There Must Be More to This Provincial Life

Everything is converging! This is going to mostly be a post about continuing and unfinished art projects.

Here I am, two weeks left of this quarter. I’ve been in Austin for 3 months, I’ve gotten a job but it hasn’t started yet (gahh!), and it’s finally cold outside. I’ve got lots of projects in the pipeline, but no money (ehh) and Saturday is cookie day! (yess!)

I’m currently working on a painting for Katie, and one for Marissa. Katie’s is going to be a fantasy-themed painting, and I’m really excited about how it’s going. Marissa’s is going to be something fancy saying “Am I lost, or just less found?” I also bought a giant canvas (2′ x 4′) to paint with something. I had an idea, but I’m not sure about it now. I wanted to paint a scene with really tall birch trees with fall leaves on a hilly landscape. And of course, in the tradition of landscapes by me, there would be mountains in the background. But what else is new. And I considered putting a lion in it, but again; what else is new?

Other than those, I just finished an assemblage thing with leaves and sticks and an old textbook I got from Goodwill called “Morphology of Plants,” that I’m going to sell at a show (hopefully) at school. I want to do two more similarly with two other textbooks I got called “Advanced Mathematic Engineering” which I would make look kind of steampunk-y and “The Science of Gemstones.” I also started a painting of one of the photos from the glow face paint shoot Eric and I did a few months ago. I’m not sure if I like it though. It’s on loose canvas and it’s started buckling.

I need to make cookie dough for Saturday! My mom asked me to make all the dough that needs to be chilled the night before so that it will be ready on Saturday. Good gravy do I love Cookie Day.

Zach’s Guide to Eating Cheaply in College (or Just When Living On Your Own)

There are many things I’m learning since I’ve moved to Austin, and how to eat food while not spending much money is one of them. Though I’m certainly still figuring it out (aka, I can’t help but go out to eat sometimes!) Anyway, here’s how I’ve been saving some money on food:

1. Look at what’s on the shelves before your pick something: For example, only after looking at the bread aisle for 5 minutes did I see that HEB (and Target, for that matter) sell loaves of wheat bread for $1. It’s pretty great. And while we’re on the subject of bread, thin sliced lasts longer = saves money.

2. Dry pasta is cheap: Again with the $1 thing! You can buy packs of spaghetti for a dollar. It’s great. Also, Pasta lasts a long time. The last time I made pasta (with delicious alfredo sauce!) it lasted me five more meals.

3. Instant is your friend: Instant potatoes are the BOMB. I like the cheesy ones! It’s 98 cents for a packet that makes two decently sized servings.

4. Canned foods = Very Yes: Canned peaches and pears are great and cheap. So is canned soup. Tomato has been my favorite so far. Also, just don’t ever eat canned Clam Chowder. In my experience it’s always gross. Don’t bother unless it’s at a restaurant.

5. Two Words: JIFFY MUFFINS. Jiffy Muffins are seriously the best thing ever. They are a dollar a box at HEB and 50 cents at WalMart. They come in Blueberry, Chocolate, Cornbread (I LOVE cornbread), and plain Biscuits. And each box makes 6 to 8 muffins. It’s wonderful. Plus, then your apartment (or whatever) smells like you’ve been baking and it’s awesome.

6. Get a Toaster Oven, Eat Frozen Things: A toaster oven makes it easy to cook and eat frozen fish fillets or flautas (those are what I get frozen), also, everything is better when it comes from a toaster oven instead of a microwave. Plus, frozen foods are cheaper and easier to get/store in bulk.

7. Ramen. Need I say more? Get chopsticks and feel more legit.

8. Get Over Your Fear of Leftovers. Leftovers are your friend. Leftovers are your friend. Leftovers are your friend. When you make yourself food, you will inevitably have leftovers. Eat them! Or else you waste money and food!

So yeah, those are some ways I save money. Of course, I still buy the necessary eggs, milk, and cheese, I just try to get the cheapest ones that still look good. Though, full disclosure, I still buy liquid coffee creamer, cream cheese, and bacon. Those I will not do without! haha.

How have you saved money in college or in general on food?

Science and Baking

This is possibly the most random topic I will ever blog about, but I just wanted to point something out.

Baking is possibly the least precise practice on the planet.

I laughed at myself just rereading that sentence now, but I think about it every time I make food from a recipe. I find it hard to reconcile the baker in me with the ex-science-olympian. How can I put any trust into a measuring system that insists that every recipe on the planet uses the same intervals of flour that are so different from one cup to the next? If measurements mattered in the baking world, then you would have things like “recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups 3 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon of flour at [this amount] of density” instead of “recipe calls for 2 cups of flour.”

Anyway, there you have it. Also, this is why I laugh at people who measure anything larger than a tablespoon by scraping the extra off the top.