Posts Tagged ‘planning’

The Best Laid (Quarentine) Plans

March 16, 2020

I have walked away from this space for a variety of reasons. I am not sure what the future will bring, but for today, it feels like the right medium for communication. If you stuck around and are actually reading this, thank you!

We are hunkered down here in NYC, with most places required to close for the next eight weeks or so. Gatherings with more than 50 people have been restricted, and although my gym remains open for now, I have frozen my membership to keep myself, my family and the amazing and dedicated staff there safe and healthy. All of my work commitments have been canceled and I don’t expect any new bookings until the summer if all goes well. That leaves me, as it leaves most of you: home, bored and anxious. I’m back on this platform, not for personal entertainment, but for a sense of community and accountability. How can I set some goals during this time, and help others do the same? Whether 14 of you see this, or 140,000, I am going to give myself some ground rules of quarantining, so that I emerge from this healthy, productive and sane. So let’s dust this old blog off and get going!

Indigo Jones Quarantine Plan:

Find a way to exercise without the gym or major equipment purchase

As the weather starts to get warmer, I hope to be able to run outside along the river, at a safe distance from others. Youtube has lots of exercise videos, as does many of the health and wellness sites. We own a few weights and some resistance bands, and there is no reason not to keep working on my fitness, other than complacency. I have been building back up my stamina and strength after a long period of injury and a busy work schedule, and have first-hand recent knowledge of how hard it is to get back on track. I have nothing standing in my way to prevent me from working out right now, and I am publicly committing to finding a way to do some form of exercise daily during the quarantine.

Eat healthfully and mindfully

I stocked the kitchen with healthy foods and avoided buying a bunch of junk foods to mindlessly eat out of boredom. Yes, there are snacks brought back from my daughter’s dorm room stash, and Halloween candy in the freezer. I am a baker with a fully-stocked larder filled with 50-pound bags of flour and sugar, and a deep freeze with balls of cookie dough at the ready. But that doesn’t mean that I need to spend my days baking and indulging for the sake of something to do. I also have a freezer stocked with chicken breasts, fish filets, shrimp and vegetables, as well as some soups and sauces made from an abundance of leftover vegetables from a previous job, and a few packages of tofu. I have the time to cook healthy meals with what we have, and plan to do so to keep us nourished and fulfilled.

Inbox Zero

Yesterday, I deleted thousands of unread emails in just one account and need to tackle the other one. Once they are clean, I am committing to deleting things every few hours to avoid the buildup. I hope this can become a habit, even during busy times.

Closet cleanse + Housekeeping

 

I despise cleaning out closets, and I seem to have trouble maintaining them for any period of time. If I can exit this period of isolation and lack of work with clean closets and organized storage areas, it will be a huge win.  Sidenote to the other inhabitants of this household: Please help me KEEP them clean by putting things back how you found them.

Practice kindness

Social media is filled with so much hate and animosity. I try not to get sucked in, but right now I feel like I am in the vortex of a tornado, pulling me into the fray. This is a terrible time for everyone worldwide. We don’t need to exacerbate things by treating each other disrespectfully. Can we come out of this crisis not as Democrats or Republicans, Socialists or Capitalists, but as Humanitarians?

Gear up!

No, I am not talking about buying a hazmat suit. I am looking for ways that I can utilize this time to propel my fledgling business along. Maybe it’s recipe testing, photographing things to update my website, and coming up with some marketing strategies to get back on track once this crisis passes. Marketing ideas and alternative pathway suggestions are welcomed!

What are your quarantine plans? Let’s share ideas and keep each other accountable, so we can emerge from this stronger, and healthier than ever before.

all photos: Glasshouse Images

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Best Laid Plans

February 9, 2017

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I am currently in the midst of a pink marshmallow nightmare. My fingertips have little tiny cuts on them, and all the scrubbing and soaking is not getting the chocolate out from under my fingernails. It’s Valentine’s Day, and I am happily inundated with orders for mostly heart shaped sweet treats. This morning, it took a little internal pep talk to get me up and out and ready to dive back into the task at hand. Here are a few of the tips and tricks I’m using to get through the latest holiday rush: (BTW, wasn’t the last holiday rush just a few weeks ago?)

These tips work whether you are shipping hundreds of s’mores, or planning a dinner party:

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Mis en place: You’ve heard me mention this before, and although it has a little different format in this case, the concept still works. Mis en place, is a French term for “putting everything in it’s place.” For many chefs, that means having all of the washing, chopping and even some of the measuring done in advance. In this instance, that meant that I pre-ordered or puchased my ingredients ahead of time, and made all of my different doughs, (which can live nicely in the refrigerator for a few days) early in the week so that I just need to roll and bake them along the way.

Categorize: Rather than fill the orders one by one, I have been trying to make all the like items at once where possible. That means that all the fortune cookies are done, and I am finishing what I hope will be the last of the hot chocolate sticks, before starting the s’mores. Since my product is perishable, and there is a singular “due date”so it pretty much has to be done over the course of just a couple of days.

All the retail orders got shipped last week, and any orders that didn’t request waiting for Valentine’s delivery have been moving through, but it feels like for every order I shipped, 3 more grew back in it’s place. ( NOT COMPLAINING!)

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Pick the most daunting task and get it done first: Right now, the hot chocolate sticks are my kryptonite. I have made a ton of them, and wiggling the chocolate out of the heart shaped cutter is slow and messy process. This morning, I am committed to getting all of the heart shaped ones finished off and packaged so I can move on to the next. Since I cut most of them last night, it’s just busy work that will feel so fulfilling once it is complete.

Make a list and check it twice. I keep going back through the orders and double checking them. I am down to the last 24 or so, but in checking them carefully last night, I realized that many of them not only had multiple items, but also multiple quantities. Because my individual elements (marshmallows, hot chocolate, dough etc. ) need to be made and allowed to set for many hours before using them, I need to make sure I am not caught short at the last minute. That means, don’t just check, but break it down. I figured out how many more marshmallows I needed across the various items, how many batches of chocolate, or dough, etc. For a dinner party, it might equate to how many onions and garlic cloves you can dice at once to be used across several dishes. Work smart.

Don’t put off for tomorrow, what you can do today. At midnight, when I finally finished up, I forced myself to replenish a couple of batches of marshmallows and some hot chocolate so it would be ready to use in the morning. I am so glad that I did. It frees up the pans for the next batches, and gives me something to work with without having to wait several hours to use them.

Give yourself the satisfaction of crossing things off that list! Somehow, crossing things off, or shipping things out and having the order leave the queue is very satisfying, and takes a little stress off as the list gets shorter.

Take mini breaks to keep productivity high. Check email, read the paper,have a snack,  or even take a 15 minute nap when you need it to keep yourself going for long periods of time. Sometimes hitting your personal reset button is all it takes to get refreshed and reinvigorated.

Promise yourself a treat when it’s over. Have something to set your sights on, even if it is as simple as sleeping in, having a glass of wine, or binging a new tv show. Give yourself something to look forward to, to keep you moving towards your goal.

What do you do to get through big projects at work or at home? Tell us in the comments.

Check us out at indigojonesnyc on instagram.

Want to see what we have been pinning? Take a look at our Pinterest page!

Tweet along on Twitter.

To keep up with the latest, show us some “like” by liking our Facebook page

Check out our new site Indigo Jones Eats

Visit our shops on Gourmly ,Ecohabitude, Chocolate.org, The Foodworks,and Etsy

 

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Thanksgiving Prep: List Making

November 8, 2016

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Now that election day is here, and we can begin to cleanse our palettes of all the nastiness and hatred that accompanied it, it’s time shift our focus to THANKSGIVING! With only 16 days to go, there are lists to be made, and pre-work to be done, to make the big day way less stressful than political campaigns we just lived through.

Over the next 2 weeks, we will be sharing our preparations with you, so you can get ready for the Superbowl of Cooking right along with us.

Today’s project is a big one, but it sets us up for success. It’s all about planning and making lists.

First, grab yourself a folder; real, or digital and mark it “Thanksgiving 2016”. Whatever lists you make, and recipes you gather will live in this folder.

Start your list making:

First and foremost, make a guest list and invite people however you choose. Emails, phone calls or letter pressed invitations are all fine. Make this as casual or as formal as you like. Keeping a guest list will allow you to have an accurate headcount so you are sure to have enough food, drinks, placesettings and chairs for everyone that is coming. And if your house is like ours, be prepared to take in a few “Thanksgiving Orphans “at the last minute.

Next, plan the menu. Write down every course, and if you are sharing the cooking with some of your guests, assign dishes to each of them now. Put their name next to the dish they are reponsible for right on your menu so you don’t need to worry about it.

Gather your recipes. Now is the perfect time to pull out all of the recipes you will be using for the meal. Many cooking websites and magazines are overflowing with Thanksgiving recipes, so if you want to try something new, or you don’t have a favorite recipe for something, now is your chance to do a little research. Place the recipes into your folder as you find them.

Now that you have your menu and headcount, it’s time to check to see if you have all the serving dishes, utensils and place settings to accommodate everyone. Think about table cloths, napkins and extra tables and chairs if necessary. Check for serving dishes, and oven to table dishes for things that require them, Arrange to borrow what you don’t have, or go out and purchase it now, before things get hectic. Trust us, you don’t want to be scrambling around at the last minute, when you need to be home cooking. You know where we are going with this one: make a list of what you need and plan to get it all by the end of next weekend.

Once all of your lists are made, place them in your Thanksgiving folder. We will be referring to all of this later in the week.

Happy Planning!!!

Check us out at indigojonesnyc on instagram.

Want to see what we have been pinning? Take a look at our Pinterest page!

Tweet along on Twitter.

To keep up with the latest, show us some “like” by liking our Facebook page

Check out our new site Indigo Jones Eats

Visit our shops on Gourmly ,Ecohabitude, Chocolate.org and Etsy

 

 

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Ready or Not, Here it Comes!!

November 12, 2012

With all that has been going on, I almost forgot that Thanksgiving is coming in just 10 days!  With all that is on my plate between now and then, it is going to take some serious planning to pull it off without a hitch.

Are you too hosting Thanksgiving dinner and wondering how it could possibly be coming so soon?  Here is a breakdown of how to get to Thanksgiving without, well, having a breakdown!

Ready, set, GO!

Make a guest list and confirm how many to expect. I find my guest list often grows and recedes as I discover and include people who have not made other plans, or find out about frequent guests who will not make it this year. Try to nail down the amount of people as soon as possible, so you can start to plan ahead. Also, figure out if anyone has any dietary restrictions. Gluten free, vegetarian and other food issues are easy to work around this time of year, as long as you know in advance.

Create your menu. I printed out my menu from last year, and I am pulling all of the recipes together in a file. If I want to try something new, that goes into the file and the menu gets updated.
Make lists! Guest lists, shopping lists, to do lists. If you write it down, it is more likely to actually happen.

Create a shopping list and break it down by non-perishables, which can be purchased in advance, and the fresh foods, which need to be bought at the last minute. Also break the perishable foods list down by where you will purchase the items. If you are like me, it’s not one stop shopping!

Order anything that requires advance booking, like a fresh turkey. I get mine at Di Paola Turkey Farms, and pick it up at the Union Square Greenmarket the day before Thanksgiving.  If you think turkey is dry and unappetizing, try to find a fresh turkey from a reputable farm. The quality of the bird is as critical to the outcome as how you cook it.

Get organized. If you can, clean out the kitchen cupboards and assess your pantry. Do you really have enough of all of those staple items you think you have? If not, put them on the shopping list!

Think about serving pieces and table settings. Do you have enough seating and dishes to accommodate the guests? If not, it is better to know now, than the day of the event. You still have time to borrow or buy whatever you need, if you plan ahead.

While I am not a big proponent of freezing things, think about what you might be able to make in advance and pop into the freezer. Unbaked biscuits, for example, work well when frozen.

Start at least the day before. You cannot cook a great meal of this magnitude from scratch in one day, no matter how organized you are. Solicit kitchen help that takes direction well, and is up to the challenge of doing things to your standards and not making you nuts in the process. Yes, I admit to becoming a bit of a Chefzilla, so I have found that keeping everyone away the first day, and assigning tasks the second day keeps it in check (sort of).

Prep work is essential. Clean and chop all of the vegetables the day before, and assemble as many parts of the meal you can before the big day. This includes salad dressing, the ingredients for the stuffing, the roasted garlic herb butter I spread on the turkey, and many of the side dishes. I made some desserts in advance, and may make the dough for the piecrusts but hold off baking the pies until the morning. The more you do in advance, the more relaxed you will be on Thanksgiving Day.

 

Think about how much will fit into your oven at one time. Be creative about how to make it all work, and be realistic about pulling it off. Plan your menu accordingly.

During the time leading up to the big day, I will post recipes and other tips to make the preparation as enjoyable as the meal itself.
If there is a particular dish or topic you would like addressed, leave a comment and I will try to tackle it!

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