Hunkering Down For Sandy

I imagine everyone in the US, Caribbean & most of Europe are well aware of Hurricane Sandy.  I'm sure all the people on the East Coast, particularly in the North East are well aware that as Hurricane Sandy travels North West and is expected to hit land today before it travels up the Eastern Seaboard there is another storm approaching.  A Winter storm from the North that will collide with Sandy creating what Meteorologist have now coined the Frankenstorm.

This is a storm with pressures that the East Coast has never before seen or experienced (at least since such events have been measured & recorded).  I'll be honest - that's what scares me the most.

The part that bothers me the most is my proximity to my family... or lack thereof.

My family is located in Queens, NY.  Thankfully they are a few miles outside of the evacuation zones.  The part that scares me about this is that on Saturday, my Grandma was discharged from the Rehab she was staying at for 1 month, while her broken arm healed.  I don't want her to experience any discomfort or lack of necessary care at home.... that includes losing power or not having enough to eat.  On the good side, she's within very close proximity to 2 of her cousins & 1 of her sons.  The other son is a bit further away, but given decent weather conditions, he would find it easy to get to her if she needed help.  And the saving grace is that my sister & brother in law are in the house with her.  If I was in NY, I'd have definitely hunkered down for the storm at her home with her.

I also worry about my mother & my baby brother and sister.  They live in Putnam county... in lake country surrounded by large trees.  I worry less about flooding because they live at a high elevation compared to the lakes, however, the trees.  Even the smallest storms seem to fall trees causing them to lose power (and thus the ability to cook or have heat!)  A Fireplace only warms the livingroom and even then, only barely.  Thankfully this is the fall and not the winter.

My Mother in Law lives alone... close to my Grandma.  She has a giant tree above her bedroom.  We urged her to sleep in the guest room - because you never know.  I hate that she's alone.

In the end I just hope everyone is safe!

We are prepared here in Boston - Paul & I are working from home.  I made banana bread last night, I bought a case of water and filtered a few pitchers just in case.  I made tuna pasta and a salmon salad - you know, in case I can't use my stove - which I think I still might be able to even without power.  So I think we have what we need... the only thing we don't have is family.

Pomegranates for Chreap

Today I stopped at Aldi to get some staples before the storm And for the week. They had pomegranates for about $1 each so I picked up 2. I never opened one before. They are so weird. This one was on the dry side but still tasty. Paul and I are snacking on them while watching the Giants game.

Seasons: Why I love the North East

I've never lived anywhere other than the North East, but I've traveled quite a bit.  One of my favorite things about home - whether that home be in NY or in MA ... are the seasons!  I don't necessarily LOVE all the seasons, but I do love having seasons.

My favorite is probably early Autumn... I love the cooler mornings and still sunny warm afternoons.  I love the bulky sweaters and thick socks.  I love the colors of the leaves.  I love pumpkins & spice & apples!  I love the afghans sitting on laps while sipping tea.  I really love it all!

Soon comes winter - and I love the quiet of the winter.  Even when living in Manhattan - a snow storm would quiet the whole city leaving a blanket of clean white.  In the country, the snow lasts for days, fluffy & inviting.  Snowboots and wool socks, winter hats & mittens.  The hot cocoa & a treat with a blanket & a book.  The baked pastas & roasted hearty vegetables, the holidays & of course ... the Snowboarding!  I love almost all things winter... but it's a love hate affair.  I hate the mucky slush the day after snow.  I hate the dark mornings & dark nights during the work week.  I hate the draft from our old windows.  I hate digging out my car to get to work.

Spring's longer days become inviting and energizing.  The lime green beginnings of leaves & grass are cheerful.  The warmer days encourage activity and socializing.  But the allergies stink, taxes stink, and the end of snowboard season double stinks!

Summer then comes with it's sweltering humid heat.  This is by far my least favorite season.  Though, beautiful and green, I feel lazy and tired during the heat of summer.  The beaches aren't as entertaining as they were when I was a child.  However, the camping trips, and bike rides & hikes & boats ... and even the beach still excite me during this time of year.  And lets not even get into the fresh produce!  LOVE THAT!

I could never be happy living anywhere else - because I truly enjoy our seasons... I love the change.  I love the cyclical nature of it all.  I love that I know what's next.  I love the variety.  It keeps life interesting!

Butternut Squash & Parsnips Baked Pasta

Last week's CSA share included a butternut squash, parsnips, shallot & leeks... among other yummy vegetables!

My boss mentioned how excited she was to make her favorite pasta dish with her share.  It is a butternut squash baked pasta dish and is a cooking light recipe.  I asked her to share the recipe and it turned out pretty good.  As usual I didn't measure anything - so when the parsnip flavor was a bit overwhelming, I really had no one to blame but myself.

This recipe reminded me a lot about a recipe my friend Jerry made for me a few times.  It was so good and he has taught me to make it but I rarely do because of the thick fattening cream sauce.  While making the recipe from Cooking Light, I realized I can use the same technique in Jerry's recipe & cut much of the fat.  This was a very exciting revelation because I love baked pasta dishes, especially when those pasta dishes consist of squash or sweet potato.  I may just leave the parsnips out and roast those to eat solo from now on.

This is a terrible picture but... at least I took one.... AFTER we ate 1/2 the tray haha

Finances & Budgeting

Have you ever taken a real hard look at where you spend your paycheck every month?  Paul and I recently hired a financial advisor and he made us do just that.  We had to break up our cash flow for an entire year.  When we saw how much was supposed to be left and how much was actually left - we got a good picture of how unrealistic we saw our spending.

Since then, we've both taken a serious effort in being aware of where we are spending money.  By doing this, we've been able to curb our spending quite a bit.  It forced us to look at our cell phone bills, our car insurance, our utility costs, and even our gas costs.  The place we've been able to make the biggest impact on spending has been on groceries & clothing.

I never grocery shop unless I need things that will fulfill a few days worth of meals.  Otherwise, I adjust what I had planned to make for what we have currently in the house.  I'm mostly able to do this because we participate in the CSA providing us with 24 weeks of fresh produce.  Without this, I'd likely need to make at least weekly trips to the market for produce.  We regularly dig into our freezer and stretch our meat proteins as far as we can.  We primarily drink water. 

We also never go shopping for clothes or house goods unless we truly need them.  Granted, we occasionally have an event we'll want a new shirt or dress for, but even then, we look to our closet 1st.  We replace old worn clothing with new, but try and buy on sale and we don't buy things just because we like them.  We only grab them if we know we need them.

Even with these changes - we've still fallen short on saving the amount we are expected to save based on our model.  It's been a lot of work but we've come pretty close.  My goal is to save a particularly large sum in 3 months.  Its pretty aggressive, but I think we can do it by continuing to be smart about our spending.  I hope setting a hard and firm sort term goal will hold us accountable and get us there.

Do you practice any good budgeting practices?  We could use any advice you are willing to dish up!

Patience and Tolerance

“I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strangely, I am ungrateful to these teachers” - Kahlil Gibran

I lack both patience & tolerance.  Some days I do better than other's but I do know that I need to work on this.  I have many weaknesses, but the most noticeable is most definitely my intolerance & impatience for others & my inability to relinquish control.

I tried to look deeply within myself to think about why I might be like this and I came up with many possibilities during this self reflection. 

1 - all the women & many men in my family are like this... is this a learned trait?

2 - I fear that if I relinquish control, things will not move the way I intended ... but does that really matter?

3 - I always think that I'm right and therefore other's are wrong... no not always, but enough times?

4 - I like the feeling of other's looking to me for help and support when it comes to particular topics... possibly though I'm not certain this is a reason.

I have no idea what makes me like this but I know I am.  I think that my patience & tolerance levels are so low mostly because I fear losing control.  Am I like this with everyone?  Most likely.  I know I've been this way with my husband, my family & my friends.  I've likely been like this with God.  Who knows how many times I stopped something great from happening because I was so busy making sure something good would.

I think I need to learn how to take a step back - and breath - and have patience and allow other people to come in, to allow God to do His thing, and most of all, be at peace when things don't happen as I pictured them. 

Now for my intolerance of certain people & their opinions and views - that is a whole other ball game I need to work on.  With the rise of social media came the rise of spewing ignorance and or opinions.  I shouldn't judge people by where they stand on topics ... especially topics that are so unimportant.  I have been so turned off by my friends & family because of the BS they post on FB and other social sites.  Should I really care about what they write?  No - I shouldn't.  But sometimes I read the negativity that is constantly coming out of their mouths or seeing the hypocrisy behind what they & how they live and it makes me want to call them out on it... but what good would that do me?  What good would that do them?  Then I'd be just like them... spewing negativity while complaining about theirs?  It's like a stupid cycle of ... stupid!

I need to snap out of it.  I need to update my FB so I see only positive feeds lol... which honestly I did start to do - if you see the # of people I'm friends with but are blocked from my news feed, you'd laugh... it's at least 1/2.

Anyway - here is to recognizing 1 of my weaknesses and hopefully making myself accountable enough and encouraged enough to change!

What to do with all our apples?! - Apple Butter & Sauce

Do you have a slow cooker?  If you do - you are in for a treat!  Homemade apple sauce is easy on the stove top but even easier in the slow cooker!  Apple Butter is a long and tedious task on the stove top but with a slow cooker it makes it a cinch!  Try it for yourself!

Apple Sauce 

6-8 medium apples
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon (may omit)
1 cup water

• Peel, core & roughly dice your apples.  I fill my crock pot until it is 2/3 full.
• Add sugar, water & cinnamon & stir 
• Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours

You can use less sugar if your apples are sweet or add more if necessary.  Extra apple sauce can be frozen.  If you are using glass containers, me sure to leave head space for expanding.

I also made a batch sugar & spice free to use for baking!

Apple Butter

6-8 medium apples
1 cup sugar
1 tbs cinnamon
1 tps freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp clove
1 tbs lemon juice
dash of salt

• Peel, core, & roughly dice apples.  I fill my crock pot until it's 2/3 full which can take more apples if they are on the small side.
• Add lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove & salt - stir
• Cook on low for 12 hours - remove cover & cook another hour to allow liquid to evaporate.  You can cook this up to 2 days with no problems.  I usually don't time it and cook it until I have the time to process it.  

You can use less sugar if your apples are sweet or add more if necessary.  Spice can me adjusted for flavor preferences (I sometimes add more cinnamon & all spice).  Extra apple butter can be canned or frozen - leave head space for expanding.

Apples - ready to begin cooking!

Apples after about 12 hours of cooking

Apple Butter with buttered toast or cream cheese on crusty bread for breakfast... mmmmmm

That's it for my apple recipes so far.  If you have any ideas - share, please!