Sunday, October 16, 2011

Something different

I'm not really a very adventurous cook, tending to stick with the old standbys. I realized this morning that I had kidney beans in my pantry, though I'm not really sure why. The only reason I can think of is that they were purchased when I was trying to figure out a way to add more legumes to our diet. Though considering they've been in there a year tells you how well that went.

Anyway, today I decided to try my hand at some homemade chili. Sunday afternoon football game and chili ... perfect combination. Since I've never made chili before, I didn't have a recipe and the internet offered over 5 million when I searched ... and quite honestly, I just don't have time to browse through that many recipes.

The back of the Bush's kidney beans offered a simple recipe with minimal ingredients. It was easy to make and absolutely delicious. Too bad my Lions lost. Oh well ... 5-1 is still damn fine. Maybe they needed some of my chili.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Digging through the dregs

I love garage sales. Hell, I love picking through other people's stuff regardless of the venue ... garage sales, auctions, vintage shops, old barns, resale stores. Even annual "junk" days -- when residents are allowed to throw away all sorts of paraphernalia ... and do they ever!

So Hoagie (the hubby) and I had already hit several garage sales and even bought a few things that we don't really need ... more books and a pair of walking stilts. [grin]

We were wandering around what we had determined to be our last sale of the day and not finding anything that we simply couldn't live without. How many board games and Santa Claus figures does one family need, right?

On the way out, I noticed several pairs of shoes and boots. I'm always on the look out for gently used leather boots and through the years I've found a few pair that made it worth my time.

The garage sale host had placed a chair nearby to encourage trying on, so that's what I did. These were perfect!

Later, my friend and I were sharing our recent finds with each other, when she says: Those are Frye boots. I replied that I had noticed that, but being the polar opposite of a fashionista, I really had no clue what that meant.

So I went in and Googled my new-to-me Frye Adrienne Button Boots and damn near fell out of my chair.

It seems these are not so easy to actually find. My eBay search garnered none and all the Web sites the search brought up, this style was sold out. What I did discover though was a fairly consistent price of $398.

Well, god damn. [grin] Not bad, considering what I paid ...

Ten bucks.

I think that calls for zipping up my new boots and doing some happy dancing!

Have you ever found something extraordinary among others cast-offs?