Around the Neighborhood

Yesterday CodeMonkey had to work late, so I took myself out to Dosa Hutt. A dosa is an Indian crepe made from rice and lentil flours, stuffed with fillings. Dining out isn't the most responsible thing to do when you've just lost your job, but boy was it tasty. $7 gets you a large enough to share cheese-stuffed dosa and a mango lassi. It's next door to New York City's only Hindu temple, and it's usually busy.

I hit my favorite produce stand today. Everything they sell is $1/bowl, and their selection changes daily. Today's find was a half dozen little donut peaches. They're ripening on the counter now.

In Which I Got Laid Off

Last Friday was my final day at work. My former employer is downsizing, and I was among those laid off. It's taken me about a week to some to grips with this, since I've never before lost a job.

I think there's been enough crying, sulking, ice cream and self-indulgent nonsense now. Effective immediately, I slashed expenses to the bone, filed for unemployment and started dusting off my resume. Between my husband's income and my UI, we'll come out  few hundred dollars ahead every month. We paid off my student loans and have no more debt. Beyond that, we have seven months of living expenses in the bank. I am hell bent on getting another job within 12 weeks. I keep telling myself everything will be fine.

I'm trying to view this as the kick in the pants I need to get a job that suits me better and to get more freelance clients. In the mean time, I'm thankful for my husband, our savings and for the opportunity to move my career forward. I'm luckier than most people. I just need to remember that.

New Year's Resolution Update

Time for the quarterly new year's resolution checkup.

2013 Goals

1. Meet financial goal.

Met and substantially exceeded, thanks to the windfall! The target goal amount has now been revised substantially upward. We've met 87% of the revised goal and are on track to meet it by the end of the year.

2. Go cold sheep. Like cold turkey, only for yarn.

I bought two cones of wool and a couple skeins of a merino-angora blend. Bad girl, so this one was a failure.

3. Buy no more than one article of clothing per paycheck.

The red and blue floral wrap dresses were returned, so that would be 6 articles of clothing, to which I added 1 sundress, 2 pairs of black sandals, a pair of black flats and 2 skirts. That puts me at 12 pieces for the year, which is right on track. Go me!

In other news, I've seriously slashed my sugar intake and adopted a paleoish diet, with fantastic results. I'm thinner, have more energy and less joint pain, but it's been less than a month, so the jury is still out.

Attack of the Giant Carrots

The Chinese grocers here sell produce that mainstream Western groceries reject. Sometimes that means the vegetables, while perfectly tasty, are in shapes that don't conform to American aesthetic norms

Like these carrots which were $0.49/lb, but a bit...irregularly sized.



The two of them weighed over three pounds. I had to make CodeMonkey take a picture.

Debt Free

After much angst and hand-wringing CodeMonkey and I have decided not to downsize to a small apartment. I'm happy with the decision, though it will slow our savings rate marginally.

However, I did take the money I had stashed to pay for deposits and moving costs and put it toward my last student loan. We're now totally and completely debt free, just about four years after I graduated from college, and we haven't received any of CodeMonkey's windfall.

It still doesn't feel quite real, but I'm looking forward to getting that payoff notice in the mail.

Clothing Quality Decline

Unlike many of the personal finance bloggers I read, I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to clothes. I prefer to wear natural fibers, in high quality, durable materials. In the winter I wear wool skirts and stockings, and cashmere and wool sweaters. My scarf is cashmere, my gloves are leather. In the summer I prefer to wear linen and cotton.

Increasingly our clothes are made from synthetic fibers, which are much cheaper, and much easier to care for. In general, I find they make lousy garments which pill, wear out quickly, cling, and look cheap. Wool had remarkable abilities to wick moisture, retain warmth and age well. Cashmere is up to eight times warmer than wool. Linen breathes and can absorb a large percentage of its weight in water without feeling wet. With the exceptions of nylon, modal and viscose, which are useful in limited quantities, I try to avoid synthietics.

In the last few years, a spike in the price of cotton and the global recession have accelerated the trend toward synthetic fibers. Even Old Navy used to sell t-shirts that were over 90% cotton, now they are all poly-blends. Even expensive jeans now include not only a bit of spandex for stretch, but also polyester, elastomuliester and other similar abominations. It's increasingly difficult to find garments made of high quality materials, even at high end brands.

Which brings me to the subject of today's rant. In the past I've patronized Boden because they were bricey but produced consistently high quality clothing of mostly natural fibers. I have lovely cotton dresses, wool skirts and cashmere sweaters from them. They released their fall collection for pre-orders and I am not impressed.  This lovely dress is $200 and made of 100% viscose (rayon) lined with polyester. In fact, most of their dresses have high percentages of synthetics than in years past, with no change in price.

They aren't alone in this. Last year, J Crew released their updated Lady Day coat, a coat they have made every year for nearly a decade. There's just one small problem. The coat is now 75% wool. 25% nylon, instead of 96% wool, 4% nylon, as in years past. Naturally, this change, which makes the coat less warm, was not mentioned anywhere. In fact, it's nearly impossible to find a real, 100% wool coat any more.

I appreciate that manufacturing garments in natural fibers is costlier, and I'm willing to pay the price difference. I'd rather have fewer, nicer pieces. Unfortunately, my views must be out of step with the mainstream, as more and more clothes are made from petrochemicals, synthetics, anything that wasn't once part of an actual plant or animal. If Talbots quits making clothes from natural fibers, I'm going to make good on my threats to learnto sew.

I Have Discovered the Broiler

One of the problems with a chronic illness is that it leaves you very, very drained of energy. I've consistently struggled with cooking after a long day of work, because I just lack the energy or ability to spend much time standing at the stove.

Recently I decided to try out the broiler function on my stove, and it's life-changing. Fish in 8 minutes! Crispy vegetables! Perfectly made polenta! It's like something out of an infomercial and it was already in my kitchen.

The current favorite dish is crispy zucchini, which I happened on after buying 5 zucchini for a dollar.

1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs

1/3 cup grated Parmesan

pepper

1 zucchini

olive oil

1. Grease an 8x8 baking dish or cast iron skillet. (I use the skillet.)

2. Slice the zucchini into 1/4" rounds and arrange in a single layer in the pan.

3. Mix together the parmesan and panko, adding pepper to taste.

4. Drizzle the zucchini with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle the panko mixture over the zucchini.

5. Broil until the panko is browned; about 6 minutes. Serve immediately.

The crunch factor on this is amazing. It seems to go with almost everything we eat, and I've been serving it alongside a meat and vegetable instead of pasta, rice or potatoes most evenings. It's even become a last minute snack a few times. The panko Parmesan mixture also holds its own as a breading for fish and meat as well.