A Million Words

For the past month, I've been keeping track of my grocery spending by keeping receipts and writing down any miscellaneous expenses like market purchases and take-away meals. Yesterday, I tallied it all up and found that we've been spending a bit less than €150/week.  I'd hoped it would be more like €100. Oh well.  I wondered how this compared to what other people spend, so I posted a poll on one of the Irish forums.  44% of the respondents (over 100 so far!) claim to spend in the 100-150 range.23% spend less and 30% spend more.  I don't know the demographics of the respondents, but I'd guess that most of them are stay-at-home mums, and because they're looking at the finance forum they're probably more budget-conscious than average.  In the discussion of the poll, I learned that some women with six or more children spend less than we do, while I'm sure some couples with only one child spend even more.   Am I over-spending, or are we doing just fine?  I do

For my February "good novel" I chose to read Oliver Twist , a classic which is more often quoted than read.  I learned just now that it was Dickens's second novel. I have also read Great Expectations and Tale of Two Cities, and it's clear that Dickens wasn't at the height of his craft with Oliver Twist.  I found it slow going in parts, and was occasionally annoyed by the young Dickens's tendency towards melodrama.  Still, the characters were memorable (if not multi-faceted) and there were moments of brilliance, particularly his descriptions of London and one chapter close to the end, entitled "The Flight of Sikes." I chose to read Oliver Twist largely because I thought it would help me with two of my own writing projects, a romance set in roughly the same time period and a fantasy novel which features a cadre of young thieves.  It certainly helped me see areas in which those stories need work, but for the most part I'm just glad to have finally g

I have been sinking altogether too much creative energy into cooking lately.  The past week featured pancakes for Shrove Tuesday, a re-heated lasagne, a not-very-good aloo gobi, and finally a " Shortcut Pork Cassoulet " which we brought up to my mother-in-law's for dinner on Friday night. Cassoulet is a big project, even the shortcut version.  I would really like to do a full old-fashioned version, but I wasn't sure where to get duck confit and I wasn't ready to make it without being assured of a very appreciative audience at the end of the process. I would make it again, but only in cold weather, with a lot of guests, and using a slightly bigger casserole dish.  It didn't make me homesick, exactly, but it did make me wish for a better-equipped kitchen.   Last night I made Irish Beef Stew and One Hour Shrimp Paella .  The paella was a bit of a disappointment.  I used basmati rice instead of arborio, which didn't do the texture any favors, and got the cook