The Duck's Nest: online home of mizducky

The Tightwad Gourmand strikes again: lentil salad, super fast/easy/versatile

Lentil Salad Recipe

So here's my latest article posted to Examiner.com, for my dead-simple lentil salad. And I not only write about these things, folks, I eat 'em! Took some of the batch I cooked up for my little photo shoot to school with me for lunch. I feel so virtuous.

Break from work to blog and eat

Been slogging away all day on the computer, while a mini-batch of my crock-pot carnitas simmered away in the kitchen, tantalizing me with the promise of reward for my labors.

When I last stopped in at a local Food 4 Less, I saw they had pork stew meat on special in reasonable single-householder-sized packages -- and they were even labeled as "por carnitas." So I figured "why the heck not," and got some, plus the required beer and limes.

My housemate has the dearest little mini-crock-pot, so I didn't have to haul out the big mothuh to make my scaled-down mini-batch. Soon the house was smelling pleasantly of garlic and beer, and my housemate's would not stop lurking hopefully underfoot.

By the time I got to my dinner break just now, I didn't even bother with the final crispy-bits-making step--too hungry. Mmmmmm ... pork, garlic, and beer, three great flavors that belong together. Now I feel fueled up for the next round of mano a mano with the work pile.

Brief observation

You know that chant "wearing my long wing feathers as I fly"? Well, right now I feel more like "dragging my long wing feathers as I crawl." In other words: tired tired tired. What is it about very hot weather that makes me feel like I've been hit over the head with the Exhaustion Bat? :-P

Urban landscape urban subsistence.

A tiny patch of bucolic greenery amidst the auto exhaust at the corner of
Linda Vista & Mesa College Dr.

I wound up getting backed up on work yesterday & got to bed at nearly 2am -
so now am short of sleep going into another Japanese test. Another reason I
am rearranging my work schedule. To try & catch up, I pulled something I've
seen a number of Mesa students do who arrive early to score a parking garage
spot - nap in one's car. If you're not up on the roof level in the sun, it's
not unpleasant at all - unless some joker w/ thumping bass sound system
decides to park next to you and serenade the garage.

Made my very first Flash animation in Multimedia class. Ever so cute. I see
how one could get addicted to this toy. Hopefully it will help me work as
well as play real soon.

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Happy autumnal equinox

Not sure if you can see it in the blurry operator-challenged photo, but
there is the tiniest tinge of red in one or two of those trees. Autumn
arrives in the groves of academe.

I am feeling unaccountably good this morning - well-rested, bod surprisingly
non-cranky. Maybe some of that has to do with mentally starting to close the
door on the previous chapter of my life, but I think a lot more has to do
with giving myself permission to go spend some time in a for-fun-only online
community I used to spend a ton of time on. I had gone on hiatus with that
community, feeling I just couldn't justify spending time on such "frivolous"
pursuits while my real-life situation required such urgent attention. But
when I logged into a social channel in that community and was greeted with
enthusiastic cries of "welcome back! We missed you!" from all these on-line
friends, I realized just how much I missed them, and that community, too.

Not gonna deprive myself of that "frivolous" community again. :-)

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Another Examiner.com article: "Better Than Bouillon" perks up beans, meatless recipes

Here I am again with another article I wrote for my San Diego Budget Meal Examiner gig, this time touting a product I use all the time for putting some zip in my beans and such. It's really pretty darned good! Anyway, please to be checking the article out--thanks!

Budget cooking tip: "Better Than Bouillon" perks up beans, meatless recipes.

Breakfast of champions? Or just harried Mesa students?

These little cans of subsistence nutrition have become part of my school day routine - grab one from fridge on the way out the door, thrust into bag, consume once on campus in lieu of breakfast. Along with the lunches I've learned to throw together real fast (I'm not even going to dignify them with the term "bento" anymore; they're just rice and topping slapped into a plastic container and shoved into my insulated bag with a cold pack), I am now spending a minimal amount of money on campus food. I'm still breaking down and getting a PM caffeine drink; maybe I'll get organized enough to put a thermos of same in my bag. Or a jar of instant coffee.
I have a sinking feeling I did a mediocre test in Japanese the other day. Sensei asked about a lot more material than I expected would be on the test. Ah well, now I know for next time. And I still have till the 25th to file for the pass/fail option if I really feel badly about it. I'm doing this for the knowledge, not the grade.

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Rollin' rollin' rollin' - keep those textbooks rollin'

After 3 weeks of pounding the crap out of my knees hauling my textbooks all around campus, I finally broke down and bought this baby. 13 bucks & change at Marukai. At first I thought it was a little bigger than I needed, but now that the weather's cooled off and I'm also hauling a hoodie for the evening, I'm glad I didn't go for the smaller, cuter (& more expensive) bag. (Why is price always inversely proportional to size?) Half the students at Mesa use wheeled bags, a practicality for a campus w/ distant parking lots & no lockers (guess someone decided they didn't want the burden of policing lockers?)
My first quiz in Japanese is today - hiragana. I'm feeling pretty ready. It's a trip going into Marukai now and being able to recognize kana & sometimes entire words on signs & labels. Getting closer - can almost taste it - breaking thru the first wall of basic literacy. So glad I gave myself permission to pursue this dream, even though practically it'll be years before it bears fruit.

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Budget recipe: crock-pot carnitas make great Chargers football party fare

Hey there folks--after a brief hiatus for moving and other domestic transitions, I'm back with another article for Examiner.com. As before, if you will follow the link and show my article some love, I will be tremendously grateful.

Budget recipe: crock-pot carnitas make great Chargers football party fare.

Early morning at Mesa

Start of my 3rd week at Mesa. Was petsitting in Clairemont Mesa, so was able to get to school even earlier than usual and score one of the last parking spots in the closest lot (at the foot of the little mesa on which the campus resides). A whole bunch of students do this thing, getting to school way before their first class, and then score a spot at an outdoor table to study, or even just put their heads down to grab a few more ZZZs.
Over the weekend I bought some kana study guides from the Japanese bookstore in Mitsuwa Market, and now I feel like I'm finally getting the basic 46 hiragana under my belt. Had a lovely convo w/ the cashier, who shared how challenging she had found it to master the English alphabet. Could there be any two languages more different in approach? Well, Chinese and English; but at least Chinese only has one written language, while Japanese adds 2 (3 if you count Romaji).

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