Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Meal Deal



In the 7+ years that I have lived downtown, I cannot seem to find a system for grocery shopping and cooking that works for me. My grocery lists usually consist of snack items--fruits, veggies, bread, eggs, milk, and cereal--but that's really it. I'd really love to cook more, and I have the time to do it, but for some reason it just never seems to work out.

I am single little lady in a city full of great food. Every so often, I will feel the urge to cook a good meal. The problem is, when I cook a meal, I more often than not have so many left overs that I end up eating it for every meal the next couple of days, and will still have left overs. Unfortunately for single people, recipes don't add up to just one serving. Fresh packaged meat, garlic bulbs, bundles of parsley, and blocks or bags of parmesan cheese aren't sold for just one person. Even after I have used some to cook, there is so much of it left that no matter how much has already been cooked, there is still quite a bit left that ends up sitting in the refrigerator and goes bad. Not only do the individual ingredients go bad, but there are so many left overs of the left overs that I have cooked, and that ends up going bad too. (Just like the leftovers of pasta and all the remaining ingredients I've had in my refrigerator from at least a week ago.) So my solutions all these years have been to either just eat snack food or restaurant hop all day.

Lucky for me, the city of Seattle is full of delicious food. Asian, Italian, organic, seafood, it's all so delicious here. I'm sure I have been to enough places that I could Yelp about almost any place. But has it been good for my wallet? In this situation, I might as well just ask, "What's the lesser of the two evils?" Cooking food to only throw a good portion away, not matter how hard I try? Or eat out frequently?

I really may never know the answer as long as I am single. I'm sure one day when there are more mouths to feed, the cooking at home will be much more routine and economical. But for now, I guess I'm going to have to just keep trying to find out. Don't mind if I do!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Miss Picardal's Readers' Workshop

I just read my old post from this time last year, and I gotta say, I was one stressed out little lady. I felt like I had all these things going on in my life and in my head, that I didn't know which way was up. Now that the dust has settled, and I had a whole summer to recover from quite a shaky year, I think I'm starting to find my mojo again.

As part of my reading program this year, I wanted to kick it up a notch. We started out the year setting goals for ourselves as readers. I did the lesson last year, but found that it wasn't so powerful. So in order for their reading targets to hold more meaning, the children did not just write it down on a sticky note, only for it to un-stick and fall to the floor and be swept away by the janitor; the children turned it into a project. Now all their targets are posted on the wall, and will help remind them throughout the year where they are headed as readers. Not only are their targets helping to steer them in the right direction, but it makes for pretty cool wall art!





Monday, September 12, 2011

Well, Hello There


Ardon and I went to my good friend Jonathan's and his now wife Rachael's wedding. Isn't he looking so handsome? I am one lucky lady. The ceremony was on Bainbridge Island, so we took a ferry ride out there. It was such a beautiful day that day, that taking the ferry was quite a treat. The city was gorgeous as we pulled away from the dock.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Happy Labor Day!

Edmonds Beach
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Saturday, September 3, 2011

Summer Fever, Literally.

Home sick with a 102 degree fever. Worst timing ever, but thankful that I have somebody to hold down the fort. He's kind of wonderful.
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