Traffic Musings From the Working Lady

I love my morning and afternoon drive...it gives me time to be by myself with my thoughts, or music, or Adam Carolla. Too bad I hate the other people on the road. Here are some revelations that came to me during the lovely Monday morning commute:

*I'm pretty sure that you have to pass some sort of "Most inconsiderate, unaware of how ginormous and slow my vehicle is" driving test in order to drive an Astro van.

*The freeway signs that give you an estimated time frame of how long it will take you to get from point A to point B are: 1) completely inaccurate and most importantly 2) make traffic ten times worse because of all the a-holes that are trying to stare at it through the glare of the sun.

*Does it REALLY take some people 100 yards to merge into the left hand turn lane??? Seriously...GET IT TOGETHER

*Could it be possible that the same people who don't know what they're doing on the freeway on Saturdays are on the road on Monday morning with the rest of us who actually know how to navigate in heavy traffic?

*Why is it that everyone and their mom decides to get on the road on Thursdays at 5. Seriously...what is it about Thursday that makes traffic so bad? I don't get it! It's consistently THE worst night to be on the 91 East, or any freeway for that matter.

*How is it that it has taken literally over 7 years that the carpool lanes on the 91 to be re-worked...and they're STILL NOT F'ING FINISHED!!!

*Accidents would be cut in half if: a) people learned to use their turn signals; b) people weren't too lazy to check their blind spot; c) tailgaters were fined $1500; d) people didn't wait until the last minute to merge out of an ending carpool lane that HAS ENDED AT THE SAME SPOT IN THE FREEWAY FOR OVER 7 YEARS NOW!!! I SEE THE SAME PEOPLE DO IT EVERY DAY I SWEAR TO F'ING HELL!!!

Ok, I feel better. Hmmm...maybe I should consider public transportation. On the other hand, I think I'd rather be in my own little personal space instead of confined in a small area with the rest of the sweaty...filthy...aw, nevermind.

Well The Weather Outside Is...

Hot, windy, and full of smoke, so how about a list of the soups I plan to make when it finally does start getting cold???

1. Minestrone: an absolute MUST, I tend to make way too much of it and the man isn't really into soups so it's alllll foooooor mmeeeee!!!

2. Spicy Bean Soup: a Giada recipe...she kind of bugs me, but MAN this recipe is SO good. I add kidney beans and omit one of the cans of garbanzo beans. It's really good with cornbread, and I have a sneaking suspicion that adding a little pancetta in the beginning would be DE-lectable!

3. Mmmm, chicken tortilla from my Making It Easy recipe book. Perfect combination of spice and acidity-think chicken soup for your cold with a kick. I like to start it with a mirpois combined with the chipotle and garlic. Also, a little super ripe avocado on top is pretty sweet.

4. Butternut squash FOR SURE

5. Wild mushroom-creamy and SO satisfying.

6. Potato Leek: Anyone have a good recipe? I don't want it to be too thick.

7. Albondigas: Staple from when I was little that I've never tried...I think I could rock it pretty hard.

8. Creamy tomato basil: I am SO gonna kick Jefe's ass on this one. He thinks he's all special since he made it AND made homemade sourdough bowls for it to go in!

9. HMMMMM, maybe I can come up with my own ultimate stew. Ooooh like a nice spicy stew with rosemary and a little beef loin, red potatoes, carrot, celery, shallot. Gotta work on that

10. Does rice pudding count? Whatever, you say...it counts and I'm making it!!!