Category Archives: cooking

Hurray for a win on Prop 50!!

Posted in California, cooking, home stuff, Uncategorized by

Finally, something to cheer about. Plus Mumdani winning NYC mayor, Virginia’s governor and the other democratic wins. Finally, a rebuke to tRump!!!

We’re in for lots of rain today. I think I saw almost 2 inches plus wind. There was just a huge lightning strike somewhere nearby and thunder, but we didn’t lose power. I was going to go swimming, but I think I’ll just stay home and get a fire going and get the house cozy. Tomorrow, I have to go down the hill because it’s my Velcade day. So I could go to Winco then. I’ll think about it.

I was also going to do a small Winco shop, but that’s out too. So I think if there’s a break, I’ll go down to the market and get the few things I need. Mostly, I need some oat milk, yogurt, and cottage cheese.

We had a very yummy lentil soup last night with the rest of the naan from the farmers’ market. When my daughter cooks, she makes delicious food. I’ll have leftovers for my lunch today. I was working on cleaning out the fridge, as tomorrow is garbage day. I got rid of a few things that had been pushed back and lost: a pepper, some old taco shells, and some stale bread. Today, I’ll do a wipe down and write a more detailed list of what I need.

Here are a couple of pictures of our maples.

Menu Monday

Posted in budgets, California, cooking, meal planning, simple foods, Uncategorized by

We had a fun time down at my son’s place yesterday.. We went to the farmers’ market and I loved it. Not too big, and not too small. I bought all the fresh veggies I need for the week, plus some yummy hummus dips.

Tonight: tilapia and farmers market broccoli some naam bread with hummus.

Tuesday: tacos of some sort. I have some WW tortillas, so I could do beans or grill some chicken.

Wednesday: quiche I have in the freezer with more broccoli on the side.

Thursday: This is my Velcade day, so something easy, baked potatoes from the freezer and leftover grilled chicken.

Friday: pizza from the freezer.

Saturday: TBD.

I don’t always follow these days exactly. It gets adjusted based on what we feel like eating/cooking.

I cooked the last pork roast I had from the freezer in the crockpot yesterday while we were gone. It was ok. My daughter’s not crazy about pulled pork, so I probably won’t do that again and just buy the packaged one from Costco.

I’m still learning about what we’re actually eating and what is getting wasted. It’s been a learning curve with grocery shopping and not overbuying. Freezer stuff I don’t mind, as that can be used as needed. I find it very interesting that since Barclay has died, we eat differently. Not sure why that is. Maybe it’s a lack of interest in cooking stuff, or ?? Really, I don’t know. Plus, my daughter is doing some of the cooking, and she likes low-carb, anti-inflammatory foods. Well, interesting to say the least.

Friday Things

Posted in budgets, California, cancer, cooking, frugalism, Halloween, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma by

Happy Halloween!!! Barclay loved to dress up for Halloween. We always took the kids to Auburn to trick or treat. It was fun! Those were the days, my friend, we thought they’d never end:(

I know I’m repeating myself, but this weather has been so nice this week. Sunny and temperatures in the mid 70s. Just lovely. I think the weekend is the same, and then next week starts to show rain again.

I watched Practical Magic the other night, and that is a fun movie to watch for Halloween. I’ve watched a couple of series on Prime. Margot is one and a few others. Nothing great, but it helps pass the evening hours.

I didn’t resubscribe to my Prime membership because my daughter offered to share her account. She pays way less being an educator. So that’s one less bill for me to deal with. Also, donating the Subaru has reduced my Allstate insurance, so that’s another savings.

I’m deciding in the next hour whether I’ll go down to the pool. I’d like to go, but there are some outside things I want to do while this weather is so nice. Plus, if I go to the pool, that’s kind of my energy output for the day, and then I don’t get a lot of other stuff done. Well, I still have an hour to decide.

I did pressure can pinto beans this week.

I ended up with 5 pints. It does take up the whole morning since pressure canning is time-consuming. I might do another round next week. We use the pintos the most.

I considered myself brave and went to Speedy to get the Santa Fe’s oil changed. Barclay always did this stuff, so it was kind of a big deal for me. Plus, I really dislike doing stuff like that, but, well, now I have to. Oil changes are so expensive now, like everything, I guess.

I need to go to Costco too, so I think I’ll plan that for next week. Next week is my Velcade injection, so I could do it after that. Also, this chemo will definitely give us a better picture of how much my numbers are going up. I looked back at what happened last time in MyQuest chart, and at this point my numbers started going from where they are now at 25, then to 30 something, and then they starting doubling. So this one will give us a better view of the trend.I don’t see Dr.L till December so we can figure it out for January. That is the exact time of when I changed treatments twice. It was in 2021 and then 2023. sigh:(

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, California, cooking, meal planning, Uncategorized, Walking by

I had a rough day yesterday. It seemed like everything was achy, and I was stiff. Not sure if it’s the rainy weather and arthritis hitting, but today is better. I walked even though it was drizzling and then raining. I’m not walking for great distances( one mile), but I felt I should at least move some. I’m planning on going to the gym this morning although its already almost 8am. I’ll sit here a few more minutes and decide.

Well, I’m back from the Auburn gym, so that feels good. I try and do weights at least 2x a week, and the Auburn gym helps since it’s close.

I finished the kitchen zone yesterday, so that’s done, and I only need to tidy up some things today and figure out dinner. I have some russet potatoes left from the Costco bag, so I might do some form of potato, and I have some broccoli. I’m not sure what protein I’ll add. I don’t have any tofu, so ??

I also want to write the menu for the week using what I have.

  • beans, WW tortillas, cheese, etc.
  • soup of some sort, I think I’ll do a lentil soup with carrots and add curry powder to make it curried lentil soup.
  • I have some chicken burgers or turkey burgers to use so I’ll do that.
  • I think I’ll do a breakfast for dinner night with scrambled eggs, blueberry pancakes, and sausage if I have any.
  • I want to look through the freezer and see what needs to be used. I know I have spaghetti and meatballs frozen. I need to check what else I have in there.
  • a pizza night
  • ???

I plan to go to the pool at least once and Maheny at least once.

We’ve been having fun watching the original Frankenstein and Dracula, which is on Prime. We actually have the DVD’s but these have been digitally remastered and there are subtitles. Both of these were around 1931, so the sound quality wasn’t very good. Plus, they’re only like an hour and 10 minutes.

That’s about it for today. I’m going to read and do some more practice embroidery.

Friday Things

Posted in budgets, California, cash envelopes, cooking, frugalism, Political things, swimming by

It’s been a good week overall. I got a swim in and a trip to the Maheny gym and library. So a good workout week for plus I walked 3 days. Today I’m not going to the pool, but I might go tomorrow. I am trying to balance going down to Roseville with gas costs.

I went to both Winco and Trader Joe’s this week. Between the two, I spent $133 on food. I should be ok for a while, except for maybe some salad stuff. Last night I made some fajitas with a piece of beef from the freezer and lots of red and orange peppers. I wrapped them in a WW tortilla. There was plenty left over for my daughter when she got home from her job.

I’ve been watching Shogun at night. The original with Richard Chamberlin. It’s funny how much it brought back why I loved so much about Japanese culture. Of course, back then it was also brutal, but the mind only goes to the good things like shoji screens and the whole minimalist feel. I went on line to buy the books and wow, I’m not spending $100 for the 2 volume set. I hope it’ll show up at the thrift store. My son frequents them enough I asked him to look out for it. He’s the one that found the Shogun blue ray set at the thrift store so that was quite a find. it must have been an amzing production with costumes and sets.

This morning, I need to go pay for our PO Box. Wow, has that gone up. I’m paying $192 for a year. That seems outrageous. I had some of it in my cash envelope, but not all of it. I need to bulk up my cash envelopes because it helps me keep ahead of bills coming up. Since I don’t have much extra these days, I’m not able to put as much away. I think Christmas will be quite minimal partly because I don’t have any extra money to buy things. That’s ok really. Both kids are adults who get what they want anyway. What I’ll aim for is some cash to each or a gift card.

This is the Chinese Pistachio tree I bought to use as a memorial planting for Barclay. There was one person who sent me a $ contribution for Barclay, I used his $ for this. I think I will buy a second one, and I’ll pay for that.

I might go into town for a few things, but I’ll wait and see how the morning shapes up. I want to mop the floors and tidy up a few areas of the house. If ,after that ,I still want to go, I can.

Next week, my AA house insurance gets put on the cc with autopay. I’ll just have to keep paying that down over the next couple of months. (sigh)

We’re due for some rain this weekend and cooler temperatures. Then next week we’re back in the 70s.

I, like so many people, am just mortified by the destruction of the East Wing of the White House. It’s such a power play by rump. There are no words to describe it except evil. He will be seen in history as THE WORST PRESIDENT ever.

Fall things

Posted in California, cooking, seasonal things, swimming by

The Japanese maples are all turning red. We have quite a few that my daughter planted that have now gotten quite big. She’s been busy in the garden, cleaning up beds and the yard. I can’t really bend over to do the garden beds anymore, but I try to help by picking up random things and putting them away. Yesterday, I finally cleared off the patio table which does become a landing spot for lots of random things.

I’ve been practicing some embroidery again, too. I do like to do handwork, but my hands don’t always like it. What I wanted to do was create a little book with stitches to use as a reference. We’ll see how it goes. I have a few linen napkins I will do some embroidery on, too.

After swimming yesterday, I headed over to WinCo for some things and then across the street to TJ’s. At TJ’s, I scored a few of their mini fall bags.

These mini bags are always at a premium. People will go in and buy as many as they can and resell on Market Marketplace for triple or more of the price. I don’t know who would buy this bag at $15, but they list them at that. These are $2.99 in the store.

I finished making the applesauce yesterday and water bathed 4 pints. The flavor was excellent. I’ll give one to my son. As I said, these are our apples, so it makes it special.

Simple Sunday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, Uncategorized, Walking by

I had a really nice walk this morning. No one was there except a beautiful ‘priestess moon’ and Venus. Really nice.

I’m back from the gym and need to do some tidying up. I’ve kept up with things this week, so there’s not a lot of extra stuff to do.

I’m using the last of the apples from our tree to make more applesauce. We had a great crop this year, so it’s nice to have our own applesauce. Last night I made a very yummy dish that was called grilled chicken with a Boursin sauce. I had bought the 3 pack of Boursin cheese a while ago, and it’s pull date is coming up so I googled recipes. First you grill the chicken with some onions, then remove from the pan and add some chicken broth and then the package of garlic and herb Boursin. Stir until cream and well incorporated, add the chicken back in and cook for a bit more till the suace is nice and thick. It was quite good.

Yesterday, I also made up a dozen double-stuffed potatoes for the freezer. It’s one of our favorite things to have on hand. We had one each with our chicken.

I tallied up the Costco shop, and here’s how it breaks down:

non food came in at $200.

Long term food came in at $48

and regular food came in at $140.

So I’m pleased, and I’ll put the $140 in next month’s budget, which will start soon.

A couple of pictures. Flowers from my son and his partner, a vintage Halloween pumpkin, and my new heater that looks like a small fireplace. I needed something out in the sunroom as the little ceramic one I had died.

We’re in store for another beautiful day.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cooking, Lake tahoe, Uncategorized, Walking by

I’ve had a few days of nice walks in the early morning. I’ve been the only one there when I get there, and then by the time I’m leaving, a few people are showing up. It’s cool, though, at 44 degrees this morning. We’re in for much cooler and rainy weather starting tomorrow. I do plan on going to the pool tomorrow, so hopefully the rain holds off till I’m home.

I sat outside yesterday and enjoyed the sunshine, and later had a fire in the firepit before dinner. It’s a nice way to wind down the day. I made a spinach Boursin quiche for dinner. It was quite good. I think I’ll make some chili for the week today if I get the stuff out of the freezer to defrost.

I plan on going to the Auburn gym this morning. Then, after I get home, my daughter and I are going to go back out to do some errands and get lunch out. ( we think). Both of us can be indecisive at times about going out to eat.

A blogger I follow has been doing another sweep through their house, decluttering. She mentioned, exactly what I’ve found to be true, that as time goes on, certain things that seemed important before no longer are. So with that in mind, I think I’ll start another round of going through each room. I’ve let some of my FlyLady routines lapse some so I want to get back into that too. Most stuff is automatic like the in the kitchen, counters are clear and no dishes in the sink( well maybe a spoon occasionally.) But I’ve not been doing as deep a clean in some zones. So I’ll see how much I gather up.

Me at Meeks Bay, Tahoe.

Simple Sunday

Posted in budgeting, California, cooking, decluttering, home stuff by

Sunrise is 6:38 am, so I walked at 6:15, and it was just getting light, but I still turned on the flashlight, although I didn’t really need it. No one was there, which these days is pretty rare. Anyway, our beautiful fall weather starts today and goes on for at least the next 10 days or so. I’m hoping we can get more yard stuff done since it’s cooler.

Today, I’m not going to the gym but plan on going through each zone and tidying up and dusting, etc. I’m going to start in the sunroom and work from there. I also need to get out to the trailer and see what needs bringing in. Plus, do a wipe down of counters, etc, and fluff up the bed. My son is planning on spending the night and go to work from here so that’s a good motivator.

Sachi and I continue to watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. It is so good. The actors really have the mannerisms of the original down, so that is fun to watch. I finished Professor T, I think. It was on Prime and just as I was trying to figure out what at the end of Season 4 I had watched they took it off. So now I have to figure out where it is and see if I want to pay for it. Such a pain when Prime does that.

I made a roast chicken the other night, so for leftovers, I made some asian wraps for dinner, and we had those as we watched the show. I have a lot left leftover chicken, so I think I’ll make a soup and end up freezing some. I have a pan of lasagna in the freezer, and I think I’ll pull that out as it’s been there a few months.

Tomorrow is my dentist appointment for a cleaning. It’s early, but still not enough time to get to the pool to swim. I just plan on coming home unless there’s something in Auburn I need to do.

I have a good-sized load to take to the thrift store, so I’ll do that after one of my appointments this week. I added the dehydrator since I don’t plan on doing any herbs this year or ever, actually. I enjoyed all that in the past, but now it just feels like too much effort for just a little payoff. Oh well, everything changes. Nothing stays the same that’s for sure.

Friday Things

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, California, cooking by

It’s been a frugal week overall.

I got gas at Coscto and it was $3.96 a gallon. That’s a whole dollar less than in my town.

After the pool on Tuesday, I went to Winco, which is across the street. I mostly needed some salad stuff, but threw in some extras like Triscuits and Popcorn Cakes. My total was @$100, so not too bad. That’s all the grocery shopping I’ve done this week.

The monthly bills are starting to come out, and I always feel better when the big bills are done. I haven’t checked Allstate to see if the bill is ready, but I did get the statement. As I’ve said, I’ll just have to pay in installments since I can’t do the full amount. I also need to have my son figure out his car situation as that’s a big part of this bill.

Yesterday, I went to the gym and the library. I was going to go to the pool, but I haven’t been to the gym in 2 weeks, so I felt I’d better tick that off the list. I didn’t have any holds at the library, so I picked up some random books off the ‘new shelf’. I came straight home after that. After I rested some, I went to work pulling out the cabinet by the stove that was beyond help. It only held our coffee things and my sheet pans.

My plan is to buy an Amazon Basics cart to put here. I will wait a bit to see how the space shapes up or what I feel it needs.

Today is a home day except for a pop-out for a coffee with one of the library friends. It’s just at our little coffee shop in town. Then, when I get home, I read and do what house stuff needs attention.

Next week is crazy with appointments, which I hate having more than one. But I’ll get through. It’s also my Velcade week, so Dex will be involved.

Last night, my daughter worked her late shift, so I had breakfast for dinner and watched Casablanca. It was great as always.

We are headed into really lovely fall weather for the next week or so. Temperatures in the 70s.