May 31, 2002 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11
bigtips
What's for dinner? Oh, no, it's an empty fridge again
by M.T. 'the Big Tipper' Martone
Dear Mary,
This question is not really gay, but I'm gay, and it's my question, so there you have it. I have an exhausting career, and I just don't have the energy to feed myself well. I run out of the house in the morning to get to the gym before work. I never eat first because I weigh myself there, and I don't want to eat before that.
When I get to work, my choices are limited to what is for sale at the drugstore downstairs, which is crap. Then I go home, and even if I've grocery shopped, there's never anything to eat.
I frequently don't even bother cooking at home and just go out, or order take out, but I'm sick of always eating in restaurants. Sometimes I just come home, brush my teeth and go to bed.
Some days I realize that I haven't put anything in my body except for coffee and whatever baked good showed up in our office kitchen that day. I'm starting to salivate when I watch TV and see those precooked beef dinners in a tray. My God, I need help!
Beef? What's for Dinner?
Dear Hungry Homo,
It makes you feel sorry for your mom, doesn't it? Coming up with something every freaking night, and more often than not getting attitude for it. Oh wait, that's my mom. I've had fresh sympathy for her lately when I come home, stare into the refrigerator, then slam the door shut muttering “Stupid ingredients!" Everyone knows that you're supposed to have dinner at six o'clock, not ingredients.
The thing is, you have to be thinking "6 pm, weeknight" when you're shopping on Saturday afternoon, which isn't always
Softball scores
easy. At risk of going all Better Homes and Gardens on you, here's a list of tips-and I may take them to heart myself.
•
Shop differently: Buy portable units that are easy to grab in the morning: fruit, yogurt, cans of tomato juice, other bottled juices, bagged salads and peeled
carrots. Canned or boxed soup is great. Luna bar type nutrition bars. Whatever you actually like to
eat.
The key is: Will you ever actually peel those carrots yourself and bring them to work? No? Buy the pre-peeled ones. If you're not bad at doing some prep, you can prebag smaller amounts of things like pretzels in little bags to grab. I'd be more likely to stick the whole big bag in my desk at work, and graze at will.
It might be easier to bring a bag of food to work periodically and stow it somewhere, than to remember to bring breakfast and lunch each morning.
For home, buy dips and spreads: tapenade, peanut butter, hummus, goat cheese. All are excellent on some good bread and make a brilliant meal, especially if you rip open a bagged salad and crack a nice bottle of wine. Buy a store-roasted chicken if you're hankering for meat with no prep time.
Buy food that doesn't go bad, and keep it on hand. Boxes of soy or rice milk, or even real milk, crackers, peanut butter, raisins, canned fruit and beans. Have good condiments: sesame oil, tamari, nice mustards, mayo, aoli, whatever. Pasta's classic, and you can sass it up with other things that come in jars and cans. If you're not cooking frequently, you don't want to buy stuff that's
These are scores of the Columbus Lesbian Softball League games played on Sunday, May 19, and the team standings after those games.
The league plays Sundays beginning at 1 pm, at Berliner Park Diamonds 19 and 20, off Greenlawn Ave. The last games begin at 6 pm.
No games were played on May 26 because of the Memorial Day weekend, and the league will also skip Pride Sunday, June 30.
Contact the league at 614-447-8598.
T-Rec Division
Competitive Division
going to spoil while you're out eating at the Gilded Truffle.
·
Keep lunch facilitators at work. In the fridge, a bottle of salad dressing. In your bottom drawer, salt, pepper, a jar of peanut butter, fork, knife and spoon.
03
BIG TIPS
Work your freezer. If you have a microwave, you can turn a frosty brick into a homey repast in less time than it takes you to find a decent show on TV.
Frozen fruit is fun, because you can just whip it in the bender with some milk and a banana, or honey, or ice cream if you're my type, and you're drinking dinner (and not in the way that worries your friends). Get some
yummy frozen meatballs to add excitement to your pasta. But where will the other food in your freezer come from? Read on:
• When you do cook, make extra. Making burritos for company? Make two or three extra, and wrap 'em and freeze 'em. If a friend has sent you home from dinner with leftovers, make it into a lunch-sized package and freeze it up. Fewer bad leftovers, plus something that's easy to nuke for lunch or dinner later.
Rice is really easy to cook in a big batch and leave it in your fridge. Brown is so much
GAYS / LESBIANS UNITED PRESENTS:
DECKED
better for you (and I just learned, short grain is more nutritious than long grain: who knew?), and if you're cooking it all at once, the extra time isn't that big a deal. You can make a really fast meal with a can of black beans and rice that you already have, and whatever else might be in the fridge: a tortilla, sour cream, salsa, olives. If not, I'm happy as a clam with beans and rice in a bowl.
•
I didn't hear you say eating out was a problem because it was too expensive. If your busy career is providing you with cash you're too busy to spend, hire someone to make your meals. There are lots of services in which a nice person will bring you meals a certain number of days a week. You can either eat them then, or get a few to freeze for later. You might even have a pal who might be talked into making you a lasagna each week for some cash money.
My favorite strategy? Make dates with your friends to eat together, either out at a restaurant, or at one of your homes. Company makes food taste better, and if you eat at someone else's place, even if you're eating plain food, they inevitably make something that is different from the things you always make. That helps you be more creative when you're at home, or at least it just gets something different down your craw that night. Best of all, if you're so busy that you're forgetting to eat, you might be forgetting to play. This kills two birds with one meatball.
Burning questions? Contact me at the Chronicle, attention Big Tips, P.O. Box 5426, Cleveland 44101, or fax to 216-631-1052, or e-mail to martone@drizzle.com.
OUT 2002
Rec Division
Summit Station
16
Open Book
5
Momazons
6
The Vine
12
Barrows Babes
1
DOS..
Sumpters.
8
Millenium Kings
28
Diamonds
10
Deep Reace Massage
12
Stars
9
NCS
Blazers
2
WOW
11
Jacks.
The Garden
6
Standings
T-Rec Division
Points Scored
Summit Station
Stars
Barrows Babes
Momazons
WOW
Millenium Kings
100-2 7 0-2
Rec Division Open Book
Points Scored
16 2.0
Diamonds
29 25
NCS
Vine.
DOS
Jacks
Competitive Division Points
Lifetime Fitness
Slammers
Blazers
The Garden
Recor
Récord
3-0
2-1
9 1-1
11 0-2
Show Your
Pride
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Deep Peace Massage
9 0-2