Highly Recommended

If you have a random weekday off and nothing better to do, I highly recommend the following activity: ALL DAY MOVIE MARATHON!

I have some vacation days to use up so I took today off. Unfortunately Derek had to work. So it was just me trying to decide if I should stay home and bother Sweetpea or spend the day doing my favorite day killer, an all day movie marathon.

Here is how it works.
1. You have to take a random day off. This doesn't work on holidays or weekends.
2. Go to Moviefone.com and plan out your day at the movies. Its best to strategize which movies and what is the best combination of start times. In an eight hour period you can get 4 full movies in. (Note: The length of the movies noted INCLUDES previews.) If you are in NYC I recommend the AMC on 42nd Street. (If you go on a Friday shows before noon are $6.)
3. Highlight and note the movies and their start times. Also keep in mind what your alternatives would be. Be mindful of the movies and the order you are watching them in. You don't want to go from a 2 1/2 hour thinker to a 3 hour drama. I enjoy having a light hearted comedy every other movie.
4. Pack a lunch. One cannot live on popcorn and diet coke alone. Make sure its "quiet food," like a sandwich and a banana. Bananas are quiet.
5. Get to the movie theater about 20 minutes early so you will have time to figure out approximately which theater you will need to get to for your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th movies.
6. Pay for your first show and get a large popcorn. Most theaters offer refills on large size, and you have a long day ahead of you.
7. Enjoy movie 1.
8. Theater hop to your remaining movies. Here are my theater hopping tips:
- They really don't care that you are theater hopping, so don't act like you are doing anything wrong.
- Avoid elevators at all costs. Sometimes there is a dude in there taking tickets. Use escalators whenever possible.
- Watch out for exit only paths. Once you are out, you aren't getting back in.
- Note if one of the movies you want to watch are in multiple screens. This can make staking out which theaters you need to get to difficult.
- Don't go with more than two people. Going alone is good, but you won't have anyone to hold your popcorn when you go to the bathroom.
- You can risk letting movies overlap by 15 minutes to account for previews. 10 minutes if its an independent film.
- Use your refills. Large popcorns and large sodas get refilled.
- Since you are seeing 4 movies for the price of one, buy some candy and bottled water. Helps with the guilt.
- Be careful carrying around half empty bags of popcorn into theaters, it is a dead give away. Store it in a large bag or purse.

Today, Sarah and I saw 4 movies. It was awesome. We saw Marie Antionette at 11:55, Little Miss Sunshine at 1:35, The Prestige at 3:45, and Jackass Number 2 at 6:40. We ate 1 1/2 bags of popcorn, Kit Kat Bites, Twizzlers, and my homemade ham and soy cheese sandwiches. It was a great day!

December 15th is my next random day off. See you at the movies!

Shame on me, I haven't blogged about food in the longest time. This week I did some multitasking in regards to making dinner. This is something that I love doing.... You basically get two dinners, but its like you only are cooking one. Its great because we are all super busy and we should all cook at home more. Here's the method to some of my madness:

So you love a home cooked meal, but can't see yourself cooking every single night. My advice is to cook two meals at once. You save cooking time and clean up time.

The first step is deciding what you should make. You need to pick one dish that is quick, and one dish that is hands off. By quick I mean something that you can whip up in less than 20 minutes. An example would be grilled chicken or stir fry. By hands off I mean something that you can "set and forget." An example would be a stew or roast.

These are the two meals that I made this past Tuesday and how I did them both at once...

Tuesday night's dinner was Hunter's Chicken Stew, a microwave only stew recipe that I got from my beloved Everyday Food magazine. Its a 20 minute meal start to finish with hardly any dishes to clean.

Ingredients: 8oz of sliced Shitake Mushrooms, 1lb of skinless/boneless chicken thighs cut into 1" chunks, 1/4tsp crushed rosemary, 1 1/3 cup crushed tomatoes, a strip of orange rind, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Steps: Nuke (covered) the mushrooms, oil (about a tbsp), and garlic with 1/4 cup of water for 2 minutes. Throw all of the other ingredients in the casserole (microwaveable) mix it up. Nuke (covered) for 12 minutes more. Serve with bread or whatever over carbs you deserve.

Now while the mushrooms are in the microwave gather your ingredients for Wednesday night's dinner, Meatloaf. While the chicken is cooking for the 12 minutes you can put together can bake your meatloaf for the next meal. You may have your own meatloaf recipe, so use that one... or you can use mine:

Ingredients: 1lb of ground beef (or one of the meatloaf packs with the 3 different kind of meat), 3/4 cup of breadcrumbs, one beaten egg, 1/3 cup of crushed tomatoes (use the same can that you did for the stew), 1/4 cup of diced onion, 1/4 cup of milk or beer, oregano, pepper.

Steps: Mix it all up with your hands (remove jewelry and leave the warm water running for easy clean up), form into a loaf. Bake in an oven that is preheated to 350 degrees. Cook it until it reaches an internal temp of 160 degrees. (About 45 minutes.) I also cut small red potatoes into quarters and bake them along side of the meatloaf, just season them with some oil and spices.

By the time your meatloaf is in the oven your stew is done.... And in less than 20-30 minutes you have two home cook dinners. Let the meatloaf cool, cover it and put it in the fridge. You can nuke it the next day or heat it up in the oven. Try throwing in some veggies that you can nuke/roast along side of the loaf with the potatoes

So that is my food wisdom for the week.

(Oh and lets not forget the meatloaf sandwiches the night after. Yum.)