RECIPE: Perfect Brown Rice, with Pilaf Variation

RECIPE: Perfect Brown Rice, with Pilaf Variation

2 cups long-grain brown rice

2 T oil, olive oil preferably

2 tsp salt if using water or unsalted broth in whole or in part; reduce accordingly if using salted broth in whole or in part

Freshly-ground black pepper to taste

1.       Stir together in a 3-qt (or larger) heavy-bottomed pot, so that the rice is thoroughly coated with the oil and seasonings.

2.       Add 4 cups liquid. This can be plain water, or broth in whole or in part. Home-made broth provides superior flavor. I find that 1 cup of homemade vegetable or chicken broth is plenty to add together with 3 cups water, but this recipe results in tasty rice, even when made only with water.

3.       Cover the pot. Turn heat to High and set a timer for eight minutes. From this point on, Do Not Uncover the pot until all cooking and sitting time has elapsed.

4.       Bring liquid to the boil. Leave flame on High until you hear the water boiling, see steam, and smell the aroma of oiled rice. This may take slightly less than 8 minutes, so be in the kitchen by the 5-minute point.

5.       Lower the flame to Medium-Low. Set the timer for ten minutes.

6.       Lower the flame to the lowest point your stove offers. Set the timer for forty minutes.

7.       Turn off the flame. Let sit, on the burner where it cooked. Set the timer for ten minutes.

8.       Immediately, place the rice in a serving or storage dish.

Pilaf Variation:

Use 3 T oil instead of 2 T. Add 1 cup of chopped vegetables of your choice, including at least ¼ cup onions, to the 2 cups rice, salt as indicated above, and black pepper. Stir together thoroughly. Sauté. When aromatic, proceed with Steps 2-8 of the recipe as written above.

The Ultimate in Selecting Nearly-Free Books that are on a Subject of Your Choice

You can get used books—even hardcovers in good condition! Even paperbacks in next-to-new condition!—for only $2, no more than $2.50, if you know the ropes.

Better World Books.com has a “Clearance Aisle”—not really a separate page, as described below—whereby you can get six or more books at a discount of $1.50 per book. The discount is actually given as $9 off the initial six books, and then an additional $1.50 off each extra book that you buy. 

For the most parts, these are books “deaccessioned”/removed from the collections of public and other libraries.

Even more happily, you can rest assured that some of your money is being used for charity distribution. BWB gives one book away to a school or library, etc., for every book that it sells.

If you get on the email list, you’ll be apprised of sales of up to 30% off a given number of used books sold directly by BWB. But the “Clearance Aisle” sale is equivalent to almost 37%-off, and you don’t need to wait for a special announcement!

If you buy under this offer a book priced on the site at $3.48, you will pay a fraction under $2. If you buy under this offer a book priced on the site at $3.98, you will pay a fraction under $2.50.

However, not every book priced at $3.48 or $3.98 is included in the offer. You won’t know until you inspect your [Shopping] Cart which books are marked as “SALE!” values. So, here is the insider’s trick.

You need to start your search by putting on your thinking cap, while working with pencil and paper. Come up with search terms for the kinds of books you want. I frequently search for “budget cook,” “thrift cook” and “money cook.” (Don’t search for “budget cookbook,” because the word “book” may not be stated in every relevant title.) Add to your list any specific author or book title that you would like to add to your shelf. (Books should be classics or at least should not be recently published—within a couple, three years—in order to be likely to have been deaccessioned or otherwise in the BWB inventory.) Once you have finished this “homework,” you are ready to go online.

Set up an Account so that you can maintain a Wish List. With a Wish List, you can manage your search in stages.

You’ll have a much easier time searching if you restrict your search to USED books. Similarly, you won’t need to be bothered with clicking for a new page frequently if you choose to display 96 books per page.

Now toss into your Cart—or if you will not be checking out today, then, onto your Wish List—each and every title at the $3.98 or $3.48 price that looks intriguing. (You will quickly notice that only the author and tile and book photograph are described for most books at these prices. There are scarcely any reviews nor is there any further information on these books.) But at the effective price of $2-$2.50, you can’t really go wrong if (for example) a cookbook that you receive through the offer turns out to have only a few good recipes.

In my experience, by having placed about fifteen to twenty promising books in my Cart, I will find that at least six are marked “SALE.” And that’s the charm, they need to be marked “SALE” to be eligible for this Clearance offer. At worst, if I have placed that many books in the Cart area, I need only add one or a couple to reach the magic number of six SALE books.

It is simplicity itself to delete/remove books that are not on clearance from the Cart. And, by the way, this is a secure site with all transactions protected as to payments.

How to Score Rock-Bottom Prices at Amazon by Diligent Searching

Would you like to save BIG on the multiple, multiple types of products offered on Amazon.com? 

Diligent searching, which can require several hours you need to be aware, but there is a literal pay-off that I think is worth your time and trouble.

This week I’ll apply this principle to Amazon.com. In next week’s blog post, I’ll show you how you can purchase used books for the measly price of $2.00 each—and these can be books in very good condition! (That is on the Better World Books site.)

You will use the “Wish List” feature for parking your choices. Once you complete your parking of potential selections, analyze each item that you placed on your Wish List carefully by returning to its description page. Take notes on the top contenders—or, if you have a printer, this is a cost-effective way to use it!

For goods that come in various colors, look for a mismatch of the photograph and the description regarding the color of an item. Sometimes, this shows up as no photograph at all. If there is a photograph, it might perhaps show a “putty” (beige) file cabinet, but the description specifies that the cabinet is “black.” That is a clearance item, and I have the file cabinet to prove it! (Half market price.) Another example is a photograph showing “green” file folders with a description that specifies “blue”—those, too, I bought for half-price! (You can tell that as a former attorney, current writer, I believe in keeping papers organized!)

Returned items are your best friends for other goods (those where color choice is not available.) There are two sorts, opened boxes and returns that have been reconditioned. Generally, the second sort are electronic equipment.

The opened boxes have a variety of descriptors. Read the pricing column carefully on each item you find to be a good value so that it is worth placing on your Wish List. That column is on the right and often includes pricing for the “Subscribe and Save” option. Generally speaking, if subscription is available, opened boxes are not, but this is not inevitable. Nothing about the world’s largest retailer is inevitable!

Here is an example of an opened-box item that I recently purchased—toilet paper for the old-fashioned price of 38 cents per roll. I haven’t scored that price at a chain drug store for decades! The item, Cottonelle Ultra Gentle Care with Aloe and E—who needs such fancy features, but it was at an introductory price of 45 cents per roll for 48 double rolls. AND I spotted the opened box offer—16% off the introductory price! There was absolutely nothing wrong with the packaging of each of the four eight-roll packages—it was simply that the carton had been opened and re-taped.

The other kind of returned item is factory-reconditioned electronic equipment. Reconditioned electronic products such as computers that remain under warranty from the manufacturer are often offered on Amazon if you search for them.

I have purchased computers and printers routinely for most of two decades that are reconditioned. Not a single problem has ensued. And I have saved at least one-third of the already-discounted Amazon price on each item!

Searching for such clearance items takes time, to be sure. A couple of hours at least for each search. But it results in tax-free “wages” that beat what most people earn!

Ice in the Heat—Low-Cost Cold Drinks

Here in San Francisco, our hottest months are September and October. So, I’m thinking cold drinks at this time.

First, let me tell you about a cold drink that saves money all year long. It’s home-brewed, cold-brewed, coffee. You can pour a cup and heat it in the microwave when there’s a chill in the air or even a blizzard outside—assuming that the power is on, G-d willing!

I assume that you don’t buy coffee in a café, except possibly as a rare treat. Coffee ground fresh in a grinder, electric or hand-powered, tastes the best. You can use beans, the cheaper canned ground coffee, or—as I do—a combination. (I use three scoops [a scoop is two Tablespoons] of beans and one scoop of ground coffee to prepare one-half gallon of cold-brewed coffee. See the following paragraph for how-to details on preparing a cold brew.) The reason for grinding ready-ground coffee is that it exposes more surface area to the water, thus giving you greater flavor and aroma.

You simply need two half-gallon jars that will fit into your fridge. Label one, “Coffee Brewing,” and the other “Ready Coffee.”

Set the “Coffee Brewing” jar, opened, in your kitchen sink. Grind four scoops—eight Tablespoons in total—of coffee. As stated above, you can use a combination of ready-ground and beans in your grinder. Tap down the cover fifteen or twenty times by fisting in its center so that no grounds stick to it. Pour out from the grinder into the “Coffee Brewing” jar as much coffee as you can. Then take a teaspoon (a flatware spoon or a measuring spoon) and scrape the sides and blade axle of the grinder so as to extract maximum grounds. Pour out from the grinder again.

Now fill the “Coffee Brewing” jar with cold water. Set it in the refrigerator. It needs to brew for at least 24 hours. I have left a cup or two of coffee inside the jar for as long as four days, but by then it becomes necessary to discard the bottom inch or so, as it is mere sediment.

Once at least 24 hours have gone by, place a disposable paper such as a paper towel or a piece of newspaper on the counter. Arrange the “Ready Coffee” jar in the sink with a long-handled sieve, preferably a large one, so that its handle is resting on the front lip of the sink. The business end of the sieve should be nestled in the jar as to its center. You’ll know that you’ve managed this right once the arrangement is stable. Now pour into the center of the sieve the coffee from the “Coffee Brewing” jar. You may spill a tad the first time or too—that’s why you’re doing this in the sink!

Fill the "Coffee Brewing" jar with fresh water. Rinse the "Coffee Brewing" jar out by pouring it through the sieve. Repeat until the jar is clean. Wash the jar with a little white vinegar in addition to soap and water before reuse.

Flip the sieve over into the middle of the disposable paper. Just leave it there to drain for five minutes or more—then you can compost it.

Meanwhile, pour some coffee if you like. Or simply cap the “Ready Coffee” jar and refrigerate it.

Excellent taste, and no extra cost for electricity (the refrigerator is running anyway!)

Second, an excellent pick-me-up is simply water with ice cubes. It does not add anything to your energy costs because the refrigerator is already on. It will keep you just about as alert as an additional jolt of caffeine, if taken on a day when you’ve already had one cup of coffee.