Saturday

Coffee is brewing here. I'm downstairs at my cute neighbor's apartment. We're watching Planet Earth.

This morning, walking to Stony Creek, ate a banana to get breakfast started. Then wandering on the creek bank, had my favorite trail mix from Nuts to You ('Slightly Sweet,' $2.29 / lb.). Crunchy soy nuts, sunflower seeds, pepitas, peanuts, raisins, carob chips.

After creeking, and after thrift store shopping for home decor (successfully: $8 = Ikea stool, body pillow with washable brown cover, aqua throw pillow, two big cream-colored plates, two small white plates with blue trim and the words Delta Airlines on the bottom, two petite coffee cups that look like miniatures of big chunky midnight blue coffee mugs, and a little box with a green fish on it), my pal and I went grocery shopping at the DeKalb Thriftway.

I am so stocked for food. This is great. Discovered a wonderful generic brand called White Rose that has delicious things with short ingredient lists for cheap money.

1 lb. box of whole wheat penne
?-oz. pasta sauce (like, enough for the pasta, Newman's own, tomato and basil, $2.99)
1 lb. jar of White Rose natural peanut butter, $2.79
gigantic box of "whole grain" saltines (whole grain saltines?), $2.50, to spread the peanut butter on
22 oz. box (yes, you heard correctly) of Mom's Best raisin bran for $3.29, also with a strikingly short ingredient list
a 12-pack box of White Rose instant oatmeal, $2.49
a jar of Vlasic baby dills, $don't-remember
1/2-dozen doughnuts, $1.50

I cannot remember what else I bought right now, but I spent $23. My companion bought some peapods and tomatoes and coffee and some other important things. At home were couscous, asparagus and broccoli.

Dinner was couscous and steamed peapods, asparagus, broccoli and tomatoes. Dessert is dark, muddy coffee and doughnuts.

Yes, you are seeing  Steamed Grape Tomatoes.  

They were... tomatoey, in the very best way.

Snack, on my mind for later: Saltine cracker, peanut butter, crunchy soy nuts, banana slice, drizzle with honey (or not). Repeat.

Other snack, on my mind for another time: Raw peapods and broccoli and cherry tomatoes dipped in Italian dressing.

Also begging to be put with peanut butter: 'Slightly Sweet' trail mix from Nuts to You ($2.29/lb.) and oat bran pretzels ($1.50/lb. at Nuts to You). Spread peanut butter on a pretzel and sprinkle with trail mix.

Pasta and steamed veggies for dinner a couple times this week. Maybe once with just olive oil, seasoning and steamed veggies, and nutritional yeast, and once or twice with the marinara sauce and veggies. Marinara and veggies is decadent. Doesn't happen often enough in here.

Breakfast will be raisin bran and 8th Continent soy milk. Oranges. Coffee. Improv breakfast cereals: banana/trail mix/soy milk or even orange/trail mix/soy milk.

The couscous turned out better tonight. I didn't make it. Hm.

Food Snapshot: DeKalb Thriftway

DeKalb Thriftway. Rainy Thursday night. Had the day off and spent it cleaning and continuing to settle in. A lot has changed in this blog's lifetime. Kitchen appliances now consist of a coffee maker and a rice steamer. Employment is marginal. Food comes from DeKalb Thriftway, CVS, 88 No. 1 Chinese Kitchen, a gas station, a fancy-schmancy grocery/deli in Bridgeport, and on trips back to the old neighborhood, I suppose there will be things from the Clark Park Farmers' Market and Mariposa Co-op. I'll be shopping as a nonmember. I don't live there anymore.

Tonight in the rain at DeKalb Thriftway:

- Green onion bulbs, eight of them in a package, slightly wilted, for 79 cents.
- Broccoli
- Asparagus
- 3 bananas
- 3 oranges
- 1/2 gallon 8th Continent original soymilk

Total: $9.39

Running clean water through the rice steamer now to clean it up after the move. Then steaming vegetables. Borrowed Salad & Greens Seasoning, Basil, Black Pepper, and Coffee from my downstairs neighbor, the cute one.

Going to steam vegetables and couscous. Was going to buy my own coffee, but this mean man who works at the DeKalb Thriftway rudely told me to leave because the store was closing. I could have taken an extra moment to grab coffee and tea, but I didn't appreciate his tone. I'll go elsewhere, but I'll go back to the DeKalb Thriftway again. Most because it's there.

My rented room has two closets. One of my closets functions as a pantry. In my pantry are: CousCous, Thai Kitchen Garlic & Vegetable Noodles (1 pack), a box of Fantastic Foods falafel mix, what's left of a 1 lb. bag of trail mix from Nuts to You (across from my office), what's left of a bag of roasted green peas from Nuts to You, what's left of a bag of oat bran pretzels from Nuts to You, nutritional yeast, sesame seeds, cornmeal, what's left of a box of Oh's cereal ($1 for a 6 oz. box at CVS), instant cream of wheat, one packet of instant oatmeal, and a jar of peanuts.

On my countertop are two leftover Fortune Cookies from 88 Kitchen, the seasonings and coffee I mentioned, what's left of a bottle of Canada Dry seltzer water, a bottle of extra virgin olive oil, and the three bananas and three oranges I bought tonight.

In my fridge are the soymilk, the asparagus, the broccoli, the green onion bulbs, what's left of a bag of spinach, what's left of a carton of white mushrooms, a small bottle of Italian dressing, and leftover soy sauce from 88 Kitchen.

What I would get from the co-op:

- rolled oats (bulk)
- tea
- more Thai Kitchen Garlic & Vegetable noodles

My favorite food discovery lately: Nuts to You. Right across the street from work, easy to visit, cheap, great selection, cheap, cheap! A pound of the most magical trail mix I've ever had for $2.29. It's soynuts (crunchy), carob chips, fat raisins, peanuts, pepitas (those little flat tear-shaped green things that remind me of pumpkin seeds only green and smaller), and sunflower seeds. I feel like a bird. A healthy, happy bird, living in winter.

I've been swallowing a tablespoon full of olive oil every day, because I remembered that I learned last winter that it keeps my skin from being dry. It does. It's amazing. Do it.

Snowy Wednesday Night

From 88 Chinese Kitchen in Norristown, steamed vegetables with rice and garlic sauce, $4.25.