Happy Saturday!

Well it's Saturday so that means just one thing, I am off to work.  Being a retail manager means that when everyone else is out playing on the weekend, we work.  I actually work almost every Saturday and Sunday, that's just the way it is.  Today's exciting agenda includes setting up and managing a Grand Tasting event.  I really enjoy these events actually.  There is so much interaction with the customers and to me that's the best part of working retail.  In some states they actually get to do wine tastings which I suspect brings in quite a few folks.  We live in South Carolina though and unless your wine and beer sales are 50% of your total volume you cannot do wine tastings. Our customers prefer to buy very heavy furniture which is okay with me (unless they think they are loading that dining room table in the back of their Mini Cooper).  So for us, we do what's called a dry tasting, which really is just talking about the wines and they would pair with the food we are sampling. 

The joke in our store is that I am the store mom and catering service.  If there's food, I'm in charge.  I do the shopping, the prep work, the cooking and the serving.  Whether it's the food we serve the staff over the holidays or these tasting events, I'm your gal.  So that's my day.  If you live near a Cost Plus World Market, stop by your local store today, have some snacks and if you live in a wet state, taste some great wines for free and don't forget to say hello the the store mom!

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!

Summer Grilling On The Old Weber Grill

The old reliable Weber

Back in the late 80's I worked for a retailer in Phoenix called Home Express.  We sold just about anything you could imagine for your home from dinnerware to televisions.  Included in this interesting mix were Weber grills, I still remember the music to the commercial.  Somehow a customer had set fire to her Weber grill not long after purchasing it and if memory serves me right, this is one thing that should not happen.  Well, we took it back, cleaned it up and I bought it for I think $150.00 (if that).  Many years and many miles later, I am still the proud owner of this grill.  We have replaced some parts on it but, all this time later it still grills like a champ.  One of Bear's favorite hobbies is to check out the drip pan after the grill has cooled.  He thinks we don't know but somehow the grease smears on the sides of his muzzle give him away.

Michael is the grill master in the house and I am occasionally allowed to assist.  Last night was grilling night!  We had seasoned chicken legs and thigh along with grilled summer squash with green pepper and red onion.  It was so tasty and inexpensive.  The chicken is on sale for 49 cents a pound at Harris Teeter and the squash was 88 cents a pound at the Piggly Wiggly.  The entire meal probably cost about 2.50 for the two of us with out the propane.

Sometimes the simpliest food is the most satisfying.  The chicken was seasoned with Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper and some Emerill's seasoning.  As for the squash I just mixed it with a tablespoon of olive oil and some salt and pepper.  The chicken was on the grill about 45 minutes total, I left the squash on too long but it was still good.  Probably 20 minutes would have been enough.

The grill pan is one of our best bargains and favorite grilling toys.  Michael picked it up at one of our local thrift stores for one dollar.  We use it for veggies and  have used it to grill shrimp so we don't need to take the time to put them on skewers.

A Lowcountry Sunset

Photo by Michael Fenwrick

One or our favorite ways to end the day is a trip down the street to the Stono River.  With a glass of wine and the windows open, we sit and listen to the waves gently lap against the shore as the sun slowly sinks.  Michael often brings his "real camera" and we enjoy the surprises we have once the film is developed. 

Amateur Food Porn

Michael hard at work!

I never fully understood what my eldest daughter J was talking about when she kept mentioning food porn.  Well, let me tell you, I have learned since I started this blog.  There are a lot of people out there blogging about food and taking pictures that make me drool.  You look at the picture and can taste the food the pictures are so fantastic.  I am more of an amateur.  We are taking pictures right now with Michael's phone and even though they are not bad, they are no where near the level of so many others.  I need to just break down and buy a new camera but for some reason I keep hoping that one day my camera will decide to focus.  I have done everything they suggest on the fix your camera yourself web sites short of opening it up.  I find it amazing that its less expensive to just go out and buy a new camera than have it fixed.  How bizarre is that.  Actually it is an interest commentary on our society and how so much has become just disposable.  Camera broken?  Throw it out and get a new one.  Tired of the dog?  Throw it out and get a new one.  You get the drift.

They look awfully tasty



 

Viola!  The finished product



Anyway, I wanted to freeze the shrimp purchased at the grocery store yesterday but they needed to be prepped before hand.  Part of that prep was de-veining and even though I have a tool for that, the shrimp are usually destroyed by the time I do it.  Michael stepped in and did it for me!  What a great guy!  Bear is our recycling bin, he loves the shells from the shrimp so even though you don't see him, he is right at Michael's feet waiting.

My Food Budget

Today is my day off from work and payday so that means one thing...food shopping.  Now I work retail and absolutely hate shopping with a passion.  I suspect it has to do with so many hours spent in a store.  Even when I do go shopping, people come up to me and ask me for assistance.  I guess I just look comfortable in my surroundings.  Usually I will take them to what ever they are looking for, customer service is what it is all about after all.  The one type of shopping I don't mind (other than going to Costco to try out all the samples) is grocery shopping.  There is some genetic defect in me that requires that there is always plenty of food in the house (hence the absolutely stuffed freezer and the flying duck).  Grocery shopping is a challenge to me, I need to get the most healthy food I can for the least amount of money (ice cream exempted from this rule).  The same applies to those other things that need to be bought like laundry detergent, paper towels, shampoo...you get the picture.  I have my usual round of stores that I frequent and the normal things I always must have in the house. 

I had stopped couponing for a while but then Ash commented about how bad she was at using coupons and it got me to thinking...even though I don't buy processed foods (other than condiments) there were still coupons out there for me so I started clipping coupons again last week.  Harris Teeter is having super double coupons this week and I was able to save $6.60 with just 4 coupons.  Everything I bought with the coupons was still less expensive than the store brand so I truly felt good about this.  Thanks Ash for the gentle reminder.

So, back to the budget.  I am only feeding the two of us and the budget does not include Bear's dog food.  We rarely eat out and we bring lunch.  Processed foods are fairly minimal.  I try to spend between $150 to $200 a month on food and essentials for the house.  When I look at those numbers they look fairly large but than I think about how much I used to spend in my previous life.  I also keep J's dollar a day budget in mind.

Today I spent...
$20.17 at Piggly Wiggly for fresh veggies and one really cheap bottle of wine
$63.55 at Harris Teeter for an amazing amount of stuff including a pound of both Wild Caught Argentinian     Pink Shrimp and Sashimi grade tuna
And
$12.13 at Doschers for chicken breasts and 2 rib eye steaks

This is more than enough food and snacks to last us the next two weeks.

I met the nicest lady while waiting in line at the deli counter at Harris Teeter.  We were talking about cooking and I gave her the blog info.  She has promised to look me up here and post a wonderful recipe she told me about for Talapia.  We are both not very patiently waiting for it to go back on sale. 

Each day I am amazed by all of you that read this blog.  Here I sit in Charleston, cooking and trying to save money and there you all are.  How many of you find me just boggles my mind.  Since I am new at this I am addicted to checking my blog stats. For those that don't blog, that's the information that tells me where in the world you are, what you looked at and sort of how you found me.  You are from here in the US, Canada, Guatemala (that's the daughter), The UK, Germany, Australia, Poland and today a new addition, Italy.  Some of you I know, most of you I don't.  The Internet is an amazing thing, bringing people together from all across the world.  I hope you are cooking and saving along with me!  Thank You!

 

Comfort Food

Bear somewhat patiently waiting for a snack

Yesterday we craved comfort food or as Michael calls it Diner Food.  I had taken some chicken breasts out of the freezer before I went to work and defrosted them in the fridge.  After I got home in the afternoon I started cruising the internet looking for something different.  My cooking searches usually start with what I have for example yesterday I typed in chicken breast bacon ricotta.  Nothing looked even tempting, they were mostly tasty suggestions but not what I had in mind (or necessarily on hand) so I asked Michael what he felt like eating.  His only request was mashed potatoes and from there dinner progressed.  We enjoy cooking together and my husband makes fabulous mashed potatoes.  They are light, creamy and lump less.  I peeled and boiled, he mashed and whipped (with Bear guarding him carefully the entire time).  In the end we wound up with chicken breasts roasted with carrots, onions and garlic, succotash (which Michael had made Sunday evening while I was at work), the fantastic mashed potatoes and gravy.  I am addicted to gravy and would probably eat it every day given the chance.  I am of the opinion that there is an art to making gravy, it takes time and patience, gravy cannot nor should it be rushed!

Roast Chicken Breast

2          Chicken breasts
1/2       medium onion, roughly sliced
2          carrots, chopped in what ever style you like (not too large or they will not cook correctly)
1 Tbs  olive oil
1 tsp    kosher salt
1 tsp    freshly ground black pepper
1         garlic clove minced

Pre-heat oven to 350, place chicken in oven safe roasting pan, spread onions, carrots and garlic over and around chicken.  Sprinkle all with salt, pepper and olive oil, making sure to get them on the veggies also.  Roast in oven about 1 hour or until carrots and chicken are cooked.  Remove from pan.

Gravy

Roasting pan with drippings and veggies
1 Tbs  corn starch
water (I cannot give you a measurement on this one)

Place pan with drippings over medium heat and add the cornstarch.  Stir and cook for a few minutes.  When it gets thick start adding water.  Lower heat to high simmer, continue stirring and adding water.  I usually cook the gravy for at least 10 minutes, stirring and adding water until it reaches my desired consistency.  Now some folks like thick gravy, some like thin gravy and others prefer in the middle somewhere.  I am a middle of the road kind of gal but you decide for yourself what you like.  Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired. 

I was thinking before we started to eat, we should take a picture but, we were both famished and couldn't wait long enough to take the picture.  I than thought, perhaps take a picture of our empty plates but we decided a picture of Bear would have to do today.  This meal definitely required a long walk afterwards for the 3 of us!