happy thanksgiving

Thief!

Dallas stole my makeup brush (again).
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Bear being cute

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Sunset

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The Furballs

Bear (in window), Tabby (on table - my roomie's cat), Dallas (sprawled out on table)
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Birthday surprise, from my roomie!

My roommate came home with champagne and cake last night, to celebrate my birthday!! It was very sweet of her. We also got fixed up & headed out to Javier's for some wine & girlie time. It was a very nice birthday night. :)
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tired Bear

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new favorite: grocery deals

Back in September (Hunger Action Month, and back when I had a job), I read an article that made me pause for a moment to think & feel...and then (arrogantly) decided I had done my gracious thinking moment for the day, felt socially conscious, and conveniently moved on with life and kinda forget about it.  

Until I lost my job.  

And then it's interesting how life gives you a new perspective and appreciation on things.

I learned through the article that SNAP recepients receive about $25/wk in food coupons...about $3.50 a day.  And in September, people were accepting the challenge of retooling their diets & grocery budgets to live off of $25/wk themselves, by choice.

So with no cash coming through the door right now (other than unemployment income - and man that first check takes a while to arrive...), I'm on a mission to stretch my dollars to the max.  

My latest goal:  to eat healthy, well-balanced meals...on $25/wk.  

I'm learning that getting acquainted with the who, what, where's of deal shopping takes TIME!!  Some moments I'm not sure of the cost-benefit of sifting through coupons, burning gas in driving around, and pawing through junky clearance racks is worth it.  But now that I'm finding where the consistent deals are located, it's getting quicker/easier to duck in, grab, and go.

Some of my new favorite grocery deals have been a bit unexpected, and it's becoming a bit of a game for me to see where I can find even better deals.  I'd love to hear from you if you have ideas!  Here are some finds that left me yelling "score!!" on my quest to fix meals off of $25/wk...

-  The bakery clearance section, tucked far back in the rear of the grocery store:  here I find my favorite pumpernickle dark bread, made with whole grains and no preservatives, as well as some other wholesome semi-fresh baked goods.  I can usually find a loaf of bread for $0.50.  Grab a couple extra for the freezer, and I bolt to the register like I'm heading for the end-zone before someone tackles me to steal my bargains!  Sometimes the loaves are not sliced, though.  So I find that if I smile nicely at the bakery boys on the way to the registers, they'll do a nice job of slicing it for me - for free.  :)

-  The wine aisle, during sale week:  sadly, this and chocolate fall into my "splurge" category in my revamped grocery budget.  But I've managed to pick up a few (albeit undrinkable) deals for cooking.  For instance, the red wine in my spaghetti sauce, that added the nice depth of flavour?  I picked that up for $1.75/bottle.  (Don't groan & moan, Shawn - I KNOW what you're thinking!!  Desperate times call for desperate measures.  LOL)

-  The dollar store:  this shocked me, and is one of my favorite surprises.  Next to the best-priced Chevron in the area for gas ($2.41 yesterday) sits a large dollar store...with a grocery section.  Yesterday, for a dollar each, I made off with:  a gorgeous head of dark green lettuce, over a pound of carrots, a carton of mushrooms, a bag of eight (count 'em: EIGHT!!!) kiwis!!  Four bucks.  Totally stoked.  :)  I can remember kiwis back home going for $1-$2, EACH!!!  The dollar store also has cartons of peppers that look gorgeous.  I still have 2 red ones I need to finish off first, but I'm definitely heading back for more.

I haven't taken tally yet on where I'm at on making my food budget for the month, but I think I'm pretty close.  Might be a little over (I've caved and bought some frozen yogurt and a few other goodies on sale), but all-in-all, not bad.

my "shoestring gourmet" spaghetti meat sauce

Aside from hard-boiled eggs and pancakes, pbj's and tuna salad sandwiches, spaghetti sauce is fast becoming my new favorite staple for meals these days. It can go on so many different kinds of pasta, you can even put it on bread... But I tell ya...I'm burning out - quick - on my less-than-creative "budget" diet!

So on my last trip to the store, instead of buying whatever bland, generic 2/$6 sauce was on sale - loaded with sodium, high fructose corn syrup, and other terrific "flavorings" and preservatives - I decided to go it myself. I wanted to make a health/cost-savings per meal, hopefully something that would taste a bit better too, and something that could freeze & be heated quick. I haven't checked yet to see how my recipe invention measures out $/meal, but my taste-test dinner results tonight seemed to work out!

So here's my latest concoction, in case you feel brave...

_______________________________

Ingredients

2 T oil, canola
2 C onions, yellow, chopped (approx. 2 onions)
2 T garlic, minced (approx. 6 cloves)
1 C pepper, red, diced - roasted (approx. 2 peppers)
2 C mushrooms, sliced (approx. 12 mushrooms)
2 C eggplant, diced - roasted (approx. 1 eggplant)

3 lbs beef, ground - browned

3 C wine, red, Cabernet Sauvignon - reduced (approx. 1 bottle - don't need anything fancy...I found mine for something like a $1.50!!)

15 oz beans, kidney/red, canned, strained & rinsed
15 oz beans, white, canned, strained & rinsed
15 oz olives, sliced, canned, strained & rinsed
29 oz tomatoes, diced/crushed, canned
29 oz tomatoes, puree/paste, canned
29 oz tomatoes, sauce, canned

2 T basil, fresh, minced (approx. 8-12 leaves)
0.50 t fennel seed
1 T oregano, dried
0.25 t rosemary, dried
0.25 t thyme, dried
1 t salt
1 t pepper, black, ground
1 T sugar

extra top secret ingredients....
0.25 t cinnamon
0.25 t cocoa powder
0.25 t coffee grinds, fine

_______________________________

Instructions

1. Put the meat out on the counter to rest after being refrigerated. Clean your hands! Then chop, mince, slice, & dice the onions, garlic, mushrooms, & eggplant in prep for browning & roasting. Meanwhile, heat a big pot on the stove until waterspatters "dance" when flicked in it; then add & heat the oil. Turn the broiler on in the oven for the red peppers.

2. Put the red peppers under the broiler and rotate until all sides of the skins are charred. Meanwhile, add the onions to the pot of oil and stir to coat thoroughly. Add the garlic right before the onions caramelize. Cook until the onions just begin caramelizing and the garlic becomes fragrant, and then dump into the crockpot (don't burn the garlic!!). When the peppers are charred on all sides, put them in a bowl and cover with a lid or saran wrap to steam for 10-15 minutes.

4. Add the mushrooms to the pot on the stove to cook until they start to let go of their water, then add to the crockpot. Meanwhile, stir the eggplant with some canola oil (olive oil burns at high temps) and spread on a sheet for under the broiler. Roast until browned, then add to crockpot.

5. Add the ground beef to the pot on the stove and cook until browned. Add to crockpot.

6. Deglaze the bottom of the pot with the red wine, scraping up any bits of browned vegetables and meat, cooking until wine reduces by almost half. Add to crockpot.

7. Strain & rinse the beans & olives. Add to crockpot.

8. Add the canned tomatoes to the crockpot.

9. Mince the fresh basil and add to the crockpot. Add the other spices/seasonings...and the top secret seasonings if you feel daring!

10. Peel the charred skin from the red peppers (should practically fall off when you pick them up), gut them of their seeds, chop, and add to the crockpot.

11. Stir.

12. Cook on HI for an hour, and then LO for 8-12 hours (according to taste), stirring occasionally.

13. Let me know what you think!

stuff that makes me rethink my life...

Yesterday was an historic day for many reasons, and one I won't forget...for many reasons.  

Obvious one first: we have our first American President of Colour!  I pray that he and his cabinet will have the wisdom needed to lead us, protect us, and govern us through the next four years.  We are living in a new day; may God walk closely with us all on this new path.

Secondly - yesterday marks the annual day that I could have had an elder sibling and instead, been the second born in my family, and not the first.  My mom miscarried before she had me.  I often feel like I don't understand a lot of the ways in which God works and why he allows some things and not others.

Which is the feeling I was left with at the end of the day yesterday, overwhelmingly so, as I laid in bed and watched the clock tick past 3 am...  

I don't understand.  I don't get it.  I don't know.  And I don't know what to do.

Not only were there thoughts of how Obama's election would impact my future, but also the future of healthcare, senior housing, my job prospects, what direction I should go with my career life now, stay in the industry I love and have worked so hard in for the past 3 years, or start over in something else, the up-hill battle I'm facing with my former employer to get several thousands of dollars they still owe me from unreimbursed travel, whether a cheque from them would come back with an NSA note, how I will have enough money to move if I need to, whether I should look for any old job and take a dramatic pay cut, or hold out hopes for something more challenging and well-paying, or go back to school, or whether I should stay here or just pack whatever fits in my RAV and drive home?  

But most of all last night...mulling a call I received from a dear friend.  A call that immediately required some wine to swallow the news with, and a tight grip on my roomie's crystal, to keep from dropping it to the floor...

The words fell from my Blackberry with a piercing heaviness, one by one, leaving me wishing for static interference, a bad connection, something, anything, to let me ask..."wait, what???  did I hear you wrong???  tell me again..."...hoping to hear it a second time, differently.

But no.

There the words were...like sunlight in my eyes, glaring and painfully clear:

cancer...

stage IV...

chemo starting in the next few weeks...

maybe curable, maybe not...

maybe 30 years, maybe 2...

.................

....

..

What do you say?

I was silent.  I stared at the wall as I sank into the floor.  I stuttered several questions, and lamely said, "don't worry - you'll beat this!" while secretly wondering "is it possible?"  And time slowed as memories flooded my mind...and the many questions, and the many scenarios... 

How quickly the coziness of fall turned to a harsh, cold winter in my heart, in just a matter of a day...in the matter of a moment. 

How much time is there?  What things need to be said?  What can be done?  What decisions does one make, after being soberly reminded the clock is ticking for all of us - and for some, seemingly faster than we'd ever like?

"We'll live it up, babe.  No matter how much time there is.  No matter what.  We'll LIVE it.  I'm your cheerleader."

I heard the words jet out from deep within me, forced out by some kind of welling passion....and immediately wondered why we don't live every day with that kind of forcefulness any way.  Why does it take a cancer diagnosis before we seriously grapple with the brevity of our mortal lives?  Why does it take staring the end in the face with a dear friend (or perhaps by ourselves) before we feel an urgency to make every moment count, as though it is framed in time - by time itself - as potentially being our last?  

The call still echoes for me tonight.  I'm sure it will ring in my ears for a while...and that it will keep me jumping at my phone every time it makes a noise...  

Babe, I sport the lime green for you: the colour of hope, in the face of Lymphoma.  

Kick some cancer-ass, babe.  You can do it!!!!

yesterday

for McCain/Palin,

for elimination of same-sex marriage,

for waiting period and parental notification before termination of a minor's pregnancy.

http://www.ocvote.com/live/gen2008/results.htm

status update

So my antibiotics are done, I'm still clearering the fluid from my sinuses & ears, getting settled into my new place, clipping coupons (new fave: www.mygrocerydeals.com), and looking/hoping for work.

(pardon my mess - still trying to find a place for everything)

Just got back from a whirlwind trip Home, which was such a nice break from life down here. The Folks are finishing a remodel of the upstairs of the house, and it looks completely different from the former 26 years of my life there!! They are just now putting the finishing touches on it and beginning to move things back into place. The fall colours were gorgeous. I think I probably saw the tail-end of them.






Ryan's working for PWC and hunting in his spare time, and I couldn't be happier for him. He's passed his first two CPA exams, and is well on his way to finishing the last two!

I'm heading out to vote tomorrow morning. Gonna do my part to protect the marital institution on the CA ballot, and make my voice heard for McCain. Hope y'alls will do the same, if you haven't already!!