Until the last drop…

Or piece, or smear.

I had always read on sites that talk about minimalizing, or saving, or being more ecological that one should always cut open the squeeze tubes. I was very good at simply rolling them tight, leaving them on their head so that what little was left would drip down, but I balked at cutting them. I will no longer hesitate as the bug hit me when I had already squeezed, turned upside down and otherwise emptied my day cream lotion tube when one day the urge hit, the scissors were there, and I was feeling “sparsam” (like saving, sometimes the German is simply more succinct).

A month later (note that is over 30 days in some months!) and I finally threw out what was left in the cut-off top as simply too sloppy looking on my shelves. But I just imagine the amount of profit being made if that much is left in the tube.

This year I will also work on eating up the leftovers. We have so much waste and much of it is under our control. Still not setting any New Year's Resolutions, but will try in general to not be wasteful - it can only help me, the pocket book and the world. Not a bad thing.

Leftovers

Or, how to make something delicious out of odds and ends

There are certainly lessons to be learned by yesterday’s lunch: having decided that I wouldn’t buy anything specifically for lunch as I was going home today, the challenge was to make something out of what was left in the refrigerator.

One red pepper, one yellow pepper, leftover green beans and some feta cheese:

Fortunately, I also had a red onion, some garlic, olive oil and spices.  Slow cook the two peppers, onions, garlic then add some spice, dump in a drop of balsamic cream, chop up the remaining cilantro as well as the remaining tomato (both discovered in the vegetable bin towards the rear where they weren’t visible) and let simmer … dump over crumbled feta cheese and although there were no carbs and I got hungry mid-afternoon, sure was tasty.

So tasty that I forgot the green beans that I had cooked in the microwave – so had those for supper.

Somehow, one should be able to carry over that type of philosophy into one’s daily life and tasks: take one friend, an extra hour, add coffee, mix and voilà instant happiness.

Or take an appointment, which falls through thus gaining an hour or two, add some sun, throw in a lake and voilà a lovely walk giving oneself time to relax.

The combinations are endless if only we look and get creative, throwing things together that we normally wouldn’t consider as belonging with each other.

O.K. back to the “real” tasks.