le n, Penzeys is pricey but it has some delicious no salt seasonings. I love the one called Mural of Flavor. It's my go-to seasoning.

And, no, cooking at home isn't always easy. "Fast-ish" food is easy but troublesome. It is, however, easy. So it's a balancing act.

And, no, cooking at home isn't always easy.

A lot of what I cook at home centers around processed/packaged foods, like from Trader Joe's, for the very reason that cooking from scratch takes longer and is more involved. And so the tradeoff is all the sodium and other stuff that comes with processed food, even the "healthier" versions, like from TJs. (Of course, some of the stuff from TJs isn't healthy at all. But they do have some generally good stuff -- but still full of sodium.)

I'm showing my sister how to make ringtones on itunes, and I asked her what she wanted her ringtone to be when she called me. She played "I Hate Boys" by Christina Aguilera. I said, "That's what it is now!" And now when I call her, it's Ke$ha's "Blow."

Can't even tell you how happy that makes me.

TJ's mirepoix is my new true love! [link] Since I have lame knife skills and even lamer knives chopping is a big chunk of my cooking time. It probably actually saves me money because I only shop for me and can never use an entire thing of celery or carrots before they get floppy.

That's a lot of easy flavor. It has some salt because celery has a bit naturally, but not so much.

Hi. Back from conference. Downtown Dallas was strangely quiet. We were on the 38th floor of the Sheraton, and we all kept looking down and wondering, "where is everyone? did the apocalypse happen while we were huddled in a wifi-less room?" But then last night some of us went to Dallas Fish Market (omg yum) and there were living (allegedly) people about, so I guess everything comes back to life on the weekends.

I had iced tea flavored with cardamom! And it was delicious! I don't even know what cardamom is!

Why do they call them "bitters" if they aren't bitter?

Re diets etc., I agree with Trudy regarding Atkind/low-carb, and I agree with Ginger about the difficulty of following a true paleo/ancestral diet, and I agree with Connie Neil and Beverly about bras.

Debet, I'm sorry. It's so hard, even when you know it's right.

Oh, that's because Dallas isn't a city, its a MALL.

At least it was when I lived nearby ::mumble::19::mumble years ago. The "city" had no residential section. There were offices and stores, two movie theaters, and a couple of restaurants. There was a nice arts complex/park too. It was pleasant, but if nobody lives there and you might as well roll up most of the sidewalks at night I have a hard time calling it a city.

The couple times I've been in Dallas, I was surprised at how undowntown like downtown Dallas was. I don't remember there being many restaurants or things that attract people to hang out there at night, just banks and such.

I had iced tea flavored with cardamom! And it was delicious! I don't even know what cardamom is!

Cardamom is a spice, and it is one of the main components in spiced chais, but it does make a lovely tea when it is the only spice as well.

The park/theater complex had the restaurants I recall, and it was maybe sort of off to the side of the city? I went in on a Sunday once for some reason and the place looked like a film set. It was creepy.

I'm turning into the person who says "fuck it" and goes to the grocery store still gross and sweaty in my running clothes. I don't know how to feel about this.