I make plans with those near and far, share video and pics of the kids and enjoy quips with all the people who enrich my world. So...it's down today - uh, now what?

can't get back to Mike & Cathy to find out when they're in town for dinner

can't shut down Sorority Life while I still have the conviction

can't post this note to most of my people, because I haven't yet created an alternate distribution

In summary...it's become one of my favorite communication tools that's becoming increasingly less reliable.


I've started to blog more to lure myself away from the pretty and distracting aspects of facebook, get back to more meaningful exchanges that involve more than 140 characters, and hopefully instill more discipline into my thoughts that have been very scattered and lack the depth and clarity they previously had.


Certainly not to be mistaken with quitting Facebook or going off the grid...but definitely food for thought as facebook works through their technical difficulties on the Monday am.



Til next time,
It's a BusyLife
- Danielle

Microwave corn on the cob & how to NOT lose a TV

How did I not discover this sooner! Ok, so microwave corn on the cob sounds terrible, like it would be mushy and yucky, but it was surprisingly good and oh so quick! The key appears to be leaving them in the husks, silk and all.

This was the recipe I used from Cooks.com:

Place corn on turntable of microwave, with about 1" space between. Cook no more than 4 ears at a time on HIGH setting. Cook 1 ear for 6 minutes, 2 ears 10 minutes and 4 ears 15 to 17 minutes or until tender. When corn has finished cooking, let cool a few minutes, then using a towel to protect your hands, hold corn and peel back the husks, the silks will be easy to remove.

Hint: the paper towel did not save my hands from minor burns, so consider a dishrag.

This went incredibly well with the re-heated rotisserie chicken we fired up as well (I've become quite the microwave gourmet with little or no time to cook). Total prep/cook time: 25 mins except for chicken carving...that was a disaster :(

Weekends are usually when I take the time to cook a full meal and get more elaborate, but we had a busy day re-organizing the apartment to eek out what little extra room we could find and stave off needing a bigger place. I think we were successful. We lost the hers of the his & hers desk/bookshelf units along one wall, moved the sofa back and switched the dining area with the remaining desk/bookcase. The result was a wide open center of the room, a cozy corner with the couch, a shelf just for the baby's toys. Unforeseen bonus: ditching the 4 yr old giant TV for a new flat screen - yeah!

On that note...why is it SO hard to get rid of a TV? We looked into donating - very hard. Had no time to call all kinds of organizations who might put it to good use - hard. Thought of selling on craigslist - how can a perfectly good 30" Sony Wega HDTV sell for $30???? Finally trying to freecycle it (posted for someone to take for free)...and WOW...people are so flaky. Hopefully the last guy we spoke to (4th on the list) actually comes through or that thing's hitting the curb at noon!

Til next time,

It's a BusyLife

- Danielle

Make-Ahead Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Make-Ahead Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Posted using ShareThis

Facebook is wonderful...Facebook is evil

I've been conflicted of late about my relationship with/relationships via facebook.

Wonderful
On the one hand, facebook is wonderful! I have reconnected with long-lost friends, kept up with those wide and far, and am able to keep family up-to-date like no other tool has allowed. Family, especially grandparents, get almost daily photo and video of the kids. I've been part of some great debates with family and friends. On a good day I can share my happiness. On a bad day I have garnered great support.

Last month I posted a comment of how I had returned to a vegan diet (for the record: I'm flexi-vegan i.e. vegan until some good meat dish lures me out of retirement for a few meals), and this was met by a wonderfully thoughtful and interesting response from a woman I'd met via my husband (our husbands are long time friends). She sent me a message of her own thoughts on food philosophy and her successes with changing diets as well as providing hearty encouragement (thanks Cathy)! Also as a result of this one post, a very thoughtful co-worker lent me some fab cookbooks (Liza, I PROMISE they will come back to you so so soon! Making mushroom fajitas tonight!). So...facebook is a great social networking tool that can be a positive addition to some already great relationships in one's life. As a bonus, my Scrabble/Wordscraper skills have improved - I'll take my turn after work Mehala!


Evil
On the other hand, facebook is an evil time-consuming vacuum to whom many hours have been wasted away playing supposedly social games (how "social" can sorority life be if most of your sisters are strangers and you can attack and slap people?), endless quizzes (do I really need to know that much about the 80s?) and all kinds of gift engines flying around (sorry...no more sweets for me please). I adore the people with whom I play these games, but I feel like I need to get off this crazy ride! It's difficult enough getting over "mommy brain" as my son just reached 9-months old, but with ever less time available to get things done, the high quality activities in life seem to get missed...reading, writing, sleeping.

Therefore, I am committing anew to wean off the less value-added aspects of facebook (I'll miss all my fellow farmers!) and keep active with the truly great things Facebook has to offer!

'til another time,
Danielle

sporadic blogger shares a recipe...finally!

I always intend to keep up with my blogging, but sadly life happens and my dedication waxes and wanes. So...here I am again, dedicating anew! Lots of thoughts floating around that don't necessarily warrant posting, but did want to share one of the recipes that keeps my life as a busy parent relatively sane some days:

Speed dinner prep for busy families

• Some boneless chicken breast
• a deep skillet
• can of cream of mushroom soup (low sodium or fat-free if you like)
• cup of water
• 2 tbsps olive oil
• paprika

These are the ingredients to my family's fave quick dinner, 20 mins max prep time (15 is you're fast). Heat olive oil in the skillet over medium high heat, add chicken until lightly browned (3-5 mins). Meantime, open cream of mushroom soup and whisk together with water (more or less for soupy or gravy). Flip the chicken, add soup mix and sprinkle lightly with paprika. Heat until gravy bubbles and chicken is cooked through.

Serve with your fave side dishes (ours are rice and peas, but would go with noodles, salad, potatoes, veggies!)

Vegetarian alternative: We've substituted baby bella mushrooms, portabella caps and slices and all are just wonderful!

Not Julia Child, but definitely for the "servant-less American cook" ;-)

Here's a few other great resources for speedy dinners:
Real Simple's 10 Ways to Speed up Dinner-Prep Times
Speed up dinner preparation on LifeHacker
Working Mom Minute Meals

Until next time, bon appetit!
Danielle