Do they even have margaritas in Pittsburgh?

My brother told me that my parents drink margaritas now. Even at home! How is that possible/affordable? A single lime costs about $0.70 at Giant Eagle. For comparison, I can get 6-10 limes for $1 now, depending on where I go. I buy so many limes because they're so cheap that I throw a lot away. It's worth it to have the option for a lime.

The Whiskey Rebellion Was Fought Over This

It turns out $6.49 for Haller's Whiskey is before tax, which is $0.39 in PA. I get Fleischmann's for $6.50 total, so I win.

The Whiskey Rebellion happened near Pittsburgh, by the way. If I ever invent a distillery, I'm going to make it in Pittsburgh and dub it Rebellion Whiskey.

Still not the mayor of Western Beef (plus the most heinous use of Instagram ever)

 I went to Western Beef to get a loaf of bread. It's $1.79 for wheat bread there and you have to pay at least $2.50 anywhere else. Sometimes $3.79! I figured I'd look at the ricotta cheese too because that's good on toast. I didn't get any. What happened to the price of ricotta? I used to pay $2 for a pound of it (when it was on sale) and now it's more like $4. Maybe I should make my own?

I got a Florida avocado for $0.99. I've never eaten one before--only Haas. I bought one last year but I let it go bad.

I also bought DeCecco pasta for the first time. It was finally affordable. It was $1/box. The non-sale price was $2.19. I wonder if it's better than the Ronzoni/San Giorgio/Barilla I usually buy. I hope not, because I don't want to acquire any fancy tastes.

I wonder what this Warka beer is like. "Unique taste" and "strong beer" make me think it's awful in a way that I'd learn to like.

And I got some sardines. And then I took a picture of my receipt and used Instagram on it. I think this might be the worst, most heinous, abuse of Instagram in its storied history.

Bushwick Groceries

I don't know if blog posts get better than this one from BushwickBK. It's a grocery price survey of all the stores in Bushwick. I overpay for eggs.

You'd think this blog would do original reporting like that, but I think my focus is even narrower. But here are my tips.

Buy frozen foods, especially vegetables, at C-Town.
Buy canned foods at Western Beef. Except crushed tomatoes, which come from C-Town or Key Food.
Buy fresh vegetables at the Jesus store. It's called To the World Farm or something. It's next to Associated.
Recycle your shopping bags at Key Food. You can get pasta there or at C-Town.
Get pork butt from Associated. Get bags of beans from Associated.

A Lamentation

A life full of party leftovers is a life without a reason to go to the grocery store. And now my life lacks its organizing principle. I'd do other people's grocery shopping. I bought Greg a bottle of Cholula, but that has been delivered now. I went to 4 stores because I didn't care for the price at the first one and the second one didn't have it and the third only had weird flavors. C-Town had it for $3/bottle, which is the lowest you'll ever find it anywhere.

4th of July Party Planning

Watching me plan a party and buy groceries for it is such a sight that I don't know why more people don't want to watch me do it. I have my menu spreadsheet. Then I go to all the stores and compare the prices on everything I'm not already familiar with the price for. Days and days of nothing but grocery stores. I try to keep each trip to $10-$20. It makes my heart hurt to think that I've also made about 6 trips so far. If I spent all that money at the same time, I'd cry. I'm poor.

 This is the table of things that don't have to be refrigerated and aren't whiskey. There's orangeade for tint that I found at C-Town on sale. Jugs of apple juice for the american drink (whiskey and apple juice). Cups and plates. Hot dog buns are $1.50 for 12 at Western Beef. Cheez whiz was $3.99 at Key Food this week. Prices ranged up to $5.69 for it. You can't see the Bac-o's. They make part of my baked potato dogs. There are 2 boxes of gemelli there that I'm goign to turn into a pesto pasta salad with tomatoes and mozzarella (so it's like caprese).

In my refrigerator are sour cream, the mozzarella, parsley, basil, celery, lettuce, and I forget what else.

I accidentally made 10 lbs of chickpea orzo salad. That's what 1 bag of chick peas and 2 boxes of orzo will get you. It's not done yet because I still have to add the parsley and taste it. I might buy a can of chick peas. I don't know if I like this ratio right now.

I still need to buy 8 bottles of wine for tint (generously contributed by Agnes on the condition that I do the legwork) and maybe some more hot dog buns and ketchup. I ate all the ketchup I had on pasta the other night. I better check out my mustard situation too.

I am currently in a very very bad mood. I often get in one as I get ready for a party. Right now I am rehearing every criticism ever made of me that I'm too cheap and shouldn't use lemon juice from a bottle, for instance. Or that tint is gross because it's not sangria. I am willing to give out very affordable black eyes to anyone who suggests such a thing to me tomorrow.

3 grocery stores

I went to 3 grocery stores and I still forget to buy mint tea. I should be shot.

4 Grocery Stores

I went to 4 grocery stores today. I bought the most expensive bananas ($0.79/lb) and I paid $1.89 for Fresca. I should be shot.

At last, Tuna Bean Salad

I've been talking about this recipe for a long time and eating it even slightly longer. It's pretty good. I served it to my family on Christmas Eve and it was a hit. It's also really easy and pretty cheap. It's mostly from Mark Bittman, but he'd yell at me for some of my shortcuts, so I'm just going to say it's mine. Plus, I make it for me and he doesn't. But I'll tell you where he'd do it differently.

 Here's what you need for it. Olive oil (only about 2 Tbsp), 2 cans of tuna, a can of white beans, some parsley, some lemon juice, and black pepper. Mark Bittman says to use fresh parsley and real lemon juice. Fresh parsley does make it better, but it's good with dried stuff too. The dried stuff is mostly for your eyes, but you can taste it a bit. You also need some onion, preferably red.

You can get the tuna for 4/$3 at Western Beef. I tried using the more expensive white albacore kind once but liked it less. It's drier.  Beans should be under $1 per can. Sometimes I use small white navy beans. I don't really care if you change what kind of beans you use every time you eat it, but white beans make it look the nicest.

 First, drain and add the tuna.

 Then drain and add the beans.

 Add some diced red onion. When I buy a red onion, I dice the whole thing then use about this much for the tuna bean salad and put the rest in a bag in the refrigerator for next time. I use red onion for some other things, but mostly for this.

 I added about 2 Tbsp of olive oil and maybe about 3 Tbsp of lemon juice here. You can't tell, so I just stirred everything up. If I were using a real lemon, I'd use the juice of half a lemon I think. You don't want lemon soup, but you do want more acid than oil.

 Underneath that parsley is 10 twists of the pepper grinder. I used a heavy hand with the parsley here.

Then I stirred it up. Now it's festering in the refrigerator because it's better when the flavors meld and it's better chilled.

Eat it plain or on toast or crackers or crostini (more words for toast = more excuses for toast).

I got some good deals at Key Food

This is from a trip a few days ago. I hope I remember how much I paid for everything. The eggs I remember. They were $0.99 for a dozen large. You could get extra large for $1.99. Pierogies were $2.50. "Meat" hot dogs were $1.69. I don't buy nice hot dogs because I don't care. I just want a method to eat ketchup. Crushed tomatoes were $1.50. I already had some, but I use them a lot. The pasta was $1 and it rang up as $1, unlike at C-Town where it was $1 and rang up as $1.69 and made me mad. The artichoke hearts were $1.69, which is more than what C-Town charges for the La Squisita ones I like, but they don't seem to stock them anymore. Frozen broccoli was $1.46 for a pound.

I guess I have food I could eat. I was going to put ketchup on noodles for lunch. I can't get enough ketchup lately.

Vodka's getting pricier

At BQE Liquors, the price of my Seagram's vodka went up $1 to $16.53. Now the dignity premium* I pay for the smooth vodka in the bumpy bottle is $3.

Fleischmann's whiskey is still $6/bottle.

*The dignity premium is how much extra I pay to have a jug of vodka that isn't in a plastic jug that I can share with guests with dignity. My dignity. I assume my guests intend to lose theirs if they're guzzling vodka.

What you can get for a dime

This is my favorite song about what you can buy for a dime.

Also, you can buy Fresca for $1.25 at Key Food now.