It could be just water retention or normal weight fluctuations but I’m three pounds lighter than I was last week. Unemployment has allowed me to be more active. For some people, that would be the opposite but not sitting in front of a computer for eight hours a day has freed me to do other things. I’m also eating less or in some cases, eating better. I don’t regret having access to well-stocked PopCap kitchen but certainly the wide variety of high-end potato chips we had probably was not healthy. I’m now concentrating on reducing my carbs and focusing on protein, vegetables, and fruit. I’m not perfect of course but awareness is the first step. I’ve also discovered a super cheap way to eat (useful when unemployed). Safeway has an extremely cost efficient set of meals at their deli counter. Today for just $4 + tax, I essentially got half a BBQ chicken, some onion rings, and a drink of my choice. A six-inch sandwich at Subway would be at least $5 before tax and you don’t get no soup, drink, nor cookie with that. I’m going back tomorrow for sure!
I mentioned recently that I wanted to learn how to make a decent beef stew with my slow cooker. Well, this evening I got all the ingredients for a stew and threw it into the cooker. It’s currently in the third hour of a low-heat, twelve-hour cook. It smells great so I’m hoping it turns out well. I’ve come to the conclusion though that my $12 slow cooker has several flaws. First, it’s small, with a capacity of about 2 quarts I believe. Second, the damn thing is shaped wrong. It’s taller than it’s wide, meaning most of the surface area is vertical rather than horizontal. This means most of the ingredients sit up and possibly out of the juicy goodness that it should be cooking in. Larger slow cookers are flatter and shorter, allowing you to spread the food across a larger horizontal surface area. To counteract this flaw, I’ve been stirring up the stew every hour or so to ensure everything is mixed up properly. I’m going to sleep soon though, which means there will be about eight hours of unattended cooking time. I hope it’s nothing like that gross mess I had with the pot roast last time.
I’ll update everyone tomorrow.