Sunday’s Money Menu 9 17 23

A quiet day, mostly spent at home. I went and got some of my diabetes water, and brain freeze paste, then came back and made a huge Chinese lunch. Orange chicken and cream cheese Rangoon. Because I have wonton wrappers, I’m going to try and make apple pie. I figure I can mash up my Granny Smiths, make a sort of goo with corn starch, put it in the wonton, seal, then fry. I want to try this with cherries too. And since I have cream cheese, I can make the icing to go with it. Not that I couldn’t before, but the cream cheese adds a little something.

I also prepped for work.

My plants aren’t really thriving. The one tomato plant is starting to wilt from the top; it’s probably that fungus. The pepper plants look great, but they are growing at a snail’s pace. I saw some blooms on them, so if they can get pollenated, I may have peppers. I sort of feel my plants are like me. Not quite thriving.

After I get this post up, I plan to work on another video. I bought a new video editing program several months ago, and I worked on it a bit this summer. I made a quick guide for myself. I’m not as adept at editing as I’d like to be, but maybe that will come. All I know is that things would be a little quicker if I had a second monitor. Whoever invented this program didn’t intend for the user to be working on a 15 inch laptop screen.

The restaurant where I ate last night’s dinner. Based on my past history, nice knowing you. You’ve got great food.

And I can’t believe I didn’t get any still shots of my food last night. What the hell is wrong with me?

Enjoy the rest of the photos!

Zhongshan Road on a Saturday night. What a lovely evening!

Some experimentation with slow shutter speed.

The great thing about pedestrian streets is if you want to squat down in the middle of the road and eat, you can do that. More slow shutter speed experimentation.

How these cats can relax in the middle of thousands of people, I’ll never know… because…

this one was hiding under a display, meowing as if its life depended on it.

I’ve seen this guy before. Technically, this isn’t Zhongshan Road, but very close–Siming South Road, an offshoot road.

Saturday’s Money Menu 9 16 23

Money spent: $19.85 (Transportation, food.)

Felt like going to Zhongshan Road this afternoon. It had been a while.

Zhongshan Road is a pedestrian street with a few malls and lots of businesses lining the road. There are roads that also branch out, and they are chock-full of all sorts of businesses.

It’s also a great people watching street too. They’ve improved that aspect a bit by installing benches. When I first visited four years ago, they didn’t have a lot of places to sit.

And now, they’ve added new businesses. The center of the road now has gelato stands. Sometimes they have entertainment too.

Zhongshan Road is my happy place. Seems like there’s always good vibes there. It can be as expensive or as cheap as you want it to be. Tonight, I treated myself to some Chinese food. I just hope this place doesn’t shut down like the others.

Zhongshan Road on a warm September evening.

And I can get there for a little over $1. I take the bus to the Guanren subway station, then take the train straight to Zhenhai Road station. A few meters walk down Siming South Road and I’m right in the middle of it.

It was a little more expensive to get back. The trains were still running, but the buses weren’t. I was really tired, so I caved and got a Didi home for a very short trip. I gave the driver a good tip though, to make up for the whopping 1.6 km I refused to walk.

This little guy was guarding the entrance to some business on Zhongshan Road.

Anyway, the excursion did a lot to cheer me up. I’ve been in a foul mood as of late. You can’t put a price tag on a mood lifter.

Or can you?

Friday’s Money Menu 9 15 23

62/33 Days until payday?

Money spent: $44 (Blue cheese, potato chips, tortilla chips, garlic powder, dried cranberries, grape juice, A4 copy paper, Coke, Coke Zero, tomatoes)

I see a pattern, do you? I spend too much at the grocery store. I guess I like to have a variety of foods.

But it’s ironic, because I really don’t eat that much anymore.

Seriously, last night I had a snack of chip dip and potato chips and Coke Zero before going to bed. That kept me satisfied until late afternoon, when I had a couple of strawberry cream cheese snacks while taking a break from swimming.

I thought should eat a bit before I went swimming, but I wasn’t really hungry. Curious, I took my blood sugar. It was excellent.

But swimming nearly two kilometers got my stomach rumbling, so I scooped up the cream cheese (It’s great; it’s like super-thick strawberry pudding) and that was enough until I got home and made a replica of Wendy’s Apple Pecan Chicken Salad.

I only had to go to ~~four~~ five grocery stores in order to get everything.

The “have everything” stores still don’t have that one ingredient. The blue cheese and dried cranberries came from Metro. Olé DID have a box of two different types of lettuce. The chicken nuggets came from the shop around the corner from my place. The frillice came from my Sungiven Mini next door. And the Granny Smith apples came from Glomy. I can’t believe how good they taste.

But still. All this rigamarole for a salad.

I got tomatoes after swimming, because I have the ingredients for nachos, and I also have ingredients for more orange chicken, with cream cheese Rangoon appetizers.

It’s weird I spend on food, since apparently I can survive on a bit of cheese and lots of water. I guess that’s the secret of keeping your blood sugar low. Just don’t eat.

Ha ha. Don’t worry—I know what I SHOULD be eating vs. what I shouldn’t. The good news is, sugar is giving me a rash. So if I want to stop scratching, I need to stay away from regular Coke. Will the itchiness and desire to lose another 20 pounds lead to victory on my weight loss journey?

Stay tuned.

Thursday Money Menu 9 14 23

63/34 Days until payday?

Money spent today: $79.78 (Didi, subway, late lunch, grocery shopping)

So yeah, went a little wacky with the spending today.

I am GOING to recreate my favorite salad from Wendy’s. The Apple Pecan Chicken salad. I need to get some dried cranberries and blue cheese, then I’ll be all set.

Guess I should check and see how much I have in my bank account. I want to say I’ll be all right. I just don’t want to touch what little savings I have.

Ugh. Thanks, Ole. I’ll never be able to unsee this.

Saw this at Olé today. Some people get triggered by seeing the words, rape, sexual assault, molested, or Trump, but brown and orange will always make my stomach knot up just a bit. Certain Northrop High School grads will understand.

Wednesday’s Money Menu 9 13 23

Days until payday 63/34???

Money spent today: $10.98 (fruit, veggies, transportation)

People here ask me if I eat Chinese food. I tell them I do, but as soon as I find a restaurant that I like, it shuts down.

It happened with my first Chinese place in Xiamen. Found a place that made chicken fried rice with the same taste as back home. They closed.

I found another place, a few stalls up with similar chicken fried rice, but a bit greasier.

It closed too.

Then, there was a place across the street that had shrimp fried rice that tasted exactly the same as the first two fried rice places. It closed.

There’s a place near my house that served beef pepper steak over rice, and delicious beef broth. It was so good one night, I asked for a second bowl. From then on, they bring me a large bowl whenever I stop by. And it’s FREE.

They closed.

My homemade “Chinese” food. I can’t live with the guilt of putting restaurants out of business.

I’d love to eat Chinese food, if they will just let me. So I make orange chicken over rice at home. When I have the supplies, I make cream cheese Rangoon.

My apartment hasn’t closed—so far

Tuesday’s Money Menu 9 12 23

Money spent: $12.08 (transportation, chips, soda)

Happy Teacher’s Day!

I got a couple of Happy Teacher’s Day wishes, and today I got a flower! I was very happy about that as I love flowers. It’s probably only the third time in my life I’ve ever gotten flowers from a man. The first time was from my orthodontist when I got my braces off.

All in all, it was a pretty good day. Dinner was chicken nuggets and an ear of corn that made me think of Indiana. It was delicious! And here’s the flower. I was experimenting with lighting and white balance on my Samsung S10. It’s pretty mind-blowing what the camera can do.

Monday’s Money Menu 9 11 23

65/36 Days until payday

Money spent yesterday: $23

Money spent today $0

A Craving for McDonald’s

For some reason, I want to eat out more. I’m not sure why. But after McDonald’s, I stopped at the grocery store. I got some more chicken nuggets, frozen French fries, lettuce, oranges, potatoes, a red onion, and green onions. I’ve been making orange chicken at home, and it’s really good.

I’d like to briefly address my spending. Yes, I went over my $10 daily budget. But back before I started all this, I estimated that I COULD spend $20-25 a day if needed. I just wanted to see if I could get away with $10. And I found I couldn’t. Not with utilities and internet factored in. If they weren’t a factor, I probably could have swung it. Still not bad. $11.50 for Sunday and Monday.

I also got some hamburger buns, which are sort of hard to come by in the neighborhood grocery stores. I bought what I thought were just hamburger buns yesterday.

I got a surprise.

It was an actual hambuger! (Cheese not included.)

I got the buns, and a small packet of white stuff which I assume is mayonnaise. But there was also a hamburger patty. At least, I assume that’s what it was. But I didn’t buy these buns refrigerated. Is this patty freeze-dried? Do I just add water to it? I already had a frozen hamburger patty, so I took the tightly-wrapped one and threw it in the freezer.

It’s the tiniest hamburger I’ve ever seen! (Even though it looks like a hot dog between two hamburger buns.)

And my burger, fries and salad were delicious.

Why You Not Eating Chinese Food!?

For those who are frothing at the mouth because I’m not eating more Chinese food, calm down. I WOULD eat more, if the damn places wouldn’t shut down. I find a place that has a great dish—beef pepper steak, shrimp fried rice, chicken fried rice—and I give them my money frequently. But the reliable fried rice places have disappeared, it seems. And my favorite little place a few minutes’ walk from my house has closed up again. That was the place with the delicious beef broth served free with every meal. I loved it so much one night, I asked for another bowl and I said I’d pay for it. They brought me another bowl—for free.

And from then on, I requested a large bowl of soup when I went in there, because it was just so good.

But I walked by a couple of days ago, and they were closed.

And if I could get my fried rice at home to taste the way it did at that one place in Ruijing Mall, I’d be so happy. But I can’t. Little Fields, I think it was called. Xiao Tian Li.

Yet the western places remain open. And if they close, they usually open right back up just a few hundred meters away from their usual spots. As terrible as this sounds, I’d kill for a Panda Express right now.

Sunday Money Menu 9 10 23

Not a lot to say today. I got more done this weekend than I thought.

But I’m still eating out too much.

Saturday’s Money Menu 9 9 23

Days until payday: 67/38?

I forgot to mention yesterday I paid some on my credit card back home. So, I’m up to what–$186 spent yesterday? Yikes.

It seems like it’s feast or famine, isn’t it? I spend what seems like gobs of money one day, nothing the next.

Taking the Quick and Cheap Route!

I type this as I’m waiting for brown sugar buns to bake in the oven. I cut them open and added some cinnamon. Then, I’ll make some powdered sugar icing with butter and vanilla to replicate the dip Burger King used to have for their Cinni Minis. When I was at the grocery store the other day, I noticed the buns in the freezer section. I’ve been tempted to make cinnamon rolls myself, either with or without yeast. But I decided to try these. Quick and cheap!

Let’s see how they turn out.

Last night I swam 72 laps. I loved it. Hardly anyone was in the pool. Pool temp was refreshing.

A Fungus Among Us

Today, I stayed home. Inspected the plants. I’m losing more to Verticillium wilt. Or Fusarium wilt. I guess it’s in the soil. So it will have to go. It’s disappointing. Only one tomato plant seems to look good, but it looks like it’s not growing either. And, there hasn’t been much sun. I wish my balcony extended out a couple more feet. I think that would help a little.

I also cleaned the stove, a hated chore. The grease cleaner I’ve purchased doesn’t seem to do the job. I should probably try a different brand. I also got a few things done on my to-do list.

The Internet is Amazing!

That website, archive.org, continues to delight. I found a horse book series from my youth. What’s funny is I read two books from the same author with the same characters, but didn’t realize there was an entire series. I only found that out a few years ago. But it was nice to re-read the first book again, and start in on the second. It gives me a feeling… and I’m not sure exactly how to describe it. I would like to think Jinny Manders grew up, became an illustrator/writer, and continues to live at Finmory House to this day. Shantih would be dead by now, but I’m hoping Jinny found a suitable Arab stud. And that Shantih’s grandchildren, and great-grandchildren bring Jinny much joy.

It’s a nice thought.

Try, Try Again!

Something else I did today was to resubmit a writing assignment. I get infuriated when instructions aren’t clear and I mess things up. After throwing a fit about it, I got a chance to fix the errors of my ways. I mean, I know I can’t expect perfection the first time out, but I always do. But hell, I can’t read minds either. Hoping for a much better score this time around. I didn’t fail, or anything. But I know I can do better.

Not bad… but they sure aren’t Cinni Minis! (Which BK doesn’t even sell anymore…)

So here they are. They were a bit… firmer than I thought they would be. Next time, I’ll either steam them, or cut them open and pour some water in them to soften them up a bit. The frosting solidified too. Maybe some milk the next time. But they weren’t terrible!

Friday’s Money Menu 9 8 23

Spent well over $100 today on water, sewer, trash, pool, lunch, a computer cord, subway, and some groceries.

These computer cords are worse than Waterford crystal in terms of being fragile. It’s not like I jump rope with them, but the contacts must get worn, or something is going on. The little charging icon shows up, then disappears. Sometimes it comes on quickly, sometimes I have to fiddle with the cord. It’s super annoying. In other news, I swam 72 laps tonight. It’s only a 25 meter pool, but I’m pretty proud of my stamina. I’m feeling nicely relaxed after fixing orange chicken and rice for dinner, and I think I’m going to post this, then brush my teeth and drift off to sleep.