The Way We Roll 5

Seven Bean Ham Stew

This 'common man' stew was made possible by the fact that, after eating turkey dinners for five days in late December and after the company had all gone home, we still had a tonne of food left inside and packed around our old Frigidaire. It was made necessary because I couldn't see the back of the fridge and I knew week-old eggnog was in there somewhere and I wanted to have at it before the expiry date flew by in a dangerous manner.

Seven Bean Ham Stew is dead easy for a guy like me to make and, at suppertime, I feel like a champ. I just grabbed the slow cooker and filled it to the top with the following:

     1/3 to 1/2 of a cooked ham, diced into small cubes

     5 or 6 white and sweet potatoes, cubed

     1 can of six-bean medley

     2 cans of brown beans

     extra chick peas leftover from an earlier salad

     plenty of diced carrot, celery, onion, red or orange pepper,
     mushroom, turnip, zucchini

     a bit of Mrs. Dash, chili powder and pepper

     1/2 glass of Honey Mead wine

     1/2 glass of hoppy IPA

I turned the slow cooker to 'High' and spent the afternoon sniffing the air and lickin' my chops.

["Even better on the third day, I say"]

Especially after Christmas, that's the way we roll at our house.

FYI I had cauliflower on hand but didn't use it because it gives me gas.

Link to The Way We Roll 4

Photos GH

right place, right time

One of my favourite hang-outs is found at the corner of Talbot and Carling in downtown London. When I'm there I'm usually found snug in a corner table with a notepad on the table. Ideas and my pen fly. My camera comes in handy too on occasion.

["Keep a lid on it? No, let 'er rip!"]

Last week, after attending a presentation at Wolf Hall, I popped into my hang-out, jotted down a few notes, drew a few sketches of this and that, paid up and walked outside just in time to see the sidewalk vents outside Chaucers blow their stack.

Several people standing nearby stopped what they were doing to marvel at the sight. They were momentarily enveloped by the steam - along with much of the street - and their conversation stopped.

They soon reappeared and began to chat excitedly.

I say, simple pleasures are often the best ones of all.

Photos by GH

***

Please click here for other famous photographs

Gordie Boy: “simple fried egg” 2

It’s true. I turn up my pretty nose at expensive kitchen luxuries. And the habit started early in life.

Here I am at age 7 or 8 - with oldest sister Lannie and Dad - taking in the news. Look at my smile. 

“You clean up your room, Gordie Boy, and you’ll get two fried eggs for supper.”

Throw in a slice of old cheddar and I’d even clean up Lannie’s room!

‘Family Photo’ by GH

***

Please click here for more from Gordie Boy

London News: “Turn away from Joe?” Part 2

 [From Sept. 25 issue of London Free Press]

Roberta C. encourages us to turn away from Mayor Joe and the culture of BIG.

And what should we turn toward?

Roberta says:

All good thoughts. However, many can participate now in building a more sustainable community - without City Hall’s leadership - by gardening, cycling safely on sidewalks, reducing our spending, paying down debts, saving money for tough times ahead, and doing so in cooperation with others of like mind. 

Don't wait for new leadership. Create a city with characters now!

[Photos by G.Harrison]

***

Please click here to read London News: “Turn away from Joe?” Part 1

The Simple Life: “Me Porridge. Okay, maybe it’s not oatmeal”

The price of oil will likely be parked above $100 per barrel for the next 10 years or so (before it hits $200), but the price of oats should stay pretty steady.


["The simple life. Boil water for coffee and mush": photo GH]

Good thing too. It’s simple. I love oats in me porridge.

Breakfast can’t get much easier. I boil water and make coffee and mush. Once the oats are bubbling I add Red River cereal, pieces of walnut and dried cranberry, and a small handful of diced raisins. Sometimes some natural bran. Or maybe banana on top after the hot porridge and milk is in the bowl.

Regular readers will know why I call my breakfast ‘porridge’ and not ‘oatmeal’ anymore.

Years ago, after writing about my natural oatmeal breakfasts, with all the toppings, I received the following email:

“Gordon, what’s with the nonsense of cooking up your oats for a whole week and adding cream of wheat and bran, etc.? Just doesn’t add up to oatmeal.” Pearl S.

I admit now, Pearl was right. Porridge is a better name for my concoction. And based on a principle related to the simple life (i.e., “keep your accounts short”), there are no hard feelin’s between Pearl and I.

***

Please click here for more about The Simple Life.

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The Simple Life: “Coffee beans, hot java, Irish stew”

I like getting up in the morning. Any other time of the day would be too late, and I’d feel like I missed something.

This morning, as soon as my feet hit the floor, my mind turned to a few simple - but very enjoyable - tasks at hand:

pull two pots of Irish stew from the fridge

turn on two slow cookers

and brew a pot of coffee.

Members of my hockey team are visiting my workshop for supper after the game today, thus the Irish stew.

(I suppose it could be called Scottish stew as well. There likely aren’t too many differences between the two kinds, though the Scots would likely throw in a pint of Scottish pale ale instead of the Guinness I used for this latest batch. Sorry, I digress).




["Irish stew will fill the house with its delicious aromas": photos GH]

Ahh, coffee. I love the ritual. Take one or two kinds of beans from the freezer. Grind them in the little electric gadget my son gave me for Christmas many years ago. Put some on to brew.

Then, whilst the kitchen starts to smell and feel like it’s inside the finest home in all the land, grind more beans - enough for a second pot later in the day, maybe some for tomorrow and Friday.

Sure, the economy and global financial scene are in crisis mode and we all may soon have to change our expectations in life - at the very least in the material sense - but, with my two feet firmly planted in a warm kitchen, I now feel ready for another day.

You?

***

The simple life. Live small. Live slow. Add coffee. Not a bad recipe.

Please click here for more about the simple life.

And here too.

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Live Small: One lesson about the Brazilian Rainforest

[“The upside of globalization is that the rich get richer...” Dr. M. Plotkin, president of the Amazon Conservation team]

I would recommend you read You Are Here by T.M. Kostigen. In each chapter he makes the effort - by looking at a particular region in the world - to expose “the vital link between what we do and what that does to our planet.” (cover text)

I’m reading a section re Brazil at the moment, and a line or two seem closely linked to the economic and fiscal trials and tribulations going on in Europe and the US (dare I say, and in Canada) at the moment.

From pages 114 - 115:

Brazil is a large country.

It is the fifth largest in the world and fifth most populace.

It has all the things one could need or want in a nation-state: oil, gas, freshwater, timber, and commodities of every sort.

Its people can live nicely off the resources.

It can even sell off its excess to the world market sustainably, much like the farmer does his produce. (Kostigen writes about a young family he stayed with and the delicious, sustainable meals he ate from their table).


[Link to photo and source, The Guardian, UK]

Unfortunately for all, it isn’t working out that way.

There is a race for the immediacy of a financial return now, and a subsequent exploitation of natural resources.

The “here and now” approach is winning the day (e.g., the destruction of the rainforest in order to plant soy for animal feed, to supply burgers for the fast-food industry) and the “what will be good for later” mind-set (e.g., conservation of the rainforest, the earth’s lungs) is sacrificed at the altar of economic viability.

“The upside of globalization is that the rich get richer, but no one is asking whether it is good for the natives in the jungle,” says Dr. Mark Plotkin... a Time magazine Hero for the Planet.

As Plotkin wisely observes, native people are far better off having less money and subsisting off nature than being paid marginally more by a corporation for their land and then being forced into an urban slum.

Again, I recommend the book to you. Lessons learned in Brazil are lessons we must all learn.

***

Please click here for more ‘recommended reading.’

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Would Canadians block a “Buffett Tax”?

[US Republican leaders Sunday criticized President Barack Obama’s proposal for a new tax on millionaires, calling it “class warfare...” Sept. 19 London Free Press]

Let’s review:

One. Warren Buffett went on record about a month ago saying “rich people often pay less in taxes than those who work for them due to loopholes in the tax code, and can afford to pay more.” (Yesterday’s Free Press)

Two. Pres. Obama is expected to propose a “Buffett Tax” soon, on folks making more than $1 million annually, in the hopes of lowering the stratospheric US deficit.


["Can the US dig its way out of a ballooning deficit?"]

Three. Wood chips are hitting the fan. Paul Ryan, chair of the US House Budget Committee reportedly says of the tax, “It adds further instability to our system, more uncertainty and it punishes job creation and those people who create jobs. Class warfare may make for good politics but it makes for rotten economics.”

After reading the above statement I felt I should share a few thoughts of my own:

One. I agree with Warren Buffett. The rich - in Canada and the US - can afford to pay higher taxes and help reduce growing national debts.

Two. Ryan needs to ask himself how his business as usual approach (i.e., the current tax system) is helping the US economy at the moment, and if the job creators are actually creating jobs thanks to their low tax rate.


["Reduce spending. Pay down debt. Save for tough times ahead."]

Three. If Ryan thinks higher taxes makes for ‘rotten economics’, how would he describe the US economy right now?

Fortunately, I live in Canada and, according to Federal Finance Minister Jim Flatulence, our fundamentals are sound and we can continue to look forward to declining deficits and short lineups at the bank.

That being said, I will still raise one last question.

If Canada’s fundamentals change and the economy falters and the budget deficit and national debt grow and a rich business leader on par with Warren Buffett (one of the three richest people on Planet Earth) says the rich should pay more taxes in order to help out, will a Canadian version of Paul Ryan stand up to block any tax increase?

Just wondering.

***

It won’t be me.

Please click here to read more about Warren Buffett and paying more taxes.

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Decluttering: If my wife gets into the act, I’m happy

I should be able to develop the habit of decluttering in 2011 by doing the following:

Fill one cardboard box with the flotsam and jetsam of my cluttered lifestyle every two weeks

Discard the box at the curb on garbage day or take the goods to Goodwill Industries


["Box 4 - my wife is helping me out!": photo GH]

Aim to discard 20 boxes by the end of December.

I made a positive realization the other day. If my wife gets into the habit as well, or at least drops some of her stuff into my cardboard box once in awhile, my job will be easier.

As it is, Box 4 will be a snap. It has to be ready by Wednesday and my wife’s collection of assorted tins will almost fill it.

Decluttering just got easier this week.

***

Please click here for for news about decluttering.

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Zen and the Art of Lawnmower Maintenance

[“When you want to hurry something, that means you no longer care about it, and want to get on to other things.” pg 24, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance]


4:45 p.m. It started to sprinkle rain while I was cutting grass this afternoon. I continued to work carefully - no thought of running - knew I’d get damp and that my cleanup would take longer.

5:00 p.m. Finished cutting my lawn and the weeds in the shared back laneway. Shirt was sticking to me. I unplugged the electric cord. I bent down, turned the lawnmower onto its side in the rain - no thought of putting it inside The Annex where it is stored - and saw that a deep pad of wet, shredded grass was stuck to every nook and cranny inside the mower’s under carriage.




See, my electric mower, half the mower my retired 3.5 hp Tecumseh gas-powered used to be, needs to be cleaned after every use (Made in China: what a piece of crap) or else its thin metal will rot out within a few years. So I keep a garden trowel with a bad handle just inside the door of The Annex for the scraping and cleaning job.

5:10 p.m. The mower is clean. The clods of grass are spread about the back lane. My lawn mower maintenance job is done.


["I toss clods of grass and saw dust (from a well-maintained workshop) into the back lane.": photos by GH]

I think, it's time for a glass of red wine.

***

Please click here for “IT STRIKES Again”

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Austerity Without Anxiety: Declutter box 4 - ready

In my case, ‘austerity without anxiety’ can also mean ‘I’m cheap and calm about it at the same time’ and ‘I’m frugal and proud of it.’

Though I’m still happy to pay a reasonably high price for a quality product (I don’t have anything in mind!), some of my best purchases are the ones I never made.

Though I’m content to do without many material goods (E.g.: “Why buy an e-reader when I have access to millions of free books at the library?”), I’m embarrassed to say I recently sent 3 boxes of used goods to a second-hand store and now can’t remember much that I sent away.


["Declutter box 4 - ready for action": photo by GH]

Stuff. Gone. That’s it.

And why did I buy the stuff in the first place? Habit? Because I had the money at the time? Misdirected desire?

Declutter box 4 - it’s a big one - is ready to receive more stuff. Soon to be gone. And I have no desire to replace anything that leaves, except for the cardboard box.

Are you decluttering?

A week after you remove something from the house, do you miss it? Even think about it?

***

Please click here for more Austerity Without Anxiety.

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Live Small and Prosper: Gord’s Frontier Stew is a winner PT 2

[Consumers will eventually feel the impact of a 40% rise in basic agricultural commodities in the past year. “That will work its way down to the grocery stores...” Apr. 8, London Free Press]

I pay less than 10 cents for a large mug of coffee.

And that includes milk and sugar and 15 seconds of ‘silly dance’ as the caffeine enters my system whilst I stand at the kitchen counter.

I pay less than 20 cents for a healthy bowl of homemade breakfast cereal.

And that includes diced banana on top. Gotta have my diced banana. It also powers the silly dance.

But what do I pay per serving for my ever-popular Frontier Stew?

I can fairly accurately determine the cost of my latest batch. I bought a few supplies for $13.70 and added supplies I already had at home.


The $13.70 covered a can of peas, can of corn, two cans of maple-flavoured beans, two cans of five-bean medley, one Spanish onion and a boneless pork rib roast ($5.32 @ $4.49/kg; on sale). These supplies were halved ($6.85) in order to make two batches of slow-cooker stew.

From ‘on-hand’ supplies I added half a bottle of dark ale ($0.65), 3/4 cup of red wine ($1.00), seven potatoes ($1.00) and five carrots ($1.00) to each batch. ($3.65)

Total cost of one full, large pot of slow cooker stew (enough to fill two large casserole dishes) - $10.50.


["Delicious stew and photos by GH"]

Cost per serving varies, of course, depending on my appetite, but (and I’ll be honest) I’ll easily get a dozen or more meals from each batch. And when I compare my stew to even the cheapest restaurant or fast food offerings, I have to say (and I’ll be honest), Frontier Stew is cheaper - AWESOMER!

Every other day the media will announce that hard times are coming, grocery-, mortgage-, taxes-, and lifestyle-wise. I also proclaim - regularly - “reduce spending, pay down debt, save money for the tough times ahead” because I know (I’ll be honest here) they are coming.

However, here in North America we are a very capable, creative bunch. We know how to shop for deals (Oh, do we ever know how to shop!), we know our way around a kitchen, which is the most expensive and under-used room in most new houses. A little more self-reliance won’t hurt any of us at all.

If higher grocery prices move us toward (for example) our own kitchens and healthier eating, I say, the sooner the better.

In the same way, if higher fuel costs drive us toward other healthier lifestyle choices (e.g., smaller homes and less furniture, smaller closets and fewer clothing items, smaller cars and fewer driving kilometers and more mass-transit, smaller meals and fewer manufactured individual servings, etc.), I say, the sooner the better.

Okay, where’s the darn spatula?

***

Please click here to read Gord’s Frontier Stew is a winner PT 1

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It Strikes Me Funny: I’m set for life, under 3 bucks

Headline - Playbook Sales Weak

“Research in Motion’s Playbook tablet computer launched in almost-empty sores on Tuesday, in a far cry from the frenzy that accompanies the debut of anything from rival Apple... RIM shares were down 2.2% at $53.62 on the Nasdaq.” (Apr. 20 London Free Press)

Yesterday my wife was given a free pen at our local bank. She has a deskfull. She gave it to me.

It matches my three notepads beautifully.


The notepads, total cost under three bucks, are perfect for me. When I think of an idea, I write it down. When I want to communicate with someone, I jot them a note. Birdhouse idea? I sketch it. New song? I scribble it down.

Online research? On my iMac at home, with a cup of freshly brewed coffee. (Coffee - less than 10 cents per large mug).

I think I'm set for life.

RIM shares down.

Money in my wallet, holding steady.

(Live small and prosper, eh).

***

Please click here for more It Strikes Me Funny.

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It Strikes Me Funny: New iPad2 doesn’t compare with myPad

[“When Best Buy opened their doors this morning, only one person was waiting to enter in order to buy the new Blackberry. One person.” April 19, CBC Radio]

I haven’t been this well-organized since high school.

This morning I reached for myPad* and happily realized all I needed was at my fingertips. The two minutes I’d spent yesterday putting myPad together feels so well worth it now.


["The all new myPad - at my fingertips": photos GH]

I opened it, read a note to myself (no download time), took out an accessory (one second elapsed) and wrote my first brilliant thot for the day: Assemble two more birdhouses for The Roaster.


The Apple iPad declares “it's not a tablet, it's iPad 2. Starts at $499.”


["myPad comes with its own sturdy storage folder."]

MyPad isn’t a tablet either. It’s myPad** and didn’t cost me one thin dime.

About iPad. Battery life varies by use and configuration; features include Wi-Fi and 3G.


About myPad. No costly batteries required; features include stereo if I work at myDesk*** and 3P (two pens and a pencil) and zip area for notes or memos (zip files).


["myPad stores easily beside my dictionary on my shelf"]

You could knock me over with a feather.


* Copyright pending. Don’t touch this.

** I had all necessary materials in myDesk.

*** Copyright pending. Don’t touch this.

***

Please click here for more It Strikes Me Funny.

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It Strikes Me Funny: The exciting conclusion of 'A sale on lasagna and the ultimate chef challenge'

[The following column was first published in The Londoner in May, 2003. I dusted it off because it relates well with a recently posted story, i.e., Live Small and Prosper PT 3: It’s time for Frontier Stew]

A sale on lasagna and the ultimate chef challenge

[Oh. Please click here to read the exciting first half of the story. You know, for context.]

... A cashier said she had stopped making her own lasagna because she couldn’t match the price for 5 pounds of the PC brand. I pressed ahead.

With noodles, mozzarella, pasta sauce, tomatoes, cottage cheese, beef, peppers and mushrooms. I figured I had about 8 pounds of ingredients. Total cost $17.08. It was going to be close.

On an icy morning in early April I assembled the ingredients, sliced and diced, grated cheese and cooked noodles. By 11 a.m. the delicious aroma of fried onions, peppers and spice filled the house and by noon all was ready to spoon into two casserole dishes.


["I also make Frontier Stew. So good it will draw tears": photo GH]

An Italian sausage, onions, garlic and a few spices brought my costs to approximately $18.50 so I needed 9 pounds of very tasty lasagna to win household glory.

“How are you going to weigh it?” Pat asked innocently.

I stopped stirring the sauce and replied, “I hadn’t thought of that.”

After a short pause I suggested confidently, “We’ll go by total volume. I’ll measure the sides of each pan and multiply by how deep it is.”

I arranged fat layers of noodles, cheeses and sauce in the greased pans, and quietly celebrated as the ingredients approached the rim of each dish.

After careful measurements and calculations I estimated I had 24 cubic inches more lasagna than two pans of store-bought - for $1.50 less.

After 35 minutes at 350 degrees the steaming lasagna was served.

“It’s delicious,” Pat stated. “Perhaps I’ll take some to mother’s tonight.”

One vote of confidence was reward enough.

***

‘One vote of confidence’ and a big serving of household glory! Fantastic.

Then there’s the savings. Incredible.

Rising food costs are not to be feared. Buck up. We can cook our way to cheaper grocery bills and good health.

Please click here to read more about rising food costs.

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Live Small and Prosper PT 3: It’s time for Frontier Stew

[“George Weston Ltd., one of Canada’s biggest bakers and owner of the Loblaw grocery chain, recently announced it would increase prices by 5%, effective April 1, 2011. The United Nations reports that average global food prices have soared 40% since June 2010.” - Mar. 21, London Free Press]

I make darn fine lasagna. Not the world’s best, maybe (chefs get paid big money to make stuff better than my homemade, and occasionally they succeed), but darn fine nonetheless.

I also save money by making it myself, even compared to the $9.99 frozen lasagna (Equity brand; the kind that lays in the pan like a pair of wet socks) from local grocery stores.

I know this for a fact. I’m the guy who challenged the CEO of Equity to a lasagna cook-off and won. I made much finer lasagna for less money per pound. My wife and mother-in-law gave it the thumbs up. Big sloppy smiles all ‘round. I wrote a column about the feat years ago. Talk about the street cred - and kitchen kudos - I got out of that one.

Due to the inevitability of higher grocery prices, I believe it’s time for another cook-off challenge to inspire Dads and Moms and kids over 14 to learn how to make great Frontier Stew - and save money - all by their lonesomes. With no help from a CEO or processed frozen foods or anything.


What’s Frontier Stew?

Well, according to the photo on a ‘no name’ label, the stew consists of preformed chunks of meat, potatoes, carrots, corn niblets, peas, green beans and gravy.


[Photos by GH]

I tried a can two weeks ago. It was no taste treat. A chilling memory of wet socks came to mind while I supped. If I was already heading toward the frontier, this would make me go west.

I think Frontier Stew can be a lot of things. Get creative. My own slow cooker stew recipe consists of the following:

half of a small beef roast cut into bite-sized chunks, cooked in covered fry pan with butter and olive oil

lots of potatoes, carrots, green beans

1 can brown beans ‘maple-flavoured’

large Spanish onion, 2 bay leaves

gravy: 1/2 beef Oxo cube, 1 cup water, 1/2 can of Guinness and 1/2 cup of red wine per batch

(Note: Make two batches back to back to use the whole roast and so the remainder of the Guinness doesn’t go flat. Or... freeze the beef and bottoms up!)

Two slow cooker batches fills 3 - 4 large casserole dishes or large plastic containers. The smell, taste and price are all definitely in the ‘super supper’ category. (The gravy kicks!)


["A small roast can even be stretched into three batches. I love taters."]

Yes, it’s a new frontier out there with rising food and fuel prices, etc., but there are so many ways to survive, while eating better stews and soups and sandwiches, and getting healthier all at the same time.

Live small and prosper.

***

Do you like slow cooker or other homemade stews? Got a favourite recipe? Let me know.

Please click here to read Frontier Stew PT 2.

http://itstrikesmefunny.blogspot.com/2011/03/live-small-and-prosper-pt-2-its-time.html

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Live Small and Prosper: It’s time for Frontier Stew

[QMI Parliamentary Bureau - Get ready to pay even more at the grocery store.

“We haven’t seen the worst of it yet; it’s going to impact all prices of pretty much every food,” said Francis Fong, an economist with the TD Bank group.]

When Francis Fong was just a wee tad, classmates used to sing, “Francis Fong is never wrong. That’s why we sing this little song.”

Francis would smile. They won’t sing it in high school, Francis thought, and was right. Never wrong.

All prices. All prices of pretty much every food. It got me thinking.

Is it time to share my Frontier Stew recipe? No? You’re still hanging in there?


["I make it better and cheaper all by my lonesome": photo GH]

Well, maybe I’ll share just a bit of background then.

See, my theory (call it a well-grounded philosophy, if you must) is that as food prices rise a door of opportunity will open for us.

Oh, it will seem pretty darn scary at first to peek through the door, let alone walk through it, especially for those folks who suck up fast food and restaurant meals and processed supermarket food a lot of the time and who forget what a slow cooker or stove looks like.

You know the opportunity I’m talking about, the one where you cook your own meals and save a ton of dough over the course of a year?

“Pre-heat oven to 375, then bake for 30 minutes! What the heck does that all mean?” many folks will say when it comes right down to it.

“I’m pretty sure my new luxury condo doesn’t even have a stove. Maybe it does. Stink. I never looked. I don’t know. Maybe I can Google some images,” others will say. While pouting.

Listen. Let’s not all get into a panic. Higher food prices will not be the end of the earth.

Ever heard of Frontier Stew?

More to follow.

***

Please click here to read a Series of Significance that will provide some context.

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Series of Significance: We know that all bubbles burst

[The following four posts were published separately on earlier dates. Now they are posted together for your convenience. No extra charge.]

It’s not like we don’t know PT 1: Bubbles burst

We know - we have for quite some time - US national debt is going North. It will surpass $15 Trillion this year.


["US debt grows by leaps and bounds"]

We know Canadian debt is going North. It will surpass $600 Billion this year or early next.

We know personal debt in Canada is going North. It is now at $150 debt per $100 income for the first time in human history.

All these things we know. What we don’t know is what to do about it.

We know the days of $15 oil (price per barrel), as in the early 1980s, are over. We know oil prices have increased four-fold in the last ten years alone.


We know global oil consumption has grown steadily since 1984. We know global oil consumption, as from 1996 - 2006, cannot be sustained.

1996 - 71,669,000 barrels, a 2.19% rise over 1995
2006 - 84,977,000 barrels, a 1.16% rise over 2005
(Source: United States Energy Information Administration)

We know the oil bubble will burst, that it may have an unstoppable leak already.


These things we know. What we don’t know is what to do about it.

I’d recommend, just off the top of my head, long distance training.

***

It’s not like we don’t know PT 2: Food prices will rise steadily

We know US debt, Canada's debt and personal debt will eventually back many families into a corner from which they will only escape with a smaller lifestyle.

We know oil prices have quadrupled since 2000, global oil consumption has grown steadily since 1984 and the cheap oil bubble will soon burst. What we don’t know is what to do about these things.


Personally, I think long distance training is in order.

For example, if personal debt is like an ever-tightening noose, a person or family should seek assistance from a bank or financial advisor, strictly monitor credit card use or cut them up, begin keeping a detailed budget, reduce spending on non-essential or frivolous items, develop the habit of living - for the long-term - under one’s means. That's for starters.

As many know, long distance runners work hard for weeks, months and years to train for fast marathon times. Success doesn’t come easy.

Individuals and families must train themselves too, over the long term again, to steadily decrease debt and then to accumulate savings.

Thanks to recent news, we now know the cheap food bubble will soon burst, if it has not done so already.


Canadians and Americans have enjoyed cheap food for many, many years. It has been reported that Canadians on average spend 10% of disposable income on food, Americans - 13%, while in China the average is 39%, even higher (45%) in Indonesia. (Feb. 14, London Free Press)

A senior market analyst predicted that “food prices will likely increase 5% to 10% over the next year or so.”

Already much complaining has started.

One subheading in the recent news article declared, “Record high prices blamed for political unrest.”

While that is definitely true, the reverse is also true, that political unrest will also soon be blamed for record high prices because unrest, e.g., in Libya, will jack up the already rising oil prices.

There are several other factors affecting rising grocery prices, but so far no one has suggested that long distance training will help ease the pain.

I for one think it will.

***

It’s not like we don’t know PT 3: Potato chips out. Apples in.

There are many things we know concerning national debt, oil prices per barrel and subsequent gas prices at the pump.

(Hint: They're going North.)

As well, we know the cheap food bubble will burst and the days when the average Canadian can spend only 10% of disposable income on food will be gone.

According to the Feb. 14 issue of The London Free Press, a senior market analyst predicts that “food prices will likely increase 5% to 10% over the next year or so.”

There are several factors affecting rising grocery prices, but so far no one has suggested that long distance training will help ease the pain.

I do so now.

For many years I trained my body to cover approximately 1,000 miles over 6-month periods (including dozens of hill workouts for strength, speed workouts for faster times, 20 - 25 mile long runs to increase stamina) in order to prepare for one shot at a 26.2 mile race on a specific date, e.g., The Forest City Marathon right here in London, Ontario.

Increased strength, speed and stamina helped me prepare for the next marathon (and other distances, e.g., 10 km., 21.1 km., 30 km. races), and the one after that, and the one after that, etc., for 10 years.

I learned over the course of my racing decade that long distance training principles (e.g., “a marathon starts with one step”) can be applied to other matters.

For example, the effort made to put a little bit of savings away each week produced something substantial at the end of one year, more at the end of two, and so on.

The pain associated with putting aside a little bit of savings might hurt at first, but then the pocketbook and mind and heart gets used to it, and the items that were reduced (e.g., restaurant meals, movies) to provide the savings are forgotten.

Related to our rising food bills: I bet there are 40 - 50 food items in homes across Canada and the US that most people can quite easily do without. (Rising body weights suggest I might be onto something!)

Turning back the tide of rising prices will be impossible, I’m afraid. It will be easier to trim the fat on grocery lists and in kitchen pantries.

I suggest we get into the long-term habit of cutting one non-essential food item off our grocery list every two or four weeks and choose to eat more fruit or vegetables in its place.

Twinkies out. Locally grown carrots in.

Potato chips out. Apples in.

Soda pop out. Diluted fresh juice in.

I recall the first time I tried to eat my homemade oatmeal without two spoonfuls of brown sugar. Yuck. It was as appetizing as a hill workout on Gibbons Hills during the early stages of marathon training. My body just wasn’t used to it.

However, after a few weeks, I stopped missing the sugar and was enjoying the taste of the mixture of oats, Red River cereal and bran, sweetened with a few diced cranberries, currants and raisins.

I don’t drink pop anymore. It’s far too sweet. I drink cooled juice from the pot after steaming vegetables. Or I drink diluted apple juice, or grape juice. Or water. Good old tap water. (And you know I drink the occasional beer. Yummy. And too much tea and coffee by some standards).


["One cold Guinness please. I can have two? Make it two!": GH 2004, London]

[Special note: It has been said that if you want to see what you're going to look like in 20 years, look at a photo of yourself crossing the finish line of a marathon. The photo above shows how I'll look at age 74. I'll be ordering Guinness! Good one! Sorry, I digress.]

Our bodies have been bombarded with too much sugar and high-fructose corn syrup and salt for years. It’s hard to buy breads or bagels anymore that don’t have 3 - 6 sugars listed under ‘main ingredients.’ Even salt and bottled lemon juice now contain sugar.

As grocery prices rise by 5 - 10%, I am confident that many Canadians will be able to make substantial savings by trimming nonsense foods from the weekly grocery list and train the body to accept the less exciting (aka sugary, fatty, salty) taste of real and healthier food.

Sure, some people will have to learn to cook, but isn’t that what TV is for? (The mindset of the long distance runner will help along the way).

It’s not like we didn’t know this was coming.

More to follow. (You knew that too!)

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It’s not like we don’t know PT 4: Food Freedom Day? WTHeck?

Here in Canada and the US we know debt and oil cost$ are going North.

We know food cost$ are going North and one day we’ll have to cook more meals to save $$$.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, where snow-covered Canadians have time to calculate which day our grocery bills will be paid off, some of us know that Feb. 12 was Food Freedom Day 2011, “the date by which the average Canadian has earned enough money to pay for groceries for the entire year.” (Feb. 14, London Free Press)


["Long-term training needed to live under our means"]

Right now there are a few factors that are keeping that date from being pushed quickly into March.

According to economists, they are the following:

The high Canadian dollar

the high proportion of food costs unrelated to crop prices such as marketing and transportation

intense retail competition

However, crop prices will eventually buffet Food Freedom Day.

Here’s why:

North American crop prices - for corn , wheat and soybeans - are surging.

A high percentage of foods contain corn, corn syrup, corn starch, wheat and soy.

Our meat stocks - beef, pork and poultry - get stuffed to the eyeballs with corn and soy.

So, as you already likely know, Food Freedom Day won’t likely be celebrated on Feb. 12 in 2012.

It strikes me funny that many North Americans pay any attention to such odd conventions, i.e., Food Freedom Day, Tax Free Day (the date by which we have earned enough to pay off our taxes), Mortgage Free Day, Christmas Bills Free Day, Golf Membership Free Day, Cable Bill Free Day, etc.

It’s funny (funny “odd”, not funny “haha”) because those dates are more about willing deception than whimsical convention.

How can we say to ourselves that we’ve earned enough to pay off our groceries when some payments are made by credit card and personal debt is going through the roof? How can we be free from taxes when national debt is higher than it’s ever been (in Canada and the US) in human history? How can anyone celebrate Mortgage Free Day when their line of credit is growing faster than the mortgage is declining?

Some of us are such maroons.

These things we know, and long-term training is needed to get many North Americans even close to living under their means.

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Please click here to read a series related to US debt.

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The Simple Life PT 3: What is this world coming to?

I must confess - I’m a rubber-necker.

I first displayed the R&B gene at the age of five, when our family car caught fire during a Sunday drive.

After being told to hop out of the car and stand at the side of the road I couldn’t contain my excitement as smoke poured from under the hood. My dad must have thought I was such an odd kid. Oh, I was. Next to my wedding day and days my sons were born, it was the most exciting afternoon of my life.

As well, I demonstrated my possession of the gene while returning from Toronto by bus after a grade eight field trip.

My teacher told the class to sit still, and not rubber neck, after he first spotted an accident at the side of the road. I admit, I couldn’t be contained.

I stuck my head out the window and gawked in delight. I gawped until my eyes hurt.

I think because I am a well-practiced rubber-necker and say, “What’s that over there? What’s that over there?” about 300 times per week, I am fascinated by growing U.S. debt.


I mean, the collision up ahead is going to be huge. And I’m on the bus - with a huge window seat.

Others may be lulled into thinking nothing bad will happen in the future. They have a good job and an RRSP and a big-screen TV in the family room. They may even have parents or friends with a 10 year supply of canned goods and bottled water stashed in the basement, and they’re willing to share. So, life is good.

Some may also think the following:

“Compared to most industrialized countries Canada's economy is performing well.”

“Of all the G8 countries, Canada has come closest to returning to pre-recession levels... and we are the only country that is aiming to balance its budget by 2015.”

“Canada has been able to direct most of its government stimulus funds into job-creating infrastructure projects.” (Feb. 12, London Free Press)

My opinion? They may be forgetting a few things in order to simply maintain a rosy view on life.


["How you doin'?" "I don't know. How you doin'?": photo link]

What some Canadians may forget is that besides sharing one of the longest borders in the world with the USA, along with fresh water from the Great Lakes and most of our oil production out west, we also share a country-wide economy like two horses share one stall. Also, some forget several provinces are 60 - 80 per cent dependent upon the US growth and stability for sound health in their individual economies.

Of course, a rosy view is always appreciated. But I’m a rubber-necker and I think my neck is about to get a workout.

***

Raise your hand if you’re a rubber-necker?

Please click here to read The Simple Life PT 2: What is this world coming to?

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The Simple Life PT 1: What is this world coming to?

One of a dozen headlines could have introduced a recent news article.

For example, “What is this world coming to?” would have fit.

“We live over our means, not under it.”

“Yikes. Tough times ahead, boys and girls.”

“We just don’t want to think about it.”

“Cozy lifestyles will soon screech to a halt.”

“Bling is out. Gardens are in.”

However, writer M. Warren went with “U.S. debt threatens our future.”(Feb. 12 issue of The London Free Press)

The opening paragraph presents a big ‘but’:

"Compared to most industrialized countries Canada's economy is performing well. But our neighbour to the south, which buys 75% of our exports, is drowning in debt. This is hampering the recovery of both of our economies."

An illustration by Paul Lachine hits home:


A few key sentences colour the U.S. picture black:

“(The U.S.) is becoming the first "post-industrial" nation in the world, with an economy that is 70% dependent on consumer spending, much of it credit-fuelled.”

“The federal debt has exploded to over $14 trillion. It's now growing at $4.4 billion a day. And, it's reached 100% of GDP, or about $126,000 per taxpayer.”

“A false air of entitlement still prevails. There is an abiding conviction, even at the most senior levels of the U.S. government, that all is well, and that the "old normal' norms have returned.”

The Canadian scene doesn’t appear much better:

“Canada is a trading nation. About 40% of our GDP comes from selling our goods and services abroad.”

“If we don't move more aggressively to sell into the growing economies of the world we will soon find ourselves being dragged down into economic stagnation along with the United States.”

Really? Is it that bad?

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Okay, sure. Please click here to view Lite news.

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