h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If K and I didn't have the two incomes, say I just had mine, I'd be spending probably $1 out of every $5 or so on groceries. When we weren't both working, we wound up eating a *lot* of crap- like ramen (pot noodles?). Lots of cold cereal for dinner. You know- student food!

I limited myself to one take-out or restaurant meal per month, and one pretzel/falafel/other ready-made quick food per week.

My usual method of deciding what to have for dinner was to walk by the greengrocer's on the way back from Uni and buy whatever was on special. And I cooked bigger portions of things like ratatouille and lasagna when I made them, so I could freeze some to have after training.

Of course, it helped that I had two Aldis in walking distance, there was a Turkish supermarket at one end of the block and a regular one at the other, and I passed two greengrocers, two bigger supermarkets, and an Asian shop on the way back from Uni...

I don't freeze much stuff I cook- usually when I make dinner, I'll make enough for us both to have dinner and lunch for the next day (on weeknights and Sundays). But other than that next day's lunch, I don't really care much for leftovers, and when I do wing up with too much of something, with rare exceptions, it sits in the freezer so long it has to be thrown out.


I usually eat whatever I take to work for lunch by 8 AM regardless of what it is. Then I don't eat again, except an afternoon apple, till dinner.


Felafel- I've made them from scratch and that is one thing I'd just as soon buy ready-made. Also we occasionally buy a package of frozen tater tots, to have on hand for emergency "comfort food" moments. Frozen pizza and veggie corn dogs would be the other "prepared" foods we get somewhat regularly, besides cereal, condiments or tofu. I can't bring myself to make my own tofu- it's too time consuming!

I suppose things change once you're a proper grown-up (and cooking for more than one person. ) I was simply always too cheap to eat out or buy prepared dishes.

It's much more fun being an improper grown-up, if you ask me...

Tee hee.

I'll second that, Ivan!

Funnily enough, Mala, as much as I enjoy cooking, when I've had just myself to worry about, I'm as likely to make a meal of pickles or a slice of bread or something like that as to cook a "proper" meal. And that's if I remember to eat at all.

I'll remember that, Ivan.

And not cooking wears thin after a few weeks. I usually cook every other day, if it's just for myself, and make two portions so I can have leftovers the next day.

But it often ends up just being pancakes, too.

Oh, and there are some things I'm too cheap to do for the most part. For someone who's as keen on film as I am, I make it to an actual theater maybe a couple times a year. I believe last year we went four times, three of which were at a local indie theater with slightly lower ticket pricing. Otherwise, unless it's something I'm *dying* to see, or friends want to make an outing of it, I feel too cheap to spend as much for the tickets as I will for the DVD release.

What really burns me there is that I have a stack of free passes for AMC Theaters I got for Christmas 2008, and none of the movies we've wanted to see (or have seen) in the last two years have played there.

Mal:
At least felafel's a *good* takeaway! I wish you could get it more easily here.

A lot of the kebab places have it here.

Though I must admit that my real indulgence takeaway was chips with satay sauce. Not often, but there were days I just needed them

There's a place near my work that does a fantastic felafel sandwich. Pita, sliced open on one side, stuffed with several felafel, hummus, lettuce, onion, tomato, cucumber, tahini and chili-garlic sauce. Their lentil soup is also to die for.

The Middle Eastern restaurant nearest home does't do such good felafel, but they have a harissa/roasted red pepper dip and mashed potato croquette-type things stuffed with mushroom, spinach and dill.

It sounded good until the dill

The Caucasian restaurant here uses some intersting spice - I can't figure out what it is, but it's very distinctive and in most of their dishes.

Hmm, now you've piqued my curiosity, too.

I've got some dried sumac that's called for in a lot of ME dishes, it imparts a slight tartness but more subtle than, say, a twist of lime or something.

I always thought you were , but your saying you dislike dill confirms that beyond all doubt. I love it so much, when I use it in cooking I eat as much of it raw as I put into the dish.

No, it's not tart. I think it might be coriander leaves, but I'm not sure.

You can have my dill, then

Coriander leaves = cilantro, IIRC? It's possible. I'm not entirely sure what Caucasian cuisine entails. But now I'm more curious than ever (and if it is cilantro, I love it, so I'd want to try whatever that is). Do you know what the dish in question is called? I'd love to look it up!

Agh- I just re-read that is in *most* of their dishes, so I'll just take a gander at what some of those might be right now while I'm on my "lunch hour". I guess I should be wearing my glasses, though, since I keep mis-reading things...

I believe that you're right, and it's probably cilantro. So now i've found a couple of Georgian recipes I need to try.

Georgian food:
http://bonoboworld.blogspot.com/2008/01/geor-geor-geor-geor-georgias-always-on.html

I remember that post! (Though no can view blogs from here, I still remember which post it was after two years!)

Poked around teh interwebs looking for various Georgian foods, and a lot of the stuff I found was similar to things I've seen in Turkish and Eastern European places around here.

Which makes me think of another local place, different kind of cuisine, called Little Bucharest, which has re-opened in my neighborhood after a few years' hiatus. The owner used to be the sole US importer of Drakul, a Transylvanian beer. I haven't been there in years because there isn't much there I'd eat. Used to pop in once in a while with beer-loving friends. I don't love beer (I'm actually allergic).