Another new year and a new decade is here! While the past decade was a really good one overall – possibly the best of the almost three and a half of what I’ve lived through- the year 2009 was one of the worst ever. I don’t want to sound too ungrateful, I do have a pretty awesome life with a great partner who is also my best friend, a loving family, some wonderful friends and a decent job. All I need is to be a little more healthy, just strengthen …

A few pics from our Italy Trip

The title of this post is not that accurate, as we didn’t cover the entire gastronomic landscape of Italy in this trip, especially the country side. Yes, it was in the original plan, but a last minute illness caused us to cut down a few precious days from our much awaited trip to the culinary capital of the world. So this post is really about our culinary experiences in Rome and Venice; thankfully these are two cities with some rich and diverse cuisines to offer, more than enough to fill …

I just remembered that I never wrapped up my Hunger Challenge daily recap. The last day on the hunger challenge was very uneventful, with some quick and easy sandwiches with sautéed ground chicken and spinach for lunch and a meal out of various leftovers for dinner for a total of $6.83.

This brings our weekly total to $46.86 less than the budgeted $60, but as I mentioned before I have so many resources at my disposal that made this challenge easier than it is for most of those who …

 
I don’t have much to say today. I’ve been blogging daily for the past 5 days, which is a lot for someone who’s been doing just 4 posts per month since February. So I’ll just jump right into the day’s tally and the recipe. 
It was a really cheap day at $7.20, as the lunch was from yesterday’s left-overs. This brings our weekly total to $40.04, which means we have $20 leftover for tomorrow. I can finally afford a latte!

Spicy Chicken and Lettuce Wraps with Garlic Yogurt Dressing
This …

Third day on the hunger challenge and I am beginning to appreciate the cause more and more with each passing day. We both worked pretty late today and normally after a late night like that, we just get some take-out without thinking twice about it. Obviously that wasn’t an option today, we had to come home and make dinner. I was so worn out that I could’ve just eaten some bread and crashed. But I wanted to do this right; my whole intention for this challenge was to share some …

We are on Day 2 of the hunger challenge. This challenge is way harder than I imagined. Apart from having to cook three times a day, keeping track of the ingredient list and not being able to use random ingredients are the most challenging factors for me. I am the type of cook who throws this and that in to any dish, and not being able to use “this or that” has been really cramping my style. I really wanted to use some balsamic vinegar and extra virgin …

Today was the first day on the Hunger Challenge where we had to spend just $12 on breakfast, lunch and dinner for two. I am too tired to type out the details, but here is the table that shows what we had, and how much each meal came to.
Even though the total came very close to the budgeted $12 for the day, I have enough left overs from dinner which will be our lunch tomorrow.  So tomorrow’s cost is going to be lower.
I used spices from my pantry, and  have …

First of all, I want to thank everyone who offered some really helpful suggestions for living on a $7 a day budget. In case you are wondering what this is all about, I am doing the Hunger Challenge this week (04/20-04/24) as part of the Hunger Action Week organized by United Way. The challenge is to live off $7 a day ($12 for two) for the whole week. For complete details, please check my previous post.
I got some great ideas from your comments, but when it came down to …

A few days ago, a representative of United Way of King County contacted me about a challenge they are organizing for the Hunger Action Week (4/20-4/24). The challenge is to live off of $7’s worth of food a day (more for families, see below) for an entire week.

Why $7?  Because it is the maximum food assistance benefit available for an individual in Washington.  United Way is trying to involve local food bloggers in the challenge to raise awareness about hunger in the local community. Because of the economic downturn, many …

Whenever I see photos of beautiful green vegetable gardens on someone’s blog, I start dreaming. I picture a beautiful garden filled with rows and rows of  colorful veggies, lined with fruit trees. There we are, sitting in the middle of the garden sipping our morning coffee, looking at the crops to decide the day’s menu. Then another vision, we are throwing a barbecue party.  Our guests are sitting in the shade of the mango trees, sipping fresh mojitos made of course with mint and lime from our garden. I am …

Two sure signs that the weight loss program has been successful:
- Parents take one look at you and get really sad!
- Relatives and neighbors think recession has hit you really hard!
Now I just have to make sure that I don’t get too “prosperous” in these three weeks.
Not being able to weigh myself daily is driving me nuts. So the first order of business – buy a weighing scale!
Will keep you posted!

Kumarakom Backwaters – Taken on our houseboat trip from last year

I’ve been seeing this topic creep up a lot lately, in magazines, web sites and in conversations with friends. What is the proper way to settle the tab at a restaurant while dining out as a group? Do you always split the bill equally or figure out who ate what for how much and settle it accordingly?

Another new year is here, time for new resolutions, a chance for a fresh start. Well, at least for just a few days let’s pretend that everything is going to change and we are all going to be better human beings. I didn’t make any new year resolutions this year, I don’t have a great track record when it comes to new year resolutions. That’s why I didn’t wait till the new year to make a change, and so far it’s been great. 
Today is also the second birthday of this …

Last Saturday we spent the whole day drinking wine from all over the world and tasting a wide variety of lip smacking food prepared by some of the top chefs in Seattle. All thanks to Foodbuzz – a community devoted to food and dining. Being a featured publisher on Foodbuzz gets you a lot of perks in addition to the ad revenue, one of the best perks is the free admission to cool food events as a Foodie Correspondent of Foodbuzz.
I really didn’t know what to expect when I volunteered …

Sra tagged me for a book me-me a while ago. The rules for this me-me are-Pick up the nearest book-Open to page 123-Find the 5th sentence-Post the next three sentences-Tag 5 people and acknowledge the person who tagged you.
At the time I read Sra’s post, I had five books next to me- two were geek stuff, one poker book and two others which I could actually use, but both turned out to have the shortest sentences one could write in the chosen page and position. So I cheated and went …

I found this very interesting little activity going on around the blogosphere and wanted to play along too. This was originated by Andrew of the Very Good Taste blog.
In Andrew’s on words
“Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food – but a good omnivore should really try it all.”
If you want to play along, here are the rules.
1) Copy this list …

I am so behind on blogging that I never finished my Las Vegas restaurant trilogy from the first week of June!  I left the best for last; now after almost two months my memory is a little dicey! Same is the case with so many Seattle restaurants in my drafts, but those I can go back and refresh my memory any time I want.   With so many more Vegas restaurants remaining in our must-try list, a Las Vegas repeat is going to take a while. So I am just going …

 
This certificate came in mail yesterday, along with a letter from the editor of the Seattle Magazine. I don’t have words to describe how I felt, I was in seventh heaven! I have been neglecting the restaurant part of the blog lately, and this one gave me a much needed kick in the backside to bring that lost enthusiasm back. Lately I haven’t been taking pictures of our meals out, or even if I do I sit on those for so long that I forget about the whole experience by …

Leavenworth – a charming town in WA where we spent a relaxing July 4th weekend. A beautiful house in the middle of nowhere surrounded by Pear orchards and the stunning Wenatchee river in the backyard; lots and lots of food, drinks and games… it was truly the perfect weekend! Inspired by the resemblance of its countryside to Bavarian Germany, Leavenworth was remodeled as a Bavarian village in the 1960s. The town center is beautiful with its quaint Bavarian architecture, but sorry, I didn’t take any pictures of the buildings on …