Of cheap haircuts, a substitute for saffron, & zesty salmon loaf

The heavens tell out the glory of G-d,
The vault of heaven reveals His handiwork.
One day speaks to another,
& this without any speech or language
or sound of any voice.
Their music goes out through all the earth,
Their words reach to the end of the world.
In them a tent is fixed for the sun,
Who comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
Rejoicing like a strong man to run his race.
His rising is at one end of the heavens,
His circuit touches their farthest ends;
& nothing is hidden from his heat.

Psalm 19, first portion






HOUSEHOLD HINTS:

You can get a cheap haircut & styling (& coloring, if you want that) by becoming a model at a hair salon. (Look for signs in the window, or for ads in the paper.) You can get an even cheaper cut & so forth by going to a cosmeticians’ school. (Look in the Yellow Pages.)

Invest in a kitchen scale, ideally one that shows both the metric & U.S.A. conventional weights. You can use the scale to weigh packages (so that you don’t put on too much postage & waste that money). Of course, you will also use it in the kitchen. It is invaluable in weighing produce & meat so that you can follow recipes – mine generally specify produce in terms of units of the veggies (! Medium onion, for example), but this is unusual. Even in my recipes, I ask often for such items as ½ lb of pasta, & it is far better to weigh that out than to guess. (If you do guess, & you make 2 recipes from the package of 1 lb., you are going to be wrong in a way that may make a difference in at least 1 of the recipes.)

If you sew, save up empty cardboard rolls (toilet paper, paper towels, food wraps) for storing your trims. Notch one edge to hold the beginning of the trim, another on the other end to hold the other side of the trim.

The rolls from food wraps can also be used to mail documents. Roll up the document until it fits inside the roll. Replace it in the food wrap box, seal, tape all over, & address & stamp.

Put on rubber gloves to open a stubborn jar lid.

To determine how thrifty – or how liberal – your spending on groceries is, click on the USDA’s Center for Nutrition Planning & Promotion website, www.usda.gov/cnpp/foodplans.html The thrifty plan for 1 woman of age 51 or over is higher than what I spend, but only by a little less than $20 a month.

A tip for gardeners: removing weeds is easier after a rainstorm.

Inexpensive cold cream is just as good as commercial leather-conditioning lotions. After applying the cold cream, rub it in. Then wipe it off with a clean rag.

Always run a used car that you are considering buying through http://www.carfax.com/ to ensure that it isn’t a rebuilt wreck.

Do you have a fireplace? Next to chopping your own wood, the cheapest source is from a lumberyard (their warped boards, or other pieces that they wish to discard) or from a sawmill (again, pieces that they wish to discard).

OR, make your own logs! Roll newspaper’s black-&-white pages (no colored pages, please, as they produce dangerous fumes). You’ll need to roll the log to be approximately 5” in diameter. Tie it tightly with string.

Saffron is MUCH too expensive to buy & use, right? And turmeric doesn’t taste anything like it (though it provides the right color). A better substitute is marigolds from your garden or from another organic source. You’ll need to dry the flowers first.






RECIPE:

Zesty Salmon Loaf:

2 stalks celery, minced
1/4 of a large onion or 1/2 of a medium one, chopped
1 large carrot, grated
1 14.75 oz can salmon (use the bones & liquid as well as the fish pieces)
2 eggs
½ tsp salt
freshly-ground black pepper to taste, or¼ tsp ready-ground pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp lemon juice
1c milk
1 c uncooked rolled oats

Spray loaf pan with oil. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a bowl, but be careful to leave the salmon in fairly large chunks. Spoon into pan.

Bake for a half-hour. Serves 4.