Larry and my dad are at Mardi Gras in Vermont at the Magic Hat brewery.  Larry asked me to feed his cat today, so my mom had the great idea that I should run there!  I was already planning on running, so it was getting two birds with one stone!

I ran/walked on the way to Larry’s because I had to go up humongous hills, and I just couldn’t run up them. I did a total of 5 miles!!!!  I was going to stop a bit after mile 3, and take a right onto North St (see map), but I just kept on running.  Then, I was going to take a right onto Pearl St at mile 4, but I just kept on running!!!  I was hungry for lunch at this point, (well, not really, but it was around 1:45, so I knew I should be hungry), but I just kept going!!!!

I did the route on Mapmyrun.com, and here is the elevation:

Mile 2 is when I left Larry’s house, and it was clearly all down hill from there (except for a tad around mile 4.5.  I ran up the entire hill, then walked for a bit when it got flat again to catch my breath.    At mile 3.5, I was running in an open road with the sun blaring down, and I took my sweatshirt off and was running in my sports tank top in 35 degree weather.  I swear, I was so hot it felt like it was 70!  I didn’t put my sweatshirt back on until around 4.8.  I got onto a road that wasn’t as sunny, and it got chilly pretty quickly (Hello! 35 degrees!)

Back at home, I filled my camel back (750ml - like a bottle of wine) up, and drank it while I debated with my mom about whether or not I drink too much water.  I sat on the floor while I made her Google it.  We read that I should drink about 69 ounces, more if I exercise a lot (yes).  “This is only 24 ounces!!!!”  I said holding my water bottle.  “Ok…….” she said, hesitantly, still not trusting the answer she just read.  I just ran 5 miles, and she’s worried that I’m drinking too much water!!!!

I had to rest about 25 minutes before I was hungry for lunch (so I started a Numb3rs episode), and then I made a bowl of minestrone soup (from a can), but added about a cup of peas and green beans.  I also made one of my spinach salads, and had a piece of homemade bread.  It was the best lunch ever, and as I sat down to eat it, I said happily, “I love food.”  It was a fantastic run followed by a fantastic lunch.

Right now I am babysitting.  I have done lots and lots of babysitting this week.  $160 or so worth of it.  That’s a lot of money for babysitting.  I was in a very good mood driving here, so I texted Niles and Caroline from Destare and told them I might make an appearance tonight!  I don’t want to be out too late because I have to run and work in the morning, but I’ll stop by if I leave the babies early enough.  Saturday is a good day to go to Destare (the busiest), so I’m sure I will run into a lot of people that I know, and that will be nice.  It has been over two months since I’ve stepped foot in that place, and I finally feel like I can go back.  We’ll see if I end up there tonight, but it would be nice to stop in and say Hi.

I really enjoyed the pizza, but my dad thought it tasted too much like bread, and not enough like pizza dough.  He liked his homemade pizza better, but he bought his dough.   So really… his wasn’t fully homemade, and mine was.  So there!

I put everything in the bread machine under dough cycle again, and it was a lot different than the Italian bread dough.  This was a LOT stickier and I had a hard time getting it out of the container.

Then, I had to scrape out all the stuff that was still left in the container.

Then I started to cover it with flour and knead it a bit, when I felt something hard.  “Uh Oh, What’s that?”  I thought.  Oh, it was the little spinny thing that is suppose to be in the bottom of the container!  (I got my camera covered in lots of flour taking these pictures!)

After the dough sat for a bit, I rolled it out and placed it on the pizza peel (the wooden spatula thing).

Then I decorated it with sauce, cheese, peppers, scallions, mushrooms, and some deli ham we had in the fridge (for my dad).

I mixed some cooked TVP with tomato sauce and added that to a portion for me.  My mom wouldn’t try any until we looked up exactly what TVP was.  It is soy.  Now she is “not afraid of it”  and will eat it more willingly.

Here is the pizza cooked!  The second pizza was in the oven at 500°, the first one was only in at 400°.  The higher temperature was much better.  I also brushed the second pizza’s crust with olive oil.  So which of these made the crust better?  My mom thinks it was the higher temp.  So 500° it is!  I really enjoyed the pizza even though my dad said it was too “bread like.”  I like bread, so I was ok with it.

I did make a HUGE mess in the kitchen, and got flour everywhere.  This was a very messy and time consuming dinner.  That was the only down fall.  Oh, and getting the pizza off the peel and into the oven was also tricky.

Homemade Pizza

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.

1. Put all ingredients in bread machine following the instructions of the bread machine.  Flour is the second to last ingredient, and then the yeast is last.
2. After dough is done, separate into how many pizza you want.  I did two small ones, which was good cause a large one wouldn’t have fit on my pizza stone.
3. Once separated, leave the dough alone, covered for 10 minutes to let it settle.
4. Roll out the dough on a floured surface, and form on the pizza peel (or a wooden cutting board, or a clean piece of thick cardboard.
5. Decorate pizza with toppings
6. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (220 degrees C). If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes before topping and baking it.
7. Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

I’ve been hanging out with Christian, a little 9 year old  boy that I pick up after school.  I walk there, and then we walk back together.  Yesterday, we made brownies from scratch!  I have a book called Small Batch Baking, and all of the recipes are for very small portions to serve between 2-3 people. They were pretty good, but I kind of screwed them up.  They called for unsweetened chocolate, but I used unsweetened cocoa baking powder instead.  I added a little milk to make them more chocolate-like, and Christian and I both liked the way they turned out.

Before Christian came over, I rearranged my entire room!  Megan is right that I have too much furniture in my room.  I have a large desk for my old PC, but I don’t have it anymore.  My dad took the tower, and I don’t know where it went.  My monitor and keyboard are still in my room.  I’m going to go up today and clean more, and I’ll move the computer stuff into the basement.  That way I’ll remove some of the clutter.  Also, because my bedside table won’t fit next to my bed anymore, I had to bring in more furniture in the way of a tiny table to hold my cell phone, glass of water, and pills.  Do’h!  However, there is a LOT more open space in the middle of my room now, because all my furniture is so cramped together against the walls.  It’s actually very nice and feels more open.  I can actually sit on my floor and do a craft now, or do sit ups or push ups.   My  dressar is also in plain view of everything now, so it will motivate me to keep all of my drawers closed (Megan says this helps make the room look tidy).  I also finally hung up my Harry Potter calendar.  It took me just two full months to get it off the floor!

Walked to Niles’ for Lost, and we had the largest crowd yet.  I helped Niles make asparagus and some kind of delicious spreadable cheese wrapped in prosciutto, and Niles made meatballs with a pesto cream dipping sauce.  It was very gourmet.  There were people sitting on the floor because we didn’t have enough space.  There were eight of us, including Chris who told me to check out his online portfolio that he did for school. All the seniors are getting ready to present their final work, and that makes me feel old because I graduated three years ago.  (Eek!)

Then for dinner last night, I made another batch of pasta fagioli, but this time I added a can of red kidney beans instead of an additional can of cannellini beans.  I left it on the stove, and then walked down to the library for the New England Youth Ensemble concert.  It was excellent!  So many young talented children, and they were all string instruments.  I LOVE string instruments.  I always though the violin was my favorite, but it is definitely the viola.   The violin is too high pitched.  Once I got home to my soup (it had been on the stove for 2 hours!)  ALL the water had been absorbed by the beans and the pasta.  Oops!  I turned the heat back on, and added 1.5 cups of hot water, and it was still really hot, so we were able to eat immediately.  It was delicious!  My mom had requested the soup because it was just going to be the two of us, so she wanted something simple.  Today she came home after eating it for lunch and exclaimed how much she loved the recipe.  I tasted the red kidney beans and the cannellini beans straight out of the can before cooking them, and the red ones are my favorite so far.  I think they would make a good addition to my salad.  If I were to cook beans that are dry, will they keep for a bit in the fridge?  It seems like such a process to cook them (it takes hours), I would like to be able to do it in advance.

Now for today, I’m going to make homemade pizza and dough!  I’m pretty psyched.  It will be a little cheese and lots of veggies.  I also might add a tad TVP to a slice or two for me.   I also found a dessert in the Small Batch Baking book that I might make called “Apple Walnut Crostata.”  I have to make the crust by hand, and it has nine steps (which might take a while)… but it sounds delicious and I have all the ingredients.

I will post pictures tomorrow, because I am too tired (it is now 11pm), and I’m off to bed.

I was talking to my mom about some health related symptoms at dinner last night, and she said “Hmmm.  You should probably get tested for diabetes.  Uncle Timmy has diabetes.” (Tim is her brother)

I gave her a blank stare.

Then, I said:

If I have diabetes AND cancer, I am

going to be SOOOO pissed.

And then I added, “But if I do have diabetes, I’m going to pronounce it ‘dia-bee-tus’  like Wilford Brimley on those commercials.”

My mom’s comeback, “Yes, you should be soooo pissed.  But first you should get tested.”

And so:

Dear Allah, Buddah, Jeebus, and Superman,

Please don’t let me have diabetes.  That would suck.  All I know about diabetes is from Turk on Scrubs.  They play games to guess his numbers.  I like games.  Please let me live a long and diabetes-free life playing games that have nothing to do with diabetes.

Lots o’ diabetes-free love,

Robin

I ran errands today.  Literally.  I RAN.  It was awesome.  First stop the post office box to mail a letter to the place where I applied to be a substitute teacher (they needed me to sign a sheet for a criminal background check).  Then I ran to the bank, CVS, and Walgreens (I bought a total of 4 boxes of cereal!), then I walked home (because I was carrying a lot of stuff).  It was about a two mile run, but then another one mile or so walk back (because I got hungry and wanted to get home the quickest way possible).  I needed to exercise and do errands, and be back home and showered by 2pm, so I decided to do them at the same time!  I thought it was a great idea until I checked the weather.  25 degrees.  Oooh that’s cold!

I have heard that when going for a run, you should dress like it is 20 degrees warmer.  Ok, so 45 degrees.  But should I dress to run in 45 degrees? Or walk in 45 degrees?  I have no idea.  I wore a sweatshirt and my winter jacket, and a hat, and both hoods.  The hat came off quickly because I got too hot, and then by the time I got to CVS I was way too sweaty and hot and it was awful.  But then I got outside and was freezing again, and I put on my coat that I had just taken off!  Stupid weather.

Dad isn’t going to be home for dinner tonight, so my mom wanted to do something simple.  Spaghetti!  My mom loves spaghetti.  But I didn’t want to do something too simple, so I am making my own Italian bread (using the dough setting on the bread machine).  I also want to make my own tomato sauce, but I think that it is too complicated.  I want to try to take some canned spaghetti sauce and add some stuff to it to make it taste better.  I also want to add some textured vegetable protein (TVP) to it, to make it like a “meat” sauce.  I read that I just add equal parts TVP to equal parts boiling water, and the TVP absorbs the water, and then I will just use it like meat.

And so, on to the process.  Lots of pictures!!!

Italian Bread using a bread machine

• 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• 1 1/3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (1.5 teaspoons)

Take all the wet ingredients, and put them in the canister first. Then, added the flour.

After the flour is added, hollow out a little hole, and add the yeast.

Put it in the bread machine and choose the “dough” setting.  An hour and twenty minutes for dough ??  That’s bull crap!

I used up four cups of flour so I looked through the cupboards to see if we had more.  While sifting through, I found a small Crystal Light packet, and I thought “Oohhh… I’ll be making that.”  Then, I found TWO boxes of generic Jell-O!  And I said “Ooohhh… I’ll be making that, too!!”   (and I had some peach jasmine tea, too)

The Crystal light is still on the counter, but I mixed the two flavors of Jello (Strawberry Banana and Raspberry), and made them right away!  I made the “quick” version with ice cubes because I wanted Jell-O right now!  (I even added some bananas to part of it).

After the machine dinged to tell me it was done, I took it out and placed it on a cutting board with flour.  It was a lot more dough that I expected!

Then I separated it into two loaves, let them rise for 40 minutes under a damp towel, and then put them on a cookie sheet.  I brushed them with egg, and put them in the oven for 35 minutes.

The final product!!!

Look at how beautiful and golden it is. (Oh, but I’ve just realized that I forgot to add the slices to the top to give it that characteristically Italian bread look. D’oh!)

1. Place flour, brown sugar, warm water, salt, olive oil and yeast in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Form dough into two loaves. Place the loaves seam side down on a cutting board generously sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover the loaves with a damp cloth and let rise, until doubled in volume about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
3. In a small bowl, beat together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon water. Brush the risen loaves with egg mixture. Make a single long, quick cut down the center of the loaves with a sharp knife. Gently shake the cutting board to make sure that the loaves are not sticking. If they stick, use a spatula or pastry knife to loosen. Slide the loaves onto a baking sheet with one quick but careful motion.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Spaghetti was made as usual, but I did make some TVP to add.  I did 1/2 cup TVP and 1/2 cup water.  Then, I microwaved it until all the water had been absorbed.

I fluffed it with a fork to make sure the water was all gone.

Then, I just mixed it in with tomato sauce before adding it to my spaghetti.

It tasted pretty good, it wasn’t bad at all, but I agree with my mom that she said it didn’t have much of a taste.  But it tasted fine with the sauce.  I made my mom try it, even though she said “It doesn’t look very appetizing.”  And I said “Come on mom, that’s where Dylan gets it.  Just try it.“  (Dylan is terrible about trying new foods.)

And here is the final product.  It looks just like ground up meat.

The TVP would make excellent Sloppy Joes!

And now I am too full to eat my Jell-O.  I’m waiting for my stomach to empty out some. 

Dear Peeps,  (Yes, I mean you, reading my blog)

I just recently learned about a Gravatar.  No, it is not an awesome monster/alien hybrid or anything cool like that… it is a Globally Recognized Avatar!!!

I had always wondered why I left comments on blogs, and I just showed up as this stupid little shadow, but other people had pictures!  I didn’t know why…. but, thanks to Roni’s Weigh blog that I read daily, I now know that I just needed a Gravatar!!!!  So I went to their site, and I got one.  I’m very excited because now when I leave a comment on someone’s page, they will see a cute little picture of me.

And so, go to the site so when you leave me comments, I can see your cute little mug, too!!!

Lots o’ bloggin’ love,

Robin

p.s. - I like using the word “peeps.”  When waitressing, I used to call my customers peeps (Such as, “I’m going to go see if my peeps need anything”).  I used that term in front of my parents, and my mom said “What’s ‘peeps’?”  And I turned to my dad, and said “Daaaad?”  And he said “friends.”  And I said, “Yes, it’s short for ‘people’.” Then I probably said “Silly mommy.  Get with the times!”

p.p.s - I do not like peeps the candy.  I do remember that Maria like peeps when they are stale. 

I will always remember Robin for being the upbeat, spirited woman that she was. She would always make jokes, even when things seemed really bad. Even when she learned that her thyroid cancer had come back 70 years after first being diagnosed, she laughed a bit, and said “well, soon I can stop taking these stupid pills everyday.” She was always trying to look at the bright side of things.

Robin was a loving wife for over 60 years, and a mother to two wonderful children, Lillian and Zach. They are all grown up now, with kids and grandkids of their own. She loved being with her family, and cherished every moment with them. She was the fun grandma who would take the kids to the movies, to the amusement parks, and would buy them special little present every time she saw them. She was still active into her 90s, and took daily walks in the park. She even did weight training!

Robin spent her professional life as a therapist, helping others with cancer. She first started working with kids at Children’s Hospital in Boston, and she was there for many years. She would cry with the kids, but also make jokes to make them laugh. She would even keep pictures in her office of when she was in the hospital and looked her worse. It made the kids smile that she didn’t even have her hair brushed. She would show them her scar to help them feel better, and she didn’t mind when kids poked at it.

As you all know, Robin was married to John in 2011, and they lived together in Boston. He worked at Mass General Hospital as a surgeon, so they were both busy with their respective hospitals. Robin got pregnant with Lillian when she was 30, and they moved to a suburb and bought their first house. Of course, the house was completely decorated by the time Lillian arrived, with every room painted a different color, and all of the furniture and accessories matched perfectly. Robin was definitely into planning, organizing, and making things match. She was always making to do lists. And she sure loved her Post-It notes!

After the kids were grown, Robin and John moved out to Santa Fe, New Mexico where she started her own practice. She worked with a variety of clients, but she stayed with her specialty of working with those who had recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness. In Santa Fe, Robin had a friend who owned a flower shop, and Robin would occasionally work there on the weekends so she could get a chance to work with all the flowers. For those of you who went to Santa Fe to visit, you know that everything there is pretty much different shades of brown. For Robin, working in the Flower Market was the little chance she got to spend time with a little color. She loved putting arrangements together, and was constantly bringing home flowers. She would joke that since she always brought them home, John never had to. And he certainly liked that idea.

Robin was an avid reader, and loved the children’s classic series, Harry Potter, as Lillian knows all too well. I’m sorry Lillian, but for those who don’t know, Lillian’s middle name is Hermione, and Lillian was actually the name of Harry’s mother. She was VERY into the series, maybe even a bit too much. But she loved it, and didn’t care that her friends, and husband, made fun of her. When her children were old enough, she would read the books to them. Robin also enjoyed reading her girlie books. You know, the ones where young girls go out and date many cute boys, and own lots of shoes. She said they made her feel young again.

Robin sure could be a firecracker. She was always standing up for people’s rights, and if they wouldn’t stand up for themselves, she stood up like lightning to stand up for them. She had a big mouth on her in that way, but it was something we all loved. She also threatened to use her mouth to yell more often than she actually used it. She did, however, constantly use her mouth for smiling. She was always smiling, and was the only person I knew who could keep a smile plastered on her face for so long. I swear, she could have had a portrait done of her, and she wouldn’t have lost that smile. She would just sit there, with the same smile on her face, her cheeks not getting tired at all. It wasn’t a fake smile, because it was the same smile she had all the time. But she could just “turn it on.” It was a pretty amazing sight.

That was one of the things about her thyroid problems that really bothered her. She was so used to smiling all the time, it really struck her down when her thyroid would act up, and it seemed to wipe away her happiness. She once told me that instead of walking into a room, and having it light up, that she felt like walking into a room and turning the lights off. That was the worst I had ever seen her, when she just was plain unhappy, with no motivation to make herself better. Luckily, that didn’t last for very long, and Robin celebrated her happiness. It was the summer after her first cancer treatment when she met John. She described him to me as the one person who really understood her, and what she needed. When she needed to watch TV and be quiet, he would sit on the couch with her and rub her feet. And you all know how much she loved getting her feet rubbed. He was patient with her when she read Harry Potter for the 20^th time, and took good care of her when she was getting her yearly thyroid body scans. When they got their first apartment, he gave her two kittens as a house warming present, and even promised to clean their litter box every day. That lasted a week. But oh, how she loved him. When he died two years ago, Robin was devastated. She knew however, that she would see him again. And right now, I know that they are both sitting on a couch, and he is rubbing her feet.

I’ve been eating soup everyday for lunch lately, and I decided it would be best if I just made my own.  It would be healthier and more affordable.

Can of tomatos - $1.39 (the big 28 oz can)
Two cans of beans - $1.32
Pasta - $.32
One onion - $.34 (I’m guessing on this one)
Other ingredients - $.50

Total: $3.87  Makes 7 one cup servings.  $.55 per cup.  I eat two cups for lunch of the canned soup, but I’m not sure how much I will eat of the homemade.  Perhaps less soup will fill me up more.

The Market Basket cheap soup that I’ve been buying (cause it really does taste as good as Progresso) is $1.29 a can (16 oz).  $1.10 vs $1.29 sure isn’t that big of a difference.  But I was able to package up a soup for lunch tomorrow (I’m working at macy’s), I put two tupperware things in the freezer, each containing two cups, and then another cup is left over in a bowl in the fridge for someone else to enjoy.

Vegetarian Pasta Fagioli

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium sized onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 2 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (or 4 teaspoons dried)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup ditalini pasta

1. Heat oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat until hot. Add onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until onion is tender.
2. Add undrained tomatoes, undrained cannellini beans, broth, parsley, basil and pepper to pan and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Let boil for approximately 1 minute and then let simmer for 10 minutes, covered.
3. Add pasta to pan and simmer approximately 15 minutes or until pasta is tender. Serve immediately.

Makes seven cups of soup.

The process in pictures:

Making homemade vegetable broth!  I used one vegetable bullion cube, some carrot slices, and some onion peel, and added it to a bit over three cups of water.

Straining the broth so I would only get the liquid.  Dylan was my photographer for this shot.

Adding the spices.

Glass of wine while the soup simmers?  Don’t mind if I do!

The finished product.

And a close up.

This morning for my morning run with my dad, there was a bit of a mix up.  I had asked him what time he usually ate breakfast, and he said “around 7.”  So I said “ok, well, depending on when I wake up, I will either eat breakfast first (if it’s 9ish), or we’ll go running first and then I’ll eat.  I got up around 8:15, and my mom said my dad was still in bed.  So I ate breakfast.  Then, he came downstairs at 9:30 and was surprised to see that I was awake, and disappointed that I had eaten already.  He had been waiting for me to wake up, and had been lying in bed reading.  I didn’t know that, and thought he was just sleeping.  So he ate breakfast at 9:30, and we had to wait until 11 to run.  I did an extra mile today, and he turned around again at the .8 mile mark.   Here’s my route.

Once home, I took a shower, ate some soup, and headed out to Coraline.  I walked, and my parents and brother drove to the theater.  I was reading while I was walking, so I didn’t make it all the way.  My parents stopped me when I was about 2/3 of the way there, and my dad yelled out “This is as far as you made it???”  Luckily, there was a red light, and I shouted to him “What time is it?”  “1:25″ Uh oh!  The movie was at 1:30!  I yelled “Can I get a ride?”  And I looked both ways, and ran across the street and jumped into the car.  I wish I had made it the whole way (the reading slowed me down, says my mom), but I’m glad I got to walk a little bit of the way.

As for Coraline, the NY Times sums it up with ““Coraline” is rated PG (Parental guidance suggested). There are many scenes and images that are likely to scare young children.” Of course, there are many parents who don’t read (or can’t, for that matter), and didn’t bother to find out if this movie was appropriate for their youngsters.  There was a 3 year old boy sitting behind us who kept asking, “What does that say?”  “Who’s that?”  “Why is he sad?”  His mother didn’t once shush him or tell him to whisper, instead she answered all of his questions.  It was driving me batty, until finally the movie got too scary and they left the theater (minus the $10.50 they paid - HA!).  In front of me, there was a young girl who looked to be about 7 or 8 (which I would think would be old enough to not be scared at a movie rated PG), but she climbed on her mother’s lap and said “Can we go now, please?”  Like a trooper, the mother said “No.  Just close your eyes.”  I think I would have just said “Go wait in the hallway.”  And if the girl wasn’t there when the movie was over, it’s probably for the best (it’s amazing that I enjoy babysitting, isn’t it?  Nah… I’m all talk).   There was one point a bit later when the girl had resumed watching and sighed at one point and said “Whew!  That was close.”  I rolled my eyes, and thought “Really?  You thought the main character would die?”  The movie was good.  Not one I’d really care to see again, and I wish I had gotten to see it in 3D.  We were stuck with lousy 2D.  On a scale of 1-100, I would give it a 72.

Dylan and I made homemade bread for dinner.  It was delicious, as it always is.  I had Dylan bring home the bread machine from his apartment because he hadn’t been using it.  He has break coming up anyway (they do four terms, rather than two semesters, and they have a week break in between terms), so we can just keep it here until after the break.  I can use it to make rolls and pizza dough.  There is a “dough” setting, and then once the dough is done, you simply take it out, and shape it how you want for rolls or bagels or even Italian loafs, and then put it in the oven.  For pizza dough, you’d take it out and make the pizza on it, then put it in the oven as is.

I did my Federal taxes tonight (well…. I didn’t finish them, but I got close).  I’m getting $359 back from the Feds. Yay!  I could use the money.  I haven’t bought anything in a really long time, but I could use the money for my gas, phone, and car insurance.  I’m not planning on going shopping or buying anything in the near future.  In fact, I have a credit on my Macy’s card, and I called today and they’re going to issue me a rebate check for $54 because I’m not planning on using the credit to purchase anything.

It’s bed time, but I want a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats.  :(  But I’m not going to succomb!  I am stronger than HBoO (but not by much).

After babysitting this afternoon, I jumped on 190 and headed down to Worcester to pick up my brother, Dylan.  I babysit way out in eastern Leominster, and I’m already halfway to Worcester when I’m at the baby’s house.  I called Dylan and told him I was about 20 minutes away, and I asked him if he wanted to take a short walk with me to the Worcester cooperative food market, ARTichoke Cooperative.  He had something on his computer uploading, and it wouldn’t be ready in 20 minutes, so he said sure.  He made sure to warn me that it was windy, and asked if I had a hat.  I had a hood, and he said it was “good enough.” (it was not.)

I got to Worcester and Dylan and I bundled up, and head out walking.  It was about a mile and a half away, and my iPhone told me it would take about 23 minutes walking.

It was very cold on the way, and it didn’t help that I had no idea where we were going.  I followed my directions, and eventually we made it.

The co op was a LOT smaller than I had imagined it…. I would say it was about 8 feet wide, by 30 feet long.  Super tiny!  They didn’t have much to offer, for fresh produce they had oranges, two types of apples, potatoes, onions, and yams.  Then in bulk containers, they had pretty much everything I expected: granola, beans, rice, popcorn, organic raisins, flour, sea salt (that was carbon free! — ?) …. a bunch of stuff. One of their granolas (they had two) was SALT free!  Perfect for my low iodine diet!  Except, it was also wheat free, and didn’t look that delicious.  I would make a much better once.

They also had a HUGE wall of bulk spices, and some dried fruit (which I should have gotten, but most of it was between $10 - $15/lb).  It looks like an old fashioned apothacary!

I ended up getting almost a pound of dried Great Northern Beans, a pound of Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP), a small amount of granola for Dylan to try, 3 potatoes, and two granny smith apples.  It cost me $5.36.  I didn’t remember to bring reusable containers, because I wasn’t sure if I was going or not.  I decided to see how far it was from Dylan (I’m sure there are places in Worcester that’d be a 20 minutes drive).  Being so close, I made the decision to go. Next time I’m down in Worcester with Dylan, I’ll make another stop in and purchase things.  Maybe I should keep some clean containers in my far for this purpose.  I’ve been good at saving our old yogurt/parmesan cheese and other nice plastic containers.

It was a great place, and things were very cheap, and 99% of them were organic.

Besides the granola that was $3.55 a pound, mostly everything in bulk was about $1 a pound.  I was surprised at how much TVP I was able to get for $1.  I’m not sure what I am going to do with it, but I’m sure Megan can give me some ideas, or I’ll just find delicious recipes on my own.  The guy working at the store told me he likes to eat it in chili.  I already tried making chili, and didn’t care for it, so I want to try something different.