Investments

Drinking right now: Organic English Breakfast Black Tea, origin: India. $35.99/lb

In Which I Am Angry at the World

I've been trying not to post recently because I generally avoid two types of "sharing" online: personal emergencies and emotional outbursts. I think I've violated both those in the last week; though not as badly as I thought, as most people don't seem to know what's going on. If you read my twitter feed (to the right of the page) or my facebook notes, you may have noticed what may be described as "losing my cool."

Ok, so I just read through and it's not that bad, but it's pretty outspoken for me.

As I put it earlier today, I have officially lost all patience. For the last two weeks, I have spent at least every other day at a doctor's office, surgical center, or hospital emergency room. I was hoping for a clean start this week--but Beorn getting his little, tender fingertips pinched for the third time in the play table I told him to stay out from under...well, like I said: I lost it.

I am ashamed to say there was a lot of yelling, and I'm not proud of that. But if my kids won't listen to me for their own safety (a sense they don't seem to have developed yet), they are at least listening to me because Mommy is scary. I can deal with my guilt right now if it means I got my point across and all fingers are intact at the end of the day.

I knew I had done what needed to be done when, after nailing the [expletive deleted] top down to the frame of the table permanently, I left the room and heard Razi doing some of his own yelling at Beorn. "NO Iornan! Not under the table! Out, NOW! NOT SAFE! That's good, play with train." To which Beorn happily replied, "Koo-koo!" (choo choo)

In Which I Get to the Point of This Post

We're recovering our finances enough that I was able to actually buy some of the things for the house I've been wanting. The items I chose may have been cheaper with similar products, but I chose these because of good product reviews (yes, I read nearly every one) and reports of good customer service...as well as availability of free shipping if that made it cheaper. I've listed the savings I can count right now, and they're small but will add up quickly.

Cooking Chopsticks

I linked these in a previous post, where I mentioned that I use chopsticks to cook with a lot of the time. For example, frying tofu--or tonight, when I used them to pull the tails off steamed shrimp. It's like having extra-long fingers; I can be so precise!

Until now, I've been using bamboo chopsticks to cook with. That's all well and good, but they get worn out and hold things like oil. I suppose I have yet to learn the trick to cleaning them correctly--and no, these weren't disposable chopsticks, though I've used those as well (without washing and reusing.)

When I saw all the lovely stainless steel chopsticks, I knew that could solve the problem of the massive amounts of bamboo chopsticks I go through. So, this paycheck, this was investment #1.

Investment: $11.50
Savings: yet to be seen, but approximating $5 per month.

Teapot

If you've been to my house, you've probably seen my teapots. I have Asian sets, both cheap and expensive. I have novelty sets, some of which can't even be used. I have a hand-thrown pot my sister made which is far out of reach of the kids and cats, and I have the first teapot I ever owned--the 1945 Diamond Japan Cherry Blossom pattern with 14c gold edging, given to me by my Grandmother from her wedding set.

What I did not have for the longest time was a teapot I could use every day, let alone around children. My first purchase lasted about two years--a pretty, large glass piece by Teaposy. It was beautiful, but the handle was flimsy and the spout chipped almost immediately. Another piece was broken within weeks, and the company never answered my inquiries into buying a replacement. I can deal with cheaply-made items, but in this day and age I do expect a little customer service.

I was finally able to replace it this week with another pretty but functional pot. It's still glass--or at least the main body is--because I very much enjoy being able to see the color of my teas. The infuser is much more practical this time, being stainless steel--as is the lid. As long as the main pot doesn't get dropped (::knock on wood::) the lid will survive being thrown around. That's the piece the kids get a hold of most.

Investment: $25.50
Savings: my sanity, if but barely in the face of recent events.

Popcorn Popper

Here's where I really started saving money! The kids love popcorn, as do I. We don't eat it every day, but a lot of that is because of all the junk in microwave popcorn. Popcorn by itself can actually be a fairly healthy alternative, so I decided to look around a bit and find the best way to make it on my own.

I don't actually have a pot with a tight-fitting lid, so that was out of the question. I looked at the Whirly-pop-type thingamajiggers, but they're actually pretty expensive (and of course the price has dropped in the last week. Make me out for a liar, Amazon.) Google came to my rescue once again with lists of popcorn maker reviews. I was very surprised to see one of the cheapest machines being voted as favorite again and again!

If you've clicked on the link and gasped because you grew up with that popper...well, I did too! I clearly remember that yellow cover (it's hard to see in the photo here), even though the model has brightened up a bit (I think the body of ours was black.) The thing is, it works! Really well! And since it pops the corn with air and not oil, we can put a little salt and have a much lighter snack. The thing that sealed the deal was being able to buy bulk, organic popping corn at the grocery store.

Investment: $17.54
Savings: $4 a month and my children's health.

Mesh Strainers

I actually bought two sizes of this one: the 11 1/2 inch and the 6 inch. So far, I love them so much I may get the medium-sized one next paycheck. I may be biased, though, just for the fact that I haven't had a strainer (except for a mug-sized one) in the house for a decade.

I'm hoping this will let me make sticky rice again, as I finally have something to drain the rice in. The little one is being used for making iced tea and works perfectly.

The savings come in on the massive amounts of cheesecloth I was going through to drain things, which can now be saved for actually making cheese!

Investment: $20.12
Savings: Hopefully at least $3 this week, more to come. And peace and joy in the kitchen.


Bento Box and Book

My last investment was a dual interest for health and money. My husband, as most of you know, works in Washington, D.C. His location is a bit pricy for...well, anything, but the food really gets us. Ever spent over $10 a meal for McDonalds on one person? He has, and that was by far the cheapest option (think a single BLT sandwich for $14.) Obviously we could not afford for this to happen every day, so he began taking microwave lunches. Cheap is an understatement: .99 each! However, I think if he keeps eating these, we'll be more than making it up in high blood pressure treatments (a big fear of mine after watching my father have a stroke at 35--I was very young, but I still remember him collapsing during recovery.)

I was going to put a picture of the nutritional facts here, but my camera battery is charging. You'll have to take my word for this when I say...

1300mg of sodium per meal!

For comparison, that adds up to almost 5 servings of Goya Pork Rinds, which no one in their right mind could argue are healthy. The new health guidelines published earlier this year recommend 1500mg of sodium daily, even for younger persons with no known sensitivity to sodium.

I've been torn as to what I could send with him to work, as he's not exactly a cook. At all. He has access to a microwave generally, unless he's out on a call, but the sodium in those microwaveable foods can be killer (quite literally--and that's not even looking at the other junk in that package.)  I could buy a more expensive meal, I thought, but those aren't a whole lot better and would add up quickly. I'm not sure what made me think of this, but it was so obvious once I did: Bento!


 For the uninitiated (I say that because my research spread and we now have a collective of about a dozen people interested), Bento is literally "lunch box" in Japanese. Simply put, it's the tradition of creating a lunch first thing in the morning (more or less) that can sit at room temperature until time to eat. It focuses on a variety of textures, colors, and nutrition values in each meal; I've seen it said (approximately) that when you open your Bento, it should make you excited to eat lunch.

More than that, it's a tradition of love--from mothers creating meals from which their children will learn important nutritional, social, and familial lessons, to wives sending a love letter to their husbands for the daily work they do. Not everyone in Japan (and other Asian countries) eats Bento every day, but it seems to be growing in popularity once more.



If I were more prepared, I would download this and have a friend translate it and re-upload with subtitles. The basic gist is the mother preparing lunch for her high school son. He doesn't really talk to her, so she sends him messages through his food. The three years of high school pass this way, and she says the empty boxes are all the thanks she needs. At the end, though, the last box to come back empty has a note: "Thanks--I'm sorry I couldn't say that before."

Romantic notion? Totally. It gets me every time.

There are a thousand things I could say about this, but nothing will compare to the research you do on your own. It's going to be an interesting journey, but through it I hope to teach my husband a little more about the kitchen so that, in a few months or years, he may be able to assemble his own lunch (out of food I've pre-cooked, mostly) at least a few days of the month.

One Last Note

I don't know how many of your are on Google+ yet, and I know there is a lot of drama surrounding the entire thing, but if you are on there, please look me up here. I would like to create a little net of parents with whom I can easily share content and from whom I can learn (I don't think there's ever nothing to learn from someone, or from a book.) If you're not on Google+ and would like to try it, send me an email or other message and I can send you an invite (though it may open to the public in a few days.)

I'm wanting to do this little network on Google+ rather than other sites because its easier to share content with a specific group of people, I can create video chat rooms that others I specify can wander in and out of as they wish (with very lovely audio and video mute options), and it's not clogged down by spammers/apps yet. I'm sure people will find a way to fix that soon, but for now Google is aggressively banning those who try.