"We Spent HOW much?!": Tips for Affordable Food Shopping

About a month ago, the tom cat and I blew our food budget so badly that many government agencies would have been dumbfounded.

Sunday Social Report

Monday
Movie night! The movies in question were Zero Dark Thirty (which was, typical of a movie based on true events, rather long and with a somewhat wandering plot) and the remake of the 1984 fictional-war-drama Red Dawn. Which not fantastic, it had Chris Hemsworth in it, so it all evened out.

$10-ish for the rental of two movies.

Cooking Tips for Anyone who Hates Cooking

Recently, a friend left who follows my blog left a photo on my Facebook page in response to the chili recipe I posted a few weeks back. We joked about the photo and the recipe, but I realized that she had a good point – cooking sucks.

It’s a lot of stirring, straining, sautéing and smushing to just prepare the meal, and all of this work normally results in a debacle of sauce-smeared counter tops, crusted-over frying pans and chopped-up vegetables rolling about the kitchen floor.

Sunday Social Report (Kind of)

I've already admitted that I don't have the most exciting social life, and that's one of the things I would like to change now that I've made the big move to the big city. So, when school let out back in April, complete with unofficial-pub-graduation-ceremony for the many successful friends I'd made over the years, I thought "great! Time to switch things up!"

Then the internship came around.

Home-made Hash Browns.

Next time you’re forcing a metal buggy with a busted wheel down the freezer aisle of your local grocery store, stop by the iced-over glass door that hides the hash browns. If you look closely enough you’ll notice a few things: one, that the price isn’t really all that great for what is essentially a pound of potatoes and, two, there is somehow a lot of salt per serving.

Unfortunately, hash browns also taste absolutely awesome. 

Fortunately, they’re really really easy to make.

Sunday Social Report

After reviewing my week, I've decided to include the dates that the tom cat and I go out on. If I didn't do this, my social life would seem way too sad  and that won't do. 


Monday
Night in.

Tuesday 
A buddy of mine came over for a few hours. We hung out and... didn't do all that much.

$1.50 for the bag of salt and vinegar chips.

Wednesday
Night in.

Thursday
Night in.

Friday
Night in.

Saturday
Saturday doubled as both a date-night and a chance for my car, which has had the plates taken off because we don't actually need two cars, to be driven around for a bit. 

After leaving the city behind, we made our way to one of the area's many seawalls. We walked along there for about an hour before deciding that we should go see a movie in on the the big city's theaters.

Which didn't actually happen.

$35 for temporary car insurance.

Sunday
The reason why I'm only able to post my Sunday Social Report on Monday can be summed up in two words -- Iron Man. A surprisingly good movie (at least, when considering the previous two films) involving iron, men and stuff blowing up.

$37 dollars for the 3D movies tickets and accompanying candy.
-$25 from the gift card left over from Christmas.
$9 total cost.

“We need to talk”: Conversations to Have When Moving in Together

We were heading back from a family function at the tom cat’s sister’s house out in the suburbs, our sleek little hatchback vibrating as she shot down the highway like a dirt-smeared silver bullet. I fidgeted in my leather seat, stared out of the passenger-side window and fixed my gaze on the silhouette of a distant mountain, hazy-blue and dotted with snow patches. Shifted my eyes over to the tom cat, fidgeted again and cleared my throat.

“I, um… We need to talk about something.” I confessed awkwardly, fingers twining in my lap.