Tip #26 to living frugally in Manhattan

Don’t eat. Just stop eating. It’s just you and the fruit stand guy.

Gypsies in Manhattan

This past weekend, I swear I saw a gypsy beggar in the subway.  The 4-5 uptown express.  I didn’t get a picture of her, but she looked a little bit like this picture of a gypsy beggar in Turkey.  Has anyone seen her before?  She has a pretty professional looking laminated photo of her holding a child claiming that the child is disabled and that she needs money.  From what I can tell, she doesn’t speak English.  You’ll notice her pretty quickly because her begging style is quite distinctive–silent, forthright and insistent.  I’m the last person who would be up in arms about begging–hey, if you can’t make it, you have a right to ask, though other people have a right to say no. I was just surprised to see a gypsy in Manhattan. Are they coming over?

Tip #86 to surviving in NYC: Fresh direct promotion code

Get free delivery for the next couple of months with Fresh Direct for the next month or so

Just enter the code: SIXYEARS at checkout each time you shop from now through August 31.* 

Good times, good times.

Food kitchens in NYC

A friend of mine volunteered at a food kitchen at St. Xavier’s in Union Square a couple of Sundays ago.  She was there for four hours.  Service ran for the day and they fed over a thousand people.

How many people need a meal in this city? When you hear things like this, you’re in the awkward position of hoping that some people shamelessly got in line for a free meal.

America’s Darkest Secret

American society revolves around the axis of race, and in many ways race edged out other social schisms from our view.  Gender is now seeing a late resurgence as a critical, unfinished social debate.  Class, however, has never seemed to figure strongly in American self-conceptualization, partly because the American dream itself is predicated on the idea that class boundaries can be erased with a bit of elbow grease.  Hence class divisions are not seen as being self-perpetuating.  The corollary to this is also that if you find yourself poor and stuck in an undesirable class, it’s probably your fault.

Barbara Ehrenreich is probably one of the most influential social commentators on the issue of class in America today. As the Guardian points out, she’s quite controversial.  People think she’s a socialist wing nut. I don’t agree with some of her conclusions, but the issue of class is something that is worth talking about in the states, especially since a lot of the negative stereotypes that are conflated with race in this country sometimes have more to do with class than with ethnicity.

Today’s tip to getting by: Fresh direct coupon code

Fresh direct’s veggies aren’t that bad.  Their local stuff from Satur farms is pretty darn amazing and tastes like the fruits and veggies I had as a kid.  (Their lettuce actually tastes like lettuce.)

Save 25% on all Fruit and Vegetables in your order!Enter the code JULYFRUITVEG at checkout.

Shop by July 15, 2008*.

Eat less meat! Eat more veg!  Better for the environment and for your pocketbook.

Composting in a tiny apartment

 

I would like to compost, I really would.  Even though I’ve tried to limit food waste as much as possible, it just seems that there’s always potato peels, squeezed oranges and the occasional bad tomato that I can’t use.  And I’m much less finicky than most people–I just cut the mold off cheese and fruit if it’s still edible.

Composting in NYC without a backyard is hard. If you compost properly, I know you don’t get a smell, but I’m not that talented.  My compost heap always smelt like a wet horse dung omelette.  I don’t have a place to garden anymore so I’ll have to give the compost away to the park or to a local garden. 

I saw this beautiful compost pail on the Guardian  and I think it’s the same one as this one on Amazon for $59.99.   It’s a bit pricey, but it might be a really nice  thing to do.  Think about how much you waste–as careful as I am, I throw out one plastic shopping bag full of organic garbage.  Remember, you’re also supposed to put in uncooked food (potato peels, not cooked potatoes) and  you won’t get pests.   

I wish they’d subsidize these things for whole apt buildings.  With the density of the human footprint in Manhattan, this could be great.

Pay $3mil+ to dodge bullets in NYC

NYMag has an interesting article on Ms. Suggs, who they finger as one of the reasons why Harlem has become completely unaffordable.

Like much of their recent work, this article lacks thorough logical analysis, but it’s a interesting character piece (those they seem to do fairly well).

Read on to see why a house in Harlem, bullet holes and all, is beyond your reach.

http://nymag.com/realestate/features/48328/

Menu $5/person, per meal: Recipes for Sunday

Sunday

Branzino Fillets in Tomato-Caper Mediterranean Sauce

1 1.1lb Branzino ($8.99/lb) (keep bones, head, tail for Monday, so [(8.99 x 1.1)/3]x2 for Sunday = $6.59

1/2 28-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice, juices used (on sale, $.99/2)=$.491/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped white onion 
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
3 small bay leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (1 bunch for the whole week, $.99)=$.15
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
2 tablespoons drained capers (1 bottle seems to have about 10 servings.  It’s old, I can’t tell. $1.99/10)=$.19

Basically, this is a casserole.  You sautee everything (in proper order-you always saute garlic and onions together first), make a sauce (blend or chop up those tomatoes).  The sauce should look like a really nice marinara.  Throw in the capers last, as they can get a bit bitter. Spoon sauce over and under the fish, place in the oven for 15 min at 425.  Dead easy. Save some fresh parsley for sprinkling at the end.

Total Cost: $7.42/2=$3.71 per person

With Corn bread, of which we had 1 pc per person, so it worked out to $.13/person  with a total of $3.84 for the whole meal.

This was a yummy and quick meal.

NYC isn’t Gossip Girl World?

NYT has an article on Gossip Girl and its fashions at

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/fashion/08gossip.html?hp

““Sometime you see these girls from Brooklyn carrying Valentino bags that cost $3,000,” she said. “That makes the show a little irritating.””

Yes, darlings, every 15 year old in NYC carries a $3000 bag.

Gossip Girl: 15 year olds with Black Amex\