I've been thinking about this for a while, but it just recently hit home enough to blog about it: the pounds-to-dollars exchange rate. When I first started tracking all of our debts and assets--NT's UK stuff included--the exchange rate was something like 1 British pound = 2 U.S. dollars. It fluctuated a lot, but it stayed close enough to that, and that was a handy ratio to make calculations easy.

NT just deposited a check into our U.S. account from a UK CC company for GBP 5.26. When the deposit went through, it came to $6.67. I knew the exchange rate had changed a lot, but I didn't realize it was now 1 pound = $1.26!

It makes me wonder if I should change my debt and net income sheets to reflect this. It would mean a lot less debt and a lot less assets when converted to U.S. dollars. On the other hand, if I switch everything over, in effect I lose the satisfaction of steady progress, and being able to see where I came from. The same thing happened when I used some excess student loan money that was refunded, and put it toward a personal loan instead of toward student loan debt. It was slightly beneficial financially, saving me a few bucks a month in interest and getting me months closer to paying off my higher-interest loan. But at the same time, it wiped away some of the joy I was taking in the progress on my "Big-Picture Goal," because it got artificially much closer to success, something my OCD brain can't keep from mentioning every time I talk about it now.

So I guess I will keep all my spreadsheet data as is, but maybe I will do a side calculation just to satisfy my curiosity about what our debt and net worth totals are at today's exchange rate.

Last night I made Braised Seitan with Brussels, Kale, and Sundried Tomatoes from one of my favorite cookbooks, Veganomicon. We had it over whole-wheat penne (can you tell we love pasta in this house? ). I use canned mock duck from the Asian grocery store; seitan is relatively cheap to make, but I've never gotten the hang of it. I try now and again, but mock duck is such a handy (if slightly pricy) replacement. Both are just made with wheat gluten, flour, water, soy sauce and flavoring, and mock duck is also fried.



This is such a strange recipe. We've had it before so I knew it would be good, but I was struck all over again how incongruous the ingredients seem. Brussels sprouts and sundried tomatoes? It just seems like some random stuff thrown together, but when you taste it, you realize it all works. Mellow, comforting, hearty, slightly sweet but savory, lots of nice textures going on: It's just a great winter treat. Once you assemble the ingredients and get the pasta water boiling, cook time is only about 15 minutes.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and this recipe makes a TON! When you mix it with a whole package of penne, we had three hearty servings plus four moderate-sized leftover portions. That bowl in the photo? I was only able to eat about half of it.

I worked out 33 minutes on the Wii last night, so that's 3 down, 7 to go on the January fitness goal.

I posted a notice in both break rooms at work for people to bring me their eyeglasses by Jan. 30. I did some research and found a charitable organization affiliated with LensCrafters that takes donations, so you can just drop them off at the nearest LensCrafters. It's called Give the Gift of Sight if you want to check it out. NT also posted the notice in his job's break rooms and told a couple of work friends about it.

And on a 365-days-of-dinner-related note, a co-worker just followed me back to my desk after she smelled my reheated cottage pie! So I e-mailed her the recipe (which is posted in my original Jan. 6 entry, by the way).

OK, you're gonna laugh. We had friends over for dinner last night, and even though we had the camera on the table we completely forgot to take a picture. Ordinarily this doesn't matter, because we've got extra that we can photograph in the pan, or leftovers in Tupperware. But this time we didn't have any leftovers. I racked my brain for some way to photograph dinner (short of regurgitating it and...OK, that's enough) and finally realized we did have extra--of the sauce.

So last night's dinner was homemade fettuccine (by NT) with pesto, cherry tomatoes, broccoli and mushrooms, and...here's the leftover pesto sauce.



UPDATE: However, NT helped me save face somewhat by photographing the gorgeous chocolate-marzipan croissants that AS slaved over for hours last night, and that I'm about to have for breakfast. Thanks NT and AS!

We all did Wii Fit for 30 minutes last night again! I did a little better on some of the exercises, although I'm predictably hopeless at the balance games, which are closer to regular video games except you use the weight of your body instead of a controller. I can feel some muscle soreness in my belly, arms and a bit in my legs, so I can tell it's working something, although I don't really sweat much since we take turns and there are short breaks while you start up a new exercise.

That's 2 workouts down, 8 to go on my January fitness goal.

I asked AS for some guidance on mending the rag rug, and it sounds fairly straightforward (good because I am very rusty on my needle skills). The one thing she said is it's hard on your back, because you want to keep it on the floor so it maintains its shape, which means you're constantly bending over. So I'd better get going on it, giving myself enough time to do it in short spurts with frequent breaks!

And with the glasses collecting, I just need to make up a notice that I can post in my work (and have NT send out at his). I got some glasses just by a friend mentioning it to another friend, so I'm sure there are others who have old pairs lying around.

And the plastic bags just need about 20 minutes of my time to wash and hang out to dry. We've still been really good about not getting new bags at the store, but I really need to get these produce bags washed so we can reuse them.

Tonight NT made a vegan version of classic British home cooking: cottage pie.

It doesn't photograph as well as some of the other dishes, but damn, it was good! UPDATE: Approximate recipe by NT follows photo.



INGREDIENTS
For the filling:
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
1 bag Morningstar crumbles (equivalent to 1 lb. ground beef, browned)
1 cup black beans (I’d normally use pinto, but we had a bag of black beans in the freezer)
1 T veg Worcestershire sauce
1 t pepper
½ t salt
1 t chili powder
½ cup water
2 T cornstarch
1 t Marmite (optional)

For the topping:
3 medium spuds
1 sweet potato
Margarine
Soymilk
Pepper
Grated cheese/soy cheese (optional)

Cook spuds for 10 mins, then mash/rice with marge and milk, season with pepper.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Sauté onions and garlic med-med high.

Add crumbles once onions are translucent and sauté 2 mins.

Add everything else, raise temp to boiling, then reduce to simmer for 5 mins.

Spray oil inside baking dish, fill with crumble mixture, then top with layer of mashed potato. Top with some grated cheese, if desired. Bake for 25 mins, or until potato nice and golden. I finished it off with 1 min under the broiler to crisp it up nicely. Let stand for 5 mins before serving.

Dinner last night was pad thai. We made it according to the Brooklyn Pad Thai recipe from Vegan With a Vengeance, a wonderful cookbook.



Only differences last night: We were out of lemongrass so we omitted it. We used lemon instead of lime. And we added red bell pepper, which was OK but didn't really tie in with the flavors or textures--maybe because I'm so attached to Brooklyn Pad Thai as we usually prepare it. I generally use Splenda for the sweetener in the sauce, and Sri Racha Thai chili sauce for the hot-sauce ingredient (though a little less than they say, because Sri Racha is super potent).

If you haven't cooked rice noodles, ask someone who has. They're really easy but there are a couple tricks to getting them just right.

The best way to prepare this dish is by the book, which mentions to prep in two batches, otherwise the pan would get too full to stir. As you can see from my second picture, we divide the ingredients as we're chopping, half on each of two plates. Same with the sauce: I put half of each ingredient in one small bowl, half in another small bowl.



Then I prep one batch and put the pan in the sink to soak, we eat dinner, and then I go back and rinse the pan and cook the second batch to put in Tupperware for lunches.

I planned to work out last night anyway. Then, at lunch, NT and I cruised the video-games aisle at Target as we do at least once a week, to see if the Wii Fit is in stock. We've been looking for it since May when we tried it out in England at our friends' house.

Yesterday, it was in stock! We immediately purchased it with gift cards from Xmas, and so last night we all worked out on the Wii, 30 minutes each.

Of course, the 30 minutes were really stretched out, because we were learning the different games and taking turns. But I still got a mild workout from it, especially considering I haven't worked out in months. I think the lunges and pushups are going to be felt in my muscles by tonight or tomorrow morning. So that's one workout down, nine to go on my December goal!

Our lasagne was really more of a late lunch; our meal schedule was kind of screwy due to being out at our friends' party so late last night. But then NT threw together this amazing light meal: tempeh satay and mango salad with a soy-ginger dressing we got for Xmas from one of our friends. So here's a photo of our second "dinner" for Jan. 4.

Last night we were going to a party, so I forgot to photograph dinner in my haste. Luckily, we had leftovers, so I took pictures this morning. Not as pretty in Tupperware, but you get the idea.

Anyway, Saturday night was egg fried rice (and tofu fried rice for me); today was lasagne (real cheese and vegan cheese--the vegan was prettier because there was more left over, so I just took a picture of that one).

Last night we had red Thai curry risotto with mock duck.

Based on a local restaurant's specialty, this dish usually contains shiitakes, diced potato, peas, peanuts, sesame seeds and cilantro.

Last night it didn't contain any of those; instead it had carrots, red bell pepper, corn and toasted cashews. (NT's good at improvising.)

I learned a valuable lesson: Those other ingredients are just nice filler. It's all about the creamy, spicy curry sauce and the texture of the risotto!

All our mortgage payments hit: $552 went toward principal. Nice surprise amount--NT's UK mortgages went down about $40 more than expected.

So that's $779 down, $721 to go on the January debt-repay goal.

NT had the idea to try and photograph what we eat for dinner every day this year. We'll see if we end up enjoying it enough to keep it up! If you want a recipe for anything homemade you see in this series, let me know and I will edit the entry to add it.

Last night we had whole-wheat penne pasta with lemon, pepper, sun-dried tomato and spinach (prepared by NT), with wholemeal focaccia (by AS).

Recipe follows photo.



Ingredients:
2T white wine
1t white wine vinegar
6 sun-dried tomatoes, julienned
2 tomatoes, diced
1T dried oregano
1/2 cup (packed) fresh basil OR 3T dried basil
1/2 onion, small dice
1 red pepper, medium dice
4 cloves garlic
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
1 bunch fresh spinach, chopped
1 jalapeno (1/2 seeds removed)
1T black pepper
penne pasta

Directions:
Cook pasta - time start of cooking to end when sauce ready
Sautee onion until turning translucent, then add garlic, jalapeno and red pepper.
Sautee 3 mins, then add wine, vinegar & lemon juice.
Sautee 1 min; add tomato, sun-dried tomato, lemon zest, pepper & herbs.
Sautee 5 mins, then add spinach; cook until wilted.
Drain pasta and mix into sauce.

Well, we had a good New Year's eve and day despite the bad news yesterday. We're determined to pursue the money but not to let it get to us whatever the outcome.

Anyway, my credit card payment hit, so the first step on one of my goals was accomplished. $227 down, $1273 to go on my debt-repayment goal.

Also, $25 was transferred into savings. I'm putting that toward the birthday fund, so it's $25 down, $325 to go on that fund, $1525 to go on January savings overall.

No progress on the other goals, except I did collect a few pairs of eyeglasses from the friends who hosted New Year's Eve last night.