Everyone's talking about the economy these days and while I've made a conscious decision to turn off the TV/radio whenever I hear the stories, I am making some changes in my own life in order to be more economical in certain segments of my life. Tonight's challenge was to make something delicious with what I had in my fridge and cupboards because my car is in the shop and I don't live anywhere near a grocery store that I'd set foot in.
So here's what I had on hand:
I also had some Trader Joe's potato gnocchi and a delicious bottle of Spanish cava that I'm finishing up right now. So here's what I came up with for tonight's dinner:
Spinach & Artichoke Dip Gnocchi
1 package potato gnocchi 1T butter (or olive oil) 1 shallot, minced fine 1 clove garlic, minced fine 1 jar marinated artichokes 1/2 bag baby spinach 3T cream cheese 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese 1t paprika 2 pinches red pepper flakes black pepper
In a small sauce pan, bring salted water to a boil. Cook gnocchi. Drain, reserving about 3T of cooking water. Remove gnocchi to a bowl. Add butter or oil to pan and saute shallot and garlic for 3 minutes until soft over medium low heat. Add spinach and stir until wilted. Add artichokes (with marinade) and toss to coat. Add gnocchi cooking water and cream cheese and stir until combined. Add parmesan and spices and simmer over very low heat until creamy. Add gnocchi and stir until thoroughly warm.
It made for two large servings, one of which is now in the fridge for tomorrow!
Two months ago, I started this new blog with a promise to myself that I'd post more often about the things that are important to me. Yeah, epic fall. Oh, I've been DOING the important things but I just haven't taken the time to sit down and actually write about it.
So let's see... for the last two months I've been working and volunteering and spending time with my family and pretty much just doing the usual thing. There are a couple of things of note that might be of interest though...
CSA: Eat Your Veggies For the last few years, I've been a faithful customer of the Meridian Township Farmers Market throughout the summer. Last year, I joined a CSA (Consumer Supported Agriculture) by going in on a "share" with some friends. We've joined again this year and have renewed our membership with Titus Farms. I'm always surprised at how great a deal the CSA share is for me... for about $6 a week, I get a large bag of 6 - 9 different kinds of veggies, fruit and/or herbs. The selection varies by the growing season but we always get an email on Sunday afternoons telling us what is available so when we pick up on Tuesdays, I'm able to plan out my menus for the entire week. For 22 weeks, we get farm fresh delicious goodness and since I share with my friends, we can even plan potluck dinners around the bounty of the week's allotment.
Canterbury MSU I was invited to join the Board of Canterbury MSU last year and was recently elected Treasurer. This wonderful group of faithful students just returned from spending their Spring Break in Jamaica, working at a local school and volunteering with a community group. Tonight, we're going to get to hear all about the trip and enjoy dinner with the students. (Mom cooked, so it's going to be delicious!) My friend, Rev. Sarah, is the Chaplain and we've become very close friends over the last few months. We're on a Diocesan committee together and the best thing I can say about it is that I'm now a genius at the table games available at the Brighton Cracker Barrel. Her dog Chip is a new member of my extended family and I've spent the last two Saturdays at the dog park with this year old Dalmation. Below is a picture of Chipper with my nephew Joey who insists that Chip is a "Fire Truck Dog" and that his name is pronounced "Schipper".Sorority Girl Things It's hard to believe that I've been the Advisor for my sorority for 13 years. I mean, seriously... how can I be that old? These last few years have been filled with new and somewhat unsettling challenges that have made me question my ongoing involvement. Part of it is that I'm so involved now with Canterbury MSU and this Diocesean Committee of the Ridiculous but it's also the change in the Chapter and in Greek Life in general. We're now fully into the Millenial Generation of students and for the first time in my memory, I'm getting calls from parents who want updates on their little cherubs. Um... no?!?! With the rise of Facebook and Twitter, we've also had the challenge of dealing with situations that can only arise with electronic communications.
As frustrating as these things (and others) can be, I'm often reminded of the good things that come because of my involvement with the Chapter and the Fraternity. At times, I even like to think that my service has resulted in someone making better choices in her life or wanting to serve others in the way that I do. I don't have much evidence yet of my influence but I'm hopeful that I'll start seeing it eventually.
Since the Greek system tends to get a bad rap for just about everything, I'm going to close with this video of the men of Alpha Delta Phi. Westboro Baptist Church came to town to protest the funeral of a soldier and the entire Fraternity system stood as one and staged their own unique form of protest. My favorite sign? "We Won't Tolerate Intolerance". Well done gentlemen.
I've been putting off a grocery expedition for most of the last week but when the toilet paper inventory dropped to less than one roll, I knew it was time.
Even though I live in Old Town Lansing and am technically closer to the west side than I am to East Lansing, I still live my life as if I were still in the 48823. I shop at the Lake Lansing Meijer, I go to the Okemos Target, my mental restaurant database has more listings for Haslett than Lansing. (Haslett is a bedroom suburb of Lansing with no downtown, just an intersection.)
My grocery shopping habits, from location to how I work the store, are completely tied to how my Mom does it. I work from the back of the store to the front (more efficient, less time for the frozen things to melt, fresh produce goes on top of the cart to avoid smooshing), mostly shopping from the perimeter of the store and rarely go down the aisles unless, of course, I need toilet paper.
Yesterday's TP emergency inspired me to head out to the west side and attempt to embrace a new shopping experience. My list was short so I hit the L&L on Saginaw. Mistake #1.
I'm used to the L&L in Haslett where everything is clean, well lit and fully stocked. The west side L&L? Grungy, dark and it's practically a convenience store. It's about half the size of a normal grocery store and easily 1/10 the size of a typical Meijer. I figured I'd approach it with my usual "back, perimeter, produce" method. Mistake #2.
This store was organized by illiterate, visually impaired male monkeys. Nothing is where it should be - Granola bars should be with the cereal. At this store? With candy. Milk should be in the dairy case? It's around the corner and if you don't like your milk skim or whole, you're out of luck. As a last resort, I thought I'd get a rotisserie chicken and some lunch meat for this week as I need stuff for lunch. Mistake #3.
Apparently they do things differently on the west side. I'm used to taking a number and politely waiting my turn to be called at the deli counter. At this store, it seems that you use your cart to physcially box out anyone in your way and then pretend to be deaf to the protests from the person you just smacked in the legs. By the time I finally got someone to wait on me, I'd been shoved by no less than two old ladies and one young guy.
I've always known that I'm an east side girl and I take a fair amount of mocking from my friends for it, but after my most recent expedition to the west side, I'm pretty sure I'm going back to my old stomping grounds where the milk is fresh and I'm less likely to lose a toe in the deli section.
Many people make annual resolutions about fitness or family or relationships and most of those resolutions will have gone by the wayside just midway through the month of January. Every year, I make the same resolution about giving up french fries and yet last night, I found myself wolfing down a combo meal from Wendy's as I drove to a meeting in Brighton.
Aside from feeling greasy from all those fries, I'm also disappointed in myself. I make these resolutions about exercising more and eating better and one dinner has me derailed. So what can we do to avoid the News Years Resolution Malaise?
For 2009, I've decided to make a resolution revolution. Sure, I'm going to try and eat fewer fries but I'm also going to volunteer at least two hours a month for a cause or organization that I believe in. Tonight, I'm going to the Planned Parenthood's monthly volunteer night and on Monday, I'm hosting a volunteer opportunity at Michigan Equality where I am the Development Director (among other things).
It's easy to get wrapped up in work, family obligations and worries about the economy. Lord knows that I am wrapped up in all of those things and more but I think that we have a higher purpose for being here. It can't just be about running from meeting to practice to work to church to the grocery store to dinner to this, that and the other thing. It's so easy to look at a calendar and only see the overwhelming obligations associated with it and miss the opportunities. Opportunities not just for volunteering or service to others but for celebration and joy.
So here's my challenge to my friends, my family and anyone who reads this blog: Make a resolution for 2009 that will support a cause, issue or organization that you believe in by doing one (or more) of the following:
Volunteer 2 hours a month for an organization that you support
Volunteer 2 hours a month helping someone else
Make a monthly financial pledge to an organization that you believe in
Make a monthly financial pledge to an organization on behalf of someone you love
Need suggestions on where you can volunteer? Check out USAService.org for volunteer opportunities associated with the Inauguration of President Barack Obama or Volunteer Match. Want other ideas? Drop a comment and I'll come up with local options and ideas or you could always just volunteer at Michigan Equality. :)
(Modified from a post at Rainbow Mittens, Michigan's only statewide LGBT blog.)
Politics, religion and money - those are the three things that nice people just don't talk about or so my beloved etiquette books of the 1950s tell us. Emily Post and Amy Vanderbilt admonish us to only talk about pleasant things that create a sense of comfort and well being.
Ideal conversation must be an exchange of thought, and not, as many of those who worry most about their shortcomings believe, an eloquent exhibition of wit or oratory. -- Emily Post
Well, I prefer my conversations eloquent and witty and I admire those with orate with both eloquence and wit. Many people consider men like Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy to be greatest orators of the modern era. Others look at televangelists like Jimmy Swaggert and Billy Graham. I admire the incomparable Maya Angelou, Eleanor Roosevelt and the very modern John Stewart. One of my personal favorites on the oratory circuit is the Right Reverend Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire.
Bishop Robinson is openly gay and has been a lightening rod for anti-gay attacks and a growing political schism within the Anglican communion. Instead of being bombastic and aggressive, Bishop Robinson is humble and intense. He speaks with passion and clarity. Whenever I have the opportunity to hear him speak, I'm always struck by how truly faithful and holy he is. For someone who simply wanted to serve God, he's become a political figure and in a few short days, he will be the most visible representative of both the faith community and the pro-equality movement.
New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, a vocal gay rights leader, will open President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration with a prayer on Sunday's kick-off event at the Lincoln Memorial. ---- The announcement comes after weeks of outcry from the gay community over Obama's choice of evangelical, anti-gay pastor Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation.
Bishop Robinson will speak in front of millions, carrying a message of hope, equality and peace for our new President, our country and all of us here. In many ways, he's a messenger for an entire community of people who are marginalized, reviled and discriminated against. This is an opportunity for the political left to make a grave error right.
Any native Michiganian will proudly proclaim that we all love having four distinct seasons and that we're all hearty Midwesterners who thrive on snow and laugh at black ice. Mostly, we just shrug and patiently wait for spring and the smell of worms.
It's been snowing here for days and this morning, I was pleased to see that my car wasn't covered with an icy, snowy crust. What I failed to notice was that during the night, the plows had cleared off the streets leaving a foot high hump of hard pack snow at the bottom of our driveway. In the process of getting myself unstuck from the driveway, I managed to lock my keys in the car while it was running and in Reverse. Oh, and I was wearing my church clothes.
My inner native Michiganian is now reconsidering my love for all four seasons. In fact, I'm thinking that we could sell off winter and use the proceeds to erradicate the mosquitos and humidity of summer.
This tale of wintry woe does have a happy ending. The moral of the story is that you should always keep your cell phone on your person so that you can call your brother who will call Larry the Tow Guy who will come and rescue you. You can also then use your cell phone to call your brother back and invite him and his family out for breakfast because you've already missed church and you might as well eat pancakes.
Welcome to my new blog, Powers Court. What is this place supposed to be? Well, I haven't entirely gotten there yet but I hope to have it figured out in a year or two. Enjoy the ride!
