I’m not gonna lie, it was a pretty boring weekend around here. The theme seemed to be “Don’t Spend ANY Money”- which leaves pretty much nothing to do. Obviously we’re trying to save some before the little guy gets here, plus we went a tad overbudget on the nursery AND we’re going on vacation next month (Hilton Head & Savannah). We were actually pretty good, though.
-FRIDAY-
On Friday we headed to the JP Court to try and hash out this DART ticket. The court is in a super-sketchy area and unfortunately all we managed to do is get a court date set. October 20th- so I’ll be like 8 months preggo. Awesome.
Friday night we met my parents at Caravel for dinner. I stuck with my usual Vietnamese Charcoal-Broiled Pork with Vermicelli Noodles:
I love all of the marinated veggies: daikon, carrots, cucumbers…
And guess what we did after dinner? Saw The Time Traveler’s Wife!!! It was really good. They left out a few major characters and scenes but still managed to stay pretty true to the book. Honestly, I don’t know how they could have fit everything into one movie. It made me want to go back and re-read the book.
-SATURDAY-
Slept in and then made scrambled eggs for breakfast/lunch. There’s something so great about getting up and heading out for brunch, but once again- not the best way to save cash.
I’ve always cooked scrambled eggs over high heat, which I recently learned (from an article about Julia Child, actually) is very, very wrong. Low and slow. We had them with english muffins: half with apple butter, half with cherry preserves.
Lauren and Robert are FINALLY back from NYC, so we met them for dinner at Matt’s Rancho Martinez. Brian and Robert made the executive decision to order the Bob Armstrong:
Good decision. Cheese, guacamole, beef and sour cream = never a bad thing.
I ordered the “Special Dinner”: two crispy chicken tacos and a chicken enchilada with ranchero sauce.
One of Brian’s law school buddies was in from out of town, but I had him drop me off at home before he went out. Somehow the whole bar experience is just not as fun as it used to be. Sprite, anyone?
Don’t feel sorry for me though. I did a bad thing. It involved the Baked cookbook and the BEST BROWNIES EVER.
Yep, 11pm and I was bakin’ brownies. To give you an idea, the recipe involves three-quarters of a pound of chocolate, 5 eggs and two sticks of butter. They are so rich and fudgy, it’s ridiculous. Remember how I went on and on about Miles of Chocolate a while back? These are as close to Miles as I’ve found.
Oh man. I gave part of the batch to my parents, part went into the freezer (wrapped individually, as to ward off an inevitable chocolate bender) and left out about two brownies worth for us to munch on.
Don’t you judge me, Chloe.
-SUNDAY-
Brunch at home again. Sigh.
This time a spinach-cheddar omelet with a blueberry Alternative Bagel on the side:
The omelet was just meh. Have I mentioned that I don’t even really like eggs? The bagel was good, though. They’re only 110 cals (and 7g of fiber!) for the entire bagel. I think this package was from Sprouts, though I may have spotted them at Newflower as well.
For dinner I tried out a recipe from the new Everyday with Rachael Ray (I know, I know- I can’t help it): Curried Chicken and Cider Soup.
It’s pretty simple. You saute onions and ginger, add in some curry and cumin, pour in water, sweet potatoes and cauliflower, then simmer. The only semi-complicated part is pureeing the soup, after which you return it to the pot and add shredded rotisserie chicken. I topped mine with plain yogurt. Alongside was my favorite salad (arugula topped with shaved parmesan, lemon juice, olive oil and a little red wine vinegar) and some whole wheat naan.
So I had planned on posting the big 100K Hit Giveaway on Monday afternoon, but I’m still collecting goodies!! I have a few stops to make tomorrow to gather the rest and then I will post the details on Tuesday. If you’ve seen any products on the blog that you’ve been dying to try, speak now or forever hold your peace…
Other exciting stuff to come: A guest post, plus another giveaway next week! I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but it involves everyone’s favorite breakfast (…or snack, or dessert). Is that specific enough for you??
Tomorrow I start a 2-week nanny stint for a new family. Wish me luck!
-SURVEY-
What’s your favorite money-saving tip?
Me: Meal planning. If I can sit down on Sunday and come up with a menu for the week, we usually do pretty well. Otherwise it’s WAY too tempting to go out to eat.
I think being super preggo during your court date will be in your favor. No matter what – look beat down, exhausted and make facial expressions indicative of being in pain. How can they convict a pregnant woman!
I try to always make a list before going to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. I don’t stick to it completely but I think it keeps me a bit more responsible than I’d otherwise would be
My favorite money saving tip is – Don’t leave the house.
I only hope that once we have kids the whole meal planning thing pans out. For now, it’s total chaos. On the nights that we skimp and have a Lean Cuisine, it’s not but 30 minutes later that we are in the Braum’s drive-thru line getting ice cream.
By the way, those brownies look awesome!!!
I’ve got that “Baked” book. I’ll have to get Hub to do those brownies!
We tried Ginger Thai restaurant at Mockingbird and Abrams, down from the Albertsons. I would definitely say give it a try. Very good, friendly, not to expensive, etc.