Food and Birthday and Cleaning

So, last week was my birthday. And we did some cleaning in prep before the party. One thing we spent a *very* small time on was cleaning glasses. Quick fact: did you know that Santa Barbara has close to the hardest water in the country? Take a look at our glasses.

So a quick google search told me that soaking in a 50% vinegar solution overnight would do the trick. Except that I started about 2 hrs before the party. Another option was just a scrub with baking soda. So I tried both. A few glasses got soaked in warm vinegar water for about 20 mins. Then I scrubbed a few with baking soda. Then on a few more, I tried baking soda only. (baking soda + vinegar = lots of bubbles!)

You can see in this photo that the vinegar, followed by the soda scrub, worked the best. The middle glass got soda only and the right is what most of our glasses still look like.

On other news, my spouse took my picture with the cake. Yes, he cut the cake into the shape of a "4" and a "0".

With so many leftovers this week, I haven't been cooking much. Of course, I've been feeling like crap because the leftovers are too rich for me, not enough veggies, and too much soda (also, leftover).

I did make a pasta dish with a tahini sauce: 1/3 cup tahini, juice of 1 lemon, 1 tsp bragg's, 1 clove garlic. It was...bland. Now, when you topped it with avocado and a little salt = MUCH better. I've almost finished the leftovers. And now I've hit the CSA and farmer's market, so I'm totally set on veggies and fruit.

And today, Whole Foods had ground beef on sale for $0.99/lb. $0.99!! Last time I found that price was 5 years ago and it was the CAFO junk (so, I pretty much stopped buying meat unless I could get local or organic or ... you get it.) Since I've had a bit too much meat this week (party leftovers), I made meatballs for the freezer. These babies will last awhile.

Meatballs:
2 lb ground beef: $1.98
2 small onions, diced: 0.40
1 tsp each oregano, basil, garlic powder: 0.25
2 eggs: 0.40
1.5 cup bread crumbs: 0
1 tsp Worcestershire: 0.10
1 tsp salt: 0
1/2 tsp pepper: 0.02
Total: $3.15 for about 50 meatballs (didn't count them) - $0.06 each.

Mix ingredients, roll into 1 to 1.5 inch balls, bake at 400F for 20 min.