Monthly Archives: October 2009

Stupid Bachelor Tricks: Potatoes

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51LAFD7YepL._SY344_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_BO1,204,203,200_Why have I wasted my life eating French fries at restaurants? Why have I limited my home cooking to nuking frozen food?

I should have known better. I read “Potatoes Not Prozac!  by Kathleen DesMaisons PhD.  I read the book 15 years ago!

I told my sister, Rosemary, about the book. She read “Potatoes Not Prozac.”  I ignored it, and she took its message to heart.

A few days ago, Rosemary told me how she boils Yukon Gold potatoes. She said it was OK to put butter on them! That was the magic word. “Butter.” Or maybe, “Boil.”  

“Boil a potato, that doesn’t sound too difficult. I can do that!”

Tonight, motivated by the desire for a more frugal lifestyle, I boiled a potato. I knew to use water, but I wasn’t sure how long to boil the potato. I washed it first, left the skin on, and cut it in quarters like Rosemary said. I used the “stick a fork in it” method to decide when it was done.

I smashed the quartered potato a little and added a liberal amount of butter. I topped it off with a sprinkle of that brand-name “seasoned salt” (no MSG). The potato was great! Why didn’t I think of this before?

I don’t know if Kathleen DesMaisons Ph.D. would approve of the butter and the seasoned salt. She’s the one who wrote “Potatoes Not Prozac!” Ms. DesMaisons also has a nifty Web site, “Radiant Recovery,” where her disciples gather to meditate on the virtues of a life without sugar.

Wait a minute! No sugar? I don’t think I’m ready for that. Stick a fork in me, I’m done.

— John Hayden

Recession Vegetable Soup

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Now that I’m unemployed again, I’m planning to create a Recession Vegetable Soup. The predominant vegetables will be potatoes and onions, seasoned with salt and pepper. Long on vegetables but not much protein. Why do I have the sinking feeling that this adventure will turn out to be neither simple nor frugal?

Step One: Buy a pot large enough to make soup or stew. And I have an aversion to those non-stick coatings on most new pots and pans (what chemicals do they make that stuff with?)  Note that whenever I embark on a project, I always discover that I don’t have the necessary tools. This is why I gave up trying to fix my own car.

I’ve come to consider Walmart as my supplier of first resort, based on their claim that they “sell for less.”  However, I found what I needed at one of the big-box specialty stores — a shiny eight-quart stainless steel stockpot with a glass cover — for $20. Six quarts would have been adequate, but  the eight-quart size is what they had. So it goes.

The $20 price at the big-box store was less than anything comparable at Walmart, demonstrating once again that it pays to shop around. So I guess the purchase qualifies as frugal. It was also simple, since it didn’t need to be delivered or installed, and there’s no assembly required!

How many soups and stews am I going to have to make this winter to justify spending $20 to buy the pot?

Watch this space for the recipe and a progress report.

How Many Blogs Is Too Many?

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Blogging can take over your life, if you’re not careful. I know I’ve been ignoring Life After 60, Simplified, lately, but I haven’t forgotten it. I’ve simply been focusing my blogging energy on my main blog, Maryland On My Mind.

Some bloggers are so proficient! They can juggle multiple blogs. And then there’s me. I feel like I’m not doing all I could be doing with MOMM, but I don’t want to abandon Life after 60, either.

Obviously, it would simplify my life to have only one blog. But I’m already trying to cover Maryland politics and life in Ocean City, plus frequent side trips into national politics and economic change, in MOMM. They  say a blog is best if focused like a laser on one subject. So I want draw some boundaries for MOMM. Two of my major interests (life after 60, and simplicity) simply don’t fit there. What to do?

I’m pondering three courses of action. You can help me decide. Please vote.