Monday, July 11, 2016

Week #1 shopping list

I thought I would start things off with my first shopping list of the new blog. I try to look at some recipes I am interested in making and then base my list off of that. I then think about side dishes and any snacks I'd like through the week. Simple enough!

Ok, confession time: when I actually went to the grocery store I was in kind of a time crunch. I needed to get home as soon as possible because it was raining and I had a cat to bring back inside and I had someone coming over soon. I planned out my list pretty carefully, but because of my preoccupation I had a couple more things on my list than I actually got. Oops! Well, I'll leave an asterisk on the pieces I did not pick up. Cool? Cool.

- pasta
- cherry tomatoes
- mozzarella pearls
- basil
- pesto
- 2 avocados
- 2 apples
- 2 peaches (I got three!)
- yogurt
- baguette
- tofu
- sweet potato
- broccoli
- red pepper
- hummus *
- baby carrots *
- butter *
- shallot
- arborio rice *
- pinot grigio *
- 2 vine-ripe tomatoes
- spinach *
- salad greens

Things I did pick up that were not on the list:

- cookie dough
- kitchen cleaner
- maybe one other thing

The total of this shopping trip was: $49.90

The pieces I did not pick up I forgot about, but also, I could not pick up because I cannot purchase alcohol in grocery stores in Maryland (where my job is located). I need to plan that part out a little bit better, eh? I think the rice and the wine was for a risotto dish I wanted to try. I might try that out next week instead.

A little something about me and maybe a helpful tip! I always try to have a sweet potato at home. If I am not really prepared for a meal or I am very tired I'll just microwave that with salt, pepper, and olive oil. It's very filling and tasty! Easy meal.

This is all I have for now. Later on we can look at actual meals.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Toasty Little Surprises

Hello!

I decided I am going to write as much as I can here, because I've missed it, and because I think writing things out is good for me. When I used to write at school, I used this blog as an outlet to channel my anxiety and fear about graduating and being out in the big scary world. I am still terrified everyday (I am working on that, I promise), so perhaps this will still be therapeutic. Here goes!

It's been a while! Lots has changed while I've been gone. Here are a few notable events:

- I've been at my full-time job now for more than a year and a half.
- I traveled around the US and abroad to two countries (soon-to-be two more countries!!!).
- I ran in a few races (slowly).
- I stopped eating meat.
- I moved out!!

I should write that I've been doing a lot of things on my own now, but that isn't as much fun to include with those bullet points. When I say that I've been doing things on my own, I mean that there have been some good things that have happened and some bad things that have happened and now I pay for everything. That is growing up, right? I am going to say so.

While I've been doing some growing up, my interests have pretty much stayed the same. I still love skincare/makeup, I still love music, and I still love baseball. Something that has definitely changed about my interests is that I am now very, very interested in cooking and making meals. I've been trying out new recipes for just myself that gave me a great idea...

I am going to use this blog as I did in the past, but I am going to try to direct this towards exploring and archiving the art of making vegetarian meals for one. That is the kind of blog I would like to read, so why don't I just write it?

Doing just that, buying, cooking, storing food for one person is hard I've just recently found out. You need to keep in mind portions and using up ingredients before they go bad. It might not be as expensive as buying groceries for a family, but I think there is definitely some strategy that goes into properly cooking decent meals for one person.

I hope by doing this, I start to become a smarter food shopper, preparer, and executer! Perhaps I can collect a bunch of super great tips and tricks to share with you lovely readers! I will share shopping lists, recipes, food diaries, and other goodies. Oh, this will be so much fun!

A new blog name may be in order, eh? I like my TLS acronym, so I think I'll play off on that. The Lonely Spoon? The Last Supper? Toasty Little Surprises? I'm grasping at straws here, people. Leave your favorite in the comments!

Alright, so, here we go. I'm going to do this now. I'm not sure how many times per week I'll write, but I'll try to be as regular as I can. I need to go to the grocery store tomorrow, so maybe I'll share my first grocery list tomorrow. Eek!

Until then!