Looks can be decieving...
Poor service & poor seasoning in this quiet bar make for an unpleasant experience.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Devil's Den
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
TGFSC - The Weekend
Another forgotten about post...I think one of my 2013 resolutions needs to include blogging better...
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Oh My Goodness!
The end is in sight, finally!
Its not that its hard, its just that its annoying to have to total everything up.
Saturday was cold and overcast, but we had brunch plans. Instead of going out we invited a friend over for brunch and she offered to bring the pancake mix!
She showed up with pancake mix, strawberries, bananas & oranges...awesome!
All we had to do was provide and egg, some oil and some milk.
Our Saturday Menu:
Breakfast: WW pancakes with strawberries, bananas, and oranges
Lunch: chicken sandwich...yadda, yadda
Dinner: Chicken
Our Sunday Menu:
Breakfast: Cereal w/milk ($.75)
Lunch: Chicken sandwich...
Dinner: Chicken, rice, cabbage
I'm so glad this is over, not because it was difficult, but because its exhausting to count cents on every meal. I imagine that its easier when all you have you can eat. While I was sad that we were not able to eat out with our friends, I struggle with, whether or not, if you need food stamps, if you should be granted that luxury on the backs of others...
I still think about this and how much my meals cost and it is still a deterrent to eating out. But I feel extremely blessed that I have that option.
-----------------------------
Oh My Goodness!
The end is in sight, finally!
Its not that its hard, its just that its annoying to have to total everything up.
Saturday was cold and overcast, but we had brunch plans. Instead of going out we invited a friend over for brunch and she offered to bring the pancake mix!
She showed up with pancake mix, strawberries, bananas & oranges...awesome!
All we had to do was provide and egg, some oil and some milk.
Our Saturday Menu:
Breakfast: WW pancakes with strawberries, bananas, and oranges
Lunch: chicken sandwich...yadda, yadda
Dinner: Chicken
Our Sunday Menu:
Breakfast: Cereal w/milk ($.75)
Lunch: Chicken sandwich...
Dinner: Chicken, rice, cabbage
I'm so glad this is over, not because it was difficult, but because its exhausting to count cents on every meal. I imagine that its easier when all you have you can eat. While I was sad that we were not able to eat out with our friends, I struggle with, whether or not, if you need food stamps, if you should be granted that luxury on the backs of others...
I still think about this and how much my meals cost and it is still a deterrent to eating out. But I feel extremely blessed that I have that option.
TGFSC - Day 5
Just to further enforce the fact that I'm a poor excuse for a blogger, I found this in my drafts folder, having never been published from APRIL! whoops!
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Day 5! Woo!!
So it's Friday and again I didn't plan ahead, so I was starving and cranky at one point.
Today was abnormal, I volunteered at an event at Citizens Bank Park. They promised breakfast, but only provided 1/2 a Dunkin Donuts bagel for each person and coffee; I don't drink coffee. I knew the event wasn't going to last all day, and thought I'd be home by 1pm to eat lunch, but 1pm turned to 2pm and I was a cranky witch.
I rush out of the event...gotta meet the lock guy at the new house at 2...N left her phone at work, so I'm waiting (starving) in the new, empty, house with Bella and some guy who is trying to explain the different locks to me.
N was a life saver and came back with a $1.25 chicken sandwich. Happy girl! :) She also talked to the lock guy so I didn't have to.
Our Menu for Friday:
Breakfast: Cottage Cheese ($.50)
Lunch: chicken sandwich, ww bread, lettuce, tomato ($1.25)
Dinner:
We were invited to a BBQ and all we had to bring was a side dish!
So a $1.99 box of tabouli did the trick!
I added in a $.25 tomato, bringing our grand total for the day to: $3.99
WooHoo!
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Day 5! Woo!!
So it's Friday and again I didn't plan ahead, so I was starving and cranky at one point.
Today was abnormal, I volunteered at an event at Citizens Bank Park. They promised breakfast, but only provided 1/2 a Dunkin Donuts bagel for each person and coffee; I don't drink coffee. I knew the event wasn't going to last all day, and thought I'd be home by 1pm to eat lunch, but 1pm turned to 2pm and I was a cranky witch.
I rush out of the event...gotta meet the lock guy at the new house at 2...N left her phone at work, so I'm waiting (starving) in the new, empty, house with Bella and some guy who is trying to explain the different locks to me.
N was a life saver and came back with a $1.25 chicken sandwich. Happy girl! :) She also talked to the lock guy so I didn't have to.
Our Menu for Friday:
Breakfast: Cottage Cheese ($.50)
Lunch: chicken sandwich, ww bread, lettuce, tomato ($1.25)
Dinner:
We were invited to a BBQ and all we had to bring was a side dish!
So a $1.99 box of tabouli did the trick!
I added in a $.25 tomato, bringing our grand total for the day to: $3.99
WooHoo!
Thursday, April 26, 2012
TGFSC - Day 4
I can't believe we've made it this far! I thought for sure we'd cheat here or there, but we haven't! And we've even gone to bed 'hungry' aka no dessert.
More and more each day this challenge is making me realize how gluttonous I can be and how truly thankful I am, that I have that choice.
Our Menu today:
Breakfast: Yogurt ($1)
Lunch: Chicken Sandwich on ww bread with cheese, lettuce & tomato ($1.25)
Dinner: Ground chicken, roasted red peppers, cabbage, onions, corn, beans, rice and a tomato ($1.35)
No snack today, there was food left over from a meeting at work and I had a plate of salad for free!
Total for today: $3.60
A new record!
But will this savings of $1.40, I of course will spend it on dessert!
2 Peeps and a scoop of ice cream will set me back $.63
More and more each day this challenge is making me realize how gluttonous I can be and how truly thankful I am, that I have that choice.
Our Menu today:
Breakfast: Yogurt ($1)
Lunch: Chicken Sandwich on ww bread with cheese, lettuce & tomato ($1.25)
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| Our typical lunch sandwich - Grilled chicken, ww bread, cheese, lettuce & tomato |
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| Dinner Day 4 - A bit blurry, but you get the idea. |
No snack today, there was food left over from a meeting at work and I had a plate of salad for free!
Total for today: $3.60
A new record!
But will this savings of $1.40, I of course will spend it on dessert!
2 Peeps and a scoop of ice cream will set me back $.63
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
TGFSC - Days 2 & 3
I couldn't write about the food stamp challenge we're doing this week last night because I was busy baking my self silly.
Day 2
Again pretty easy. But I notice that I've gone from counting calories to counting cents. Its just as annoying and tiresome.
Our Menu for Day 2:
Breakfast:
Yogurt ($1)
Cottage Cheese ($.5)
Lunch:
Chicken sandwich on WW bread with cheese, lettuce and tomato ($1.25)
Snack:
Apple ($.17)
Dinner:
Chicken, broccoli rabe, mushrooms and onion with pasta ($1.67)
Dessert:
Peeps (2/$.016)
Total for the day: $4.58
$.42 cents left!!
Day 3
Today was harder. We had some running around town to do and didn't have time to eat breakfast, so by noon we were both hungry and cranky, but knew we had another 2 hours until we could get home to eat something...it sucked!
Another reason today was particularly difficult, a new restaurant opened up in our neighborhood and we had made plans to meet friends there prior to agreeing to this challenge. We decided to have some cottage cheese after the gym to hold us over while we met our friends and shared a drink. When they were ready to order dinner, we left.
I feel very privileged that I do not have to make these scarifies on a routine basis.
Our Menu for Day 3:
Breakfast:
None :( $0
Lunch:
Chicken sandwich on WW bread with lettuce and tomato ($1)
Pretzle ($.12)
Snack:
Summer Sangria from SoWe ($2.5)
Dinner:
Chicken, brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes ($1.34)
Total for the day: $4.96
$.04 left
Unfortunately, I'm still hungry today...damn that drink with friends! ;)
Day 2
Again pretty easy. But I notice that I've gone from counting calories to counting cents. Its just as annoying and tiresome.
Our Menu for Day 2:
Breakfast:
Yogurt ($1)
Cottage Cheese ($.5)
Lunch:
Chicken sandwich on WW bread with cheese, lettuce and tomato ($1.25)
Snack:
Apple ($.17)
Dinner:
Chicken, broccoli rabe, mushrooms and onion with pasta ($1.67)
 |
| Our #foodstampchallenge dinner day 2 |
Dessert:
Peeps (2/$.016)
Total for the day: $4.58
$.42 cents left!!
 |
| This was great...seriously. I can't believe how cheap it was! |
Day 3
Today was harder. We had some running around town to do and didn't have time to eat breakfast, so by noon we were both hungry and cranky, but knew we had another 2 hours until we could get home to eat something...it sucked!
Another reason today was particularly difficult, a new restaurant opened up in our neighborhood and we had made plans to meet friends there prior to agreeing to this challenge. We decided to have some cottage cheese after the gym to hold us over while we met our friends and shared a drink. When they were ready to order dinner, we left.
I feel very privileged that I do not have to make these scarifies on a routine basis.
Our Menu for Day 3:
Breakfast:
None :( $0
Lunch:
Chicken sandwich on WW bread with lettuce and tomato ($1)
Pretzle ($.12)
Snack:
Summer Sangria from SoWe ($2.5)
Dinner:
Chicken, brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes ($1.34)
Total for the day: $4.96
$.04 left
 |
| Chicken, brussel sprouts and sweet potato for $1.34 |
Unfortunately, I'm still hungry today...damn that drink with friends! ;)
'We' baked...and baked...and baked...till we fell asleep!
I didn't end up blogging yesterday because 'we' (I) had to bake thank you gifts.
'We' (I) made: 4 dozen S'more muffins, 2 loafs of cinnamon bread, and 2 dozen peach scones
This kept me up until 1am, and I got a bit delusional, I forgot to take a photo of the scones and the final project. FAIL.
'We' (I) made: 4 dozen S'more muffins, 2 loafs of cinnamon bread, and 2 dozen peach scones
This kept me up until 1am, and I got a bit delusional, I forgot to take a photo of the scones and the final project. FAIL.
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| The photo is a bit dark, but this cinnamon bread came out AWESOME! |
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| S'more muffins...we bagged and tied all the goodies for our thank you gifts. |
Monday, April 23, 2012
TGFSC - Day 1
I'm not gonna lie, I was nervous that we were going to be hungry...But we weren't!
Although the constant fear of being hungry just makes me want to eat more...I found some control and stuck to our $5 diet.
Here is what we ate:
For Breakfast: ($1.17)
yogurt & apple (I also had two cups of tea which work provides free of charge)
For Lunch: ($1.40)
grilled chicken sandwich on ww bread with cheese lettuce and tomato
For Snack: ($.50)
cottage cheese
For Dinner: ($1.85)
grilled chicken, rice, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, zucchini, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots.
With $.08 left for the day, I opted to have 2 (!) Peeps ($.008/each) and a cup of tea ($.1), which actually leaves me with some change!
Even better than some change in my food pocket, my little food tracker app tells me I ate adequate carbs, and received plenty of protein, calcium , iron and vitamin A & C.
38% Carbs
23% Fat
38%Protein
I had a pretty tough workout at the gym tonight and I feel pretty good. I was worried I'd feel more run down, or that perhaps my body wouldn't recover well, but so far so good. And I'm full!
Bring on Day 2!
Although the constant fear of being hungry just makes me want to eat more...I found some control and stuck to our $5 diet.
Here is what we ate:
For Breakfast: ($1.17)
yogurt & apple (I also had two cups of tea which work provides free of charge)
For Lunch: ($1.40)
grilled chicken sandwich on ww bread with cheese lettuce and tomato
For Snack: ($.50)
cottage cheese
For Dinner: ($1.85)
grilled chicken, rice, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, zucchini, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots.
 |
| This whole plate cost us $1.85! |
With $.08 left for the day, I opted to have 2 (!) Peeps ($.008/each) and a cup of tea ($.1), which actually leaves me with some change!
Even better than some change in my food pocket, my little food tracker app tells me I ate adequate carbs, and received plenty of protein, calcium , iron and vitamin A & C.
38% Carbs
23% Fat
38%Protein
I had a pretty tough workout at the gym tonight and I feel pretty good. I was worried I'd feel more run down, or that perhaps my body wouldn't recover well, but so far so good. And I'm full!
Bring on Day 2!
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Food Challenge Prep Work
We started by looking through all the circulars, and coupons in the Sunday paper. Based on what was on sale we created our menu for the week. Some things we were not willing to compromise on, our bread and yogurt.
Already in our the fridge:
Bread - $4
4 Yogurts - $4
Broccoli Rabe - $.50
Sweet Potato - $1
Sweet Peppers (4) - $1
Onion (3) - $1
Brussel Sprouts - $1
Eggs - $1
This is what we purchased:
6 Greek style yogurts - $6
2 Cottage Cheese - on sale for 2/ $5
Coffee Creamer - on sale $2.50
Coffee - It was on sale and we had a coupon, $4.50
Chicken Breasts - on sale for $1.49/lb!, we bought 6 pounds for $8.95
6 Apples - $1
4 Tomatoes - $1
This is what we're thinking our daily menu will consist of:
Breakfast
1 yogurt
1 cottage cheese
Possibly a hard boiled egg
Lunch
Bread
Chicken
Tomato
Snack
We decided that we needed to have our daily greek yogurt, the amount of protein alone, just can't be beat; And the bread we usually purchase is 1/2 the calories of other bread. With summer coming, we were not willing to compromise on this.
Already in our the fridge:
Bread - $4
4 Yogurts - $4
Broccoli Rabe - $.50
Sweet Potato - $1
Sweet Peppers (4) - $1
Onion (3) - $1
Brussel Sprouts - $1
Eggs - $1
This is what we purchased:
6 Greek style yogurts - $6
2 Cottage Cheese - on sale for 2/ $5
Coffee Creamer - on sale $2.50
Coffee - It was on sale and we had a coupon, $4.50
Chicken Breasts - on sale for $1.49/lb!, we bought 6 pounds for $8.95
6 Apples - $1
4 Tomatoes - $1
This is what we're thinking our daily menu will consist of:
Breakfast
1 yogurt
1 cottage cheese
Possibly a hard boiled egg
Lunch
Bread
Chicken
Tomato
Snack
Apple
Dinner
Chicken
Rice or Pasta
Veggies from the $1 rack
Dessert
Peep
Last week we randomly picked up 2 cartons on Peeps left over from Easter for $.10/each making each one .008! A saving grace for my sweet tooth. :)
Tonight (Sunday) knowing that we had some produce and meat which would go bad if we did not eat it by next week, and knowing that because of the price of it we couldn't eat it during the challenge, we had a fabulous meal which cost $3.75 each.
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| Martin's chicken sausage with jalapeno & cilantro; homemade guac, refried black beans and grilled corn, sweet peppers and onions. |
Saturday, April 21, 2012
It's springtime
And things are growing!! Or at least starting to...
:)
:)
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| This is the beginning of sweet basil, we were successful in growing this last year, so we planted twice as much this year! If it grows even remotely well, I don't know what we'll do with it all. I hope our friends like basil! |
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| These are the shoots of a few pepper plants, we got seeds for 5 difference varieties and threw them in the dirt...Whatever we get I hope it HOT! |
Friday, April 20, 2012
The Great Food Stamp Challenge!
So I found out about this today in the paper...and we're doing it!
http://www.hungercoalition.org/foodstampchallenge
Can you eat off of $5 a day?
I thought we could, then I sat down to do some math and realized, its going to be very difficult to get our daily requirement of protein and vitamins within $5/day.
We're going to have to get creative...
It will be interesting to see how our energy levels are impacted and if this impacts our results from the gym.
I guess I should cancel my dinner plans with friends next week...
http://www.hungercoalition.org/foodstampchallenge
Can you eat off of $5 a day?
I thought we could, then I sat down to do some math and realized, its going to be very difficult to get our daily requirement of protein and vitamins within $5/day.
We're going to have to get creative...
It will be interesting to see how our energy levels are impacted and if this impacts our results from the gym.
I guess I should cancel my dinner plans with friends next week...
 |
| She's excited! |
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Milkboy Philly
It was 25 degrees out when I woke up this morning, but the pup still needed to go out & we needed to go to gym too...so we layered up & headed out. I'm so happy we did because along the way we ran by Milkboy on 11th & stopped in.
What a fabulously perfect find! The food was great & the company even better. Knowledgeable & attentive, but not overbearing. We felt like we were having brunch in a friends home.
We ate a breakfast burrito with pork. Great smoky grill taste, not spicy, but provided jalapenos & sauce for spice, terrific creamy black beans. Yum! We ate that one too fast to take a picture of it.
Next we had a blue cheese patty melt. Burger was cooked perfect, copious amounts of melty, creamy blue cheese on crusty buttery sourdough bread and I side of picked veggies and crunchy thick fries. We managed to control ourselves long enough to get a pic of this one.
If you have not been to Milkboy, you must go!
Monday, January 2, 2012
December 31, 2011
This was the warmest NYE I remember. We could go out in a sweater, didn't need a jacket. Crazy.
We headed out for brunch at one our favorite 'special occasion only' restaurants, (special occasion only bc its so severely overpriced) Beau Monde.
Oh what a treat! A bloody mary to start, theirs are fantastic. A perfect mix of tomato & clam juice, plus that traditional spice mix! This drink can solve all your problems.
We gorged ourselves on crepes stuffed with tender chicken & veggies in a mild wine sauce; eggs mushrooms & goat cheese & then, for dessert, apples, dulce de leche & vanilla ice cream!
We were stuffed & it was 50 degrees out, so we strolled around the neighborhood. If you have time to wander OFF of South st. I highly recommend it, you'll find amazing treasures.
Fast forward to 8ish pm & dinner time. The warm weather continued through the night, so we took advantage & fired up the bbq. T-bones with salt, pepper & fresh rosemary; sauteed mushrooms & onions mixed with blue cheese & smashed potatoes.
All chased down with an original Four Loco we had hidding in the back of our fridge. Which means it has caffeine & alcohol. And as my brother reminded me, they only removed the caffeine from it, not the alcohol.
We partied in our PJs till the wee hours...Happy new years all!
We headed out for brunch at one our favorite 'special occasion only' restaurants, (special occasion only bc its so severely overpriced) Beau Monde. Oh what a treat! A bloody mary to start, theirs are fantastic. A perfect mix of tomato & clam juice, plus that traditional spice mix! This drink can solve all your problems.
We were stuffed & it was 50 degrees out, so we strolled around the neighborhood. If you have time to wander OFF of South st. I highly recommend it, you'll find amazing treasures.
Fast forward to 8ish pm & dinner time. The warm weather continued through the night, so we took advantage & fired up the bbq. T-bones with salt, pepper & fresh rosemary; sauteed mushrooms & onions mixed with blue cheese & smashed potatoes.
All chased down with an original Four Loco we had hidding in the back of our fridge. Which means it has caffeine & alcohol. And as my brother reminded me, they only removed the caffeine from it, not the alcohol.
We partied in our PJs till the wee hours...Happy new years all!
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