The picture is me making my first felt hat in my millinery class. I was kind of nervous about the class, as it was expensive and to justify it to myself I had to pare down my couture sewing class to part time. Which starts on Saturday so *fingers crossed*
But HATS! I don't care if I never wear this hat (it's also in a mousey colour I've never ever worn because the supplier was waiting on a shipment but I had to get started) because it was FUN! I can block felt good! Whee! Am I too old to be jazzed about getting compliments from teachers? Apparently not!
This past week has had me stressing out about money. Suddenly my credit card is higher than I like, my hat supplies cost me more than I thought they would, The Boy booked as in to see Tim Minchin at the Comedy Festival without asking (though he said he'd pay - which makes me feel pretty crap, but well, I _do_ want to go) and on and on. The bond cheque from the old place went directly onto my credit card which meant new winter clothes (and boots) have to wait. And on and on. So I sat down and played with the budget. And according to it I'm okay. Not great, but fine. I just need to accept that I'm a student again and that means that yes, at the end of the pay cycle I might be down to my last $20.
But despite it being payday and therefore a time to stress less, I've been poking at the internet about being frugal, which I have done in the past and discovered the same things I usually do - I'm already pretty frugal (mostly) and being frugal in America is really different to frugality in Australia in certain respects, especially in the most popular tip - cancel cable tv. Almost all website suggest giving up cable tv to save money. Easy done as I've never had it. The Boy's parents have it as His dad got it free as he installs it. So if I really want to watch 4 hours of cooking shows I can when I go there (and I did that over Christmas. Yay for The River Cottage!)
Most of the other suggestions I was looking at were food related. Eating gluten free can be expensive and, well, I have expensive tastes at times (mmm duck). But since I started thinking more properly with The Boy over the whole gluten free thing I think we've actually started spending less on food in general. Lately our grocery bill has gotten higher (eep) BUT we are feeding The Housemate as well now AND we're not eating out nearly as much (due to people moving away).
Things I think are the big money savers on our food bill:
-Rice - Thanks to bentos and The Boy's love of making curry rice has become our starch of choice and that's pretty cheap. And freezes! which I never realized before (http://lunchinabox.net/2008/06/20/inarizushi-with-toppings/) which is a big help when making lunches quickly.
-Carrots - I've been having carrots almost every day lately in some form or another. Carrot sticks are a good snack, with or without a dip. Stir fry quickly in some tamari, chilli flakes and sesame oil to get kinpira (Just Bento). Tomorrow I'm going to try carrot rice which was on justbento.com a little while back because I have a cold and the vitamins the better IMO.
-Eggs - I used to think I didn't like eggs. They ruined my bacon and toast when I was a kid. I'm an adult now and have rediscovered them. While I avoid buying bread now as GF bread is never the same, full of calories and damn expensive, I'm still trying to eat eggs. They're cheap protein, keep well and are very handy to have in the kitchen. My first bentos often had hardboiled eggs in them. Then I went to tamagoyaki, japanese omelette. Lately I've been eating the quiche mum made for my aunt's birthday party.
-Spices - sesame oil, tamari, chilli, garlic and sesame seeds. These things are staples frequently used nowadays. I never used to be much of a spice girl, I think because I usually baked cakes etc when I was a kid, not "real" cooking. Sick of carrot sticks? Carrot kinpira instead.
Most websites told me that going grocery shopping without a list is a recipe to waste money. You should shop with a list and never deviate from it. Sure, I shop with a list, but not deviate from it? The Boy would fall over. He hates the meal planning mentality frugal websites advocate. It's too locked in for him. Instead we work out how many nights we'll be at home, if there's a night when only one of us is home the one at home eats leftovers (as does Housemate as we do the cooking). Then we consider what meals to make. Sure, this sometimes leaves us with some strange assortments of ingredients and leftovers to work with, but that can lead to taste sensations. White corn tortillas (Diego brand are the only GF tortillas I've been able to find) but nothing to fill them with? What about leftover potato and chickpea curry? OMG were those good!
Does all this rambling end with a point? I guess it's don't be locked in to a "poor," "frugal" or even "gluten free" mentality. Instead, be creative, get out there and experiment with what you have! No chilli? try that strange chilli/capsicum relish someone gave you for Christmas. Google "substitute IngrediantA" for suggestions on what to use instead. Dig in the back of your cupboards for inspiration.
In further food experimenting news, I attempted steamed pork buns. It was a mixed success. I used my staple "bread" mix, Safeway's Freefrom pizza mix. The filling? Pork mince cooked in the last of the strange tamari hoisin sauce I had (which The Boy dislikes so it won't be back).
The steaming didn't really give me a cooked result, still sort of doughy and I couldn't be bothered steaming them more. They'd had 30minutes, I was over it considering I could only cook 4 at a time. So I got out the muffin tin and baked them instead. The steamed then baked ones were a little gluggy tasting. The just baked ones were quite nice. A meat scone kind of taste (not surprisingly). The Boy was underwhelmed. The Housemate consumed with gusto.
March 26, 2009
March 17, 2009
Back again
I have rediscovered knitting. It's very exciting as crocheting really aggravates my RSI. Which means less to do with my hands while watching TV, roleplaying and other activities that lend themselves to munching. Hopefully this helps in getting me smaller!
I've been eating badly lately. Not back on the gluten but just at random times which mean getting really famished and eating toast. Or popcorn for lunch (like yesterday). Eating chocolate cake in bed (last night). So today is a new day (again). I had to go to the dentist (an hour away) at 8am this morning so I packed myself a mini bento to take and eat afterwards. I'm actually eating it now and I'm back at home, but it felt good to be organised. I only took the bottom tier of my bento set, 350ml, which is usually a good representation of the number of calories in the box. I had more sticky rice (really need to get over that!), swiss Baby bel (see previous), mochi (as before) and grapes (again). So nothing very spectacular. But tasty!
I have to go back next week and actually have stuff done and he needs to inject me with stuff, so I might try rice porridge or something then. Nice and bland, mushy and maybe not bad cold.
In crafty related news, I started millinery last night! Yay! Our first hat is a shaped felt and I think I want a noir style reporter hat like Gwyneth Paltrow in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (dull film but great outifts).
Hoping to get back to a routine soon. Changing from working three days (Tues, Thurs, Fri) and school the other two days to school Monday night, working Wed-Fri and then school all Saturday. Two whole days of sleep in during the week! So yes, routine is still being beaten into shape.
I've been eating badly lately. Not back on the gluten but just at random times which mean getting really famished and eating toast. Or popcorn for lunch (like yesterday). Eating chocolate cake in bed (last night). So today is a new day (again). I had to go to the dentist (an hour away) at 8am this morning so I packed myself a mini bento to take and eat afterwards. I'm actually eating it now and I'm back at home, but it felt good to be organised. I only took the bottom tier of my bento set, 350ml, which is usually a good representation of the number of calories in the box. I had more sticky rice (really need to get over that!), swiss Baby bel (see previous), mochi (as before) and grapes (again). So nothing very spectacular. But tasty!
I have to go back next week and actually have stuff done and he needs to inject me with stuff, so I might try rice porridge or something then. Nice and bland, mushy and maybe not bad cold.
In crafty related news, I started millinery last night! Yay! Our first hat is a shaped felt and I think I want a noir style reporter hat like Gwyneth Paltrow in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (dull film but great outifts).
Hoping to get back to a routine soon. Changing from working three days (Tues, Thurs, Fri) and school the other two days to school Monday night, working Wed-Fri and then school all Saturday. Two whole days of sleep in during the week! So yes, routine is still being beaten into shape.
March 5, 2009
Cold!
I love winter! I don't remember what clothes I wore last year because I seem to have 1000 tshirts and one cardigan. Very strange. I can't wait til it's even colder and I can dig out my crochet gloves and hat and scarf. I lurve rugging up!
The picture is a little old, from the 26th of Feb, and is the last lunch I've been really happy with photographically. All that nice colour! And that tasty tasty sticky rice I mentioned last time. It DOES freeze well so I really recommend it. I have the last of it today and I'm really feeling the need for the sticky rice comfort food-ness.
I tried out the Lentil Snacks from justbento.com on the weekend and the Boy and I give them a big thumbs down. I'm thinking I did something wrong because everyone on the justbento forum seems to be fans. I found them dry and icky tasting and yesterday just threw them out after one nibble. I was going to suffer through eating the 10 or so in the freezer but now I'm thinking I'll just toss them all. Why suffer through lunch when it's the best bit of my working day? Plus, they used ingredients I already had so were technically free in those terms. It's not like I went out and bought anything specifically for them.
I've been very dull on the eating front this last fortnight except for sticky rice and cupcakes (Basco vanilla cupcakes - gluten free and FANTASTIC! Also freezable! I made a bunch into mini cupcakes YUM). I've been unpacking - still, after finding the boys to be not so great at doing it NOW. Why put it off? Finally got to IKEA and bought something to put my clothes into so that's something. It's mostly done now, hooray!
Also had my last week of classes at the School of Fashion. I definitely passed Pattern Making, with about an 80% I think. Garment Construction I'm pretty certain I passed but am waiting on my last mark. But I'm pretty confident it's at least a pass as my jacket looked completely rocking... many pictures to come once it's back because I am SO proud of it!
In eating out news, if you haven't been to Grill'd, you should TOTALLY go. Not only do they do GREAT chips (completely GF) they also do great burgers! AND now you can have a bun too! Sure, they do a great enough burger that I was never unhappy tucking into what was essentially a salad with a burger on top, but nothing beats picking up a burger in your hands and taking a massive bite, frantically trying to not drip on anything you like and not lose your fillings. I'm not sure what the buns are made of (group speculations believes them to be corn based) but they are very tasty. If you are more sensitive than me, ask then to put the bun on a plate while it's being toasted as they use the one toaster for all breads. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up for the food and the service at Grill'd in Glenferrie Rd Malvern, Chapel St Windsor and QV in the city.
The picture is a little old, from the 26th of Feb, and is the last lunch I've been really happy with photographically. All that nice colour! And that tasty tasty sticky rice I mentioned last time. It DOES freeze well so I really recommend it. I have the last of it today and I'm really feeling the need for the sticky rice comfort food-ness.
I tried out the Lentil Snacks from justbento.com on the weekend and the Boy and I give them a big thumbs down. I'm thinking I did something wrong because everyone on the justbento forum seems to be fans. I found them dry and icky tasting and yesterday just threw them out after one nibble. I was going to suffer through eating the 10 or so in the freezer but now I'm thinking I'll just toss them all. Why suffer through lunch when it's the best bit of my working day? Plus, they used ingredients I already had so were technically free in those terms. It's not like I went out and bought anything specifically for them.
I've been very dull on the eating front this last fortnight except for sticky rice and cupcakes (Basco vanilla cupcakes - gluten free and FANTASTIC! Also freezable! I made a bunch into mini cupcakes YUM). I've been unpacking - still, after finding the boys to be not so great at doing it NOW. Why put it off? Finally got to IKEA and bought something to put my clothes into so that's something. It's mostly done now, hooray!
Also had my last week of classes at the School of Fashion. I definitely passed Pattern Making, with about an 80% I think. Garment Construction I'm pretty certain I passed but am waiting on my last mark. But I'm pretty confident it's at least a pass as my jacket looked completely rocking... many pictures to come once it's back because I am SO proud of it!
In eating out news, if you haven't been to Grill'd, you should TOTALLY go. Not only do they do GREAT chips (completely GF) they also do great burgers! AND now you can have a bun too! Sure, they do a great enough burger that I was never unhappy tucking into what was essentially a salad with a burger on top, but nothing beats picking up a burger in your hands and taking a massive bite, frantically trying to not drip on anything you like and not lose your fillings. I'm not sure what the buns are made of (group speculations believes them to be corn based) but they are very tasty. If you are more sensitive than me, ask then to put the bun on a plate while it's being toasted as they use the one toaster for all breads. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up for the food and the service at Grill'd in Glenferrie Rd Malvern, Chapel St Windsor and QV in the city.
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