Clean plate club.

I think I’ve finally figured out how much I need to eat in a workday. Today I ate everything I brought in my lil’ lunch sack. You might not think that’s anything worth blogging about, but that’s cause you don’t know my history with this. I’m notorious (among the tiny circle that is me and my husband) for either waaay under-packing (to the point that I’m starving 20 minutes after eating and have to go buy a snack, thus negating the entire point of brown-bagging it), or significantly over-packing, then forgetting my lunch bag in the fridge (cause it still has perishables in it, duh) when I leave for home in a fog of glee. Then the next day I’m forced to use an evil plastic bag to tote my lunch stuffs to the office, thus negating the purpose of my cute lil’ nylon box/bag. (OK, so it’s not actually cute. It’s grey and rectangular and entirely unremarkable. I bought it for my husband but he never uses it cause he rides a motorcycle–and who needs extra things to carry when they’re on a motorcycle?) But today I struck the perfect balance, and I couldn’t be happier. Well, maybe I could have–until about 30 minutes ago when I found out that my father-in-law is making us dinner tonight. But now I’ve reached the pinnacle of food happiness. Happy Monday!

P.S. I’m sorry I don’t seem to blog about crafty or arty things much–read:ever–lately. But stay tuned, even if you find my lunch life boring! Soon to come: my solution to the promo dilemma, photos of vintage deliciousness, and probably something else mundane about my life.

Salsa and advertising.

Easter, when I was home alone waiting for my husband to get home from an 11-hour shift at the airport, seemed like the perfect time to attempt making salsa. It turned out delish, but more like pico de gallo than traditional salsa…pretty chunky. Pretty time-intensive, seeding and dicing six tomatoes, though. I think next time I’ll try the food processor. I used this recipe from the Food network, with a few small tweaks: I added red and green bell pepper, and reduced the amount of jalapenos to one, ’cause I’m not big on the spiciness. And I think I used a lot more cilantro than the recipe calls for…’cause I am big on fresh cilantro! Heehee. Oh, and it gets much better the next day, or after a couple hours to let flavor infusion happen.

In other news, I was in an Etsy Forums thread about off-Etsy marketing today, and Ryan from Littleputbooks posted a link to one of her blog posts about paid advertising. Increasing my advertising is one of my goals for my business this year, so half of my reason for linking to Ryan’s tips here is as a note to self. But maybe you’ll find some good tips on it too. I would love to hear about the personal experiences of anyone who has used any of these avenues–Google Adwords, banner ads, print ads–or any other paid advertising. Has it been effective/worthwhile for you? Which one(s) would you recommend to someone with a limited budget? Which do you feel offers the best return on investment?

Mmmm…coffee and chocolate.

Back in my days as a slave–I mean barista–to Corporate Coffee my colleagues and I developed a pretty refined eye-rolling reflex whenever someone (teeny-bopping middle-schoolers, particularly) ordered a frappucino. I mean we really loved to hate this making drink, and it may have unfairly extended to frowning on those who ordered it (which may have included frequent muttering of the not-that-clever nickname “crapucino”). I suppose you’re entitled to a bit of coffee snobbery when it’s your job to know all about the farming, roasting, brewing, tasting and describing of the bean beverage, but at the same time, everyone’s entitled to their own tastes, and I can’t say I don’t enjoy an icy coffee beverage myself from time to time. Anyway, far removed from that milieu, I have no opinion either way on the famed frozen concoction nor those who order it, except that good Lord, are they unhealthy! (Check out the nutrition info on the coffee giant’s website.)

Therefore, I’m delighted to find this homemade alternative on Knitastic’s blog. Looks delish, and as we’ve already had temps in the eighties here in the Sunshine State, this drink might be just the antidote to what promises to be another sweltering spring and summer.

Preview

A teensy sampling of some of my recent eBay scores…. Check the shop Sunday (2.24) after 1 p.m. EST to see the finished products!!

Happy Friday! Tonight I made granola from scratch, thanks to a recipe posted by Orangette that I found via Simply Photo (via Simply Breakfast). It’s still cooling, but preliminary taste tests indicated it’s going to be superb. And now we have something yummy + healthy to munch on tomorrow during the Best Picture Showcase Marathon!