haymarket 1

I moved to Boston a couple months back.

& on Fridays and Saturdays, there is an outrageous farmer's market near Faneuil Hall.  Well I shouldn't say farmer's market... there is an outrageous produce and random food market - boxes and boxes that some farmers or food dealers somewhere couldn't sell.

Okay so maybe this isn't that interesting - but to me, using up things in the fridge with constraints (like my unstocked pantry, limited kitchenwares, and objection to cooking with fatty or expensive ingredients) is nothing short of awesome.

If you stock up on things that keep, like garlic, onions, potatoes and catch big bundles of ripe produce thoughtfully, you can minimize waste of food and money.  For example, on the last visit to Haymarket, I found 6 onions for $1.50 and a mesh tube with 7 large garlic heads for $1 among my purchases.  I mean, seriously.  Garlic for months.  The next trip included a very large bundle of asparagus for $1.  So in total, the following soup probably cost around $2 and provided two satisfying servings made from fresh ingredients.

Dice an onion & 2 cloves of garlic
Throw in a saucepan with olive oil
Chop up the bunch of asparagus, tossing the rough ends, & add to the pot
Cover with some combination of water, milk &/or chicken broth
Heavily season with salt, pepper, etc. - thyme is great
Bring to a boil and let simmer until it's soft enough to mash or blend
Add Greek yogurt to make it creamy &/or Parmesan to make it cheesy &/or lemon to make it zesty... shall I go on?

It stores well too.

philip zimbardo

Life is temptation. It's all about yielding, resisting, yes, no, now, later, impulsive, reflective, present focus and future focus. Promised virtues fall prey to the passions of the moment.

6 Time Perspective Factors
1. Past time perspective - Positive
2. Past time perspective - Negative
3. Present time perspective - Hedonism
4. Present time perspective - Fatalism
5. Future time perspective - Life goal-oriented
6. Future time perspective - Trancendental, life after death of the mortal body

There are two ways to be present oriented. There is two ways to be past oriented, two ways to be future. You can focus on past-positive, or past-negative. You can be present-hedonistic, namely you focus on the joys of life, or present-fatalist. It doesn't matter. Your life is controlled. You can be future oriented, setting goals. Or you can be transcendental future: namely, life begins after death. Developing the mental flexibility to shift time perspectives fluidly depending on the demands of the situation, that's what you've got to learn to do.

...what is the optimal time profile? High on past-positive. Moderately high on future. And moderate on present-hedonism. And always low on past-negative and present-fatalism. So the optimal temporal mix is what you get from the past - past-positive give you roots. You connect your family, identity and your self. What you get from the future is wings to soar to new destinations, new challenges. What you get from the present hedonism is the energy, the energy to explore yourself, places, people, sensuality.

daniel quinn

Not knowing the truth, he might say to himself, "Whatever I can justify doing is good and whatever I cannot justify doing is evil."

Ishmael p.162