For only $115 -- April's Menu

I've decided to take care of food monthly: one shopping trip a month and one (CHEAP!) monthly menu: meat once a week REALLy helps w/ this. This month's menu includes higher-protein weekday Breakfasts and Dinners to help Michael's daily 12-mile bike ride to the Admin offices (one-way) and costs a total of $115. Lunch is usually leftovers from dinner. Michael's in charge of the weekend meals, which is why the menu is only Monday through Friday.

For a few meals I've begun to calculate cost totals based on prices at SW Washington grocery stores. For example, the Egg Salad Sandwich (including homemade bread) costs $1.45 per serving. I was suprised to learn that my Italian Bread w/ roughly 20 servings costs a total, TOTAL, of 89 cents! This is an artisan-style bread that, at a good bakery, would cost at least $5.

Just about everything is made from scratch, including the tortillas, english muffins, and ginger beer. This helps cut down on costs A LOT. For example, homemade tortillas cost 20 cents for 8 servings while a package of 12 processed tortillas coast $1.99... That's $1.50 of savings and 15 miles in gas, half of beer, a quarter of a movie ticket at the second-run theather in Vancouver.


Week of April 4th
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Granola and yogurt(all week)
M - Crispy Chicken and Potatoes
T - Black Bean Soup and Cornbread
W - Chicken Tacos (using leftover chicken from Monday)
T - Chili and Rice (double batch & freeze)
F - Egg Salad Sandwich on Italian Bread with Lentil Salad


Week of April 11th
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Bran Muffins (all week)
M - Brats w/ Spaetzle and Red Cabbage (if I can find any at the market)
T - Nachos
W - Lentil Soup
T - Hummus, Falafel, and Salad
F - Bean Burrito


Week of April 18th
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Egg Sandwiches on English Muffins (all week)
M - Roast Beef with Mashed Potatoes
T - Curry and Rice (double batch & freeze)
W - Beef Tacos (using leftover beef from Monday)
T - Tuna Salad on Italian Bread w/ Curried Carrot Soup
F - Chili and Rice (leftovers from 4/7)


Week of April 25th
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Oatmeal w/ Honey-Vanilla Fig Topping (all week)
M - Roast Pork w/ Stuffing
T - Frittata
W - Pork BBQ (using leftover pork from Monday)
T - Black Bean Stirfry
F - Curry and Rice (leftovers from 4/21)


Snacks
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Spiced Nuts
Hard & Soft Pretzels
Dried Fruit
Hot Chocolate
Biscotti
Peanut Butter Crackers
Ginger Beer
Popcorn
Tea

A Pugly Beauty Routine

1) (Attempt to) scrub the teeth
2) FURminate the hair (while licking up the floating fibers)
3) Apply zit cream to the little pink bubbles around the mouth
4) Run a rubbing alcohol-coated swab through the wrinkles
5) Dust anti-bacterial foot powder on the limb pits to prevent rashes
6) Wipe away any dripping eye juice
7) Acknowledge that, as a pug, one will always be at least slightly pathetic

From our 2009 Trip to Boston: I blame the dog

The Job Hunt

Objective: A part-time position that will not suck away my spirit

I'm searching for a position to help pay of some debt but will offer a break in my schedule; love being at home, but love it even more when the rest is earned. I'm also exploring whether I should go back to teaching. I miss it, I miss the kids, but I don't miss the boredom or stress of teaching. Will these things have changed in a meaningful way?

Pursuing a job has been stressful in itself. It took me reading this quote to realize why: "The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude." --Julia Child. I've been afraid of failing, much like my first year of teaching: chaotic, scary, hopeless. By stealing Child's what-the-hell attitude, I recognize that I was putting too much pressure on myself. Nothing is going to perfect, and, even more, it's okay to mess up.

What-the-hell!

The Results of My All-Day Bake-A-Thon

The Results...hmmm.

First, it wasn't all day. I started around 11, after several distracting (but enjoyable) hours with Facebook, dog walking, and Hulu -- not watching Hulu, just hunting for things to watch. Also, a 2-hour walk the day before a bake-a-thon is not a good idea: a pulled a muscle in my left ankle was begging for more attention than I was willing to give it. Demanding it function for the several hours of standing that I needed of it was, perhaps, too much to ask.

For the first hour, I slated for myself to start two batches of italian bread, chicken stock, and english muffins, and I was only about 15 minutes beyond that first 60 minute time-limit. But that put me 15 minutes behind the next hour -- tortillas and cooking the english muffins, 30 minutes behind for the 3rd hour -- bran muffin and spice mixes, and by the 4th hour (what was predicted as my 4th hour -- potato gnocchi), I was actually on my 5th hour. And while I did not even attempt the pierogies (the filling, in fact, is still waiting for some attention in the fridge), I accomplished all on my list.

And yet, despite the amount (the overwhelming amount on paper) of foods that I created, my freezer doesn't seem to bulging with nourishment. Indeed, my goal of cooking one day and eating for a month is one that I may not achieve the first time through. Yet the ability to pull out 5 tortillas cut my Chicken Tacos for that night in half, more than in half. That in itself made the Bake-A-Thon a more-or-less sucess.

Possible Internship, you say?

Michael and I were working at the community garden, clearning brush and weeding. A reporter from the Vancouver Voice, SW Washington's only alternative newspaper was there for a story. I asked him if I could stop by sometime to see what they do, learn, work for free...? He said, yeah! We'll probably put you to work right away.

Very good, indeed.

http://www.vanvoice.com/

Pug Play Date

There was a pug play date in late August that we found out about from Meetup.com. About 30 pugs, lots of snorting and smiles...