Three Good Things

Today I was...what?  involved with? user of? three very good things.

First of all, I finished the book What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty.  Imagine getting a do-over of all the snarky, testy things you've said to your spouse (and spouse has said to you), and getting to see with fresh eyes the situations that led up to those comments.  Alice falls down at the gym, hits her head, and gets amnesia.  She awakes, thinking it is 10 years previous.  Imagine her shock, finding out that she's thin and in terrific shape, finding out that she has three children, and finding out that she and her beloved husband are divorcing.  It's an interesting take on an old idea, and I really enjoyed it.  What Alice Forgot is a wistful look at the way lives unexpectedly turn out,  and it's even a bit funny in spots.  I recommend it.

Secondly, I wore my new shoes when I went out for coffee this morning.  For some reason, I had a yen to get some moccasins to wear this fall.  Beaded moccasins.  What's that saying, "The heart has reasons of which the mind knows nothing"?  Well, beaded moccasins may not be what whoever said that had in mind, but, well,  there you go.  So anyway, I went to Zappos way back in July and got my mocs.  They are by Minnetonka, called Thunderbird Suede Boat Sole, and they are sooo comfy!  Now, no, they are not the most glamorous footwear I own, but they are comfortable, cozy, and fall-y, which is just what I wanted.  And they have a Top-Sider-type sole, so you could actually wear them in adverse conditions.  Or when you go boating (what, in your birchbark canoe?).

Finally, furthering my sartorial autumnal agenda, I put on my corduroy pants from L.L. Bean for the first time today (can you tell the weather was much cooler than it has been in ages?).  Once again, back in July I decided I wanted corduroy (hey, did you know that comes from the French corde du roi, meaning cord for the king, which is to say that this corded fabric used to be only worn by royalty?  I'm telling you, the things you learn, hanging out with me--I'm like Cliff Clavin) pants for fall.  Sooo, since LL is my new favorite store, I got a pair there.  I love them!  They are called Saturday Pants, they are boot cut, and I got them in the curvy fit.  Comfy and well-fitting right out of the gate, and very little skwiff-skwiff noise (you know, the noise corduroy sometimes makes when you walk?).

So now you have a good book to read and some comfy (apparently the word of the day) clothes to wear.  Yay Fall!

Use What You Have Cooking

[caption id="attachment_751" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="My well-stocked but somewhat untidy pantry (with art)"][/caption]

Well first of all, you have to keep your pantry and freezer pretty well stocked.  When the cash flow is, uh, flowing  and I see skirt steak on sale, I buy a couple extra ones to freeze.  Favorite wine on a really good sale?  Several bottles now live in my fridge.  See a good price on the 28 oz. cans of pureed or whole peeled tomatoes?  Toss them in the shopping cart.  Prewashed spinach in the giant plastic box for less than $3?  I'm on it.   When I was feeling flush and bought lots of boneless/skinless chicken?  It's what's for dinner.  There is pesto I made when basil was cheap, and zucchini bread I made for the same reason.  I've got enchilada sauce frozen, as well as refried beans I made.  You see, the austerity measures at our house have reached sort of epic proportions, so I am trying to buy as little food as possible.  After all, I've gone to the trouble to stock my pantry and freezer.  Isn't this exactly when I should be trotting out all that food?

Of course I'm still going to buy milk and fresh fruits and vegetables.  But I'm buying cheese, milk, and half-and-half at Costco (where it's so cheap that I prefer not to think about the aspects of factory farming that are no doubt in practice), and I'm looking at peaches for 88 cents a pound, not grapes for $2.50 a pound (and prebagged so you can't just buy a pound; rather, you have to buy the three pound bag so your grapes are now $7.50.  $7.50!!).  But besides the dairy and the plants, it's whatever is in the freezer and pantry.

This week, my shopping list is pretty small.  Milk, cream, fresh fruit, fresh veggies, beef broth, orange juice, ground beef, ground pork, mushrooms, basil, pine nuts (well, depending on how much they are--otherwise I'll just toast and chop some slivered almonds), and red onions is about it.  And baby aspirin for the dog (his hips are bad and he loves St. Joseph's orange chewables).  By taking a little time to go through my cookbooks (which, I must confess, I love doing, so it doesn't feel like work) and to check on the contents of the freezer and pantry, I have come up with thirteen dinners.  And there is always flour and sugar on hand to make cookies, etc.  So we're good to go, and I don't feel too terribly deprived.  Worried, yes, but not deprived.

So what's on the menu?  Well.  --Now wait.  I thought of giving you all the recipes I use, but first of all that would take forever, and secondly, you can just as easily find a recipe online that works with your supplies.  Okay, back to the menu.  Spinach and mushroom quiche.  Macaroni and cheese (not Kraft or Velveeta--the real kind you make with a roux!). Beef tacos with guacamole, with refries on the side.  Chicken and mushroom crepes (my favorite dinner as a child of the '80s).  Gyros.   Mandarin beef with bok choy.   Chicken with balsamic vinegar.  Stir-fried pork with garlic.  Lemon chicken.  Meatballs in tomato-herb sauce. Smoked salmon quesadillas (smoked salmon is an unopened package left over from a party--not usually on the menu).  Breakfast burritos (with egg, sausage, cheese, and potatoes they make a great dinner).  And barbecued burgers.  So they don't suck, foodwise, these austerity measures.  But it only works if you take the time when the money isn't quite so tight to stock up, and to do some cooking ahead of time.  I could add enchiladas to the week.  Or pasta with pesto.

I heard on the news out of Sacramento the other night that people were talking about how they can't help it that they eat so much fast food, because it's so cheap.  That made me mad!  It's not because it's cheap (because it isn't--you only get one meal), it's because people are lazy!  And while I'm ranting, I'm so mad that they are healthying up McDonald's Happy Meals.  Fast food should be a treat, once a month or less, not a way of life.  Happy Meals should still have french fries in them and not have to contain carrots or apples or whatever, because french fries are a treat, not something you should be downing a couple times a week!  So by putting in "fresh" fruits and vegetables (and who are we kidding--how long have those apples or carrots been floating around?) we are encouraging eating fast food, as though it is a healthy choice!  No!  It's a treat.  Do you go get an ice cream sundae with two scoops and sauce and cream and...and...every few days?  No, because it's a treat.  Be responsible about your family's well-being!  Oh!  Excuse me.  Got a little carried away.  I digress.

So back to the matter at hand.  If your family struggles with money, it's important that when you do have cash, you need to stock up on the food (and not stock up on cute shoes) so that you don't get caught in the fast food trap.  Of course it's good for you physically, but it's just so good for you psychically, too.  There are a lot of things you can't control, but you can control what you eat. It's a good feeling to know that you are doing right by your family.  And now, sadly, I have to get back to looking for a job.

Here I Go Again...

Before we start to discuss my latest diet, would you like to finish humming that  Whitesnake song?  Are you imagining Tawny Kitaen doing the splits on the hood of a Jaguar?

It's fine, I'll wait.  Okay, you good?  Alright.  I'm not here to discuss Tawny Kitaen, or even hair bands of the 80's.  Rather, I am here to discuss weight loss.  Here I go again, starting a new regime.  I had some slimming success a while ago, and now I have eaten myself right out of that success.  So I am back to work.  (Sidebar discussion:  when do I get to stop trying to lose weight?  Can I be squishy and dumpy when I'm, say, 68?  73?)  I'm on the usual plan of limiting flour and sugar, and any day now I'm going to start exercising.  This morning I went to the library and did what I always do when I start a diet--I got a stack of cookbooks with names like Amy's Bakery, and Deep Dark Chocolate. Apparently I like to make myself struggle. But this time I am trying something new--it's called Stickk.com.  You go to the website, and make a commitment to do something--it doesn't have to be weight loss.  Then you can sign up a referee who will make sure you don't cheat, or you can do the honor system.  You can let your friends know you are doing it.  It's all a little bit of added incentive.  But the kicker comes with the last step:  you choose who will get your money if you don't meet your weekly weight loss goal!  The recipients of that money are known as "anti-charities."  I mean, you can give money through this program to a charity that you like, but I don't find that terribly motivating.  Knowing that if I don't meet my weight loss goal this week, the William J. Clinton Presidential Library will get money from me is very annoying and thus highly motivating.  The site was founded by Yale econ and management professors who studied the effectiveness of "commitment contracts," in terms of getting people to save money.  Turns out commitment contracts work really well for everything!  The fact that not only will I have to PAY if I don't make my goals, but I will have to pay to something I would never give money to is keeping me on the straight and narrow.  So I have a goal, I have a deadline, I have financial ramifications.  When I achieve my goal, I'll post a picture of myself doing splits on the hood of a Jaguar.

Cookbook Review: Food Network Magazine Great Easy Meals

I have what some may call an addiction to cookbooks.  I am somewhat powerless to resist them.  Making space for books is always important in our house, but at the same time, I don't want to feel that I'm drowning in them.  Too messy.  I am getting ready to purge my books of the regrettably purchased, seldom opened tomes lurking about my shelves so that the double stacking can stop.  It makes me crabby.  I go to the library and get cookbooks now, with the intent of copying the few recipes that I am interested in, rather than buying the whole book and thus losing shelf space to something mediocre.  Sometimes, though, I can't help myself.  If I have so many Post-its sticking out of the top of the book to mark pages I want to copy, I figure it is more cost effective (within reason) to go and buy the damned book instead of using up lots of ridiculously pricey printer ink.  The latest addition to be deemed worthy of purchase is Food Network Magazine Great Easy Meals. 

The Food Network website is a great resource for recipes and how-to information.  Their magazine is good too, although I do a fair amount of weeding out of the recipes published therein.  The cookbook, however, has done the weeding for me.  Everything I've tried so far has been very good, with minimal tweaking (but I always tweak recipes, so I don't count that as a strike against it). The nice thing, also, is that the recipes really are very easy.  When I sit down with several cookbooks and plan out my menus and shopping list for the week I often have delusions of grandeur.  "Why, yes, I think making my own pasta (or tortillas or pita bread or...) on a Wednesday night will be completely doable!"  And then Wednesday night rolls around and I've been at a child's sporting event until much later than expected, and so it's quesadillas on store-bought tortillas (which, don't get me wrong, are delicious).  So having these recipes that are quick and easy but also delicious (and made without a drop of cream of mushroom soup) is awfully helpful.  I even made the grilled Rosemary-Mustard Pork Tenderloin with Peaches for a special birthday dinner for company.  So easy, no stress, delicious.

It's good to have a go-to source that is reliable, and that gives me (and my family) a change of pace.  So far I've made the pork above twice, Spicy Chinese Beef, Chicken Korma, the roasted asparagus, and Pork Tenderloin with Eggplant Relish (which was spicy and made with Japanese eggplant, which I would never normally buy, and which even the anti-veggie delegation happily ate, although, to be fair, said delegation may not have known it was eggplant...).  Everything is very flavorful, it's on the table quickly, and ingredients are easily obtained.  The only quibble I have is the "kitchen tips from the stars" that are touted on the cover.  You'd think that meant some...uh...kitchen tips, just say, but not so much.  Melissa D'Arabian telling us how great it is to cook with kids, Ellie Krieger reminiscing about her daughter recognizing the smell of basil on a bus, Guy Fieri building a second kitchen at his house--I'm sorry, I don't care.  But really, that's a small complaint, and a very small part of the book.

I see no reason why the rest of the recipes in Food Network Magazine Great Easy Meals won't be every bit as delicious as the ones I've tried so far.  On Amazon.com it is less than $15, and it is well worth the money.