Home Cooking Equals Love (and Saves Money)

I am huge fan of Marcella Hazan -- I used to read her cookbooks before bed when I was little (really!) and practically all my best dishes come from them. Over Thanksgiving, she wrote a lovely editorial in The NY Times about the importance of home cooking.

"Which is why, as we come together over the holidays, we should take a moment to think about how we might become cooks again. We could even begin, in these financially straitened times, by replacing store-bought presents with meals cooked at home.

After all, what experience of food can compare with eating something good made by someone you can hug? Like other forms of human affection, cooking delivers its truest and most enduring gifts when it is savored in intimacy — prepared not by a chef but by a cook and with love."

True that, Marcella.

Recession About Town: Free Admission at Museum of the Moving Image

During the Holiday season and into 2009, you can see the main exhibit(s) at MoMI for free and for a longer time. Sure they're under construction, but hey, it's free (unless you feel obligated to chip in the suggested $5 donation).

Galleries
Tuesdays through Fridays: 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Saturdays and Sundays: noon – 6:00 p.m.
Mondays: Closed

Additional Holiday Hours:
Friday through Sunday, December 26 through 28, 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Monday, December 29, 10 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, January 3 and 4, 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day.
Photo by mconnors

Holiday Gift Ideas: Luna Bazaar

Looking for inexpensive gifts for your office mates? Check out Luna Bazaar where you'll find beautiful ornaments, candles, and other colorful knick knacks that make thoughtful, simple gifts. Free shipping on orders of $150.00 or more.

We're Officially Relevant!

Good news -- we are officially in a recession! According to a report by the AP, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) met and decided that, guess what, we've been in a recession since December 2007! Of course, the Bush Administration never wanted to say the dirty word, but all you hip people who read this blog and, uh, live in the real world, know we've been suffering for awhile now. That's great for us at Recession This! as we get to keep bringing you wonderful news on how to not spend money. And, since you're already a big fan you won't be losing your favorite blog anytime soon.

Holiday Gift Ideas: Home Movies

You have a box full of vacation slides, family video tapes, heck, maybe even some old movies shot on (gasp!) Super 8. You got rid of your VCR a couple years ago, and you never really owned a slide projector. And, for the life of you, you wouldn't know how to view a Super 8 film even if your old Uncle Lou gave you detailed instructions, along with stories about the "good ol' days" thrown in for free.
Don't know where to take that big box of memories? Head straight to Tanata
where you'll get a 10% discount on all digital transfers. Make your mom cry tears of joy when you relive the terrible two's. Finally get a look at that trip to Amsterdam you took ten years ago. No longer will you be behind the technological times; plus, you'll be able to get rid of that box that's been taking up space in that closet all these years.

Holiday Gift Ideas: Kodak Gallery

Every year we look for deals during the holidays (the 4:00a.m. trip to WalMart on Black Friday), but this year it feels especially necessary to save some money. If you don't want to spend a fortune, but want to give a gift that is creative, comes from the heart, and is inexpensive visit Kodak Gallery where you can make photo albums, photo cards, calendars, and mugs all starting at very low prices. Your parents love pictures of you; organizing a bunch in a 5 x 7 album on acid-free paper will only cost you $6.99 (starting cost for 10 pictures). And, Kodak Gallery always has some sort of deal going on, whether it's free shipping when you spend a certain amount, or discounts of 20% - 30%. I got four 5 x 7 albums, plus one of the fancy leather bound albums, for only $98.00 -- that's under $100.00 for my immediate family! And, I know it'll be a gift they'll love and have forever.

Democratic Chinese Dr Pepper

China may not have democracy, but you can have a free Dr Pepper. Because Axl Rose actually finished the album Chinese Democracy before the end of 2008, Dr Pepper is honoring their promise to give every American a free soda, via a coupon on their website (starting Sunday).
Details in this article.



Photo: Jane M Sawyer / cohdra Morguefile.com

Holiday Travel on the Cheap

Some great sites for saving on holiday travel -- or any travel:

Ride share sites like eRideShare.com and Ridester.com let you connect with people who are driving your way. Or, if you have a car, you can post your trip to find someone to split the gas.

I've never tried it, but I've heard others have survived the Chinatown Bus for travel between NYC and Boston/DC/Philadelphia and other eastern cities.

If you are not opposed to getting e-newsletters, Travelzoo finds and aggregates great travel offers and delivers them to your inbox. (You can also just visit the website.) Today's e-mail included free bus tickets in the northeast and midwest (for Q1 2009) and my pals Sean and Sue are going to Prague in January on the cheap through an offer they found there.

If you are looking for airfare and more:
First read this article in Wired Magazine (orignally found it on lifehacker).

Second use Kayak.com (we've mentioned it before) to find great deals and have the option to compare with Hotwire, Priceline, Expedia, Travelocity and Airfare.com.

Free Movies On Demand

My first official post! Thanks to the Recession This! Team for having me aboard.

If you have already put your Netflix subscription on hold to save a few bucks, but have kept your cable TV subscription, you can still catch up on great movies any time.

The other day, the wife and I caught A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints and The Mother via Sundance Channel On Demand -- a sub-channel of Free Movies On Demand from Time Warner Cable. It is channel 1008 in Brooklyn/Queens and Manhattan; check channel line-ups to see what other channels you might be missing out on.

If you have another provider (like RCN or Optimum) that offers the same service, let us know!

The Cheap and The Tasty

If you work in Midtown and still haven't discovered Midtown Lunch, this will be the best news your wallet has gotten in a week. The blog is all about the cheap and the tasty -- two of my favorite topics. It has brought me many new food adventures and happy days away from the generic overpriced deli food. Plus, it always lists free food giveaways!