Learning to be Cheap

A good find

2010-02-12T20:04:00.000-05:00

I found this little dude looking up at me on the sidewalk today after work. He was laying on the cement next to packed and trampled snow. Fallen from the hand of his previous owner and picked up by me on a day when a little gift went a long way to improving my mood.
Today was a good day.

Planning your meals and not wasting food

2010-01-30T19:27:00.003-05:00

Design*sponge grocery planner

Bon Appetite 7 habits of highly effective grocery shoppers

I'm getting ready to head to Brooklyn, I have a bit of food that I brought from Ithaca but really I want to start over. I want all new spices except for the newest spices I have. I have some flour and basics, but really I just want to treat it like I'm living in Italy again. Buy food, cook it. Buy food, cook it. make left overs, have some pasta. Buy food, cook it.

I will be much more active in this job than my past jobs, so I need to account for that when bringing lunch. I also will be working in areas that will most likely not have salad bars and delis with tasty sandwiches... so I really need to make sure I bring hearty foods that keep me going. I'm a little concerned about getting bored (food wise). I may end up getting a microwave for th job site if there isn't one there, so I can eat warm food. I'll try the food thermos again but it doesn't stay HOT it ends up being just warm. Cheap foods are beans and rice... together they create a complete protein... cheaper than meat! Salads will be good too. I will be packing lunch everyday, dinner 2 days a week and a snack everyday. I'd like to go to some yoga classes, trying out different studios. With my classes 2 days a week it doesn't make sense to get an unlimited pass for any yoga studio because there are at least 2 days a week I won't be able to go. For now I'm going to try to stick to a few classes a week.

My new job starts Monday, and I have class that night. We are being fed lunch on Monday which means I don't have to figure out lunch until Tuesday. It's hard to plan a meal when I don't know when I'm moving in (Sunday night, tomorrow, hopefully). And I have nothing in the fridge :P

Cheers to a new job, moving forward and personal growth. May this be the best year yet.

I can still keep the nickname... even if the person who gave it to me isn't around anymore

2010-01-29T13:28:00.004-05:00

Smyles
:-);-):-D:-p:-x:-)):->:-/:-/:-(:-O:-x
I'm gonna own it.
(all images from imgur.com)

Getting ready

2010-01-28T19:54:00.003-05:00

I'm getting geared up to start my new job (Monday morning!). Half of my stuff is loaded in my car, tomorrow I put the other half of things in my car. Hopefully I can move in Sunday, but there is not guarantee. What's up with the first of the month being on a Monday? I feel like renting should be from the first to last weekend of the month, it would be so much more convenient for moving. I've been looking up lots of articles and storing them on my computer because I won't have internet in my new place. Tonight the focus of my research is on food, especially food without an oven. My new place has a fridge, microwave, and double electric hotplate.

How to Eat Your Trash

How to Eat Less Meat

Pastas and their appropriate sauce applications Nice photos of pastas :)

Recipes that don't require an oven
Icebox Cake, I won't be able to make cookies (though I will be able to make cookie dough!)

Um, I'll find more later

You know what's free but painful?

2010-01-26T00:52:00.005-05:00

Letting go.

Suffering is like street meat. After enough of it you realize it sucks and you should just let it go, even though it smells good... The analogy worked better in my head.

Pain is inevitable, bad things happen, tough times happen, but holding onto a certain view of something doesn't make it go away. It makes suffering happen. It is painful. Like holding onto a rope that is sliding up, the only way to not feel the pain of rope burn is to let go of the rope. I have been suffering these 2 months because I cannot let go of this view/understanding I had of the world. Trust me, I have been working on it. But today, to receive a casual forwarded link from him, it felt like salt on the wound. How can your first contact with someone who's heart you broke be so casual and nonchalant? I have to fight harder to let go. Fight harder to remember that everything is happening perfectly, that the universe wouldn't give me anything I couldn't handle, that I will get through this... that I am getting through this... that I have so much to be grateful for and so much ahead of me. I cannot let this hurdle continuously trip me from my future... whatever that may be.

I am filling my calendar up with classes and work starting next Monday (life of a pauper by choice... food stamps, not enough to live on in NYC, but a great learning experience and opportunity). I can only hope (nay, wonder) what windows this door will lead to. 3 months ago I wouldn't have seen this all happening, yet here I am. And making the best of it. I've been told I'm brave... I have been reading the Pema Chondron Collection my mom lent me and it has been very helpful. I haven't had a steady enough mind to mediate today, but reading and thinking about it helped immensely. She said that her husband early in her marriage told her she was the bravest person he knew because she was the biggest coward but went ahead and did what she was afraid of anyway. That's where I feel I am. I don't know what the future will bring. I had my first graphic design class today and I loved it. I was riveted. I don't know where my career is headed. I feel like I'm interested in too many things to pick one. How can I combine all aspects of design? I don't think of myself as brave because I'm scared and nervous. But I am still changing my life, even without him. Perhaps because of him. I don't know what the future will bring. I used to always have a plan and now... I know where I'll be working til Dec, I know where I'll be living and taking classes til April. Next January I have no idea what my career plans will be, where I will be going or what I will be doing. It would be liberating if it wasn't so frightening. Hopefully in these next 1 months I'll learn to face that fear. To be at peace with it and be aware of what's going on around me so I can hop through any open windows or doors of opportunity that my choices may offer me in the next 11 months.

On a slightly different note. If you live in NYC and are looking for a way to spend your day for little money and maximum relaxation... Spa Castle, on a weekday, $35 for 3 levels of pools, hot tubs, jets and saunas is pretty freaking amazing. I also got a chair massage of my back for $15/10 min (the most affordable massage option). They have other services like manis and pedis, hot stone massage and waxing... less of a fun filled cheap day though to include those. I went there with a group of girls on Friday and it was totally awesome. We were there from 1pm til about 8pm. On the weekends it's busier and $10 more, so less enticing. 6 days til I start working my below-minimum wage job. These next 11 months are going to be interesting...

New job!

2010-01-21T15:59:00.003-05:00

I have accepted an Americorps position with Habitat for Humanity! I'll really have to be thrifty... it pays about $840 a month (that's after taxes), with a unlimited metrocard and a $200 rent voucher a month. In New York City... this is gonna be a bitch! I'll be able to get food stamps, which will help. I should have plenty to blog about, from the internet cafe near my place because I won't have internet. I won't be able to save any money, but at least I'll be able to bring in some money, rather than living 100% off loans. My student loans will be on deferment and I will get a stipend at the end of my 1700 hours of service toward tuition or loans. I made sure I'll be able to take a few days off to go to my brother's wedding, yay! There will be a couple trips, one to Iowa in June and another somewhere in the Fall. My best friend is doing the same job (she's been there several months already)- but I don't think we'll be working at the same site, at least not often.

The position will be a construction site leader. Teaching volunteers how to do the work, delegating, quality control... all things I was doing at Yestermorrow without being asked. This time it's actually my responsibility :) I'll be taking Introduction to Construction Project Management as well as Introduction to Graphic Design in the evenings, and hopefully going to some insight meditation group sittings. This set period of having a job/responsibility will be nice to structure my life a bit while I try to figure out what to do next!

Time + Skill - money = sewing projects!

2010-01-18T22:50:00.000-05:00

Something I've been wanting to do for a long time is renew my wardrobe, to be more professional (dress for the job you want, not the job you have). If I stuck to my current wardrobe I'd look, well, unemployed. I am taking 2 classes this semester in NYC, Introduction to Graphic Design and Introduction to Construction Project Management. These classes are at two different schools, evening classes so I'll have my days to prep for the great job hunt, nay, the great career hunt of 2010. I already own a lot of fabrics and I will have a lot of time while looking for a job/ prepping for the job hunt/ taking classes to see if I want to shift gears in my career. So with all this time, and the know how of sewing (and hopefully I'll be learning more, especially about fit and making my own patterns, hello library), I am going to make my own wardrobe. For someone who is fully employed, it is way cheaper to buy clothes at the store, when they go on sale ($30 cashmere at the factory outlet store this weekend, cha-ching!)

I have already gone through most of my clothes, I have a big pile of clothes to sell for cash/ donate to charity. I still have to go through my dressy clothes. Some of these pants just aren't meant for me. I also have a box of shoes to go through. Owning cute shoes doesn't make sense if you don't wear them. Time to purge the closet/boxes!

I've been shopping looking for certain things and another problem I have is that I never seem to like anything. Clothing these days is either cut too low (pants), or not long enough (shirts), has lots of crazy crap on it (ruffles? big ass flowers? No thank you.). I like clean lines, elegant silhouettes. Do you see much of this in my wardrobe? No, because the only clothes I am aware of that have those, are designer duds, which I cannot afford, and even if I could, would rather spend my money on quality food or travel or that home down payment I'm going to start saving for... as soon as I'm employed. I promise.

Images to follow when I get moved into my new place and get started on the... great re-wardrobing of 2010!

Lessons in Beautiful

2010-01-11T13:26:00.005-05:00

The media is evil. It preys on our insecurities, telling us we are too fat, we eat all the wrong things, our skin looks terrible, and our clothes are sooo last season. I realize it's a new year and slightly cliche to be working on creating a new me, but so many things have changed in my life in the last month that the best way I can deal with it, is to reevaluate myself and start over. Keeping what I like from before and improving what I can.

May I accept the things I cannot change, have the courage to change the things I can and have the wisdom to know the difference.

I have the power to change my mind and my body. I can meditate to work on clearing my mind, being more aware of myself and living in the present as well as figuring out what I want. I can reduce clutter both mental and physical. Meditation will help clear my mind, I need to practice daily (like learning the piano). All my stuff is currently in my mom's garage (or in my car). Moving is such a harsh reminder of how much stuff I own. It is also a reminder of how much stuff I own that I never use, or is worn out. To respect yourself is to take care of your appearance. It doesn't have to come from the media, it doesn't have to be expensive and it shouldn't be for anyone but yourself. It's funny how it is possible to get so focused on something in the future that you forget the present. Reading about meditation, trying to practice it, and reading articles in yoga journals, have been helping me a lot to realize that life is now. Life is how we will be in 2 years, life is not going to happen when you get through something. I spend a lot of time thinking 'After I get through this things will be better.' It's a toxic way to think. Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional - it stems from attachment. Attachment to thinking I can control anything other than myself. I cannot change the weather, I cannot change other people, I cannot change what happens to me or to other people. I can only change or control my response to what happens to and around me.

Tonight I will be hitting up my first yoga class (in a long time and with new inspiration for doing it). I will chronicle my yoga/meditation/beautification/wardrobe updating experience here as well. It may seem that I share too much at times, but I have never really understood keeping things to yourself because we are all human and go through experience and how do people learn? By sharing experiences. In tough times especially is when the heart can heal with the help of words of others' experiences (I love you mom!)

May I accept the things I cannot change, have the courage to change the things I can and have the wisdom to know the difference.

Wardrobe

2010-01-09T22:01:00.002-05:00

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." Mark Twain

It is time to update my wardrobe. All of my jeans have patches, so I bought a couple new pairs of jeans from Express, now I own 2 pairs of jeans without holes. I recently bought 2 new black sweaters, one cozy with a big neck and the second with a deep V-neck, very sexy. Both look great with the black jeans. I need more pants, especially warm ones. I'm thinking wool, with pockets with flaps on the back. I also could use some new shirts... shirts is where I get stuck. As a busty lady I am very particular about tops and they need to have few details on top, nothing to attract attention to the chest. I also need new flats... my black ballet flat shoes are totally busted. I only realized when I went to wear them to a wedding in October. My winter coat is also busted, but I'm not ready to replace that one yet... holes in the sleeves is not enough to get me to buy a new $300 coat... I did get many years of use out of it, but it still has more life in it! I just need to mix it up. I will follow up later with more wardrobe updates on a budget. Not like an article I saw on spending and saving in NYC where a girl thought it okay to drop $225 on 2 Hermes scarves... that is not $avy. I also tend to lean more towards classic dress, as opposed to trendy items. I look forward to shopping, with a budget, to create a new professional wardrobe for my upcoming period of career exploration. I also got a hair cut when I was in Oregon, I now have... Bangs! I have hair that requests I wear it down and put product in it...

I'm very excited about my new wardrobe. It will take some time to build up, but I will attempt to document it as best I can. Specifically with a classic leaning... I don't do 'trendy', I do classic, mostly black, dark denim... still working on good tops though.

2010, you are most welcome

2010-01-05T22:40:00.004-05:00

It's a new year, a clean slate. I'm taking a sabatical for the next few months. Moving back to NYC, taking classes, looking for work, making a personal website, staying with friends, seeing old friends, meeting new people, experimenting with food, and trying to live on a smaller budget.

My stuff is packed, I'm leaving my apartment tomorrow (though I may have to come back to take out the trash and recycling :P ). I'm headed into the unknown. Tomorrow I have a pile of books to sell. When I get to my mom's house I want to go through all my stuff (this was the only time she had to help me move, so I didn't have time to sort it before moving it.) I want to reduce my clutter. Reduce my possessions that make it hard to move around. I don't know where I will be going next, I might be applying for school in Sweden, or working architecture in Colorado (or other random state), or living in Brooklyn. As far as 2010 this is what I know
- my brother is getting married, and I will be there
- I want to meditate, do yoga and run
- I want to explore the field of architecture and get more experience and figure out what part I want in it (via classes, informational interviews, apply for school, do certificates, get an internship- do what it takes to figure out what I want my career to be)

I was inspired by the film 'Coco Before Chanel' to take a pattern making class so I get more out of my love of sewing, hopefully there is a spot left. I'm also interested in furniture design, graphic design as well as green architecture. Much to explore. I also plan to get this blog back on track... food!

Tonight we went to North Star on Fall Street in Ithaca, NY. It was fantastic! Large portions, tasty local food, good conversation. The service was a little slow, which makes my only warning: don't go here if you are with someone you can't make conversation with!

Time to chill a bit and lay down, my back is sore from a day spent packing and lifting and descending stairs. I am excited/scared/nervous about why lies ahead, which made it difficult to pack.

Travel bug, links to some lists, and the future... silver lining

2010-01-02T17:17:00.003-05:00

I had the itch of the travel bug. I still do. Reality, however, has settled in. I cannot travel. I have debts. A cell phone contract, an apartment lease to still get out of. I've had lots of time to think about all the different options that lay head and it would seem. All signs point to New York. I have been back in Portland and feel like I could live here, I love all the neighborhoods. I could afford a house. But I'm not ready to buy a house. I'm not ready to buy a house though. So moving somewhere because I could eventually afford a house there... isn't really the best reason to move somewhere. Maybe someday, meanwhile I can remember that I want to buy property eventually and actual deal with money like that is what I'm planning... someday, down the line, somewhere.
So, along with trying to live in the present I have made some goals for myself and some plans for when I get back to New York. I am going to trust that everything happens for a reason and I am going to trust that everything is happening perfectly. I'm going back to New York and things will work out however they are meant to.

10 tips for fearless living

10 ways to fill up on happiness

9 ways to find peace of mind

Another thing that helps me feel better is to watch How I Met Your Mother. A show where people fall in love and then break up and things get better, and they have careers they are passionate about, and life happens and it's hilarious! And who doesn't love Neil Patrick Harris!

I'm looking forward to blogging about moving (back) to New York City. Seeking out ways to save money, meet new people, explore things I'm interested in, see old friends, make new friends, learning Spanish, reading more books, surfing the internet less, learning to cook more things, learning about beer, explore my career and experiment in living in the now (running, meditation, creativity).

Travel plans + traveling solo

2009-12-29T00:57:00.003-05:00

10 Things to Learn about Yourself When Traveling Alone

I have also been researching some Spanish immersion programs in Latin America. I found flights, round trip, for $400 to $600 and a place in Honduras that's $800 for a month. I have also been reading about the Peace Corps (probably not for me), and contemplating all the possibilities and what responsibilities I have here that I would have to deal with (get out of cell phone contract, rent out apartment, etc.)

I got to go snowboarding today for the first time this season, I rented a helmet (at a mere $3/day) and it gave me the confidence to try linking my turns more and it was, in my opinion, one of my most successful days! I am now looking into where I can go for cheap in the NE when I get back... and hopefully I can get some friends to come along as well!

I'm not sure what will be happening in the next few months... let alone the next one month. I thought I knew what I wanted, then it changed some when I met him and now I don't know what I want. As many friends suggested, it's the perfect time to travel. I'm not really ready to commit to any specific career. I'm in a time of exploring. And that's ok. I am where I need to be. And everything is going to work out. Things happen for a reason.

The world is my oyster

2009-12-28T02:39:00.004-05:00

What to do, what to do?

exploring my options, heading back to NY in a few days, going to pack up, sell some books, get rid of some possessions, finally get back my bottle deposits, etc. Move everything to my mom's house, go to NYC, sign up for some spring classes (hopefully hear back about the one job I have a chance of hearing back from with Habitat for Humanity) then figuring out what to do next. Travel to Latin America and learn Spanish? Go work on organic and farm in Italy or Greece in April? Road trip around the US visiting family? Apply to the Yestermorrow of Costa Rica for their internship?

My mom introduced me to insight meditation over Xmas and it has really been helping and I'm excited about living more in the present. I'm a very driven person and have always looked at the future and not really enjoyed the present. I'm excited about running, meditating, hopefully boxing and shooting again, exploring new neighborhoods in NYC, exploring the wonderful world of architecture in school and through informational interviews - to see where I fit into the scheme of things, and taking a step back from the career path I've been on for so long- to reassess and figure out what I really want.

I'm seriously considering a trip to Latin America. For $500 I can fly there, for $800 I can learn Spanish, get 3 meals a day and stay with a family in Honduras for a month. Immersion is the best way to learn, and that's way less than I spend on rent in NY. Hmmm, might have to wait until April... or even Jan 2011 if I get the Habitat job. So many possibilities!

The world is my oyster. I was handed lemons and now I am going to explore many varieties of lemonade, before I decide which kind to make.

So much to think about

2009-12-21T18:00:00.001-05:00

I'm trying to figure out what to do next. I applied for a job with Habitat for Humanity that I really hope I get, which would give me time to be working and thinking about what I will do next. But I don't want to count my chicks before they hatch so I am researching school programs, Masters, Certificates, etc. I don't know exactly what I'm looking for. I really enjoyed the Green Remodeling course I took this summer at Yestermorrow. It made a lot of sense to me about building science.

I'm trying to figure out why I veered off towards Landscape Architecture... it made so much sense to me when I did it, but I was originally going to apply to Sustainable Architecture programs and I am ironically finding myself there again. Either Sustainable architecture or construction management. It's only been two weeks since I made the decision to leave Cornell, and had my heart broken, and trying to figure out what to do, where to go, especially in this economy, is exhausting. And I don't know how to turn my brain off and just deal with it later and enjoy where I'm at which is on vacation.

And none of this is cheap. To find a new person to take over my lease, pain in the butt in a city that is not NYC. To move all my stuff. I should just sell a bunch of my stuff. I have so many books, I don't even reference them all that often. I have a lot of arts/crafts/sewing supplies, those add up. I need to simplify my material possessions. I need to find a place to live where I can cook, and have people over to cook with. (Or maybe just go to friends' homes and cook for them...) I need to get my priorities back in line. Me, me, me, me. Career, school, home, food, exercise. I want to start running again. There's a half-marathon in NYC at the end of April. It is hard to apply for jobs when I don't have an address. I want a social life again. I am sort of beginning to understand what happened in the last few months with me, but now I need to figure out how to make things better.

I won't even be back in Ithaca for 2 more weeks, crazy! So much time. So much to do (I didn't pack a thing, and I will return with a day and a half to pack!) Hopefully sell some books, take my bottles back for deposit, etc. Pack my car with the things I want to have access too... probably drive to NYC in Jan, so I can drive to Ithaca if I need to... probably wait until A is back from Mexico to go back up...

Back to tv and school research and coffee with S soon in Eugene. Remember self. You are on vacation!

Portland is a foodie town

2009-12-18T02:56:00.002-05:00

And I finally started to look into it. Last time I was in Portland with KE I really wanted to go out to a meal at one of Portland's well known foodie places but money was an issue so we didn't explore the food offerings. But now... I used my Xmas money that was supposed to be for our new years plans and I went out for dinner with my friend L and her new beau at Toro Bravo in NE Portland.

I had a few glasses of a tasty Rioja-- Bold and smooth. I forgot how much I like red wine, it had been so long! Why I do not know! Then I had a bacon wrapped date with an almond in the middle. I didn't care for the almond in the middle, but the date and bacon made a fantastic pair! I'm glad the waitress told us that there were almonds in the middle or I would have thought I bit into the pit! I shared some of L's salad that was quite tasty, as well as a squash ravioli thingy that was tasty with a little spice. I ended my meal with a flatbread with black truffle cheese and arugula. Oh my, that was good. I love cheese with the bitter bite of arugula. I wish I'd had that earlier in the meal. We were all too full to get a dessert but it was a delicious meal. I'm sure if I had less to drink and hadn't spent all the dinner time in catch up mode with L that my restaurant review would be much more interesting and wordy :P

It's about time to go to sleep... one of the benefits of drinking wine. Mmmm wine.

Oregon, shopping and eating

2009-12-17T00:55:00.003-05:00

It's so nice to be back in Portland. I still don't see myself moving back here, despite recurring 'where should I live' tests telling me Portland is the place for me. The economy. I don't have a network of friends here... I have a line of friends (2 people) and some family. Maybe when I fall out of love with New York City but, I'm just not ready to give up on NYC!

I have eaten more today than I have any day in the last week and a half, so that's probably good. I'm feeling inspired to start running. I want to find a race in NYC to start training for and, more importantly, find some people to start training with!

I did a bit of shopping today too, got some new skinny jeans, a sexy V-neck sweater, some white ballerina flats, and a couple black tanktops. I like black and dark clothes. Which is fine except my dad's two awesomest cats ever (Xena and Xerxes- who jump up on your lap when you pat it, come when you call them, and Xerxes curls up with me under the covers) are white Siamese cats. Black clothing's worst enemy!!

I also did some book shopping today. I picked up a couple books as gifts for my brother and his fiancee I think they are going to enjoy. I got a couple cover letter and resume writing books (and promptly applied for a Habitat for Humanity position- fingers crossed!!!!!!!) and a book recommended to me by my neighbor in Ithaca called The Beauty Myth. I'm looking forward to reading it but for now, I'm ending my night watching Funny People.

Interesting and thought provoking articles

2009-12-15T01:22:00.001-05:00

Singles: Patterns of Pursuit Psychology Today

Sexual Energy and the Single Woman Psychology Today

The Art of Now Psychology Today

Travel to Create Your Self Psychology Today

I like this magazine :)

heading home-ish

2009-12-14T22:33:00.003-05:00

I'm so glad I'm heading back to Oregon, I actually extended my stay so that I wouldn't be alone over New Years Eve (I'd had plans with KE). I'm freaking out about money because I haven't found someone to take over my apartment yet, so my next best bet is someone to take over in Feb, but this isn't the city- there aren't as many people constantly moving.

I'm trying to keep myself pumped about the benefits of being single now. I'm sad that this man who was so important to me won't be in my life anymore, but it work me up to the fact that I had made him such a priority and lost myself a bit. So now I am trying to find myself again. After my trip to Oregon, I'll come back and move my stuff to my mom's and then I don't know what. I might stay with her for a bit and drive back up to show the apartment, I might head straight to the city, I might do something else. Going back to NYC is my first instinct because that was home for the last 8 years. But the economy isn't great there for my field, but it isn't great anywhere. I took an online quiz again to see where I should live at findyourspot.com and Portland came up first, again. New York didn't actually show up on my list, I think because I checked the box for medium cities so mostly that's what I got. Providence was on the list as well and I like Providence but the unemployment rate there is really high, and that's where KE is from, so I don't see that happening. Albuquerque, NM was second on the list, but I'm not really into the SE... I'm a Yankee :P

Being single means I can focus on myself, rediscover the things that I like, go out and meet new people, things that I have done in the past and enjoyed when I was doing them before I met KE. There was life before him, there will be life after him. I'm so glad I'm going home to spend time with family. I'm a planner and generally make along term plan but at this point I don't have one. This is new territory for me. I'm also dealing with some personal stuff and may start to see a counselor after the holidays before I make any decisions about where to go or what to do. I've been following this path since like 8th grade when I decided my career path. I have always been driven in my career, but I have derived so much of my happiness from my work and I need more.

If this isn't a quarter-life crisis, I don't know what is. These decisions aren't cheap, but figuring out myself and following my dreams and trying to be happy... are things worth splurging on. It is, after all, just money. (Hopefully I feel this way when I'm job hunting for months.) I just have to remind myself that this is a phase. I will find a new job, I will figure out my path, I will learn to enjoy the journey and take pressure off the destination, and eventually I will find a man who wants to share the journey together.

I have been exploring working abroad, Outward Bound courses, entry level jobs in NY, taking a road trip, sustainable jobs, reading up on the economy, career path options, selling my car, finding a new tenant, exercises in personal exploration and positive thinking. Oh and trying not to plan.

Making lemonade, finding the silver lining in a broken heart

2009-12-09T23:27:00.006-05:00

I just drew this trying to do some art therapy for myself...

Moving away from learning to be cheap my recent decisions will not be cheap at all... except hopefully in the long run. Last weekend KE and I broke up. I spent a lot of time thinking and talking to my mom and I was telling her how I was not happy at school. I have been less and less passionate about my career path. After my summer at Yestermorrow I went straight into school without time to process how the experience changed me. In part because I don't feel solid in my program and in part because I wanted to be closer to KE I said I wanted to move back to the city. KE decided that he needs to focus on his career fully which means no time for me. I am devastated, dropping weight like crazy for lack of appetite and still planning to move back to the city.

I emailed everyone I know, I have a couple friends I can stay with while I look for a sublet apartment and a new job. I believe that KE and I will be friends but I need to really take a break in order to be ready for that. I still want him to be a part of my life, he was my rock for the last 6 months when I went through a lot of change. Now I need to be my own rock and face change again. Luckily I have many great friends and very supportive family. I have already had offers of places to crash all over the country. I am taking this opportunity to really reevaluate my own career goals. I lost sight of my goals because I had KE and he became my goal. I had my eggs in many baskets and then suddenly I had one basket and it was him and he wasn't ready for it. This has been easier than the last break up, I have grown a lot and I am both dreading and looking forward to even more personal growth to come in the months ahead.

For this move I will be traveling light. I will put all my things in storage near my mom's house, and coordinate my move with her move (again!) so that we only rent one truck. This way we can also help each other move. I will keep my car at her house in DE and come up to NY with what I can carry in a backpack and a duffel bag. I have already contacted friends and gotten a couple offers of places to stay while I look for a sublet, which is near impossible when outside the city. I am going to push this time of change for myself and try to move to an area that is outside my comfort zone. I lived in the Pratt area for 8 years and it is what I know. I am going to try living in Manhattan. Even if that means more money and less space. I am also going to do what I was doing in my last between relationship time: self improvement. I want to say yes to going out. I want to be more involved. If I am living in a small apartment I will go out. If I start out with just a few months sublet I can see how this new approach works for me.

I will also be job hunting. Part of why I am leaving this prestigious school is the cost of the school and the benefits I will gain that require the degree I'm working towards just don't add up. After my summer on a construction site, where I was working with my hands, and I loved it. I have learned through my limited work experience I need an office that keeps me busy, especially with a variety of tasks or else I tend to get bored. I like working with my hands, I always have. In my free time I sew and bake and do crafty things- like a card cut out of paint chips with an exacto knife. Precision and detailed work. In architecture school I was well known for my detailed models and love of tweezers for assembling them. I need to do something using my hands. If I can't do it for my main career at least I can find a job where I am on a construction site, and over see schedules, planning and coordination. These are things I do in my spare time for myself. Right now, however, my plan extends until Feb. Move to NY, find a job. In December I will be reading a couple books to help me think about the kinds of jobs I want to apply for and to work on my cover letter writing skills. This trip to Oregon couldn't come at a better time. Xmas with family at the beach house will be comforting. Although the wedding weekend that I'm about to head into might be a little rough. Friday bachelorette party, Saturday bridal shower, Sunday wedding. But if I remind myself that I'm not ready, but like the last breakup, I want to do new things, get a hair cut, dress up, make myself feel attractive. Perhaps a ladies night out is just what I need.

This has been an exhausting week, and it hasn't even been a full week yet. I had to come home and de-KE my apartment, I have gifts for him for Xmas that are now sitting in a box making me sad. I understand his reasons for not being able to focus on a relationship but that doesn't make it hurt any less. I hope that he figures out what he wants just as I hope that I figure out what I want.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But don't just make regular lemonade. Think about how you can make better lemonade. What can you do to improve your lemonade? I am working on improving myself so that my next relationship will be even better because I will be stronger and remember keep my eggs in more than one basket.

Sigh. I'm looking forward to going back to the city in part to go to museums, maybe practice some more drawing, that was one of my favorite things in Rome was all the drawings we did. I need to get out more and being in school does not lead to me getting out more, it leads to me retreating into my hermit shell, having KE made that feel like it was ok but it really wasn't.

Time for yet another cup of tea.

depressed

2009-12-07T21:26:00.003-05:00

Yeah, so... when I'm depressed I don't eat. 3 days and I've hardly eaten anything (fully dressed I weight less than I did after Thanksgiving. Now is not a good time for food in my life.

A big change behind me over the weekend (hence the depression). Big changes ahead... tbd planning in process, lots of thinking to do and some reading of some hopefully helpful books.

The Brown Rice Chronicles

2009-12-01T18:29:00.004-05:00

I made brown rice yesterday:
1/2 c long grain brown rice
1c + 1/4 c water

boiled covered until the water was gone

RESULT: crunchy rice NO GOOD

I made brown rice today:
1/2 c long grain brown rice
2 cups water

boiled uncovered until the water was mostly gone

RESULT: It's goo. I have successfully made goo (KE must be so proud)

Tomorrow I will try again. Hopefully I'll get the hang of this brown rice thing, I still have a large bag of it!

I made this rice to go with curry, my new favorite cheap meal! So good and it tastes just like it does from the Thai places in Brooklyn!

Pineapple & Broccoli Red Coconut Curry
1 brick of tofu- pressed 1 hour and then fry (use a nonstick... I learned the hard way that stainless steel just doesn't work)
approx 1 Tbsp oil
1/2 onion chopped small,
3 spoonfuls Thai Red Curry Paste
1 cap coconut milk
3/4 c broccoli (if it's frozen, heat it up in water for a bit and drain before adding to curry)
1/2 c pineapple tidbits
Splash of fish sauce
Prepared Brown Rice

1. Prep Tofu and set aside.
2. Cook onion and olive oil covered to soften a bit (learned form watching Julia Child made French Onion Soup- on my list to attempt this winter!)
3. Add curry paste, stir around, add broccoli, stir some more. Add coconut milk and pineapple bits and sprinkle of fish sauce and simmer.
4. Add tofu and simmer a bit more til reheated.
5. Serve over brown rice (hopefully you know how to make it... or you buy the instant stuff... which has a better success rate!)

Pantry

2009-11-23T13:18:00.003-05:00

I'm finally using the last of the pasta I bought at Costco, hooray! To get more variety in my diet I am going to try eating different grains now- focusing on rice and Asian style dishes. I got a brick of tofu with which to experiment. I didn't know you were supposed to press it until KE showed me when he prepared tofu for dinner one night. I don't recall eating a lot of tofu growing up, so I'm not very familiar with how to prepare it. (Specifically how to get it to be like the tofu I've had at restaurants.) Tofu is one of those mystery ingredients I want to learn about. With winter break approaching I am getting excited for the culinary experiments - especially while staying with KE. Somehow it's easier to cook for 2 than for one... especially when you don't like left overs (like me).

I also purchased some Thai curry paste and a can of coconut milk. I'd like to try to make a curry dish with rice, veggies and tofu. I read in my big-ass sauce book about making a Thai curry and it's pretty simple, so long as you have the ingredients. In looking at what to make for my pre-thanksgiving I was evaluating my pans and I think I need a new 2-QT saucepan. I use it frequently and the non-stick coating is scratched pretty badly. I'd like to get a nice stainless steel one. I got rid of all my other nonstick pans and while cleaning them is a little more work, I like not worrying about flakes of teflon in my body :)

Tomorrow is Pre-Thanksgiving, I'll be sure to report our menu and how it went! (There's only 3 of us and my mom and step dad aren't picky, so I'm going vegetarian, and it will not be a feast, to prevent us all from overeating, a family tradition.)

Thanksgiving

2009-11-20T23:17:00.007-05:00

My mom and step dad are coming up for an early Thanksgiving, because I wanted to spend T-day with KE (aren't they understanding parents :) )

I'm trying to keep up with my decision to be vegetarian outside of the house, my first test was Turkey at today's Landscape Architecture department Thanksgiving Feast. As the first test... it was pretty easy to pass up. And I wasn't saying to anyone's face so no feelings were hurt (that's one of the food issues that causes weight gain especially in the holidays as I recall from a certain 4th of July). There was stuffing that tasted like it was flavored with ramen packets, there were two types of yams (one of which was a little chunky and very tasty!) there were mashed potatoes that were "meh" and there was broccoli that I had to restrain myself from taking too much. I think it had garlic on it but whatever it was... it was tasty!

I'm still excited to read my new book on how to become vegetarian. I want to make sure I still eat well or rather... that I DO eat well.

I was looking through my spending and I spend more money on food than anything else (after rent). I have been more careful with how I spend money, because I really don't want to waste food. I bought a large tub of strawberry Stonybrook yogurt. And it is disgusting. I've purchased the little cups and they taste fine but this one tastes like it was flavored with melted down plastic strawberries. It's horrible! So instead of saving money by buying the big container, I wasted money because I cannot eat this yogurt. It is so frustrating. I also purchased a loaf of sourdough but then didn't eat it that night, or the next night then the next night it was stale. Ew. I stuck it in the freezer hopefully I'll be able to do something with it, what I don't know.

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving, but not as much as I am looking forward to Xmas, when I won't have final projects due the following week! I am looking forward to family time at both holidays, I love family time, especially over food. As long as I remember portion control it will be a great weekend.

As far as exercise, I did finally get dumbbells to exercise with, I haven't had a chance to exercise yet. I have Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. I did it one day (without weights) and I was still sore. I really want to do it 30 days in a row. Hopefully to start soon, like after he semester is over. I don't think I will be reaching my goal by new years. I finally stopped buying the mint M&Ms which will help I think. Sigh. 'tis the season to gain weight.

Mid October... sigh. Seriously need to get back on track. I was on the right track in mid October.. weddings. That's when I had two weddings to go to, with tasty food... and open bars :) I think trips to the city hurt my weight. Visiting friends, going out to eat. When I am at home, I don't go out to eat. I'm trying to eat more veggies. I stopped myself from buying pasta so I can start eating more rice. I'm trying to use what I have at home but I've also realized that I need to try to experiment with my cooking a little more. I love the staples I know how to make but if I am expected to feed additional people later in life, I'm going to need some variety. Not everyone is happy with a loaf of bread and cheese or steamed broccoli and pasta and cheese for dinner. Oh, and I think I eat too much cheese. I need to work on that.

So... how to eat well, enjoy variety, and have some experimental meals. I picked up some coconut milk and Thai curry paste... I have some tofu, I'm excited to experiment with it. To report back soon!

I made gingersnaps yesterday (97 of them!) this was the recipe. I baked them for about 8.5 minutes, They came out thin, flat and chewy. Just how I like them! Somehow they weren't as tasty fresh out of the oven but the next day they were super tasty. Very ginger-y. I wish I had some peach sauce and vanilla ice cream to accompany them!

Cheap food

2009-11-09T23:51:00.004-05:00

The cost of food has been going down since the start of the industrial age. Please look at the increasing cost of medical care. See anything fishy? They are pretty much inverse. As the price of food went down, and cheaper calories from added-value foods were made more readily available people began consuming more and more... crap.

This is the topic I am obsessed with: food access, local food economies, food availability, changing the subsidy structure of the US.

A tasty dinner

2009-11-09T21:29:00.007-05:00

What a tasty dinner.

Double cooked brussel sprouts ($3 for the whole thing, eating about 1/3 of the package)
roasted red pepper and tomato soup ($1.50, eating half of it)
sourdough grilled cheese ($3.75 loaf of bread, eating 2 thick-ish slices and a bit of cheese off a 2# block of Cabot Seriously Sharp. Cost... 8.99/lb)

Halve brussel sprouts then steam. Make grilled cheese sandwich using, remove when done and sautee brussel sprouts in pan (using a little extra fat. Olive oil or butter, I used butter this time but usually use olive oil). Heat up soup. Sprinkle with salt and pepper as desired. Serve. Dip sandwich in soup. Smile at your tasty meal :)

Man oh man. I love brussel sprouts cooked this way. Steaming makes them soft, sauteeing gives the the little burn-y spots that taste so good.

I should not have bought the mint M&Ms... sooo good,

quick dessert

2009-11-08T20:06:00.002-05:00

I have lots of frozen berries, and a bit of Ben & Jerry's vanilla ice cream (so good!)

In a small saucepan heat up, some berries, a splash of rum and heat until boiling for a little bit. Pour over ice cream and eat! Mmm. No need to add extra sugar like the compote recipes tell you too. Unless you want juicier berries.

Meat - This omnivore's dilemma

2009-11-08T19:01:00.006-05:00

I'm contemplating giving up meat. I've been reading a lot about how meat should be eaten in small amounts, which I already do. And eating meat takes a larger toll on the environment than a vegetarian diet. My family was pescetarian growing up, after a certain age. I would eat chicken at friend's houses and restaurants, but I'm realizing now that logic is backwards. At a restaurant I can't know where the meat is coming from and being a compassionate carnivore requires knowing the origins of your meat.

Also I just wasted $9 of free range chicken because I didn't use it fast enough. I didn't even prepare it. I just bought it with plans to prepare it, then froze it then thawed it and somewhere in that process it went bad. And that pisses. me. off. I was all ready to make it and it had gone bad. Wasting food is one of my issues- I have a tendency to waste food. It's an issues I've been trying to deal with since living alone where I no longer have the excuse that my food was moved and is hiding behind my roommate's milk...

I got a book, The New Becoming Vegetarian, to read before I make the decision final. I do like meat... and I have no idea how to cook tofu. But I was vegan for 2 months back in '07 and that was fine- the only reason I came out of it was because I missed cheese.

It's also cheaper to eat vegetarian, at least, when you choose meat like I do. Sustainable/free-rage/local meat is expensive. I have no desire to eat the cheaper corn fed of questionable origin meats with lots of antibiotics.

One of the big things is getting enough protein, especially as I am trying to work out more... uh, in theory... but rice and beans is supposed to be a complete protein when eaten together. I made brown rice and mixed it into my chili. It was soooo filling.

I shall keep you posted on the transition!

The quinetessential city dwellers fireplace

2009-10-12T21:59:00.003-04:00

1. install greasemonkey,
2. install Loopy for youtube
3. go here and click 'loop' (bottom right) then go to fullscreen mode
(remember to adjust the time on or disable your screen saver)

Not sure what to do with what's in your fridge?

2009-10-05T20:06:00.002-04:00

This website, My Fridge Food, gives you recipes based on ingredients you select. If you already have a list of what's in your pantry, this will help you figure out what your options are for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Side note

2009-10-05T15:16:00.002-04:00

I'm famous! Well... it's my 15 minutes of fame. I'm quoted in the NY Times Magazine from October 4th, 2009, from my time at Yestermorrow last summer.

I will also being doing a presentation next Friday about the project we did this summer at my university.

sigh

2009-10-04T20:37:00.004-04:00

I made chili yesterday! I froze 2/3rds of it in smaller containers so that I can thaw it in the fridge and not let it go bad. I have realized I need to use my freezer more.
I'm frustrated because I purchased a small-ish bunch of asapragus a couple days ago, I stored it upright in water like you are supposed to. When I went to eat it for lunch today the tops were soggy and stinky. One more entry to the food waste journal.
1 bunch of asparagus $2.80
I'm guessing that frozen vegetables might be better for me because of my inconsistent rate of eating them. I ate my farmer's market broccoli in time. I'm still working on the bunch of kale I bought a week ago.

I think I'm going to make some hot chocolate... so my milk doesn't go to waste too. I thought I'd make some tapioca pudding, but I don't have any tapioca :( I could have sworn I had some in my pantry when I left my stuff with my mom... mom? did you take it!? And now I don't want to spend the extra money on that luxury (I'd rather spend it on some nice dark chocolate). For now... homework and Mexican hot chocolate!

Quick dinner

2009-10-01T20:53:00.004-04:00

steamed summer squash (some lil' fellas I got at the farmer's market last weekend)
pasta (I bought a whole bunch of pasta at Costco during the summer, still using it up, wishing it was whole wheat though...)
Cheddar cheese (I get flack for this all the time, because I put cheddar on everything, even spaghetti with marinara sauce, but it's so so good!)

Quite a simple dinner.

Oh, and fresh mint tea: fresh leaves of mint and hot water. So tasty and supposedly helps aid digestion! It also takes me back to morocco (minus the dirt and sugar commonly found in the tea there... and fewer leaves because I just have the one plant- and I want it to last ). This is totally my new favorite. I think it's better than green tea.

I might have some ice cream later. I probably shouldn't have bought the ice cream, but I like it so much! Maybe a milkshake, I need to use my milk before it goes bad.

I'm looking forward to doing a bit more cooking this weekend (amidst prepping for my midterm). It feels so good to make food. I miss having people to share it with though.

*Sigh* moving/long distance relationship/new town

Working out at home

2009-09-27T17:08:00.002-04:00

I recently stumbled upon this website, exercise.tv, because I was looking for exercise videos I could get for FREE!!!

I just tried this free cardio kickboxing one and I really enjoyed it! (It helped me feel warm in my cold apartment!)

They way I got myself to finally do it (I found this site several weeks ago and didn't do anything yet!) I set a timer for time I coudl do work and then when the timer went off I got my workout clothes on and moved my chair aside and did the workout in my office/living room. I feel pretty pumped and it's nice. I miss exercise. I used to do a boxing class at the gym across the street form my work and I loved it. I'd never done kickboxing before, I'm sure my kicks aren't as high or as properly formed as they could be but I think if I continue to do this video I'll get better.

I'm excited about this! I also got Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred workout on my netflix cue, should receive that real soon and then decide if I want to purchase it.

Some things to try for to convince yourself to exercise
(good luck remembering them, try writing reminder notes, and setting alarm reminders for workouts):

take note of how great you feel at the end of a workout and remind yourself every time you don't feel up to working out
bribe yourself for workouts. Every workout is $1 towards new lingere, every workout is $1 towards a new book, every workout is $1 towards your next vacation. Get creative, think about the things that will encourage you the most
Write notes to yourself (I have one on my mirror that says "DON'T BE LAZY, work out, go for a run, don't forget to stretch")- it all depends on how you talk to yourself :P

The workout I just did was only 22 minutes. It is totally possible to make time for that in the morning before breakfast. Now that I did my exercise for the day, I'm going to make dinner! Yay!

Eating well on a downsized budget - NYTimes article

2009-09-27T14:09:00.022-04:00

Eating well on a Downsized Budget By JANE E. BRODY, March 2, 2009

"So let’s welcome back to the American table meals made from potatoes, eggs, beans, low-fat or nonfat yogurt and milk (including reconstituted powdered milk), carrots, kale or collards, onions, bananas, apples, peanut butter, almonds, lean ground beef, chicken and turkey, along with canned or frozen corn, peas, tomatoes, broccoli and fish. For nutrient-dense beverages, Dr. Drewnowski suggests 100 percent fruit juice blends and fruit-and-vegetable juice blends."

yay, I have and have been eating most of these things!

Farmer's market trip

2009-09-27T12:35:00.003-04:00

Rainy days are my favorite for farmer's markets, fewer people and still fresh tasty local produce! I went to the Farmer's market today with $22 in my pocket for food for the week (in addition to my 2.5 hour grocery shopping last week) and this is what I came out with:

$6 Rosemary plant
$2 4 ears of corn
$1.5 pumpkin
$6 1/4 peck of Ginger Gold apples
$3 large bunch of kale
$1.5 quart of small squash
$2 head of broccoli

$22 TOTAL
All local, fresh, in season, some of it organic (but I didn't,honestly, check that).

So meals for the week might include:
baked apples for dessert!
Roasted Acorn Squash (from last week's grocery store visit)
Potatoes (past farmer's market seconds at $1.5/pound!) with rosemary and kale
Steamed broccoli with elbow noodles, cheese and pepper
Sauteed baby squash and kale
Roasted Pumpkin soup

I finally bought bread last week which took forever because I didn't want it to have sugar in it. I finally found a loaf of organic bread with honey sweetener. I am still trying to avoid processed sugar. I bought a small amount of maple sugar at the co-op ($3 worth, a tiny little bag when it costs about $13.50 a pound!) in case I need to sweeten something. I also have honey from my summer in Vermont, honey from my brother in Oregon and maple syrup from Vermont (but that's mostly reserved for acorn squash!). I have still been thinking a lot about making bread. I also have a bunch of plums I bought last weekend that I might make a baked good with... I'm really feeling the baking jones. Need to make something!

Latkes to warm my cool fall apartment

2009-09-26T21:20:00.000-04:00

The air is cooling off and it's been a bit windy today, time to close the windows! I am debating weather to bake or fry my latkes, olive oil is good for you so if I don't use too much it's probably ok. Having the oven on would heat up the house a bit though... hmmm... I'm going to make the mixture first and the decide how best to cook them.

Latkes (how I make them!):
3-4 russet potatoes
1 onion
2 egg
1 clove of garlic, pressed (or diced as finely as you can get it!)
4ish Tbsp white whole wheat flour
salt to taste
olive oil for frying

1. Clean potatoes and grate with a coarse grater into a big bowl. Sprinkle with salt, let sit while you do the dishes. Come back and squeeze out excess water from grated potatoes.
2. cut onion into small pieces (I like smaller pieces, some people probably like bigger slices of onion. Just don't make them too big or it will be hard for the latke to stay together during cooking.)
3. Stir together egg, garlic and onion in potatoes, add a little salt. Slowly add flour, but don't let it get too dry!
4. Using two spoons or your hands, form little pancakes, don't make them too thick or the centers will be undercooked. If you are frying and the latkes are a little too thick, you can put a lid on the pan and sort of bake them while they fry. Or if you want to bake them make them pretty thin and then flip them over part way through cooking (as suggested by this google search result for baked latkes).

Serve warm, with apple sauce, or sauerkraut, or slices of fresh apple, or sour cream, or salt!

mmm

2009-09-25T21:05:00.002-04:00

Oh Chow and Bon Appetite, why do you taunt me so with your tasty sounding dishes and beautiful food porn?!

Trying to figure out what one thing I want to make this weekend from a fancy recipe. Probably something apple based cause it 'tis the season and I LOVE APPLES!

The local apple I got is called Paula Red, it's the best apple I remember having both baked apple and fresh with peanut butter. Mmm, mouth watering, back to the great recipe hunt!

New cookbook!!

2009-09-25T15:09:00.002-04:00

I just received my copy of Baked, I'm so excited to make something out of it, everything looks amazing!!
The brownies look good, the pumpkin chocolate bread, the coconut snowball cupcakes, the sugar cookies decorated... and especially the grasshopper cake (mint and chocolate!!! YUMMY!)

Actual cooking experience to be blogged later :)

Debates

2009-09-25T12:41:00.003-04:00

I have this internal debate. Mostly it stems from the relationship of time, money and exercise. My school is located at the top of a hill at the base of which I live. It takes me about 25 minutes to get to class and probably a little less to get home. When I finish class at noon I want to go home and make lunch but I also feel encouraged to stick around on campus. On Friday nights there is a grad school happy hour at 4, and I haven't really been around most Fridays to check it out but if I walk home am I really going to walk back? In undergrad I was in studio all the time, it was also 5 minutes away, and I didn't have space to work at home. Now it's a uphill trek, I have an apartment all to my self and a room with a table to work on. I can also cross my legs under my table at home which I cannot do at my table in studio. A negative.

If I stay later than class, and didn't bring anything for lunch because I wasn't planning on staying there is also the debate: do I purchase food which will most likely be disappointing, or do I go home and plan to come back?

Coming back to studio after 5pm means I could park for free on campus (without a permit) and drive up here. It was nice when I did that on Wednesday for class because I went to the library afterward and then didn't have to carry all the books downhill, but it took about as long to get here as it would have to walk because of all the pedestrian traffic.

"Le sigh."

How to try to be a part of the group, and still get work done in a comfortable setting, and eat good food (which seems to mean that I made it or it's from one of my favorite restaurants in Brooklyn!).

Fall dessert, finally, baked apples again!!!

2009-09-24T19:35:00.006-04:00

Baked apples are probably one of my favorite desserts. Especially with vanilla Ciao Bella gelato, however I don't have that. I do have some whipping cream so I'll probably whip some up (assuming it's still good, the sell by date has passed, and I don't know how long it stays good after that).

I'm not sure what kind of apple I got but it's flesh is pure white and it tastes like real apple. It is the best apple I've had in a while. I love apple season!!!!

Baked apple for me (for one :) )
1 apple (in a tall ramekin) cored (I left the skin on, but I wish I hadn't)
some butter
some oats
some raisins
some cinnamon
some sliced almonds

set oven to 350 degrees
bake for 30 minutes

mix up all the stuff except the apple, keeping the butter in little cold chunks, and pour into cored cavity of apple in ramekin

top with ice cream or whipped cream or yogurt or sour cream

Budget woes or The conscientious eater - what can I eat?!

2009-09-24T08:22:00.005-04:00

My budget is small. Not by the standards of some, but compared to what I'm used to from when I was working full time in high end projects in New York City (where the cost of living is also higher). Getting used to this is hard. To be invited to go somewhere for a weekend throws my gas budget way out of proportion. I was living the last month like I wasn't on the budget that I am an it's frustrating to see that at the end of the month I haven't paid (or received) my gas/electric bill yet and now I've spent my September money and so that will have to come out of October, along with October's gas/electric. I also have 2 trips planned to attend weddings one of which we will be staying in a hotel. Time to buckle down more than I have been. When grocery shopping I have been price comparison shopping and opting not to get things that are not in season.

I spent 2.5 hours grocery shopping because all my learning about the food system is making it even harder to shop. I see fresh strawberries that are organic and I get excited until I walk up to them, realize they are from California, a wave of guilt rushes over me and I pass them by. I walk to the freezer and look at berries and I don't know where they are from and I think about if they are from California as well all the energy it takes to truck frozen goods across the country. It makes me wish I'd been here in the summer to get my own produce and freeze it/preserve it. My goal for next summer is to U-pick a lot and preserve as much as I can. Canning, filling my pantry and freezing, filling my freezer (it's supposed to be more efficient when full anyhow). I'm only feeding myself so a freezer and cupboard full of preserved food ought to last me a while. I asked a professor of mine if he could teach me next summer how to preserve things and he said he will.

So, before next summer, I need to:
- save money to buy more food than I need in the summer
- read about preserving
- scout deals on jars for preserving
- figure out if I'm going to plant anything and what I want to pick and preserve (Pesto, tomato sauce, fruit, veggies, pickles, sauerkraut, etc.)
- hit the library, cause I can't afford to buy the books that I want!

Argh. Money. I have some food in my pantry so I will probably be having rice and beans and using the things I have in my freezer like that pound of ground beef from the farmer's market. My biggest fear is wasting food. Making a bunch of it and not finishing it and letting it go to waste. That's been one of my biggest hurdles, and I no longer have the excuse of roommates moving my food in the fridge (which tends to lead to me forgetting about it). It's all me!

I've also been keeping close track of my spending by keeping receipts and obsessively checking my mint.com account. I did start using my credit card again, so that I can get Amazon rewards, to buy books I need for thesis research and cookbooks. But still trying to make sure that I can pay off the credit card as soon as I get home- no balances carried over. (Making my credit card work for me). I also need to figure out how to save some money every month for bigger purchases like a flight home at Christmas time, postage for mailing New Years cards (cause no one's getting an actual present, unless it's home made and made from things I already have).

Ok, this is too much stress talk before 9am. Must study a bit before climbing the hill to school. I have a free bus pass but am enjoying the daily exercise (with the exception of arriving to school sweaty and then getting cold because I'm sweaty!). Come winter time though, we'll see if I feel the same.

Kitchen ballet or sea scallop dinner.

2009-09-23T21:02:00.006-04:00

2 oz whole wheat spaghetti (1/8 of a box) $1.50 or so for a box of spaghetti
1/3 head of broccoli $2 for a head
4 sea scallops ($10.99/lb I got 8 for just under $4, about 50 cents a piece at Wegmans)
1 clove garlic
olive oil
Parmesan cheese
ground black pepper

(wish I had: fresh lemon juice)

How to do it seamlessly (a kitchen ballet if you will...):

Start water for pasta, put pasta in when boiling. Dice clove of garlic and broccoli. Heat up saute pan with olive oil, put broccoli into the pasta water, put garlic in saute pan. When oil is sizzling, set sea scallops in (make sure there is oil right where you set them). Pull broccoli out of pasta water with your trusty kitchen tongs, shake off water and plate. Flip sea scallops, hear them sizzle. Check that pasta is done (hopefully it is by now). Pull out of pot with tongs (or strain if you must) and let water drip off a bit before plating. Sprinkle Parmesean and pepper onto broccoli and pasta, plate scallops, grab toasty garlic bits and put on pasta and/or broccoli. If you have lemon juice (why, oh why, didn't I buy at least one lemon yesterday on my 2.5 hour grocery shopping trip!?) put it on now (you lucky so-and-so). Dive in!!!!

Smoothest meal I ever made!

A couple pieces of dark chocolate for dessert (though I probably should have waited a little bit before eating them!) I'm also realizing I need to get wine. Red and white. Probably in a box so that it keeps longer because I never finish a bottle of wine on my own (though I would if I made sure to cook with it, I was told that red wine makes homemade tomato sauce even better!)

I finally bought a loaf of bread

2009-09-23T08:14:00.001-04:00

Ah, the sweet simplicity of a peanut butter and jam sandwich.

Back from a weekend away... no new groceries

2009-09-21T21:29:00.006-04:00

Breakfast was... uh... some OJ, I forgot if I ate anything else.
Lunch was leftover black bean chili I made last week
For dinner: camping casserole: 2oz cooked pasta, 3oz tuna packet, thin slices of cheese and ground pepper. I would make that differently if I had some broccoli I could have cooked and could have stirred that in, alas my only veggies are a cucumber and some frozen peas and I wasn't really feeling the frozen peas tonight.

This leads me to: meal planning and grocery shopping tonight! (After catching up on some work, I'm glad the grocery store is 24 hours.)
One thing I noticed is that I need bread! I have peanut butter and black raspberry jam but nothing to eat it on and BP&J is a great quick lunch.
I need toilet paper...

I've been wanting latkes for a while so I will pick up some ingredients. I've also been thinking about trying to make something new at least once a week from one of my cookbooks. I generally make the same stuff over and over with little variation and I want to learn to cook more things. I've got my index card ready for making my grocery list, and my cookbooks are out and ready for me to meal plan as soon as I finish this bit of homework...

Time Out!

Later: Grocery store tomorrow night, too sleepy and need to get to sleep- didn't get enough sleep last night!

In Brooklyn = ethnic food!

2009-09-18T14:43:00.004-04:00

Indian food for lunch!
So apparently I don't like Mango Lassi that much... it's kind of sour
Tikka Masala, with rice and Naan
That's $20 out of my food budget for the month but soooo worth it.

I also splurged today on some books, one that I think will be really helpful for my thesis research: Hungry City and a copy of the current issue of Threads Magazine. I have some sewing projects on the board for a couple events in October and I'm always looking to learn better tailoring techniques. I splurged a bit on books the other day and today but I should be good with plenty to read now!

And tonight, Italian with my man, celebrating my birthday (a little late... part of the LDR deal).
Yay Brooklyn, back to lunch and studying!

Thursday overview and start of Friday

2009-09-18T09:04:00.002-04:00

My breakfast was a small glass of OJ and the last of my hard boiled eggs. This was insufficient to get me through beyond lunch. My stomach was even gurgled outloud during class! Then on campus I grabbed a sandwich: $3.11 for rye bread, mustard, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and provolone. It was tasty and filling enough but I needed something sweet. I walked up to the Ag Quad and there was a fraternity sponsored farm day going on! There were cows and calves and sheep to pet. One big cow with one one of those hatches to get into its rumen. It was in a large pen with a grid painted on the ground for cow-pie bingo- you win if it poops in your square! There was a stand of free apples from the Cornell, I had one yellowish green one that was really really tasty. Then I spent $1 to get some Cornell Dairy chocolate ice cream and off to class I went!

After class I headed home and drove to Brooklyn where I joined my boyfriend for dinner at his friend's house. They made an amazing dinner including the most elaborate salad I think I've ever had. It had beets, endive, some other kind of lettuce, goat cheese, orange wedges, a tarragon dressing and probably something else. It was soooo good! Building up salads is fun, I haven't been much of a salad eater lately but I definitely have had salad phases. The salad was followed by pasta with homemade pesto, seitan (which was way tastier than I expected, not sure how they cooked it but yum!) and halved cherry tomatoes. For dessert there was some chocolate tasting- an apricot milk chocolate and a cherry dark chocolate and homemade coffee and chocolate ice cream. Quite the feast!

Now I am off to get my morning bagel so that I am appropriately hungry when lunch time comes around for either Thai or Indian food... I haven't decided yet! Oh the tasty choices in Brooklyn, mmmm

An uneventful day in the life of food, evening edition

2009-09-16T19:57:00.005-04:00

Before I went to my evening class I grabbed a little applesauce cup. I used to buy the applesauce jar but I never, NEVER ate all the applesauce before it went bad. So I stick to the small cups so I have it when I need it (I use it for baking and pancakes instead of oil).

For dinner I made blackbean chili nachos by lining a pan with blue corn chips, piling the chili (made yesterday) on, heating at 350 for about 8 minutes, taking out, adding grated cheese, and heating ntil the cheese was melted. It was pretty tasty though maybe a little too much food!

It was suggested to me to include the price of making meals... I had begun this at the beginning of hte blog but was unsatisfied with the pricing. Some people divide up how much of a package you used. Like say you used 1/4 of a box of pasta and that pasta cost $4 so it says in the recipe financial analysis: pasta $1

I don't really see it that way because once I buy the pasta it's in my pantry and I only really account for purchases based on newly purchased food for a specific recipe or set of recipes. I'm not totally sure how to deal with this just yet, but attempts will be made. Another thought is just to look at what's in the pantry and how much I spent for the week and then follow with what I made that week using what's in my pantry. I'm proud of myself for not going to the grocery store this week and working with ingredients I have. I grew up in a Costco household so I am used to always having lots of food on hand but as a lone apartment dweller it makes less sense than the family of 4 pantry logic.

There will probably be some dessert later (after laundry and flashcard studying)... I do have whipping cream that expires on the 13th... and some defrosted berries I didn't use yet.... and some chopped up dark chocolate... hmmmmm

Addendum:
10:15pm, just home from doing laundry, got in minutes before the rain started! Yay! Had a soda and the sugary coating made my throat feel much better! I think I might be too full for my dessert though...

An uneventful day in the life of food

2009-09-16T13:55:00.001-04:00

Running late this morning for lack of sleep. Throat is feeling dry and scratchy, for the 3rd day in a row but so far that is the only symptom. A glass of orange juice as a poor excuse for breakfast calories and a walk up the hill. Two big ol' mugs of tea and a walk downhill home.
I'm hungry. I spot my car, I remember I have some road trip snack left in the back seat.
If you like Cheetos and cheese and crunchy pufy things that have nice texture and tasty flavor then I highly recommend these chip. I can not get enough of them! One thing i think is especially neat about them is that they don't have wheat! They are corn meal and rice flour based (gluten-free!) and real cheese and whey and buttermilk (boo lactose intolerance).

My absolute favorite chip (at present), which I constantly tell myself is the last time I will buy them, but it never is...

Before attacking dishes I had some cheese and then made some pasta and started chowing down on the leftover tomato sauce I made last Monday. Then I started writing another blog post I had an idea for and in doing the online research for that I learned that pasta sauce shouldn't be kept after 5 days. It's been about 10. Now I've sort of lost my appetite for eating what's on this here plate. Good thing I have brand new chili for dinner and I keep my fridge a little colder than average which I'm finding is keeping my veggies crisp a little longer. So after I throw out this plate of pasta... time to figure out something else to eat. Oh! Leftover hardboiled egg with salt! I'm not the biggest fan of lots of yolk (unless it's mixed with mustard) so I tend to not eat te whole yolk, but I love the texture of hard boiled egg whites!

That's all for now until dinner... which will be black bean salsa chili, possibly made into nachos over top a bed of blue corn tortilla chips... Fancy, I know :)

dinner: other half acorn squash and mustard lover's deviled eggs

2009-09-15T21:24:00.000-04:00

My dinner was the other half of acorn squashed, baked with maple syrup and butter. Then when I was still hungry an hour later... I hard boiled some eggs (thank you Joy of Cooking, they came out to perfection!!!) and made my mustard lover (mayo hater) deviled eggs. Very very, incredibly simple.

Hard boil eggs (take eggs out of fridge, put in pan, cover with 1 inch of water, bring to big bubbled boil, turn off heat, cover and let sit for 17 minutes (covered!) Remove eggs with a slotted spoon and run under cold water, or set in bowl with cold water. Tap egg on a plate to loosten shell alll over. Breaking it up into little pieces (while still attached to membrane below). Then peel off off the shell and membrane. Hopefully it comes off smoothly, it did for me today!! I always love when that happens. Then! Cut the peeled egg in half the long way, dump egg yolks into small bowl, mix in a couple heaping teaspoons of dijon mustard, mix together, put back into eggs sprinkle with paprika and eat! (There's no serving here when it's just you!)

Wash down with a beer :)

My dessert is a little bowl of frozen blueberries, I love the texture of frozen blueberries!

TO prep for tomorrow and the rest of the week I put some frozen berries in a bowl in the fridge to hopefully thaw a bit for tomorrow yogurt. Yogurt with only frozen berries (as opposed to just fresh or fresh and frozen) was too hard and thick to make in the blender, hopefully this will help. I'll find out in the morning!

I also made some blackbean salsa chili, a recipe given to me by my friend Erin who made it up. It is fantastic! satuee 1 onion + 1 cove garlic, pour in 1 jar salsa, 2 cans beans, sprinkle with some frozen corn. Proportions are up to you. Serve with cheddar cheese and blue corn tortilla chips. I like to sprinkle the cheese on top and then dip my chips, Erin likes to put cheese on the bottom of the bowl and then put chips in and crunch them up. So for meals the rest of the week I have leftover spaghetti sauce (to be eaten tomorrow before it goes bad!), black bean chili, yogurt, a cucumber, possibly spinach (it was starting to smell a little funny), too many lemons and 2 granny smith apples. My goal is to not need to go to the grocery store (or go out to eat) before I head back to Brooklyn again on Thursday evening. I think I can do it!

Cheers to frozen blueberries and beer!
Time to do some homework, good night!

I said no outloud, in my head

2009-09-15T17:36:00.001-04:00

to cookies! My instructors on tuesday and thursday provide snacks to keep students from passing our or eating inedible berries on plant walks. Today I told myself not to have them because I will feel gross after eating them and they won't help me to reach my fitness goals. I stuck to the food I brought foe myself today minus one big pretzel stick.

Breakfast:

Remainder of vanilla yogurt

Plain yogurt (switching because of added sugar in vanilla flavor)

frozen blueberries

Frozen blackberries

Tossed in blender eat with sprinkling of grapenuts

Lunch;

Pretzels

Fresh tomato eaten straight-up

One ounce seriously sharp cheddar

Dinner:

Tbd when I get home but will definitely include the other half of the acorn squash!

I have also decided to get a pedometer- I have been climbing the hill every morning and tromping back every afternoon and I'm quite sure I'm putting on some miles over the week. Oh and this morning I was down two pounds! That makes healthy choices a little more encouraging when you see numeric results!

Movie: Our Daily Bread

2009-09-14T22:27:00.002-04:00

I watched Our Daily Bread last night. It was a narrator-less film which made it all the more startling. It is filled with the sounds of machines, young chicks, squealing pigs. It shows, without comment, the inner workings of industrial agriculture systems. I highly recommend it. If you can, see it before Food Inc. Without the commentary you can get ideas before you hear anything form the filmmakers. It's available on Netflix.

Simple but tasty dinner: brocolli and acorn squash.

2009-09-14T20:10:00.001-04:00

Broccoli appetizer and squash main course:

Cut acorn squash in half, scoop out seeds and strings, place face up in pan drop in a pat of butter and some maple syrup and bake at 400 degrees for an hour.

While that's cooking and you are hungry and waiting:
Chop up some broccoli and parboil it (I won't be steaming anything until I get steel wool to clean my steamer sized pot) (get your water boiling, drop in the brocolli, then strain before it starts to lose it's bright colors! Toss with juice of half a lemon and fresh ground pepper and eat while waiting for acorn squash!

It's like dessert, with the butter and maple syrup. Sooo tasty! Probably could have cooked just a little less to avoid the extra burning... but still, tasty!

I'm contemplating documenting all my meals with at least a description of what I ate. I think it will be interesting to follow (for me at least!) especially in regard to my interest in slimming down. I've also been cooking at home way more than I did in Brooklyn, I think in part because I miss Brooklyn food and have been disapointed with everything I've gotten here and just wished I'd waited 'til I got home to make something that I knew would be good! I have several cookbooks to work from, and several I'm eying. Wish me luck and feel free to leave comments, especially encouraging ones!

Again, Acorn squash... so good

Addendum: Plus a bottle of Brooklyn Lager, my carbs of choice :)

How to use the last 2 zucchini and 3/4 of an onion?

2009-09-07T20:02:00.004-04:00

Spaghetti sauce! A quick dinner and the long simmer time gave me plenty of time to do my reading homework!

3/4 onion
2 small zucchini
1 clove garlic
1 large can diced tomatoes
2 oz. spagetti noodles

Chop the onion into tiny pieces (or whatever size you like really- I like my onion small, I really don't like big chunks of onion, layers still nestled together, in my spaghetti sauce)
Saute the chopped onion and garlic until the onions are light brown and translucent, toss in the zucchini and saute for a bit until they start getting light brown spots and pour in the can of chopped tomatoes.
Keep at a simmer for 45 minutes, stir occasionally- don't worry, all that liquid will cook off- you'll see!
Prepare pasta according to the directions serve on a small plate with warm sauce and some grated Parmesan on top!
So tasty :) enjoy!

Tips:

measure your pasta on a digital scale. It keeps portion sizes under control, which saves money because you are getting all the servings out of a box of pasta rather than half the servings :P
You could probably put pretty much any vegetable in this sauce. I've used carrots in the past, celery would probably be good. Chunks of squash perhaps? Anything that sounds good sauteed with tomato!

Side notes!

I realized today that it's been 2 weeks since I went out to eat/ got take out. I think I'm going to try the whole month- with the exception of when I go visit Brooklyn these next two weekends. If I can just eat at home I will save a lot of money. Especially if I don't over purchase and make sure I use everything I have! The list of the contents of my fridge is slowly shrinking but I really need to be more careful next time I go grocery shopping. I need to start meal planning!

Also, I planted some dill and leafy greens and one of them sprouted today! My basil is slowly coming back to life, I think I will bring it inside so I remember to water it more often. My mint is growing again! Also need to bring that one inside.

And I love my new cast iron pan. I also bought a cast iron dutch oven!! Very excited to use it to make stew when it starts getting colder!

Happy cooking!

What to do with broccoli stems and other bits of veggies?

2009-09-06T20:43:00.002-04:00

I followed the advice of a friend on facebook and also this video tip from Chow and popped them in a bag int he freezer. I should have some decent vegetable stock this upcoming soup season!

How I spent my summer

2009-09-05T22:41:00.002-04:00

I don't remember if I ever posted a link to the blog for my summer project... so here it is!
I was in Warren, VT at Yestermorrow doing a Natural Building Intensive. A 12 week course in which me (and the 9 guys!) and our instructors built a timberframe and strawbale building. I learned a lot about building science, construction methods, construction site management and about myself and how I am in community and social situations. It was an amazing experience and anyone who is able to participate is a lucky soul!

A day at home

2009-09-05T22:20:00.004-04:00

I made scrambled eggs with spinach and cheddar for... brunch :) And then I sauteed 3 little zucchini and a tomato and mixed with rigatoni for dinner, making enough to have it as a cold pasta salad tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'm having a little get together. I just got here but I met my neighbors and a friend's girlfriend and invited them all over for a little potluck! Not sure what I'm making yet, but I want to make something using things I already have (of which there is a list on the fridge, to remind me NOT to go grocery shopping again, because I love shopping for groceries!)

(the little asterisk means it's in the freezer)

One of the things I did today was watch the rest of project runway season 5, disc 3 (still have some catching up to do, and I don't have cable... or a TV, so I'm always a season behind!). So I started draping with fabrics I already have. I'm so not allowed to buy anything except for notions I need to finish a garment! So I played with some draping, not sewing anything yet- I have a few patterns I want to make and I'm still a little intimidated by draping and making patterns from draping because I'm all self/book taught and in the past it hasn't gotten me too far with draping... hopefully that will change!

Pretty elementary, but mostly fun to work on! (Though I really should have been reading, grad school is a lot of work!)

Oh basil, the headache you cause me

2009-09-01T19:33:00.004-04:00

I went to the farmer's market and basil is spendy. I really wanted to make fresh pesto! Then one booth had these pre made pesto kits with basil, already picked off the stem and the garlic and parsley. It just needed a couple more ingredients to be set. I was psyched! I bought it on Saturday... come today when I finally make time to make the pesto and the basil has all but turned completely black. So I love the "pesto pack", only $6 when a bunch of basil is $4 and won't get you the 3 cups this bag has. But I've learned... pesto must be made with the freshest of basil!

Pesto-less lesson learned :(

Getting settled in my new place

2009-08-30T21:12:00.000-04:00

The move is complete, I've met several of my neighbors, been to the farmer's market, Wegman's grocery store (24hrs! yay!) and wal-mart and now it's time to get back to blogging about learning to be cheap.

Some thoughts on setting up your apartment and how to do it cheaply.

Share- ask your neighbors if they are interested in sharing wireless internet- if they already have it even better- you can check the strength of the signal.

check craigslist for furniture or look up cheap ways to make your own. I went with the classic 70s style shelves because it's just me living here and I could carry each of the components individually.The black felt is to protect the recently refinished floors (and to prevent a heart attack in my landlord should he see concrete blocks on his floors!).

Unpack your kitchen and bathroom first- make a list before you go shopping for things you absolutely need. If there is a category of things you would like but could live without for a while save them for the next month. I didn't do this and spent way too much in my first month here. In the end I decided not to go back and get the paper towel holder, just one more expense that could be done without.

Take notes when you grocery shop. In Ithaca there are farmer's markets, a co-op, and a grocery store (that offers organic stuff, not so much fair trade, and is open 24 hours!). I have saved all my receipts so I can compare the costs. Tomatoes are cheaper at the farmer's market (for now) than at the big grocery store, same with potatoes (I got potato seconds for $1.50 a pound!). I am also comparing the costs of bulk pastas and grains. I'm not just comparing costs but also eco-footprints. I prefer to buy local because local food supports local farmers and I <3>

If your apartment doesn't come with things you are used to, like a microwave, toaster or toaster oven- try going without for a while and see if you really really need one. I don't have a microwave but reheating food in a skillet tastes far superior and I'm learning to use my broiler to quickly toast/melt things (nachos!)

Get an EZpass! Now that I have an actual address, I'm ordering mine I already have two trips to NYC planned and the ezpass will make the drive quicker, probably save gas from not slowing down and then accelerating and I will get discount rates on my tolls. How could I not get one!?

A couple foodie-on-a-budget tips:

Make your own salad dressing. It's super tasty and you can experiment with mixtures. My recipe is as follows (quantities vary): dijon mustard, pressed garlic (or finely diced), lemon juice from half a lemon, fresh ground pepper, olive oil. Mix together and keep in a container with a lid. It will get a little solid in the fridge but when it gets to room temp it will be runny again. You can make it as thick or thin as you like depending on how much olive oil you add.
If you have some ingredients and want to make something specific browse the web for recipes that use only things you have in stock, that way you don't have to make a special trip to the grocery store (so long as you keep your staples stocks) and you get what you wanted. I believe the phrase is "have your cake and eat it too"!
leftover roasted potatoes could be remade into mashed potatoes (really easily), add some roasted garlic to give your potatoes new flavor!

This was my dinner, reheated roasted potatoes (with way too much oregano, gotta watch that pour spout!) and romaine lettuce with my homemade dressing. I also had some guac-salad with nachos earlier today. I love having my own kitchen!

Tonight I am making an apple bread using this recipe. I changed it to make one loaf, it's just me and I don't want too much bread! I think it could potential make a phenomenal grilled cheese sandwich- granny smith and cheddar are a great combo! I will have to taste the bread before I get to excited. It had all good reviews which is a good sign, I did make some changes though. No sugar was added, I used white whole wheat flour, instead of oil I added a 1/2 cup of no sugar added applesauce. I poured a little olive oil and agave nectar in when it needed more moisture. I If this bread doesn't spread too much it could probably be made as a free-form loaf.

This could totally be made into whatever shape you wanted. The dough was super thick, it didn't rise/spread much at all. It's really tasty and hearty. I think it would be great with some whipped cream, a glass of milk or some vanilla gelato! Warm it's pretty good because of the soft apple chunks (I put in like 2x the amount of apple it called for). It's not overly sweet, would be a good hearty breakfast bread, possibly with some yogurt.. ooo or peanutbutter!

Go forth and create!

Cheap seafood dinner

2009-08-26T21:42:00.000-04:00

$3.50 for four sea scallops
Local tomato
Zucchini from farmers market
Garlic
Lemon juice

Cut tomatoes in half, lay face up on rack over cookie sheet (line with parchment for easier cleanup) drizzle with olive oil and pepper. Put in oven at 350. For 1 hour. Sprinkle with salt when they come out of the oven.

Cut zucchini in quarters lengthwise and then in half. Sauté with a clove of garlic when lightly browned swirl pan to recoat olive oil, set scallops in pan and sear on both sides. Plate and squeeze some fresh lemon juice on the scallops and a little salt on the zucchini. Yum!

Also a tasty drink with leftover lemon juice; add water and a couple raspberries . Squish the raspberries beyond repair and drink up! I'm trying to avoid adding sugar so I thought I'd leave out the simple syrup or honey or maple syrup and it tasted fantastic! I think ot will be my new fave... Perhaps with buy water when I'm craving fizz!

About to come back from a summer of uninspired meals

2009-08-16T19:19:00.005-04:00

Grad school is about to start. The budget is still smaller than I'm used to but the desire to eat well has grown exponentially because I just saw Food Inc. It was infuriating, frustrating , though provoking and inspiring. I'm going to try to eat on a budget but eat well. I've already decided that I want to reduce my sugar intake and no HFCS so this will mean some alterations to recipes and seeking out alternative sweeteners. I already know about honey, agave and applesauce but I'm also thinking about how I read that most recipes had a lot of excess sugar in them. So I'm going to try to wean myself off sugar, eat well and still within budget. The most encouraging part is that I will have a whole fridge and freezer to myself so I look forward to trying some preservation techniques.
I hope that anyone who reads this blog regularly or in passing will leave encouraging comments and think about how they are voting with their money.

How to eat your veggies, the no fuss method!

2009-07-01T19:18:00.005-04:00

Get veggies from fridge, chop up and sautee with garlic.
Serve with lemon juice, pepper or cheese on top. It's so tasty!
Pair with pasta or a beer for carbs (I chose beer tonight :) )

I haven't been saving too much money, still spending abotu $100/week on food. But it's still cheaper than the $25/day meal plan!

I'm busy with my school blog at the moment, so thoughts on food are trailing behind as I'm sucked into busy-ness

What to do with dried out garlic bread? Savory French Toast!

2009-05-22T10:57:00.010-04:00

I picked up a loaf of roasted garlic bread the other day but failed to store it in a ziploc bag or the fridge so it got too stale to snack on. There are two things i know stale bread is good for: croutons and french bread. I also have a bunch of dried rosemary from my mom's garden so I decided to make a savory french toast with the leftovers for KE and my dinner.

Slice remaining bread in 1" thick slices
break 3 eggs into a bowl that is big enough to accomadate one slice of bread, whisk in ground pepper and about 1 Tbsp dried rosemary
Heat a skillet with olive oil, soak bread in egg mixture, flip to get both sides, and cook so both sides are light brown
Top with a veggie or sauce. We used some left over grape tomatoes, sauteed in some olive oil to soften and put ontop of hot french toast.

Afterthoughts:

KE wanted some balsamic vinegar on the tomatoes, to make them a little more tart and savory
I had considered a broccoli puree on top of the french toast - or perhaps some sauteed greens? the tomatoes were good but there could have been more veggies on top!
I would totally make this again with fresh bread, not just dried out bread! There are probably other spice and herb combinations that are fantastic as well.
With a few more veggies on top this is a pretty healthy meal: grain (bread), protein (egg), veggies (whatever you put on top).

This has been one of our more successful experiments, yay!

How not to buy a car in another state and then exchange it between family members

2009-05-20T11:04:00.003-04:00

Why are state-to-state transactions so difficult!?

My mom lives in DE, she bought a car in MD and didn't pay sales tax because Delaware doesn't believe in taxes. She bought the car and put both our names on the title. Lesson one: don't do this.

If you are going to buy a car and give it to your child who lives in a different state (especially one with tax/higher tax) this is what you should do:
1. buy the car in your name in whatever state
2. get the title in your name in that state
3. sign the title over in your state to your family member, in that state
4. have that family member request a new title in his/her state- if it is gifted in the other state and you have a title you shouldn't have to pay sales

What not to do:
1. sign your name and your giftee's/daughter's name on the title
2. register the car in your state
3. take the car to NY with only the giftee present at the DMV
4. have to get the other person to take a trip up to your state in order to show proof of ID and sign the paper- oh and pay NYS sales tax because the NY residents was on the original papers
5. be told the credit card machines aren't working (and you are going to owe more than $500- who carries that much cash? or a check book unless you expect to use it?!
6. have the credit card machine work (thankfully!)
7. get plates, get emissions testing and wait for new title in about 3 months

Ugh. What a frustrating experience! Ready to leave the city where hopefully things will be clearer.

A healthy and quick lunch

2009-05-15T12:30:00.001-04:00

My dad worked at home when I was in middle and high school and on occasion if I was home, I'd make some lunch for us. I went to make tuna salad one day and we were out of mayo so I substituted Dijon Mustard. It was... AMAZING and I haven't gone back since! No mayo for me, just mustard :)

Pita tuna melt
(makes one serving)

Rip 1 whole wheat pita in half and place on plate with ripped sides out (somehow ripping the pita tastes better to me than cutting it. That one I cannot explain!)
Empty tuna can 5oz/packet 3oz (dump out any water) into a bowl
Add about 3 Tbsp mustard of choice (deli mustard has 0 calories!) and stir. Put into pitas, keeping open sides out.
Slice cheddar cheese (1 oz = 1 serving) and place in each sandwich half.
Microwave on high for 1 minute, remove and flip sandwiches over (bottom side will be a little bit soggy, but nothing too bad)
Stick sliced cucumber and grape tomatoes into one sandwich half right before eating (it will keep your veggies cool and crisp if they aren't sitting in the freshly nuked sandwich.)
Enjoy!

This is my go to lunch at home generally. It's quick and tasty and I love open face tuna melts! Oh yeah, yay mustard! My condiment of choice :) I would have put up a picture but I ate it before I realized I should be blogging it!

Never rent a 16' truck in NYC and other lessons learned from moving out

2009-05-14T13:43:00.003-04:00

A 16' truck is a commercial vehicle. No one at the rental place told me this when they said "well it's the same price as a 10' truck". It is not the same price. On the Verezano bridge alone I paid $20 to get through, I had to take truck routes and pay truck tolls. There is no parking of commercial vehicles in residential neighborhoods overnight (a $65 ticket). So while the price at budget was the same as a 10' truck the price within the city and the reality is that it cost more than that. On top of that, it was a huge pain to drive in the city.

Now I am staying with KE and trying to get started with my fitness regime I was so excited to have the time to implement. So far, it hasn't been going as well as I'd hoped, but I'm working out my eating plan again and trying to figureout what to eat that's healthy and cheap before I head off to an unknown kitchen this summer. I did pick up one thing at Wal-Mart for the summer though: a mini food processor. It holds 1.5 cups and I look forward to making fresh pesto! I may even get some potted basil plants to keep in VT. When I get there and check the lay of the land I'll know more about that.

Back to diet planning!

Meat on the cheap

2009-04-30T14:41:00.003-04:00

Sometimes you just need to do a little reading to realize the strange sounding cut of meat is totally edible and worthy for more than feeding to the dog.

Check out this NY Times article It May Be Cheap, But it's Also Tasty

I don't cook much meat and I tend to stick to chicken and fish, but in preparing my mole dinner I compared prices and while I like getting chicken breast fillets, the cost difference for thighs (which the recipe called for anyhow) was about 2$/ pound in savings! Next time I want to try something new perhaps I'll peruse the cheaper cuts of meat.

To Make or to Buy?

2009-04-28T19:15:00.000-04:00

Slate beat me to it, I will still explore this topic as I planned, but it's an interesting read.

Brooklyn Homestead is online!

2009-04-23T09:51:00.003-04:00

We are selling chocolates through Etsy! Please take a look at our shop, Brooklyn Homestead.

Slow times for blogging

2009-04-22T19:30:00.001-04:00

In the throes of packing (yes KE, throes) and getting ready to move. My kitchen is packed up in part so that I can make sure that all my stuff is clean when it goes into boxes for 3 months. I'll be staying with my mom for 1 week then with KE for 3 weeks then I will be in Vermont, using a shared kitchen with unknown amenities. I plan to live off things from the farmers market cooked in an Alice Waters sort of way. I am bringing the following cookbooks to Vermont:

I will be on a 3 month hiatus from baking. It will be rough but I mostly have faith that I can handle it! I will also be training to run because I am going to sign up for 2 races in Ithaca int he fall (a much better time for races than the February one I flaked out on because it was like 2 degrees and I knew I'd hurt myself if I breathed in that temperature air. So KE stayed in bed - he was supposed to run too!).

I hope you look forward as much as I do to my baking free summer of fresh food experimentation! I think it will be a tasty and exciting time. I will probably bring my blender/food processor thingy too, for the making of smoothies and pestos. Fingers crossed for garlic scapes!

Get ready for a link to purchase chocolates as well, Brooklyn Homestead is almost up and running for our first batch of handmade chocolate truffles. This along with moving has been quite the busy time. Tonight is of course seafood night (Wednesdays for me and KE for the past 2 months). He has been kind enough to take the wheel of making dinner while I pack, so I don't know what we'll be having! Last week it was bay scallops!

Twitter

2009-04-21T15:02:00.001-04:00

I'll be twitting... tweeting? twitter-ing? I dunno... follow me here:
http://twitter.com/learning2Bcheap

boo realizing I could have saved $250!

2009-04-21T13:32:00.001-04:00

If I'd signed up for the online prescription refill through my insurance company I would have apparently saved $250 on my already expensive prescription! In the future, I will have to pay more attention to online prescription options. Even if I had to keep this pill because there isn't' a cheaper alternative, it would still be cheaper than going to the pharmacy every month (and I would get a few months filled at once instead of needing to refill it every month.) Now I'm changing insurance in 3 months so I will still save some money (except that I will be on COBRA, which is way expensive). I'm not looking forward to figuring out health insurance when I'm done with school. I also wish I'd looked into the cost of alternate pills and brought the co-pay to the attention of my doctor earlier. There has to be a cheaper/ generic alternative out there. Unfortunately I wasn't trying to think cheap before, and I paid for it, literally!

If I knew then what I know now. I could have saved $250 :(

I'm so bad with leftovers. and produce. and things that get moved in the fridge

2009-04-16T13:00:00.001-04:00

I just found out about this neat website StillTasty which tells you how long foods really last in the fridge or freezer. Opened or unopened, dependent upon the packaging. This is excellent news because I have a tendency to forget about things. Probably the most helpful thing you can do, armed with this website, is to write what date you opened packages of things like cheese with longer freshness periods.

Everybody should at least peruse this site to get an understanding of expiration dates and how long to keep that one food that doesn't look bad but has been open for a couple weeks...

Moving Preparation and Planning

2009-04-15T19:30:00.003-04:00

I've made a list for the order in which to pack things. I have to budget my time because my last day of work is a Friday, Saturday night is my S'mores and BYOB going away party then I'm loading up the truck Sunday (with the help of some friends!) and driving away Monday. And before that, I'm working fulltime - I might need to see about leaving early a few days when the reality of the quantity of my stuff hits...

Packing list, order of operations:

Tv. Monitor. Cameras. Cables.
Camping. Hardware. Documents/ Papers.
Fabrics. Patterns. Art supplies.
Exercise equip.

Books. (big job, want to get all the other stuff out of the way before I start tackling this- also so I can get to the books as my table is in the way!)

Toiletries
Sewing machine (finish project ASAP!)
Kitchen. Clean fridge and pantry.
Clothes. Shoes. Towels. Sheets.
Computer. Hard drive. Speakers.
Mattress. Bed frame. Dressers. Folding table.

Brownie Break: These were the most phenomenal brownies I've ever had. I'm pretty sure- ever. Picked them up at the food co-op. Sometimes you just need a treat!

Misc. things to do for move:

Change of address form at post office. (You can do it online!)
Change Netflix address.
Confirm electricity is shutting off.
Get security deposit.
Confirm moving truck rental.

I did a bit of research (though not enough...) on moving trucks and budget was good because of unlimited miles as I will be also helping my mom (and splitting the cost of the truck!) to move at the same time. From Brooklyn, NY to Wilmington, DE to Seaford to Wilmington. A lot of driving and a lot of moving! It's gonna be a long couple of days!

Things I'm purging:

old spices
unused and most likely never to be used art supplies
those bags of clothes that have been waiting to go to salvation army for like a year
clean out fridge and pantry and face the fact I'm never going to eat that can of garbanzo beans

Things to do before I drive off into the... afternoon:

sweep and mop my room and work area
one last check for stray toiletries and frozen foods

Cookies!

2009-04-15T15:51:00.002-04:00

I am still working on perfecting my chocolate chip cookie recipe. This creates a lot of spare cookies. So far no one seems to mind ;)

Ever had a kumquat? Me neither, until now!

2009-04-13T20:30:00.001-04:00

I never had either but KE and I decided to give them a try. With no idea how to eat them we turned to the omniscient internet and found this video which explains 'How to Eat a Kumquat'!

We bought 6 of them. They are grape sized fruits with a skin that looks like orange peel but is more thinner, like a really tough skinned tomato. The tart flavor is intense at first (and would have been alarming if not for watching that video!) and chewing made it get sweeter. There's just one seed in the middle, about the size of a pine nut.

It wasn't bad, I don't know that I would snack on them, but I am curious about what kinds of dessert they make and how they are in a jam or marmalade. I hope to attempt making jam this summer! Probably raspberry or blueberry- depending on what's available in Vermont. I wish my grandma was around to teach me to make jam. Her's was so good I asked for it for Christmas one year and she gave me 4 tubs of strawberry jam! It was my most memorable present from her :) She made raspberry for my brother, I don't know if he was expecting jam though haha!

Busy busy busy andquick and tasty shrimp fettunici alfredo

2009-04-10T11:24:00.005-04:00

Buzz buzz buzz.

I'm moving out earlier than I thought originally, last day of work Friday May 1st, party May 2nd, Pack truck May 3rd, drive it to my mom's May 4th.

One good thing is that my mom is moving at the same time, so we are splitting the truck cost which is good. If you know someone else who is moving at the same time as you sharing the truck is a great way to save money, and have help moving your stuff!

I'm still working on a sewing project which is keeping me form really packing. This weekend will be project finishing time and next weekend I'm off to visit Ithaca, the following weekend is packing weekend and the weekend after that I'm moving! I'd better start putting my weeknight to good use.

KE and I made shrimp and fettuccine Alfredo on Seafood Wednesday - it was tasty and quick and easy.

Sautee shrimp in butter til pink, add garlic, saute for a bit.
Pour 1c half and half in and about 6 heaping Tbsp grated Parmesan. Stir cooking until it thickens. Do not boil! While that is thickening, heat water and cook pasta. Drain and put back in pot. Stir chopped fresh parsley into sauce and over noodles and serve!

We had this with asparagus. It was a tasty meal. Quick, easy and filling. Just don't forget the vegetable, or else it's not very well balanced!

Tracking your eating an exercise habits

2009-04-03T20:00:00.004-04:00

Tracking what you eat and how much you exercise is a great way to stay on top of things and keep yourself in check and shape (so long as you keep it up and review it). I've struggled with physical fitness most of my life and after graduation from college I started to focus on my health because it had been so neglected during school. Here is a bit of the chronicle of my attempt to keep track of my health improvements and slips.

I used peertrainer for more than a year (with a few times of falling off the wagon). It was great because you could just list what you ate, instead of having to fill out endless pull-down menus to choose things that vaguely represented what you ate/ made for yourself. It was up to you to make sure you were making good choices. There are groups and teams and I liked this idea however my group only had one other person in it who actually was there most of the time. We had people join, say/post nothing for a week and then leave the group. There is a hand conversation box to the side and you can see what other people in your group are eating and what exercises they are doing. If I could have found a more solid group I think I would have kept it up. I tended not to post on weekends because I wasn't sitting at a computer all day like I do on weekdays. I generally posted my dinner and snacks from the previous night on the following morning at work.

I have also used a notebook created for training and keeping track of exercises and food consumption. I liked that I could carry it all the time and even to the gym to really keep track of my weight training which I have a tendency to forget (how much weight, what exercise, how many sets). At that time I was training with a friend from work for a 5K race. I'd set a goal of 45 minutes and I beat it by about a minute and a half. This was pretty fantastic for me because in K-12 I was one of the kids who walked the mile run. I did track and field... but really just field. I watched the runners in awe of their fit bodies and ability to jump hurdles (which scare the crap out of me.) I wanted to sign up for another race, in fact my running buddy and I talked about doing a marathon (she'd already done one) but then life happened (and winter) and we fell out of running and then she became more interested in hot yoga. This notebook was I think my favorite method of tracking my weight. It wasn't so strict in what kind of information you can put in, it had spaces for weight training, cardio, vitamins, glasses of water. Probably even better would be to have a personal trainer you talk to at the beginning of using it and when you finish the book- or even once part way through.

I have also created spreadsheets with graphs to keep track of my weight in the past. (Have I mentioned that I love spreadsheets? 'cause I do.) I like seeing a graph of progress. (Being a visual person seeing a line graph was encouraging rather than having to sort through numbers.) Excel and Google Documents makes it easy to create graphs with information, all you have to do is input the information. You can even set up your chart for how ever many days you want then all you have to do is plug in your weight/ waist measurement when you take it and watch your chart update (hopefully in a downward motion!) As you can see I was doing great for a while then I fell off the wagon. I'm trying to get back on now, hence the flurry of weight related posts! That's frustrating to look at now- I hadn't opened this file since last summer. I was so close to my goal. I wonder what happened that pushed me so far off track... time to review some calendars from last year and learn more about my habits and what happened in that sharp uphill turn!

(* I just checked the dates and that was 4th of July weekend. When the holiday and the food and the family time got the best of me. I remember being really frustrated after that!)

There was a Weight Watchers free online trial for 14 days that I did two summers ago. I joined again last year for a couple months, but failed to go to a meeting because of schedule and location options. I found the website annoying to use because you had to list everything in such detail, and a lot of things weren't easy to list (this was on the points system).

Visiting KE's sister (also KE!) in Philly, I got a glimpse of Wii Fit and I loved it. It made keeping track of your weight fun and balance exercises fun (which is something I really need to work on as my main goal for getting in shape is to be a better snowboarder). Unfortunately I don't have a Wii Console, I'm keeping my eye out for deals though! Perhaps I'll get one for myself when I'm at grad school... hmm....

Now that I've pulled that graph out from the past I'm excited to get back to my lower weight. I've just signed up for another online tracker- this one is weight and waistline tracking at RealAge. This site was suggested to me by a friend who knows I get a high of tracking things and charts and graphs and visualizers of success. I've just joined and input my goals and starting date information. Time to get back on track! I'm excited, are you excited!? Woot!

Spagetti! Cheap and tasty dinner (for 2)

2009-04-02T19:47:00.002-04:00

Making dinner for E and myself; our weekly dinner together- scheduled to avoid over-scheduling with significant others ;)

I decided to make tomato sauce and a side of sauteed zucchini, I almost put the zucchini, grated, in the sauce, but then I didn't want to dilute the flavor of the zucchini so decided to serve it as the vegetable.

I didn't have pasta but I had left over onion and some baby carrots. I spent $5 on stuff to feed 2 people (and there is still half a box of pasta left).

Saute small diced onions and chopped carrots in olive oil until onions are translucent and carrots are soft, add garlic, stir stir stir.

Pour in one small box of crushed or strained tomatoes (I prefer crushed, strained which I accidentally got, are too watery), let simmer while you cook the pasta in salted water.

The side was sauteed zucchini thin sliced coins in olive oil with garlic and a sliced up cibatta from the bakery (that was $1, we split it.)

Five of our 6 ceiling lights are out, so we ate a candle lit dinner :)
Ooo, you can see the steam!

Great relief for dry hands

2009-04-02T15:40:00.003-04:00

My hands are dry most of the time during winter. It's been happening since I moved out East- itchy to the point of being red with dry crevices cracks running along all the small lines on my hands. I have tried every over-the-counter lotion I can find. For a while Eucerin did the trick but it just doesn't cut it. It doesn't help that when I cook I wash my hands about 10 times. What makes hands dry is lack of oils and so far the best relief I have found is rubbing olive oil on the dry skin. It replaces the oil that is lost through regular washing and brings back the softness. It doesn't itch either. To keep my fingertips clear of oil I pour a little bit of oil at the base of my thumb on the back of my hand and proceed to rub together the backs of my hands. Then I light rise for my fingertips and my hands feel good as new! It's great because it's natural and it's replacing oil. Nothing foreign about that concept!

Books

2009-04-01T20:00:00.001-04:00

Get a library card. There are many books you can read once and do not need to reference again. Beware of late fees piling up though! Most large metropolitan libraries will allow you to renew online. Your savings by borrowing books will be nil if you end up paying exorbitant late fees. SO be sure to mark the book due date in your calendar as son as you check out the books. If someone else has the book on hold you won't be able to renew it. You can hold it longer but you will have to pay for it. Libraries are a great place to get movies, audio books (which you can then put on your ipod and the latest hardback book that you would buy if it was cheaper.

I read a lot of non-fiction so there aren't as many books available to me as say people who read a lot of best sellers or Oprah book club books. I got myself an amazon credit cad, so when I spend money, I slowly earn amazon gift cards. This is great because by putting things I normally buy on a credit card (and paying it off asap) I earn books. So I get my book buying fix (which some have called "a problem") but don't spend much more than I would without having purchased the books. Also if you are seeking a book that is out of print or you want a used version, an excellent resourse is addall's used book search or, how I got a recent book purchase, is to sign up on powells for a book alert. When my book arrived I got an email and was able to purchase it rightaway.

I'm looking forward to reading books I purchased recently and reviewing them here, keep an eye out for them this summer!

A simple dinner.

2009-03-31T20:18:00.001-04:00

I forgot how good a grilled cheese with sharp cheddar and tomato is. With a handful of snow peas and a leftover slice of caarrot cake my mom brought on Sunday. Tasty!

Mexican Dinner for 6 Part Three (making the meal)

2009-03-31T12:53:00.000-04:00

First comes the mole, then comes the guacamole then comes the tortilla chips then comes the souffle, Easy! (right?!)

I hopped (actually it took way longer than a hop, more like a bus a walk and a schlep and a bus!) to Target this morning to pick up a coffee grinder in order to pulverize my whole spices.

First step in the mole!
Boil the chicken thighs (calls for turkey but I didn't see turkey thighs at the market) in the chicken broth with 2 bay leaves and for 1 hour. During that hour, make the rest of the mole ingredients! Good luck!

Just kidding. :)

In 2 Tbsp of canola (or vegetable oil) toast your peanuts and almonds; at the last second toss in the sesame seeds to be lightly toasted. Don't over do it! burned nuts are no good! Set aside.

Heat up a dry pan on medium heat, toss in the anise seed, cinnamon stick, whole allspice and whole black peppercorns and heat- stirring until fragrant. Use a coffee bean grinder or mortar and pestle and grind up the spices until very fine.

The chicken has been cooking for almost an hour at this point. Remove form the heat and let the chicken cool in the broth mixture for 30 minutes. Set the chicken aside and keep the broth handy.

While the chicken is cooling, now is the time to prep the chips! Take your corn tortillas, smear a little oil on them (I don't have a pastry brush so I used my fingers) then cut the stack into quarters or sixths. Lay on parchment paper lined cookie sheets and set aside.

Chop tomatoes and combine with soaked chilis and onions (prepped the day before) and toasted nut mix and spices in food processor. Add some chicken broth from the pan and blend until you have a smooth paste. I probably could have blended longer for a finer texture, but I was more interested in being able to fit it all into my little food processor. Be sure you can fit it all if not divide everything into 2 and make 2 batches which you can then mix together.

In another large saucepan, pour some vegetable oil and dump the contents from the food processor in and sautee "until the fat starts rising to the top, about 20 minutes". I don't think I waited for that to happen. Then add in the chocolate, the most infamous ingredient in mole! Once the chooclate was melted, I slowly added chicken stock to the sauce then ignored my instinct and added all the remaining stock like the recipe said. I do not advise this! If you have eated something before that you are making and you are somewhat familiar with it... follow your instincts or look it up online! (I do that whenever I come up with something to cook, just to see if it's been done before). Once the sauce is well stirred and combined you can push it through a sieve for a smoother sauce, or line up your chicken thighs in a 9x13 and pour the sauce over the top. Put in the over at 325 for 1 1/2 hours.

While that is cooking, you can make your guacamole! I left the avocados double paper-bagged on the windowsill. I chose avocados as ripe as I could get the day before and they were perfect the next day! I scooped out the flesh with a spoon into a bowl and began mashing with a fork which proved difficult so I stepped up to a pastry blender! It worked wonderfully! Then I stirred in the previously prepped ingredients (sans chili pepper) and pushed a plastic wrap directly on the surface of teh guac and placed it in the fridge. Placing the plastic directly on (and pushing out air bubbles) prevents oxidization which makes your beautiful green avaocado turn brown.

When the timer on your dinner says 30 minutes, put your first tray of chips in on the bottom rack (or both if you have more than one rack) and bake for about 15 minutes- they shoudl be crisp rather than limp when you slide them off the sheet and sprinkle some sea salt onto them. Trust me, your guests wil be awesed that they are having fresh tortilla chips. And it is way to easy for you that have any excuse not to do it again. The tortilla chips cost $1.19. If I'd gone with the giant pack, Mexican brand we'd have had maybe 4 times as many chips, but I didn't want leftovers. It is a lot cheaper than buying chips that are already made- and you have control over how much and what kind of oil is used. Control is good when it comes to what you are putting in your body.

When there are 15 minutes left on the timer, it's time to prepare the quinoa, according to the package directions. Bring 2 cups of water for every 1 cup quinoa to boil (all at the same time) and cover. Let it boil for about 15 minutes (then take your chicken out of the oven! Dinner for 6 is such a choreographed dance.) Then serve!

Change the oven to 350 (whatever the souffle recipe says the temp needs to be)

About 10 minutes into dinner, remove the souffle form the fridge and put in the oven, set the timer for 25 minutes. The souffle was tasty, it wasn't cooked all the way through and it didn't rise very high but it became something like the combination of a pot de crem and a flourless chocolate cake. The souffle was served with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. The spice mixture that was used was mostly tasted afterwards- a slight chili burning senesation that remained in your throat after you'd finished your dessert. That Dagoba hot chocolate mix was intense as a drink. I think it's an excellent concept for a souffle but the exact amounts of spices has yet to be explored.

Afterthoughts:

Follow your instincts in the kitchen
When a recipe tell you to put in all of something that's left, in particular after it's been cooking a while, question how much they expected it to reduce
Don't make a souffle the night before if you want it to puff up. It might be possible to make the chocoalte portion and set the eggwhites and chocolate mixture in the fridge until the next day. Then you would take both out to get to room temperature, and then follow the directions from that point on.
Keep track of spending and keep an eye on cheaper options for different ingredients. The bagged mexican spices are cheaper than the organic or small glass jar ones.
If you have access to bulk foods use them. You ingredients will be fresher and you can only buy what you need/ will use in the nearby future.
Buy a coffee grinder if you want the freshest spices possible. It was easy to crush the spices and they were very fragrant and fresh. Even after washing the platic lid though, it smelled of spices. So I wouldn't recommend interchanging coffee and spices unless you want them to all intermingle.
Have more dinner parties and push what you try to make and keep track of recipes and the cost of ingredients. This meal was about $7.80 per person, (less if you count that there was once piece of chicken left over). For an appetizer, main dish and dessert.

oh jeans, how I loathe you

2009-03-31T09:27:00.002-04:00

The problem with loving to bake and trying to perfect a chocolate chip cookie recipe is all the calories. My jeans (freshly washed and line dried so slightly shrunken) didn't fit this morning. I have been horrible at eating well save the nights KE and I cook together and make a full correct meal (meat,veggie, starch). I need, once again, to reevaluate what I'm eating. My favorite days are days that I bring veggies to snack on. Today I have red grapes, baby carrots and snow peas. I can fill up on those. I didn't have breakfast- the morning bagel, tasty as it is, is probably not the best way to keep a caloric budget. Not to mention that some mornings it is just too hard to get up early to eat breakfast (let alone exercise). I think this summer, when I'm working outside and on my feet all day, I will be bound to loose weight so long as I don't use it as an excuse to binge on unhealthy food all day. I've already looked up the farmer's market for the area I'll be staying and have been figuring out what kitchen things I will take with me. I think I just decided that I won't be taking any baking supplies. It'll be summer- I will have no excuse for not eating fresh fruits and veggies for those 3 months. I'll be keeping track of that on this site so hopefully we'll ass see some progress!

Mexican Dinner for 6 Part Two (prep!)

2009-03-28T18:35:00.008-04:00

Guacamole
Day before prep:
Chop finely 1/4 of a white onion, 2 medium tomatoes (seeded), approximately 1/4 c. cilantro and 2 (smallish) cloves of garlic. Add juice of 2 limes. Hopefully your limes have more juice than the ones I had. I scraped out the little football shaped lime bits that stick out like fringe after reaming and added them to the mix. I only just bought the avocados today so they are in a brown paper bag ripening as much as they can before tomorrow.

Day of finishing:
Remove flesh of 3 avocados in bowl, stir it all together add salt and a splash lime juice to taste.

Pause for banana bread:

Chocolate Souffles
I've read that souffles can be stored in the fridge for up to 24 hours- so I decided to make these ahead as well (after cleaning up the banana bread I made earlier this evening - a great way to use over ripe bananas! You can even get them for free :-) sometimes from your local health food store if they have brown banana on the shelf .)

To make these spicy I'm using some Dagoba Xocolatl mix in the souffle prep. The hot chocolate was too intense for me but if I use 1 oz of this mix as one of the 6 oz of chocolate the recipe calls for I think it will be a nice hint of spice instead of overwhelming burning spice. We'll see!

In a heat proof bowl set over top of a saucepan filled with water (double boiler)- don't let the water touch the bottom of your bowl!:
5 oz chopped 72% dark chocolate 1 oz Dagoba Xocolatl mix a dash of cinnamon 6 Tbps butter 2 Tbsp water ( or rum or coffee- neither of which I have on hand)

Turn on heat until the chocolate starts melting and the butter is completely melted. Remove from heat and let cool 10 minutes.

While that is cooling separate
4 eggs tossing (or saving for later) 1 yolk. Whip the egg whites in a clean and dry bowl until foamy. Add
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
and mix more. When you have soft peaks that aren't dry (this is something I think you learn from trial and error and carefully watching the sheen of your whites as you mix them) slowly whip in
1/4 cup of sugar.
(I used a little less sugar because the hot chocolate mix already had sugar in it.)

Smear butter on the bottom and up the sides (and inch from the top) of your 1-1/2 quart souffle dish. Sprinkle sugar in and swish around to cover all the buttered surfaces. (The sugar grains on the side of the pan help the souffle climb up the sides of the dish.)

Fold egg whites into chocolate mixture. You don't want to stir is because then you will pop all the little bubbles that give your souffle volume! (Or else you pretty much have a flourless chocolate cake and why would you go through the trouble of whipping the eggs whites if you wanted that!?) Be aure there aren't any (or very minimal) streaks of white and pour the souffle mix into your prepared dish. Cover in plastic wrap immediatly and put in fridge. We'll see tomorrow if the air bubbles actually stay! I've made souffles a handful of times before but never tried making it the day before.

It's been a busy evening, but it will make tomorrow less hectic while I'm trying to make mole!

**EXTRA UPDATE**
KE is running a bit late so I did a little more prep!
For the mole you get dried chilies which you remove the stem and seeds from and soak for 30 minutes, so I'm doing that now. I will pop them in the fridge after I drain them so they will be ready to go tomorrow. If I have more time I might chop some veggies but I want to be ready to go when KE gets here.

Also, something I rarely do but am learning I ought to do more often for dinner parties and gatherings. I made a schedule for meal prep! (This is a little post-it- yes I write small!) Based on the time it will take to cook things and including some prep time- I didn't account for the guacamole but that should only take 10 minutes or so which I can do while the mole bakes for 90 minutes!)

Mexican Dinner for 6 Part One

2009-03-28T15:57:00.014-04:00

Menu:

Chips and guacamole
chicken thighs in mole
Spiced chocolate souffles

Part One: Ingredients

For Mole:
Chicken Broth - Low Sodium 2@1.89 $3.78
Bakers chocolate unsweetened $2.57
Blanched Almonds $2.37
Anise Seeds $0.48
Allspice - whole $1.67
Murray's Chicken Thighs (3pkgs) $7.58
Sweet Onion $0.45
Plum Tomatoes 1.2# $2.16
Dried Chile Mulatos $1.49
Peanuts $2.49
Quinoa $5.89
cinnamon stick (have)
black peppercorns (have)
Canola Oli (have)

For the Guacamole and chips:
Cilantro $1.09
Tomatoes 1.6#- a few too many $2.91
3 Hass Avocados $2.73
garlic $0.30
2 limes $0.53
White corn tortillas $1.19
White Onion $0.71
jalapeno (forgot!)
vegetable oil (have)

For the Souffles:
eggs (have)
dark chocolate (have)
spices (have)
sugar (bought in bulk.97#) $1.10
Vanilla ice cream $3.50

TOTAL spent $47.49

The recipes are from the following books but they are adapted based on availability of ingredients and personal preferences:
Mole: Starting with Ingredients
Guacamole: Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (thanks dad!)
Tortilla Chips: Food Network Website
Souffle: The Joy of Cooking (75th anniversary)

Getting ready to move... three times

2009-03-27T15:09:00.003-04:00

I (my mom) got (me) a used car 2 days ago! Then I had to go about getting insurance. I got quotes online from Progressive and Geico. Geico was much cheaper and their customer service was very helpful. Here's hoping I don't have to deal with them again! (fingers crossed for safe driving!). I've never taken care of this stuff before because when I drove in high school it was my mom's car and she took care of that stuff. Now it's like I'm a real adult. Car insurance. Moving expenses.

I have also been pricing out moving truck rental, cargo van rental, cost of staying in my apartment for one month more, benefits (and deciding to give up my chocolate chip cookie recipe) to move in with KE. Talking to the electric company, roommates, finding a replacement, shopping around, seeking an apartment in a city that I am not in and won't be for several months.

So May will be staying with KE (in Brooklyn), June - August in Vermont and August - May in Ithaca. It's going to be interesting living in Vermont and Ithaca after 8 years in Brooklyn, that's for sure!

All I can really say is thank technology for Internet and free long distance calls on cell phones. Oh and spreadsheets. I love spreadsheets!

A snack approach to lunch

2009-03-17T14:41:00.002-04:00

This is the snack plate approach. Or the bulk food approach, however you care to approach it. Today I have been munching on organic animal crackers purchase din bulk at the food co-op and now for "lunch" I am having a green bell pepper (cut up with my small Swiss army knife in the bathroom while precariously balanced on the edge of the sink), a handful of snow peas (washed by filling the bag with water, sloshing it around and then dumping it out a couple times, and a small carton of organic blueberries. Staying at KE's two nights in a row which his tiny and packed fridge makes bringing lunch difficult (have I mentioned the lack of a kitchenette at work? It forces creativity within boundaries, for example: room temperature or Thermos capable foods. The best dinner we had in recent memory was one where simple ingredients were cooked just enough and seasoned just a little and brought out the delicious flavors of the essence of good ingredients. It was like the snack approach, just cooked!

I picked up these things while grabbing groceries for last nights dinner (a stir fry of onion, red pepper, yellow pepper, snow peas fried tofu and white jasmine rice). I'm not that into stir fry so I just kept my mouth shut and let KE make it how he pleased. It was delicious and quick! His trick was to (tell me to) get firm tofu (extra firm if you can) then put it on a plate and cover it with another plate and set a squash on top of it to squeeze out excess water. Then fried in a bit of oil and added to the stir fry. It was delicious, I never though I'd like tofu that much, I expected squishy cubes like in miso soup. It's always nice to be pleasantly surprised that you do like something you didn't think you liked!

Quick'n'tasty

2009-03-15T20:28:00.004-04:00

A handful of Snow peas
grilled cheese on whole wheat bread
Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup (Pacific Foods)

Yes packaged soup, but sometimes that's all you have the energy for!
This way I have time to plan my grocery store trip and soup choice!

And I'm watching a documentary on Julia Child.

Planning for the week

2009-03-14T16:51:00.003-04:00

Trying this planning thing again...

Saturday:
grocery shopping, make cookies for Sun and fresh pasta for Wed
eat Pad Thai leftovers for lunch
for dinner grilled cheese and roasted pepper and tomato soup (pkg)

Sunday:
fruit and yogurt and granola
smoothie
snacks at party
make soup for the week
veggies

Monday:
cereal breakfast
Sandwich: deli meat (if it's still good), avocado, cucumber, mustard
bring apple snack and cookies

Tuesday:
yogurt and fruit breakfast
take soup for lunch
bring apple and peanut butter snack

Wednesday:
cereal breakfast
sandwich for lunch - chicken, avocado or cheese, cucumber, mustard
dinner: pasta with fresh pesto and smoked salmon (with KE)

Thursday:
smoothie breakfast with oats in it
soup for lunch
leftovers/ frozen stuff for dinner
plan meals for the next 5 days

A Tuesday night dinner

2009-03-14T11:25:00.002-04:00

This was the most awesome meal I've had in a while. The best part is how simple it was!

Seared bay and sea scallops (picked up at the farmer's market on Saturday)
Sauteed snow peas with one clove of chopped garlic in olive oil
Steamed acorn squash with salt, pepper and butter.

Overall prep time was less than 30 minutes. Cooking instructions for the squash were located on a sicker on it. Cut the squash in half, seed it, and make cuts on the back with a knife (4 or 5). Pour 1/4cup water onto a (deep) plate and set the acorn halves face down. Cook in microwave for 8-10 minutes (we did 8, then checked).

For dessert we had sme ice cream. It was a fresh, quick and fantastic meal!

The past week

2009-03-14T10:51:00.005-04:00

I tried budgeting with cash this week and it didn't work. I think it is because I got the cash at the beginning of the weekend. Week-End! I should be getting my cash on Monday and then spending it and whatever I have left at the week's end is what I can spend for entertainment/ going out/ drinks/ whathaveyou. The 100$ I took out last Saturday barely lasted me until Tuesday. I went grocery shopping, had a BBQ, failed at using my chimney starter, had to buy lighter fuel. I had tiring days in which I just wanted to go out, I spend many evenings with KE which made having breakfast difficult, I overslept and only went running once. I've also been very mentally busy trying to prepare for this summer at Yestermorrow, moving out of my place, trying to figure out who will take my room and if I'll come back next summer, what to do with my furniture, where to live in Ithaca when I head there in the Fall, and what to eat for lunch. Oh, and I bought a guitar and a guitar playing book. (To keep myself occupied this summer between reading and jumping into lakes and building stuff.)

I've been getting so bored with buying lunch, after the week of making my own lunch, in midtown. I stumbled upon Midtown Lunch an wandered to a couple new places, but still. I'd prefer to be eating things I made. I had planned to heat up left over Pad Thai and put it in a warmed up thermos but I was warned that the noodles would turn to mush because they wouldn't stop cooking. I didn't want to waste tasty Pad Thai (which is a good deal for me. $6.95 with chicken and it lasts me at least two meals from Thai 101- best reheated in a skillet on the stove- tastes way better than reheating in a microwave)

I'd better get back to filing taxes so I can afford my summer plans and filling out the FAFSA so I'm not homeless when I get to Ithaca! This weekend I'm having a crafting get together (crafting alone can be so boring!) and I'm also going grocery shopping. Let's see if I can't get my home cooked meals back in shape. Soup anyone?

This is hard

2009-03-12T23:51:00.003-04:00

I'm trying. I took $100 cash out to last the week. I only had about $30 by yesterday. Staying at KE's doesn't help. Or even when he stays here, because I don't force myself to prepare lunch for the next day. Also the lack of a kitchen at work is frustrating because I can't bring leftovers. I splurged (sort of, it's $6 and lasts like 3 meals) on pad thai at Thai 101 on Tuesday.
This summer, living off savings, will be the true test. I can't just put stuff on the credit card because there will be no income to make sure it's paid off the next month. Also lunch is a bitch. I was enjoying bringing my lunch for the week that I actually did it.
I'm reminded of a Chinese proverb I think I read on some tea. "Failing isn't falling, it's not getting back up again" or something more eloquently written along the same line. So next week, try, try again! Meanwhile trying to be thrifty, tomorrow will be hard because it's my best friends birthday and I can't let her in her unemployed state pay for her birthday dinner! That would be blasphemous! Hopefully the whole group will chip in as has been the trend in the past however recessions make people do abnormal things.

The free exercise has been going alright. Running in the park is nice, if I can get myself up to do it. Yesterday morning? I couldn't make it happen. I'm trying again tomorrow and now I'm going to sleep so I don't leave my running buddy again! (I found a running buddy on Craiglist, I needed someone to meet so I'd feel obligated to show up! It worked better when I didn't have his phone number and therefore couldn't cancel on him!)

Next week: Home cooking challenge week 2! Which means meal planning this weekend. The goal, aside from saving money, will this time also include not buying more than I need/ can eat. Which may include more grocery store trips, but that is better than one grocery trip and a fridge full of uneaten food that has to be tossed.

Spring Cleaning!

2009-03-08T13:17:00.000-04:00

After KE told me that he killed a cockroach with a Seventh Generation cleaning product I started thinking more about my household cleaners. I buy and use "earth friendly" products but I feel like it would be even more earth friendly to use more natural things- vinegar and baking soda are supposed to clean stuff.

We got a new stove not too long ago and my landlord said "Now you be sure to keep that clean, that's part of the security deposit." (Which my roommate later said, "is that in writing?" I hope she plans to help keep it clean :P ) I was looking at the stove that hadn't been cleaned or even wiped off since the last time I did it and decided to scrub the heck out of it.
I started by removing all the burners (this is a gas stove- I used to be afraid of them having grown up with electric and now I wonder what I'll do if we don't have gas anymore :( Maybe a fire pit) and placing them in the sink to soak for a bit just with water- to soften what gunk could be softened. Then I used my sponge to wipe off the big chunks. (like sweeping before you mop. You know that's what you're supposed to do, right!?)

I did a bit of online research and read about a baking soda and water paste 1:1. That failed miserably. The baking soda sat at the bottom of the measuring cup and when I tried to pour some out all the water on the top came out. I think it's more accurate to say a splash of water with some baking soda. So while I used a bit of this baking soda mixture poured onto the stains and then the soft yellow side of the sponge and a lot o scrubbing and fingernail scratching, i got the stove top to be pretty clean.

When I was in London staying with my friend N, he and his girlfriend had foil (shiny side up) under the burners on their stove and I was so excited by it's brilliance! Now, a mere 3 months later and I finally did it to my stove. After it was all clean and shiny, I ripped of foil sheets the length to cover each pair of burners. Pressing down I was able to mark where the burner elements are and then used my exact-o knife to cut open the tightest hole I could in the foil. (I'm an architect... precision is pretty.) Then I ripped off the foil edges that spilled out of the burner depressions for a nice tidy foil liner- which also doubles as a reflector making the stovetop even more efficient!

It's already been used since I put down the foil but now the part that gets the hottest and is most likely to having spills and mistakes get burned in is covered up and ought to be easy to clean up!

I did have to use some of my Seventh Generation all-purpose cleaning spray to get the gunk off the burners. My method is to put a paper towel over the affected area, spray cleaner fluid on it until it's soaked, let it sit for a bit, then wipe it off. The soaking really helps get out deep stains. Hopefully you were enticed rather than bored by my stovetop cleaning saga and find a way to keep yours clean (saide from washing it every time you cook... which would probably work even better!)

snack time (or post dr. visit lunch before heading to work.

2009-03-05T13:05:00.003-05:00

Apple with chunky natural peanut butter! Yum!

I heard yesterday that I was accepted to my first choice school, which means i will in fact be living in Vermont this summer at Yestermorrow . My tuition and housing are covered but food and gas money are not. So these practices (and the blog!) shall help and extend to my summer eating activities. Hopefully I will be able to purchase a lot of fresh foods. I imagine I won't be eating a lot of meats so that I'm eating cheaper. I still need to get the scoop on the kitchen availability... and if I will be able to bake cookies there. Hm, perhaps I can go to a shop that sells things in bulk and buy just enough flour and sugar for cookies and not have extras to deal with while I'm living in a screened in cabin (my mom vetoed me staying in tent... I thought it would be fun for a summer!).

Totally unrelated: KE is awesome, he got me a whistling kettle! My previous kettle didn't whistle and I was distracted by a movie the other day and burnt it pretty badly when the water cooked off and I remembered it about halfway into my movie!

Now that I'm done with my apple snack and doctor's appointment it's time to get to work!

Happy Thursday!

So I failed to bring lunch... or eat breakfast at home

2009-03-04T12:31:00.001-05:00

Everything bagel toasted with cream cheese and a small hot chocolate
$2.85

3 potato samosas from the Cafe Spice in Grand Central Terminal
$3.63

Celebratory bag of M&Ms (I got into my first choice grad school!)
$3.78 (Easter colors, they were cheaper than regular by 50 cents!)

$10.26 Total

All paid for with my spare change, cause I'm not taking out anymore cash until I have it to take out!

What can I make when I don't want to buy anything? OR Pantry Fun!

2009-03-03T21:30:00.004-05:00

My freezer is pretty full. In fact, so is my pantry. I always have stuff on hand which I think comes from having parents a) who grew up post depression b) aware that we lived in an earthquake zone (emergency supply) and c) who had a Costco membership. Since beginning to live on my own I've always stocked up on food. At the end of my home cooing challenge last week I realized this may be to my detriment, at least when it comes to produce. I bought the 1# bag of mixed greens because it was cheaper than paying per weight. However if I don't use all the greens then that's money I could have not spent as the price difference wasn't that great.

The thing that has saved me through this over-purchase of produce is these green bags I got at Whole Foods that apparently advertises on TV as well (I don't really watch V... I think I'm going to sell mine). So far they have worked really well compared to produce that can barely make it to the end of the week the fruit and veggies are still fresh. I failed to put the mixed greens in one of these bags,

I am heating up a cheese and spinach filo pie from my freezer which is from Trader Joes. I was contemplating cooking something else, however my kitchen ceiling began leaking again despite having the roof recently having been replaced and the temperature not dipping below freezing all day... Well... this is not a good development.

So, assuming I have an active kitchen in the next week without a puddle in the middle of my kitchen...

Wednesday:
B: yogurt and berries and honey and granola, oh my!
L: salad (if the lettuce is still good), with smoked salmon and peas
D: with KE, ginger chicken and yam fries and broccoli

Thursday:
B: cereal and smoothie
L: Left over Moroccan Chicken Soup with couscous
D: Make dinner with Erin (tbd)

Friday:
B: cereal and milk
L: sandwich (do I have bread? Hmm... figure out)
D: Heat up left overs before food co-op shift.

I'm distracted by the dripping in the kitchen.

Need to bring lunch again...

2009-03-03T12:25:00.005-05:00

Pret, albeit it yummy, is expensive, especially when compared to my last week of bringing homemade lunch everyday.
Today cost $9.38 for my hot chocolate, Moroccan lentil Soup and tasty fatty sweet lemon orange poppy seed muffin (that I love, Mmmmm).

Yikes, no wonder I hardly have any savings with lunch prices in midtown being so high. I'm thinking I need to bring a hot beverage container as well (That makes 3 total metal canisters on days I bring soup!). It's so cold in our office even when the heat is on. It also shuts of at 6:04pm (why, I do not know) and gets cold really quickly. The weather when I checked a bit ago was 18 F, and I'm pretty sure that's taken at ground level. I'm on the 37th floor, I need a hot beverage to keep me toasty at the end of the day!

Definitely bringing lunch tomorrow. Psht. ten dollars!

Home Cooking Challenge: week 1

2009-03-03T12:10:00.003-05:00

Bringing lunch everyday last week worked pretty well. I ate well (a lot of veggies!) and I ended the week with a slice of pizza. I managed to make breakfast all but one morning (last minute decision to go to KE's on Tuesday night didn't really have time to plan for what I was going to do for breakfast). And the purchase of pizza fridge night because I wanted to have time to work on my baby quilt project.

Now that I'm in a week without that goal, I have purchased breakfast once and lunch twice (counting today) and I miss my homemade lunches. I know where the ingredients came from (more so than from the restaurant anyhow). I did finally make chocolate chip cookies this weekend and they were phenomenal and now I am working on selling them. (They won't be up until at least this upcoming weekend however, please check again!)

Last night I went to half of the Moth show about penny pinching. The stories were entertaining, though a couple felt like a stretch for the theme. It was interesting to hear one guy's story about a Christmas without gifts. I only stayed for half because it is ridiculously cold outside right now and I have been trying to go to sleep at a reasonable hour so that I can wake up early and have "me time" before work. Returning home we were greeted by a sink of dishes left from the hotpot party on Saturday that hadn't been cleaned yet. Let me tell you peanut butter sauce left in the sink for 2 days smells horrible. After washing, twice, the smell still wasn't out. I poured some vinegar (and baking soda!) in and we'll see tonight how it smells!

Off to buy lunch and wish I'd brought it. Tonight I'm free and I plan to assemble some lunches for the rest of the week.

Get yourself a vacuum food jar

2009-02-27T13:11:00.006-05:00

It takes some extra time in the morning (I wish I'd prepared for that cause I was late and had a little "talkin' to") but it is so worth it; my soup is still hot!

Boil water, get it crazy hot, boil a little extra long
Pour into vacuum food jar set lid on let sit for 5 or 10 minutes and dump water out
Put HOT food into jar and seal asap! (This is where I finally appreciate having a microwave after 2+ years without.)
Put it in your reusable bag or purse next to your water bottle
Open at lunch and enjoy!

I'm having left over soup from last Wednesday, it is sooo tasty after marinating with itself in the fridge for, oh , a week and a half.

Mine's a Stanley, there are other brands as well.

My weakness

2009-02-26T17:13:00.003-05:00

I have such a sweet tooth and it seems to be highly active lately. When 4pm rolls around you know I'm searching my desk for stray sweets I might have forgotten. This is an issue I've been having with the home cooking challenge- I haven't made sweets to bring to work for my afternoon pick-me-up! Therefore tonight I will make chocolate chip cookie dough, however cookies are not baked until the following day. I guess an apple will have to do tomorrow... maybe I can put some chocolate on it. Or perhaps it's time to go on a sugar fast- 2 years ago for lent I gave up foods with sugar added to them. It was great! I still ate sweet fruit and things, and I didn't feel deprived I actually felt lighter and cleaner. I think lent just started, I saw ashy foreheads yesterday and there were mardi gras beads at the Oscars party I went to... time to do a little googling!

Follow up: Lent did indeed start on Ash Wednesday... Maybe I'll start a late lent. 39 days! Or maybe 38... I've been wanting cookies...