Spice Rack Woes

In my never-ending endeavor to cook the perfect meal--I attempt a new recipe at least every two years--it occurred to me that the reason so many of my offerings are not the high-quality caliber I desire is most likely due to no fault of my own. Rather, my sadly outdated spice rack is doing me in.

I think we may still own spices purchased around the time we were married. The trouble is, I can't tell those spices from more recently purchased ones. I can't go by how much has been used. I currently have one unopened bottle of white pepper and another sealed container of orange peel. Both are technically "new" in the sense they are still cellophane wrapped.  But can anything sitting on our shelf for five  to eight years really be considered "new?" Yet I hesitate to throw them out. If I do, you just know a great recipe calling for orange peel will show up tomorrow.

But I should probably ditch them. I'm not one of those people who can taste a recipe and say, "Oh, I need to add a dash of this or that."  I have no sense of spices. In fact, the only spice we use with any regularity is chili powder. We put it on everything. Our motto is, "Anything tastes good hot." And also, "Anything Dena cooks tastes better when masked by copious amounts of chili powder." But beyond that, we rarely use spices.

Or, rarely used to. I in fact have cooked quite a few meals this year and have been dusting cobwebs off spice jars and using the ingredients. This does not make me happy, however, as I'm convinced the herbs have lost their potency and I might as well be throwing cut grass in the pot.

I want new spices. Pretty matching bottles lined up in alphabetical order in my cabinet.  The fact that the price of purchasing a full new complement of household spices comes in just under the sticker price for a 2008 Porsche deters me but a little.  Well, kind of. Does anyone else besides me go into sticker shock over the price of spices? And WHY do they sell spices in such huge jars when most recipes call for 1/8 teaspoon of a spice? Spices ought to be packaged in itty-bitty envelopes and sold at the checkout counter next to mints and gum.

Meanwhile, watch out cooking world. I'm saving my pennies for some coriander. There'll be no stopping me then.

Quick Check-in On New Year Resolutions

How's everyone doing with those resolutions? Weight sliding off? Relationships healthy? Houses gleaming? Quality time indulged in with kids/spouse/pets each and every day? And best of all, nothing riles you because you are zen and one with the universe? 

Yeah, me neither. But slow progress is being made. Here's a quick check on how those resolutions are holding up.

1. Keep alive the Christmas fish. Check. The fish are alive and well and we love our little guys. Best of all, no smell. Only one more week until we can add more fish. Can you sense the excitement?
2. Maintain a 25-mile/week running base until summer training begins. I'm close. I'm averaging closer to 21 miles but I've got races at the end of the month so I'm motivated to up the miles.
3. Yoga and weight train. I'm all over this one. Yoga 3x/week and I'm doing 8-minutes in the morning weight training which so far is working well.
4. Clean the house weekly, together. Umm...next resolution, please.
5. Dena in charge of finances. That's right, I rule. I'm freaking out at how fast money goes out the door. I think I liked it better when I wasn't paying attention. But I already have a much stronger grasp of our household budget. More to come.
6. Get a physical. It's only been 15 years since my last one. I have a doctor's name to call this week for an appointment.
7. One hour of TV per day in January. So far, so good. I'm inundated with books and haven't missed time spent loafing in front of the boob-tube.
8. Meditate 5x/week. Sigh. This has been on my resolution list for the past 8 years. I think I've sat down for 3 sessions so far this year. But I haven't given up hope on this one just yet...
9. Read local paper. I'm doing more of this. I'm not doing it daily but also don't know that I WANT to do it daily. Right now I'm aiming for about every second day.
10. 2 "new" things each month with Blair. We've got this month's scheduled. A Paula Poundstone concert and a friend of mine who is a comedian is performing in town this weekend and we're going to see her. Apparently we need the laughs.
11. Exhibit more patience. This is the goal Blair asked me to work on. When I asked for an example, he said: "When we go to Wal-mart and there's a line, a lot of times you roll your eyes and huff and look annoyed. Maybe just work on calming down a little in those situations." Okay, fine. But I had to point out that I am NOT upset that there is a line. Lines happen. What I'm huffing about is the person who has decided to hold an in-depth conversation with the cashier who they apparently haven't seen in a month, forgetting to pull out their wallet to pay while where is a line 10 deep behind them. Or--my favorite--watching the cashier whose register locked up simply abandon all hope and just stand there and stare at the machine in the hopes that it may come back to life. How about calling a manager or someone? But no... she just stands there. That's where I lose my patience. But no more. I'm on a nice campaign. Stand back and watch the sugar drip off me.

I've got a few more private/professional goals that are coming along nicely as well. All in all, 2008 has held good things thus far. Hope it's the same for all of you.

What's New To Do?

In the past, Blair and I have tried to arrange "date nights." You know the drill. Every Wednesday night (or whenever) you set aside to go out to dinner or a movie or spend some time together. We usually make it through about 3 weeks before we get bored or get tied up at work and have to cancel or something comes up why one of us can't make it. We miss two weeks and all of a sudden it's like date night never existed to begin.

So we've come up with a new twist on this old idea. Instead of having a certain night set aside each week, our goal is to instead try 2 new things each month. It could be a restaurant, a play, an art exhibit, checking out a new store, walking in a new park, taking a class... just something new that we haven't done before.

For example, right before Christmas we went to see a film screening of a new DVD called "A Christmas Family Tragedy." It's about the 1929 murder of the Lawson family, one of the worst mass murders in the history of our state that--what are the chances--happened just a town or two over from where we live. The screening was in the gym of an elementary school on rickety folding chairs and limited heat. Not something we usually would sign up for but it was new and kind of intriguing and we ended up enjoying our rather gruesome night.

We don't yet have anything lined up for January. So if anyone has suggestions on "new" things to do or places to see in the NC area, please drop a line on the blog.

Here's to a New Year full of new adventure.

Fiscal Responsibility in the New Year

2008 may go down in history as the year the Harris' experienced financial ruin. Why? Job loss? Nope.  Disability? Uh-uh. Terminal illness? Not even close. No, the reason one can smell impending disaster on the air is that Blair and I have decided that come January 1st, 2008...(drum roll and deep breath) Dena will be in charge of family finances.

As close friends know, I pretty much use my fingers to add up anything totalling over twelve. So why put me in charge? A couple of reasons. One, we're trying to get get a grip on our finances. Back when I was single and broke, I knew the cost of everything. I could tell you to the penny how much milk, gas, and celery cost. I knew where to find the cheapest gas in town. But nowadays, while we certainly don't go wild by any means with our spending, we just don't pay much attention to what we buy (and by we I mean, of course, me). I have no idea what our water or electric bill runs. And, although I'm kind of embarrassed to admit it, I often don't know how much gas or milk is because, well, I just buy it and don't think about it. So it's time to take a leap back to reality.

The other reason is that when I'm in charge of the money, I tend to be tighter than Blair with spending. Sounds not true, but it is. I'm a cheapskate at heart. We have some big goals for the New Year, including building and furnishing a cabin and it's going to take some careful money watching to make that happen.  Plus, we now have fish to care for... <grin>

Blair and I have spent several icky evenings mapping out a monthly and yearly budget. Actually, the evenings weren't that bad. They were even kind of fun. My dread of sitting down to do it was much worse than the actual event.

We've decided to try tracking our receipts. Which means you-know-who gets the joy of entering receipts into the computer a couple of times a week. I've already warned Blair that he better have plenty of chocolate in the house on those nights to offset my bad temper which is sure to follow. (I love to type words, loath keying in numbers).

And here's the fun part. We're starting a money envelope for entertainment and eating out. I can't prove it to you, but I suspect a large portion of our income goes toward my mochas at Starbucks. So we're setting aside a certain amount of cash each month. Once the envelope is empty, no more lunches, mochas, or Chinese food for dinner until next month.

I also get to be in charge of family requests for borrowing money and I am already practicing my best "Thor, God of Thunder" voice to say, "NO! And now I shall smite you for even making the request."

It's not all bad...