Dream Home: Metro-Ship

I have found my dream home – the Metro Ship houseboat.

Boats start at $239,000 and the fully loaded price is $317,000.

Time to start saving.

Summer Radish Dip

Last Sunday, I attempted to see Les Nubians at Summerstage as I had mentioned a little while ago.  One of the best things to do when going to outdoor concerts is coming equipped with a little snack, so I hit the Columbia Farmer’s Market and ended up with radishes for a radish dip I’ve been interested in trying, button carrots (as seen in the photo above) and fresh zucchini. I got the recipe for the radish dip from AllRecipes.com, but ended up doing my fair share of changes.

My friends and I ended up getting to Central Park after Summerstage was at full capacity, but we opted to just plant ourselves right outside the venue and listen to all the awesome live music happening. Meanwhile the radish dip was enjoyed with the music. It was refreshing and great paired with zucchini sticks, little tomatoes and carrots. Perfect for being outside for hours. Here’s my modified radish dip recipe below.

Radish Dip

• 4 cloves of fresh garlic
• a lot of radishes (I had about 12 nice sized radishes in my bunch and I used them all)
• 2 8 oz packages of American neufchâtel cheese or low-fat cream cheese
• salt

1. Place your garlic and radish in a food processor and chop away until you get finely minced pieces of garlic and radish

2. Mix with neufchâtel cheese until it looks and feels like a dip. Salt to taste

3. Chill until you’re ready to eat. Take random fresh veggies and start dipping!

* Also, I wanted to note that I think finely minced celery in the dip would also go a long way in this recipe

Windowsill Herbs

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I don’t think I need to explain this post much at all. Can someone please tell me what I’m doing wrong?! My cilantro and parsley are dead!

My theory for now is that the plants are in indirect sunlight (the only kind of sun my living room window gets since I’m facing north) and they need more. At least it looks as though I’ll be able to add chives to my meals…

Hibiscus Tea Sorbet

Last week, while browsing through my blogs, I came across an article on FitSugar for hibiscus tea popsicles.  As an avid sweet-toother and tea lover, my heart started racing. Tea in the form of that sticky sweet and delectable dessert known as the sorbet? No combination of words could have made me happier. I immediately started looking up popsicle molds on Amazon, thinking to myself how cute and colorful my future popsicles will be. Fortunately, I held back and reminded myself that I’m trying to learn to lead a frugal lifestyle. I want to learn how to be satisfied by my needs and experiences instead of just Stuff (notice the capital “S”).

During the two moments it took for me focus on my maintaining a frugal lifestyle and working on using what I have instead of creating new unnecessary needs, I recalled a purchase I made last year: an ice cream maker. I’ve always wanted to make new and different combinations of ice creams and sorbets and bought it on a whim last summer. Have I used it yet? Absolutely not.

So instead of making the completely unneeded purchase of some popsicle molds, I decided to finally give my ice cream making machine a shot and make some hibiscus tea sorbet.

To lighten up the recipe for sorbet in general, I used agave nectar instead of sugar. The fact that the sorbet is based on tea means that the only calories in it come from the agave nectar, since the other two ingredients are just water and a tea sachet.

The result: a pink frozen delight! (and only 2 Weight Watchers points per cup of sorbet)

Hibiscus Tea Sorbet

• 2 cups water
• 1 Tazo Passion tea sachet
• 1/2 cup light agave nectar
• 1 fresh lemon or 3 tablespoons of lemon juice

1. Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the Tazo Passion tea sachet and allow to steep for 15 minutes.

2. Add 1/2 cup of agave nectar and frseh lemon juice to the tea.

3. Chill mixture in fridge until it reaches room temperature.

4. Put your ice cream maker to work! If you’re not into the “soft serve sorbet” then transfer sorbet to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden for at least 2 hours.

Happy 4th of July

Random Act of Green No. 2

You know you’re doing something right when even the farmers and their employees applaud your living sustainably efforts at the farmer’s market. My random act of green number two was to stop using those flimsy little plastic bags to bag produce. Because I still appreciate cuteness and craftiness, I bought six of these owl mesh bags from Miss Motleys Etsy shop. And although I love the practicality of the mesh bags allowing me to see the produce I bought quite easily, I also really enjoyed these produce bags from WonderThunder.

Explosions in the Sky

Yesterday, I got to see Explosions in the Sky. They rocked it in Central Park. I was happy.

That’s the abridged version. The unabridged version goes as follows: I bought the tickets back in March and have been looking forward to it since. Turns out a couple of my coworkers were planning on going to the concert as well. Plans were made. Excitement ensued.

Well, the closer the concert got the more it became apparent we would have to cross our fingers for the rain to stop in NYC long enough for Explosions to go onstage. We left work while the rain struggled with the identity crisis unsure whether it should be light or a full-raged storm. After walking with umbrellas attached to our arms, we decided to stroll into a bar and wait for the rain to figure its purpose.

As you can see from the blurry photo above, we not only got to Summerstage in time for Explosions to come on stage, but the rain also let up and gave way to a beautiful night sky. Awesome.

Word Imagery.

“Despite  the heat Holmes looked fresh and crisp. As he moved through the station, the glances of young women fell around him like wind-blown petals.”

The Necessary Supply (page 35) The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson

Weekly Weigh-in

149 lbs this week. And the cycle starts going downward once more. Luckily, I finally think my knee can start handling more than just what I normally walk in a day. I’ll still take it easy, but last weekend I was able to do a little bike ride with no pain! This is a good sign.

The Land of Oz

I still don’t know what came over me that one time. I had made a very well thought-out album on Facebook (complete with clever commentary and everything) and I deleted it.

Well here it is: Australia pictures in all their glory on my Flickr page. From here on out I think I’ll stick to uploading photos on Flickr as opposed to Facebook. I just like it more.