Java Cat, if your friend has any tips, I'd love to hear them.

I do think Sass is dangerously cute, but I might be biased.

One of my critique partners, in a dispute about a research question on Wellington's army by another group member, just basically accused me of being "too much influenced by Sharpe and his ilk."

I tore her a new one for suggesting I was too intellectually sloppy to do my own research, and listed three nonfiction sources, none of which were by Bernard Cornwell and two of which predate the Sharpe series, for my side of the argument. I then invited her to cite any sources contradicting mine, because I would like to fill in any gaps in my library! I probably overreacted, but, dammit, I research my ass off on this stuff!

I'm still quivering with anger. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

Goodbye, debt reduction.

It'll be fine. Now that you know that it's right there, it wont be special anymore. You'll buy a bunch of stuff right off, then taper off.

I need some milk to go with my white chocolate chunk cookies

I need a better way to get both real food and vegetables into my diet. I am too lazy too cook. I was looking into those "go make dinners at a place in the suburbs" things, but although there are a few different varieties, they all are just the entree. So like, you can make lasagna, or pork tenderloin, you would still have to buy and make the veggies. I want to be able to easily/lazily make dinner, without having to worry about things going bad in my fridge. Hrmph. Help?

Also: Yay outer banks! We went there for Thanksgiving once, and it was lots of fun. Well, some of it was. The drama between half the people I was staying with? Not fun. But the place itself, much fun.

I want to be able to easily/lazily make dinner, without having to worry about things going bad in my fridge.

Frozen veggies? If you're a stickler for fresh I find steaming stuff in the microwave is pretty painless. I put veggies in a tupperware container with a little bit of water in the bottom and microwave for a few minutes (depending on how quick they cook) then seal the lid on tight to finish cooking.

I need a better way to get both real food and vegetables into my diet. I am too lazy too cook. I was looking into those "go make dinners at a place in the suburbs" things, but although there are a few different varieties, they all are just the entree. So like, you can make lasagna, or pork tenderloin, you would still have to buy and make the veggies.

Although I love Sous Kitchen, I even find that in the dishes with veggies (curries, stir fries, etc.) they never have enough. Of course, I only recently found out that you can add as much as you like of anything (except the protein), so now I will just double the veggies.

Trader Joe's has a number of frozen veggie mixes that don't have much added to them (if anything). Frozen veggies are almost as good as fresh nutrition-wise (and sometimes even better depending on where your fresh veggies are sourced). I particularly like Greens with Envy (a mix of broccoli, spinach, green beans, edamame, and I don't know what else). I keep some of those on hand as quick sides.

This single gal is a big fan of the frozen veggies.

Nuke 'em, cheese 'em, eat 'em.

Hmm. Maybe I just need good things to DO to the frozen veggies? They seem so....bleh, alone. THough that one mix from TJ's does sound good. I still haven't been to TJ's in Seattle, though there's one not tooo far away.

The Sous Kitchen place sounds YUM, Meghan, I looked at the menu!

The Sous Kitchen place sounds YUM, Meghan, I looked at the menu!

I've already converted 4 people in my office! We all go together now.

And I agree that your average frozen veggies seem blah, but some of the TJ's mixes have enough variety that they work for me. And sometimes I'll add red pepper flakes, hot sauce, garlic, or other, depending on what I'm serving them with.

Barbara Kingsolver converted me (at least temporarily) to buying greens (esp. red chard, yummm) at the farmer's market. My idea of "cooking" frequently is opening a container of something and heating it, but really, I've come around to it's not much more work to wash, cut up, and steam some chard or other veggie. I switched to a small stainless steel frying pan for steaming because, more surface area, goes faster.

Java Cat, if your friend has any tips, I'd love to hear them.

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