One Fat Chick page 12

[namelesswonder]

isn't no overtime pay = illegal? Hopefully work stuff sorts itself out soon, that does not sound fun! I hear ya on the mindless cubicle drone position. I haven't been at my current position as a cubicle drone for a year yet and I'm dying to find a way to make tech support an outdoor career haha. I'm generally all over the place and don't feel like any structured work would suit me, but I doubt blogging pays the bills when you just want to write about random shit.

[onalark]

isn't no overtime pay = illegal?

It depends. If you're salaried/exempted, you do not get overtime. If you're hourly, you do. That's how it works in California, at least. If you clock in and out and aren't getting paid overtime, then yes, it's completely illegal. (Again, in California.)

I went from a salaried job in the game industry to an hourly three years ago when I changed companies. I suddenly got massive overtime checks I hadn't previously gotten at my old job. This was, to say the least, pretty awesome, and the direct result of several lawsuits brought by employees who weren't being properly compensated for all the overtime they were pulling.

[csgmoore]

I almost got ran over like 6 times last night, but at this point I'm fairly agile and can jump out of the way - seriously, is it that big of a deal to build some fuckin' sidewalks around here? Grrrr. Because of my work schedule, I usually can't make it out until well after dark. I have a little LED flashlight in my car and next time I think I'll carry that with me when I walk.

Spubba, just want to say that I really enjoy your journal so waving to you all the way from London. You mentioned the lack of sidewalks before and I think of you when I go walking along the Thames in the morning and how lucky I am to live in a town that caters for pedestrians. The muscly rowing teams that trawl up and down the Thames are just an added bonus!

How about investing in a head torch - yea, it's a dork torch but so great to always have a light pointing where your eyes are. And a fluorescent vest might help the cars see you and possibly avoid you?

[BeachTeach]

There are times when I really resent being a soulless cubicle drone. I do it for the steady paycheck, which I love, but it goes against everything I'm wired to be - I'd love to just do my art for a living, or run a food truck (seriously!), or do something else fun. I had a job in a kitchen once, baking bread (yes, I know) and I wished I'd never left it; yes my feet and back could hurt like crazy at the end of a long day, but I loved the physicality of it, using my hands and producing something tangible.

I would completely stalk a Paleo food truck. I love food trucks, but so many of them are so sugar and carb heavy that it's hard to make a meal.

I feel for you and your cubicle drone predicament. I'm a teacher, and while that comes with it's own set of unique headaches, I'm moving and interacting with the kids all day long. I have a lot more control over how my day looks that most people (or teachers for that matter; we're not hyper-focused on the stupid tests). I don't think I could ever move to something more restrictive.

Gotta try making the mayo; I'm a little nervous because my blender is crap and I know it's easy to mess up. But the worst thing that can happen is I ruin some eggs, so I need to get over myself.

Hope your work situation gets a little less stressful at least!

[Spubba]

Re: the overtime - all, it's legal (at least in my state) for them to work us as hard as they feel like it, and I'm also salaried, and there is no union. My wages are currently frozen also. Things have been nasty there for a while, so I'm actually in the process of updating my resume and I hope I can find a better position sometime. I'd even take a pay cut for more control over my schedule, or a job that I'm more suited for. I really have the more "outside the box" personality and don't work well in the cubicle-farm environment.

ETA: Hahahahaha, I just checked work e-mail to see if anything was going critical and there was a message from our CEO that business is terrible and we have to reduce staff. Again. Which means the rest of us have to double down on the work remaining. Again. Yeeeeah, it's time to get that resume in shape, things aren't exactly looking rosy... XD

As for a Paleo food truck, I have to keep in mind what the market would bear; more popular items like tacos, chaat and stromboli work well here in the Midwest, but paleo doesn't have a very big following. There's a guy here in my town whose truck kills one of the street corners with crowds of people every afternoon - this dude sells cheeseburgers of all things. Sigh. I'll stay an office monkey for a little while longer, I guess.

OH! I keep meaning to post these. My mayo recipe:

- 1 large farm fresh egg
- 1 large farm fresh egg yolk (save the white for something else)
- 1.5 tablespoons plain white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp stevia
- 1 cup of whatever oil you want (I use olive oil - I recommend just "regular" olive oil, with the lighter flavor, rather than extra-virgin)

Mix everything except the olive oil in a blender. Let it run on low for about 2 minutes so the vinegar will pasteurize the eggs (watch for the egg mixture to turn from translucent to opaque). Then speed up the blades a bit and start pouring the oil into it in a thin stream until all the oil is used up and you should have a nice fluffy mayo. I made this at my mom's house and her blender totally sucks and the mayo still came out just fine. I think this recipe tastes just like Hellman's except better. Also it might look a little more yellow, but that's normal. Refrigerate and use it up within a week (I've actually gone longer than that with no problems.) Makes a good base for honey-mustard or other creamy salad dressings.

My ketchup recipe:

- 1 12-oz can of tomato paste (I found a kind that has just tomatoes as the ingredient, nothing else added)
- 1.5 cups of water
- 2 tablespoons of white vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer on the stove on low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Put it in a jar and refrigerate it. Tastes like popular store brands once it's cooled off, but without the added sugar.

[Spubba]

Photo time!

Today's adventure was, aside from running a million errands (and I still have a couple to do yet) going to a nearby farm and picking up all-natural, humane, organic, grassfed, free-range goodies.

First, I found EGGS. They're all different colors - brown, green, and blue! Aren't they cute? I haven't had a real free-range, farm fresh egg in a million years. I used to raise chickens and I miss having truly good quality eggs, so these will be a treat. And yes, that's a big tub of lard, and I'm not talking about just me! But it's pastured lard from pigs who, in the words of the farmer, spend their lives out in the fields "rootin' and snootin'".

ff-eggs.jpg

Then I picked up a few pieces of BEEF! These are just a couple of them; I think I got 5 or 6. This is a NY strip and what looks like a pot roast. Look how dark and rich the meat is. I also saw the cows who get turned into these steaks. They all had horns! That struck me as odd because I've worked with cattle plenty of times, but never with any that had horns- in this country I think it's just weird to see that. I should have taken a picture but I only had my cell phone and it's old and the camera sucks.

ff-steaks.jpg

I also got a little freezer-pack of chicken gizzards. I'm planning on frying them up in the lard and seeing how they turn out. If I manage to cook them right, I'll go back and pick up a whole bunch because they're so cheap.

ff-gizzards.jpg

And I made some pickles - this is my first attempt and I guess they're ok, but they're not nearly the same caliber as my mom's yet. My mom definitely makes the best pickles.

ff-pickles.jpg

[Unamused Mouse]

I gotta source me some lard or tallow...this coconut oil obsession is a little hard on the wallet.

Nice to see some pics, spubs. Sorry to hear about the work situation. It's always a good idea to keep the resume updated and have at least a LinkedIn profile with connections. Hoping the best for you.

[Spubba]

Whew! Huge cooking day today. I got behind in the kitchen due to all those overtime hours worked lately, and all of you will be disappointed in me... for the first time since I started Whole 30 at the beginning of this year, earlier this week I had no food in the house ready to eat and I got hungry and so I went out for a cheeseburger. WHOOPS! (Hence the huge shopping trip yesterday!)

Well, it's as they say... if you fail to plan, you plan to fail!

So, this afternoon, I'm saying NO to relapsing into old bad habits and getting caught back up! I boiled down my chicken and turkey bones, made almost a gallon of bone broth, picked the meat off the bones, and all that can make soup later and I got so much broth that I have plenty for sauces and recipes too- good thing because I had run out! I'm about to mix up some sausage (breakfast and chorizo) and some meatloaf, which will go for at least a few days. The steaks and roasts are in my freezer and I'll probably get into those after I finish the meatloaf off. And I'll see about doing something with the leftover chicken meat and the broth I made today. Of course, that made me start thinking about soup! But I'm a bit bored with the usual recipe, so I'm considering something more spicy - maybe a curry flavored soup, with squash, coconut milk and hot chilies? I can just imagine a lovely bright-orange soup.

Oh drat - I realize I just drank the last of the coconut milk this morning, so I'll have to run out and grab more before I make any experimental curry soup. The people at the new organic supermarket I started shopping at already know I'm crazy, because they have the best prices in town so I buy ALL THEIR CANS of coconut milk at least once a week. I'm ready for them to ask me what I do with all that, and I'll have to tell them the truth - I just drink it, man...

I gave my mother my copy of "Why We Get Fat" and hope she reads it. She had gastric bypass surgery years ago and lost weight, and as it so often happens, gained it all back again. I'm glad I never opted for any of that. My weight is stubborn to come off, and it may just be a genetic thing that can't be helped now at my age, but I doubt that getting my intestines rebuilt would do anything good for my health in the long run.

My co-worker with the heart problems is taking some sick leave; she ended up having to have stent surgery, I think it was, and of course her cardiologist suggested lifestyle changes, which includes, I'm sure, quitting smoking and eating low-fat. I'm bracing for CW impact, of course. I expect that she'll now surround herself with the fat-free versions of boxed and bagged snacks that she was eating all day before. I'll be polite and not say anything, don't worry. I know she respects this cardiologist's opinion.

ETA: RRARRRGH!!! Trying to find some kind of curry recipe to base my soup off of. I hate looking up recipes because all recipe writers in the world assume that I:

• would own a can of low-sodium chicken broth
• would own a bottle of canola oil
• would own premade spice mixes
• would waste money on low-fat coconut milk
• would buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• would know where to get lemongrass

*tableflip*

(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

Hurrr. Looks like it's Experimentation Time for me, yet again.

[Mud Flinger]

I look for recipes on primal/paleo sites like MDA. I don't follow them exactly, but can get a direction. I usually don't sweat the spices as I avoid nightshades anyway and most things need tweaked because of this. I've usually found that anything I create at home is better than what I can buy at the store.

[BeachTeach]

I've made the following recipe, and it's *delicious*. Easy to tweak:

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup and Curry Condiments Recipe : Ina Garten : Food Network

I think it might be super tasty with some shredded chicken. Think I'll have to whip up a batch this week.