Philadelphia: The New Year in Pictures

The Frugal Hostess went to Philadelphia for New Year's Eve.  There were a bunch of reasons why she picked this somewhat random city, including the brothers, the Winter Classic, and the Mummers Parade.  A fine time was had by all.

This is Reading (pronounced redding) Terminal, which is now a huge indoor farmer's market slash international food court.  You could eat every meal here and still not have half of what you want to try.  Be on the lookout for Amish families serving up fries and fresh vegetables.

This is an egg salad sandwich from Hershel's in Reading Terminal.  It was only OK.  Great pickle, though.
















This is a cobblestone street.  Everyone loves a cobblestone street.  If you don't, you are un-American.

These are the brothers having a great time at Butcher and Singer.  If you are planning a trip to Philly, TFH highly recommends this fancy and elegant steak house.  Try their unusual Manhattan for an after-dinner drink.

Here is the hotel room occupied by one FruHo and three grown men.  Hot mess!  Don't share a room with three guys!

This is home-made confetti that a family brought to the Mummers Parade.  In HUGE quantities.  The Frugal Hostess found it in her purse (and bra!) days later.

And here is a shot of the Mummers Parade.  FruHo is short, so her pictures were kind of terrible.  Sorry!

In conclusion, Philadelphia is an awesome place to spend New Year's Eve.  Good times, man, good times.

How to Pack for a Long Trip

The Frugal Hostess has finally mastered the art of packing.  At least for a long trip.  (Short trips are much harder to pack for because of the shoe to outfit ratio.)  Here's how she packed for a three-week business trip.

So, here are her best tips.

1. Lay the pants in first, across the bottom of the suitcase with the ends hanging over the sides (see above).  Line the waist of each pair of pants up with the inside corner of the bag, alternating sides so that you have pants hanging off both sides.

2. Fold your jackets in half, and put them on top of the pants.  If they are longer than the length of your bag, curve the bottom hem up the side of the bag.  Your goal here is to fold your suits as little as possible to avoid wrinkles.

3. Roll your shirts and other clothes.  That doesn't mean fold them and then roll them.  FruHo knows this because she tried it that way.  Unfold them, or take them off of their hangers, and then fold them in half.  Roll them up, and then fill the remaining space in the suitcase.

4.  Then flip the pants over the top and zip that sucker up.

TFH got quite a list of items in this bag.

6 two-piece suits

9 sweaters

11 shirts

6 tanks

2 jeans

10 scarves

Bag of toiletries

Bag of jewelry

Overcoat (went on top of what you're seeing)

Two hats

Two pairs of gloves

Sports bra

Flip-flops

Bag of tights

And that is that. Oh, and not to worry, there was an accompanying smaller suitcase full of shoes and underwear.

Dry January

The ingredients for a Honey Badger.

Like a lot of people, The Frugal Hostess celebrated A LOT over the holidays.  Basically, the weekend before Thanksgiving through January 3 was a total free-for-all involving too much booze, too much sugar, and too much too much.

In a very American move of counter-extremism, TFH is attempting to re-set herself by not drinking at all during the month of January.  She does this every year to greater and lesser degrees of success.  This year has actually been easier than she suspected, most likely because her liver has waved a white flag and surrendered.  But, being on the wagon won't stop FruHo from thinking about delicious cocktails.

Here's one FruHubs recently invented, called the Honey Badger.  (If you were living on a desert island in 2011, here is the original honey badger video.)

Ingredients

2 parts Bulleit bourbon or Redemption rye

1 part Barenjager honey liqueur

Dash orange bitters

Ginger ale

Directions

1.  Fill rocks glass with crushed ice.

2.  Sprinkle with bitters.

3.  Add booze.

4.  Top with ginger ale.

5.  Garnish with orange peel if handy.

You will want to drink two or three of these, but keep in mind that they are entirely too drinkable given their high alcohol content.  Slow down, Drunky McGee!

Goodbye, Holidays

The craft explosion on FruHo's desk.

The Frugal Hostess is really doing a piss-poor job at blogging lately, huh?  And the sad part is that she is still doing all of the projects and stuff that she normally posts, she's just forgetting to post them!

The Frugal Hostess is a dumbass.

But, the silver lining is that Thanksgiving and Christmas posts are already done for next year!  So, FruHo will just put away her Christmas crafts supplies for now and resolve to do better in 2012.  Happy New Year!

Top Posts of 2011

Err....

Lots of folks around the blogosphere are running their "greatest hits" posts over the holidays, which The Frugal Hostess has really enjoyed.  It's always interesting to take a look back over the year, and there have been several posts TFH would've missed otherwise.

This gave FruHo the idea to do the same thing here.  So, without further ado, here are the top three posts of 2011!

1.  Slow Carb Recipes that Tim Ferriss Would Like.  FruHo went on the 4 Hour Body/Slow Carb Diet in early 2011, and FruHubs came up with some really great recipes for beans.  Being an adoring wife, TFH took full credit for those recipes in a blog post that she then titled in the most blog traffic-whorish way possible.  So, you know, just ignore this post, unless you're looking for bean recipes.

2.  Do You Know About This?  This post is about one of the year's best developments, Birchbox.  If you like makeup, beauty products, and/or mail, you will like this.

3.  The Ultimate FruHo Guide to Houseguests.  Oooh, this should have been re-posted before the holidays.  It's good advice.

While this one didn't have quite as much traffic as the other three, it was definitely The Frugal Hostess's favorite post of the year.  Please enjoy, "FruDiddy and the Lost Bread."

Happy New Year's Eve Eve!

Gift Idea: Book for Hostesses

Someone else's mess

Does your husband having a cleaning disease where he can't see any of his own mess and clutter until one day he snaps and throws away 15 cookbooks?

Neither does FruHubs.

Ahem.

OK, so FruHubs is totally oblivious to things like his four pairs of shoes and dirty socks and paint-covered khaki shorts strewn all across the bedroom.  But let one magazine rest on the coffee table too long and, POW!  He turns into the Incredible Hulk of cleaning.

Which is how The Frugal Hostess found him tonight. 

SLAM!  Junk mail vanquished.

POP!  Christmas wrapping paper hidden.  Possibly forever.

CRASH!  Clean laundry stuffed into a basket and whisked away.

And before you say that FruHo is lucky and crazy to complain, please note that this happens once every two months, maybe.  Perhaps quarterly.

But when it does, boy....

This is why The Frugal Hostess finds herself in a hot rush to read and write about a new cookbook she received.  If she doesn't watch her ass, that cookbook will be swept away into the recycling bin in ten seconds flat.  The book is 750 Best Appetizers*, by Judith Finlayson and Jordan Wagman, and TFH was sent a free copy to review.

Here are the pros:

1.  Paperback and thus less of a pain to deal with in the kitchen.

2.  A truly exhaustive list of all kinds of appetizers, including sweets, soups, and homemade parsnip chips.

3.  Some lovely pictures of prepared recipes.

And the con:

The point of this post is to sell you this book.

1.  Only some pictures.  Like, maybe 20 of the 750+ items in the book.  Despite being a very verbal girl - FruHo prefers reading blog posts to watching their accompanying videos, for example - cookbooks are one place where pictures are a must.  How in the world can you possibly cook something without seeing a picture of what it's supposed to look like?  Especially when the dishes are appetizers and hors d' oeuvres, often marvels of construction.  TFH is sure that the authors wish the book had more pictures, too.

In all, this is a great resource to have in your library, especially if you love to have parties.  Just expect to have to use your imagination.

750 Best Appetizers* by Judith Finlayson and Jordan Wagman is selling right now for $16.47 on Amazon.  It would make a great gift for your favorite hostess.

*Affiliate links.  See Disclosure page for complete details on how that works.

What to Do if You Discover Mouse Poop in Your Kitchen

The Frugal Hostess hates you, mouse.

What to do if you discover mouse poop in your kitchen:

Feel faint.  Almost faint, even if you've never fainted before.

Call your husband.

Cry.

Slam a beer.

Cry harder.

Go in another room.  Slam second beer.

Contemplate suicide.

Contemplate getting in your car and driving away forever.

Cry.

Clean it up in a frenzy only matched in it's rage-fueled fervor by your mother's after the Sleep Away Camp Lice Incident of 1988.  Bleach everything.

Bleach yourself.

Cry.

The end.