Day 45 - I'm different

When I was a kid - I often was teased.  One of the oh so clever phrases was "You're Different [my real name]!"   A boy who shall remain nameless would shout loud enough for many people to hear across the hallway in Junior High.  At the time the teasing was hard to deal with, but even so my response then was always the same.... - "Umm yeah, I know!" 

So snap back to yesterday, I went to a picnic for a birthday - there was lots of junk food.  The crowd was mostly younger - a lot younger, so everyone brought chips and similar.  The "meat" was hot dogs, and because of a mixture of hunger and willingness to be diplomatic I ate one.  On the downside it was perhaps the worst tasting thing I have had in long time, On the up side I might be cured of hot dogs for life.  It might of just been the way it was cooked.  The awkward part was that everyone was raving about them, so I felt like I needed to keep my different opinion to myself.

The rest of the time was filled with other awkward moments.  It seems I'm often great at facilitating that atmostphere.  There was strawberries (so it wasn't all junk) and I said "Did you know those are filled with anti-oxidants?"  A couple people looked  at me strangely and no one said a word.  Later on I commented on how beans are easy to make in a crockpot (slow-cooker).  This was also met with a similar you are strange ness.  I didn't tell anyone about my blog - so I am not sure if that would have helped or hindered me in my ability to create conversation. 

I think these experiences make me realize how truly different I really am.  I get deluded about this because I read about my interests frequently and always find myself talking to similar link-minded people, which is fun.  It's not exactly on purpose, but I think it's just natural to want to hang out with people who are more like you.  You generally have more to talk about.  That being said I fancy myself someone who enjoys meeting people of all different walks of life.  It's basically something I have to be good at, as I meet new students every semester.  So it's odd for me when I find a big group of people that in general I don't have a connection point with.

Now I did meet some nice people, and I don't mean to offend anyone - I just think some people are different than me.  And quite likely - I'm actually the different one.  Luckily, no one is screaming that in my face anymore.  

Day 44 - No linkety links

I know I said I would put up links, but ahh just go to www.thepioneerwoman.com and click on cooking.  You will pretty much see what I was going to put up. 

Otherwise in food - I've been the ultimate lazy.  If it can be microwaved, then I'm eating it.  However, I'm still following the "rules" so go figure. 

Day 43 - Food for One

Well I ate Taco Bell yesterday.  Blah.  But it sure was good.  I had the Cheesarito, Chicken Burrito and 5-Layer-Burrito ($3.37).  I was uber hungry, which probably explains why I splurged on all that, not to mention giving in to convenience - back to back activities and what not.

Huzbun is out of town this weekend on business.  He is launching his company which I would tell you more about but have been instructed to keep my mouth shut for the time being.  

I think it will kind of interesting food wise to have the "weekend to myself."  This could mean many things:

1) I am looking forward to cooking up soybean mixtures, since I won't have to satisfy the meatatarian for a bit.

2) I also have a feeling I will eat generally less, as that is what happens when social convention does not require me to eat.  Yes, truth be told, I am one of those annoying people who forgets to eat (or something like that).  It all works out pretty well though as it seems I get plenty of reminders.

3) Also, I fear general laziness about preparing food.  I tend to not want to cook for one.  I am forsure making the soybeans tonight though to counter act this.

Ok Ciao!

Tomorrow, I'll have some links up!

Day 42 - Deviled Eggs

Yesterday, I was not very hungry at all for dinner.  So alreadying having had a "cheesarito" for lunch, and not wanting to repeat I decided to make something interesting - Deviled Eggs. 

If you don't know how to make deviled eggs -the following is one of the best videos for learning how to make deviled eggs.



I must say that I have made deviled eggs for quite some time, and many of the "tricks" in the video were not new to me. However, I usually don't use a food processor. This time I made mine with a Magic Bullet, and must admit the texture was smoother. Also, I would totally recommend any of the "You are doing it all wrong" videos at chow.com. This is how I have learned a ton about "good" cooking. Unfortunately "good" cooking doesn't always mean healthy.

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Freshly peeled eggs

Complete! - well almost, I added a little paprika on top later.

The green speckles come from adding relish to my batch of eggs, and while I was not super-thrilled with the results, Huzbun like it a lot.

I had a few of these for dinner, and I'm having a few more now as a part of lunch.

Day 41 - Why we eat out

Well , we ate out again.   This is 8/12 for those of you keeping track, and for those of you smarties out there yes, that is over half, and yes we are under half-way there. 

We had a Groupon.  Have you heard of this?  Basically, it means we purchased a $30 gift certificate for $15 for a local venue (one we love) , which means we had a pretty affordable meal out, by most accounts.  However, it was certainly not 5 dollar day worthy. 

Also I think I should mention that 90 days is 12.85 weeks.  So in reality I would be completely justified in making the total allowed eating out times 13 (the once/week rule), which would make us only slightly more on track. 

The other thing I was thinking about is "Why is this hard for us?"  I mean we seriously had food thawed and ready to cook last night.  So it was not even convience per say.  

1) We don't need to do this.  There are a lot of good reasons for us to do this, but we don't need to.  We both have decent incomes, and while we both agree some food budget trimming is good, down to $5/day is more than is needed.  

2) This is our date time.  Huzbun and I fell in love over trying new foods and sampling wine- also this was how we spent most of our honeymoon (in Napa).  We like to cook "together" too, but certainly our favorite date was and still is going out to eat.  Food is inherently a social activity, and while you can split hair on what exactly that means and how it happens - it's still true.  When you are married, you look for moments of specialness to carry you through stretches of dull and difficult.  Before anyone concludes that "my marriage is especially dull or difficult",  I should say that "Life has times of dull and difficult and when you have a partner you experience that together" and it's good to have positved memories when it is those challenging times occur.       

3) Dining out has all the senses engaged

Taste - of course
Smell - the smell of the resturant, the smell of the wine
Touch - the feel of the chairs (or booth), the texture of the table
Hear - music in the background, perhaps other sounds
Sight - the decorations, the food (how it's displayed), and so on. 
  
It makes sense that we have so many memory connections with eating out because they say the more senses you engage in an activity the better you remember it - which I think makes it desirable in a more than just "it's easy" way.


Okay - all that being said - I'm not quitting or anything! 

This is just me figuring out my 5 dollar day fail in my (typical) introspective manner.  We are still in this, and we haven't totally lost sight of the goal yet, so keep reading and we'll continue to have fun.     

Day 40 - Birthday BBQ

Yesterday, marked the day that my Father-in-law's wife turned another year older, so we were invited to a BBQ.  Living close to your extended family certainly has the benefit of free food.  I should probably note here that we did bring brats and cole slaw.

Fil (father-in-law) was manning the grill, and Huzbun was helping - well at least vocally. 

 Here's the spread - some items include: Corn on the Cob, and Asian Noodle Salad (a specialty of Fil's wife - I'll call here MJ)

Little get togethers like this are a nice way to compensate for not eating out as much. 

Day 39 - Baking Bread

In response to j's challenge at 365DollarYear, I've decided to make bread.

Before I got started I read a several daunting articles and procedures that made the art of breadmaking sound akin to alchemy in both level of difficulty and overall success.  It's also important to note here, I don't own a bread machine, a kitchen aid mixer (or any stand mixer for that matter), or even a "super nice" bread pan.  The rules of the challenge dictated that we could not spend more than $5 on the project, so I couldn't purchase any of those items either.  Additionally, the first two wouldn't be in the budget anyway and the last would still be considered a nicety. 

Now it's not that I don't have a suitable amount of confidence in the kitchen, but I'm never too sure about baking.  It's seems like there is a lot of precision, steps to follow and oh measuring (yucky measuring).  "Cooking" always feels a lot more fluid - much more absent minded type friendly (too much pepper - who cares?).  

Well I did find a few helpful posts, one by Trent @ The Simple Dollar.  He says " In fact, bread is quite easy to make at home"   Okay, well I guess I have to try.  Also, if you follow the link, there is a great tutorial on how.

I basically followed every bit of the tutorial as exactly as possible.  (I tell you - baking brings out the nerves).  I will say I did knead the bread longer than necessary; I guess I was caught up in the moment.  If you aren't aware already, I think kneading could be considered a great upper body workout.

Here's the photo proof     

 The dough is rising

Into the oven

Ta da! 

Lesson Learned:

Bread making is NOT scary, and can be Fun!

Oh - and another good thing - It's cheap.  My cost calculation on this came to - $0.54, it would be $0.97 if you did not use bulk yeast.  Either way cheaper than the store, and with way fewer additives. Store bought bread never tasted sooooo good, even with my lack of skills - this bread was diving. We ate a couple pieces just after it came out of the oven - it was edible heaven.

Okay, all that being said - I seriously had a great time doing this. Even if it didn't save me money, I would probably still do it occasionally just for entertainment value alone. (I know - easily entertained)