Month: April 2005

Okay, I was going to go to Trader Joe’s and get more information about my grocery picks, but I left my notebook at work and am too lazy to recopy my very short list. It’s such a beautiful day, I feel like sitting on my couch and watching the TV. And making bread.

Well, an hour and a half later, I did go to Trader Joe’s. (I needed to go to Walgreen’s, and it was right next door.) I didn’t buy anything, just stood in front of things copying prices onto the back of a piece of mail. I have a lot of numbers. And I think it’d be pretty boring if I put them next to every item. So I’m not going to. Maybe a couple, but definitely not all.

We’ll see if this bread works. I’m trying Alton’s Basic Bread in a very shortened time period. I mixed the starter after work, let it sit on the counter for two hours, mixed it, let it rise for one hour, shaped it, let it bench proof for an hour, and bake for an hour. We’ll see how it works out. It’s 10:30 now, it should be done by midnight.

So recently, a few of my friends have been putting together “Guides to Buying Things” on their blogs. Zack started it with The Guide to Buying Video Games. Kenny followed with The Guide to Buying Movies. Cynthia then posted The Guide to 99-Cent Stores. I figure I should join this little meme and post a Guide to Buying Groceries. This is just off the top of my head- I’ll elaborate more when I’ve gone to the shops and checked brand names and prices.

Trader Joe’s
Butter
Milk (maybe, I need to check other supermarket prices)
Buttermilk
Cream
Sour cream
Yogurt
Flour
Chocolate chips
Boxed macaroni and cheese
Better-Than-Boullion
Good bacon (best price around for Nieman Ranch)
Italian sausage
28-ounce cans of whole tomatoes
Decent but not great cheese
Green beans, both fresh and frozen
Crimini mushrooms
2-Buck Chuck (mainly for cooking, although it’s eminently slurpable)
Tom’s of Maine toothpaste

Cost Plus
Spices – the ones in the cellophane packages, not the bottles. Buy your own bottles or keep them in baggies. Mexican markets also have cheap spices.
Le Puy lentils
Panko bread crumbs
Coconut milk

Costco
14.5-ounce cans of chopped tomatoes
Canned Tomato Sauce (plain)
14.5-ounce cans of garbanzo beans
Whole Chickens
Parmesan Cheese (big whole chunks)
Tillamook Cheddar Cheese (good for mac & cheese, decent for eating)
Smoked Salmon
Canned Crab (the good, expensive stuff in the refrigerated case- it’s worth it)
Tabasco
Allergy pills/sleeping pills/ibuprofen

Albertson’s
Not-so-good Bacon (if you go in the morning, you can often find packages of bacon ends for ridiculously low prices- not for eating with eggs, but for chopping up and cooking with [mm, bacon fat])

Target
Cereal (at least they used to have good prices- I don’t really buy cereal anymore)
Pop-Tarts (ditto)

Mexican markets
Spices (as I mentioned previously)
Dried chiles
Dried beans
Pretty decent-looking produce

Farmers’ Markets
Fresh produce. Support your local farmers.

Things to scour your circulars for:
Soda – 79ยข to $1 for 2-liter bottles, $2.50 per 12-pack, $5 per 24-pack (Long’s and Rite-Aid often have good coupon deals)
Swanson’s Organic or Low-Sodium (in aseptic boxes) – $2 per 32-ounce box
Eggs – $1.50 to $2 a dozen for large AA (I buy extra large at TJ’s for $1.29, but they’re awkward for baking)

Ross, Marshall’s, TJ Maxx
Kitchen gadgets and bakeware (I picked up some OXO measuring cups for a steal, and found their salad spinner for five dollars cheaper than anywhere else)

Where I live, we get a “20% off one item” coupon for Bed, Bath & Beyond each week. Might be a good thing to look for, if you need to buy anything on the larger size. I don’t think it applies to knives, though.

This is a great pan, if you like eggs, crepes, omelets, quesadillas, homemade tortillas, toasting nuts, bacon, or anything that needs shallow pan frying (my brother uses it for crab cakes and latkes). It’s gone up in price a little (used to be $19.99), but it’s still a good deal. I waited until it showed up in my Gold Box for $16.99, then bought it. Everyone I know who has this pan loves it to bits. Also, make sure to check the Friday Sale for more deals from Amazon. They’ll only have a few kitchenware items, but sometimes you can find really great prices.

See if any stores around you offer knife sharpening. I know Raley’s does it for free, although my dad thinks they do a crappy job; Dittmer’s, the butcher in Mountain View, does it free once a month; Perfect Edge, in San Mateo, does it for a price. It’s like getting new knives. And make sure you hone your blades regularly! A sharp knife is a safe knife!

DVDs of Julia Child’s The French Chef just came out today. You know you want to buy them. If only there were a Jon-related holiday coming up! He’s been wanting these for a long time.

If there were a bloggers edition of Go Fug Yourself, I totally would have been in it today. Dear lord. I was wearing dark grey slacks, black shoes, and a navy blue sweater. I don’t know what I was thinking. Even Jeremy, who is not the world’s leading fashion expert, was all, “Dag, yo.” The dumbest thing about my outfit? I had something else on, then changed because I thought it looked lame. I don’t know why I thought it was a step up. I was washing my hands at work, looked in the mirror, and cracked up, because WOW were those clothes bad.

I need to finish my new D&D character. I’m thinking about naming her Jessa. (Eddie, is that cool? I just think it’s a good name.)

Well, we certainly were productive this weekend. I made three recipes. One was quite good, one was decent, and the last was weird and strange. All had lentils as their main ingredient. It was a weekend of lentils.

Lydia and I made a lot of headway on our Katamari costumes. Unfortunately, we need to go to Joanne’s AGAIN, because now we’re out of red material. Sometimes we don’t estimate things well. My dress/tunic-thing is done, my gloves are done, and I’m making Kuro’s head accents. We still need to cover the head, but we are so on track to finish it next weekend. Look at us, completing things well in advance of our deadline! And now that Lydia’s done some trial-and-error on my Kuro costume, her Prince will take no time at all. Probably.

I finished my scarf! After only… ten weeks or so. I started it on February 13th. Yay, my scarf!

I need to make rice tonight. All the food I have prepared (which is really not much) needs to be eaten with rice. My kitchen’s a mess. I need to clean it so I can cook and make a mess of it again.

Enjoy the soup. It was good. I only wish there had been more!

Lentil Soup
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated by Sarah

3 slices of bacon, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 oz.), drained
8 oz. white button mushrooms, quartered
1 bay leaf
1 tsp minced fresh thyme
1 cup lentils (preferably Le Puy), rinsed and picked over
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 box (32 oz.) low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups chicken stock or water
Juice of 1 lemon
1-2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley

Fry bacon in large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until fat is rendered and bacon is crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Add onion and carrots; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes, mushrooms, bay leaf, and thyme; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in lentils, salt, and pepper to taste; cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until vegetables are softened and lentils have darkened, 8 to 10 minutes. Uncover, increase heat to high, add wine, and bring to simmer. Add chicken broth and stock (or water); bring to boil, cover partially, and reduce heat to low. Simmer until lentils are tender but still hold their shape, 30 to 35 minutes; discard bay leaf.

Puree 3 cups soup in blender until smooth, then return to pot; stir in lemon juice and heat soup over medium-low until hot, about 5 minutes. Stir in parsley, taste, adjust seasoning, and serve.

All right. Thinking about the weekend. Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco. Lydia and I are going to make our Katamari costumes. Laundry list of things still needed for the costumes: large bowls for the sides of the heads, or, barring that, plenty of newspaper for papier-mache; red trim needed for Kuro’s head; red and purple slippers.

I need a recipe that involves red lentils and button mushrooms and is served with rice. Any ideas?

Oh yeah, and the new food pyramid? LAME.

I made bread again on Saturday morning. It was really good. I gave it to Lydia and Zack. I miss it. Lydia did a photo shoot with Lionel on Saturday (the shots look amazing), then came by my place afterwards. We picked up some Mexican and drove to her apartment for more Yakitate!! and Tsubasa. Good times.

I am really tired. I’ll finish the weekend… next week. I just want to sleep. And eat fruit.

Happy birthday to Sara! I hope your laptop ends up okay. I know the pain of their spontaneous deaths.

Maybe it’s happy birthday to Noah, as well.

Rolled up characters on Wednesday night. I’m going to be a wood witch (human, female, middle-aged if Scott will let me), which means I take care of the healing in the party. The problem I have with witches in Arcana Unearthed is that they get their witchery too slowly. I have to wait until level five to get something else that’s useful? By then I might be taking on a prestige class! Probably. I mean, if I survive. I’ve only got eleven hit points. Oh wait, that’s wrong. I need to get third-level spells before I move in that direction… that’s like, level seven or nine or something. I don’t have my book with me currently. Well, it’s out in my car (yeah, I drove today- going shopping after work), but it’s cold out there. My heater turned on yesterday morning. That’s ridiculous. It was set under 60. That is too cold for April in California.

I haven’t cooked since I made bread on Tuesday. I’ve been all busy and stuff. It’s lame.

Rob sent me a recipe for lemonade last week. I didn’t post it because I haven’t made it yet. So Val, Grant, if you want to give me a crapload of lemons, I wouldn’t say no. I made reasonably decent guacamole with your avocados on Wednesday. We were missing chiles, but I still liked it.

Jer and I got into a bit of an argument of what a ricer is. I was mashing up the avocados with a potato masher when he called it a ricer. I said that a ricer is the device that looks like a huge garlic press and that what I was using was only called a potato masher. He says “ricer” applies to both things. I wonder if I’m wrong.