100 DOLLARS A WEEK - Day 14 (What We Ate)...

I remember a friend of a friend deciding to move back to France after having lived in the States for a number of years because she'd just gotten divorced. And as a single mother with full custody of her child who needed to support herself and that child, she decided that life in France was much more conducive to her being able to do that while retaining her sanity.

Two months of vacation a year, free childcare, free college, a somewhat socialized healthcare system. And the best thing of all, the food. That fooooood. 

Fucking French.

Why that even occurred to me today is that the Man took a day off work to do what? Errands.

Don't get me wrong. This isn't an America-bashing post. I've had the good fortune to travel to a handful of countries other than this one, and it has always been nice to come back home. Gawd knows I'd rather live here than South Korea where I was born because, underachiever that I am, I probably would never have passed the exams for university and been stuck serving coffee in a nohrae bahng or something like that.

But having the Man or the kids around gives me a certain energy I don't have when I'm alone, and that's always nice. Because on days like today, it gives me a jump on things.

BREAKFAST

I woke up thinking cereal, but then I thought that would be a rather inauspicious meal for the Man's rare day off, so I made some tomato, spinach and mozzarella omelettes.

   5 eggs @ $0.75
+ 3 slices of mozzarella cheese @ $0.75
+ 1/4 of a bunch of spinach $0.30
+ 1 Roma tomato @ $0.20
+ a little milk, sat and pepper @ $0.10
+ 2 cups of coffee @ $0.40

= BREAKFAST: $2.50 total, $1.25/serving

LUNCH

The Man was out running errands and so grabbed a slice of pizza for lunch. That omelette kept me sated for a while, so just now, I ate a little bit of rice with some of the braising liquid from last night's piggy digits dinner with a baby dollop of sriracha. Braising liquid from fatty meats over some rice is unexpectedly satisfying. I think it's because the flavor is so rich, unctuous and layered.

It's now 3:30, and dinner is pretty much around the corner, so I think this'll do me for the next hour and half.

   the Man's pizza @ $3.00
+ a dollop of sriracha @ $0.02

= LUNCH: $3.02 total

DINNER

I got a head start on dinner today, so it's actually made and ready to go as of this writing. The rest of last week's chuck roast and some vegetables fashioned into a pot roast type deal. And the rest of that bunch of spinach as well as the white corn I bought on last week's shopping trip made into a creamed spinach and corn with just a touch of the nutmeg I bought today.

   just over 1 pound of the last shopping trip's chuck roast $3.00
+ 2 Roma tomatoes @ $0.40
+ half an onion, half a carrot, a stalk of celery (I finally have about 1 stalk left!!!) @ $0.25
+ half a head of garlic $0.05
+ a couple of bay leaves, some Worcestershire, Balsamic vinegar, S&P @ $0.25
+ the rest of the bunch of spinach @ $1.00
+ 4 ears of white corn @ $1.00
+ some butter, milk, flour, S&P, nutmeg @ $0.40

= DINNER: $6.35 total, $2.15/serving (there are at least 3 servings)

$12.00 spent today.

Saturday:  $15.00
Sunday:  $23.00
Monday:  $8.00
Tuesday:  $10.00
Wednesday:  $11.00
Thursday:  $9.00
Friday:  $12.00

$88.00 worth of food used up this week. At the end of this monthlong project, we'll probably hold off shopping for a couple of days and have a few, shall we say, *interesting*, fridge cleanout meals just to make sure we use up all the perishables before we stock up some more.

I feel like I haven't stopped doing since I left to buy groceries this morning.

I like those kinds of days.

shinae

100 DOLLARS A WEEK - Day 14 (Early Shopping Day)...

I'm both sad and happy to report that I've half given up on taking the recyclables to the recycling center. As I drove up to the recyling center for the second time in a month and saw a line of 5 or 6 people, all waiting to insert their cans and bottles, can by can, bottle by bottle, into the machine that tallies and calculates your total refund at 5 cents a can or bottle, I decided for the second time in a month that it wasn't worth my trouble.

What started out as a summer project with my kids (who were here with me during the week when the line was less congested) to not only show them the value of recycling, but to teach them that they shouldn't be too proud to do something honest and decent, anything honest and decent, if need be, to earn money, if need be, has become a casualty of my good fortune - the luxury of deciding that 20 minutes of my time is better served writing this blog post than getting $2.50 back from the recycling center for a month's worth of recycling.

As I write this, I am kicking myself for not leaving my recyclables with one or more of the people who have decided, for any number of reasons, that it is good and/or necessary to stand in that line and get that refund, but I know there's a lady who combs through the neighborhood recyclables early on Friday mornings before the trash truck comes round. And I think I'll save them for her.

Why not let Waste Management take them if they're all just going to get recycled in the end? Because I'm pretty sure the bigwigs over at Waste Management make shitloads of money with all their government contracts and such and don't have to even think about waking up at the buttcrack of dawn to dig through other peoples' trash to scrounge up a few dollars.

On a separate note, the Man took the day off from work today and had the pleasure of watching me do the kitchen towel salad spinner thing on the spinach that ended up in our omelettes today, which really is a very small and efficient motion that looks more like the Hooker Purse Twirl than anything else. When I walked back into the house, he said "So THAT'S what it looks like. When I read that post, I thought it looked more like THIS." <wildly cranking his entire arm so it looks like a giant ferris wheel in very fast motion>

It made me laugh to the point of tears to think that I might have inspired anyone to walk outside in plain view of their neighbors and do that, all the while getting water splashed on their faces.

Remember folks: it's all in the wrist. Just like a hooker twirling her purse.

And on to the take...

$35.74 spent at Fresh & Easy...

$40.30 spent at Earthgrown.

As I said before, it's an unusual couple of weeks around here between helping my parents to move and attending weddings two weekends in a row. So between having the kids hang out with their grandparents two Friday nights in a row, and then eating dinner at weddings two nights out of two weeks, we've spent a little less on and of our groceries than we normally would.

This week, between Fresh & Easy and Earthgrown, I spent $79.08 as follows.

PRODUCE: For avocados, cantaloupe, broccoli, green cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, Fuji apples, collard greens, cilantro, Bartlett pears, Crimini mushrooms, cucumbers, red leaf lettuce, jalapenos, green onions, Roma tomatoes, green and red bell peppers, garlic, white onions and mung bean sprouts, I spent $27, about 34% of the total.

MEAT: For a pound of salmon, a pack of chicken drumsticks, and a pound of bacon, I spent $14.00, about 18% of the total.

DAIRY: For a gallon of milk, a pound of unsalted butter, a small block of cream cheese, a small block of mild cheddar, 18 large eggs, and a 32 oz. container of yogurt, I spent $18.00, about 22% of the total.

PANTRY: For a large can of whole tomatoes, a pack of yakisoba (yahkkeesohbah) noodles, half a pound of brown sugar, a packet of curry powder, 3 whole nutmegs, a pack of granulated onion, and 4 packages of Sapporo Ichiban ramen, I spent $9.00, about 12% of total.

GRAINS: For a 6 pack of plain bagels on clearance, I spent $0.70, about 1% of total.

INDULGENCES: For 1 brownie mix, a box of Fresh & Easy Oreo-type cookies, and a bottle of cheap, CHEAP rose (rohZAY), I spent $6.00, abut 8% of total.

MISC: For a bottle of Suave men's body wash (which is less than half than the bottle of AXE that we would normally buy, and, as it turns out, quite effective, so we'll probably stick with it) and a box of gallon freezer bags, I spent $5.00, about 6% of total.

What I've got in mind so far...

- a Tandoori chicken dinner using those drumsticks along with an aloo gobi using this week's cauliflower  and a couple of the white rose potatoes left from last week

- Gala apple and cheddar cheese snacks

- a pan-seared salmon with homemade tartar sauce and a cucumber, tomato and red onion salad of some sort

- a pernil (pehrNEEL), which is just Spanish for pork roast, using that bone-in, skin on picnic shoulder I bought last week, marinated in some citrus garlic concoction (I still have a lot of citrus left over from the past couple of weeks), along with some collard greens and, if they're ripe enough by then, also the platanos (PLAHtahnohss) or plaintains I bought last week

- If I buy fish sauce and shrimp at the Vietnamese market in OC as planned, then I'll probably use some of that shrimp, some rice noodles bought months ago, some cilantro, sprouts, green onion and egg to make pahd thai as well. That grocery trip will probably cost us an extra $10.00, bringing this week's grocery total to just under $90.00, but I'm not sure that I will. I may just end up making a chicken pad thai. We'll see.

Back later with the meals,

shinae

100 DOLLARS A WEEK - Day 13 & Something About Knives...

Once upon a time, I went into posh peoples' homes and either catered their private dinner parties or taught them how to cook. And a lot of them had really beautifully outfitted, sprawling kitchens that were a joy to cook in. But no matter where I went, no matter how high end the equipment, no matter how extensive the gadgetry, I always packed these:

My Thai-made Kiwi brand kitchen knives. Lightweight, comfortable, durable, super sharp, and SUPER AFFORDABLE.

If you're a cooking enthusiast, you already know that there is no limit to what you can spend outfitting your kitchen. There are chef's knives out there that cost five hundred dollars a piece (and sometimes more) if you care to spend that much money on your knives. And if you're one of those people with enough money that 500 bucks is really just a drop in the bucket, then I guess it makes sense to buy one of those.  

But I will make no bones about it - my knife skills are solid. And considering how well these roughly FIVE DOLLAR knives have served me over the years, I would as soon treat some friends to sushi and sake with the remaining 490 or so dollars as buy one five hundred dollar chef's knife.

But to put it in more relatable terms - a lot of people buying their first set of nicer knives often look to brands like Chicago Cutlery or Henckels, where you can spend $30 to $100 on a chef's knife. I would rather pay five dollars to be able to use my Kiwi knife than have to use a $30 Chicago Cutlery or $60 Henckels knife for free. Which is not to say that either of those brands isn't good. It's just to say that as a person who has done a LOT of knifework, I much prefer these.

As you know by now, I'm not the kind to encourage anyone to spend money they don't have to. But if you've been working with dull, clunky knives, and you want to keep cooking, and you want to keep getting better at cooking, and you want to ENJOY cooking even more, there are few more worthwhile kitchen investments than a good knife. 

And considering that you can buy the biggest knife in that picture for $6.95 + S&H from places like The Wok Shop, or minus the S&H at your local Asian grocer, I'm going to say that if you don't already have a good and sharp knife, your VERY NEXT kitchen purchase should be one of these.

And if you do, please come back and let me know how much easier your life is because you did. ;)

Now for the meals...

BREAKFAST

Yogurt *buttermilk* pancakes again. Recipe here.

And today, Mrs. Coffee Potato Head, who reminds me a little of Nicole Richie when she wears her Jackie O. shades...

For the flour, egg, milk, yogurt, sugar, salt, baking powder and butter to make the pancakes plus the coffee...

BREAKFAST: $1.00 total

LUNCH

Lunch for the Man is leftovers from last night's sweet potato ravioli dinner and some grapes.

No kale left for me, but five ravioli and probably a handful of grapes as well. And for my PMS salt cravings, I'm probably going to have a few pieces of kimchi somewhere in there. Not with the ravioli, mind you, but at some point.

LUNCH: $1.00 total for grapes and some kimchi.

And I am just bracing myself for the *EWWWWWWWWWWS* to come when I tell you that I'm having Korean style stewed feet of pig for dinner:

But I love the stuff. And dinner will cost right around 5 bucks again, I think. But I'll be back later with the pics and the totals.

Oh, and, tomorrow will be another early shopping day because we're going up to OC again to help my parents move sometime this weekend. I'll probably do my Fresh and Easy milk and grains run, and then possibly hold off on the rest for Shun Fat this weekend.

And I think I want to cut bangs...

shinae

@Next morning (I got wrapped up doing very important things like cringing while watching all the tone deaf *singers* on X Factor):

Dinner was Korean style piggy trotters as planned, stewed with onions, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, rice wine and water.

My favorite soy dipping sauce on the side with an extra splash of vinegar in it because pig and vinegar are a match made in Heaven...

Served with a side of steamed rice and sweet, sour, hot Korean style cukes dressed in salt, sugar, fresh garlic, distilled white vinegar and cayenne pepper.

   3 lbs. of pork feet for $4.50 (3 pounds of straight meat would be way too much for two people, but pork feet are half bones)
+ 1/2 an onion, 1/2 a head of garlic, an inch of ginger root @ $0.20
+ soy sauce, brown sugar, and free rice wine gotten as a gift @ $0.20
+ 2.5 Persian cukes @ $0.40
+ some salt, sugar, vinegar, and a clove of garlic @ $0.20 at most
+ 2 cups of jasmine rice @ $0.80
+ 2 freezer pops we ate after dinner @ $0.10

= DINNER: $6.40 total, $2.15/serving (We have one serving left.)

$8.40 spent for the day. (We'll round up to $9.00.)

Saturday:  $15.00
Sunday:  $23.00
Monday:  $8.00
Tuesday:  $10.00
Wednesday:  $11.00
Thursday:  $9.00

$76.00 spent and one day left to go. This will be another unusual Friday because the kids want to spend the last night they can in their grandparents' old home before we help move them into the new one this weekend. And another wedding this weekend. This time at a park.

When love rains, it pours...

Gadgets Schmadgets - Kitchen Towel Salad Spinner...

Just look at this kitchen.

Does it look like there's room for a salad spinner???

If you answered YES, you would be INCORRECT. There is no room for a salad spinner. There's barely room for the stove.

And yet a salad spinner serves a useful purpose because who likes their dressing diluted by ubiquitous beads of water? Or, in the case of tonight's dinner, who wants their kale to get steamed when they really want it sauteed?

Lucky for those of us with tiny cooking spaces, some things, like kitchen towels, do double, even triple duty. Today, in addition to drying dishes and standing in for an oven mitt, my kitchen towel stood in as salad spinner.

HOW TO USE YOUR KITCHEN TOWEL AS A SALAD SPINNER

1) Place your washed greens on the center of the towel.

2) Tie diagonal ends together to fashion a handle for yourself.

3) Go outside, away from windows, and using the same centrifugal force that powers an actual salad spinner, spin that satchel of greens like there's no tomorrow until you no longer feel little beads of water hitting your face. (Usually takes anywhere from 50 to 100 really quick spins.)

Also, try to do it when no one's watching.

4) Come back inside, open up your kitchen towel salad spinner and !VOILA! Dry greens. :)

Ok, so there are a few teeny, tiny beads of water,
but that happens with the actual gadget, too...

5) Wring out that towel and let it air dry somewhere.

Back to making ravioli,

shinae

P.S. The Man just told me that the pic makes the kitchen look way bigger than it is. It's not.

100 DOLLARS A WEEK - Day 12...

So I finally threw it away.

After almost three months, I chucked the dish sponge. The dish sponge that has washed every last pot, pan, plate, bowl, fork, spoon, knife, younameit, that has passed through this kitchen. I'm pretty sure I personally know and like a lot of people who think it gross that I kept it that long, but this is one expression of my brand of conservation, and I promise that even if it didn't look clean, it was washed, rinsed, dried and occasionally bleached between uses.

Some people like to practice conservation by buying things that are supposed to be green from companies who are supposed to be green, and I think that's great. One way I practice conservation is by just buying less and using less. Because whether or not a company says it's green, a factory is still a factory. It still takes resources and creates emissions to produce a manmade sponge, whether that sponge is made of post consumer materials or not.

This isn't to say that there aren't a lot of really honest companies out there doing the best they can to do the least amount of harm to Earth, but the truth is there are a lot of companies that create green products just so they won't be left out of the money there is to be made by participating in this small but growing revolution.

And while some really dedicated people do, I don't care to spend my time doing the very deep research it takes to find out what every last company I patronize really does behind and beyond the marketing image, so I do what I believe can and does have real impact: I use less. Or actually, if you look at it another way, I use a thing more before I hand it off to the landfills. And I believe that if each of us used a disposable yet reusable thing even just one more time than we normally would before we discarded it, it would make a worthwhile difference in the amount of non-biodegradable waste we produce.

So if I use a paper towel to wipe up something innocuous like water or black coffee, I push it off to a corner to use later in the day when I spill fish sauce or oil on the kitchen floor, or to kill a spider, or even wipe the toilet bowl rim, before throwing it away. If I use a straw to drink clear liquids, I give it a rinse and reuse it (but don't worry, if you're ever a guest in my home, you'll get a new one) until it gets worn or damaged. I save unmarked jars (or remove the labels) and containers for storage and reuse them to store kimchi or pickled jalapenos. (As you can see, my aesthetic preferences and anti-branding quirk are sometimes stronger than my conservationist streak.) I fill the sink and soak the dishes to wash them rather than leave the water running as I'm washing. Stuff like that...

I think other methods of conservation are just as important, but what I think is most important is that we make some conscious effort every day, even if only just one, to waste less. Like taking just 2 packets of ketchup if that's all we're going to use instead of mindlessly grabbing 5 and throwing away 3. Or taking just what we can eat at a buffet, knowing we can always go back for more. I believe in the quiet but powerful critical mass that can be created if we each made these small and easy choices within our own spheres of influence each and every day.

And I also believe I'd better stop being so damned preachy so many days in a row. I think tomorrow I'll talk about something totally apolitical like chocolate.

Wait. Chocolate comes from the Rain Forest... :/

BREAKFAST

I think I mentioned that the corn tortillas in this barrio come in packs of no less than 80, so I have to come up with lots of uses, or we'll end up throwing 40 of them away. This morning, it was corn tortilla quesadillas topped with the very last cup of the leftover gumbo from Saturday.

   6 corn tortillas @ $0.20
+ 5 slices of cheese @ $1.25
+ 2 cups of coffee @ $0.40

= BREAKFAST: $1.85 total, $0.95/serving

LUNCH

Lunch for the Man is a raw veg bibim bahp with a fried egg on top, veg packed separately as he'll have to nuke his rice. Oh, and a Gala apple on the side.

There's seasoned gochoojahng under that egg...

Veg for the bibim bahp...

I'm not in much of an eating mood, so I'm having some steamed rice with some of the leftover nuoc cham with deep fried onions in it from last night's fried fish dinner. That and more coffee (which I didn't drink yesterday but already accounted for).

   Misc. raw veg $0.40
+ 1 fried egg @ $0.20
+ 1 Gala apple @ $0.20 (all else accounted for yesterday)

= LUNCH: $0.80 total

As many of the good people on the chowhound What's For Dinner thread have been talking homemade ravioli, and as I've got this packet of wonton skins that the Man had me buy months ago to make him cream cheese wontons that I didn't, and as it's one of those overcast days that infuses me with energy to make a somewhat labor intensive dinner, dinner will be wonton skin ravioli stuffed with a sweet potato and cheese stuffing, sauteed in brown butter and accompanied by some of the sweet Italian sausage I bought last week.

Braised or sauteed kale on the side.  We'll see what sounds good as I'm cooking...

Should be about 5 bucks for dinner, but I'll be back later with pics and the full breakdown.

Off to eat real quick and roast some yams...

shinae

@8:53 PM - Sweet potato ravioli as planned using up that packet of wonton wrappers that's been haunting my deli drawer for 2 months. I was going to serve the ravioli with the sausage, but decided that the sausage went better with the kale, so I sauteed the kale with the sausage, a quarter of a white onion, a few cloves of garlic, and a handful of those raisins I made for Mads.

   1.2 lbs. of yam @ $0.83
+ 1/4 wheel of queso fresco (which worked a lot like ricotta salata when brought up to room temp) @ $0.50
+ 1 egg @ $0.15
+ misc. seasonings (dried ginger, cinnamon, black pepper) @ $0.20 max
+ 2 bunches of kale @ $1.58
+ 1/4 of a white onion and 3 cloves garlic @ $0.20
+ 3 links of Italian sausage @ $1.80

= DINNER: $5.30 total, $1.75/serving (for 3 very generous servings)

And that was dinner. But then I got one of those salty, fatty, generally anything and everything bad for you cravings that I didn't feel like cooking for, so I sent the Man out with a $1.99 coupon for 2 pieces of Church's Fried Chicken plus a biscuit and mashed potatoes. The Man and I shared the chicken, and I learned that Church's is good in a PMS pinch. A little too salty for my liking even given my salt craving, and I'll pass on the biscuits and mashed taters every time from here on out, but it's hard to beat 2 bucks to satisfy a salt and grease craving with almost no effort.

That plus a Diet Coke (because I'm also craving bubbles)...

= SNACK: $3.25


Saturday:  $15.00
Sunday:  $23.00
Monday:  $8.00
Tuesday:  $10.00
Wednesday:  $11.00

$67.00 spent so far with 2 days left to go. I already know dinner tomorrow will have something to do with them pig trotters, and the Man's lunch of leftover ravioli and kale is already packed.

Slim pickins on TV tonight. I think I'll try to write some more...

100 DOLLARS A WEEK - Day 11...

I'm pretty much a DIY kind of person but for a few things that I learned, either by personal experience or sufficient anecdotal evidence, come with a severe idiot tax for anyone foolhardy enough to attempt them without plenty of experience and regular practice. Things like plumbing for instance, anything generally mechanical that requires more than a screwdriver, laying tile, remodeling the kitchen, that sort of thing. And beyond a certain level of simplicity, like when you start thinking *Sweet Jesus, this just CAN'T be all the deductions. :/*, also TAXES.

While my tax situation is much simpler now, there was a time not so long ago that it was slightly more complicated due to self-employment and investment related issues. And during that time, one of the best things I ever did for myself as the person who was primarily responsible for my family's finances, was to find myself a good CPA. And now as I'm dealing with some tax issues from that past life that come with ever so subtly intimidating letters from the IRS, I can't tell you how glad I am that I have a good CPA/tax attorney whom I can call and who, through many years of practice and experience, was able to diagnose my problem and provide an effective solution within five minutes, and give me peace of mind just as quickly.

I don't wanna read it. Do you wanna read it???

I'm not talking about "tax preparers" like H&R Block who often charge you INSANE checkbox fees to have your taxes filed by someone who just completed their tax preparation course last month. I mean an experienced, knowledgeable CPA who knows the ins and outs of the tax code (all 16,845 pages of it) and the workings of the IRS and applicable tax boards, and who can set your mind at ease with a mere phone call before you can drive yourself bananas contemplating the hypothetical unknown.

While this has nothing to do with cooking, it is tangentially related to this series on frugal cooking because this is an area of life in which many of us are penny wise and pound foolish. I remember hearing from a friend a couple years ago that they had paid $900 to have an H&R Block tax preparer file their taxes, while my CPA who is also a tax attorney charged a third of that and fielded all my questions in the off-season to boot. While going to a tax preparer is not exactly DIY, it is often marketed as something easier, more accessible, less expensive than the often superior alternative of going to an experienced CPA with a good reputation.

This is not a blind endorsement of all CPAs, nor is it a blanket criticism of aforementioned tax preparers or of actually doing your taxes yourself (I did for many years until it just didn't make sense or cents to anymore). But if you're getting to a point in your finances where the tax code is affecting you beyond the standard deductions, finding a good CPA on whom you can rely for sound tax and other financial advice may be something to consider. Because remember, not even in bankruptcy can you escape the clutches of the Internal Revenue Service... :|

BREAKFAST

Having been awoken midsleep by a very needy wiener (dog), the Man and I both woke up late feeling like this:

So breakfast was an assembly job of yogurt topped with jam and honey and cereal.

   2 servings of yogurt $1.00
+ 2 servings of cereal $1.00
+ 2 cups of coffee $0.40

= BREAKFAST: $2.40 total, $1.20/serving

LUNCH

Lunch for the Man was the remainder of last night's tacos, all accounted for yesterday but for 1/8 of a wheel of queso fresco and some grapes.

For me, since I've been working on domestic financial issues and such, 2 mostly hard boiled eggs and a handful of grapes I'm still working on. And I'm exhausted, so it looks like another 2 cups of coffee in just a bit here.

Love a little sriracha with my hard boiled eggs... :)

   Grapes for 2 @ $1.00
+ 2 hard boiled eggs @ $0.30
+ 2 cups of coffee @ $0.40

= LUNCH: $1.70 total.

Dinner will be that Thai style fried tilapia that I was planning, along with some red cabbage, mint and cilantro slaw, and some steamed jasmine rice. And I'm pretty sure that's not going to be enough food for us today, so I might bust out the chicken livers as a pre-dinner snack. Yummy, delicious, liver-y goodnesssss...

And since I've still got a buttload of limes left, and it makes sense with the meal, I'll probably make more of that ginger-infused limeade we had yesterday.

Dinner and snack together will probably run us about 6 bucks, but I'll be back with the breakdown and pics in a bit.

Here's to Max (my CPA),

shinae

@7:35 PM

SNACK

So snack was chicken livers and onions like I planned. I took half a white onion and sauteed it til it was translucent, added just a pinch of salt and pepper, and a light splash of Balsamic vinegar to give the onions just a little bit of extra sweetness and tartness. Set those aside, and sauteed the chicken livers with just a little salt and pepper until they were just cooked through and still creamy. Just a squeeze of fresh lime and a few dashes of Tabasco, and it was the perfect snack to wash down with a couple of Sierra Nevada Pale Ales.

   1 small container of chicken livers @ $1.75
+ half an onion plus odd seasonings @ $0.25 (beers out of Entertainment budget)

= SNACK: $2.00 total

DINNER

I was thisclose to just clipping a fried chicken coupon and making some slaw to go with, but I made the whole fried generally Southeast Asian style tilapia as planned, and I'm glad I did because it was delicious. Red cabbage, mint and cilantro slaw on the side, both the slaw and the fish dressed with some habanero laced nuoc cham I made a few weeks ago.

nuoc cham with some extra lime and deep fried onions...

   a whole tilapia @ $1.75
+ 1/2 an onion and some fresh mint, cilantro, and ginger @ $0.25
+ 1/4 head of red cabbage @ $0.60
+ 2 green onions @ $0.10
+ 2 cups of jasmine rice @ $0.80
+ 1 small Hass avocado that I ate with the leftover slaw @ $0.60
+ 2 freezer pops we ate after dinner @ $0.10

= DINNER: $4.20 total, $2.10/serving


Saturday:  $15.00
Sunday:  $23.00
Monday:  $8.00
Tuesday:  $10.00

$56.00 spent so far with three days left to go. I don't know what I'm going to pack for the Man's lunch tomorrow, but it'll probably have something to do with the leftover steamed Jasmine rice and a fried egg. Maybe a raw veg bibim bahp.

Til tomorrow...

100 DOLLARS A WEEK - Day 10...

The Man has this camera. I call it Fancycam. It's much bigger, heavier and more expensive than the Canon Powershot A590IS with which I shoot all my food pics. Some have asked why I don't use that camera for my food pics instead. It does take really nice food pics, after all.

The primary reason is that Fancycam is not me. That's not to say that the Man is a fancy person, either. But he's a dude and a photography hobbyist, and we all know how dudes get about the gadgets that come with their hobbies...

This is totally irrelevant, but I'm
making *Champagne* vinegar with some
leftover cava... Let you know
in a few weeks how that
turns out.

But aside from the fact that the Man would have two coronaries in a row if I did with Fancycam the things I do with my point and shoot (all one need do is look at my cooking albums to imagine the array of foodschmutz that has touched that camera by way of my hands while cooking and shooting at the same time), the point and shoot is really just more my style. Compact, easy, tough, convenient, and most of all, unfussy.

And unlike Fancycam, which picks up amazingly bright colors, vivid detail and fine contrast, oftentimes beyond what my mostly 20/20 eye can see, point and shoot is more like life to me. Well, my life at least. It represents the best I can do with what I've got, when I've got it. No settings, no foodstyling, and almost no manipulation but for the effort it takes to get the food on the plate.

So I find myself back on the soapbox today saying that while I can appreciate the aesthetics that result, you will not find me colorizing my foodshots or backlighting them, or putting lipstick on my strawberries, or blowtorching my chicken skins, or putting my pics through any number of digital photoediting processes to make the food look any better or different than it is. Because to me, what Mother Nature gives me to work with is good enough on its own, even if it's better or worse sometimes than others. Chicken one day, feathers the next. That's life.

I imagine there will be a time that the evolution of other technology and the obsolescence of my technology will force me to use different equipment, but until then, and hopefully even after then, I plan to post real pictures of real food from my make-do point of view. Don't get me wrong. I think there's beauty and value in the other stuff, but I personally would rather represent this.

And on to the food...

BREAKFAST

While I would have liked to save the croissants for a mid-week treat, I like to eat them while they're still fresh. So this morning, it was Caprese (kahPRAYzeh) croissants made with some of that mozzarella I bought this week, one small Roma tomato, and a few leaves of basil left over from one of those hydroponic basil plants that I bought maybe three weeks ago.

Tossed in a little olive oil to keep them from sweating
too much in the bake...

8 minutes in a 350F oven later. :)

And coffee...

   2 croissants @ $1.50
+ 4 slices of mozzarella cheese @ $1.00
+ 1 small Roma tomato and a little basil $0.20
+ 2 cups of coffee @ $0.40

= BREAKFAST: $3.10 total, $1.55/serving

LUNCH

I don't care what anybody says. Leftovers is good.

Most of the gumbo leftovers from Saturday for the Man (plus a handful of grapes).

Most of last night's Korean style beef stew leftovers for me.

All previously accounted for but the grapes...

= LUNCH: $0.50 total.

DINNER

Dinner will be tacos filled with a spicy shredded chicken filling using the chicken breasts from the whole chicken I bought last week. And to use up some of those sooooo many free limes we got from my mom by way of her neighbor, I'm thinking a ginger-infused limeade that may or may not have anything to do with tequila, depending on what kind of a day the Man has at the office. :P

But as tequila is always entertaining, it always comes out of the Entertainment budget.

If you look closely, you'll see that the almost 10 day old
cilantro and mint still look great!

   1 whole chicken breast @ $2.00
+ 1 onion and some garlic @ $0.30
+ 2 jalapenos @ $0.10
+ 1/4 of a head of cabbage @ $0.60
+ 1/4 wheel of queso fresco @ $0.50
+ maybe 8 small corn tortillas at the most @ $0.30
+ misc. seasonings @ $0.50

= DINNER: $4.30 total for 3 servings (I'm pretty sure there will be leftovers), $1.45/serving

Saturday:  $15.00
Sunday:  $23.00
Monday:  $8.00

$46.00 so far, but I'll be back later to post dinner pics and update if anything changes.

Hasta luego,

shinae

@6:44 PM - Dinner of 7 shredded chicken tacos (4 for the Man, 3 for me), topped with red cabbage dressed in lime juice, yogurt and a little oil, as well as a blended salsa made of cilantro, onion, jalapeno, garlic, lime, salt, oil and a pinch of sugar.

With a glass of ginger infused limeade to wash it down.

P.S. You get more juice out of the lime if you load it at an angle like so: