Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Eat with your tongue, not your eyes

Lobster bean bisque.

A couple of weeks ago, I was watching Jimmy Kimmel Live, and he had as his guest, chef Gordon Ramsay (host of Hell's Kitchen). During the show he said,
"I think children become fussy because they eat with their eyes only."
He served his kids lamb brains on toast, but didn't tell them before they ate it. He told them after the meal, and they were pretty mad with him.

But, those are pretty good words to keep in mind.

Our eyes are used to see.

Remember that.

Eat with your tongue, not your eyes.

And this isn't just for kids.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Grocery store tips, plus tricks of a clever mom

Those better be frozen vegetables she's grabbing.

The majority of us have gone to the grocery store, no question about it. We need food, and other necessities. But, are you getting the most bang for your buck?

I remember my barber once jokingly say, "Times are rough." We were only talking about how even if an electronic is powered off, it still uses some electricity if it's plugged in (you can call PSEG if you don't believe me).

But still, anything helps when all is said and done.

So, I'll share some advice, tips, and tricks I've learned online and by tagging along to the grocery store with my mom.

1. Buy the Sunday paper and clip coupons for the love of god. It isn't difficult, and I was thoroughly thrilled to see a 55 cent coupon for almond milk this past weekend.

2. If you don't already, apply for your store's discount card. There are all types of savings by using it at every purchase, in addition to coupons with your receipt.

3. I've heard this one a lot. For food, shop around the perimeter of your store. There are occasions you need to go down an aisle or two for household items, which is fine and dandy, but don't travel through junk food land.

4. Nearly expired bread is cheaper bread. Just freeze it and defrost in the microwave.

5. Wait for it. Yes, I'm talking about sales. Got a big ol' tin of olive oil over the weekend, which cost less than the smaller container. Weird, right?
Here are a few of my mom's tactics.
6. Move quick. Get what you need and that's it. If you don't know what you need, then you may be more inclined to purchase "extras." Usually, I don't need a list, but it helps if you're going to buy a lot.

7. Look for the young teenage cashiers. Apparently, my mom tells me they're more inclined to scan any coupon or give you sales that may not be registering when an item is scanned. (more on this in the following points)

8. Use any coupon. The above said young teenage cashier will possibly accept an expired coupon or one that may be for a product, but doesn't meet the conditions, such as must buy 2 or buy so so to get half off. Hey, a coupon's a coupon.

9. Argue/debate. I've seen plenty of cashiers screw up way too many times. It's your money, don't get suckered.

10. Check the receipt immediately after your purchase. I don't know how my mom does it all in her head, but she does. See if the total is correct, if all deductions were taken off for the proper amount, and they didn't double scan anything accidentally.
Got your own tricks? Comment and share them with everyone else you sneaky person.

So, what are you waiting for? Get to shopping!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Results aren't always clear

About a month ago, I was trimming the back of my hair in the bathroom. So to accomplish such a feat, I stood away from the mirror in the bathroom and used a smaller mirror to watch the back side of my head as I carefully attempted not to mess up.

Now, seeing as how I didn't want to get hair all over my shirt, I took it off. As I was going about my business, I thought, "hm, impressive, I didn't know that's what my back looked like."

I didn't realize the the muscle I put on my lats and traps after doing pull-ups, rows, Olympic lifts, and deadlifts. Sure, I knew what was being worked when exercising, but it never occurred to me the effects of all that work I was doing.

Why mention this?

Because people get bummed out easily. I know it happens to me. I bet it's happened to you too at least once.

Cheer up though.

If you get too caught up in the results or going nuts trying to achieve some goal, you might overlook the finer points in the process.

They're not as easy to spot out, since you're not looking for them, but when you do find them, you'll be happy you found them.

Coincidentally, I recently came across one post last week and another post a few days ago which echo the sentiments of this post. Go give them a quick read.

Sometimes the results aren't always clear. Maybe you're concentrating too hard on a single aspect, who knows.

It's not the end of the world. Be grateful for what you can do, and enjoy what you have accomplished.

You deserve it.
Creative Commons License
Niel Patel's Blog by Niel K. Patel is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.