Gotta Love a Good Mystery

It seems that every summer I find a new mystery series to devour.  This summer, it has been Dianne Mott Davidson’s culinary mysteries surrounding a caterer/chef named Goldy.  I found the books while perusing the shelves in my local library, which is the ultimate cheap thrill for an avid reader like me.

To date, there are 14 books in the series.  I’m on Number Nine, Tough Cookie.  The first one I picked up was the third of the series, so I got on the Net to find out the correct order of the books.  Why the library doesn’t number series in the catalog, I don’t know, but — hint, hint — that would be very helpful!  So now I’m up to speed.  And since they are written so well, I breeze through them at a rate of two per week.  I’ve had to request some, so there have been breaks in my reading, which is not necessarily a bad thing.  The circulation people know me well.

One of the yummy things about this series is that each book contains select recipes that the character prepares.  Many of those are online, making collecting them even easier.  So I’m thinking there’s a Goldy party in my future!  One of the unfortunate (unrealistic) things about the stories is that I would not hire Goldy for fear of dying.  Think “Jessica Fletcher in Colorado.”   But each book is a good read on its own, even with the population of Aspen Meadow diminishing at a pretty regular clip.

Other mystery series I have enjoyed include the “Grace & Favor” mysteries by Jill Churchill, and the “Scumble River” mysteries by Denise Swanson in paperback.   Unfortunately, my library system does not carry all of the short Churchill books, which take place during the Great Depression in a small New York town.  The Swanson books are easy to read, and take place in a small town in Illinois, current-day. 

See a trend?  These popular series use a standard recipe, with optional ingredients.  Small town, near a big city (for those occasional literary field trips), with a semi-struggling female heroine who simply must figure out the current puzzlement.  And murder is always involved.  Why does murder fascinate us?  Let me know.

With the bounty of books, authors and libraries at our disposal these days, I’m sure I’ll have no problem selecting another series — after I’m done eating up this one. 

What are you reading?

THE BEST Cheap Summer Thrill

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: “Sprayground.”  There are four water playgrounds, or spraygrounds, around Omaha.  Throw swimsuits on the kids, toss a cooler of drinks and healthy snacks (or lunch) in the trunk, along with some towels, buckets, squirt devices and a chair for Mom.  FREE!  The only cost is the gas getting there.  But if you combine your trip with other errands (making a bank deposit or some quick drive-up errand), visit with friends, and stay a long time on a really hot day (Mom, set your chair up in the shade), it’s well worth it. 

Now, I wouldn’t go at all if it was too far away, or if cooling off the kiddos was the only objective of the trip.  We’ve got a perfectly good hose and wiggly sprinkler thingie at home.  But a sprayground is more fun, more social, and easier on the lawn, and it’s much cheaper than going to the pool.

It would be nice if we could turn the excess rainfall into biofuel, wouldn’t it?  Next best thing is to use it for cooling off, and this sprayground idea is the BEST for summertime fun.

Grocery Deals Still Out There

Can you believe there are still deals to be found in the grocery store?!  I’ve watched prices go high, higher, and higher still over the past six to nine months, gritting my teeth every time I enter a store.  But I have to tell you that there are still ways to feed yourself and your family for $60 or less per week.  Just a few samplings frommy recent grocery travails….er, travels:

Aldi has extended its $2.49/gallon milk and .99/dozen eggs prices!  Since we’re out and about in that area constantly, I make a point to do the bulk of my weekly shopping there.  Usually, their everyday prices are lower than even the loss leaders at Baker’s, BagNSave, and HyVee.  But…

Baker’s has 14.75-ounce cans of Bumble Bee pink salmon for $1 this week.  (Coupons out there?  I’m not sure.)  If you have a great salmon patty recipe, say from maybe Recipezaar, you can stretch one can to feed four.  Of course, include plenty of fresh veg sides, and maybe some brown rice pilaf.  Later in the week, turn another can and leftover vegs and pilaf into a fresh cold dinner salad!

While I was at Baker’s, as usual, I swung by the discounted meat case.  1# rolls of ground sirloin for .99 each!  Those will magically turn into a few dozen meatballs for my freezer later today.  Using, of course, an 8-cent egg from Aldi!  The other day in the meat case, I found two 1-1/2″ thick, beautiful pork chops for $3, which will make a nice home-date-night meal for us.  Small ends from noodles, a little applesauce, and a green salad.

At HyVee, I recently was able to get bags of cereal for the kiddos for .99; cans of spaghetti sauce (oh, so versatile!) for .77; among other deals.

They key for me is to know the going prices at all the stores, especially Aldi, and look at the online ads Wednesday morning.  While I’m in the stores, even if I don’t have meat on the list, I look at the discounted meats.

So heads up, folks!  You CAN still have some cheap thrills, even if with grocery prices rising all around you.