... a little bit of this and that

Penny-pinching update: I'm slightly embarrassed about this, but I'm going to go ahead and share anyway. I've continued monitoring my spending on food all week, and have done really well. I even created a spreadsheet to tally everything up in. What I've learned so far... capers make tuna fish infinitely more palatable (enough to eat it four days in a row)... I think I love oatmeal enough to eat it everyday until I die... when making homemade yogurt, it's always best to add the starter before you leave the milk sitting out overnight... and, eating on a tight budget is the perfect diet prescription for those looking to drop pounds (junky desserts are expensive!)  Most of all, I find that I better appreciate the food I eat when I know I'm not going to allow myself to buy whatever whenever. I think it's been a really instructive exercise so far :)

I did some guest editing for my CSA's newsletter these last couple weeks.  It was fun! 

Last night, Roomie's man cooked us his finest meal yet, in honor of Roomie's Mom coming in for a visit.  I found it hilarious that he read the ingredient list a day ahead of time, but didn't read the actual recipe until an hour before preparation time.  I mean, you don't fool around with risotto!  But he actually pulled it off quite nicely.

My insomnia has finally subsided, hooray!  It seems there's something in the air right now though.. every time I complained about being sleep-deprived, whoever I spoke with had some sort of insomniac tale to relate.  Maybe I can start a club so I'll have something to do during the wakeful wee-morning hours.

I'm looking forward to heading up to Massachusetts this weekend to see my family as well as an old friend from Spain. Bonus: my Dad is going up as well, so Greyhound won't have to worry about me turning green and puking all over their upholstery...

... a pinch

A penny pinch, that is. In a formal effort to 'live within my means' and somehow save up some money to travel, I'm gonna try to see this budgetary challenge through (at least for this week!) I originally thought I'd shoot for $20 per week on food, but as per Ms. W's recommendation, I'm going to expand my food allowance to $35. Clearly this means I will NOT be dining out! (tear)

So far so good. I ate oatmeal with jam & walnuts for breakfast this morning, and just had a tuna fish sandwich with capers & cukes on rye bread for lunch. Super rough cost analysis:

Oatmeal: .33
Walnuts: .41
Jam: .15

Rye bread: .38
Tuna fish: 1.25
Mayo: .08
Capers: .40

TOTAL: 3.00! Man I'm cheap :)

… Nut Island

What a perfect day to take my second excursion down to Governor's Island (formerly Nut Island) with my friend Ms. Wunderful. We had trekked down there earlier in the summer for a ridiculously bizarre art festival called Figment, but this time we went for something slightly more mainstream (at least in the foodie world). It was a panel discussion of the book Gastropolis, which delves into the city's 'food heritage.' The panel presenters started off a little too academic for my tastes, but overall the entire presentation was pretty interesting. When discussing two things of the things I love most in this world, food and NYC, it’s hard to go wrong!

As an interesting side note, when we first arrived at Pershing Hall for the panel, there was some confusion about whether or not the event was actually going to take place. Hardly anyone had shown up, and the event space wasn’t set up at all. Four of us were sitting outside waiting to see what would happen, when and older guy on a bicycle drives up. Ms. Wunderful & I greet him “Hi, how ya doing?”… mostly because we’re nice people with good manners. His response: “Why are you so friendly?” Not joking at all, he actually seemed annoyed that we had greeted him (turns out he was a contributing author for the book, and the owner of Russ & Daughters on the Lower East Side). You have to love well-seasoned grumpy-ass New Yorkers!

Not only did I enjoy some free culture & beautiful views today, but I also made up a bit for all of my gym slackage. After walking the perimeter of Gov's Island and then walking all the way home from South Ferry, I calculated on Google pedometer that I put in almost 6 miles on foot today! Looking forward to sleeping good tonight...

... the kitchen makin' arepas

I've been out of culinary practice for a while now, so I was really glad that my friend Ms. Wunderful suggested that we cook up some arepas before heading to my neighbor's birthday party tonight. Even though we weren't successful in following the recipe to the letter, they came out pretty darn tasty if I do say so myself :)

Getting back in the culinary saddle also inspired me to do so more often. For the last couple months I've been lazy about making myself anything more than an egg or a banana & peanut butter smoothie, but I've got to change my ways -- both for my wallet and my health. I think I'm going to set out some sort of cooking challenge for myself. What do you think - could I feed myself breakfast, lunch and dinner this week for $20? That could be interesting. Given that my appetite has been almost nil since I returned from Guatemala (parasite??) I just might be able to pull it off...

... Dave's ESL Cafe

I've been lost in Dave's virtual ESL cafe for the last several hours, researching my trip down South. I don't think I've mentioned this yet here, but about halfway through my trip to Guatemala I resolved to move to South America for a year or two to teach English and travel. This was really half the reason I went to Guatemala in the first place - to see if this taste of travel would make me want more - and if so, how much? The answer was a big "YES PLEASE" and as for exactly how much... well I'll figure that out once I'm down there.

So I'm very grateful that there are resources out there like Dave's ESL Cafe, but at the same time, they can suck you in for hours and leave you with many more questions than answers. Between DESLC and a new list of blogs about Chile that I found, I will likely be up reading for the entire night!

My goal is to try to resolve at least two things: which country will I teach in, and which certification will I get? Up to this point I've been focused in on Chile, but now I'm questioning if it's really the right spot for me. Valparaiso is apparently 'seedy,' Santiago is choked with smog, and the Chilean accent can be difficult to decipher. But teacher demand is high, the country is safe and not corrupt, and pay is supposed to be good. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Colombia is notoriously notorious, but also gorgeous and seductive, with clearly spoken Spanish. I was looking at my friend's pics from his travels down there and it just looks so beautiful and like quintessential SoAm (but I'm pretty sure I'd put my parents into their graves if I went there, and I too would have safety concerns). Ecuador & Argentina are also possibilities... Ecuador being slightly more attractive because it's not as gringonized, and Argentina being slightly more attractive because it is more gringonized.

You get the picture... I could go in many directions at this point, and I'm having a hard time narrowing things down based on all the info from books, strangers on discussion boards, and my Travel Channel buddies Samantha, Tony & Andrew. But really, I shouldn't be complaining. I'm lucky that there's a wealth of information out there, I just need to wade through it a bit more!

... a three ring circus

Yes, the circus came to Madison Square Garden this week! Not Barnum & Bailey, but the one and only BRITNEY SPEARS. Her latest music tour is actually called "Circus"... quite appropriate given the circus that her life has been for the last decade or so. I know what you're thinking, and don't worry - I didn't pay any money to see her (I would never do that)! One of my friends graciously offered up free tickets from a connection she has, and about 25 or so of us jumped at the chance to witness Brit-Brit in action.

I was really excited about the show because I figured the performance value would be very high, even if Britney is short on vocal talent. In all her music videos it seems like she's a pretty good dancer, so I looked forward to being dazzled by some choreographic wizardry. At the beginning of the show it was clear that they were in fact aiming to dazzle: "Circus" wasn't just the name of the tour, it was actually a music concert and circus wrapped into one. There were three rings, acrobatics, trampolines, clowns, freaks, and the whole nine. That part of the show was verrry entertaining as they had a lot of different types of talent on stage (not the least of which was a girl without legs bouncing and flipping around on a trampoline), but Brit-Brit paled in comparison to the circus surrounding her. She did little more than strut around the stage in her stilettos, change costumes every five minutes, and toss her hair about. Even the two songs I was looking forward to hearing (Toxic & Slave) came across totally flat. I was really disappointed to find out that she is not in fact a performer, but I guess more like a puppet. What disappoints me even more is how crazed people are for this girl!

Hmmm. This seems like a really negative note to end on, and I try not to be one of those people ;) On the positive side, it was fun to hang out with a big bunch of girls and act a bit silly. The Pegasus Palace crew was kind enough to have us all over for circus themed food & bevys before the show, and decorated their place with pictures of Britney from every stage she's gone through over the last several years. I mean, who wouldn't love to step into the bathroom and stare at this pic while relieving themselves?

Related articles

• Britney Spears Brings Her Sexy Circus To Madison Square Garden (mtv.com)

... Belgian beer heaven

Cheers to Roomie & Roomie's man for this great Monday night find: 1/2 price belgian beers at the Petite Abeille. We had some amazing weather last night and these tasty beers were the puuuurrrrrfect accompaniment as we sat outside :) To think, back in college I didn't like beer at all!