Austerity party

If it need to be an austerity party, let it be really festive and frugal at the same time.


I won't be the one suggesting to dilute ethanol with water and mix it with cheap strawberry  jam.  I like to drink quality stuff.  And there are ways to have it and to stay within budget limits. But I'm not sharing my secret. Not yet.



So let's move to food.

Popcorn. Make kettle popcorn with good oil: grape seed, olive oil.  This will add party flavour.
Season it with chilli pepper flakes.
With garlic. With Jalapeño peppers. With Cajun spices.
In short, use your imagination.

Make few butches of home-made flavoured cream-cheese.  Sour cream, salt, flavour - mix it, let it drain in colander overnight.
Flavours:  fresh chopped dill; red pepper;  small amount of blue cheese; tarama (fish roe) - this will make taramasalata rather than cream-cheese; olives; scallions.  For vegans use tofu sour cream substitute.

Make canapés with rye bread, pumpernickel, rye crisps, small white toasts, serve tartlets made with puff pastry.

Make humongous all-greens salad with sesame seeds &  sesame oil  or sunflower seeds  & sunflower oil or roasted unsalted peanuts and peanut oil or let your imagination loose and invent something already.  Like pine nuts. That be pretty far from idea of austerity but who cares.
Mind your guests allergies to avoid anaphylactic shock resulting from all these peanuts, nuts and seeds.

Add a hint of lime or a wedge of lemon to a pitcher of cool water.
Or add mint leaves. Or lemon and mint.
Make sure your party takes place in warm weather with spicy and salty food so people are rather thirsty than hungry.

Still, boil potatoes and serve whole with salt, garlic and a hint of oil.  Delicious.
Add herring and you have a balanced meal.

My winter austerity party deserves a separate entry.

Finish the evening with petit fours and tea / coffee. The former can be made really tiny but the latter (quality tea/coffee) is expensive. Brew second grade tea and most of your guests won't ask for seconds.


Advertisement: Tofutti Sour Cream (no, I don't like it, though I favoured Tofutti Cream Cheese for some time; but I'm not a vegan so I don't have to)
Advertisement: Tarama by Krinos  Tarama is delicate, pink, pure carp roe that is naturally cured and aged for over one year. It makes an attractive and delicious base for the traditional caviar-style spread, called taramosalata or taramosalata. Tarama also adds a subtle, seafood flavor to stews and soups.

 
Advertisement: La Madeleine Country French Bistro  :  positive experience with breakfast & lunch in Houston, TX; affordable too; I truly miss it. Remembered it in connection with brioches and petite pastries. 

Tired from popcorn? Not yet?

Popcon is incredibly economical.  Two table spoonfuls will yield you a meal (the one you skip 'cause you are filled with popped corn).

Don't forget to drink plenty of water. Well, if you choose to drink soda instead, you may as well not skip your meal and forget about following this particular way of losing weight. We can settle on some water and some tea. Even tea with sugar is much better than soda. See for yourself:  sugar content in soft drinks (never mind the acid, we are not talking about gastrointestinal health or dental health here).

Enjoy!

Life zero

There is nothing to my knowledge indicating that I could've died during birth or been aborted or miscarried during pregnancy. My mother was offered to abort when she saw the doctor after getting pregnant with me but that was the culture of the time and place not something she actually contemplated.
Therefore I dare to take lightly the horrors of psychological birth trauma 
and trust myself in not spending one of my 9 lives at that moment. 

Fashion twit

My obsession with long skirt:
ordered one from Territory Ahead for about 60$.
Should be enough for the season unless this one is plain wrong for winter and has to wait till spring.


My watch is bearing fruit: the  skirt on watch (Lanvin skirt from Neiman Marcus) is down from

Original:	$2,590.00
to:	$1,813.00						Will keep you posted

Pop your own corn (2)

My idea of dieting is simple and it works.
Fiber, fiber, water.
And if you consume the above in ample quantities then you can eat whatever you want as much as you want.

So pop your own corn 5 times a week: a handful of corn kernels will allow you to skip a meal. Do not overdo it. It's nice to skip one meal a day with the help of corn but not more than that. People are not designed to live on popped corn by any means. The nutrition vaue of naked popcorn is low, which is good and bad, so this tip has to be used in moderation.

Eat whole apples, buy fresh and tasty ones, so you can enjoy the process. Peel them only if you can't eat them whole.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Forget the cost, after all, these are apples, not some exotic or hard-to-find-out-of-season berries. Granny Smith, Golden Delicous, Mutsu, Jonatan, go with the season, go local, buy the best kind.
What's good for apple upside-down cake, is firm, tart, good for eating.
Too tart for you taste?
Pour some honey in a small dish and cut the apple and dip the wedges. As I promised, as long as you follow the rules, you can eat whatever you want. Honey allergy? Put some raw sugar in a dish instead.

Next time I ramble on the subject of healthy lifestyle, I will help you to diminish your desire to eat certain foods. So you can eat whatever you want but you won't crave what is not good or you. Please name 1-3 foods you believe are wrong for you but you can't remove from your life.