The meaning of voting with your dollars

With all of the disasters happening at home--both socially and naturally--and around the world, I've definitely been affected in the past few weeks:

• 1 family member evacuated Houston during Harvey
• 1 friend in Oregon got caught between 2 wildfires while hiking and was stuck overnight on the trail. 
• 1 friend and a family member are about to get hit by Irma; they are trying to evacuate but stuck on the highway in FL
• I watched this sobering news story about how 3/4 of species are on their way to extinction...because of us

 I've been thinking a lot lately about how I can help from far away. This news story was lovely and intense and shows that really anyone can be a hero.

Sometimes I wish I could quit my job and just devote all my time to helping, volunteering, or citizen science projects like this.

First, I re-searched ways that I could reduce my carbon footprint. I have heard all of them before, but I know I need to do a better job. Have fewer kids: check; don't own a car: check; become vegetarian: half-check (I don't eat meat from the most harmful contributors to climate change, cows/lamb/any red meat); buy locally and organically: half-check (I try but a lot of food in NZ comes from overseas); avoid long-haul transport: no. Maybe it was time to check my carbon footprint?

From my long-haul flights this year, I have contributed about 2 tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere (calculated using this website). From my other habits, like using electricity, I have contributed about 8 tonnes of carbon (calculated using this website. (That figure includes the electricity used by my entire household, not just me.)

So--I contributed about 10 tonnes of carbon in the past year or so. The average is about 20 tonnes, apparently. I will keep working on reducing my emissions by not having kids (easy!), taking fewer ubers/cabs/car shares, hiring electric cars when possible, eating even less meat, line drying my clothes more, washing my clothes in cold/warm water, and buying more local/organic foods. However, there is one area I don't feel comfortable reducing: my long-haul flights to see my family once a year. That small amount of time with them isn't enough as it is.

Instead of giving up my flights to see my family, I will calculate and offset ALL of my emissions every year by contributing to UN-suggested 'green' projects. For 10 tonnes, that works out to between $4.80 and $85 currently, depending on the project I choose to fund (each tonne costs from $0.48 to $8.50 USD). The projects change as they get funded. It isn't perfect but it is something.

In doing this, I realized something pretty special about the cycle of my money. I get paid from an NZ government grant, which, in turn, is funded by taxpayers. So: 1. I (and others) pay taxes from my salary. 2. I get paid from those tax dollars, and some of it goes back to the government to pay me next year. 3. In exchange for my salary/tax dollars, I contribute to society through my job, educating people and influencing policy that saves lives. 4. Depending on what I do with my money after taxes, I can feed quite a bit of it into supporting the ideals that I hold dear and that will make the world an even better place: buy local/organic. take public transport instead of cars. vegetables/fruits instead of meat. buying carefully. donating to social causes and green projects.

I had always heard the phrase 'vote with your dollars,' and agreed with the concept, but I hadn't really thought about how every time I donate to a good cause, I am basically reinvesting NZ tax payer money into something that makes the world a better place. Essentially, the good that money does is doubled--once when I am paid to do my job, and another time when a good cause gets it. Very neat!

New Trick To Meet Minimum Spend on Reward Credit Cards

Back in April/May, I had a little bit of a crisis as to how I was going to meet my $5K USD spend on my new credit card. That 5K in spending would garner me 80,000 air miles, which would be enough for a round-trip visit to the US. Usually I meet my minimum spend through carefully timed, reimbursed work purchases in addition to regular spending during my US trips, but the work purchases weren't possible this time around.

In the end, a reimbursed purchase came through, but I was scrambling there for a bit. I ended up lending Kiva.org $250 to test out this idea. It worked! The $250 counted towards my $5K spend, I got my 80K points, and now have an entire year to earn 80K more points towards my next US trip.

In addition, I was reimbursed portions of that $250 pretty quickly:

June 6: $250 lent
July 25: $100 repaid and withdrawn
August 13: $13.81 repaid and withdrawn
Sept 1: $44.44 repaid and withdrawn

$180.43, or 72%, was paid back within 3 months

(Please note that some of that withdrawn $$ could be part of the $25 I lent to Kiva awhile ago.)

Indeed, it is a proven, easy way to meet the minimum spend in a pinch. It isn't perfect--the downsides include:

• liquid capital is tied up and not earning interest
• some of the borrowers may default (it is good to spread the money around, lending $25 to many different borrowers instead of to just one, to diversify)

You can always re-lend the money paid back, but I chose to withdraw it and put it towards my credit card bills.

This has been a great experience for me so far, and it comes with the not-to-be-downplayed bonus and satisfaction of helping people at the same time. I will definitely put this trick in my arsenal for future minimum spend crises!

Cooking Log

Week of 27 August: MISTAKES WERE MADE. Made 2 Indian curries, recipes one (Chicken Biryani) and two (sweet potato and chicken indian curry). Used Korma indian curry paste, which may have been a mistake. Added broccoli to the recipes to make them healthier. Used kumara in recipe 2, which was a lot of hard chopping work. Recipe 1 turned out better upon initial taste test just after cooking. Recipe 2 was bland and boring and awful, so I added more curry paste. I ate about 1/3 of recipe 1 at lunch this week--it was really pretty awful. I had a few bites of recipe 2 and it turned out even worse, so I ended up throwing it all out. The naan bread I bought was terrible--may be a function of how it was cooked (in the microwave at work).

Week of 3 September: After last week's debacle, I need to regroup to something tried, true, and easy to build my confidence back up. I bought a whole chicken, fresh green beans, and kumaras for dinners, and pre-made pasta and sauce for lunches. Roasted the chicken and kumara (with oil and rosemary) and boiled the green beans for a half hour and prepped using this recipe. The lemon zest all melty in the warm olive oil makes this veggie dish. I also made a pasta dish and bought sauce to go over it. Too easy.

Week of  10 September: I think I feel like making something light. Soup? I'm waffling between 2 of the three here: Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato soup (can add leftover pasta, cheese, chicken to this), chicken corn chowder, or a broccoli-cheese soup (option 1 or option 2).

I ended up making the red pepper soup and broccoli soup. The latter came out almost perfect with recipe option 1. The former needed the addition of cream to make it palatable. I ending up loving the broccoli cheese soup & barely tolerating the red pepper soup. I ate the whole former but the latter went bad before I could eat it all. I felt incredibly unfull and craving protein by Thursday, though. Next time I have a soup week, it should include protein in it, or the rest of my meals should include a lot of protein (eggs for bfast, tuna/ham sandwiches for lunches maybe).

I'm already excited for next week--I'm going to try to make my 2nd favorite Thai dish, Pad See Ew w/ veggies and chicken. Recipes to combine: #1  #2  #3  #4

I may or may not get takeaway noodles this week for lunches, to be able to study the traditional ingredients and taste compare better.

Week of  17 September:  I'm going to try to make my 2nd favorite Thai dish, Pad See Ew w/ veggies and chicken. Recipes to combine: #1  #2  #3  #4

Used a combo of this recipe and my mom's lasagna recipe to make lasagna.

Made pad see ew using a modified version of the four recipes above. Added shredded carrots + zucchini and a whole package of fresh wide noodles I found at the local asian grocery. the sauce still isn't quite right--and I'm sure I'll have to add more--but it's not too bad.

Sept 25 2017 week: summer in winter chicken: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1521/summerinwinter-chicken
added garlic and onion and a ton of zucchini I accidentally ordered via Click & collect at Countdown. Felt ill afterward--was chicken just sitting unrefrigerated for quite long before I picked it up? It was definitely cooked through...will attempt again tomorrow and see if I get sick again, there's a week's worth of food (and $100+) gone to waste if it is a fluke. ETA: I ate this the rest of the week and the effects weren't nearly as bad subsequent evenings (maybe because I put it in the microwave to cook more??), however, it did make me feel a little bloated or something afterward.

October 1 2017: cooked ham, mac n cheese, peas for dinner. zucchini + chicken quesadillas for lunch. Used frozen mac n cheese because I apparently am terrible at making mac and cheese, it takes a long time, and because I had work from 7 am - 4 pm this past Sunday. It was all I could do to pop the ham in the oven for baking--put a few cms of water in the roasting pan with the ham, covered in foil, and baked according to the instructions (about 30 min per 500 g of ham). Peas were easy--out of a can, added salt and pepper and butter. Mac n cheese was heated up in the microwave for an easy week's dinner. Monday, I chopped up the zucchini, cooked it in a tiny bit of olive oil, buttered the tortilla,  put it on the hot pan, added tomato paste (bought in small containers), spread teh tomato paste all around the tortilla, and added shredded roast chicken (bought from the deli counter), zucchini, and cheese. folded it over and cooked the other side. Yummy lunch, but probably not enough food for lunch, need to add something to this.

Tales from my One Year Cooking Experiment, Part III: The OFFICIAL Results & Some Yummy Treats

(See Parts I and II for the intro to this series, but briefly:) I started learning how to cook last year and have made it a habit to cook for the week every Sunday evening. This has been a great experiment, and now I'm excited to tell you the results and how far I've come!

Oh, How Far I've Come: The Results
This experiment has been a success!

After a year of cooking weekly, I think I've come pretty far.

• I have perfected my favorite take-out dish (Thai Yellow Curry). What was once only available to me by driving to my fave takeaway place is now an option for me to make for myself at home. That feels awesome!
• I now use real ingredients, real food. 
• I eat fewer processed foods and meals-in-a-can and zero frozen meals, though I still use a lot of condiments, some vegetables from cans, pre-made curry pastes, etc. 
• I have lost about 5-7 pounds (though I attribute that to cutting out the cheese puffs at night, not to the cooking).

Earlier this past week, I think I entered Beast Mode: I made a soup* out of some leftovers and the stuff I already had in my fridge/pantry, from two pretty different recipes, and it came out so well that I have added it to my 'to-make-on-the-regular' recipe list!


My Favorite Dishes
Oh, also?--I have a regular recipe list! That in itself is a huge accomplishment. On it include:

• modified Yellow Thai Curry
• modified Turkey-Veggie Meatloaf
• Courgette Soup
• modified Lemon-Basil Veggie Pasta
• Greek Turkey Meatballs with Dill and Tatziki Sauce
• Roast Veggies (always a favorite)
• Roast Kumara
• My Mom's Lasagna, modified to add veggies
• Roast Chicken
• Modified Creamy Pesto Chicken Pasta
• my own creation: Chicken-Tomato-Parmesan Soup*
• Honey Glazed Ham
• Crockpot Veggie Chili 
• my own creation: BBQ Chicken
• Italian-Chicken Pasta with Veggies
• Southern style Green Beans
• Salads of all kinds, but esp Apple-Roasted Walnut Salad 
• Homemade salad dressings of all kinds, but esp the simple mustard-honey vinaigrette
• Warm winter salads
• Tom Kha Gai soup

Honorable Mention
I have also learned that I LOVE the flavors from:

• deglazing the pan. 
• making a roux and creating a pasta sauce out of it. 
• the caramelization that happens in meats and veggies (esp kumaras!!) in the oven. 
• mixing garlic salt, olive oil, lemon, and pepper and adding it on veggies
• replacing normal pasta noodles with zucchini and carrot and other veggie spiral noodles 

The D-List
Lest you think I am cured, here are all the things I've made that I've hated (not all because I'm a mediocre cook, though!):

• Zucchini-Parmesan Chips (SO much work for soggy nastiness)
• Brussel Sprouts (I have made them six ways to Sunday, hated 'em all)
• Squash Soup (too much work and ended up too sweet)
• sweet potato and carrot soup (again, too sweet for me)
• mashed potatoes (yes, somehow I messed this up--I need to try it again)
• mac n cheese (I blame the bland cheese in New Zealand. It's awful. Will keep trying.)
• my spaghetti (again, I blame some of the ingredients in NZ--I need to try to make my own sauce from scratch, I think)
• all of my fish dishes (I think I just don't really like fish)
• Chicken satay sauce (ended up WAY TOO SWEET)
• Indian curries (2 types; I think I just don't like traditional Indian spices)

The Future Smells Yummy
I have plans to make my own Indian curry next week, and I really want to experiment with cabbage dishes and making my own biscuits and curry pastes at some point. I also want to modify my diet to be more like the Whole30 or Perfect Health diets.

While I still don't like cooking on the whole, I at least have a few things I'm looking forward to playing around with, a few meals I can fall back on, and can feel great that I have made some dishes my own.


So, I'm Better Than Before: I'll Take It!
Contrast this picture above to the me from 2008:

• Cooking is not my forte
• Cooking Update

Yay! I am officially a better version of myself than before (in this regard, at least!). I wouldn't go so far as to say that learning to cook and implementing my once-a-week cooking schedule has changed my life, but it has certainly made my work-weeks easier and made me feel more like a normal human being. One deserving of respect and love and all the good things. I live in hope that one day I will be able to meal plan and throw together some food with almost no thought or effort, and can resume doing other stuff on Sundays again.

Til then, let's all keep cookin', good-lookin'.


(Feel free to share your fave recipes below!)