Christmas in October!!!!

Believe or not, even though it is almost 90 degrees out it is Christmas at your local World Market store.  Yes, I have spent the past 8 hours opening up little tiny boxes containing hundreds of dozens of assorted (and yes some weird) Christmas ornaments!  I am covered from head to toe (even where I was originally covered with clothing) in glitter.  Tomorrow the excitement of the holiday continues when we open thousands more little boxes containing little ornaments carefully wrapped in bubble wrap (which is taped closed), and than paper (which is also taped closed), and finally in a plastic bag (which is taped closed).

So, therefore I have called a holiday!  There is to be no cooking in the Fenwrick household tonight!  Instead we will dine on fried chicken from the Piggly Wiggly (sorry if you don't live near one) and store bought potato salad!!!

A World Market Savings Experience

I work for Cost Plus World Market http://www.worldmarket.com/ so this may sound like a commercial but it is really a story about saving. If you have never been in one of the stores, it's like Pier One on steroids.  Lots of cool home decor and kitchen stuff along with gourmet food, wine and beer.  After 7 years I get a very generous discount!  I have to resist the call to "buy me I am cheap".  Last week all the remaining outdoor furniture went 75% off and I still get my 40% discount off that sale price.  It was really hard to not buy any of it.  An Adirondack chair for $15.00?  Right now I am fighting the desire to buy the rope hammock with stand.  It also is now just $15.00 for me..would make a killer Christmas present for someone..

The discount I get in the gourmet food area is only 10% because the markup isn't as high and as for wine and beer I only get what the rewards program is offering but the prices are pretty low to begin with so..it's still a win and I don't need to spend any extra gas money to get there!

Back to my extreme savings story!  The Explorer program has a ton of benefits, aside from the savings and getting to use my discount on top of them, when I buy $100 worth of gourmet products I get a $10 reward I can use on anything other than wine and beer.  This reward has no minimum purchase other than the $10.   Part 2 is the coffee deal, buy 6 bags of WM coffee, get the 7th one free.  Buy a bag of coffee on Wednesday and get double credit so, if you buy 3 bags of coffee on Wednesday, you than get a coupon for your free bag.  Last week I had both a $10 reward coupon and a free bag of coffee.  I am so silly when I get that $10 coupon, normally I try to get the biggest bang for my buck.  Last week I just wanted to buy stuff for me so for 51 cents I left with

My free  12 oz bag of coffee
1 tube of Amore Tomato Paste
1 bottle of Sesame oil
And to feed my spice obsession
A container of Kashmir Saffron.

Not bad for 51 cents plus what I spent goes towards my next reward coupon!

The Spice Of Life

I love spices and herbs, with them I can take something bland and turn it into something extraordinary!  My daughter calls me a spice ho, I have quite a collection and continue to add to it.  I buy most of my spices at World Market (I get a lucrative employee discount) where the pricing is fantastic!  I need to keep myself in check though, if you don't use a lot of something it doesn't make sense to buy the largest package possible no matter how good a deal it is.  I am the proud owner of a large bag of curry powder because of this weakness.

 We are fortunate to live where it is warm enough year round to keep some herbs in the garden.  What started as a very small rosemary plant 5 years ago is now definitely of bush stature and keeping it company out there is garlic chive (also a year round resident) and a pretty sad looking basil plant.  To me there is nothing better than strolling out to the garden and picking veggies and herbs to cook with.  Gardening is not my forte though so I must depend on my favorite vegetable store (The Vegetable Bin)  downtown Charleston for my fresh veggies or hit up my friends who are avid gardeners.

I write this this afternoon as I look at the chicken legs and thighs that came out of the freezer for dinner tonight hoping for Divine inspiration to assist in turning them into something stunning for this evening!  It's time to hit the spice cabinet and see what hides in the corners and motivates me to whip up something spectacular!