Why it's generally always better to not be a loser and do everything by yourself

Diving with another person as opposed to diving alone not only has the benefit of one person being a lookout while the other grabs the goods, but also, since we go by foot or bus, going with another person means that we can carry twice as much as I could alone. This is good, because I often get excited and go a little bite overboard. (See the daikon radishes a few posts down. It's been a week and I still have two to use up.)


This time, however, I think that I went overboard with something that I'll actually eat. Bagels! We brought home 6 packs of regular sized bagels and 3 bags of mini-bagels. Some are plain, some are cinnamon raisin and there's one pack of blueberry, which are bound to be gone soon because I can't stop eating them.

Also, there are 6 packs of organic "Baby Italian-style" lettuce, 4 little bags of snap peas, 2 packs of strawberries, 2 pre-made "Caribbean chicken" salad packages, some mushrooms and some avocados. The one bag of pre-seasoned almonds went right back into the trash, as we noticed the expiration date was 06/07. As in almost a year ago! I opened them before I threw them away, and they smelled fine, but we didn't really feel like it was worth it tto take that chance.

Also had my first gross-out dumpster experience in this trip. Apparently the trash bags hadn't been tied totally shut, and I managed to get what I assumed was chicken teriyaki sauce all over one of my legs. Plus when I was moving one of the trash bags around I noticed it felt warm, and contained what I assumed to be chicken wings or something of the sort. I suppose that this wouldn't be too disgusting to most people, but it's the closest I've been to dead animal parts in a long time. I shudder to think that people actually put that stuff in their mouths. ew.

What I've done with my pepper surplus OR How to roast a pepper

Step 1: Put the pepper over the flame of your gas stove.

Step 2: When the bottom looks nice and black, turn.

Step 3: Repeat turning the pepper until all sides are sufficiently charred. The less color, the easier it will be to remove the skin.
Step 4: Some people say to let the pepper sit in a closed paper bag for 15 minutes so the skin will loosen and be easier to get off, but I'm not that patient; I usually just start rubbing off any black skin until it's almost all gone. You can run some water over the pepper if it's too hot, or just to wash away some of the charred skin that's already removed.
When it's done it 'll look soft and shouldn't have too much black on it. I love roasted pepper sandwiches, but they're also awesome for making salads a little more exciting. Or be lazy like me and eat it plain with some salt.

A Productive Night

One of my regular dumpsters is a fairly reliable spot for produce. It was the first dumpster that I ever dived at, and I've been going pretty regularly ever since. So regularly in fact, that the bus driver recognizes me and knows to expect me every week. For the last few weeks I've been getting mostly apples from this dumpster, which is great, but my vegetable intake suffers when this happens. Only one apple this week, but everything else made up for it.

First off are the less ordinary vegetables: asparagus and daikon radish. Asparagus counts as less ordinary because I would never buy it because it seems so expensive, even now when it's in season. I don't think that I've ever bought daikon radish, and I have no idea what it tastes like or what to do with it, so that should be interesting.



Peppers!! In addition to apples, bell peppers seem to be a regular find. Tonight, however, there were many more than usual. I picked up fifteen peppers, but there was plenty more left that I didn't take. I almost never buy red and yellow peppers because green are always the cheapest, and I generally choose to sacrifice aesthetic over cost. Now I just need a good recipe that uses peppers. Or more likely, I'll just be lazy and roast them and eat them plain.


Group shot for the evening. In addition to what I've already explained I also got a few tomatoes, a red and white onion, two pears, an apple, lemon and a bunch of kiwis. I'm not too fond of pears, but they'll do in lieu of apples. Not pictured is a cantaloupe that I suspect is not in the greatest of shape, but seemed worth a shot.