Buying groceries while sitting on the couch

One of the local grocery stores has started offering the option of ordering groceries online. I've thought about trying it for a while, but didn't give it a try until just before Mom's visit.

Here's how it works.

You go online and create an account. If you have a points card, you can link it to your account. This means you get the points for the groceries and makes it easy to find things you buy often. In fact, the site will tell you what you sometimes buy, as well as what you usually buy.

Pick a store, and start adding groceries to your cart. For things like apples, you choose how many you want, and the site gives you an approximate price.

When you've added everything, pick a pickup window. Windows are two hours long, and each one is assigned a cost (usually $3-$5). I picked the window that corresponded to the end of physio. You will be asked whether you'll accept substitutions if they're out of something, whether you're bringing your own bags, and any other notes for the person picking out your groceries. 

During the two hour window, you drive to the store and park in one of the four marked spots, then call them to let the,minor you're there. They'll come out and get your bags, then pack up the groceries, wheel the out on a cart, and load them into the car. It usually takes about 10 minutes.

The only charge is the $3-$5 - and frankly, I impulsively buy more than that if I go in.

Since that first time, it has become the way I shop. I don't have to wander the aisles looking for something I buy once a year, I can check to see what we have, and I can add items to my cart as I think of them.

The only downside is that you can't make changes online the day of pickup, even if you placed the order that day. But till live with that.

Manipulation, failed

Wanda is pretty suggestible when it comes to food. If I mention something she likes, sooner or later she will go make or get it. I will admit I sometimes use that to my advantage.

Earlier today, I took some pumpkin out of the freezer with the intention of making pumpkin muffins, but it took a while to thaw, and I was doing other stuff, and suddenly it was 7:30 and there were no muffins made. 

Me: "Mmm, pumpkin muffins."

Wanda:*silence*

Me: "You know, I did fix your winter jacket earlier."

Wanda: "Uh huh."

Me: "That requires payment, you know."

Wanda: "Would you like ... a piece of cheese?"

I made the muffins.

The Popcorn Story

I've told this story a few times lately, so I thought I'd share it here.

A couple of years ago, I bought some microwave popcorn. I don't eat popcorn often (um, except for at the movies), but occasionally I like it, and this particular microwave popcorn came with a cheese topping.

One night while Wanda was at work, I decided to try the popcorn. I microwaved the popcorn, poured it into a mixing bowl, and sprinkled on the cheese topping, then I sat down to enjoy my treat.

I took a piece, and ... it wasn't very good.

I tried another couple of pieces. They were even worse. I decided I wasn't going to eat it, put the bowl on the counter, and went to bed. An hour or two later, Wanda got home.

When I got up in the morning, the bowl was empty. I thought "hmm, maybe it was just me. Wanda apparently liked it."

Then Wanda got out of bed, and said "That popcorn was awful!"

But ... she ate the whole bowl.

Yes, it's been ages

Wow, it has been ages since I updated.

Job Hunt
No job news. I've applied for a handful of jobs, but haven't had any response.  My outplacement help through my last employer expired, and I got in touch with one of the government centers. It sounded good and they set me up with a coach - which is really what I was hoping for.
I had my first meeting with the coach last Monday, and it did not go well. She asked for a copy of my resume, and then talked for 45 minutes about how I needed to change my job titles (which I'm not going to do). She's a big believer in search results, and, while I suspect that works well for someone with a linear job history, my job history is too eclectic to make that a good approach. I decided that approach wouldn't work for me so I told her I wasn't going to continue with the coaching. I may try again with another job center or I may just decide it's not valuable.


New things
I've done a few new things in the last couple of months.

First of all, I went to two career fairs. Oddly enough, I've never done that before. I have a friend who is also unemployed and we went to the first one together. We talked to employers separately, but it was helpful to have someone motivate me to get there. The first career fair was ... kind of a bust, as there were very few employers there. The second one was high-tech specific and was much better.

I also went to a "Women in Technology" evening. It was interesting - there was a general meet and greet, then a short talk, then organized networking where everyone picked a table and discussed the topic that they provided. After 20 minutes, everyone switched tables and discussed a second topic. After another 20 minutes, we switched again and discussed the third and final topic.

I also made mozzarella cheese. I had tried this at my mom's at Christmas, but we didn't have a proper thermometer so it didn't work well. I tried it again and it turned out surprisingly well. 

And Chris at boxing guilted me into trying the warrior workout, which is an optional set of exercises after boxing class. I don't do the chin ups or pull ups (my shoulder is still weak and I'm lazy) but I do squats, lunges, push ups, and tricep push ups after class. And then I end up really hungry and start trying to bribe people to bring me cookies.

Quilt
It's getting to the end of the Pathfinder year. Since we meet on Mondays, it seems like the last couple of months always end up being a ridiculous rush. We don't meet during March break, then we take a meeting to sell cookies, then we miss a meeting for Easter, and then it's practically the end of the year.

And this year, one of my Pathfinders had surgery that will put her in a wheelchair for a couple of months. We spent a few meetings this year making polar fleece blankets, and I ended up with the leftover polar fleece. Since this girl is a Harry Potter fan, I used it as a backing for a wheel-chair-sized quilt.

 

Weather

I currently have sandals, winter boots, shoes, and hiking boots in my front hall. What will I need tomorrow? No one knows.  

Honey

As you know, I had a cold at the beginning of January. At one point, I was sick enough to try the cold remedy my cousin posted on Facebook:

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp vinegar

dash of cinnamon

hot water

It sounds terrible, but it actually tastes pretty good, and it seemed to make a difference.

Unfortunately, I ran out of honey as a result. I don't often eat honey, but I'd bought some excellent local honey a couple of years ago, and I would happily buy more, so I looked up the website and found their current kiosk off of St. Laurent. They were open until 5 most weekdays, until 7 on Thursday, and on Saturdays.

The first Saturday in January, I was still sick-ish, so I didn't go. The second Saturday, I set off to find their location.

I decided to take the "most direct way" and got lost, but after far too long, I found the kiosk. 

It was closed.

I came home and checked the website. There was a note saying they were closed due to illness.

Not a big deal - I could go the next Saturday.

Last Saturday, I got up and checked the website. There was a note saying that they were kicked out of the mall they were in due to a misunderstanding with management.

Since then, they've updated their site to say they will arrange a pick-up location for orders > $50.

I don't have an order >$50. I want one jar of honey.

I could order off their website, but they charge $7 for handling +$10 shipping. The honey is $15-ish.

This is a lot of drama for a jar of honey.

I think I'll give it a month or two and see if they get this sorted out. 

Recipes

As I've mentioned before, I get organic vegetables delivered every 2 weeks.  I really enjoy it, and it's required me to learn more about cooking vegetables than I've done before.

Some are easy - patty pan squash, corn, beans, broccoli (which I still can't spell) - but others require more preparation.

Swiss chard, for example - it's not ... good. I mean, I guess some people must like it*, but I really don't get it.  Naturally, I get it every single time.

Here's what I do to make it edible.

1. Melt a little butter in a frying pan - you don't need much.
2. Press a clove of garlic into the pan.
3. Add a bunch of fresh mushrooms - I usually get mushrooms delivered as well, so I just use whatever I have.
4. Wash the swiss chard. Cut up the stems. When the mushrooms are about half cooked, add the diced stems to the pan.
5. Cut up the leaves. When the mushrooms are mostly cooked, add the leaves. Cook until the leaves are wilted.

On the other hand, the recipe I tried yesterday for tomato sauce was awesome, not just edible.

1. Preheat the oven to 300F.
2. Take a baking dish - I used an 8x8 pan. Wash fresh tomatoes. Cut off any bits you don't want to end up in the sauce and put on the bottom of the baking dish.
3. Bake for 3 hours.
4. Add several cloves of garlic - I used 7 - and some onion - I used about 1/4 of a medium-sized onion, cut in chunks.
5. Bake for another 1.5 hours.
6. Blend.
7. Add a little salt, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar - I added a tsp of salt and about a tablespoon each of the oil and vinegar. Blend again. The sauce is quite thick due to the skins and seeds.

* Hi, mom!

More about vegetables

Well, it's been quite a few weeks and I'm still getting my CSA box.

I have to say I love it. I've even found a way to cook swiss chard that I don't hate (fry onions, garlic and mushrooms; add cut-up swiss chard when the other vegetables are mostly cooked). I've tried several vegetables I've never tried before, and I'm eating a lot more vegetables overall.

The only downside? The lettuce. I simply can't eat that much lettuce (nor do I want to, because I'm not a huge fan of lettuce). I've taken to pawning lettuce off on people - if you invite me to your house, I will show up with a bag of lettuce. If you don't invite me, I might show up with a bag of lettuce anyway. Soon I'll be putting a bag of lettuce on a stranger's front step, ringing the doorbell, and running away.

This week's box included:

• mushrooms
• potatoes
• tomatoes
• lettuce
• more lettuce
• an onion
• beans
• patty pan squash
• beets
• corn on the cob 
• cucumbers
• zucchini
• swiss chard
• carrots

Some of the lettuce and the swiss chard immediately went to a neighbour, who thought I was being nice. Some of the tomatoes got cooked with some onion, garlic, zucchini, and beet tops and frozen as spaghetti sauce. We've eaten more of the tomatoes, the carrots, one of the cucumbers, and the the corn on the cob.
I guess that means that for supper, we'll have squash, beets,beans, mushrooms, potatoes, and a salad with the remaining cucumber and lettuce.

Well, maybe that should be more than one meal.

The rib bone's connected to the ...

Last night, I went to RibFest. 

I have to say, I was shocked at how many people were there.  Outside of Canada Day, I don't think I've ever seen downtown that crowded.  I didn't really expect that.  For one thing, ribs are pretty specific.  For another, the festival was on for four days.


My default parking location downtown is World Exchange Plaza - it's easy to get to, it's conveniently located, and it's free on weekends.  Today I had to park on level 4.  I never have to park on level 4.  I actually thought there was something else going on to bring so many people downtown.

Award-Winning Ribs

I was with a friend, so we split up and got ribs at two different stands. Both of them had long lines.  (Actually, all of the stands had long lines.)  Hers was faster than mine, so she waited with me.

When we both had food, we went to the War Memorial and picked a bench.

We then swapped, so we both got to try both kinds of ribs.  They were both good, but surprisingly different.

I did not need the bib.

Dental floss would have been nice, though.

Salad Days

Last week, I signed up for a CSA (Community Sponsored Agriculture) basket.  The one I chose wasn't the cheapest, but it had three points I liked:

• It delivers to my door.  Since I'm both forgetful and lazy, that was a plus.
• I can do everything online, including suspending delivery if I don't want a basket.
• It lets me specify what I don't want to get. (Peppers of any sort, I am looking at you.)

My first basket arrived today.  The contents are in the picture above - 2 full bags, containing some things I don't recognize, asparagus, potatoes, tomatoes, broccolli, mushrooms, multiple kinds of lettuce, peas, carrots, and onions. 

Yes, I had a salad for supper.

Titanic

The Chateau Laurier is next to the Parliament Buildings.  It opened almost 100 years ago - a little later than expected because the man who commissioned it (Charles Melville Hays) was on the Titanic.
To commemorate the 100th anniversary, they have a special menu available on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays until the end of May. Tonight, Wanda and I went down to the Chateau Laurier for the Titanic Dinner.

When we ordered, the first thing our waiter did was switch the order of our forks - because on the Titanic menu, the salad arrives after the main course.

The first course was Oyster a la Russe (Raspberry Point Oyster, Vodka Vinegarrette, Caviar). It was fine - mostly, it tasted onion-y.

The second course was Consomme Olga.  The waiter brought us soup bowls with a small pile of vegetables (glazed carrots & celery root).  She also brought a small metal teapot.  Once the bowls were on the table, she poured the beef broth from the teapot into the bowl.  The resulting soup was very tasty.

We had the choice of Beef Lili or Roast Duck. We both got the beef, and it was absolutely amazing.  I've never had beef that was that good. The beans, potatoes, and carrots were good as well, but the beef was definitely the best part.

Next was the roasted squab salad. (I didn't know what squab was at the time, but I googled it when I got home.) Even without knowing what squab is, I wasn't a huge fan, but the rest of the salad was very tasty.

Last was the dessert - Waldorf pudding, chocolate eclairs, and vanilla ice cream. The desserts were fine - not exceptional, but adequate.  The raspberry sauce the plate was decorated with was quite good, though.  I'm not really a dessert person, so I'm not the best person to judge.

It was expensive - $64 a person - but I really enjoyed it, and it was fun to do something out of the ordinary.

Cabbage roll update

On Saturday, I made the cabbage rolls.

I mixed ground beef and ground pork and added some minced onions (the dried ones you buy in the spice aisle - I'm way too lazy to actually mince onions) and rice.

Then I started rolling.

Some of the cabbage worked well, but some of it was too stiff and broke, so eventually I gave up and made lazy cabbage rolls. I layered the cabbage, then the meat, then cabbage, then meat.


I then stuck the whole thing in the fridge.

On Sunday, I pulled it out and poured a can of tomatoes over it. I then stuck it in the oven for a couple of hours while the turkey roasted.

It was very good.

But it's possible that that casserole dish will never be the same.

Sour

A couple of weeks ago, I had the brilliant idea that I wanted to make cabbage rolls for Easter.

Now, in my family, cabbage rolls are made with sour cabbage, so the first step would be to make sour cabbage.

I called my mom and explained my plan. She reassured me that making sour cabbage only takes a week, and she gave me the recipe for sour cabbage, which I wrote down on an extremely secure location - the back of last month's water bill.

I planned to make the sour cabbage in the crock of my crock pot, so when I did my grocery shopping I bought a head of cabbage. I came home, only to discover that it was too tall for the crock pot. I needed another location to make the sour cabbage.

I went out to the grocery store again and found a set of stacking plastic canisters. I brought them home, and the head of cabbage fit in the third biggest one.

I followed the recipe, which involved hacking out the core of the cabbage, adding salt and vinegar, and filling the container with water. I'd share the proportions, but am unable to do so due to the extremely secure location of the recipe.

When that was all done, I weighted it down with a plate ... except I have wimpy Corelle plates, so I added a bowl to keep the cabbage under the brine solution.



I waited a day, then hauled the cabbage out of the water and rinsed it off. Back in the brine it went.

I repeated that every day, pulling off loose pieces of cabbage whenever possible. It was a slow process.

On Saturday, I forgot to rinse it until I got home from a movie. That's the day it really started progressing - a bunch of leaves loosened that day.

Today, I was able to loosen all of the leaves, which made the cabbage much bigger than the jar.

I stuffed the cabbage into sterilized jars and filled them with the brine. When that was done, I processed them in the canner.

Now I'm sitting in the living room, listening to the pop of the jars sealing. (We're at 5 of the 6 so far).

This weekend, I'll open a jar and make cabbage rolls. I've never done that, but I have a recipe.

It's in an extremely secure location.

Last night, I took eleven 5 & 6-year-olds to the grocery store.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

You see, my Sparks group couldn't meet at our usual meeting place, and our other ideas for field trips (fire station, Home Depot, Humane Society) didn't pan out. We've been talking about healthy food choices, so I said, "Let's go to the grocery store and let each girl choose $5 worth of healthy food for the food bank."

It probably would have gone more smoothly if one of my fellow leaders hadn't gotten stuck in traffic. If she'd been there, we would have divided into 3 group instead of 2. That would have made it easier - because, you see, kids that age look with their hands, not their eyes. If you have one or two, it's not bad. Three is manageable. Six is crazy-making.

Having said that, they were quite good (within the bounds of what is age-appropriate). Several parents stayed, so we had multiple adults with each group. The girls excitedly picked out canned fruits and vegetables, rice, pasta, tuna, juice boxes, rice crackers, and beans. They passed up cookies (albeit reluctantly). Each girl could point to the items in the cart and tell me exactly what she had chosen. And our total came to less than $47, so we didn't spend the camp money.

I didn't even see any other customers run screaming from the store.

Well, not personally.

I haven't taken a single nap all weekend

I've done a lot of baking in the last couple of weeks. It started last weekend, when I made two cakes for a friend's birthday party.

There was one minor mishap when one of the two layers for the black forest cake slid off the counter and landed on the floor. Luckily, the recipe specified cutting the layers in half horizontally and only using three of the four halves.

This weekend, it was time for Halloween baking.

Now, I normally don't do a lot of baking for Halloween, but we're having a party at work on Friday and I said I'd make cookies. My group is decorating a conference room as the witch's house from Hansel & Gretel, so I decided to make two types. Yesterday, I made gingerbread cookies. Today, it was finger cookies. They turned out well. (Wanda shuddered every time she went into the kitchen.)


(Yes, some of the food colouring ended up on the finger part instead of the nail part. The same thing happens when I paint my actual nails - which is one of the reasons why I rarely do.)

I'm supposed to be the witch on Friday. (Co-workers are being Hansel, Gretel, and the woodcutter.) That was a good plan until I scheduled a job interview for Friday morning.

Maybe I'll wait to paint my face green until after the interview.

And that's the most I've ever spent on groceries at one time

I mentioned a while ago that I had decided to wait two weeks between trips to the grocery store. It was a success, so I did it again.

(Admittedly, there was a minor incident last weekend where I ended up at the grocery store, but that was due to a clogged sink, not for groceries.)

Overall, it's working well. It takes a bit more planning, but that's not necessarily bad. We're certainly not starving, but impulse meals are a bit more of a problem. And snacks become increasingly scarce the farther we get from grocery day. By last night, there was no snack food left - someone had even eaten all of the chocolate chips.

One of the other side effects is that each time I go shopping costs me much more than usual - which makes sense, because I should theoretically be buying twice as much. This week, though, I hit a new record. I was out of expensive things (flour, dishwasher detergent, cheese) and I was stocking up for Thanksgiving (which is an off week, grocery-wise).

Technically, I've spent more on groceries than I did today, but that was buying food for a large group camping trip, not buying enough groceries so that two people don't starve in the next two weeks.

On the other hand, I've never bought two turkeys for a camping trip.

What to eat

I usually go grocery shopping after work on Friday. The sales start on Friday (so they're not usually sold out), plus it gives me one less reason to leave the house on Saturday.

I shop with a list, but when something's a really good deal, I'll buy it even when it's not on the list. This works well - until the cupboards and freezer are full.

Last Friday, I bought two weeks worth of milk. I don't plan to buy groceries again until the first weekend in September. Maybe even later.

It's been three days and we're out of snack-type food. Also, the potatoes that are left are rather more squishy than I'd like, and I fully expect we'll run out of cheese.

I suspect I'll be at the grocery store before the cupboards and freezer are totally empty, but it will b e a good exercise in using up some of the food on hand before it goes bad.

Why yes, I have pretty much given up on titles

So the whole veggie experiment is over.

It took a long time, but I eventually started remembering that I was trying to eat more vegetables.

The big winner was salad - it turns out I like salad more than I like cleaning vegetables. The key ingredient is tomatoes.

(This is not a shock - 75% of my diet is tomatoes in August.)

The other big discovery - fried onions (found in the crouton section of your grocery store). Very tasty. (Not healthy, but tasty.)

We're four days into April and I'm still pretty consistent with the veggies, so that's good. Plus, I still have fried onions. Can't let those go to waste.

A handful of spinach counts as raw vegetables, right?

So the "eating raw vegetables every day" plan is still in effect ... if barely.

I have discovered that I don't mind spinach salads. I'm not a big fan of lettuce, but spinach is OK.

To be clear, if there's a salad bar, I'm there - it's just that my options are a lot more limited and thus boring at home.

Some days, working raw veggies into my diet is no problem at all. Other days, I completely forget until after I've already eaten.

Today would be one of those days - but a handful of spinach eaten directly from the fridge counts, so all is well.

Tomorrow night I will have to actually clean some additional veggies so that they're ready to go. That's half my problem.

Wanda had a belly dance workshop this weekend. It was in a awkward spot to bus to, so she took the car.

That meant I was at home by myself.

It was one of my most productive weekends in recent memory. I made the quilt (above). I made barbie doll clothes for my friend's daughter. I made myself a flannel nightgown for my "nightwear that lives in the drawer while I wear the same pair of pajamas" collection. I sanded down the hole in the bathroom wall (but didn't get around to painting). I even cleaned the fridge.

There were a few things I didn't get to, one of which was cleaning vegetables. You see, I've decided on another challenge. Every day in March, I'm going to eat raw vegetables. I do eat vegetables normally, but they are usually cooked vegetables. It's time to stop being lazy get motivated and clean/eat raw veggies regularly.

Wish me luck ....

Now with more tentacle!

It never would have occurred to me to cook an octopus.

Never.

But, you see, I read this last week.

Still, I wasn't really intending to do it ... at first.

But it turned out that the grocery store had frozen octopus, so what could I do? (They didn't have couscous, but octopus was no problem.)

It thawed quite nicely in the fridge overnight.

And curled up nicely in the boiling water.

I left out the olives because I forgot to buy them and the fennel because I don't actually know what that is. Instead, I added mushrooms. Wanda doesn't actually like mushrooms, but I didn't really think that was going to be her biggest problem with this dish.

When it was ready, I popped it in the oven and watched half of a season of The Good Wife did very productive things.

Wanda had to gear herself up to eat it, but even she had to admit that it was good (once she picked out the tomatoes and mushrooms).

And today, for a change of pace, I made bread.

I need a bigger bowl.