Well, our regularly scheduled movie night was a bit of a bust.  K&E were off to New Hampshire for the weekend, J&S couldn’t come (J was not feeling well and S had a conflict) and S wasn’t available either.

So I had all these great plans for homemade soup and bread (plus cookies) and no crowd to share it with.

Until…

My friend Sally emailed me Friday morning about the “Kitten of Death” my mom gave her.  Apparently, Bolt (sounds like a soap opera hero’s name, right?) is quite the mouser and is keeping up the good family name in that area.  So we were emailing back and forth and it ended up that I invited her, her husband and her son over for movie night.

Timing worked out perfect – The Boy had karate in the afternoon, so I was home by 5:30 to start the soup.  I’d already made the bread earlier in the afternoon.

The Menu:

Rosemary Bread – made with fresh rosemary from my box garden

Pea, Lentil, Barley soup (Bob’s Red Mill mix – Ocean State $3) with beef

Cinnamon, Chocolate Peanut Butter cookies

The Movie:

Vantage Point

I told everyone this was an experimental dinner and the only thing I could vouch for was the cookies (I made those Thursday night and 1/3 of them were gone before we went to bed that night).  Everyone thought the soup was good – but I think The Boy was less than thrilled (but didn’t want to say anything).  The Hubby preferred the French bread I made last week over the Rosemary bread, but said it was a personal preference, not a reflection on how the bread turned out.  I was hoping it’d would have been a bit better with the olive oil and fresh roasted garlic, but it was just ok – not spectacular like I had hoped.

The movie was pretty good – although I had an idea who the bad guy was when I first saw him onscreen.  It used an interesting way to tell the story.  It showed about 30 minutes of the story, then stopped, backtracked and showed the same 30 minutes, but this time from someone else’s point of view (hence the title VANTAGE POINT).  It would than go through the same 30 minutes, stop, backtrack and then go through it again from someone else’s view.  Each time, you would see more of the puzzle, see why some things were important or part of a larger plan.  The basic story line was the US President was in Spain for a conference and there is an assassination attempt carried out.

After the movie we turned the TV on and CNN was on.  We started talking about Sarah Palin, and the conversation drifted to Saturday Night Live’s skits with Tina Fey.  So we cranked up the computer, hooked it up to the tv (The Hubby is great with that kind of stuff!) and watched some clips of Sarah Palin and the SNL skits.  Gordon & Sally hadn’t seen the SNL stuff – just heard about it – so they were happy to have seen it in context.  Tina Fey is just so dead on with her looks and voice for this character – if McCain/Palin wins, I think Lorne Micheals is going to have to shell out some big bucks to get Tina to come back!

Anyhow… blogging may be VERY light next week.  I have a big church fundraiser I am in charge of, and tomorrow starts my busy week before the event.  Everybody play nice while I’m away!

Yes, Dear Readers, that is a homemade pie…homemade by yours truly.  I totally blame my father.

I stopped by my parents today (it’s been awhile since I saw them).  We started talking about cooking and baking.  Ocean State Job Lot has a sale going on this week – the Bob’s Red Mill flours and gluten free products are on sale.  So I told my dad that I have been on this baking streak and made some bread over the weekend.  So he was like – so, have you made pie yet?  And I was like – nope, not yet  – I haven’t gotten any apples at the store yet.  So, he hands me a bag with eight apples!

It’s been about 15 years or so since I made a pie from scratch.  I knew I’d need shortening (I was totally out), but that just about everything else would be in the kitchen.  Although, I had a small moment of panic when I realized I didn’t have a pie pan.  But, since I had to go out for the shortening, I popped into Ocean State for a $1 pie pan.  Problem solved!

So – I found a recipe on the internet (of course) and set off to make my pie.  In deference to my recent experiences with flour (very messy!) I pulled out an apron from the basement  and got the crust going.  I put it in the frig to chill for about 30 minutes and started on the apple peeling, coring and slicing.  Once all that was done, the crust was ready to be rolled out and put in the brand new pie pan.  After baking for 45 minutes, this beautiful apple pie was the result.

After The Boy’s sword class, I called my parents to see if anyone was interested in a piece of pie.  I spoke to my mom, and she said dad was out getting milk and she’d pass the message along when he got in.  So, ten minutes later, I drive by and his car is in his driveway.  I get home, wait for about 5 minutes, and call to make sure they are coming over.  Mom was still under the impression he was out getting milk.  I said, well his car is parked at home… and sure enough, he was in his office.  Once he heard there was pie, they were on their way!

Status after their visit: Pie is Good.  Pie is Very Good.  Pie will be delicious breakfast.  Pie was awesome nighttime snack.

Guess what we had for dinner tonight?  Yup, chicken parm and french bread.  And guess who made it?  Yup, yours truly, amazingly enough.

The Hubby was gone all week – business trip – and was forced to eat restaurant food all week.  Dinners here at home were simple: tacos for The Boy all week (he was so happy!) and whatever I felt like for myself.  So I felt like I should do some cooking.

Of course, I didn’t get too carried away.  I mean, I made the French bread from scratch, sure, but the chicken parm was practically no work at all.  I found a great website, A Year of Crockpotting, for the chicken recipe.  She said I could use frozen chicken, and that’s what I had.  Unfortunately, it was a massive bunch of frozen chicken, so dipping in egg wash and then bread crumbs was less than 100% successful.  I did the best I could, and it turned out alright.  Some of the chicken was a bit dry, but that could have been from using the “quick” 3 to 4 hour method on high as opposed to the preferred 6 to 8 hours on low.

I turned to Home Ec 101 for the bread recipe.  Heather posted a recipe for hoagie rolls, and there was a link for a french bread recipe.  So I pulled it up and made 2 loafs – BY HAND – of wonderful, warm, delicious french bread for my honey bunny.

While I was making it, I searched for a recipe for rosemary bread. And I found what looks to be a keeper.  I don’t know if I have ever mentioned it, but this summer I purchased some herbs and grew them out in a planter on the deck.  And one of those herbs was a rosemary plant.  I’ve used some of it, but not as much as I thought I would.  So this will be a great way to use some of it up.

I was thinking of making soup and bread for our movie night on Friday.  It’s our turn to host.  So I have to come up with a dinner plan (well, I kind of already decided, now I just have to figure out what kind of soup!) and we have to narrow down a movie choice.  It’s hard to decide between something we’ve seen and like or something we haven’t seen.  We do have Vantage Point to watch, but we are thinking about some older movies that we like.  I guess we will make a final decision about two minutes before we watch!

I’ve been putting it off, but I really need to update my blog.  I have so many ideas on how I want to have it structured, but since I had such a hard time installing WordPress, it has scared me off.

I did, however, get around to updating/creating blogrolls.  So now you will see some more of the places that I visit on the web (you know, the places I spend hours and hours on instead of doing something productive).

Well, it wasn’t The Jerk, but it was still Steve Martin.  We saw My Blue Heaven for movie night at J&S’s house.  It’s a cute movie – we’ve seen it several times and we like it.  A couple of people there had never seen it before (maybe they have more of a life than we do!).

A couple people left early and some were late (yes, K – I mean you!).  Apparently it was a long week at work and everyone needed to blow off steam – in the form of drinking themselves silly or going home to get some sleep.

Our turn for movie night is up next.  It’s so hard to chose – do you pick a favorite?  something new?  something obscure?  Long?  Short?  Funny?  Serious? Sci -fi?  The choices are endless.

Anyway, i checked out www.imdb.com for some tidbits on My Blue Heaven.  I didn’t realize it was loosely based on Henry Hill’s life while he was in the witness protection program while he waited to testify.  Henry Hill, if you don’t know, was the basis for Goodfellas, another one of our favorites.

Before we started watching the movie, The Hubby and I were talking with S about movies in general. We started throwing out movie titles, to compare what we had seen.  S mentioned Shoot ‘Em Up and asked if it was like Smokin’ Aces.  We had seen Shoot ‘Em Up, but not Smokin’ Aces, so we weren’t sure.  Guess what was on cable this afternoon?  Yup, Smokin’ Aces.   The Hubby missed the first 15 minutes; I missed that, plus other parts near the end (had to take The Boy to a friend’s house).  It looks pretty cool – a bunch of crosses and double crosses.  I get the feeling you need to watch it several times to really see it all (kind of like Memento or The Ususal Suspects).

Are you a cook or a baker?

I think I am a baker more than a cook.  I have always preferred baking over cooking food.  I don’t have some inner quality that cooks do.  Maybe it has to do with the rush of cooking – everything is going at once and you have to time it just right so something doesn’t burn or get cold waiting for everything else to finish.  I can do it – but I don’t really enjoy it.  Hence, I would feel safe in saying that for most of my married life, The Hubby has done the majority of the cooking.  And before I was married, I ate chocolate bars for dinner (and I’m not lying!)

–Side story (kinda like a side dish – get it? I’m so amusing, aren’t I?)  When we were first dating, The Hubby would come to visit me at my place of employment – a news stand/bookstore place.  I’d generally get 30 minutes for dinner, so most of the time I’d grab a Hershey’s bar (with almonds – I need protein, after all!) and get some homework done. Once he got wind of what I was doing for dinner, that changed quick!  He’d take me out to the local diner, about 2 doors down from the store I worked at.  He’d ply me with sandwiches, burgers, fries, pizza – whatever I wanted.  He insisted that I needed to eat more than a candy bar for dinner!  So – he has always been in charge of dinner! —

So – back to the main dish point – cooking is not my strong suit.  But, baking, however is a different story.  I don’t bake much – I don’t want to give you the wrong idea – but I do like it.  Lately I have been on a baking kick – from bread to cookies (and Rice Krispie treats too!).  It’s a bit more laid back than cooking – no one is timing how long it takes to get it to the table.  When I was a kid, I loved making apple pies and used the leftover pie crust (homemade, of course!) for cinnamon rollups.  Hmmm… even the thought of them makes my mouth water.

So with this baking kick, I’ve been bringing baked goods to our movie nights.  Another one is coming up this week, so I’ll have to think about what to make in the next few days.  I was contemplating cupcakes, but that seems kinda … lame.  I want something a bit interesting… maybe merengue cookies and some brownies…

Happy Baking!

So, in keeping with the theme of my last post, let’s chat about coupons.

I used to be a hit and miss kind of person with coupons.  I had a little accordion file holder to put them in, rummaged through them once in a while, had plenty of expired coupons in there, and generally mis-managed the whole thing.  So, I stopped using them.  I mean, they weren’t really saving me money, right?  And it was such a hassle – cutting, sorting, finding them (you know – stuff they teach you in kindergarten).

So for a long time I paid full price (or sale price, if I was lucky) for everything.

Then, about a year ago, I read online about The Grocery Game.  For a fee, you could sign up for a list of items on sale at your local store.  They would tell you if the item had a valid coupon and what the sale price was, and factored in the coupon discount, and advised if it was a great deal, a good deal, or nothing to be impressed with.  So, I signed up, paid my fee, started to cut the coupons again and imagine my surprise when I looked at the bottom of my grocery store receipt – I would save (on average) 30% off my bill.  That was awesome!

So I picked up my accordion file again.  But, now my problem was I had TOO MANY coupons!  I was clipping everything I could – buying a paper plus getting my dad’s coupons was piling up my stockpile.  So I turned to the trusty Internet to help me out.  I found The Couponizer.  It was exactly what I wanted.  It was a bound “book” with pockets for each category.  It had space to put the coupons I planned to use for a shopping trip, plus a spot for the ones that were expiring that month.  It also came with a mat to use to sort your coupons after you cut them out.  All was within easy reach in the provided clear plastic zip bag to tote it around in.

But, after a while, I stopped paying for The Grocery Game (actually, my credit card had expired and I hadn’t noticed!  When I went to cancel my account, it was trying to get me to enter my updated information!).  I still used the coupons, but I generally just looked at the sales circular and bought as I needed/felt I was getting a good deal.   But my coupons were still growing, and I outgrew The Couponizer.

I decided to try my hand at designing my own version.  I found a 4×6 photo book with about 50 sleeves.  I set up my categories – a bit more in depth than what I had before.  I also planned to use 3 sleeves per category – one for coupons that expired this month, one for coupons that expired next month, and one for coupons that expired later than that.  I used this system for about 4 to 6 months and I really liked it.  Except for… well, it was kind of a pain to get the coupons out of the sleeve.  They were top loading sheets, but it was still awkward sometimes trying to get them out.  So I started to plot and plan a new system.

I researched on the internet (you expected that, right?) and heard about a lot of people using a binder system.  Lots of them used the baseball/trading card sheets for their coupons.  Some were very elaborate – one slot for each brand or all alphabetically arranged by brand.  I really didn’t want a binder that big, and having already tried the top loading sheets, I knew I wouldn’t be happy with it for long.  Plus, those baseball card things aren’t cheap.  So I had to find something else.  I liked the binder idea, but not the traditional size.  A quick look at Staples.com showed a smaller binder size – a 5.5 x 8.5 sheet.  Looked good to me – but then I had to find something to put the coupons in!  I didn’t see any sheet protectors – and I thought they would be too deep to work efficiently anyway.  So I came up with my own idea – take a regular sized piece of paper, fold in half and then create a pocket out of paper to hold the coupons.  It was the pocket that proved problematic.  I didn’t want anything too big so I wouldn’t be able to find the coupons or too small that they would tend to fall out.

I don’t know about you, but I have a tendency to buy things I don’t need… at least right now.  I have stuff I bought years ago, just waiting for me to find the right job for them.  And I found the right job for something I bought 4 and 1/2 years ago when we first moved into our log home.  I was at an art supply store and saw this clear film in 3’x5′ sheets.  I was thinking of using them to make some inexpensive frames for some pictures, but never got around to it.

So, I cut a strip of this clear material about 3.5 inches wide and 11 inches long.  I taped it (with packing tape, not regular scotch tape) to the cardstock and voila! I have a not too deep, not too little, see through pocket for both sides of my binder page.

I organized my categories and printed them out on the cardstock (I hate my handwriting!).  I decided to only use a “expires this month” and “expires later” pocket for each category.  I liked being able to flip the book open to see both of those at once – it seemed it would make finding coupons easier while shopping while still making me sort through them on a monthly basis.

I’m pretty happy with my project – all told it took about 4 hours to complete.  The binder looks a bit overstuffed – I wish they had a larger width than the 2″ – but I like it and it seems to be fairly easy to deal with in a shopping cart.

So lately I have been doing my best to save money.  And by that I mean, either not spending it or not paying full price for any particular item.

This actually takes work.  I spend time on the Internet, looking up coupons and sales (did you know you can print some coupons from websites nowadays?).  I check the flyers and the coupons I have on hand.  I make up my list for the stores I am going to go to.

I now go to more than one store.  It used to be that I would just go to the grocery store and buy everything there.  The only exception to that was the monthly trip to Costco to get paper goods, bottled water and weight loss shakes.  Now, I go to my grocery store, but I have added CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and Target to the list of places to get my deals.

So today, I went to CVS, Walgreens and Stop & Shop.  Here’s the breakdown:

CVS: $6.56 OOP (out of pocket) bought 2 packs of Kotex and 2 packs of Lifesaver candies.  I used 2 coupons to get to that total.  CVS has a program called Extra Care Bucks (ECB), which is basically money you earn when you purchase specific items.  I didn’t have any ECB’s from any previous purchases, but when you do, it’s cool to see the prices go down even more.

Walgreens: $12.14 OOP on my first transaction bought Windex bottle, Crest Pro Health rinse, 2 Listerine bottles and a can of Scrubbing Bubbles.  I had manufacturer’s coupons, plus Walgreens Register Rewards to bring down that total to 12.14.  Register Rewards are just like CVS’s ECB’s – free money for buying specific products.  In theory, you use the Register Rewards (or ECB’s) on your next transaction… which of course can be about 2 seconds after you have earned them!  So, on my second transaction, with the Register Rewards I earned and Walgreens + manufacturer’s coupons, I spent $12.18 on: 3 cans of Progresso soups, Chex mix, Centrum chewables, Neosporin ointment, Tylenol PM and a 4 pack of Duracell AAA batteries.  So overall, according to the receipts, I have “saved” (aka not spent) $33.95.

Stop & Shop: According to my receipt, I saved $21.00 and the amount charged was $48.32.  That $21.00 was made up of Stop & Shop card savings, personal thanks savings, and manufacturer’s coupons.  This is very low for groceries – but I didn’t buy much meat or junk food this week.

I still have Target on my list – they have soda and Nutrigrain bars on sale.  I may or may not get there – it’s not particularly close to home, but if I end up taking The Boy to karate, I can drop him off and run there quick during his class.

I have also started a price book.  This is basically a reference guide to determine what I have paid for an item (either on sale or regular price) – so I can tell if the deal I have in front of me is really a deal or not.  I have it set up in Excel for easy sorting.  Categories I have:

Store

Date

Category (this matches my coupon organizer book)

item

size (1 lb, 16 oz, 3 packs, etc)

Price Paid

Unit Price (automatically calculated by Excel)

Sale/Regular price – so I can tell if the item was at a regular price or sale price

I just made this on Saturday, and already it’s helped me out.  I’ve read for a while that you really need to have a price book, and now I see why.  I can now figure out if a unit price is good or not.  And this is particularly helpful in this age of “grocery shrink”.  Ever hear of that?  It’s when the size of a product is reduced, usually slightly or not enough to notice a change in packaging size – but the price stays the same.  So, for instance, say you paid $2.00 for a jar of peanut butter.  And then two weeks later you pay another $2.00 for a jar of peanut butter.  But the first time, it was 32 oz. and the second time it’s only 30 oz.  But you couldn’t tell looking at the jar on the shelf – the company changed the bottom of the jar and took away those 2 ounces.  So instead of paying $0.0625 per ounce, you are now paying $0.0667 per ounce.  And with a price book, you can figure that out instantly.

The other benefit of the price book is I now have a “bottom line” price.  That means, I won’t pay anything above that “bottom line” price for an item.  I now will not purchase any soda if I am paying more than $0.25 per can (excluding deposit).

Of course, it is a bit weird to realize that a square of toilet paper can range from $0.00161 per sheet to $0.00323!!

Well, we went to our Movie Night last night.  A very good choice from our friends who hosted this time.  It was a film we’d never heard of –  Banlieue 13.  It’s a French film – we watched it in dubbed English, so no subtitles to read (although, sometimes we get so loud while watching a movie, maybe we should have had the subtitles on!).

It was a very cool action film, about District 13B in France in the year 2010 (the film was made in 2004).  Things got so “bad” that they had built this wall around the district and basically abandoned the people in there.  There were guards to make sure no one got out – and no one wanted in.  So  it was pretty much a city within a city run by mobsters/drug runners/bad guys.

The hero of our movie, Leito, was born in the District, and waged his own personal battle to keep his building “clean” – no drugs, no property damage – a bit of an oasis in the hellhole of District 13B.  In the opening scene, he is dumping about 10 or so packs of cocaine down the tub, while the mobsters are tracking him down and trying to get it back.   The coke goes down the drain and the mobsters retaliate by kidnapping his sister.  He breaks into the mobsters building, grabs his sister back and takes the boss out at gunpoint to make sure they get out of there safely.  They head to the last police station – but they are actually vacating the premises on the government’s orders.  But the police are of no help – they are actually going to make things worse for Leito.  They throw him in jail and let the mobster walk free – and let him take the sister as a prize!

Then, six (days, weeks, months – we don’t know since no one in our group knows French and it was a title on the screen) later – they are showing this cop – Damien – taking down an illegal gambling parlor.  After his heroics (taking out a battalion of bad guys by himself), he is shown to the governor’s (president? police chief?  I dunno – it was someone “in charge”) office and given a special task.  A “clean bomb” was stolen and is now in District 13B – and if he doesn’t get to it and deactivate it, it will blow up and destroy everything in a huge radius.  So he gets set up to “escape” police custody and befriend Leito – playing up the fact that the guy who “killed his family” has a girl (Leito’s sister) doped up and on a leash as a “pet” and his out to get him.

Leito is no dummy – he recognizes the cop for what he is and they work out a deal to save his sister and defuse the bomb.  There are crosses and double crosses.  (If I tell you much more than that – it may ruin the movie for you!) In the end, they save the day (that’s no shock – it’s a movie, after all!).

But outside of the story line, the really intriguing part of watching the movie was watching Leito and Damien move and fight.  The actor portraying Leito is David Belle, the founder of the Parkour “movement”. With this type of action, one moves quickly and efficiently in any environment, using only the abilities of the human body.  Both Leito and Damien use this style while fighting and fleeing – and it is mesmerizing to watch.  It reminded me of the scene in Casino Royale (the Daniel Craig Bond movie) when they were running on the construction site.

And when the credits rolled, it was interesting to see Luc Besson’s name.  I knew I had seen it before and the trusty internet had all the answers (as usual!).  Luc was involved in The Fifth Element (one of our favorite sci-fi movies), The Transporter movies (which I haven’t seen, but would like to), and Nikita (French)/Point of No Return (US).

So – a very cool choice by our friends.

Our next movie night host has already picked out her choice.  She spilled the beans… all I can say is “I was born a poor black child”.

The Hubby and I were at a WalMart – not our usual store as we had just dropped The Boy off a friend’s house out of town for a party.  We needed to pick up some more seed for the lawn (more on that sometime later) so we stopped at this Super Walmart.

Since it was a Super Walmart, on a Sunday, it was busy.  We had to park fairly far away from the entrance.  As we were circling around trying to find a parking spot, we were shocked, shocked I tell ya, to see what we saw.  We both burst out laughing and decided that pictures were required.  Having my handy dandy camera in my purse, plus my camera phone, The Hubby went into stealth mode and this is what I have to show you:

Yes, that is a pierced navel.

Yes, that is a cigarette in her hand.

Yes, that is a two piece bathing suit.

Yes, that is her mother.

Please God, don’t let this happen to me or my mother!!