Lights Out!

 Last week I found a recipe for tomato rice. It's a NYT recipe, and it was super easy to veganize. I used daiya cheddar, but the next time I make it I want to get some mature cheddar from violife, I think it's probably the most similar to a really sharp cheddar. As I was making the rice, I got scared it was going to be boring or bland, but man was I wrong! It's delicious and satisfying!

I halved the recipe since I was making it just for me, and I wasn't sure if I'd love a lot of leftovers. Next time I make it, I'm definitely making the whole recipe. It tastes great right out of the oven, room temperature and cold! And this is a great time of year for tomatoes! Here is the recipe, I highly recommend!!

I'm back. It's now three days after I started this post, because on Monday night, early Tuesday morning we had a huge windstorm, with winds going seventy miles an hour! They say some winds were 100 MPH! It was freaking scary, and right in the middle of typing my post the power went out and stayed out for almost 70 hours!! Because 2020 likes to pile on, we also had a major cold front move in, and temps were in the forties!! So my apartment was forty degrees at the most. 

This city got torn up! It's sad and scary, I've never seen damage like this, and I've never experienced a power outage for this length of time. Here is a picture where a huge tree and freaking concrete sidewalk are just ripped from the ground!

I feel so sad for the squirrels and the birds!! What happened to them, did they get blown away? 

You guys know I had just gone to Trader Joe's for my forty dollars of groceries. Almost everything in my freezer and fridge had to be tossed. I cried. But, this is where living on a shoestring budget is better I guess, because on social media I've read about people who lost hundreds and in some cases thousands of dollars worth of food. 

The first night with no power, my neighbor was going to get food and offered to take me to get something. She was getting fast food, so she went to Carl's Jr. so I could get something more than fries. I of course got the Beyond burger, no mayo no cheese, add BBQ sauce and tucked in a lettuce wrap to keep it gluten free. 

I had this can of soup one day, right out of the can because why dirty a bowl for cold soup? I was hoping it would at least be room temp., but it was pretty chilly. I have to say, for canned cold soup this was pretty good. I'll have to get another can and have it warm. 

This is a sad burrito bowl from Chipotle. When I got it, it looked like someone shook the bowl, and it had five Romaine butts in it!! Also, I know the tofu sofritas is beloved, but honestly I didn't care for it.

Today I feel like crap because I've been stressed and full of anxiety, and also those two takeout meals didn't sit all that well with me. I'm very happy to have power again so I can make my own food. 

One thing I've learned about myself is that I don't handle emergency situations well. I need to toughen up, and get a grip. And maybe when I have a few extra bucks invest in a cooler or something so that I don't lose food that I can't afford to lose. 

Tomorrow I'm going to try and restock what I can in my fridge, but it's going to be a process. I'm going to put my what can I buy for forty dollars on hold for a week or two so I can regroup and all of that. So, I'll be back soon with a restock haul!