Fourrager

French verb meaning to forage.

That is what Buggie and I are doing for two weeks to our kitchens.  As little grocery shopping as possible. As many new, tasty, and essentially free meals one can make in a two week span.

~Day 1~ Amount Spent: $0
Breakfast/Lunch: A lot of leftover quiche from my birthday brunch,
Snacks: Leftover fruit, an almost-gone  box of Wasa crackers, two-week old hummus and an aging yogurt and sorbet bar.
Dinner: Sausage with tomato mushroom gravy over whole wheat pasta. YUM!  I kind of put some random Rachel Ray stuffed mushroom recipe and some pork with tomato gravy recipe together to make this:

Foraged Ingredients:
~ 2 links of leftover sweet Italian turkey sausage that I had in my freezer from the Mother’s Day meal I had cooked for the family
~ A dollop of really old frozen tomato paste
~ Half a carton of sliced crimini mushrooms that are about to turn
~ 8 baby romas that I had bought to make quiche before I knew I was getting garden-fresh tomatoes from Bug’s brother
~ About half a bag of the perma bag of spinach I keep in the freezer
~ Some sprouted wheat pasta from Trader Joe’s that’s been sitting in my cupboard for a few months
~ Some of the 8-gallons of chicken stock that I keep buying forgetting that I already have some on hand

~Day 2~ Amount Spent: $0
Breakfast: Cereal, milk and walnuts that I had on hand
Lunch: Leftover pasta from Day 1
Snacks: Last tablespoon of hummus, three-week old cottage cheese (that I had to toss), applesauce, leftover clementines, and a handful of chocolate chips. Lots of green tea.
Dinner: Some Gruyere leftover from the quiche, garden tomatoes and leftover (but not moldy!) bread

~Day 3~ Amount Spent: $10
Breakfast: Cereal, milk and walnuts that I had on hand
Lunch: ESPN Zone lunch provided by work
Snacks: ESPN Zone munchies and beer provided by work
Dinner: $8.95 in Gazpacho from Tonic Restaurant (Hey, I needed something to eat with the beer so I would not get drunk!)

~Day 4~ Amount Spent: $0
Breakfast: Cereal, milk and walnuts that I had on hand
Lunch: Some soup I found in my cupboard that I probably bought in December. Garden tomatoes and a two-week old tortilla (that I toasted to hide any staleness)
Snacks: Leftover clementines, a green apple, string cheese and some chocolate chips
Dinner: The last quarter of an avocado, a garden tomato and more of the leftover (but not moldy!) bread

I’ve kind of blown my no-spend thing by ordering that gazpacho the other night, but I figure it was for health reasons. I think this weekend and no grocery shopping is going to be the big test though…

A christening

There are just over two weeks before the new stove is delivered.  Outside of the obvious questions…will it fit (pertinent because not even the old stove fits properly)?, will it work?, or will it even arrive?…there is the glaring one of what flour & sugar confection will be chosen to christen the new appliance?

~Cookies? And if cookies, do I make am old stand-by or something new and fancy?

~Cake?

~Tart or pie? And then,  fruit or cream-based?

~Cheesecake?

Break the bank baby…oh yeah, right there

$350,000 for a kiss.

I’d pay it, if I had it.  Think he takes credit cards? Multiple credit cards?

Hot.

Bitch here didn’t have to have it, her boyfriend paid up. Yep, her boyfriend paid over a quarter of a million dollars for her to kiss some other oh, so hot guy.  Nice boyfriend. Dude’s got balls.

The funny part is looking at the after-the-kiss photos.

Here, on the left, we have the after-the-kiss faux wooziness face.  She’s amused and most likely slightly delierious, and he’s faking it.

On the right, we have Hotness wiping that shit off and her looking less than amused and faking a smile. Ha. I don’t know why this amuses me. Probably because I have only ever kissed a photo of never kissed George Clooney.

Speaking of mish-mashes

Debating again, not entirely convinced but almost there.

Do I train for another marathon?  If so, which one? I could enter the lottery for New York, but I won’t find out ’til late summer if I am in which means I would need a back up race. I am not interested in Marine Corps again. Chicago is sold out. Baltimore is open, but the weekend it falls in is desperately close to an international conference that may require my attendance.  Do I register anyway and suck it up if I don’t happen to get into NY?  What other fall marathons are out there that don’t require too much travel?  See, in Chicago and NY I would have a free place to stay. I don’t think I know anyone else I could bum a bed/couch from. Or do I just sign up for Marine Corps since it’s here in my back yard and I am guranteed at least a cheerleader or two? Plus I want one that does deferrments in case I get into NY…Baltimore only does medical deferrments which means I would eat two race fees in I did get into NY.  Ugh. I am boring myself with this discussion, but this is what’s going on in my head.

In baseball news, Sidney Ponson of the Twins was designated for assignment this weekend. Thank God! The bars and food establishments surrounding the Metrodome may feel a little less fat in the pockets now, but it’s really best for everyone that he go.  Perhaps the tides of Lake Superior won’t be so crazy anymore.

Joe Mauer has a strained quad. I’ve been sleeping quite restlessly these past few days.  Apparently the image of hot, strained quadriceps gets me a little worked up.

I have more Fiesta Salad for lunch today. Yum.

The most boring post ever. Now with pictures!

How I spent President’s Day:

~Well, first and foremost, I slept in~

~I really tried hard to empty the contents of my fridge.
Note: I did, in fact, empty all desirable contents~

~I did laundry~

~Then put it away~

~ I napped on my sofa (and sucked at attempting the NY Times crossword)~

~I did not wash my hair (thank god for baseball caps and pony tails)~

~I went for a run~

~I revisited the fridge, many, many times. Curious as to how nothing new appeared. Seriously, how many cups of cottacge cheese can one girl eat in a day?~

~I went to bed~

Ninja, please!

I think this pretty much guarantees that I can never commit a crime. Don’t you all agree? [She says as she smiles prettily and bats her eyelashes].

I don’t this is representative of our area’s waitstaff. I see maybe one hottie on that list. The rest, meh.

Why did I know know about this sooner?

How fun is this (you know, for the bored)?

Anyone need a husband? I found a keeper.

Have a great three-dayer folks.

Valentines – pick one

Ch-ch-changes

One day into the week and we have changes already…

~ Time allotted for Bikram is quickly fading, still gonna try to get that in this week though…must.do.standing bow pose.
~ Track time may or may not be replaced with happy hour, priorities people!
~ Unfortunately, I am still scheduled to see the dentist this week .
~ Dinner with Google Dater is officially off, as are all future dates. It seems he wants to save me from future disappointment. Basically this entails stopping the casual dating now, so it doesn’t get messy later. Isn’t that weak sweet? Aw.
~ Regarding the Superbowl, my friend D-Mac is taking donations for gas money to support the Seahawks Bandwagon. Also, we may or may not actually need a wagon. Oh, and a band, or a kazoo player. Something Thanks.

Do you like Pina Colada?

I don’t, but I do like the idea of sipping a frosty beverage on the beach, which is exactly what I was doing approximately 36 hours ago. Wow, if you ever have the chance to head to Marco Island, Florida, go! It’s beautiful. Much nicer than the Atlantic coast of Florida. I am trying to get the picture I took of the sunset I saw on Friday evening, but blogger is being a butt. The crazy thing is, Thursday’s sunset was even better than the one I have a pic of. I was only gone 3.5 days (and it was for work) but I almost feel as if I had a mini-vacation. Nice spot. I fully recommend it to those who like to laze.

Coming up this week:

~Bikram yoga classes and some good lifting, since I neglected both last week
~Belated birthday lunch with a friend
~Finally getting back to the track with the running club (after a month away, eek!)
~Dental appointment (oh, joy)
~Cancelled dinner date with Google Dater (I cancelled based on non-communication, but he left a message yesterday and it may or may not be back on. We’ll see.)
~Girls-only lunch for a new little woman, who’s all of 11 years old.
~Superbowl XL. Let’s go Seahawks! Am I a retard ? Because I would really like a tee-shirt that says “SuperBowl XL” written in that locker room/high-school sports font.

I don’t wanna be IT

But fine, whatever, guilt works on me. You suck. And you suck. I just wanted permission to not respond and you two aren’t being very helpful in that department So here I go…

Four jobs you have had:
1) Baskin Robbins scooper and cake decorator
2) Day Care teacher’s assistant
3) Server
4) Bartender

Four movies you could watch over and over:
1) The Sweetest Thing (“My body is a movie and your penis is the star!”)
2) Rudy (“We’re gonna go inside, we’re gonna go outside, inside and outside. Were gonna get ‘em on the run boys and once we get ‘em on the run were gonna keep ‘em on the run.)
3) Chicago (“And they love me for lovin them and I love them for lovin me and we love each other”)
4) Billy Madison (“Nudie magazine day! Nudie magazine day!)

Four places you’ve lived:
1) Minneapolis, Minnesota (born)
2) Burnsville, Minnesota (raised)
3) Stafford, VA (far!)
4) Arlington, VA (home)

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1) Grey’s Anatomy (Dempsey is dreamy)
2) SportsCenter (but I only get to watch it at the gym)
3) America’s Next Top Model (only on Bug ’s couch whilst drinking copious amounts of booze)
4) TWIB (coming kinda soon to a Saturday morning near you!)

Four places you’ve been on vacation:
1) Paris, France (with London and Amsterdam thrown in for good measure)
2) Road trip through Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa (with Jen and Bug. How you say? Good times?)
3) Vegas (no comment)
4) Cleveland (yes, a long weekend, on vacation, on purpose and no, I don’t have family there)

Four of your favorite foods:
1) Cheese-dusted food (um, see, we’ve been over that)
2) Oranges (I’ve had 6 in the last two days)
3) Spinach (I think I eat it pretty much everyday)
4) Does vodka count as food? (well, it was my dinner on Sunday so I guess it counts!)

Four places you’d rather be right now:
1) Home, in bed
2) At the gym
3) On the road with my running shoes on
4) At the bar, any bar

Four sites I visit daily:
1) AIM
2) Blogger
3) WaPo
4) ESPN

Four Bloggers you are tagging:
1) Not
2) gonna
3) do
4) it.