March wrap-up, April goals, and a little bit of Chopped

So a thing I have been doing lately is watching old episodes of Chopped via Hulu while I cook. The show requires very little concentration and, somehow, the four–usually professional–chefs running around in a panic soothes me as I very slowly try to figure out what I’m doing in my own kitchen.

Anyway, this has led to me saying things like “This needs some crunch, a bit of texture” and then adding pumpkin seeds to a pasta dish. Surprise! That little bit of crunch made the dish better.

The other day I was making a grilled cheese sandwich and burnt one side. As I was flipping over the sandwich, one of the Chopped contestants screwed up something and said, “I couldn’t serve [undercooked, overcooked, raw, burnt, etc.] [insert part of dish here] to the judges.”

Me in my kitchen: “He’s right. I can’t serve this burnt bread to the judges.” And then I narrated (to myself) salvaging the cheese off the burnt bread, getting a new piece, and then saving the sandwich.

So what I’m saying is that watching the show might be having an effect on me.

Also, that was a story I was planning on sharing during the Slice of Life challenge but didn’t get around to. However, I did complete the Slice of Life challenge for March, which is one of the two (out of six) goals that I set for March that I actually accomplished. The other one was sticking to my elimination diet.

For April, my goals are to do the following:

• post my list of things to do before I turn 40
• revise at least one of the scripts I’m working on
• stay off FB and Twitter (starts tomorrow)
• buy an ottoman for my living room
• do some creative writing every day

I wasn’t sure about the FB/Twitter thing but then when I turned my calendar to April, the message was “Garbage in, garbage out.” I don’t think of FB or Twitter as garbage, but I have been feeling overwhelmed by both lately as a lot of noise so it’s just time for a break.

Reading Wrap-Up

I attempted seven books in March:

• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (adult, reread)
• The Shadow of the Wind by Carols Ruiz Zafón, narrated by Johnathan Davis (adult, audiobook, abandoned)
• How to Be Brave by E. Katherine Kottaras (YA)
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie, narrated by Hugh Fraser (adult, audiobook)
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (middle grade, reread)
• All’s Faire in Middle School by Victoria Jamieson (middle grade)
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, narrated by Wil Wheaton (YA, audiobook, abandoned)

All in all a good reading month for the books I finished (the two rereads were books I assigned to my students),

Also, somewhat ironically, the two abandoned books were from my #MustRead2018 list.

I cleared two categories for Book Riot’s Read Harder challenge:

• Task 3: A classic of genre fiction (The Murder of Roger Ackroyd)
• Task 4: A comic written and illustrated by the same person (All’s Faire in Middle School)

That takes me to the halfway point with 10/20 tasks completed.

Even counting the abandoned books (three so far!), I am ahead of schedule for my Goodreads goal.

We’ll see what next month holds.