My friend and I showed up at the Food Truck Fest close to 1PM.  At that point it was already packed solid. It was a gorgeous day and the vibe was pretty laid back. The saddest part of the event was, after nearly an hour in line and having only moved a dozen feet, my companion and I had to bail. I was getting sunburnt and both of us were melting in the heat. We went over to Dinosaur BBQ which was handling some of the spillovers like us – and while there was still another 45 minute wait there – at least we could do it inside and off our feet.

We were pretty sad we had to abandon the festival – but at the same time, I’m proud of our community for the incredible turn-out. I think this shows you that the people of the Capital Region have a strong desire for a more vibrant food and event culture. We want more! We’ve all seen these Food Network and Travel shows where they show parks full of food trucks on nights and weekends.  We’ve seen the specialty diners and exciting, fancy restaurants.  And what do we have to fulfill that need in the Capital Region?  We have NWBB and, if we’re lucky to work in an area that’s food truck friendly, some of us can occasionally experience the joy that is food trucks between 11 and 2 on weekdays.

Can you imagine a Washington Park that, during the nights and weekends, had relaxed live music and food vendors?  That’s the kind of thing that’s going to draw people to our down-town.  And Albany, if we don’t act quickly, Troy is going to beat us to it. Instead of Albany being a great go-to, we Albanians are going to demand more bus service between Troy and Albany so we can leave town and Enjoy Troy on the weekends. The best case scenario would be that Albany and Troy BOTH work to bring in exciting entrepreneurs who want to IMPROVE our cities with independent retail and restaurants. We have to get rid of the favorites system in Albany, our city is never going to flourish if it only rewards the politically connected. Once we start working on these issues maybe we can talk about a light rail system between Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga.  THESE are things that will make our cities a destination for tourists and residents. Duh.

We love food. We cook adventurous things and dine out on a whim. I’ll readily admit frugality goes out the window at the slightest temptation or craving.  I am completely aware of how spoiled we’ve been by this luxury but during the month of February we’ve been getting creative in stretching our food budget.  It’s meant not being tempted by lunch specials at a nearby café and instead sticking to a packed lunch every day.  It’s meant no fast food on those nights when I’m too tired to cook.

A lot of this is common sense, but I thought I’d share some of the techniques and recipes that have kept us going.

1 –Track your receipts (I use a simple budget spreadsheet in Excel) and just LOOK at where you’re spending your money.  It’s easier to make cut-backs when you can see exactly how much you’re spending on certain items.

2 – Set a budget.  Decide how much you want to spend on each meal or over a certain time period.  Eating a few extra cheap meals will allow you to splurge on something nice elsewhere.

3 – Plan plan plan!  I use a spreadsheet where I can plan my meals, grocery lists and estimate how much items will cost. This gives me a good idea of how much I’ll be spending on ingredients, an entire meal, a full week of meals, etc. Make a cell for every meal and plan for every one of those meals.

4 – Low & slow – try to make a large amount of food at once to hold over for several days. Get creative with your cooking. If you’re a meat-eater, one of the foods that will sustain you longer than anything else is a whole chicken.  I dry roast it low and slow to make a delicious chicken dinner. Two of us can get a couple more meals of chicken sandwiches or something similar and once it’s picked it over pretty well, throw it in a pot of water and make stock.  From the stock make a soup with good fillers like noodles, barley, greens, root veggies and you have a bunch of hearty meals.  These can even be frozen for later.  A local, free range chicken should set you back about $10-$12 and you can get at least 10 meals for two people.

A humanely raised 3 pound pork Boston butt roast will probably set you back close to $30, which is a lot of up-front cost – but you can get several meals out of it.  I made one recently.  We ate 8 sandwiches and I still have a fair amount left.  Tonight I’m going to use the leftovers in macaroni and cheese. I’m going to soak the macaroni in my homemade bbq sauce before mixing in the cheese sauce and pulled pork.  We’ll get at least 8 more meals out of this.  Yes, the additional components of cheese, milk and macaroni cost money, but it’s still a minimal investment.

While Drew is not opposed to the taste of black beans, he is not fond of the side effects.  After a bit of research I found a great bean soaking method that really gets rid of whatever it is in beans that causes gas. I’ve recently made two black bean-centric dishes and neither of them caused any ill effects.  The hot soak method from this website works wonders: http://calbeans.org/bean-basics/preparation/soaking-methods/

For each pound of California dry beans, any variety, add 10 cups hot water. Remember, beans will rehydrate to at least twice their dry size, so be sure to start with a large enough pot. (Note: Up to 2 teaspoons of salt per pound of beans may be added to help the beans absorb water more evenly.) Heat to boiling, let boil two to three minutes. Remove from heat, cover and set aside for four hours or more. The longer soak time is recommended to allow more sugars to dissolve, thus helping the beans to be more easily digested. Whether you soak the beans for an hour or several hours, discard the soak water.

I haven’t used the salt (which I think will also keep your beans from splitting) and each time I’ve done this I’ve let it sit for 6+ hours.  After draining and rinsing the beans I add enough water to cover them by an inch or more and boil them for about an hour and a half.

I’ve been using a one pound bag of dried beans in recipes that call for 2 15-1/2 oz cans of beans.

I found this amazing recipe on Serious Eats for a Chipotle Slaw.

I took my cooked beans, mashed them with some vinegar, cumin and Arizona dreaming spice and made soft shell tacos with the beans, chipotle slaw, feta cheese, cilantro and a squeeze of lime.  We got 12 tacos out of that.  It probably cost $12 to make everything.  Instead of tacos, you could also take these same ingredients, plus a few others, to make awesome black bean burgers.

It’s all about taking cheap ingredients and finding different ways to use them; kind of in the same way as Marge Simpson and her bargain basement Chanel suit.

I found Daniel Berman’s Cooking Out the Cold recipes to be hugely inspiring.  I went to Parivar and bought a big ass bag of dried garbanzos and have now even made a more from-scratch style of Chana Masala.  His recipe calls for a box mix of spices, but I usually have everything on hand you’d need to make it properly. It’s only a couple more steps and tastes better.  A meal like that probably costs less than a quarter per serving and is incredibly satisfying.

Lately, we’ve been working our way through a Mrs. London’s country loaf every morning for breakfast. It’s pricey upfront, but it works out to a pretty cheap breakfast when spread over a week.  But to save us on even that, I’ve been developing a sourdough starter and am going to take a stab at the Tartine loaf in a few weeks.  I’m also making my first chevre cheese which we can use on bagels or in a cheesecake or on a salad.  I adore chevre and despite the outrageous price of goat’s milk, it’s a lot cheaper to make than buy and I cannot believe how easy it is.  I say that now, but the test will be how it holds up after I bag it tonight.

Like I said, a lot of this is common sense, but hopefully it provided a bit of inspiration. What do you do to trim your budget in the kitchen?  Please feel free to share your ideas in the comments.

A couple of hours into the clinic a nice woman stopped to meet Monty, she sounded like a perfect fit – she had a farm, a couple of other big dogs and, best of all, no children.  But she seemed a little distracted; she had actually showed up to look at another dog.  Quite a lot of time went by and the woman never came back for the walk with Monty I had offered her.  Fifteen minutes before the end of the clinic most people were packing it in.  I felt like the day was pretty pointless and I was thinking of just leaving too.  But then she came back. The woman said she had talked to another volunteer and she wanted to take Monty for a little walk outside.  I was so excited.  She told me about her other dogs and that they were waiting in her truck. Since Monty isn’t the best with introductions, we let her dogs out and walked all three big doggies side-by-side until proper butt sniffing commenced. Before long Monty was trying to play with her shepherd and seemed to be having a good time. Turns out, the reason the woman hadn’t come back yet to see Monty was because she was busy being interviewed and approved for adoption!

Her husband hadn’t yet met Monty so we agreed to take Monty out to her farm the next day to check out the house and make sure Monty was a good fit. The first thing Monty did was explore and before you know it, he was dragging a giant bone (at least two feet long) down into their living room. It was adorable.   No one can resist that kind of charm.

We left Monty in their care that evening.  It was a really hard drive home for me. As tough as it was having three dogs, he really was a part of our family.  This was happening just hours before we let him go:

Sleepy Snuggles

I cried all the way home, they were a mix of happy and sad tears.  I think the home will be awesome for Monty. There are cats, dogs, chickens and horses for him to play with and his new mom has already sent me a video of him romping with his new buddies in the snow.  When we returned home on Sunday night I sat on the couch and cried and my sweet Wrigley was there for me.

My Girl

Monty brought a lot of sweetness into our life and the least we could do was give him a place to sleep, eat, play and be safe along his journey to his forever home.  If you’re thinking of adopting or fostering or are looking for a great place to make a year-end donation, Homeward Bound is a terrific organization.

Meet Monty.

Monty

Also known as Monty Python, Montgomery Cheddar, Monte Leon, Monty Cooper and Jesus Christ. Actually, I think we should just rename all of our dogs Jesus Christ, it rolls off the tongue easier when trying to get their attention.

Monty, like most dogs, is a Good Boy. He’s 5 or 6 months old and weighs about 55 pounds. He’s thought to be an Anatolian Shepherd so he’s probably going to get quite a bit bigger. He is a snuggle bug. His favorite activities include gnawing on bones, cuddling and long walks in the park. He knows his basic commands, has a big boy bladder and is very good about telling you when he needs to go outside.

Three Amigos

He’s going to be an amazing companion to some lucky person or family but I really want to be realistic with potential adopters about a few things.

It’s tough to introduce him to other dogs. He’s strong and has a tendency to get barky if he picks up a bad vibe. He’s generally good with most dogs but can snap when under stress.  This was most obvious at the rescue clinic this past Saturday.

After a week of romps and snuggles I cried when I put him in the van to take him to the adoption clinic on Saturday. I was so sad at the idea of letting him go.  By the time the clinic was ending I was ready to cry again, but this time because he hadn’t yet been adopted.  The clinic can be a stressful place for some dogs. There is a lot of excitement and can get crowded. Monty was mostly calm, but a few times got aggressive towards some other dogs and that gives him a bad reputation.

I love *some* dogs!

While Monty has never shown aggression to people, if he was to get reactive towards another dog and a kid was in the way it would be bad news. He should really go to a home with older kids, or preferably, only adults. He is gentle with kids, but his unpredictability around other dogs is something that some parents might not want in their lives which could result in him being returned to Homeward Bound, which is a stressful situation.

Ladies Man

I love this dog so much. He would be so wonderful for a single person or a couple who can exhibit strong leadership skills.  He easily bonds with people, especially women (such a charmer). He’s happiest by his human’s side and makes content little humming noises as he snoozes. He plays well with our dogs, Monty and Coop are buddies and are serious about play time and sleeping.

Professional Snoozers

Fostering for this last week has definitely taught me that we’re a 2-dog couple. Maybe, in time, it would become easier to have a third dog, and I’m telling you I’ve been trying to convince myself it’s possible with the amount of love I have for Monty.  But, realistically, it’s just damn hard having three dogs and that’s not the fault of the dogs. We’re big proponents on lots of exercise for the dogs and that means we’re hitting the pavement for at least 2 hours every day. With just two dogs, one of us can pick up some of the slack if the other is busy making dinner or whatever. With three dogs, both of us are required to go out for every walk. Monty’s also in his adjustment period and little noises in the night get him riled up and he starts barking which  gets Cooper going too.  That’s definitely settled down a little more each day, but it really limited our sleep this week which frayed our nerves.  The puppies play rough together, as puppies should, however, our house has been a disaster area for the last week.  Lastly, I value my marriage and I think we discovered how close we might be to Drew’s breaking point when it comes to chaos in the house. He loves little Monty very much, but we all have our limits.

I’m not sure if we’ll foster again after this. I’d still like to volunteer in other ways for Homeward Bound. It’s definitely an adventure and I’m so happy we’re doing it. Monty is an amazing dog and I’m grateful we have a chance to help him on his journey.

Rescue Me

If you’re interested in adopting Monty or any other rescue dog or want to volunteer in some way for Homeward Bound, visit their adoption clinic on Saturday mornings in Schenectady right off Erie Blvd.

This was over a period of an hour last night.

We’re putting in our application to foster for Homeward Bound over the holidays. I will report back if this behavior continues when adding a third dog to the mix.

If you have some love in your heart and the ability to do so, please consider fostering a dog in need over the holidays. Check out Homeward Bound’s Facebook post for more details.

A short bit of homework with Google led me to the Prairie Grove Farms website. Turns out they operate under the Cargill banner and they still don’t live up to those three claims from Hannaford’s website.  While Prairie Grove Farms may have slightly better living conditions than a pig on a Smithfield Farm, their pigs still never go outside.  Think about that. Can you imagine never going outside? That’s like never letting your dog outside!

What’s interesting are that the definitions of Hannaford’s claims are really misleading.  “Fresh air” means that as long as there is ventilation of outdoor air into an indoor facility, it qualifies as having fresh air.  Running water conjures up the image of bubbling streams, but the reality is that as long as it comes out of a hose, it’s running.  And grass…that’s the kicker – that’s the one that shows that Hannaford’s claims are truly false. Access to grass tells me those pigs get to live outside.  They don’t.

In Hannaford’s final response to my follow-up inquiry they admitted that the claims on their website are indeed misleading and will be changed.  While I’m grateful for greater transparency, I wish they could instead back up their claims. They replied, “Our Merchandising team has advised me that the program we use is one of the most sustainable that exists that is able to supply a company of our size.”

And the final verdict? We’re just too dang big to do better. Am I wrong in thinking that because of their size they should have the power to DEMAND better? The IGA in my Midwestern hometown only supplied meat from local farms when I was growing up in the 80′s.  Maybe that’s the model we need to get back to again. When do we say these companies are too big to serve?  I’m starting to wonder if our future is in places like the Honest Weight Food Coop and the Cheese Traveler – small markets that know their base and cater to quality, not quantity.

Since Hannaford is too big, I’m going small. I’ve been looking for a meat CSA. Tilldale, 8 O’Clock Ranch and West Wind Acres all look good. I’m also leaning towards a Roxbury veggie CSA next year so I can gain access to their meat CSA which is priced a little lower than the others.  No matter what I choose it will be worth it to know my delicious pulled pork, bacon and pork chops were once happy pigs who rolled in slop and ate from troughs under the summer sun.

Here are my emails and responses from Hannaford:

******************************

10/25/2012

Hi,

On a recent trip to Hannaford I was speaking with one of your butchers who informed that the Nature’s Place All Natural Pork products were re-labeled Smithfield Pork products. He said, they receive the large cuts of Smithfield, cut them down and then package them under the Hannaford label. In fact, I witnessed a different butcher at the same location pull a Smithfield box out and repackage a rack of ribs and labeled it as a Hannaford all-natural product. On the Hannaford website you claim the all natural pork at Hannaford complies with the following statement:

“As a result of many years of experience and the development of an animal-friendly style of pork production, sows and pigs used for the Nature’s Place brand have unlimited access to grass, fresh air and running water.”

There appears to be no evidence that Smithfield’s hog production subsidiary, Murphy-Brown, LLC, complies with this claim.  In fact, they only intend to comply with removing the horrific practice of using gestation crates by the year 2017.  The only one of those things that Smithfield / Murphy Brown promises is that their pigs are offered “adequate amounts of fresh water”.  No where do they promise that these pigs have access to the outdoors.  In the recent past, this company has been exposed for their outright abuse of pigs.

As a lover of pork and someone who grew up in the rural Midwest, I would really like to know what steps Hannaford is going to take to honestly back up the claim that your “natural” meat is treated humanely. These are animals – living breathing creatures and just because they are being raised for food production doesn’t mean we have any right to deny them simple and basic things like access to sunlight. It’s disturbing that these are the practices in modern meat production. I sincerely hope that Hannaford can stand behind their promise that the pigs used for their all natural pork are granted “unlimited access to fresh air, grass and running water”.

Thank you.

Valerie MacMillan
Albany, NY

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October 30, 2012

Dear Valerie:

Thank you for contacting Hannaford. We are pleased to have the opportunity to respond.

The Hannaford pork(different than Nature’s Place) is all-natural non-enhanced. The Nature’s Place pork does not come from Smithfield.  These products come from Prairie Grove Farms, which is an all-natural, veggie fed program which is fully compliant with all standards in place.

Please be assured that we take your concerns very seriously as we continuously explore ways to improve in our operations. We will certainly share your comments with all departments involved and, if possible, adjust our procedures to prevent this from happening again.

Again, thank you for contacting Hannaford. If we can further assist you, Valerie, please do not hesitate to let us know.

Sincerely,

Kelly Smoot
Consumer Research Specialist

Ref 3172251/kelsmo

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November 2, 2012 follow-up submitted through hannaford website:

Hello,

I am writing as a follow up to a prior inquiry. I received a response via email but was unable to reply to the address from which it was sent (consumerrelations@delhaize.com).  My response was from Kelly Smoot and it included this at the bottom: Ref 3172251/kelsmo

Dear Kelly,

Thank you for your response and clarification on the origins of the meat and how it is labeled. I am still concerned that your website claims that the pigs used for the Hannaford Nature’s Place pork have access to grass when, according to Prairie Grove Farms, their pigs do not go outdoors. I think the claim is misleading and Hannaford should continue to make strides towards providing sustainable and humanely treated meat alternatives. I would also encourage Hannaford to work toward complete transparency when it comes to the origin of the food it sells to avoid the troubling “greenwashing” trend.

Thank you again for your time and response.

Sincerely,
Valerie MacMillan

******************************

November 30, 2012

Hello,

On November 2nd I submitted a follow-up submission via this website in response to a reply I received on a previous inquiry regarding Nature’s Place All-Natural Pork.  I have yet to receive a response and wanted to write again to voice my concerns over misleading information regarding the treatment of the pigs used in the Nature’s Place All-Natural Pork.

My original inquiry response was from Kelly Smoot and it included this at the bottom: Ref 3172251/kelsmo

After Kelly informed me of the difference between regular “All Natural” pork and the “Nature’s Place All-Natural Pork” I did some research on Prairie Grove Farms, your supplier of the Nature’s Place pork. The pigs of Prairie Grove Farms live inside barns and do not go outside or have access to grass as you claim on this page: http://www.hannaford.com/content.jsp?pageName=ONMeat&leftNavArea=FoodLoveLeftNav

I think using terms like “fresh air” and “running water” give people the false impression that the pigs live outdoors and have access to a stream. However, these terms really only mean that barns are ventilated and have water hoses.

If Hannaford truly wants to make a commitment to the humane treatment of animals raised for meat consumption I would strongly urge that you provide better transparency as to the origin of your meat and make available details of exactly how the animals are treated.  In the meantime, I have personally stopped purchasing all of my meats from Hannaford and am instead supporting local farms where I know how the animals have been treated.

I hope that Hannaford will stop the “green-washing” of products by eliminating misleading claims.  But I hope even more that a better effort could be made to provide humanely-treated meats in your store.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Valerie MacMillan

******************************

December 04, 2012

Dear Ms. MacMillan:

Thank you for contacting Hannaford. We are pleased to have the opportunity to respond.

Our Merchandising team has advised me that the program we use is one of the most sustainable that exists that is able to supply a company of our size. We appreciate you making us aware about the claims of access to grass and I will send this to our Marketing team so that this can removed from the website.

Again, thank you for contacting Hannaford. If we can further assist you, Ms. MacMillan, please do not hesitate to let us know.

Sincerely,

Andrea Vaughn
Consumer Research Specialist

Ref 3188024/andvau

If you’re going to salt, consider buying a pet-friendly alternative.  I definitely appreciate the need for salt on roadways and on the college campus, but on city sidewalks you can make the choice on how to clear your walkway.  Amazon carries a good variety of alternatives to rock salt.  If you’re courteous enough to clear your sidewalk for winter pedestrians, please consider the sensitive paws of the numerous K-9 pedestrians as well. We’re happy to keep poop off your lawn and we’d sincerely appreciate a salt-free sidewalk in return.  Thanks!

Dogs prefer warm fireplace rugs to raw, salty paws. Also, can you find the Brie Doodle?

Butternut Corn Chowder

Good Wine
I should change the name of my blog in October from Good Wine to Good Beer.  Maybe it’s some of that German blood, but I love beer when the leaves start to change. I bought a ridiculous number of pumpkin beers from Oliver’s last week.  Sadly, none have been all that great but I still have another half dozen to get through.

In Good Wine news, I have fallen in love with the little wine shop in the Hannaford plaza parking lot on Wolf Road.  They have a really nice selection and a variety of price ranges. I’ve found some great bottles in there.  The shopkeepers are really helpful too.

Good Dog
It’s October, forget about your pink plastic crap and ribbons made in China* – it’s Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog month! If you hadn’t noticed, I love my dogs. I am so grateful to Homeward Bound.   They rescue dogs from high kill shelters in the south and the dogs live in foster homes until they’re adopted.  Their dogs are fully vetted, spayed or neutered and are showered with love, training and affection until they are adopted. Homeward Bound is just one of the many great rescue organizations in the Capital District, but HB will always be near and dear to my heart for giving me my two amazing companions.  They have all kinds of dogs from small to big and purebred to crazy mixes (like my very own Kentucky Special, Agent Cooper). Mixed breeds are awesome – Agent Cooper has a stomach of steel and will probably live to 25 if his curiosity doesn’t kill him first. Not only that, but that boy stopped someone from robbing my neighbor’s house a few months ago. He’s a hero and he’s all mine.  Check out Homeward Bound’s Facebook page to see their current dogs available for adoption.

Princess Snores-a-lot

Agent Nibbler

*Cancer is an epidemic but we’re all “aware” of it and football players wearing pink shoes aren’t going to change a goddamn thing.  We all hate cancer; ribbons and bracelets aren’t doing anything to help. Want to help? Find a good charity that actually funds research and write them a check so that 100% of your money goes to the cause rather than the 1-5% that your purchase of useless pink and yellow crap is providing while someone else is raking in profits in the name of cancer “awareness”.  Maybe I should have put this under a “good whine” heading. 

I got the craving early on a Sunday so I set off for Hannaford. I usually just get the Hannaford natural brand.  Years ago I had learned that most pork was being “enhanced” -  injected with a solution that altered the taste and texture of the meat, making it inedible.  At least with the Hannaford All Natural I knew it was processed less than the name brand meat sitting nearby.  The one hunk of Boston butt was in a package with a hole so I went to the meat counter to ask for a different one. I told the meat cutter I wanted the Hannaford All Natural pork and he said all they had was Smithfield. I had the package with the hole and showed him that I wanted the same Hannaford brand. He then told me that all of their pork is Smithfield but anything that requires cutting just gets labeled in a Hannaford package.

Now, I didn’t expect Hannaford to have their own pig farms, but I also didn’t think they would take a big brand like Smithfield and put the Hannaford name on it. Here’s what is listed on Hannaford’s website about their all-natural pork:

Nature’s Place All-Natural Pork takes the taste and quality of pork to a whole new level. As a result of many years of experience and the development of an animal-friendly style of pork production, sows and pigs used for the Nature’s Place brand have unlimited access to grass, fresh air and running water. They are on a strictly vegetarian diet and never fed animal by-products. In addition, they are never given antibiotics or growth hormones.

My concern for a long time was just that I wanted my meat minimally processed. But in recent years it’s become evident that corporate farming has led to the criminal treatment of animals. I grew up in Illinois. Some of my family members have raised pigs and cows for slaughter but none of them were exposed to the conditions of today’s large-scale corporate farming. Smithfield is one of the worst offenders.  Murphy-Brown, LLC is in charge of the hog farming for Smithfield and I can’t find anything from Smithfield or Murphy-Brown that supports Hannaford’s claim of pigs having “unlimited access to grass, fresh air and running water”. They have a page about animal welfare on Murphy-Brown’s site and even in the pictures you don’t see any pigs living outdoors!

Although there have been recent strides to eliminate pig gestation crates, I’m still not ready to trust companies that would treat their animals that way in the first place.

Here’s the deal. Most of us eat meat. I, for one, will not be giving it up any time soon. It’s delicious. My teeth were made to tear apart that sweet, sweet flesh. I do love animals and not just because they’re tasty. But just because we raise them for the sole purpose of eating them, it doesn’t give us the right to treat them in an inhumane manner Like people, animals need grass under their feet/paws, mud between their toes/hooves, wind in their hair/fur and the sun overhead. They just do.

Here is one of my favorite piggy pictures from Our Farm in Easton, NY – this is what a pig’s life should be:

Our Farm happy pigs

I’ve been moving towards this for a while, but as I left the Hannaford meat counter, disgusted at their labeling Smithfield meats as something else and equally disgusted at myself for not asking the question sooner, I made the decision to only buy meats if I know where they come from.

I realize this won’t always be possible and may also require a phone call to Boar’s Head because how on earth will I give up their chipotle chicken?  But hey, I was able to walk away from that cheap pork roast at Hannaford, which means sometimes the choice will be to go without. What’s really unfair is that the majority of Americans probably don’t have the ability to make the same choice. Animals who are treated properly are damn expensive. I went to the Coop after leaving Hannaford and paid THREE TIMES as much for the same size cut of meat (I wasn’t ready to go without that day – and we did get 4 meals for two out of that pork). Talk about putting your money where your mouth is. But with proper planning I can do a little better.

First, the farm that my Coop piggy came from will sell directly to consumers and they charge $3 less per pound than the Coop.  Buying directly from the farmer will always save some money.  Also shopping the Adventure in Food Trading sales and stocking up on Stillwater pork is always good. Second, I could also bite the bullet and buy a quarter or a half of a pig or a cow. The price per pound is generally lower than the crappy meat they sell at Hannaford – plus you get all the good cuts. Third, and probably the best thing, would be to cut back on the frequency of meat meals. I am already eating more vegetarian meals this year than I ever have before so this shouldn’t be too difficult.

I worked from home Friday and was set up in the living room with the dogs. I went upstairs for a few minutes in the early afternoon and when I came back downstairs I found a candle I was burning was on its side and wax was all over the junk mail I’d left on that bookcase next to the candle.  Wax had spilled over the side of the bookcase and was pooled (caked) on the hardwood floors. The candle was one of those Aunt Sadie candles in a can and when I lifted it upright I saw the flame was still lit inside under a cave of wax. What the hell. This thing was lying on papers and still burning! If the wax hadn’t slide up the side of the can and created a bit of a barrier I would probably be writing this from the Holiday Inn.  I need to stop underestimating Agent Cooper’s interest in absolutely everything. I suppose a candle that smells like clementine and vanilla was too food-like for him to resist.

I received my iPhone 5 in the mail and had the opportunity try out the new Earpods when I (finally) bought the Punch Brothers’ latest record, Who’s Feeling Young Now?  The Earpods are easier to get used to than the old Earbuds (which made my ears bleed when I first started using them!) and the sound is excellent. I set down my phone and Earpods to go check something out in the basement and when I returned 3 minutes later my new phone and the Earpods were on the floor. While the phone is alright, the Earpods were totally destroyed.  I got about 45 minutes out of them. $30 later, I should be getting another pair in the mail in two weeks.  In all the times I’d set down my old iPhone and Earbuds Coop never once expressed interest. In any event, I snapped a good shot and submitted it to Dog Shaming. We’ll see if it gets posted.

Agent Cooper’s First Dog Shaming Submission

And so no one forgets who is the best dog in the world here a pic to remind you that it’s Wrigley.

High Five

Yeah, it’s Wrigley.