Anaphora Poem for Dad by Ruth Paget For Laurent
Father’s Day
June 19, 2005
You are the Star
You are the Star
of restaurant reviews
of books about Virginia, France, and Wisconsin
You are the Star
of baguette buying
of Costco capering
of Asilomar hiking
You are the Star
of Big Sur Drives
of dim sum lunches in San Francisco
of French teaching
You are the Star
of our hearts
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Costco Hot Dog $ Food Hack by Ruth Paget
Hot dogs in Costco’s food court cost $1.50 today with mustard, relish, and catsup available for dressing.
There are all beef hot dogs and beef and pork hot dogs available usually.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Costco Rotisserie Chicken $ Food Hack by Ruth Paget
One of my favorite Saturday lunch meals that I have eaten for decades is a Costco organic Rotisserie Chicken priced at $4.99 for a whole chicken.
I cut the chicken into 4 portions, which cost approximately $1.25 each. I like to eat this with Korean 90-second microwave rice and baby greens salad – all from Costco.
This meal is simple, so I jazz it up with a habanero margarita from Total Wine. The money I save on this meal goes towards a baked pasta or a baked enchilada dish for Sunday.
I drink a red Malbec wine with the pasta or a beer with the enchilada dish. I roughly plan out my weekday breakfasts, lunches, and dinners to stay with three meals and little or no snacking.
That little $4.99 rotisserie chicken has helped me manage household finances and tastes good. I even cut up the leftover meat and mix it with Caesar Salad (a no-food waste meal).
(Note: Caesar Salads are also a Costco deli item and have dressing with anchovies in it, which are antioxidants.)
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Costco Pizza $ Food Hack by Ruth Paget
Friday night pizza is very affordable with a pizza from Costco’s food court.
An 18-inch pizza costs $9.95 for 12 slices. Each slice is 9 inches long and costs .83 cents each.
Two kinds of pizza are available: a combo with pepperoni, sausage, and vegetables and one with just vegetables, tomato sauce, and cheese. You can request packets of Parmesan cheese and hot pepper flakes to go with the pizza.
Parmesan has calcium for bones and hot peppers have Vitamin C to strengthen the immune system.
Currently, the Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes are free, but a small charge for these could be added to a fund for employee raises, for example. These pizzas are especially great for sports teams and sports nights at home.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Costco Deli Sandwich $ Food Hack by Ruth Paget
I think the turkey-Swiss sandwich on a butter croissant with a Caesar salad combo box at Costco is a great deal at $10.28, because I can make two lunches out of it.
The two meals cost $5.14 each.
Caesar salad dressing uses anchovies, which are antioxidants and have iron. Lemon juice from freshly squeezed lemons has Vitamin C for the immune system.
Turkey has protein and Vitamin B-6, which helps keep the nervous system and immune system healthy according to the Mayo Clinic. Swiss cheese has calcium in it, which is good for your bones.
The butter croissant used for bread fills you up, so you can stick to three meals a day to stay trim and maintain weight.
All those health benefits for $5.14 make the turkey-Swiss sandwich a good deal for me at Costco.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Costco Baked Salmon $ Food Hack by Ruth Paget
I think Costco’s ready-to-bake salmon that comes with three scoops of butter and dill in its deli section is a great deal at $28 for the following reasons:
I add 2 cans of drained green beans to the salmon to bake for an hour. The cans of green beans are about $1 each. When the salmon is ready to serve, I microwave Korean sticky rice, which costs around $1 a dish, too. All total that is $31 for the 5 servings that I get out of this dish for $6.20 for each serving.
That price is much less expensive than a restaurant meal, but the real clincher for this Costco dish is that I can have a Habanero Margarita at home that is less expensive than a cantina.
Salmon has many health benefits besides the good taste. It contains vitamins A, B, and D and the minerals magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, zinc, and selenium.
In particular, selenium is an antioxidant that removes free radicals that cause cancer from the body. Vitamin A helps with vision, the immune system, and the development of babies in the womb according to www.healthline.com .
Costco’s salmon is a great deal for Sunday lunch and health benefits. You cannot beat that!
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
