Fiscal Fast weekend round up (Days 16 and 17)

Saturday 16th June:

Brunch: Cup of tea. Pancakes with caramelised banana. Plunger coffee.

Lunchtime snack: Crostini left over from Thursday evening

Dinner: The rest of the tofu chili from Friday's pizza with slices of yummy scrummy home-made No Knead Bread.

Sunday 17th June:

Brunch: Cup of tea. Poached egg, curls of parmesan and wilted spinach on toast.

Lunch: Left over Mexican chili pie from Thursday that wouldn't fit in the freezer. Dark chocolate

Afternoon tea: Cinnamon pinwheel scones

Dinner: Cream of lentil soup and no knead bread.

Finished this weekend:

* Grated cheese (guess I'll be grating my own from now on... )
* Butter (on the list for Thursday.)
* Milk (I went and bought another carton: add $2.50 to the month's total)

Total spent since June 1: $107.58

Just loafing around...

My newly mixed bread dough and I spent yesterday evening in the lounge, watching the first series of The Office (and I'm sorry to say, like Kath & Kim, I just didn't get it). Me on the sofa, my dough happily installed on top of the gas heater.

Then I tucked it up for the nightand went to bed myself.

See, I was worried if I just left it sitting there overnight the cold would kill it. And since this is my first bread I'm being super-vigilant.

I did wonder momentarily if I should swaddle it in towels, take it upstairs and tuck it into bed with me but decided co-sleeping with your bread dough was just too weird ("I need a queen sized bed because I sleep with my hot water bottle, my cat and my rising bread dough...")

This morning I unwrapped it and popped it back in the heater and myself back on the sofa. It seemed happy to see me. And finally around 2pm it was into the oven for it (and fingers crossed for me)

And this was the result: My very first attempt at bread baking and it looks perfect.

Now I just have to wait for it to cool down so I can sample it and see if it tastes as good as it looks (and smells!). As Jeffrey Steingarten* says in the May 2007 US Vogue article I baked it from:

Bread develops much of its flavour after it is taken from the oven, as the aromas of the crust migrate inward. That's what the late Professor Calvel wrote. Your instinct will be to rip the bread apart as soon as it is no longer capable of administering third-degree burns. As you mature, you will see the advantage of complete cooling.

(* For me, Jeffrey Steingarten is to US Vogue as E. Jean Carroll is to US Elle and Douglas Lloyd Jenkins is to NZ Home & Entertaining - one of the main reasons I subscribe)

Day 15, the midway point! (a post mainly in dot points)

Bought today:

* Yoghurt (bio dynamic. I want to try making my own and have been recommended the Easiyo maker as a good simple way to keep it warm while it does its thing. V says she's seen one at Vinnies for $2 in the past. I'll have to put it on my list for when I allow myself back into op shops)
* Yeast (I want to try making bread this weekend...)
* Bread Improver (not sure if this was a complete waste of money but since I've looked in three places for "Bread Flour" without success I thought I could add this to my ordinary flour and achieve the same result...)
* Green pepper (I should have saved some from last night but forgot)

* 2 lots of postage to Melbourne (the wristwarmers and the shoebags): $8.85. Yeah I know it doesn't come under the heading Essential Groceries but a) I'm at the halfway point so I figured I'd have a "Jubilee Moment", b) I'm sick of having them both hanging round here and would prefer to get them on their way and c) Buying stamps really isn't buying stuff is it?

Total spent: $20.10

Today's Menu:

Breakfast: Cup of tea, the last crumpets from the freezer with ginger lemon & lime marmalade, yoghurt.

Morning tea: Red chili dip from last night with crackers

Lunch: Tofu chili pizza (there goes the last of the tomato paste and the last pizza base) with tomato, cucumber and corn salad (also from last night)

(Here's the ubiquitous daily home made food picture)

Afternoon tea: Dark chocolate and an apple

Dinner: Left over Cream of carrot soup. Crackers and cheese from last night.

Finished today:

* Crumpets (I've found a recipe! I'll try making my own this weekend!)
* Pizza bases (definitely not replaceable)
* Tomato paste (still thinking about this)

Things I'm missing:

* Going to the newsagents to see what new magazines they have for me. I popped in today for a couple of deep breaths of new magazine smell (and to remind them that I won't be picking anything up this month. Is it cheating to have them hold my mags until July 1 then pick them all up and have a magfest?)
* Op shops (although not as badly as I had thought I might)
* The thought that I could if I wanted do all sorts of things. Go for drinks at The Hyatt. Pick up a Turkish Pide for dinner when I'm sick of the sight of my own cooking. Buy that new CD that I've been wanting. See a show. Go to a gig. Buy a fabulous outfit. Piss off somewhere.

Of course I know that I probably wouldn't do any of those things (except maybe the CD) if I wasn't on a fast but to know that I can't makes them suddenly so much more alluring...

Although I'm approaching it like I approach being a (fish eating) vegetarian. I can eat meat any time if I really want to. Therefore I don't. Ditto this Fiscal Fast. It's self inflicted and so I could, any day I want, say "Bugger this for a joke", blow the cobwebs off the Visa card and head for the mall. But knowing I could stops me from doing it.

I'm finding it interesting seeing what I miss, what I don't and how, in such a short period of time, my attitudes have changed. Doubly interesting will be seeing what happens on July 1st.

And now I'm off to curl up on the couch with a video from my vast selection. And some leftovers.

Total spent since 1 June: $105.08

Dinner, Day 14

I supplied: Mexican chili bean polenta pie. Salad of tomatoes and cucumber. Coffee.

Aunty A supplied: Wine. Cheese, crackers, crostini and dip. Dark chocolate (and it turns out she doesn't even like dark chocolate - she just wanted to stick with the whole Mexican theme!)

Leftover in my fridge/ freezer/ cupboard:

* 1 serve of cooked kidney beans
* 1 serve cooked fresh corn
* 4 meal-sized serves of Mexican chili bean polenta pie (now would be a good time to share second lesson learnt today: Remember when you open a fresh packet of chili powder that it will be significantly hotter than you are used to with the old supply. Probably best to use slightly less for a while...)
* 1 serve of tomato cucumber salad
* 1 serve Red Chili Dip. Plus crackers to go with it.
* Crostini
* Wild Wasabi and Red Chili Cheese (very yummy)
* 1 full, unopened block of chocolate.

Reasons to be proud:

* I soaked and cooked the kidney beans from scratch
* The corn was cooked on the cob then cut off

Reasons not to be proud:

* I gave up and asked Aunty A to pick up a tin of tomatoes while she was at the supermarket
* There seems to be a disproportionate balance between what I made and what Aunty A bought (and left behind...)

You what?! (Fiscal Fast Day 14)

Pay day! Yay! But it was raining this morning so I doubted City Walk Markets would be there. And I needed to get groceries as I was out of milk (again) and had Aunty A booked in for dinner tonight.

I really couldn't face the supermarket after last week's visit so decided to explore As Nature Intended in Belconnen: the nearest we can get to a Whole Foods or a Marco Wholefoods here in Canberra.

My lesson this week: I really should take more notice of prices.

I was trundling round with my dinky little trolley dropping this and that in it: some celery, a green pepper, an ear of corn, kidney beans and a bunch of coriander for dinner tonight and oh! doesn't that spinach look nice, I'm missing spinach and the milk I need and some chickpeas and lentils are always a cheap choice....

Then I got to the checkout counter and the total. $47.97. I blink twice. I gulp. I pay. I go home and actually read the receipt. My bunch of celery cost me $6.99. Erk! And the "cheap choice" lentils came in at $24.90 a kilo. You what?! If I'm spending $9 on some protein I think I'd prefer to be buying a large packet of smoked salmon. Sorry!

Oh well, what's done is done. Besides it's organic and Australian grown so got to be better for me and the environment blah blah blah.

Today's purchases:

* 618g kidney beans
* 368g red lentils
* 450g chickpeas
* Bunch of celery
* Bunch of spinach
* Green pepper
* Ear of corn
* Bunch of coriander
* Bottle of milk

Total: $47.97

And I currently have a very happy tummy as V&M filled it full of cheese and dips and crackers and wine and minestrone and risotto and chocolate and apricots with cream and cointreau last night. Oh - and V had a bag of snakey things which we devoured after checking the serving size (1 bag=10 servings=7 snakes=You what?! "Here darling, have 3/4 of a snake...")

Then to top it off my boss was visiting today so I dragged him to Tilleys for lunch and he bought me Salt and Pepper Squid....

Total since June 1: $84.98

Day 13: Unlucky for some (but not for me)

Life in the TSS Frugal Fast House seems to be back on track. I suspect yesterday's tanty was caused by the knowledge that I was missing out on the DJ's sale evening. Not that I really need anything but old habits die hard. (After, it would seem, a little moaning, groaning and sulking.)

It's been bloody freezing today. I've found myself wanting to do dishes as the concept of having my hands in hot water for a period of time is suddenly awfully enticing.

And I have the most awful craving for a packet of Allen's Snakes Alive which definitely doesn't fit within the rules of the challenge.

Breakfast: Cup of tea. Apricot Oat temptations and milk.

Morning tea: The last cracker with cheese and an apple.

Lunch: Freshly made Cream of Carrot Soup, whipped up from the classic Alison Holst's Meals without Meat and chosen to use up the last of the cream from Sunday night.

It wasn't until I'd popped the toasted crumpets with cheese under the griller that I realised I probably shouldn't be having cheese again as I'd had it for morning tea but by then it was too late. Oh well, lunch was delicious (if a little monochromatic!)

Afternoon tea: The last of Sunday's Tarawera chocolate sponge cake.

Dinner: I'm off to V & M and E's for dinner tonight. I have no idea what I'm eating. Which makes a very nice change after the past couple of weeks...

Finished today:

* Crackers (Not being replaced)

Total spent since June 1: $37.01

Broke!

My wallet broke this morning. I think it's feeling unloved, unwanted and lacking in attention.

Today was.... boring. I'm sick of this. I want to go spend some money! What sort of stupid idea is it having a month long Fiscal Fast anyway... *grumble* *moan* *sulk*

Breakfast: Cup of tea. Fruit toast (last two slices in the freezer) with ginger lemon lime marmalade. Plain yoghurt.

Morning tea: Latte with a client. Kevin behind the coffee machine at Deeks seemed pretty happy to see me.

Lunch: Left over baked satay udon noodles with vegetables from the freezer. Lindor chocolate ball.

Afternoon tea: More latte drinking with a(nother) client.

Dinner: Baked fish and wedges served with Lebanese cucumber and tomato chunks drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Chocolate cake and cream for afters

Finished today:

* Fruit bread (That's it for the next 18 days...)

Total spent since June 1: $37.01

Fiscal Fast Day 11 (and my 500th post)

Taph has joined in the fun with a Cook from the Cupboard project. She says she has "a reasonable amount of wine and spirits in the house". I'm trying to work out how I can wangle dinner at her house for the next wee while to help her out with that problem :-)

Today's tally for me included:

Breakfast: Cup of tea. Peanut butter on wholegrain toast.

Morning Tea: Lindor ball. Yuuuuuuuummmmmm....

Lunch: Pasta and bean soup from the freezer. Toasted crumpets, also from the freezer, with pesto.

Afternoon tea: Tarawera Chocolate sponge and cream (oh, it's a tough life...)

Dinner: Fettuccine, toasted breadcrumbs, peas, tuna and Parmesan. Wine.

Finished today:

* Basil pesto. (Yummy but not replaceable.)
* Frozen peas. (In the same boat as the frozen corn from yesterday.)
* Pre-grated Parmesan (not a drama as I still have some in block form)
* Small tins of tuna (errrr...?)

Total spent since June 1: $37.01

And, hey, it's my 500th post!

To celebrate I've decided to give away that delicious hand coloured foldable shopper I made yesterday. Very trendy, you know - I just finished reading an article in US Vogue about how cool reusable shopping bags are at the moment... (and went on to read an article about no knead bread - something I so want to try very very soon)

So if you'd like to get your mitts on a one of a kind hand crafted tres chic TSS shopper, leave a comment on this post. If you feel really motivated you could tell me what your favorite post has been. If not just a comment will suffice - either option has equal rating around here!

I'll draw a winner at the end of the month.

Weekend round up (Days Nine and Ten)

I forgot to do a daily round up yesterday or Saturday (although, lucky you, you got to see real life photographic evidence of what I ate for most of the day on Saturday!) so here's a double dose to celebrate the long weekend:

Saturday 9th June (Day Nine)

Breakfast: Cup of tea, Apple drop biscuits with cinnamon honey yoghurt and plunger coffee

Lunch: Home made fish burger: toasted wholemeal roll, tartare sauce, salmon pattie, the last of the bag of spinach (which lasted happily 3 days past it's best before date), tomato and cucumber. Almonds.

Afternoon tea: Crackers and the last of the hummus

Dinner: Bendy celery and carrot bake from the freezer, left over from Day Two.

Sunday 10th June (Day 10)

Breakfast: Cup of tea, Apple drop biscuits with rhubarb and strawberry jam.

Morning tea: Crackers with cheese and sliced tomato

Lunch: (From the freezer) Penne pasta with zucchini, mushrooms & sun dried tomatoes

Afternoon tea: Hazelnuts

Dinner (for Four):

Entree: (supplied by J&M) Carrot and celery sticks, garlic crispy bites, red chili dip, sweet chili and ginger cream cheese pour-over. Main course: (blog action shot requested by S. She also requested a more interesting name than "S" but we're still working on that last bit!) Potato topped casserole made with black eyed beans. Green beans as a side dish. Dessert: Tarawera chocolate sponge cake.

It was originally supposed to be a chocolate version of this with cream courtesy of S but there was a whoopsie as I took it out of the tin. My first thought was to magic it into a trifle but I had no custard and when I looked up the recipe in the trusty Edmonds cookbook it said I needed custard powder, which I didn't have. Pah!

So I just crumbled chunks into pudding bowls, nuked the jam til it was runny and poured it and the cream over the top. Tasted just as good, especially with tea and a dark Lindor ball chaser (another contribution from Sally)

Finished this weekend:

* Bag of baby spinach. (Replaceable, with changes.)
* Hummus. (Think I'll have a crack at making my own, even though I have no tahini...)
* Hazelnuts (I'm not even sure where these came from!)
* Tinned tomatoes (I've got fresh. I think they'll do. I also have one can of tomatoes with basil and garlic as a back up)
* Frozen corn (let me think about that...)

Gained this weekend:

* 1 bottle white wine
* Half a container of thickened cream
* Eight Dark Lindor balls

Bought this weekend:

* Butter. $1.15.

Total spent since June 1: $37.01

And in the blog world, Just another Frugal Pixie has just announced she's started a Living on Less challenge until August 3rd.

This is a little older but I found it interesting reading based on my experienced this past ten days: Maggie Alderson discusses how a reformed shopaholic found peace without purchases (although she's spending again now - but three months is an impressive feat!)

Pretty bloody chuffed!

In the past 24 hours I've:

1. Sewn up three pairs of wristlets (one pair to go)
2. Washed the kitchen and bathroom floors

3. Yelled at a pack of yobbos who were trying to steal my letterbox at 11:30 last night.

4. Finally finished those dratted shoe bags (and had thread to spare - see no need to worry!) 5. Dealt with the pile of mending that's been lurking in the corner of my workroom for ages. I'm particularly stoked about this:Which was created because I spilt a blob of oil from a jar of sun dried tomatoes slap bang in the middle of the T shirt a couple of months ago. Rather than throw the shirt out I flung it into the mending pile and today inspiration hit me.

Remember around this time last year I bought a pair of chinese black and white spotty PJs from The Smith Family in Goulburn for $7.50? I dug out the top from them and cut a rectangle from it to cover the stain then chose some ribbon from the stash I collected at Michael's in Philadelphia last year to edge it with.

Sewed both onto the shirt then took the pants and edged the legs with some more of the ribbon to make it look more like a set rather than just random bits of clothing.Doing that brought back memories of my Mum in the 70s doing similar with my sister's trousers - I don't know if she'd grown out of them or ripped them but they ended up with a tartan edging around the hems and a fish appliqued on one knee. From memory the fish ended up upside down so was given a bubble with "Oops!" above its head.

Anyway, I digress. I'm stoked that I created something usable out of a 6 year old T shirt that was destined for the bin.

6. And the fun continued when I was putting the ribbon away and spied my fabric markers. Haven't done any colouring in for a while so...meet the latest TSS foldable shopper!7. Had a visit from J & M who delivered their belated birthday present to me. Or should I say "presentS"?

They arrived with potting mix, plants and a funky black and while watering can and proceeded to creat an oasis of black and white (and green) pansies on the front porch where once there was, well, not a lot. What a super-thoughtful long-lasting (hopefully!) present!7. And now I'm off to clear the dining table of drifts of fabric, buttons and braid and whip up dinner and dessert for four. Have a good night!

Knitters, there were none

The announcement said 12 - 1:30pm.

I arrived just before 12:30pm. The gazebo was deserted. I wondered if there was a second gazebo I didn't know about.

I ate my lunch. I knitted. And sulked (not really!)Then I went home.

Saturday shopping: buy stuff, get stuff free...

I was up at sparrow's fart this morning and off up the road to The Capital Region Farmers Markets at EPIC, where there was a continuation of Thursday's get more than you pay for theme...

My eggs came with a featherand a chuckle(maybe next week I'll see if they'll sell me a dozen partridge eggs. I wonder if they come with a free pear?).

My carrots came with a mass of greeneryWhich makes storing them a little challenging!

And my garlic came with free dirt. How terribly rustic...I also discovered locally made tofu!All up I spent $9 this morning, bringing my total for the month so far to $35.86 (just over half my usual weekly grocery budget)

Then I came home and made Apple Drop Biscuits with cinnamon and honey yoghurt for breakfast. Just a week late.(Who needs to go to a cafe for brunch anyway?!)

Now do excuse me, I feel the need to go knit in public.

Day Eight: "D" Day

D is for Discounts at the David Jones pre-clearance night this coming Tuesday. My invitation arrived in this morning's mail. I won't be going, of course, but realise the added burden of scheduling my month-long Fiscal Fast for prime sale season... D is for Delicious Deliveries. Also in this morning's mail was my Moo card order from last month. Anyone fancy doing swapsies?

D is for Death. My upstairs phone died this morning. D is also for Dad, who was trying to ring and discovered this fact. Luckily I have another phone I can use but I'm bummed out as it presents me with another of those fix it or replace it decisions. Which I don't have to make til next month!D is for Dry. Which is what three loads of washing are after a short time on the line on this incredibly windy Canberra day.

And also the state of Chateau TSS as I drank the last of my wine this evening!

And, lastly, D is for Daily update:

Breakfast: Cup of white tea (did I mention this "real" milk tastes funny?). Wholegrain toast with honey and a banana.

Morning Tea: Crackers with a wedge of blue brie and an apple.

Lunch: I was fortunate to have a working lunch and had a toasted focaccia with smoked salmon, alfalfa sprouts, capers and mozzarella cheese served with salad and a latte.

Afternoon tea: Still working. Two lattes.

Dinner: My last portion of "Fresh" (before I froze it!) spinach and ricotta ravioli with Dolmio sauce.

Finished today:

* Just the pasta, which is only an occasional treat, bought when it's on special and immediately frozen into meal sized portions.

* Wine. The less said about that the better, OK?

Total spent since June 1: $26.86

... and on Day Seven, she spent

Don't panic, 'cause here's what I bought:

From the supermarket:

* Toilet paper

* Milk (organic - hell that's some expensive milk but I figured as part of this fiscal detox I may as well go all the way)

* Yoghurt (plain, biodynamic)

Total: $11.36

I found the supermarket to be large, colourful and very very overwhelming. Maybe next week I'll walk the 15-20 minutes to the local IGA instead.Later in the morning I was in town for work and remembered it was Thursday, which means the markets were on down in City Walk, right next to Matthew Harding’s newly replaced pods, one of my favorite bits of public art in Canberra (after the pears, of course!)I checked - everything was grown within 100 km of Canberra except the citrus fruit.

From the markets:

* 2 kilos potatoes (with dirt on them! Amazing!)

* 1 kilo onions

* 1 small butternut pumpkin

* 500g tomatoes

* 1 red pepper

* 1 Lebanese cucumber

* 1 kilo apples (with leaves attached. But no stickers. Curiouser and curiouser... Do you think there's a leaf-attaching machine they've bought?)

Total: $15.50I still need eggs and garlic, but it looks like I'll be able to get away with spending $30 on groceries for the week.

Breakfast: Cup of tea (a little late), berry Oat Temptations (to celebrate the arrival of milk supplies)

Lunch: Wholegrain toast with hummus and slices of very yummy fresh tomato (have been craving this for days)

Afternoon tea: Hot chocolate (at this rate the milk will be gone by tomorrow...) and popcorn

Dinner: Often on Thursdays I'll either go across and get a Thai lunchbox from The Thai Garden or a box of noodles from Noodle Choice.

Today I got clever and at lunchtime popped the remaining tofu from Tuesday into a modified marinade recipe from Alison Holst (minus the garlic and oregano, as I was out of both) and tonight stir fried it with red pepper, carrot, frozen corn, the last of the broccoli and threw in some udon noodles at the end. And wondered why I'd not done it before as it was super delicimo!

Finished today:

* Sesame oil (Replacing it'll have to wait - pity as when I poured it into the marinade a little voice said "Hey! would that work in homemade hummus instead of tahini?" Damn. Too late!)

* Tofu (I think buying tofu is justifiable. Although I could just follow the Whip Up tutorial and make my own...)

* Brocolli (On the list for next week's shop)

Total spent since June 1: $26.86

Spotted today...

Silly me... I thought it was day 7 of winter!

Day Six: Sew far so good...*

As you can see, the shoe bags are not complete, but not far off. Unfortunately the spool of brown thread I bought for the project is looking very very empty - I'm worried that I'll run out before I finish the last few bits of sewing I need to do. And then what? Do I break fast by trying to say it's an essential purchase? Do I put them aside to finish in another 24 days (not that I'm counting, no siree) or do I just use some black thread and figure no one's really going to notice anyway?

Actually, I should just stop thinking about it until it actually happens. Who knows, there might be just enough thread left after all...

Anyway, Day Six draws to a close. Sudden realisation hit me around mid afternoon (as I decided a hot chocolate would hit the spot and then remembered I'd used the last of the milk in my tea this morning) that unlike last time, this madness doesn't all end tomorrow but carries on for another three weeks (and three days but who's... oh, sorry, been there already!)

And it doesn't help that I discover this blog, full of black and white gorgeousness, over lunch. I have a kindred spirit in blogland...

Ah, yes, lunch... This brings me to the "What did I eat today part of the proceedings:

Breakfast: Cup of tea. Fruit toast with apricot spreadable fruit. Mango passion yoghurt (As I eat I toy with the idea of theming today around orange to match yesterday but decide that's just plain silly.) It's the last of the milk and the last pottle of yoghurt.

Morning tea: Crackers and cheese plus the last apple.

Lunch: A freezer special: Mediterranean pasta bean soup and toast made of Turkish bread (my last piece) with basil pesto on top.

Afternoon tea: A banana and a couple of triple chocolate biscuits (which aren't as exciting as they sound, honest)

Dinner: More freezer fare in the form of Pumpkin & spinach risotto

Finished today:
* Milk (you think I can live 24 days without tea? Definitely replaceable!)
* Yoghurt (discussed previously)
* Apples (replaceable)
* Turkish bread (the jury's still out on this one...)

(*Sorry, couldn't resist...)

Day Five: Browned off

Brown seems to be the (unintentional) theme for today. Probably because I'm in the middle of plotting a swap parcel using existing stuff for someone who likes brown and orange and has made me an offer I can't refuse and so it has slipped into my subconscious...

Breakfast is a cup to tea and Date Delicious flavoured Oat Temptations.

For morning tea I have more crackers and hummus.

Lunchtime rolls around and I make Satay baked tofu with udon noodles and vegetables (a great store cupboard standby) even though I have no garlic to add and am having major olive oil spray issues as the weather gets colder. I do a double batch so half can go into the freezer for later.

As I sit on my (brown) sofa eating lunch I spy a fluffy brown visitor with eight legs scuttling across the wall. We have a discussion, which results in him (her?) being relocated outside.

By afternoon tea time I've twigged to the day's theme and thus make a pot of plunger coffee which I drink with *whimper* the last of the Lindt.

Dinner is an Indian ready meal from the freezer (brown, of course!) with rice.

And I might, just maybe, actually finish the second (brown and black) set of shoe bags tonight... But don't hold your breath!

Finished today:

* Frozen stir fry vegetables (definitely not replaceable!)

* Chocolate (WAAAAAAAAH!)

Daily Outfit: 4 June 2007

Some blogs I read have a tradition of posting pictures of the writer's daily outfits. I always find myself fascinated by what people chose to (and are able to) wear each day.

Yesterday afternoon, as the temperature in my (home) office plummeted and my (fairly random) layers multiplied, I thought it was time I joined in:

Oh my God, you mean I have to pay for the heating in the office through winter?

And, yes, somewhere under there there is a perfectly presentable corporate outfit. Honest!

Just in case you thought I'd forgotten: The Day Four Report

After the box of deliciousness in the mail, how could it be anything other than a good day?

I wake up super early (the sort of super early where you lie in bed telling yourself 4:25 am is the middle of the night but the minute the clock hits 5:00 am you're up and off to put the kettle on as 5:00 am can definitely be classed as morning). This is actually quite good as I manage to read a six week backlog of Panorama magazines (the Saturday arts section of the Canberra Times - and the only bit I read except for the junk mail) and start yet another pair of wristlets before breakfast.

Unfortunately the Panoramas throw up a number of books I'd like to read and two exhibitions I'd like to see: one free, the other "free after entry" . Hmmm.... guess the second one will have to wait til next month (even though the entry is a mere $2)

Breakfast is the ubiquitous cup of tea and toasted crumpets with marmalade (it's an almost full jar, I'm relieved to notice) and my second to last yoghurt.

For morning tea I have a banana and a couple of triple chocolate biscuits. I need to eat more bananas or buy some eggs and bake with them because they're not going to last too much longer.

At lunchtime there's another trip to the compost bucket - this time a (very slimy) Lebanese cucumber. I'm guessing I bought all my salad stuff at the same time.

I make "nachos" as I want to use up as much of the bag of spinach as possible. The quotes are because I make nachos thus:

1. Break up two taco shells into an ovenproof dish
2. In a frypan, fry mushrooms in a spray of olive oil. Add spinach and leave to wilt. Add Mexican chili beans and then thawed drained frozen corn.
3. When the mixture is heated through, add to the dish with the tacos.
4. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Grill until cheese is browned.

Work supplies me with a latte a little later.

For afternoon tea I eat my second to last apple with crackers and hummus (an unopened container! Yay!)

Checking my emails after work I delete both the Brown Sugar and Target emails without opening them. I feel brave and strong, especially as this morning I studiously ignored the advertisements telling me that Angus & Robertson is offering 20% off all DK travel guides and The National Library Bookshop 20% off sale ends today...

Dinner will be penne pasta with mushrooms (I cut up the last of them at lunchtime and split them evenly between lunch and dinner), zucchini and sun dried tomatoes. And a glass of wine.

So far, not too hard!

Finished today:

* Lebanese cucumber (see previous ruminations: re salad vegetables and autumn plus attached comments from Taph re: sprouting
* Mushrooms (replaceable!)
* Zucchini (also replaceable!)
* Mexican chili beans (definitely not on this month's shopping list - I'll have to make them from scratch if I feel the urge for Mexican again)

Day Four - and what a score!

Woohoo! My care parcel from Pink Trees arrived, just in time to assuage the first twinges of frugalling withdrawal.

I knew it would be a doozy when she emailed me in April telling me she'd sent it surface mail as it was going to cost some ridiculous amount to post air. And it is.

I contemplated (for oh, 10 seconds) the concept of rationing it and taking one thing out of it each day but in the end it was bum up and in head first to check out the goodies...First out was a fine selection of black and white stationery items. A matching concertina file and in tray! Swoon. And look at that psychedelic notebook! Eek! And the pencil holder with enough pencils to last me for the rest of my (very long) life!! A wire basket (I love storage stuff about as much as I love stationery. ie: a lot), a memo cube and some vintage stick-on numbers.

Pretty impressive, huh?

That's not all! There was also:three knitting magazines I snaffled from her back in Marchtwo sweater wheels (copyright date, 1969). An intriguing concept which I'm dying to play with almost as much as I'm perplexed as to how she could bear to give them away...More crafty goodness in the form of a range of wooden pegs which I shall tuck away until inspiration hits,and a huge array of vintage buttons still on their cards, long zips which I want to try making bags out of, iron-on Velcro and a vintage bag of large black pom poms... ...plus a pack of black and white playing cards. I'm itching to cut them up but will (probably) keep them intact.

And after I finished photographing everything and loaded my pictures I realised I'd missed out taking pictures of the funky retro black and white thermometer and miniature kettle she'd also included. Oops!

Thanks, PT, once again you've overwhelmed me with just perfect wonderfulness!

So it's got to be about time for another video...

I saw this last night on Loop Select 8 and it reminds me of Wellington (oddly enough).

All you Kiwi expats out there, this is for you...

Fiscal Fast, Day Three

And still straight sailing. For breakfast I eat wholegrain toast with honey and a banana on top and spend the morning out of the way of temptation, tucked in bed knitting the second pair of wristwarmers and reading issue 37 of Urbis in a bid to lessen my pile of unread magazines.

There's an "Uh oh" moment when a subscription offer card drops out of the middle specifically targeted at Australian readers and offering a good discount. But it would seem I'm too late to take up the offer as it closed at the end of last month (really must catch up on the magazine reading...)

At lunchtime I realise the bag of salad mix in the fridge (with a best before date the same as the tomatoes I used yesterday) is definitely departed from this world and give it a decent burial (in the compost bucket).

Damn! There goes my plan to have a lovely healthy salad with lunch, which is smoked salmon and blue brie pizza, chosen as my packet of smoked salmon has been open almost too long and the spinach is best before tomorrow (and I don't want it turning to slime along with the Salad Mix.)

I scrape the last of the salsa out of the jar for the pizza. I doubt I can justify replacing it this month but I'm not too concerned as I still have tomato paste, Dolmio and at least one can of tomatoes in the house.

The afternoon is spend at home pottering - catching up on the bits and pieces I've not got to over the past few weekends. The pile of junk mail I pulled from the letter box stares balefully at me from the corner where I placed it when I came back inside. To read or not to read, that is the question...

I decide that since I enjoy reading junk mail I can flick through it as long as I'm strong enough to resist its siren call. Big W has cute shoes but I decide they're probably plastic and I don't need them anyway. Aldi have their Tevion digital photo frames back in stock for $119. I rip both pages out, put them aside and pretend I might just decide to buy either but knowing full well I'll forget about them within 24 hours and both bits of paper will end up in the recycling bin.

For dinner I'm having vegetable soup and toast from the freezer. I'm pasta-d out after yesterday (the usual quick and easy option) and really can't be shagged thinking about what to cook. It's Sunday night, after all!

Finished today:

* Bag of salad mix (not replacable. Must buy a head of lettuce or decide that autumn is not the right season for lettuce and stop with the salad stuff already)
* Jar of Salsa (see discussion above)

Wristwarmers, take two

Voila, the new and improved version of yesterday's wristwarmers! I'm much happier with these after a few changes to the original pattern.

Here's what I did differently:

1. Used 5mm needles instead of the suggested 5.5mm (and 6mm for cast on and cast off).
2. Ribbed the whole thing - which caused a little bit of consternation as I approached the thumb gusset as to how to keep the ribbing going but I sailed through with nary a flicker of doubt. The smaller needles and the ribbing give this pair a much better fit.
3. Increased the length of the arm cover to 20 rows from the end of the edging (as shown in the pattern photo but not mentioned in the pattern)
4. Moved the thumb gusset over slightly - instead of 13 stitches then M1 I did 15 on one wristwarmer and 11 on the other. The side seam now sits along the side of the hand much better.

Now what am I going to do with them? Who do they remind me of??

Bendy celery bake

(Direct for the TNSS kitchen!)

Serves 2 hungry people or maybe 4 not so hungry people with a salad.

Take:

3 stalks very bendy celery, about to crawl its way to the compost bucket
2-3 carrots, peeled (hopefully in slightly better condition than the celery)

Wash and chop into smallish pieces. Place in microwave safe dish, cover and nuke for about 3 minutes (please note, I bought my microwave in 1989 so yours is probably more powerful - please check during cooking as you want the carrots al dente not mush-like)

Turn your oven on to 200.

Meanwhile, boil a largish pot of water and cook 120g shell pasta until al dente.

At the same time, make a cheese sauce as follows:

Melt 2 Tbspn butter in a pot. Add 2 Tbspn flour and stir until thick. Add 1/2 cup milk. Stir until thick. Do this twice more (1 1/2 cups milk in total).

Add a pinch of curry powder, lots of ground pepper (or to taste) and turn off heat. Add 2 cups grated tasty cheese and stir until melted.

Combine pasta and celery/ carrot mix in greased oven dish/ casserole thingy.

Pour the cheese sauce over the top. Make sure it spreads to all the corners. Whack it a couple o f times just to make sure.

Sprinkle with dried breadcrumbs (if you have them - also try crunched up chips if you're so lucky as to have any spare) and paprika.

Shove in the oven and bake for around 15 minutes.

Serve and be astounded yet again how lashings of cheese sauce can make anything taste good!

You can't stop an addict*

(*Between June 1st and June 5th Blogger, in its wisdom, decided I was a spamming robot and so locked my blog. I sent up a temporary blog while I waited for their verdict as to my state of humaness and am now transferring the posts from there back to their rightful homes. I'll also try to transfer the comments over the next day or so) Welcome to my temporary abode while Blogger decides I'm a real person and not a robot spammer. Once I'm allowed back "home" I'll probably move these posts back over to The Not Shopping Sherpa (as I am this month!)

Today's theme was eggs. And garage sales.

Eggs because I'm out of them. Which (of course) meant I woke up to a little voice inside my head saying "Hey! Remember that recipe you have for Apple Hotcakes (officially called "Apple Drop Biscuits" - must be an American recipe book) which you'd completely forgotten about? That's what I want for breakfast as I know we have apples..."

Now I could have gone and bought eggs. Yes, just because I'm on a Fiscal Fast doesn't mean I can't buy anything at all. That would be just silly for a whole month. My view is I can buy essential groceries, locally sourced if possible.

So far that means I'll have no problems at all buying the following that I'm out of:

• Eggs
• Onions
• Potatoes
• Garlic
• Toilet paper (thank God!)

These can be bought with changes:

• Tomatoes (if I can get them locally, and I'm guessing not the grape tomatoes I usually buy)
• Yoghurt (no Ski Delite 12 pack fruity flavours. Plain (and locally sourced) is OK)

The jury is still out on the chickpea/ kidney bean dilemma. I usually buy cans but suspect I should be buying dried this month and cooking them from scratch. Your input would be much appreciated.

These are definitely on the no-go list:

• Feta cheese
• Couscous

(Feel free to produce a fine argument against this decision!)

So what did I eat today?

Brunch: A cup of tea and toasted crumpets with grilled cheese and smoked salmon

Lunch: I decided the priority today was the package of grape tomatoes with a best before date of 26 May. So I made couscous with spinach, feta, tomatoes and olives, thus using up not only the tomatoes but also the last of my couscous and feta (see above). I drank Bunderim Lime Refresher (which I had a full bottle of) but with tap water as I'm out of sparkling.

Afternoon tea: Chocolate. I still have some and it's the weekend. So shut up :-)

Dinner: I still have some (ever more bendy) celery which I'd like to use up. A journey into my microwave cupboard (and recipe collection) brings up Digby Law who tells me I could make a Waldorf Salad (pity I only have the apple and celery component. Oh - and I think I have some coleslaw dressing and maybe I could use hazelnuts instead of walnuts?) or some carroty/ celery thingy with cheese sauce. Or I could use a tin on lentils I have and the celery and some other veg (with some tomatoey stuff) and make a lentil stew thingy.

As you can tell, the jury is still out. Maybe I should just smear some peanut butter onto the celery, eat it and be done with it....

"OK OK" I hear you saying "Enough about food, what's with the garage sales?!"

To test my resolve, Vinnies Mitchell is having their first ever garage sale this weekend, the very same weekend the YMCA is holding their regular garage sale.

I'm ignoring both.

Instead I finished my Cosmic Mix Swap-Bot CDs. (Don't panic - I already have stamps to post them)

I finished knitting cupcake number 12. Now I just have to sew them up, finish them off, and find new homes for them...

I also finished volume one of the Phaidon Design Classics Series. Only 666 entries to go (and they're due back on the 8th!)

I finished the first set of shoe bags for Nick and Dermuid who put me up in Melbourne for Eurovision weekend. I'm getting very grumpy at how long these are hanging round and hope to get them in the mail tomorrow...

And I also made a set of wristwarmers (see top of this post), just because and out of my stash. I used this pattern. I think I need to do some fiddling with it. Oddly, one of my complaints is that it doesn't come far enough down my arm but now I look more closely at the photo, there are more rows in the photo than listed in the pattern.

Duh! Luckily they took me about an hour to knit (while reading English Vogue) so I suspect I'll be trying again with a slightly modified version..

Oh - and the rest of tonight? Just take a guess...

(Listening to: Cafe del Mar: Vol Dos)

So How'd I Go?: Day One

Like this is no surprise, Day One went pretty well.

For breakfast I had a cup of tea and a packet of Oat Temptations (Apricot flavour)

Morning tea was crackers and cheese plus an apple.

I realised I had celery which was starting to look a little past it so lunch was penne pasta with chickpeas, celery and Dolmio. Two serves of Dolmio and one of the completed meal went into the freezer for later....

No afternoon tea as I was out and about.

For dinner I planned to have fish and wedges but I forgot to buy potatoes with my last shop so it became fish and rice with (frozen) peas and corn. I'm also out of eggs and the chickpea penne used the last tin of chickpeas. Decisions to be made already re: grocery shopping this month...

Life wasn't too hard today. Work paid for a latte (a very very bad one) and a glass of wine. I got good mail. At home I still have supplies of chocolate and wine.

Had an interesting discussion with Aunty A about friends helping you out. I feel that if I decide to put myself into Purdah it's not up to other people to buy my wine/ chocolate/ dinner/ whatever during the month as then I'd feel like I was sponging off people. Which is certainly not my intent.

We decide it's permissible for me to cook dinner and have someone bring wine but not OK to swap a cooked dinner for a ticket to the movies. Looks like I won't be going to the cinema this month, then...

I'm secretly relieved when a friend I was planning to meet for drinks tonight (date made before Fiscal Fast was decided) calls and cries off because she is too tired. I'd planned to invite her over for lunch instead but she has visitors all weekend. I breathe a sigh of relief.

Then I got an email from Stripy Sock Studio alerting me about the Hallensteins limited edition Music Month collection.... Birthday is over... Christmas is months away... What to do?! Can I bribe Kiwi bloggers with promises of goodies to come? Knitted cupcakes, perchance? What to do? What to do???

Oh - and then Gemma decides to join in and I realise I probably need a webring. Or something. Good thing tomorrow is the weekend, hey?

A lovely apron with a sad sad story...

Taph gave me this lovely apron last night to add to my black and white apron collection.

But every time I use it I will feel sad. Why? Because she bought it at Curtin Vinnies. Which closed it's doors yesterday after 40 years.

That's two Vinnies gone in Canberra in less than 6 months. Sigh...

On a more cheerful note I also received this package of goodies yesterday from Nancy, Queen of Everything who has recently returned from a trip to Paris and (another) cruise adventure in Europe. I have a scarf, earrings and lots and lots of postcards from places I won't be going to until at least 2009.

Uh oh. I think that makes me sad as well....

(Listening to: Bloc Party, Silent Alarm)

Blergh

OK, so the whole "change the banner for a clever one" thing didn't work for those of us on Bloglines.

Let me put my thinking cap on....

The Not Shopping Sherpa

Since May was such an overdose of activity and spending around here I figure June is a good excuse to do another Fiscal Fast - this time for a whole month.

I've even renamed myself for the occasion (see above and thanks to my Banner Angel once again)

Can I do it? Will you join me for the month?

(Listening to: Anthems of Trance)