Budget Meals: Day 5

Ingredients:
6 eggs $0.99
1 medium carrot $0.25
1 medium green zucchini $0.82
4 red onions $0.98
1 small yellow squash $0.40
Ginger $0.54
Total: $3.98
2 packages udon noodles
roasted peanut oil / sesame oil + vegetable oil
Kosher salt + freshly ground pepper
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced diagonally
3 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions
Thinly slice red onions, ginger. Slice thinly into sticks 1/2 carrot, 1/2 yellow squash, 1/4 zucchini. Saute onions and ginger and carrots in vegetable oil. Add the two squash, and cook, stirring.

In a separate pot, boil water and cook the udon for 1-2 minutes. Drain and add to the vegetables. Mix thoroughly. Season with soy sauce, rice wine, and sesame oil. Add a spoonful of cornstarch mixed with cold water, to form a slurry. Set aside

Scramble two eggs with chopsticks in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in some green scallions. Fry separately in a little oil in a pan. Add to the rest of the stir fry. Serve immediately. Serves 3-4.

Redoing my sister’s udon with tofu and bok choy, this is my budget version. I had a bag of frozen edamame lying around, so I tossed that in the stir fry. My kingdom for some crushed red pepper flakes!

~Jessica

Budget Meals: Day 4

Ingredients:
32 oz. tomato sauce $1.50
Paprika $2.19
Ronzoni penne rigate $1.89
1 carrot $0.25
1 green zucchini $0.82
4 brown portobello mushrooms $0.77
4 red onions $0.98
1 yellow squash $0.40
Total: $8.80

Directions
Chop 1 red onion, 1/2 yellow squash, 1/2 zucchini, the mushrooms, 1/2 carrot. Mince 3 cloves of garlic. Saute the onion, garlic until fragrant. Add the carrot, then the two squash. Add the mushrooms. Cook together a few minutes, stirring. Add the can of tomato sauce. Season with paprika, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper.
Boil salted water. Add half the box of penne. Cook 5 minutes until al dente. Add pasta to sauce. Serves 3-4.

Just to make it fancy (and I didn’t have Parmigiano because it’s wrapped in plastic and expensive unless I buy it at Trader Joe’s), I added a drop of my truffle olive oil, which I brought back from France, before serving. Just for the aroma, which I really really like.

~Jessica

Budget Meals: Day 3

Ingredients:
GOYA Pink Beans in sauce $1.50
4 small red potatoes $1.34
1 head of garlic $0.39
1 red bell pepper $1.32
Ginger $0.54
3 red onions $0.67
1 bunch of scallions $0.67
5-6 Brussels sprouts $0.98
Total: $7.41

Directions
Chop finely the small red onion, 1/3 the red bell pepper, two of the potatoes. Mince two cloves of garlic, and a thumb of ginger. Cut off the Brussels sprout stems and slice each in half. Saute the onion, ginger, then garlic in olive oil. Cook until fragrant. Add the bell pepper, then the potatoes. Season with salt, cracked pepper, turmeric, oregano, thyme. Add the the Brussels sprouts last (mine were slightly overcooked in the stew/soup). Add the can of pink beans (Rosadas guisadas — preparados con aceite de oliva, cilantro, y cebolla). Again, I threw in a handful of pasta for extra carbs. Top with some sliced scallions, and serve. Serves 3-4.

~Jessica

Budget Meals: Day 2

Ingredients
425 g GOYA white beans in sauce $1.50
3 small red potatoes $0.76
1 carrot $0.26
Ginger $0.54
1 head of garlic $0.42
3 red onions $0.67
1 red bell pepper $0.78
1 bunch of scallions $0.67
Total: $5.60

Directions
Chop finely 1 red potato, 1/2 the carrot, 1 red onion, the bell pepper. Mince a thumb of peeled ginger and all the head of garlic (it was going bad). Saute the onion, then ginger, then garlic in olive oil. Add the carrot, potato, and bell pepper in that order, cooking each a few minutes. Season with salt, black pepper, oregano, and thyme. Add the white beans (Blancas guisadas – preparadas con Aceite de Oliva, Cilantro, y Tomate). Rinse the can with water and add that too. I had some De Cecco elbow pasta lying around so I threw a handful of that in, along with a pinch of organic ground turmeric. Divide into bowls, top with sliced scallions. Serves 3-4.

~Jessica

Budget Meals: Day 1

Ingredients
737 g Iodized salt $1.59
425 g black bean soup $1.59
3 small red potatoes $0.76
1 carrot $0.26
Ginger $0.54
1 head of garlic $0.42
3 red onions $0.67
2 plum tomatoes $0.46
1 bunch of scallions $0.67
Total: $6.96

Directions
Chop finely 2 potatoes, 1/2 the carrot, 1 red onion, the tomatoes. Mince a thumb of peeled ginger, 1 clove of garlic. Saute onions, then ginger, then garlic in olive oil over medium heat. Saute carrot, then potatoes for 5-10 minutes. Season with salt, freshly ground black pepper, thyme, and oregano. Add the tomatoes and can of GOYA black bean soup (Frijoles negros – preparados con aceite de oliva, pimiento, y cebolla). Stir frequently, cook a little longer and serve. Top with sliced scallions. Serves 3 (on a diet).

I recently moved off my friend Amber’s couch and got my own place. Rent is $1100/month, including all utilities. My training stipend of a “modest” $2500 is to cover four months of NYC living. The GRE exam costs $205.00, the Educating All Students (EAS) exam is $92.00, the Content Speciality Test costs $134.00 (I’m taking the Biology CST, of course), Fingerprinting is $99.00. This means budgeting. A lot.

At least the GOYA black bean soup is the bomb-diggity! (Even though it has MSG and added sugar.)

~Jessica

Keflavík, Reykjanesbær, Iceland

“Reykjanesbær is a municipality on the Southern Peninsula in Iceland. It is made up of the towns Keflavík, Njarðvík, the village of Hafnir and, since 2006, Ásbrú” (Wikipedia). Flying with Icelandair, I had the option of a 17 hour layover in “Reykjavik”, although actually I was flying in and out of Keflavik Airport. And it takes 45-50 minutes to drive to the capital from the airport! It rained when I arrived at midnight, but the next morning, after a few minutes of drizzle, I was fortunate enough to have brilliant blue skies visible through dramatic clouds. So expensive, all in all, but if I had had more time, I would have liked to ride an Icelandic horse, go on a whale-watching tour (plus seabirds), see the Northern lights (in the right season). Another day!

Walking around Keflavik

Great weather!

volcanic rock!

Rock Museum

Church

Creepy statues

Lyre / harp

Huts for fishermen

Víkingaheimar (Viking World) is in Njarðvík, Reykjanesbær, Iceland. Address: 1, Víkingabraut, 260 Keflavík, Iceland. Adults ISK 1500, Students ISK 1300, Free admission for children under 14. The main feature is the “Íslendingur, the replica of the Gokstad Viking ship which in 2000 was sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, for the celebrations of the millennium of Leif Ericsson’s voyage and then to New York. The ship was returned to Iceland and placed on exhibit in the open air until being transferred to the new museum in autumn 2008.” (Wikipedia) Their website claims the Settlement Zoo is open in the summer, but I didn’t see anything except a pen with some sheep. Wish I had gotten the audio guide to do the Norse mythology exhibit properly!

Birds (and sheep) – I also saw Oystercatchers but couldn’t get a good photo. I think I saw Shag, Black-headed gulls, other gulls, Greylag Goose, Wheatear (photo too small!), etc. Would have been so cool to see an Eider duck, noted for their down!

Meadow Pipit?

Common ringed plover

Arctic Tern

Redshank (noisy!)

Golden Plover?

Panoramas

~Jessica

Amsterdam

Next stop from northern Germany: Amsterdam. I had never been to the Netherlands before, despite four years living abroad in Europe, and I have a great fondness for the Dutch, so this was a much anticipated trip. Because of mobility reasons, I did a cruise with the happy couple, before they were to drop off Daniel’s parents to return home to Chile. Heidi and I both wore bird dresses — great minds! On the tour was the “Skinny Bridge” which can be seen in the James Bond film ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ (1971).

We did a cruise

Anne Frank House

Westerkerk – by the Anne Frank House

Magere Brug, the “skinny bridge” over the river Amstel

Science Center NEMO

Heidi & Daniel

After they returned to Germany, I continued my intensive sightseeing tour. Rick Steves is my favorite city walk tour guide, so I had downloaded his app and podcasts in advance. The city tour made the most of my walk through Amsterdam on Day 1.

to Begijnhof

Dutch “Wall St”

Largest bike parking lot! Free!

Poseidon!

Royal Palace of Amsterdam

Amsterdam Centraal Station

New Church (Nieuwe Kerk)

Amsterdam Centraal station

Bloemenmarkt wares

symbolizing a former boys’ orphanage

Mint Tower (Munttoren)

Civic Guards Gallery (Schuttersgallery)’s David & Goliath

On Day 2, I booked a 9:30am slot at the Van Gogh Museum, a must see for my attractions list. There were no photos allowed except of the wall reproductions, but I snuck a couple in before I was stopped. Madness!

Things I learned:

• “The Kingfisher is an oil on canvas painting by the Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh. It was painted from July to December 1886. The Kingfisher was painted in Paris, France.” (Wikipedia)
• “Wheatfield with Crows is a July 1890 painting by Vincent van Gogh. It has been cited by several critics as one of his greatest works.” (Wikipedia) I found out this painting was one of his last before his suicide and death, and happened to be the cover for my Kindle.
• “Flying Fox (1884): This is a type of tropical bat – an unusual subject for an artist. The one painted by Van Gogh was stuffed and mounted. Just look at its stiff, unnatural pose. Van Gogh knew a man in Eindhoven (NL), Antoon Hermans, with a collection of more than 300 mounted exotic animals. This bat may have come from that collection. Van Gogh wanted to depict the translucent wings clearly, so he placed a light source behind them.” (van Gogh Museum)
• “Almond Blossoms is from a group of several paintings made in 1888 and 1890 by Vincent van Gogh in Arles and Saint-Rémy, southern France of blossoming almond trees. Flowering trees were special to van Gogh. They represented awakening and hope. He enjoyed them aesthetically and found joy in painting flowering trees… Almond Blossom was made to celebrate the birth of his nephew and namesake, son of his brother Theo and sister-in-law Jo.” (Wikipedia) This reminded me of my new nephew, James! Five months old now ^_^

Finally, I finished off with Rick Steves’ Jordaan city walk, which allowed a glimpse of the more residential and less touristy aspects of Amsterdam, while including the Anne Frank House (which I couldn’t book tickets in time — they recommend reserving two months in advance!). I had just read The Diary of Anne Frank last year, so it was moving to be outside and think about the year or so of her life spent hiding indoors. The Amsterdam Tulip Museum, of course, just randomly showed up along the way, but I didn’t go in. Notice the uneven houses, due to “settling” Rick Steves informed me.

“Across the Singel is Torensluis, one of the oldest and widest bridges in the city. The big moustached bust is of Multatuli, the pen name of the brilliant 19th-century author Eduard Douwes Dekker, who exposed colonial narrow-mindedness in a novel about a coffee merchant.” (source) This was interesting to learn, of an author speaking out against Dutch colonialism, and compared to Rudyard Kipling.

Nationaal Monument op de Dam

Oude Leliestraat

Molsteeg

Multatuli on Torensluis Bridge

Homomonument, for gays

a Anne Frank monument

Westerkerk

Gull stealing pomme frite!

And last, but not least, a panorama or two.

Bloemenmarkt

The river view outside the Anne Frank House

~Jessica