If you're going to eat just the cheese, at least put it in a bowl. Containers do NOT belong on the table!

There isn't a whole lot I miss about metro Atlanta because, let's face it, Athens is amazing. We have sports, arts, food, basically all the benefits of the city minus the ridiculous traffic. There are a few things I miss about the 'burbs, though. For example, Jcrew, DSW, and a decent Macy's. On the other hand, it definitely saves me money to no longer have these luxuries between the office and home. Besides, they're not too far away and there's always online shopping. However, The Classic City has one major shortcoming. There is a giant, massive, gaping hole that can only be filled by that brilliant gem of a market, Trader Joe's should be.

Here's the thing about Joe's, it's got cheap, quality prepared meals packaged in portions for 1 or 2 people. Genius, right?! Here's how dinner went tonight (and usually goes):

1.Heat up sauce and meat (or leftover soy crumbles in this case) and put pasta in to boil.

2. Throw some ricotta in there. I'm pretty sure ricotta is made of little bits of heaven, so I proceeded to eat spoonfuls of it straight out of the tub.

3. Sample sauce straight out of the sauce-pan while the noodles cook.

4. Combine sauce and pasta and put the majority of it into a tupperware to eat for every meal between now and the end of time because it's near impossible to make a single serving of anything.

Cooking for myself is great in that I don't have to share the kitchen, and then I can eat it straight out of the pan (which I probably will not wash until the next day). The downside is that I have leftovers coming out of my freaking ears every time I cook! My pantry and fridge

fridge are filled with tupperwares of prepared foods and cartons half-full of ingredients that I will eventually have to toss.

There seems to be no remedy as I don't really like most prepared meals (I don't even own a microwave, anyway) and eating out for every meal is not financially feasible (I've tried). Trader Joe's offered healthy(ish), organic foods that I could polish off in one sitting. I suppose until we get one, you can find me on the couch with a spoon and a tub of ricotta! In the meantime, come on over for dinner. There's plenty to go around.

Fondest regards,

The Lady