Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Joys of Frugal Living

         Does the word "frugal" conjure up images of eating rice and beans in a dirty house with dirty clothes and people with b.o. ? Or of Ebeneezer Scrooge or Silas Marner gloating over their piles of gold, while not having a friend in the world?
           Being frugal actually can bring great joy to life.  This has really come home to me over the last week. Last Saturday was my husband's birthday, and to celebrate, we had a simple birthday party with some close friends. I made pasties, an old miner's food which consist of pastry around potatoes, onions, whatever other veggies you have on hand, and some beef. Here is a picture:

( I got the idea from a BBC series called Edwardian Farm - I am totally addicted, and am constantly having to watch that I don't go over on  our internet usage since I discovered it on YouTube! Here is the link to Episode One - unfortunately, I couldn't post the episode about the pasties, Episode 5, Part 3)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaJ95wHHAZY&feature=related

After making 20 or so pasties, I got tired of doing it and made a meat pie with the rest of the ingredients, adding some cheese from a leftover sandwich from Pete's work this time. I also made green beans and asparagus, white bean soup made with chicken broth I made from scratch and the potatoes and onions I didn't use for the pasties, and a lemon cake with juice from some lemons I needed to use up and homemade whipped cream from heavy whipping cream that was on sale at Fresh and Easy. (I wish I had taken more pictures!) The lemon cake, which I should NOT have tried but did, was especially good!   All of this food which fed 10 people, 7 adults and 3 children, cost me less than 20$! And I used real butter, farm fresh eggs - real ingredients all around.
        And the party was so much fun! We all sat around and ate, and ate, and ate, and talked about theology and philosophy and farming and history - it was so fascinating just to sit and listen to Fred, our good friend and philosophy professor, and Pete hash it out about Postmodernism! And so much fun to dream about starting an organic farm with Lakisha and Stephanie! And delightful to see Stuart and Jesse's kids enjoying the lemon cake (yes, I know I am being too vain about that cake!) So much more fun and interesting than if we had a television and were sitting around watching mindless programs. I haven't enjoyed myself that much in a long time!

4 comments:

  1. That sounds like an awesome feast and a wonderful party. Happy birthday to Pete!

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  2. SO BUMMED I missed out!! But Happy Birthday to that awesome guy of yours, and thanks for the continued encouragement in the financial department. Your blogs really do inspire me.

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  3. Jessie - we missed you! Your blogs inspire me, so I guess we are even? is that the right word? lol

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