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serynI made myself a mocha today. It's a good use of the Peet's coffee I don't like and the remaining TJs cocoa powder.
I put a teaspoon of cocoa in a giant mug, 3 teaspoons of sugar, and a couple tablespoons of cold milk. (The coffee is in the French press, brewing.) I stirred until the cocoa stopped floating on the milk, then microwaved so it would dissolve the sugar and I could check the ratio. Then I added more cold milk and the brewed coffee.
Things have not been going well and there have been a number of locked posts about it. If you're lurking, that's probably why I appear absent. But I find that little moments of pleasure are more centering to share than the woe. So I will be attempting to do more of that.
Let me share a story that starts out badly but improves near the end:
Simon was really angry that I had lunch at home yesterday, mostly because we don't have a lot of lunch-speed food (we have ingredients for long-cooking meals, but really need to visit the grocery store for fruits and salad components and other fresh items.) I had cottage cheese pancakes for lunch. It didn't suck, but it wasn't my first choice. There were some reasons for staying home, I was waiting for a phone call and for someone to come over, but the main reason I ate at home is that Simon had said last week that pizza was too expensive.
This is completely ridiculous because we get three meals for 2 out of a $20 pie; so although it's not the cheapest meal we have, it's not ludicrous by any means. I think he was not wanting pizza whenever that was, or had gone for an expensive lunch (his coworkers are all young and single and tend to buy lunch with credit cards so they don't notice how much they spend... and I know when I go out with the coffee woman and my lunch hits $20+ that I do not go out to the store to buy pre-made lamb kabobs for grilling.)
But I felt like Simon was saying that I was wasting money. So I ate at home and had cottage cheese pancakes. Simon was disgusted.
He told me explicitly to go out for lunch today. I might circumvent that and buy something pre-made at the grocery store. It costs the same as going out, but I could watch the saved Criminal Minds... restaurants have really bad entertainment compared with eating at home in front of a whole TiVo full of things you've saved.
But I might go out too... I saved $5 on a mocha. That would make any lunch I wanted practically free.
I put a teaspoon of cocoa in a giant mug, 3 teaspoons of sugar, and a couple tablespoons of cold milk. (The coffee is in the French press, brewing.) I stirred until the cocoa stopped floating on the milk, then microwaved so it would dissolve the sugar and I could check the ratio. Then I added more cold milk and the brewed coffee.
Things have not been going well and there have been a number of locked posts about it. If you're lurking, that's probably why I appear absent. But I find that little moments of pleasure are more centering to share than the woe. So I will be attempting to do more of that.
Let me share a story that starts out badly but improves near the end:
Simon was really angry that I had lunch at home yesterday, mostly because we don't have a lot of lunch-speed food (we have ingredients for long-cooking meals, but really need to visit the grocery store for fruits and salad components and other fresh items.) I had cottage cheese pancakes for lunch. It didn't suck, but it wasn't my first choice. There were some reasons for staying home, I was waiting for a phone call and for someone to come over, but the main reason I ate at home is that Simon had said last week that pizza was too expensive.
This is completely ridiculous because we get three meals for 2 out of a $20 pie; so although it's not the cheapest meal we have, it's not ludicrous by any means. I think he was not wanting pizza whenever that was, or had gone for an expensive lunch (his coworkers are all young and single and tend to buy lunch with credit cards so they don't notice how much they spend... and I know when I go out with the coffee woman and my lunch hits $20+ that I do not go out to the store to buy pre-made lamb kabobs for grilling.)
But I felt like Simon was saying that I was wasting money. So I ate at home and had cottage cheese pancakes. Simon was disgusted.
He told me explicitly to go out for lunch today. I might circumvent that and buy something pre-made at the grocery store. It costs the same as going out, but I could watch the saved Criminal Minds... restaurants have really bad entertainment compared with eating at home in front of a whole TiVo full of things you've saved.
But I might go out too... I saved $5 on a mocha. That would make any lunch I wanted practically free.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-16 03:42 am (UTC)I love this!
no subject
Date: 2011-04-16 05:09 am (UTC)And 90% of people do not have any clue how to make a mocha at home.
I don't count each day's coffee as a "savings" over what I would pay at Starbucks because if that was how I got my coffee, I'd stop drinking it. But when I go out for coffee I get a large fluffy coffee. The same way my parents used to go out for milkshakes--- sometimes you need a little something. My favorites are the mochas because those have whipped cream. So, since I wanted a mocha--- I was having a "Valkyrie Needs Chocolate Badly" morning--- I really did save $5.
I ended up buying a cobb salad at the grocery store. The high-end indy grocery store that actually has a chef, not like a crappola super-chain with the plastic lunchmeat... these people use organic vegetables and humanely raised chicken and pork in their salads. It's actually worth the $8... especially since with a bit of extra lettuce it actually feeds 2 people if no one was greedy enough to eat the whole thing at lunch until they were stuffed to bursting.
However, in an equally admirable twist of financial logic.... nothing bought at the grocery store comes out of my discretionary spending. So I'm still +$5. That's the rationale that impresses me. I'm really unclear on how I managed to convince myself that I could buy anything at the grocery store and it doesn't "count" against just me.
It was an expensive trip though, I spent $100 at the grocery store... but I bought gas on the way there. I got a "good" price (I live in a local maximum area.) and spent $4.15/gallon. It's cheaper than the groceries, but I do have to just close my eyes or I'll stop driving anywhere.
Tomorrow I'm going to the farmers market. I need a bag of freak lettuce (they put flower petals in it and these things that look like jade snowflakes) and we could use some fruit that isn't bananas. I did buy a basket of strawberries... apparently strawberries are early this year, $2 for a fresh locally grown pint of not horrible berries.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-16 08:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-16 07:32 pm (UTC)I really like it, especially with honey mustard dressing and diced apples added. (The picture is old, and doesn't happen to have the jade snowflake lettuces but you can see the flowers.)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-16 09:02 pm (UTC)Gracery store = household needs. Period. Not him, not you - it. <-----that is how. :-D
I know the $5 mocha. I <3 them muchly. So bloody expensive, though. I need to buy some whipped cream for at home versions. It is just not the same w/o whipped cream!
- I was having a "Valkyrie Needs Chocolate Badly" morning
Bwahahaha. Must remember that. And the gas? Ugh. I cringe at $3.73 here.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-16 09:23 pm (UTC)I tried the spray whipped cream and it's too sweet, plus the can gets gummed up because I try to conserve. Can't conserve fresh cream--- have to use it up! (Though you can freeze it, it's not good in coffee after the freezing. I use thawed frozen cream on oatmeal.)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-17 12:14 pm (UTC)