incidentals

Yesterday I finally got around to wheeling out my little old lady cart and going legitimate grocery shopping at my local Western Beef.  Western Beef is the name of the grocery store whose beef is, in reality, a little sketchy at best.  I don't know how it's supposed to be appealing but it's only 2 blocks away and their prices are pretty good so I finally worked my way down there yesterday afternoon and back in the Biblical torrential rains (don't worry, all the doormen laughed at me wandering in with my groceries looking like a drowned rat). 

I haven't been eating well since I arrived in New York, generally either ordering in (there are 72 restaurants that deliver in my immediate vicinity--I did not make that number up, it is literally 72) or going out to buy one meal's worth of food, eating it, and then ordering in the next day.  Vicious cycle.

So I'd been hankering to make a meat loaf recipe I'd assembled in my mind (with a little help from Food Network whose food porn programming is so ridiculously addicting I can't even say) that had red and yellow peppers and zucchini BAKED RIGHT INTO THE FUCKER (oh yes) and needed supplies.  So, to WB it was.  I love that friggin store.  It's arranged in a painful maze whereby no one can fit their carts anywhere, everyone is elderly, no one speaks English and random people ask me where to find stuff (do I look like the goat cheese expert?).  For $100 I was able to load up my pantry and fridge including several of those bizarro Catholic prayer candles that I can't get enough of.

For dinner I made the meatloaf (needed Worshestershire sauce which I completely flaked on, but otherwise it was good.  I love meatloaf!  And productivity!) and a box of 33 cent Western Beef brand Mac and Cheese (I don't usually like that stuff but at 33 cent the price was too good to resist).  This morning I woke up to find out why it was 33 cents--I'm pretty sure my intestines are trying to crawl up my throat and strangle me from general sadness and irritation.  It could've been the loaf but it seems pretty unlikely--powdered 'cheez' is far more suspect than ground meatloaf mix cooked at 425 for some ungodly amount of time.

Also, today I finally got all my information for health/dental/vision enrollment.  I need to get my ass married to someoen competant post haste because I am no good at any of this stuff; it's straight up making my eyes cross.  Do I contribute to a FSA?  How much is my 401k contribution?  Where do I get a list of in- network providers?  When do I get my fancy little card?  BEING ADULT = HARD.

This afternoon I get a little break and will go competition shopping.  I love seeing how much other people suck at doing the exact same job or ripping off good material.  Excitement!