Just Talkin'

Just because I'm not doing much of my own cooking (and certainly am not inspired by what I actually have managed to throw together) doesn't mean I haven't been paying attention to anything food-related. I gotta do something while dreaming of finally getting into my cute new kitchen (5 weeks and 2 days, but who's counting?!).

This morning on the Today Show (haven't seen that show in ages and had forgotten why I love it so much!) a contributing editor from Bon Appetit (another of my personal favorites!) provided some tips on cooking delicious, gourmet recipes year-round while maintaining a level of frugality; I liked her recommendations of buying in-season (a tip that she repeated numerous times) ingredients and produce, and changing what you cook throughout the year according to those ingredients - and she didn't mean just the fresh fruit and veggies you eat but also what you make with them! Another tip she mentioned was not to be tempted by the first thing that you see right when you enter your grocery store because very often, the less-costly but equally tasty and beautiful produce lie just around the corner. *My two cents... you've probably heard this before: shop around the perimeter of your store and not the interior - though admittedly, this is more of a calorie-reducing strategy than a cost-cutting measure.

The nice lady from Bon Appetit also proposed a few recipes that she claims get you more "bang for your buck" - ways to eat fresh and healthy without going broke. As we like pretty much anything with avocados, I'll definitely give the spinach salad a try; this will allow us to take advantage of using in-season ingredients, too! Yet another to add to the "to cook" list!

And, as a quick 180 from the yummy food talk... did anyone catch the "Ice Man" feature on the Today Show this morning? Turns out that through an interesting mind over body-type exercise, he can withstand freezing temperatures for long periods of time! Tomorrow he will attempt to break his own world-record by remaining submerged in ice for over 71 minutes - a record I will go out on a limb and say will remain his for a very long time.