"Things to do while waiting in traffic".

There was a recent news report about time spent in traffic for the daily work commute. While watching that report I thought about the time I spend waiting in traffic. It occurred to me that we all have to face the traffic and I thought it would be nice to come up with a few ideas to kind of kill time during those idle moments. In searching for those ideas I went to that trusty source of information, that trendy dictionary and encyclopedia, the Internet. I ran a search on several engines for "What to do while waiting in traffic". Unfortunately, the only information that I could come up with was from a guy named 'Mr. Traffic'. He essentially said "keep your eyes on the road." Well I wanted a little more than that. It is good advice but that should be done all the time. I figured that I would have to look elsewhere. I racked my brain and came up with a few ideas of my own.

I figured that we didn't want to waste our time so the time spent should be productive. It is not practical to read a book or the newspaper, but you can get books on tape or listen to news or talk radio. But I don't know about you but talk radio gets my blood pressure up. Audio books are great. I listen to motivational books or tapes. They help to keep my spirits up. And they teach me good habits for living in the today's world. I find this very relaxing. Listening to music is also a very good occupation for the automobile. It soothes the soul and helps fight road rage.

I find all of these to be worthwhile pursuits but if you are really pressed for time and need to kill two birds with one stone there may be something else that you should consider. It is very easy to cook dinner while you are waiting in traffic. All you need is food and a piece of foil and, of course, a hot engine.

In one of my other lives I used to be a chef. One of my specialties was cooking fish. Some of our specials for dinner were called en papillote, or cooking in paper or a pouch. This can be easily adapted to the automobile. It may mean taking the food into work in the morning and having it ready but the cooking time is done away with because it is the commute time. This method works very well. All you really have to do is to put a piece of fish or chicken (pork and beef work okay) on a piece of foil. Top with your favorite vegetables and seasonings. Roll the foil around the meat and make sure that the seal is tight. You want to keep the air and juices, the flavor, inside the pouch. The next step that you have to do is choose a good safe spot in the engine compartment of your car. A lot of people have suggested right on top of the air filter. All cars are different so I think that a bit of study is needed to properly determine a safe spot. And by the time you get home dinner is ready. Just think, all you have to do then is set the table and open a nice bottle of wine-a nice romantic dinner. You really won't believe it.

Don't take my advice on this. Do your research before you stick the food in your engine compartment. I don't want to be responsible for you missing dinner. Just check it out and have some fun with it.

Thanks for reading.