The Perfect Egg

One of my fondest memories of growing up are the weekend breakfasts that my mom would make, and she still does! I clean my parents house every other weekend and I purposefully wake up early each time and make that 40 minute trek to get there in time for breakfast. The usual spread consists of some type of combo of pancakes, eggs, scones, potatoes, waffles, etc. Since my mom is such a great home style cook, she somewhere along the way perfected the egg and passed along the secret to me. I never grew up with fried eggs, it just grosses me out getting one that's crunchy, and has probably been fried in bacon fat. I like my eggs light, fluffy and slightly runny so that I can sop up the yolk with a good piece of toast!

I have made eggs for a few people and they usually comment on how great they turn out. It was at that moment that I realized, oh, maybe not everyone makes eggs like this? Do people usually fry them? Which ever way you like it, since I've had friends taken a back at my method, I thought I'd share the secret to the perfect egg!

Basting an Egg

First off, use an organic, free range egg that the mama chicken has not been treated with hormones. Trader Joe's sells reasonably affordable organic eggs, or buy them from a local farmers market.

Start with a small pan, pre-heated just under medium on the burner. Once hot, but not too hot, (a drop of water should evaporate on it), spray it with a natural non-stick spray. Crack the egg into the pan and let it cook for about 30 seconds. Wait till the white starts to set, then slowly pour water into the pan so that it covers the egg about half way. Place a lid over the pan, and let it cook for about a minute. Keep checking the egg about every 45 seconds to a minute to monitor it's progress. Depending on how runny you like your yolks, you can generally gauge it's progress by tilting the pan a bit and shaking it slightly so that the yolk gives a little shimmey.

When it's reached it's level of "done" for you, be careful with picking it up with a spatula. It can be pretty slippery, and make sure to let the water drain well or your plate will turn into a pool. Good luck! Hope you like it! Yay for good, healthy weekend breakfast! (that is a veggie sausage, I assure you!)

Biz's Doing Their Part

In the last month or so I've really noticed a great amount of local businesses pitching in, in more ways than just providing a recycle bin. So I wanted to point them out and provide a huge THANK YOU to them and hopefully in the near future more businesses will be inspired by their actions .

Ballard Bros.- 15th Ave, Ballard, WA. http://www.ballardbrothers.com/
Not only is their food delicious, but almost every bit of "waste" that comes out of there is compostable. They use compostable corn plastics in their cups, straws, utensils, etc, so instead of a garbage bin in the restaurant, they have a compost bin. You can put dirty napkins and food wrappers in it as well. THANK YOU BALLARD BROS.!

Cupcake Royale- Ballard, West Seattle, Capitol Hill. http://www.cupcakeroyale.com/
They also provide compost bins that you can put your cupcake wrappers, napkins and latte cups in. Ceramic plates and bowls are provided if you are eating "in", so that cuts down on waste as well. THANK YOU CUPCAKE ROYALE!

Old School Frozen Yogurt- Capitol Hill. http://www.oldschoolfrozencustard.com/
I was recently there for my birthday "cake", and the cup they give you not only states that it is compostable, as well as bins provided in the store after you're done with it, but on it is a wonderful paragraph about the Eco-Products they use:

"In one year Eco-Products customers make a difference by saving: 150,000 gallons of gas- enough to five around the earth 181 times; 7,380 pounds of greenhouse gases; 504,326 kW hours of energy- enough to power the average American household for 10 years.

And the surprise eco-warrior of them all....

Mrs. Cooks- U Village. http://www.mrscooks.com/
I made a Christmas purchase there recently, and to my delight, on the bag in big letters it states that the "plastic" bag that my item was in is 100% BIODEGRADABLE. Holy crud! Way to go, Mrs. Cooks!

I'm so proud of many of these businesses taking a stand (Whole Foods also provides a compost bin inside). I believe that recycling and composting are one of the easiest and most effective steps we can take to help clean up the earth. Next time you go to throw away something, stop and wonder, is this recyclable? If not, is it compostable? Your latte cups, dirty napkins, paper take out containers, food scraps, and in many areas (Seattle!) even meat! If you have a yard waste bin then you can put all this in it (keep it in a compostable bag- like paper). You might be surprised at how much it will decrease your garbage!

Holiday Tipping

I have had a few jobs that collect tips, and my cleaning job was definitely one of them. We didn't usually get tipped at every job, it was typically at the end of the year at Christmas. This was something that we all really depended on; for myself, it would help pay for my college books and tuition so it definitely was a bit of an income supplement. So just in case you have a house cleaner, a nice Christmas bonus is at least the amount of what you usually pay for the service. So if your bill is $50, give $50. The better you treat a cleaner, they better they will treat you! (As with most philosophy in life should be!). I had a lot of great clients that I would bust my butt for, but every now and then a gem would come along......

Which brings me to the real story of this post. It's the holiday season, and I thought I would share a little story of my cleaning past (I seriously could write a book).

We had a client that was quite wealthy and lived in a penthouse in one of the high rises in Belltown. It was the day after Christmas, and I was cleaning their home. The husband came towards me, walking from far down the hallway holding a dollar bill up in the air crinkling it. "Patty! Patty! Have you ever heard the story of King Midas?" "Yes", I replied. "Well, I'm going to be King Midas and give this to you." I couldn't quite tell what kind of a bill it was, for he was a distance away. I thought, hey I'm going to get my bonus for being a great cleaner for them, and for putting up with cleaning his pee trails, for he apparently had prostate problems and would dribble from his gym to the bathroom. Gross, huh? I've dealt with worse. Seriously.
Anyways.... He got to me, and handed me a crisp new $2 bill. That was my bonus- the moral of the story was that he wasn't just going to give me a free bonus- I had to go earn it on my own. It was a horrible slap in the face, for I couldn't even go downstairs to Tully's and buy a holiday latte with it. He just assumed that I was stuck cleaning toilets for I had no motivation to make life better for myself. What he didn't know was that I was also in school, working towards my Bachelors degree in Finance. I got up every morning at 3am, got off work at around 3 pm, then had about 2 hours to shower and to homework, then go to night school, where I would then get home around 9:30pm. I also wasn't poor- I come from a modest, middle class family, I lived on my own in a cute apartment in Green Lake and owned a new car. I took the bill, smiled and said "thank you". I then requested to my boss that I do not clean their place again unless absolutely necessary.

So don't always assume that just because someone has a shitty job that they don't work hard and/or aren't educated! Hope you enjoyed the story!

More for Less

Hello, my name is Patty, I am a girl, and I like to shop. I wasn't sure how much this post would fit in with the rest of the blog, but it has to do with getting more for less so I think it will work! I am by no means a super fashionista, but I do love fashion, I love creative outfits and seeing how people express themselves with their clothing. It can be pretty hard to do this though, for throwing on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt is easy and affordable. But what I've heard a lot of people (well, mostly girls) say is that they just don't know how to dress otherwise. This may sound weird, but something that I love doing in my down time is looking at style blogs and magazines and seeing how real people dress- it usually gives me little ideas on how I can alter some of my boring pieces. But this can be expensive- you either pay rent, or have an awesome wardrobe!

So here is an idea that I like to play with every now and then, so I hope you can take this process and enhance your closet on your own!

Find an outfit or look that you really like. I found this on the internet of a real girl in NYC- I think the style is super cute, easy, and a lot of different body types can wear it.

There are a ton of shops that replicate trends, provide easy go-to pieces, and similar "knock-offs" of expensive brands. I took a quick look around at different internet shops and I found some very similar pieces at affordable prices to complete this look.

For the motorcycle jacket, Forever 21 is selling a faux leather jacket for $32.80.

I found a similar boy-friend style sweater at Target for $27.99 in a dark blue. They also have super similar shoes for $29.99.

I didn't see a dress or tunic exactly like she's wearing but this one from Wet Seal ($24.50) is super cute and pretty darn close (plus I love stripes!).

Then to top it off throw in a skinny belt ($4.80 Forever 21), a cream colored scarf ($5.49 Ebay) and a cute little necklace ($5.80 Forever 21).

So there you go! This whole outfit can be bought for $131.37, and it is super interchangeable with other items. Hmm... this is really cute. I may have to buy it.

Drying herbs

I love growing herbs, drying them and storing them up for the winter. Actually, I just like growing stuff! As I look around my living room, I currently have 7 plants, 1 pot full of mint, 2 pots with 10 lettuce plants growing, a little pot with lavender, another with chamomile, also one with parsley and 4 volunteer tomato plants that grew out of my compost that I'm trying to nurture for next summer.

True, fresh herbs are best, but if it is out of season or you don't grow them yourself to dry, buy them by bulk from a natural food store for 1) it is sooooooooooo much cheaper. 2) you can buy what you only need for it tends to lose potency. The general rule is ground or powered herbs/spices have a shelf life of about 6 months, and whole dried herbs at about a year. Keep it in a sealed glass container in a cool cupboard, away from light and heat. If it loses color, or smell, compost it.

A quick way to dry your herbs rather than hanging them upside down in a cool area is to arrange them on a cookie sheet and place it in the oven. If you have an oven light, that's all the heat you will need. If not, the lowest setting on your oven (usually "warm") will suffice, but maybe every now and then turn it off so it isn't too hot.

I recently dried a large bunch of rosemary from my Mom's garden and it made my apartment smell amazing, like it was suddenly Christmas in October!

Grade B Maple Syrup

Who else here was raised to believe that Mrs. Buttersworth was maple syrup, and not just a goopy brown tinted mess of high fructose corn syrup? About 5 years ago or so I tried a little bottle of organic Grade B maple syrup from the bulk section of Central Market, and I haven't looked back since! Real maple syrup has different grades that range in color, taste and nutrition. My absolute favorite is Grade B. It tastes like liquid brown sugar- it's dark, super rich and everything that maple syrup should be! I'm not just in love with it because of how great it tastes, I'm also in love with it for it's nutritional content.

Grade B maple syrup is the same syrup that is used in the Master Cleanse diet. It contains calcium, potassium, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, B2 (Riboflavin), B5 (Pantothenic Acid), B6 (Pyridoxine), PP (Niacin, B1), Biotin, Amino and Folic Acid. The syrup is great as a sugar substitute for unlike sugar, which does not digest into your body and spikes your bloodstream, maple syrup is digestable and doesn't turn into fat or cause a rollercoaster on your blood sugar levels. Maple syrup also does not go bad if stored properly in the refridgerator.

Grade B maple syrup is a little pricey, but places like Trader Joe's and bulk sections like at Central Market make it a bit more affordable for you can buy a big jug for $15 rather than the cute little maple leaf shaped bottle for $8 at your usual grocery store.

So the next time you feel a bit of an urge to pig out on junk sugar, pour yourself a tablespoon or 2 of pure organic maple syrup and feel good that you're satisfying your craving and taking your vitamins at the same time!

Breakfast Smoothies

About a year and a half ago I did my first detox. My digestive system was a mess, I felt like garbage and wanted a good clean out without fasting for I was a full time student and needed energy and a clear mind for my studies. I used the Detox Box for it gave you a step by step guide on how to do a safe detox. It consisted of drinking organic smoothies laced with supplements, taking different vitamins, eating rice and vegetables, drinking water, juices, bentonite, psyllium, and for the first time in 15 years I introduced fish into my diet. It was hard, after a week I wanted to puke at the thought of brown rice and veggies, but it set my system straight. A friend of mine did it as well, mostly just to detox from sugar, and she liked it as well.

Since then, I have kept drinking the smoothies for breakfast every morning. It's a great way to get a serving of fruit in and additional beneficial supplements and vitamins. The detox requires that you use organic berries, and I agree that organic is important if you are going to eat these certain berries, but let's be honest. For the amount of fruit that I go through, I cannot find an affordable option. So, I "subsidize" in a way. I tell myself that all the organic and health foods that I do eat off-sets the non-organics! ( I know, I know!) CostCo is great for huge bags of frozen berries, and Seattle Super Supplements is cheaper than other stores for the supplements and usually has a great deal on at least one thing you need. Also, I usually get my flax seeds from Trader Joe's. I grind about 1/2 cup whole seeds in my coffee grinder then stick both the ground and whole seeds in the freezer. They start to lose nutrients once ground but freezing locks it in, just don't grind a big batch, keep it as fresh as possible.

Breakfast Smoothie

3 frozen strawberries

1/2 cup frozen blueberries

1/2 fresh banana

1 Tbls. flax oil

1 Tbls. fresh ground flax seeds

1-2 Tbls. Rice Protein

1/2 scoop Perfect Food*

1 tsp. buffered powdered C

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon**

I prefer grinding it up in my mini-Cuisinart food processor. Before grinding, add about 8 oz. filtered water. The water amount will vary by how liquidy you like it.

*I love Perfect Food- it is super potent so you don't really need to use a full scoop, unless you want to! Plus, it's not terribly cheap, so a little goes a long way. Doing the detox isn't cheap- and neither is setting yourself up for the smoothies. But it's something that I feel good about putting in my body and feel that it's worth it. The berries last a long time if you get them bulk, and the other supplements last me a couple months.

**Cinnamon has several health benefits, one being that it helps control blood sugar levels. Here's one of many little articles explaining more about the spice.