You know how I know this? Because, first she lost the USB transfer cable for her camera somewhere this week and can't upload any new photos from her camera so she had to find this embarrassing photo she took last month of me trying stay cool.
Then yesterday, Mom drove all the way to Boston for a meeting, a haircut, and to have dinner with her good friends, Z and C, and left a special box she has been trying to deliver to them for over six months on her counter. See? I told you, losing her mind...
Mom's been home from Sun Valley for all of three days and already she is back hard at work on the Pantry Plan. She started right away with a trip to the store to get milk, cream, and cheese since she had emptied the fridge of everything that could spoil before she left for Sun Valley. Unfortunately, she also had to buy a few other things that she normally would have bought at the Farmer's Market like lettuce, cucumbers, and summer squash because she wasn't home for the Farmer's Market the past weekend.
With the exception of some cough syrup and cold medicine, Mom spent $18.34 at the grocery store. She wasn't happy about having to do it but considering she was spending around $90.00 for groceries every week before she started the Pantry Plan, she still is doing very well!
Since she started the Pantry Plan on July 1st, Mom has spent a grand total of $51.10 on food for the house and all these items have been foods that were allowed: dairy, produce from the Farmer's Market she didn't plant in her own garden, and some farm fresh eggs and lamb. She is really happy about the weekly average of $12.78; which is 14% of her pre-Pantry Plan weekly bill.
She hasn't been starving either. She made some fantastic Thai noodles on Wednesday night with chicken she had in the freezer, a dab of green curry paste from the fridge, peanuts from her trail mix, and a bit of green beans and peppers from her garden. Tonight, she had an salad with the left over noodles, the lettuce she bought on Wednesday , a small can of mandarin oranges and sliced almonds from her pantry.
Speaking of her garden, the tomatoes are going like gangbusters. One of the bushes is so heavy with tomatoes, that it fell over twice. Mom tied up the bush to her neighbor, Erica's patio. She took some pictures but since she lost her cable I can't show how funny it looks.
Finally, today she spent all day sitting on her porch working on this week's menu so she can shop wisely at the Farmer's Market tomorrow.
She pulled out a few cookbooks; this month's issues of Bon Appetit, Cooking Light, Gourmet, and Saveur, and her computer. Mom told me she planned on cooking one recipe from each magazine this week that fit into the Pantry Plan. Mom is also going to join her friend, Stephanie from Dispensing Happiness and cook from her copy of “The Victory Binding of the American Woman’s Cook Book: The Wartime Edition” on Wednesday and of course, everything will be from her pantry.
I see Mom has fish on the menu this week twice! I sure hope she remembers to leave a little piece out of the main dish and bake it plain in some foil for me. I better hang out in the kitchen while she is making the haddock to remind her because based on this past week's memory problems, she probably will forget.
This week's edition of Weekend Cat Blogging is being hosted by our friends over the House of Mostly Black Cats and is a special food edition dedicated to the memory our friend Sher, a long time host of Weekend Cat Blogging. Go check out what the other kitties in the blogosphere have cooked up this weekend!
