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Inexpensive Ideas for Decorating Your Apartment

Friday, June 13, 2008

Ed. Note: My home computer is essentially dead at the moment, which means that, until I get it fixed, I may not be able to post regularly on Domestic Dog. I will do my best to post from other computers, so that your reading schedule continues uninterrupted, but if I miss a post here or there, that’s the reason.

Like too many young people, I am very fond of IKEA. It would be tempting, were I starting from scratch, to furnish my entire home entirely with products from IKEA. As it is, between 2/3 to 3/4 of my furnishing are from IKEA and, as I will likely have to replace my rickety kitchen set in a few months, I’ll likely be getting even more IKEA furniture.

However, despite the fact that it is relatively inexpensive and well designed, IKEA is not necessarily the place to go if you’re trying to decorate on a budget. Second-hand stores, clearance centres, and free stuff inherited from friends and family are much better routes for someone shopping on a tight budget.

Second-Hand Stores

Second-hand stores almost always seem to have a variety of ugly couches and armchairs to choose from. Many smaller shops will not have any furniture, simply because they don’t have the space to store it. And, in my experience, smaller thrift stores (especially those that bill themselves as “vintage boutiques”) also have a tendency to be more expensive than big boxes like Salvation Army Thrift Stores or Value Village (which I believe is called Savers in the US and Australia).

Stick to the bigger chains and you should be able to find a find array of furniture. Don’t worry too much about aesthetics at this point. The main things to take note of are the physical condition of the item (i.e., is it damaged; does it appear to be clean?) and how comfortable it is.

If you find a couch that is it good shape and incredibly comfortable, don’t worry too much if it’s the ugliest couch on Earth. Couches from thrift stores can sell for as low as $10. For that price, you shouldn’t worry about the fact that it’s ugly. Besides, there are ways of fixing ugly couches and chairs.

The simplest way to “fix” a piece of ugly furniture is to buy a slip-cover (or, if you’re able, make your own). While slip covers aren’t necessarily cheap ($50 seems to be an average price, at least here in Canada), you’ve likely saved $100s of dollars by buying you couch form a thrift store, so another $50 is actually quite reasonable.

Clearance Centres

Clearance or discount centres are also a great place to get inexpensive furniture. While much of the furniture at clearance centres is marked down due to damage, the damage is often minimal. I once saw a kitchen table marked down 75% simply because their was a small scratch on the tabletop. While the scratch did detract from the appearance of the table, it could be easily covered by a tablecloth.

One advantage that clearance centres have over second-hand stores is that the furniture is usually new. In fact, it’s fairly common for furniture to be sent to the clearance centre simply because it is no longer considered a fashionable style. This means that, if you like the style, you can often get it for cheap just because it is no longer considered “trendy.”

Clearance centres pricing can be deceptive, though, so be careful. Just because an item is in the clearance centre doesn’t mean that it’s a good deal. I’ve occasionally seen furniture in clearance centres that have significant damage, but are marked down by less than 10%. In these situations, you might as well go the companies regular showroom and pay full price for a new, undamaged piece of furniture.

Freebies

While thrift stores and clearance centres are great places to save money on furniture and other apartment decorations (art, wall clocks, etc.), the cheapest option of all is free stuff. The easiest way to get free stuff, especially if you’re going to be moving into your own place for the first time, is to hit up family and friends for items they no longer need or want. If you have friends who are moving, they might be looking to unload some old furniture, too.

If you can’t get anything from friends and family, I’d suggest checking out a group like Freecycle, which helps people connect with other who are giving away a wide variety of free things. You can request items, or just look at what’s already listed. You should keep in mind, however, that while you are allowed to respond to current listing, you can’t ask for anything specifically until you’ve offered up something first.

Of course, you offer doesn’t have to be something big. It could be something as simple as a bunch of washed and empty soup cans (trust me, someone will want these). As long as you make sure to offer something to the group every so often, to keep the cycle of living going, groups like Freecycle are a great source of free items.

Your Take…

This is my take on the best places to get inexpensive items for decorating your apartment. Did I miss anything? Do you have any secrets of your own that you’d like to share? Drop me a comment and let me know.

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Homemade Iced Tea

Monday, June 9, 2008

While homemade iced tea is common in the southern United States, it seems to me that many people have forgotten iced tea’s true origins: ice and tea.

Too many people think that iced tea is made out of powder that comes in a can. While this is certainly one way of making iced tea, homemade iced tea is far better.

Refreshments
Creative Commons License photo credit: jpockele

For those of you who don’t know how to make your own iced tea, it’s just as simple as the name implies. Basically, make a litre or 2 of your favourite flavour of tea, pour it over ice and let it cool. Keep in mind that, as the ice melts, it will dilute the tea, so you should make your tea stronger than you usually do, so that the iced tea doesn’t end up tasting watered-down.

Yes, it really is that simple.

Some people like their iced tea to be sweetened. If you’re one of these people, add as much sugar as you like before you add the ice. As we all learned in elementary science, the sugar will dissolve more easily in the hot tea, so sweeten according to your personal taste and then add the ice.

Personally, I like to take some Scottish Breakfast (black tea), a bit of lemon juice, pour the mixture over ice and put it all in the fridge until it’s cold. While I enjoy sweet iced tea, it’s actually more refreshing without sugar, so I definitely recommend that you at least try making a batch without adding sugar. You might like it more than you expect.

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Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment in the Kitchen

Friday, June 6, 2008

Ed. Note: I apologize for not posting earlier this week. I had injured my hand, and typing was difficult. I should be back on schedule now.

This post was originally going to be a recipe for some homemade veggie burgers that I tried making on Monday. Unfortunately, the recipe didn’t work out quite the way I expected it to.

Actually, the recipe wasn’t bad. The resulting mess did taste quite good, but it didn’t really turn out how I’d hoped when I BBQed it. However, I think if I fry it in a bit of oil, instead of BBQing it, it will probably turn out fine, so I’ll experiment further and post the recipe if it works out.

Experimentation is the Key

I’ll experiment further… The keyword in that sentence is “experiment.” A large part of the reason why bachelors don’t cook is because they’re afraid of taking risks in the kitchen. No one ever taught them how to cook, and they’re afraid of screwing up if they try to cook without having learned from someone else.

Don’t be afraid to experiment in the kitchen.

Aside from a few basics, like frying an egg or baking a cake from a box, no one ever showed me how to cook. My dad did teach me a bit about how to BBQ, but making burgers and flipping steaks was about as advanced as my “formal” kitchen education was. Most of my cooking skills are self-taught.

Trial and Error

How did I learn? I learned through trial and error.

I have never been afraid to experiment in the kitchen. It’s because of this that I discovered, for example, that apples make a good pizza topping (try it, with cheddar instead of mozzarella, and you may be surprised). And it’s because of this that I know my veggie burger recipe doesn’t work well on a grill.

If you want to learn how to cook, don’t be afraid to experiment. Throw an extra ingredient into the next pot of chili you make and see what happens. Try adding a spice you’ve never tried to your rice. Your experiments don’t have to be too outlandish, just don’t be afraid to try and experience new things when you cook.

Sometimes, the results will be disastrous and you’ll end up ordering takeout. But, once you’ve gained a bit of experience in what does and does not work, you’ll start to find that the vast majority of experiments will turn out for the best, and you might even find a new favourite dish.

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Injured

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

I have recently injured my hand, which makes typing a slow and somewhat painful process. As a result, Monday’s post was delayed. Hopefully, I will be able to finish writing it today.

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The Single Man’s Guide to Hosting a Dinner Party

Friday, May 30, 2008

Ed. Note: The idea for today’s post was suggested by Bartek Gniado.

Hosting a dinner party, or any kind of party, for that matter, tends to be something that is done by couples. I have hosted parties with girlfriends (past and present), as well as with roommates. Perhaps because there can be a division of labour amongst the hosts, this generally seems easier than hosting a party by yourself.

That doesn’t mean that hosting a party as a single person is impossible, however. I’ve done it myself on multiple occasions. Here is some advice on hosting a party by yourself.


Creative Commons License photo credit: Natasha Tylea

Plan Ahead

Because you’re going to be doing just about everything by yourself, the most important thing to do when hosting a party by yourself is to start planning well in advance of the actual party. This is especially important if you’ll be serving a full meal, as you’ll need to know how many people you’ll be feeding.

The first step in the planning process—after deciding what type of party you want to have—is to invite people. I have found that creating an event on Facebook seems to be the easiest and most manageable way of organizing a guest list for parties. But, if you’re party of the anti-Facebook movement, email works almost as well.

Of course, you can also use more “old-fashioned” invitation methods such as the telephone or even mailing out paper invites via snail mail (if you’re hosting a retro-themed party, this can help set the mood).

When you’re inviting people, be careful to make sure you don’t invite more people than you have seats, unless it’s going to be an outdoor party, in which case it’s acceptable to ask people to bring their own lawn chairs. For most apartment dwellers, this means you shouldn’t invite more than 3-5 people for a dinner party, or 10-12 people for a party where you’ll only be serving snacks and drinks.

Food and Liquor

As a single person, living on a single income, you’re going to want to save money when you throw a party. It’s a bit easier to absorb the cost of feeding a dozen people when there are 2 incomes helping to pay for it. But, when you’re single, it’s not quite as easy.

The easiest way to save money is to ask people to bring their own booze. Toss a “BYOB” on the invitation and that’s that. However, this tends to work best when you’re throwing a party where you aren’t serving a full meal.

For a true dinner party, you’ll do well to provide a bottle of wine or a case of beer for your guests, but there is no harm in asking one guest to bring the wine if you’ll be asking everyone to bring something, which is what I recommend.

The easiest and least expensive way to throw a dinner party is to have a potluck of sorts. Ask one guest to bring a salad, another to bring the wine, another to bring dessert, and so on. As the host, you should prepare the main course. And, as I said, you may also want to provide a bottle of wine or a case of beer just in case the person you’ve put in charge of the alcohol forgets to bring some, or doesn’t bring enough.

I recommend getting as much of the kitchen prep out of the way before your guests arrive, so that you can spend less time in the kitchen, and more time entertaining and enjoying the company of your guests.

If you can, pick a main course that you can prepare the night before the party and then just put it in the oven a few minutes before your guests are scheduled to arrive. This will ensure that dinner will be ready shortly after your guests have arrived, and will mean that you’re free to answer the door and greet your guest instead of yelling, “Come in! It’s unlocked!” as you try not to burn the kitchen down.

Entertainment

While a good party can sustain itself on conversation alone, you may feel the need to provide some form of entertainment for your guests. If you’re having dinner, putting on some background music will generally be good enough. You should choose instrumental music, as anything with vocals can be distracting and make it difficult to carry on a conversation.

If your party isn’t a dinner party, or if you’re seeking some after-dinner entertainment for you and your guests, here are a few options that tend to work well:

  • Boardgames (recommendations: Scattegories, Boggle, Cranium, Taboo…).
  • Video games (recommendations: Mario Party, Mario Kart, Monkey Ball…basically any of Nintendo’s “party games”).
  • Music DVDs (for those who want to have a conversation, the music will just be background noise, while those who are feeling less social can simply kick back and watch the videos).
  • Serve after-dinner drinks and, if you are so inclined, cigars (these things tend to act as social lubricants, and will help keep the conversation going).

Types of Parties

While this post has primarily been about dinner parties, there are, of course, a wide range of different party types. If you’re not feeling ready to get in the kitchen and try to serve dinner, here are a couple of alternatives:

  • Cocktail party: I don’t necessarily mean this in the traditional sense, where you make actual cocktails for your guests, but the general idea remains the same. Invite over a group of friends, provide a few hors d’oeuvres and some alcohol. Let people mingle and see what happens. Alternatively, you can ask people to bring their own booze to save on costs.
  • Board game or Video game party: This goes along with the entertainment ideas suggested above. If your friends are board- or video game fans, inviting them over to play games can be a great way to spend an evening. In addition to providing the entertainment, you should also provide some snacks and drinks for your guests.

Other ideas…

The advice and ideas I’ve provided here are hardly exhaustive. What suggestions do you have for throwing a party as a single person? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

For more help with party planning, check out this MSNBC article.

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Simple Pita Pizzas with Asparagus

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Yesterday was a holiday in Canada, but that’s no excuse for not posting an entry. To make up for my absence, I figured I’d better write something for you today . And what better way to apologize than by sharing a very simple pizza recipe with you?

As much as ordering pizza from the local pizzeria is quick and easy, making your own pizza is more satisfying, and allows you to experiment with unusual ingredients. I’ve done this several times, and come up with some surprisingly tasty combinations (who knew apples made a good pizza topping?).

Now, other bloggers might tell you that making your own dough and sauce from scratch is the best way of making homemade pizza. I’m not going to argue with that. If you have the time and the know-how, I definitely recommend it.

But, if you’re like me and you don’t have to time to make your own pizza dough and pizza sauce from scratch, this recipe is for you.

Pita Pizza with Asparagus

Ingredients

  • 2 whole wheat or multi-grain pitas
  • 1 bottle/can of pizza sauce
  • 1.5 to 2 cups of grated marble cheese
  • 3-6 spears of asparagus

Directions

  1. Steam the asparagus, making sure to leave it slightly undercooked, as it will continue to cook when you put the pizza in the oven.
  2. Preheat the oven to 190 Celsius (375 Fahrenheit).
  3. Spoon/squeeze some pizza sauce onto each of the pitas. 15mL (1 tablespoon) should be enough to cover the entire pita, but feel free to experiment until you find the amount of sauce that works best for you.
  4. Cut the asparagus spears into pieces that are approx. 2-3 centimetres (1 inch) long, and place them on the pitas. Make sure to space the asparagus pieces as evenly as possible to ensure that every bite of pizza will get the full flavour experience.
  5. Sprinkle the grated cheese over top of the pizzas. If you find that 2 cups isn’t enough cheese, grate more and sprinkle it on until you have enough cheese for your personal taste.
  6. Place the pizzas on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until the pitas are nicely toasted.
  7. If necessary, broil for 2-3 minutes to make finish melting the cheese.

Serves 2 - 4 people depending on the size of your pita shells.

Notes: I prefer to use marble cheese, as I find that it goes better with the asparagus, but if you prefer, you can substitute it for mozzarella.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of this recipe at the moment (I know, that’s a cardinal sin in the food-blogging world), but I will publish one the very next time I prepare this recipe.

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The Benefits of Eating Locally

Friday, May 16, 2008

There’s a lot of hype about eating organic food these days, and for good reason. Organic food is better for the environment, and it’s usually better for your health. However, what people often overlook are the benefits of eating locally grown food.

Locally grown food has a number of advantages that organic food sometimes doesn’t. It’s often fresher, tastes better, and it’s even better for the environment than organic food (sometimes).

Of course, if you can get organic food that is also locally grown, you’ll be getting the best of both worlds. But, short of that, I would recommend choosing locally grown food before you choose organic. Below are a few reasons why.

Fat Carrots
Creative Commons License photo credit: madame.furie

Locally Grown Food Tastes Better

Locally grown food will, as a general rule, taste better than food that’s been trucked in from another part of the country or, worse, flown in from another country (or continent!). The reason for this is simple: locally grown food is fresher.

Because locally grown food is, well, grown locally, it doesn’t take as long to reach your plate. This means that locally grown asparagus, for example, will be much fresher and much tastier than asparagus that has been imported from Peru. (Ed. Note: for those readers in the Edmonton area, check out the asparagus at the City Market on 104th Street; it’s the sweetest, tastiest asparagus you can get in this city.)

Locally Grown Food is Better for the Environment

While organic food is better for the environment than food that is grown using pesticides or growth hormones, if you’re buying organic food that was grown in another province, state, or country, the carbon footprint resulting from the transport of the food often cancels out any environmental benefits that may have been had.

Of course, if the locally grown food you’re buying is loaded up with chemicals that are harmful to the environment (and to your body), then it may be no better than the organic produce that was flown in from 2,000 kilometres away.

This is one case where is it best to try and educate yourself about the history of your food. If possible, try to buy local food that uses environmentally friendly pesticides (or none at all). This way, even if the food isn’t classified as organic, it will still have less environmental impact than the alternatives.

Locally Grown Food Supports Your Local Economy

In addition to being tastier and better for the environment, locally grown food is good for your community. When you buy locally grown food, your money is going to local farmers and ranchers. These people will, generally speaking, in turn spend their money buying goods and services from local merchants.

By buying locally grown food (or any locally produced goods, for that matter), you’re supporting your local economy. This may be especially important in North America right now. As the United States falls into a recession, and Canada worries if we might be next, supporting the local economy is one way of reducing the effect of a national recession in your local community.

Additionally, locally grown food is often produced by smaller operations who sell their goods at farmer’s markets, rather than huge factory farms. So, not only will you be helping the local economy, but you may also be helping a small family farm stay in business.

Additional Reading

For more information about the Local vs Organic debate, check out the following articles:

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How to Keep a Firm Banana

Monday, May 12, 2008

Of all the kitchen storage items that exist, the one that I had long believed to be the most useless was the banana hanger. Why would I waste money on a device that suspends a bunch of bananas a few centimetres above the counter? Why not save my money and just set the bananas directly on the counter?

Believe it or not, using a banana hanger will make a huge difference in the length of time bananas can survive in your home.

Kitchen Bananas
Creative Commons License photo credit: gurdonark

Keep Your Bananas Firm for Longer

The biggest difference made by hanging your bananas, instead of sitting them directly on the counter, is that they will not bruise along the bottom. This is due to the simple fact that, if the bananas are suspended above your counter-top, there will be no pressure exerted upon them.

While most cultures outside of the West eat their bananas quite ripe and mushy, for most of us Westerners, there is nothing worse than a mushy banana. The banana hanger really does help to keep your bananas firm for longer.

Not only does it prevent the bananas from bruising, but hanging them actually seems to make them ripen more slowly. For a single person, this is great. I used to find that two or three of the bananas from every bunch that I bought would go bad before I could eat them.

Now, I never let these bananas go to waste: I’d make banana bread out of them (or, to be honest, I’d let generous friends make banana bread for me). But, the fact remains that I simply couldn’t eat my bananas fast enough.

Ever since I purchased a banana hanger, I haven’t had this problem.

The best part? You can buy banana hangers for just one dollar at most dollar stores.

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5 Minute Curry Sauce

Friday, May 9, 2008

While it’s somewhat cliché to say that bachelors tend to be a bit unadventurous with the food they make at home, it’s very often the truth. It tends to be nothing but burgers, canned soup, hot dogs, tuna sandwiches, and ramen noodles.

I enjoy all of those dishes, but I wouldn’t want to eat them every day. I need a little more variety in my diet, and I’m sure that you do too.

Instead of going out and paying for an expensive and probably unhealthy meal at a restaurant when you want something different, why not learn to make it at home?

With that in mind, I have a super simple recipe for making a creamy curry sauce that you can use on just about any meat or vegetarian-alternative. It works especially good with chicken served on a bed of basmati rice or a piece of naan bread.

Quick and Easy 5 Minute Curry Sauce

Ingredients:

  • Curry powder (mild, medium or hot)
  • Plain yogurt

Directions:

  1. Spoon out enough yogurt to sufficiently coat the amount of meat you’ll be using.
  2. Add curry powder to yogurt and stir. There is no precise ratio of curry powder to yogurt, just keep adding more until it tastes as strong as you like it.

That’s all there is to it. You’ve just made yourself a very simple curry sauce in 5 minutes or less.

Ideally, you should marinate the uncooked meat (or vegetarian alternative) in the curry sauce for at least 4 hours (overnight is better) and then bake, broil, or BBQ it. But, if you’ve already cooked your meat, you can just quickly heat the sauce on the stove or in the microwave and pour it over top of the meat for a really quick Indian-style meal.

Serve over basmati rice or with a piece of naan bread and enjoy.

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Stocking the Bachelor’s Kitchen

Monday, May 5, 2008

When trying to break the habit of frequent eating-out, the most important step—beyond learning how to cook—is making sure that your kitchen is stocked with some staple foods and spices.

If you make sure that your fridge and cupboards are always stocked with these items, you should be able to prepare most of the recipes on Domestic Dog without having to make a special trip to the grocery store for ingredients.

The Basics

The Basics are the items that form the basis for most meals. In all likelihood, you have most or all of these items in your kitchen already. If you don’t have any of these, you should pick them up as soon as you are ready to start cooking for yourself.

With the meats, I recommend buying them fresh and using them within a few days of purchase if possible. This will ensure that you get the best flavour from your meat dishes. However, in much of North America, it’s much easier to buy your groceries several days or weeks in advance and simply freezing your meat until you are ready to cook it.

If you’re vegetarian or vegan, you’ll have to replace the meat and dairy products with vegan alternatives, but I think that most of the items on this list are vegan friendly.

  • Ground beef, bison, or elk (whichever you prefer)
  • Chicken thighs, drumsticks, or breasts
  • Wild & brown rice
  • Basmati rice
  • Canned soup:
    • Cream of mushroom
    • Chicken noodle
    • Tomato
  • Potatoes, yams, or sweet potatoes
  • Canned vegetables and beans:
    • Black beans
    • Chick peas (aka: garbanzo beans)
    • Mixed beans/Bean medley
    • Kernel corn
    • Creamed corn
    • Tomato sauce and/or tomato paste
  • Cheddar cheese
  • Skim milk (1% or 2% milk will do if you find skim too watery)
  • Bread (whole wheat or multi-grain)
  • Fresh vegetables:
    • Carrots
    • Broccoli
    • Onions
    • Bell peppers (whatever colours you prefer)
    • Tomatoes
    • Asparagus

Condiments and Sauces

Because no one wants bland food, you’ll need to stock your kitchen with a few basic condiments. I’m listing what I consider to be the bare minimum here. If you have a favourite condiment that I haven’t listed, feel free to add it to your own kitchen (and leave a comment about it at the end of this post).

  • Ketchup
  • Mustard
  • Relish
  • BBQ Sauce (I prefer “original” or “hickory smoke,” but choose your favourite)
  • Mayonnaise or Whipped Dressing
  • Hot sauce (Tabasco or Frank’s Red Hot are my favourites)
  • Teriyaki sauce
  • Peanut butter
  • Honey
  • Jam/Jelly (whatever flavour you like best)

Herbs & Spices

I’m a guy who likes spicy food, so I have been slowly building up a fairly large collection of spices. But, for the average bachelor, there are really only a few basic spices that you need. With that in mind, I’ve tried to keep the list of “essential herbs & spices” small.

  • Black pepper (whole peppers and a pepper mill is ideal)
  • Table salt
  • Seasoning salt
  • Paprika
  • Parsley
  • Oregano
  • Basil
  • Garlic powder
  • Chili powder
  • Cinnamon

The above spices are the main essentials that I use in most of my cooking, so you should be able to get away with nothing else for your own bachelor cooking (as well as for most of the recipes I’ll be posting on Domestic Dog). However, if you want to spice things up a bit, here are a few more options:

  • Onion powder
  • Curry powder (mild, medium, or hot)
  • Cumin
  • Chili peppers
  • Ginger

There are, of course, a wide variety of spices that you can pick up, depending on your tastes. But, those listed here are among those I find myself using most commonly.

I’ve probably forgotten a few things, so if you have anything to add to either the list of basic foodstuffs, or to the list of essential herbs and spices, leave a comment or send me an email and I’ll add the item to the list if I think it’s something that bachelors should commonly use.

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