Gourmet Recipes at Discount Prices

As you all know, I'll pretty much buy anything that costs $1. So, I was pretty excited to get my copy of The 99 Cent Only Stores Cookbook: Gourmet Recipes at Discount Prices, even at 10x $1. Not only was it going to be full of great ideas to use treasure from the 99 cent only stores, it was also supporting performance art. The author ONLY used ingredients she bought from the store. If they didn't have a box of sugar that week, she'd use a box of individual packets, even though she had perfectly good grocery store sugar sitting in her cabinet.

So, I spent a long time looking over the book, making shopping lists, planning... Unfortunately the results are not the most delicious food ever.

It started on a reasonably high note.

The Asian Soul Slaw (coleslaw with the addition of rice wine vinegar & sesame oil) was absolutely delicious, and is now our go-to coleslaw recipe.

and the Delicious Toffee Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies were perfectly fine, nothing special, but nothing wrong.

The next day didn't fare so well though

The Maryland Crab Soup was absolutely the blandest, milkiest, terribleist soup I've ever had.

and the Corn Pudding, was pretty much a corn omelet.

But I couldn't give up that easily.

Yesterday I tried Green Beans au Gratin. It was also fine, not as good as normal campbells cream of mushroom soup green been casserole, but like the cookies, there was nothing wrong with it.

I guess I'll try a few more things. But I'm pretty sure you get what you pay for, and you can't really have gourmet food at discount prices.

AX 2008

Just a few days after ALA came Anime Expo. I only went 2 days this year, and I'm not sure I got my fill of cat girls for the year.

I did, however, get the Manga Cookbook that they wouldn't sell me at ALA. And an ice cream nyanko.

Flickr set here

Clearly larger than a 5 lb burrito

ALA 2008

I spent the past 5 days at the Anaheim convention center for the American Library Association conference. When I first walked in, I was sad to see everyone had their correct number of ears. But, by the end, loaded down by free stuff, I stopped missing the cosplayers.


My flickr set is here

Among other things I came home with:

16 bags (10 cloth-like, 1 oilcloth-like, 5 vellum or paper gift bag like)
23+ full books (8 advance readers, 13 regular, 2 blank paged-- i paid for 3 of the books)
various sampler books and cds
2 regular cds
6 different post-it notes (multiples of a few)
tomato seeds
2 pencils
7 pens (i totally m2issed the ball on the free pens. somehow, early in the convention I decided I didn't need any pens. I just don't know why)
8 buttons
library temporary tattoos
calendar
mousepad
stress tv
air freshener (from a book on tape company--it says "commute stinks"
business card holder
sunblock
choose your own adventure fortune cookie
flying, screaming monkey toy
2 packages of mints
so much free candy

I'd also like to thank ProQuest for all of their delicious free espresso drinks
And I'd like to boo TLC for never having a freshly baked Otis Spunkmeyer cookie when I walked by.

One of the days we had dinner with my old supervisor and friends. Ryan ordered the 5 pound burrito, it was more like a 10 pound burrito. Needless to say he did not win the t-shirt for eating it all. However, it made a tasty breakfast for us the next 2 days. (picture may or may not be forthcoming)

One major highlight of the weekend is pictured above.

The other was the book cart drill team. I'm hoping better videos will be posted later.

But for now, you can see part of the winner's video
although it's the beginning part before it gets really good and turns into thriller

Also, the entry from texas has some good hats

And, I met this monkey