WIAW 111- What Else is New!

Last week I made a passing reference to projects I was working on, and technology I was learning to use, and I said I’d explain this week. Well…

OK, I’m not the last person in America (or even among my friends and acquaintances) to get a smartphone… though occasionally it feels that way. But now, I have one!

Let me explain… I’ve had a mobile phone for 15 years. Not by any means an early adopter, but still before many people I knew had them. I worked freelance in promotions, in stores (and sometimes events) all over the city, and simply needed to have a way for family (and my agent and clients!) to reach me if something came up.

Mostly, though, that meant they left a voice message, or eventually a text message, and I checked when I left the selling floor – and had the phone to return calls as needed. I couldn’t very well take calls in the middle of a demo! And there was no reception in the subway, and in general, there wasn’t much time when I could use the mobile but could not use my landline – or desktop computer. I’ve had a not-entirely-dumb phone for quite a few years, now, with email access, which covered that base… so upgrading didn’t make sense.

Now, though – well, there are more and more apps… and so many things are accessible with a mobile, but not (or at least not conveniently) otherwise… I’ve been considering a tablet, but my old phone was reaching the end of its life, and… I broke down and got a phablet. I really hardly use the mobile as a phone at all any more, almost all my communication is online, now – but still, when I need it, I need it! But meanwhile, I have apps to use (I have missed my old Palm!) I can access social media (and answer your comments) on a lunch break. I have already used it to check when the bus would arrive. (I can’t tell you how miraculous that seems! We were running late. Did we need to spring for a cab? No – the bus was two blocks away, right around the corner!)

And I now have a phone camera, and access to Instagram. Which is,of course, the reason I’m telling you all this!

In theory, I had a phone camera. Well, there was a camera, but there never seemed a particularly practical way to get pictures from the phone – once I resorted to messaging a few to someone who emailed them to me – and the whole process never worked quite the way it was supposed to. But the pictures weren’t very good, and I really didn’t care.

Now, though – I took all the pictures in this post with the phone. Which is moderately obvious, since I don’t really know how to use it yet… Right now I’m taking a dozen or so pictures of Every Single Thing I eat, to learn this camera. And then I’ll learn the apps. And then…

I have started an Instagram account! @inhabitedkitchen  (That’s the link for the website – if you’re on mobile, I have the button over at the right.)  So far, not too scintillating – one cat and a few food photos… The goal, though, is to branch out a little. Pictures of New York, certainly, pictures of recipes I am working on, pictures of the cats (because everyone knows the internet is made up entirely of pictures of cats and lunch…) I’ll feel around a bit and see what seems to make sense, and please, tell me what you would like to see!

Old cat learning many new tricks, here! (And I still have another new – and totally different – technology I’m working on… busy, busy…)

Anyhow… one day of food. For breakfast – tacos with a difference. I didn’t have refried beans, or cooked pintos or Roman beans, or anything of the sort, but – I’m in New York, fusion is my middle name, who said tacos need to be Tex Mex? (Well, everyone in Texas, but I digress…) I had cooked navy beans… And I had kefir cheese – which is just drained kefir – nice and tangy. No reason not to make tacos with them…

And indeed, there wasn’t. Well, I did learn one reason for refritos (aside from heating them up.) The mashed beans don’t roll out of the tortilla… so instead of just piling round rolling beans on my tortilla, I’ll heat and mash them next time – maybe add some seasoning… melt the cheese into the beans…  but I’m onto something, here.

Navy beans got into my lunch, too. I made a light vegetable soup, with some beans, and base of chicken broth and V-8 (it can be handy for this!) Then, I don’t like rice sitting in soup, I think it gets soggy, so I put some leftover rice and a bit of cheese in my soup bowl, and poured boiling soup over it.

I picked that method up from Asian cooking. It is the only way to deal with rice noodles in soup… and in general is a good way to preserve different textures. It would also be a really helpful method in families with individuals with different needs… each person arrange her own bowl, and pour broth over it… So you have one bowl with rice noodles and three with wheat, or three with shrimp and one with chicken. (Or tofu.)

Meanwhile… Easter week, we took advantage of sales on ham, which is so versatile! So, for a quick dinner, I cut up a couple of potatoes, simmered them in a little chicken broth, made a mushroom sauce (and that’s a teaser for yet another project I’m working on…) and added ham and frozen green beans. 15 – 20 minutes? And on the table… Very good, too.

So – it’s Jenn’s What I Ate Wednesday Party!

But first, come party with me, all over social media! Instagram, of course, but also Pinterest, Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, and Tumblr! Whatever you use and are happy with – come by and say hello!