Grocery Day

So much going on in the last week and I didn't get a chance to post last week's groceries, and it was a challenging week because I went a little over budget. I needed coffee and it threw me off my game. I have to say though that nothing can beat Sahadi's Italian Roast for $4.75/lb, I think it has to be the biggest bargain in NYC, especially considering that I used to spring for Illy at $12 for 10oz.

This week will be even more challenging, because I need to buy olive oil. They were having a tasting at Sahadi's last week, so I know what I'll be getting - I love a spicy super-tasty olive oil, but it's going to put a serious strain on my budget and creativity.

Check it

Check out my post on Recessionwire.com about learning to cook

101 Simple Salads

NYT: The Minimalist - Recipes for 101 Simple Salads for the Season

Don't just bookmark this one, copy and paste it and save it to your hard drive!

Grocery Day

Last Thursday's grocery day anyway. Here's what I bought this week:

Produce Stand:
7 limes
1 large head of loose leaf lettuce
1 bag of carrots

Sahadi's:
1.3 lb dried chickpeas
.3 lb moroccan olives

Damascus Bakery:
1 package of small sesame pita loaves

Trader Joe's
16 oz Greek-style yogurt

Grand Army Plaza Farmer's Market:
2 cucumbers
1 green pepper

100 fast easy recipes

Guardian: The 100 easiest, fastest recipes. Ever

From a variety of chefs and food writers, with an English summer slant. Numbers 63 - 100 are from Mark Bittman, who wrote 100 fast, easy recipes for the NYT a few years ago.

None of these seem exactly cheap, but I want to look at it again and see what I can use.

Tomato Crop in Peril

NYTimes.com: Late Blight Fungus Threatens Tomato Crop in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic

My patio tomato gave me three tomatoes, two ripe and one green, and has totally succumbed to blight. I bought a new one at the farmer's market this morning for $4. I had better throw out the old plant before it affects the new one.

The blight affecting tomatoes is the same blight that affected the potatoes in mid-19th century Ireland and caused the Irish famine which caused me to be born in Illinois. Oh dear I can live without tomatoes for a year but my Irish genes can't live without potatoes!

Price of milk

As I was poking around the Ballymaloe Cookery School website I noticed a posting that said the price of milk has collapsed around the world. Is this true? I checked the University of Wisconsin dairy statistics and it appears to be true for the US:

2007
2008
2009