Ways to Read

The Frugal Hostess loves to read.  Loves it.  It would be her passion, if she didn't think using the word "passion" in that context was utterly ridiculous.  It all started when, as a child, FruMa and FruPa promised to give little FruHo one dollar for ever book she completed.  There were a few bumps in the road, like when she was quizzed by her dad after "reading" a long book about Abe Lincoln (yawn) in about 20 minutes and got totally busted for skipping around.  But, for the most part, that was some supremely effective bribery which resulted in TFH being a virtual speed-reader by age 12.  

As an adult, TFH continues to read voraciously.  In her early 20s, she read and re-read all of the classics that she either missed getting a Lit degree (Oscar Wilde springs to mind) or loved and wanted to memorize.  These included all of J.D. Salinger; all of F. Scott Fitzgerald; and a jumble of other books.  As her corporate career became more taxing, The Frugal Hostess shifted gears to reading magazines, chick lit, and the canonical business books of the day.  And, now in her 30s, FruHo finds herself reading mostly blogs, with the occasional novel or non-fiction work thrown in for good measure, and a heaping helping of Real Simple and Martha Stewart Living (affiliate links).  It's not that she doesn't love books, but TFH can only consume so many words per day before her head explodes.

Over the past few months, FruHo has been exploring a variety of ways to read.  Here's a run-down of some interesting ideas.

Kindle: OK, well, duh; welcome to the party, FruHo.  The Frugal Hostess borrowed a Kindle (affiliate link) to give it a test drive, and she was surprised at how much she liked it.  It is light, easy to hold, and very intuitive to operate.  There was no glare on the screen, which had been a concern, and it seems pretty sturdy in construction.  However, she was surprised at how much Amazon charged for Kindle books, magazines, and blog subscriptions.  Not one to begrudge an author the money s/he is due, it still seemed a little strange to pay two-thirds the price of a hard-back version.  That may just be the old lady in TFH coming out.  Final verdict: would love a Kindle as a gift, but probably won't invest in one.

Library: Obviously, the library is a great place to get free books.  The library in The Frugal Hostess's neighborhood is extremely convenient, but it's a small branch, so the selection isn't always terrific.  TFH wishes that public libraries would - just every once in a while, not trying to overthrow the government here - arrange the books in a different way.  Maybe by color, in a library-wide rainbow, or by subject matter, so that you could find a novel about Italy next to an Italian cookbook beside a CD of Italian language lessons.  But, you know, the library still rules.

Bookswim: The Frugal Hostess was given a free trial membership of Bookswim to test out (Bookswim is the book-rental service that mimics Netflix).  You create a queue, or "pool" in their parlance, of the books that interest you, and they are sent to you as available, along with a postage-paid return envelope.  FruHo belonged to this service years ago, when it was first starting out, and she found the selection to be somewhat limited - lots of romance novels, not a lot of cutting edge fiction or business books.  However, she is happy to report that not only have they added quite a variety of choices, but they've also amped up the marketing and PR efforts to make it just seem, well, cooler.  Bookswim is a great choice for fast readers, but the one little annoyance is that you can't prioritize the books you want like you can with movies on Netflix.  You get what you get out of the several books you list in your pool.  The return bag is awesome.

Thrift Store: You are well aware of the amount of time TFH spends at the thrift store; in fact, she was recently devastated to be ousted as Mayor of her favorite thrift by some upstart on Foursquare.  FruHo finds the thrift store to be an excellent place to score great deals on books.  She has often found new releases that are still full price at B&N or the other big guys sitting there for $2.  The obvious downside of thrifting your books is that you can't predict the inventory, so you just have to choose from what they have.  For a voracious reader, this isn't a big deal.  You can also find crazy old books that you would never imagine, titles like How to Pick a Mate from 1937 ("Don't smell bad" is one of the tips) or Groovy Parties for Teens.

Amazon & eBay: You can always get a better deal on these sites than you can in the store (at least, it seems like it), but they are still closer to retail than the options listed above.  TFH likes to buy on eBay when she has some money built up in her PayPal account, because that way The Cheap Frugal Husband can't tell what she's buying.  

Bookstore:  The bookstore is the most expensive place to buy books, clearly, but it is also the most fun.  You can usually get coffee (albeit from even more pretentious baristas than usual) and walk around reading anything you want.  If The Frugal Hostess were, say, The Flagrant Heiress instead, she would probably spend one day a week shopping and buying books at Barnes and Noble.

Has anyone tried a Nook?  What are other ways to get your reading fix?

The Frugal Hostess suggests that you attend Social Media Atlanta, November 8-12, 2010. 

Photo by austinevan

How to Take a Free Vacation

The Frugal Hostess is in Napa.  Yes, that Napa.  The one in California where all the wine comes from.  Are you wondering how "Napa" works in the same sentence with "frugal"?

Well, Dear Reader(s), here is how that works:

1.  Work really hard in a career for 10-15 years, and then chuck it to start your own business.  During a recession.  Obviously.

2.  Make sure that business is 95% web-based -- like, all of your output and deliverables can be emailed or posted in the cloud.  See The 4 Hour Work Week for ideas and details.

3.  Also make sure that you are still somewhat poor, don't have kids, and have an awesome husband.

4.  Then, when opportunity knocks, answer!

Ha!  Easier said than done, right?  And yet, it is currently being done, in that exact way, by The Frugal Hostess herself.  Now, obviously, not everyone can do this in exactly the same way: the plane ticket was free, the hotel stay is free, and the food is free for FruHo because of the particular job she's doing.  But, FruHo suggests that anyone can swing some kind of free.  To whit:

• She got a free wine tasting at Uncorked for checking in on FourSquare.
• She bought a ticket to see Margaret Cho using points.  That is free to FruHo.
• An old friend bought her dinner at a fabulous restaurant. She only protested a tiny bit.
• The city of San Francisco is throwing a free [BAD ASS] bluegrass and folk festival today!

 What are some other ways to put some complimentary into your trip?

The Frugal Hostess insists that you come hang out on Facebook. What? Like you don't already spend three hours there a day.

Calling All Food Bloggers

First of all, if you are a food blogger, why are you reading this blog?  The Frugal Hostess never runs a recipe that isn't fraught with errors.  And mayhem.  Unless it's FruHubs Food, in which case the recipes are delicious but always brown.

But second, if you do happen to be a food blogger, and you do happen to be making the fatal error of spending your time here, The Frugal Hostess would like to tell you about something super extra cool and exciting.

November 8-12 is Social Media Atlanta.  For five days, all across the Atlanta metro area,  participants will have the opportunity to attend events designed to showcase Atlanta’s involvement in social media across many different industries as well as state and local governments, communities, and cultures.  While the agenda is listed on the website, there is an event that hasn't gone up yet, one that is perfect for food bloggers!

On Wednesday, Nov. 10, SMATL will host a food bloggers' panel and - get this - urban picnic at The Hub.  Bringing together the very best online foodies, online eaties (like that new phrase?), and the Atlanta Street Food Coalition, this promises to be an utterly EPIC event. 

But ssshhhh, don't tell anyone yet (yeah, right).  Because first, Social Media Atlanta needs to fill the panel with food bloggers.  Can you dig it?  If so, please email FruHo (frugalhostess @ gmail.com) or her friend StephHo - just kidding - Stephanie (info @ socialmediaatlanta.com) to raise your hand.  TFH promises not to cook anything.

The Frugal Hostess reminds you that there are panels and events for every type of social media enthusiast, so check out the agenda and reserve your (mostly free) tickets. 

Thinking about September 11, 2001

 

 Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
 

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

photo by bitzi

Wherein THIS Blog Post Saves a Life

Has it really been since August 23?  Really??? Yikes.

There's been a lot going on in FruHo land.  Because she recently saw some bloggers comparing a list post to an exercise for slow kids, and because she just cannot physically resist picking a scab like that kind of comment, and because she is herself a slow kid, here is a mother-trucking list of things for you to read.  

1.  FruHubs was away for all of August.  All of it.  Plus a bit of July.  Thumbs down.  Although, it did bring in some cash.  The Frugal Hostess started the month with a lot of goals: redecorate the house; lose 20 pounds; write a book; and many other things.  Results?  Actually, a good bit of redecoration, such as it was with a budget of no money; a loss of 5 pounds that were probably due to a particularly long sneezing fit; and, well, not much else.  A good bit of the time was spent dissolving into tears at least once per day.

2.  One of the cool things that happened was FruHo got asked cajoled convinced encouraged to start a line of artisan candies.  The details are still being worked out (like, does she really even want to do it?), but a lot of mental energy has been expended and kitchen time logged in service to this idea.  How does Rosemary Rock candy strike your virtual palette?

3.  Another cool thing was picking pears with Concrete Jungle.  A longer post is long overdue about this, but these two guys pick unwanted fruit (like apples on the off-ramp) and donate it to food banks.  They could not be cooler, nicer, smarter, or better, and it would be quite ideal if you were to click on over there and give them a couple of bucks.  They don't have huge expenses, so don't worry if you don't have a huge donation.  In case the post never materializes, you can see a photo album here.

4.  TFH did a lot of dog-sitting and traveling to see family, all of which was fun but time-consuming, further excuse for the lack of posting.  And now, the hellishly hot and just generally miserable month of August is over, and everyone can get on with their lives.

5.  THIS JUST IN: A certain hilarious and talented blogger is dealing with some heavy shit right now, and The Frugal Hostess urges you to think about her as hard as you effing can.  Please.  UPDATE: All good, folks.  There is no doubt that this blog post, and the subsequent good vibes, completely saved the day.  Great job. 

Anybody want to write a guest post?  The Frugal Hostess is eating a lot of beans right now.  Musically enough.  So there aren't that many great recipes to report.

On Seeing | Guest Post from Becky of Beltline Bike Shop

There is something amazing happening in one Southwest Atlanta neighborhood, and this is just glimpse of the whole inspiring story.   You can read more about Beltline Bike Shop here, and you can donate here.  The Frugal Hostess can see the future, and you are really going to want to donate.

On Seeing | By Becky O'Mara

This summer, Tim began working with one of the kiddos on his reading. This 8-year-old that is around the house a lot was going to summer school. Half of our neighborhood was going to summer school. At some point, the offer came up that if he read an entire book, he could get an upgrade for his bike. He accepted and it was on.

It took several weeks to get through the book. This young boy is going into the 4th grade, by is probably on a first grade reading level. It was a second grade reading level book, but it seemed like we were stopping on every other word. Pretty soon reading time was supplemented with phonics lessons. We did a chapter each day he came by. The latter chapters were better than the first few! And his confidence was growing.

In the process, as Tim would watch him squint at the pages of the book, it became apparent that he couldn’t really see the words on the page. ‘Are the words blurry?’ Tim asked. The boy answered Yes…. and said that he used to have glasses. but they broke. His mom never got them fixed.

We talked to mom immediately, telling her that he really needed glasses. The summer went by and they just never got to it… finally, the first week of school, Tim and I went over together and said we would take them to get glasses. It was arranged and Tim took the family last Friday afternoon.

They are on Medicaid, so the examination was free. The glasses would also be free, but because it was Medicaid, it would take 6 weeks for them to come in. Because that makes sense?? Tim and the family decided they could not wait that  long, so they would buy a pair that would only take a week. The glasses would cost $80 at the local eyeglass shop.

Mom did not have the money, so the boy and his brother agreed to cut lawns to earn the money. Tim had lined up from several neighbors/landlords, so it worked out great. They came home that afternoon after the eye exam and got to work right away. Their loan is now completely paid off!

Our little guy now has glasses. The victory is not complete yet… we have to make sure he wears them all the time. (He REALLY needs them.) He came over today without them on. He is of course getting teased at school, but we think the neighborhood is a safe place (because anyone who makes fun of him will get in trouble from Mr. Tim if they do.) We just have to keep encouraging him to wear them. In the process, we’ve realized his older brother also really needs glasses, but is embarrassed to wear them. He’s a teenager and if his eyesight is as bad as his younger brother’s, we don’t know how he is functioning in school. That’s a challenge for another day. It makes me think, though, how many kids/teenagers/adults in our neighborhood genuninely can’t see, but do not wear glasses because of fear of rejection or humiliation, or because they just “can’t get to the store.”

Here is the moral of this story.

This family just needed someone to walk alongside them in this challenge. We can judge, say it’s irresponsible parenting for not getting a boy glasses, and that there are no excuses for that. But we all have areas in our lives where, for whatever reason, we are paralyzed. At times, we all need someone to walk alongside us, helping us make the right choices, and getting to the finish line.

Here’s the question: Who are you walking alongside? Do you know people well enough to know what they need encouragement in? This principle is not just applicable in the ‘hood. It’s in every neighborhood, every community, at every income level. Every one of us holds a unique power in making the world a better place in this way, if we will merely take the time to see.

[See?  Told ya.  Donate here.  There's also a list of tools and supplies they need here.]

photo by bgottsab

This week's posts will be dedicated to "small batch" change-makers.  Like the O'Maras and their Beltline Bike Shop, there are all kinds of people making real change in their neighborhoods and communities, one day at a time.  If you know someone who is giving their love and labor instead of their platitudes and punditry, The Frugal Hostess would appreciate a head's up at frugalhostess @ gmail.com. 

Gremlin Book Review + Cocktail Recipes

Well, The Frugal Hostess keeps getting sent these amazingly beautiful books about cooking and drinking. For free.  It just keeps on happening.  Amazing.

Seriously, man.  Check these out.

The first, Organic, Shaken and Stirred by Paul Abercrombie, has some amazingly creative ideas for drinks, whether you're a freak about organic ingredients (as you should be) or not.  The book takes a chef's approach to cocktails, incorporating ingredients like radish, purple basil, and simple syrup infused with beet juice.  Some ingredients are a little esoteric or expensive for The Frugal Hostess's taste - organic saffron threads, anyone?  But even the least attainable of the recipes contains an idea or two that you can replicate.

Here's an example.

Roasted Red Pepper Julep

Ingredients

4 sprigs of mint

1 oz. simple syrup [TFH often uses agave syrup in place of simple syrup.]

2 oz. roasted red pepper puree [There's a recipe for this in the book, but, really, just puree roasted red peppers.]

2 oz. bourbon

2 oz. sparkling water

Directions

1.  Muddle mint with simple syrup.

2.  Add ice.  FruHo recommends crushed ice for juleps, if you can get it easily.  [Also, she suggests adding only half the ice, followed by the rest of the ingredients, and topped with the remaining ice.  That just makes it easier to stir.]

3.  Add remaining ingredients, stirring slowly.

4.  Garnish with mint.

Isn't that just an intriguing recipe?

Gizmo Moments: Really cool, innovative takes on traditional cocktails, plus new ideas.  Focused on organic ingredients.  Very balanced drinks, with savory ingredients and herbs evening out the sweetness of simple syrups and sugars.  Great punch ideas!  When The Frugal Hostess was looking for punch ideas for her Mardi Gras party, she really could have used these ideas!  Also, gorgeous, plentiful pictures.

Stripe Moments: Some ingredients are hard to find or expensive, and TFH wishes that there were a few more stories included with the recipes, either personal ones from the author or more details on the history of the drink.  That is clearly not the point of the book; FruHo just thinks it would've been a cool addition.

Then there's Champagne Cocktails by A.J. Rathbun (this one isn't out yet, so no link to buy - sorry!).  Who has this many ideas for drinks based on bubbles?  The book starts with versions of the classics (think Kir Royale and Mimosa), and then follows up with a ton of other interesting ideas.  A particularly creative one is the Caprese Cocktail, which uses molecular gastronomy favorites, sodium alginate and calcium chloride, to create gels out of balsamic vinegar and ketchup.  These gels are in turn made into "caviar," which sit in the bottom of the champagne glass.  Amazing, right?  Unfortunately, there's no picture of this drink in the book, so it's hard to tell if this is worth the trouble of making it.

Gizmo Moments: Champagne cocktails are a really good way to make cheap wine seem more festive, and there are so many creative ideas in this book.  Plus, once you see how Rathbun has combined different ingredients, it's easy to come up with your own ideas.  Also, for those restaurants with only beer and wine licenses (this may be a Florida phenomenon), this can help spice up their offerings.

Stripe Moments: There are not enough pictures in this book.  Now, look, The Frugal Hostess is not illiterate, but she really prefers a lot of photography in any kind of cooking (or cocktailing) book.  How else do you know what you're getting yourself into?

Here is a final drink, inspired by both of these books.  

Rosemary Citrus Champagne Cocktail

Ingredients

Fresh rosemary, finely minced

Zest of one lemon or lime, or half an orange

Agave syrup (or sugar and water, or a packet of Splenda or stevia sweetener)

Splash of  water 

Bubbles

Directions - fast version: 

1.  Put the rosemary, zest, splash of water, and 1 oz. (or packet) of sweetener into a cocktail shaker, and shake like mad.  

2.  Pour into two champagne flutes and top with bubbles.

Directions - slow version:

1.  Combine one cup of sugar, one cup of water, several sprigs' worth of finely minced rosemary, and the zest in a saucepan.  

2.  Heat until sugar is completely dissolved.

3.  Let your rosemary-citrus simple syrup cool.  [FruHo likes to store simple syrups in squeeze bottles, like the kind the diner uses to store ketchup, in the refrigerator.  This is the least sticky method.  But it's still very sticky.  Duh, it's sugar.]

4.  Add an ounce or so of the syrup to each glass, and then top with champagne (or prosecco, or cava, or whatever is cheapest!).

5.  Garnish with a short sprig of fresh rosemary and a twist of citrus peel.

Wanna win one of these books?  Leave a comment about your favorite non-alcoholic beverage, and, if you win the random drawing, you'll have your choice of either Book 1, Book 2, or a Prize Package put together by The Frugal Hostess.  How will you ever have the nerve to request anything but the latter???