The Weather

The weather in New Orleans is very odd, but i think i am getting the hang of it. The winter was not too bad this year which made it easy for Anne and i to continue riding our bikes to work most days. It is now starting to get much warmer. Normally the afternoons will be up in the 80's with a little humidity. This California type weather will continue for about three days then all of a sudden it will get very humid and sticky. It builds and builds until all of a sudden the wind comes, the clouds break, and it poors! Last weekend it was beautiful and so was the weekend before that, but the week in between there was a big storm. This is a picture of what the weather report said when i woke up early last week.

That big green spot just stopped right above New Orleans and did not leave until all of the rain was emptied out of the clouds. The 3 red warnings on the bottom were for severe thunder storms, severe lightening, and flash floods. At night the lightning was so bad it looked like a strobe light was flashing at our window. I have never heard thunder crack right outside my house before. Its a scary sound, like a gigantic whip or belt snapping angrily. The sound that sheet metal makes when you are trying to imitate a thunder sound was not even close to what i heard last week. Normally after the storm clears the sun comes out and its back to being beautiful. The change can happen all of a sudden, in the same day sometimes. The morning will be gross and wet then after lunch the sun will have dried all of the benches and wish i had worn flip slops, not my rain boots.

I talk about California a lot here. People ask me all sorts of questions about it. But i think i will really really miss the California weather when June July and August come around and i melt into a puddle of sweat :)

The Food List

Upon request i am writing a blog about our grocery routine on the JVC budget. Just a reminder we are given 90 dollars each month to pool together for the community groceries. We shop once a week, normally Sundays. For the first 4 months we took the number 16 bus to the nearest grocery store. Now that Lily has brought her car to NOLA the shopping has become a little easier and we are going to a different food store (better produce section). Two or three of us go together normally and we try not to make just one person go. We bring reusable bags and come with an exact list of what we are going to buy (it is very very rare that we buy something spur of the moment). This week the line up of cooks goes like this:

Sunday: HAPPY EASTER! Ordering in Chinese food! (about 5 out of the 11 are with family here in New Orleans or back home and some extra money has been saved so that the meal is bought with the community card)
Monday: Becca's family will be cooking for us. Most weeks there is at least one dinner when we are invited to someones house, we are volunteering at an event with free food, or someone comes over to cook for us.
Tuesday: Portobella Mushroom burgers (Chef Stephanie)
Wednesday: Baba Alice's lentil soup (I am cooking)
Thursday: Lentil Curry (Chef Lily)... Normally we do not do lentils two times in a week--don't want to over kill--but Lily and i both had favorites that we wanted to make, so we went for it.

Here is the receipt for this week and approximate prices:

Flour 2.19
6 yogurts 3.30 total
Chocolate Chips 2.29
2 bags Lentils 3.00 total
1% gl Milk 4.29
Hunny Nut O's 2.99
Shredded wheat 3.15
Parmigiana cheese 2.99
Pasta sauce 1.82
Sugar 2.49
Romaine Lettuce 1.79
2 yellow onions .82 total
4 Bananas 1.02 total (normally we buy at least 10 but this week we got some for free)
4 loaves of bread 6.00ish
2 hamburger bun packs 2.40ish
Green onions .75
Carrots 1.19
4 apples 3.72 total (normally we by at least 12 but this week we got some for free)
Curry powder 3.39
2 red onions 2.31 total
Spinich bag 2.59
1 tomato 1.40
Folgers coffee 8.00ish

Total: 67.00 ish

This will last us for dinners and lunches for the week. Left overs are the usual lunches but we have eggs, butter, tuna, pb&j, pasta, more yogurt, oatmeal, dressings, spices, and other basics around that go on the list every now and then.  Weekends normally you are on your own for meals but there is usually a big batch of pancakes or eggs made on Saturday or Sunday mornings. Not every week is the same and this week was defiantly on the low end. We have a pretty good routine down that makes the food shopping and preparing process pretty easy.

We also LOVE our community dinner time. Its a time for all of us to be together no matter what type of day we had. Sometimes they are long dinners with lots of chatting and sometimes we are eating and running, but either way we are almost always together 5 out of the 7 nights a week. Dinner time is an important and enjoyable time for my community!

Its movie time!

On the topic of movies I recently saw "The Hunger Games" and loved it! Well written. Fallows the books story line. Strong leading female character. Great action. Romance. Sisterly love. I cried 3 times. Midnight premiere made it even better!

This past Saturday evening was the Harry Tompson Center's big fundraising gala! It was a really fun time. We were all dressed up which is diffidently not our norm. Dresses, makeup, heals, and hair done is the complete opposite of how the Harry Tompson Center usually sees us. The board member, families, volunteers, people in the community, and friends all came together to raise money for the HTC. Over all i think it was a very successful event! Annes parents were in town this past weekend (shout out to them!) which made the night even more fun. There were so many people at the gala that they got to chat with, so many people to meet, they were celebs at the gala! I also ate my first raw oyster... well i think it was my first one. I took it like a shot (of water...), which was odd because it was just a slimy hunk that slipped down my throat. Not something i think i will do again, but had to try it once!

Back to the movie theme. A while ago Father Jeff came around the center to film clips of the guests, interviews, and interactions for a short film to advertise the HTC. Anne and i were not so keen on the individual interviews and were super nervous about whether or not we did a good job. I will let you all be the judges of that. The clip premiered at the gala in front ALL the guests! I turned red, what a surprise. But seriously, the clip captures the HTC in an amazing way. The images are well set up and show a very small window to the beautiful people I have come to know and love. I hope you enjoy it!

http://vimeo.com/39631070

(If that link does not work then you can go onto my facebook page and the clip should be on my wall.)