All About A Boy

I had an *amazing* week filled with breakthroughs and accomplishments and I look forward to sharing them here in the not-so-distant future.

Today was a gorgeous, sunny day made all the more perfect by how it was spent: the morning was filled with playing with my son, eating homemade cinnamon buns on the porch and tending my garden and this afternoon we had a lovely visit with my parents.

I'm looking ahead to another full week - working a clinic day and a 24-hour shift in the hospital and preparing for my son's birthday party on Saturday. With all that will be happening, I am setting the intention that I am peaceful and centered.

I want more than anything to be present, to *be* with my son this week - the week we begin to celebrate his birth. (If you know me, you know I think one day is not enough to celebrate a birth - even a week is pushing it.)

So, in honor of him, I am going to keep this short, and I probably will not post for the rest of the week. I will have a lot to share next week.

This week I am rejoicing in my boy. This picture tells so much about him: We only had 3 juice boxes left and he insisted on giving them to his friends. He also helped pick the flowers for the table and put them in a sippy cup as a vase. He was dismayed later to find that they were left behind after their visit: He had intended them as a gift.

What's Cooking 4.27-5.3

Before I run my usual post I have to share the most exciting news!



Yesterday I acquired my first two gallons of raw milk!!! I have been searching for a local source for *months* and I finally found it in my backyard!

The milk actually comes from South Carolina (it is illegal to sell raw milk in North Carolina), but there is a local woman who drives south every two weeks, procures the milk and then sells it here.

This woman lives 2 blocks away from me - next door to a friend of mine! But I found out about her from another woman who babysits for another friend - that's a pretty circuitous path, don't you think?

Now that I finally found this source I will get two gallon of luscious *real* milk every two weeks. The cost is $8/gallon which is comparable to the price or organic milk in our local stores and, to my mind, cheap at twice that price.

I love that I am supporting healthy, pasture-raised cows to do what they do naturally. If your wondering what the big deal is about raw milk (like my husband), you must read the whole fascinating story here.

Now to run the numbers: Keeping with the challenge to buy local and/or organic food on a budget I spent $32.58 at Amazing Savings and $34.07 at Green Life. The cost of food this week included $16 for milk and $66.65 for food, for a grand total of $82.65.

I also spent $26.23 on these non-food items:
$6.99 for 12 rolls of environmentally-friendly TP, $7.49 for Emergen-C (My husband swears this stuff keeps him cold-free. He wasn't thrilled with the pink lemonade flavor - he prefers tangerine - but it usually costs over $12 for the 36 packets so he was pleased over-all.), and $11.75 for 1/2 pound of organic loose-leaf green tea (my husband's one spend-thrift vice: massive consumption of quality tea).

This week marks the end of the month's challenge to buy sustainable food on a budget and I am thrilled to report that my monthly food costs came in at $310.08 - almost $10 under the goal of $320 I set for the month. Yay!

I feel confident that I can keep up with this challenge, especially since my CSA share will start up in May. I already paid into it so I should save at least $20 on my weekly produce costs and I hope to use those savings to buy some local meat from pasture-raised animals.

The pool we belong to has grills for our use and after a late-afternoon swim, the bratwursts from Hickory Nut Gap Farm are insanely good and make up the perfect meal with homemade rolls and coleslaw (made with homemade mayo, of course).

Here's what were eating this week:

Monday:
Black Bean Chilaquiles
Green Salad

Tuesday: (I'm in the hospital for my 24-hour call shift.)
Leftovers

Wednesday:
Whole Wheat Penne
with Ricotta, Broccoli and Kale (see recipe posted below)

Thursday:
African Groundnut Stew
Whole Wheat Couscous
Green Salad

Friday:
Homemade Pizza
with Roasted Peppers and Pepperoni
Spinach Salad

Saturday:
The Taqueria Truck Comes to Our Home!
(My Son's 4th Birthday Party! More about that later!)

Sunday:
Curried Split Peas
Brown Rice
Sweet Potatoes

Whole Wheat Penne with Ricotta, Broccoli and Kale
Serves 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

2 1/2 cups dry whole wheat penne
2 cups broccoli florets
2 cups coarsely chopped kale
1 14 1/2-ounce can fire-roasted, diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup part-skim ricotta
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup julienned fresh basil leaves
Salt to taste
Fresh Grated Parmesan Cheese

1. Bring at least 6 cups water to boil in a large pot. Add salt to season. Add pasta and cook according to package directions, adding broccoli and kale during the last 3 minutes of cooking.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, ricotta, oil, vinegar, and garlic; mix well.

3. Drain pasta and cooked vegetables; add to bowl and toss well.

4. Transfer to four plates and top with basil and Parmesan. Add salt to taste.

Food Waste for the Week

No food waste again this week! But I *almost* wasted a cup of whipping cream. My mom gave me a pint because she realized she wouldn't use it.

(I don't think I'm the only one who has food pressed into my hands because the assumption is that *I* won't waste it. I'm always glad that folks want to avoid waste, but putting the food in my hands does make avoiding waste more challenging.)

I used it for coffee for guests at Olga's dessert party and a sauce for butternut ravioli and that used up about a cup, but it has since languished in the fridge.

Last night I poured it in a measuring cup to take a picture for this post, but it poured smoothly and smelled fresh. So I asked my husband if he would eat a pumpkin pie if I made it with the questionable cream and his was an enthusiastic yes. (I have a can of the pumpkin puree that has been gathering dust since Thanksgiving which has also been weighing on my conscience.)

Once again I am grateful to this challenge for compelling me to come up with ways to avoid waste. In the past I would have thought nothing of throwing the cream away. Now we can anticipate (I hope) a delicious pie after dinner tonight.

Celebrating Thrift, Fashion and Fun!

I made a friend through the blog-o-sphere who may, in fact, be my separated-at-birth twin. What else to make of someone with whom I share so many interests? I mean, she listed "studies on happiness" as one of her passions on the profile page of her blog!

Angela's blog mostly documents her experience as she makes her way through a year without spending money on anything new and it is fantastic. She created a series called "Thrifty Threads" to highlight the fact that you can still have fun with fashion and look great without spending a lot of money. I saw her first post and knew I wanted to participate and in today's post you can find my submission.

The post tells most of the story, but I thought of some things to add: I bought that jacket from Enchanted Forrest, Asheville's finest consignment shop, in the fall of 2007 and when cold weather hits I wear it all the time - it's cost-per-wear is in the pennies.

Also, in exchange for helping my mom clean and organize her closets she always lets me take items she no longer wants and they go to this shop. Every time I go in there I have money waiting for me from those sales and I take it and put it in my "fun money jar" or I apply it to a purchase within the store - a win/win for everyone! And that, of course, makes me very happy.

A Five-to-One Ratio (At Least)

On Friday I got the May issue of The Sun, my favorite literary magazine. I always look forward to reading it - besides the excellent writing, it is published in Chapel Hill, where I met and fell in love with my husband, and he worked for it for a while, too, so it will always be dear to me. Even when I cut out every other "expendable" item from our spending, the Sun subscription stays.

This month the interview is with Barbara Fredrickson, a psychologist who works at UNC-Chapel Hill and studies my favorite field, positive psychology. Her newest book is titled Positivity and discusses the findings of her research that show that there is a mathematical formula by which success (in terms of production in a business sense, or feeling happy in a more personal sense) can be predicted by the number of positive events to negative ones. The "tipping point" where good things start to happen occurs at a ratio of three to one.

I think this finding can tell us a lot about life - how to perceive it and how to live it with great satisfaction. She states, "If we're aware of the tipping point ratio, it could make a big difference in how we choose to live our lives." There are always going to be negative events in our lives, and we may not be able to *do* anything about them. But we always have the ability to increase the positive events in our lives by focusing our attention on what makes us feel good.

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 11th anniversary, but we didn't celebrate it in the way we had planned (brunch at our favorite outdoor cafe) because he was held up at the annual Democratic county convention. When he called with the news that he wouldn't make our date I was upset. After about 90 seconds of feeling angry and resentful, I realized that I had a choice: I could continue to feel bad, bemoaning the fact that I couldn't do the thing I wanted to do, or I could think of something else I'd like to do.

Besides spending time with my husband I was looking forward to ordering my favorite sandwich from this particular cafe - a BLAT (bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato) - so when I went to the market I got the ingredients to make my own. (It was delicious!) I also was looking forward to spending time outside on a beautiful day with a dear friend. So I called another dear friend and we took a walk in a gorgeous neighborhood I didn't know existed - after living in my town for 11 years, I felt like I was walking in a quaint, foreign village where every street is tree-lined and bursting with flowers.

When my husband got home we enjoyed a lovely meal on our back porch with our son. Young son ate a few bites and then spent the rest of our meal showing us all his new "tricks" he has developed on his play set. It turned out to be a perfect celebration of our anniversary - with dinner and a show!

I don't have a recent picture of us all together, but I dug up this one from last Fall. To me it is a wonderful testament to our marriage - one filled with so much positivity I think it is off the charts. (The title for this post is from Dr. Fredrickson's finding that solid marriages share at least a five-to-one ratio of positive to negative emotions.)

This week I'm rejoicing in my wonderful husband and the flourishing marriage and family we have created.

What's Cooking 4.20-4.26

I work on Monday for the next two weeks, so Saturday is the best day for me to get in this post, and may continue to if I end up frequenting the Farmer's Market on Saturday. My son and I went yesterday and had a blast. There was live music - a trio playing banjo, fiddle and guitar - that my son just loved and made him dance his own little gig that was so infectious in its joy that I had to join along.

Our favorite baker was there, too, and we shared a delicious banana chocolate chip muffin. (When asked late that night what his favorite part of the day was he cited the muffin. He's a foodie after my own heart for sure.) Our farmers only had plant starts - and I've learned from past years that we can still get a pretty mean frost before Mother's Day, so I'll hold off on planting my garden for a few more weeks.

So it was off to our regular grocery stores: I spent $38.05 at Amazing Savings on these items - the big score this week was Buy One, Get One Free on the Stonyfield Farms organic dark chocolate frozen yogurt - 2 containers for $1.49. And I got more of Barbara's organic kid's cereal because my kid loves it and at $1.25 (compared with over $4 usual retail) it's the one item I think is worth stockpiling.



and $49.50 at Earth Fare for these -





For a grand total of $87.10 - a little over my dream budget of $80 but I have been under the last two weeks so I think it will come out fine by the end of the month.

I continue to be impressed by the cost of organic/local produce - I scored a pound of organic butter at Amazing Savings last week and thought it was a good price at $2.50 (I paid $2 for a pound at Aldi), but hadn't priced organic butter in a long time and just tonight I noticed that a pound of organic butter at Earth Fare is $6.50!

I mentioned in an earlier post that Amazing Savings does not order/stock items, but simply acts as a clearing house for other stores who give up their goods once the expiration date hits or an item somehow loses its pristine sheen. (I bought a couple of cans of organic beans that were quite dented, but at 79 cents I snapped them up and they will make a nice quick lunch with greens sometime this week if we don't have leftovers.)

Here's the really big news from the shelves - I looked at the price of organic mayonnaise at Earth Fare. (I googled the price last week when I wrote about making my own and the price I hit was a little over $5.) The cost for 32 ounces of the stuff at Earth Fare? $10.65!!! At that price, I will continue to make our mayonnaise for the foreseeable future.

As I've said before, I want to keep our food costs low because it's such an obvious area where we can save money to free up funds for other things we'd like to do. (I started to look into rentals for a beach house in September and with the money we have been saving on groceries I think we will be able to rent a home on the beach for a week, not just a long weekend as I originally thought.)

I also want to make choices that support safe and humane practices in the production of our food. It has required some extra planning, creativity and flexibiliy, but so far I have created the conditions for us to have our sustainable cake (or vegan sanwich loaf, as the case may be) and eat it, too.

Here's what we're eating this week:

Monday:
Five Bean Casserole
Green Salad

Tuesday:
Potato, Spinach and Chickpea Curry
Brown Rice

Wednesday:
Whole Wheat Penne
with Beans and Greens

Thursday:
Stracciatella (Italian Egg Drop Soup)
Homemade Whole Wheat Rolls

Friday:
Pizza (with homemade crust and sauce)
Roasted Peppers and Onions
Spinach Salad

Saturday:
Black Bean Chili with Dark Ale
Corn Scones

Sunday:
Asparagus-Ricotta Frittata with Parmesan
Spinach Salad
Grapefruit

Food Waste for the Week

No waste for this week. Hooray! After the not-so-stellar showing last week, I'm so glad to be home and on top of things again. Interestingly, we are quite low on leftovers and food overall since I adopted the new challenge of eating local and/or organic. I'm still a little afraid of the prices, so I've been buying less, but we are down to our last banana and our last bit of milk (bought last Saturday, but it seems a gallon will only get us to a week around here).

Next week I'll try buying a *little* more of the staples we like to have on hand and still hope to avoid food waste. Also, tomorrow is the first day of the local Farmer's Market and I am SO excited to see what's on offer. I think it may take a little while before I can work out my shopping trips now - I have adopted the routine of going on Mondays, but I may need to change it to Saturdays. These are nice problems to have. :)

Homemade Mayonnaise

Last week at the Food Renegade's Fight Back Fridays someone posted a recipe for homemade ketchup that inspired me to...*think* of making homemade ketchup. (The recipe looks a little too spice-intensive - I think my husband and I would love it, but the main consumer of ketchup in our house is our little one and I don't want to spend a lot of time and energy on a product that needs to be eaten within a week when no one in our family uses it that much.)

The post *did* inspire me to make homemade mayonnaise. I'm not the biggest fan, but my husband likes it and always includes it when making his sandwiches. We were coming to the end of our commercial supply and since I have taken a challenge to buy only local or organic food I was not looking forward to spending over $5 on a 16 ounce jar of the stuff. I made homemade mayonnaise for the first time last December to make the pimento cheese I served at my holiday party and it was fantastic and really very, very easy.

I modified a recipe from the lovely Sara Foster's Foster's Market Cookbook (her cafes are in Durham and Chapel Hill, NC and we go whenever we can) and here it is:

1 large egg
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cups of canola or safflower oil

1. Place the egg, vinegar, and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse to blend. With the motor running, add the mustard and garlic.
2. Add the oil in a slow, steady stream down the feed tube, with the motor running, until the mixture becomes thick and is the consistency of mayonnaise.

You can add all kinds of other herbs to dress it up like fresh basil and parsley, but it has plenty of flavor as is. We made egg salad yesterday from fresh eggs from our chickens and it was dreamy, absolutely the best I'd ever had in my life.

This post will be my contribution to this week's Fight Back Friday.

What's Cooking 4.13-4.19

I was up all last night attending births at the hospital so I barely made it to the shops for groceries before I *had* to get home and collapse into bed. I asked my husband to bring in the food from the car and take a picture of it before putting it away.

I really appreciate his help - I just think it's funny that he didn't take the items out of the bags as I do so you can really see the (to me beautiful) produce. Also missing from the picture is a gallon of organic milk I bought on Saturday - amazingly it was on sale (the "best by" date is today, but I know that it will be fine for another week) for only $2.50.

Last week was the first time in weeks I bought milk from pasture-raised cows and I couldn't bring myself to buy a whole gallon at the price (almost $8), but I learned that a half-gallon is simply not enough for our family. I am currently searching for a local source of raw milk, but it is a very underground operation (it's not legal to sell raw milk commercially in my state) and I'm not having the best luck. Until then I'll keep looking for the late Saturday-night sales of almost-expiration date organic milk.

I spent $36.61 at Amazing Savings for all organic produce and a box of organic kids' cereal and an almost-pound brick of cheddar cheese ($6) from local, pasture-raised cows. I bought the rest of our food from Earth Fare and spent $27.20, mostly on bulk locally-milled whole wheat flour and other grains and legumes.

The big experiment this week is that my husband will try to use some dry wheat gluten flour to make a vegan "loaf" to slice and use in sandwiches. If it is a success I'll post the recipe, if it isn't I hope the chickens will eat it. :)

With the addition of the milk purchase the grand total this week is $66.31. The Crunchy Chicken's (click on image above to learn more) sustainable food challenge is turning out to be quite a success!

Here is what we are eating this week:

Monday:
Pad Thai

Tuesday:
Butternut Squash Ravioli
Green Salad

Wednesday:
Lentil Curry
Brown Rice
Green Salad

Thursday:
Black Bean Enchiladas
Spinach Salad

Friday:
Pizza (homemade dough and sauce)
Roasted Peppers and Onions
Spinach Salad

Saturday:
Falafel
Homemade Pita Bread
Cucumber and Onion Salad

Sunday:
Whole Wheat Pancakes(we didn't have them last week - I forgot I was on call that day when I made the menu)
Bacon
Grapefruit

I Heart NY - expanded version

This Sunday I'm at work in the hospital and I am anticipating attending the birth of twin boys!

That would be enough cause for rejoicing and my attention to the mama's labor will necessitate a short post today, but I would be remiss if I didn't take the time I have at the moment to post on my trip to NYC last week.

Before arriving in New York I came across an article reviewing "mom and pop" restaurants in lower Manhattan. They all sounded wonderful and my family was very gracious in allowing me to choose where we would eat each night.

We were at Elettaria the night documented in the pictures below, where the chef offers a sort of fusion of Indian and American dishes. The reviewer invited the highly esteemed Madhur Jaffrey to dine with him and noted that she is very critical of a Western chef misusing Indian spices and ingredients. At the end of their meal, however, she was clearly impressed by how the chef had mastered this sort of interplay and I concur.

All of the restaurants - Soto (think sushi tapas), Falai (think Italian artisan - all the pasta and bread are made in house) and Eletarria - were smallish and had open kitchens (you could see the chefs prepare your meals) and fabulous. I heartily recommend all of them and can't wait to get back.

I also read up on the New Yorker to be apprised of what was happening in the theatres and museums. We decided we really didn't have time to take in a show - the trip was intended as a time to connect with family and friends and not *do* too much (if you read my post on my last trip to NYC, you know I just like to *be* there), but we did manage to get to the Frick and the Met. We spent a couple of delightful hours at the Bonnard exhibit. He was an Impressionist and the works shown were from the two decades before his death in 1947.

This from the review in the New Yorker: "The light is Mediterranean squared. The hour is lunchtime forever. The visual experience can suggest a happy flaw in your eyesight: incandescent cataracts...Bonnards pictures stymie mental clarity as effectively as that postprandial extra glass of wine." For this art lover, foodie and oenophile (post-prandial means after eating, by the way, for you non-medical folks out there - I had to define it for my brother), it was the perfect trifecta.

I got some great pictures from Friday night and then somehow, inexplicably, I never picked up my camera again. We had so much to celebrate: my parents' 45th wedding anniversary, my brother's 28th birthday, and a reunion with one of our family's dearest friends. As you can see there was a lot of love!

With my brother:

Our friend specially ordered a cake and brought it to the restaurant. Happy Birthday!!!

Celebrating over 45 years of marriage (my parents on the right) and almost 40 years of friendship!

We love Elliot!

These pictures provide just a little glimpse of the trip that was the cause of much rejoicing!

Food Waste for the Week

We have our first food waste to report since the beginning of this challenge. I went to New York for a long weekend and left my husband and son at home with a bunch of meals I had prepared in advance of the trip. My husband found that he was not able to keep up with all the food I had planned for them and the vegetable stew with brown rice was left behind. A few grapes and a small amount of pear jam I canned at home were also casualties this week. Fortunately, our chickens loved every bit of it and I think they wish we would waste more food.

As I've said before, avoiding food waste requires constant vigilance. We were not up to the challenge this week - but there is always the next!

What's Cooking 4.6-4.12

As I wrote last week I am participating in the Crunchy Chicken's challenge to buy "sustainable" food on a budget. This is from her post:

I'd like to challenge us all to see if we can eat sustainably using the Food Stamp Allotment Program guidelines. It will take a lot of careful planning, but the end result is that we can save a lot of money on our food budget by trying to spend within this framework for a month.

Challenge Guidelines
So, here's the skinny. Based on the following allotment chart, you are to stick to the corresponding amount for food for the month of April. The challenge is that you must buy according to the following guidelines (from Locavores). Do not include non-food items or home grown items into your budget, but do include seeds and plants which produce food for the household to eat. Make sure you include all the food costs from eating out, trips to coffee shops, etc.

These are fairly loose rules, but the goal is to buy sustainably grown food:

1. If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic.
2. If not ORGANIC, then Family farm.
3. If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business.
4. If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Terroir: purchase foods famous for the region they are grown in.
5. Hit the farmers market before the supermarket.

Household Maximum Monthly Allotment Chart:
1 person - $176
2 people - $323
3 people - $463
4 people - $588
5 people - $698
6 people - $838
7 people - $926
8 people - $1,058
Each additional person - $132

The allotment allows for us to spend about $116 a week, since we are a family of 3. I asked my husband if he thought we should count our household as 2 1/2 since our child is only (almost) 4 and he said, "Are you kidding? This is the child who has created the meal between breakfast and lunch and dinner and bedtime."

If you follow this blog you know I'd like to keep our food budget to a weekly $80-100 *and* buy sustainable, preferably local and organic. Our CSA share doesn't start until mid-May but the farmers will start bringing whatever they have to market on April 18th. Until then I have to rely on Green Life, one of our whole foods markets, and yesterday all they had that was local and organic were sweet potatoes. Everything else I bought was organic.

Here's a picture of what I brought back:

I spent $65.09 with the bulk of the cost going toward milk from happy, pastured and hormone-free cows - $6.79 for a half-gallon of skim milk (when I used to pay $2.49 for a *gallon* at Aldi!) and $4.79 for a quart of buttermilk and $7.27 for a little less than a pound of cheese (which was on sale!).

So even though I was able to keep costs very low this week, this challenge will definitely require a lot more planning and creativity to keep us happily within our budget. To this end I will be making my first meal with a recipe for vegan "cheez" - the reviews were very favorable, so I am hopeful. We will also be making the vegan dad's recipe for sandwich "meat" because I will not be able to bring myself to buy organic deli meat at $12.99 a pound and my husband and child, who love sandwiches, are willing to make it the best of it.

Here's what we're eating this week.

Monday:
Butternut Squash and Chickpea Stew (from freezer)
Couscous
Green Salad

Tuesday:
Macaroni and Cheez
Green Salad

Wednesday:
Monastery Style Lentils (recipe below)
Corn Scones

Thursday:
Vegetarian Sloppy Joes
Homemade Whole Wheat Rolls
Sweet Potato Oven "Fries"

Friday:
Pizza (with homemade crust and sauce)
Pepperoni and Roasted Peppers and Onions
Spinach Salad

Saturday:
Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burritos
Tortilla Chips
Guacamole

Sunday:
Whole Wheat Pancakes
Bacon
Grapefruit



If you go to my copy of Diet for a Small Planet by the wonderful Frances Moore Lappe (first published in 1971 and I got my copy used in the early 90's), it will automatically open to the page with this recipe. I have been able to make it for a long time now without even pulling the book off the shelf. I love that the recipe is so forgiving - you can add anything to it and it will be great. But if you want an unbelievably rich French Onion Soup-like taste, be sure to include the sherry and Swiss cheese.

Monastery Style Lentils
Serves 4-6
Take about 10 minutes to prep, 45-60 minutes on stove - until lentils are perfectly tender.

In a large pot saute 3-5 minutes:
1/4 cup olive oil (I use a lot less)
2 large onions, chopped
1 carrot, chopped

Add and saute 1 minute more:
1/2 tsp each dried thyme and marjoram leaves

Add:
3 cups stock or seasoned water
1 cup dry lentils, washed
salt to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (I almost never add this, but add other dark, leafy greens instead)
1 lb. canned tomatoes

Cook in a covered pot until lentils are tender (45-60 minutes)
and add:
1/4 cup sherry

Have ready:
2/3 cup grated Swiss cheese

Top soup with 2 tbsp. of grated cheese in each serving bowl. Enjoy!

I Heart NY

I'm in NYC celebrating my parents' 45th wedding anniversary - Hooray! We are having such a wonderful time.

However, there will be no food waste photo or discussion about food waste this week. I left my fridge in good shape, so hopefully there will not be much to report next week either. But it's very possible that I missed something. Again, it seems that avoiding food waste requires constant vigilence and that is not possible this week. So, stay tuned because it's quite likely I'll have some food waste to report next week.

Hopefully I will get a chance to post on Sunday because I am rejoicing like crazy - NYC is my favorite city on the planet.