jbraynolds

I got the food and cooking bug and wariness of the "value" of fast food out of necessity. Able to con my Dad into giving me a monthly food stipend rather than signing up for the meal plan while in college (divide the cost of the program by nine and send me a check for that amount at the beginning of each month) resulted in fast-food joint binges and imported beer for the first week, slices of pizza and mainstream domestic beer the second and careful shopping and cooking at home and rock-bottom domestic beer the last two weeks of each month. Those last weeks meant much time at ethnic markets and farmer's stands, lots of very seasonal (read: abundant, hence cheap) vegetables, the omnipresent pasta and cheap cuts of meat. It also meant that rather than dropping $5 at Burger King I could buy a six-pack of Piels ($1.50) and make dinner for two for the same bucks. Not sure if that's how a lesson was meant to be learned but it worked for me.

Give up TV time for time cooking real food and spending time with your family, maybe actually, gulp, talking with them? Now there's a subversive idea.

Most people from the South will tell you that the average automobile has a few dozen places on it that'll open a beer. Might cause some damage to plastic and trimwork but priorities are priorities.