Making Travel and Shopping Pay

Pin It Anybody that really knows me knows that I am a miles and points redemption fiend.  Of course, travel and the goods themselves are the obvious benefits from spending money for it, but getting something back in return is sweet consolation. I'm not very athletic, but I've pretty much made a sport out of earning and redeeming points and miles. 

Getting the Mileage Out of Travel

Never, ever get on a plane without signing up for a mileage program.  My program of choice is Asia Miles.  The major appeal of this program is the number of partners they have.  While it is mainly Cathay Pacific's, they have so many partners--like AA, JAL, British Airways, Qantas, etc.--that you have so many options to earn and redeem miles. As long as you quote your Asia Miles membership number when you reserve, you will earn the miles no matter what partner airline you use.  So choosing an airline alliance mileage program such as Asia Miles or oneworld, rather than a single airline's program, does not limit your travel options to that one airline. 

Because I've flown mostly long haul flights (NY to Manila), one round trip flight earns me over 17,000 miles. In the 8 years that I've been a member, I've gotten two round trip tickets within the U.S., five business class upgrades, access to the business lounge (even when I was flying economy), and several gift cards.

Getting a free upgrade.  Business class flights are definitely more than double the price of economy... so let's not begrudge these people when the flight attendants don't let us use the lavatory in their section, they paid for it.  Best chances for getting a free upgrade: sign up for the mileage program! Apart from other conditions that make it more likely that these upgrades are available, being a member of the program puts your name on the list.  So if you're on a full flight and traveling alone, you're already shortlisted as an upgrade candidate.  Majority of the times that I've been upgraded didn't even require me asking for availability.  It's a good thing that I kept my mouth shut the first time it happened because I saw the ground attendant printing a ticket with a different seat number than I had reserved online.  And an additional tip for the ladies, it pays to put a little lip gloss and mascara on if you have a male ground attendant.  This is one situation where it definitely pays to be cute.  Flying for 16 hours makes the extra leg room, food (and alcohol!) on demand and non-drug store brand free toiletries very, very much appreciated. That's service where you're not expected to tip!

Shopping with miles.  While you can shop with miles from the program sites themselves, points.com makes it even easier to manage all your mileage programs. What I really like about this is the fact that I can redeem the miles for gift cards to my favorite stores like Amazon, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Marshall's, instead of actually choosing goods from the program websites.  As newly weds, we had to start our home from scratch.  And a lot of the stuff that we needed for this have been funded by these gift cards. If you don't have enough miles to get a flight, this is a great option to still make your travel pay.

Shopping to Shop More

If you are pretty much disciplined with using credit cards AND pay the full balance of your credit card monthly, there are many ways that you can make shopping pay.  First, choose a rewards credit card with no annual fee.  Paying the full balance on the card means that the interest rate on balances need not be considered in your credit card choice. You do have to spend to earn the points in the card, but this is how I earned that many points.

First, I almost never carry cash or use my debit card (mine also earns points, but only about 20% of the points I earn from the credit card).  Any establishment that allows it, I use my credit card.  When my brother was in NY from Manila, for instance, he was shopping for a computer and electronics.  I saw this as an opportunity to pay with my credit card, while immediately taking his cash and paying the balance on the card.  This is where you need to be very, very disciplined.  If you have issues with not accounting for your swipes, forget about it.

Personally, I love my Chase Freedom card. In the past year alone, I probably redeemed close to $1000 in rewards. Mostly, I redeemed my points for gift cards because they frequently put these up at a discount.  They take 10 or 20% off the points deducted from the redemption.  The advantage of this over a cash reward is that you actually use fewer points for every dollar you redeem.  So if I had redeemed a cash reward, I would use 100 points for each dollar that I get.  But with a discounted gift card, they only deduct 90 or 80 points for every dollar.  And again, I choose gift cards to stores that I frequent.

While there is some effort involved in this venture, I've found the additional benefits are worth it.  Especially since I do have some time to spare! Oh, and I mentioned certain programs here to illustrate how I've taken advantage of their benefits, not to promote any particular program.  God knows, I didn't get paid for it!

Not Quite a Chicken Parmigiana

Pin It Easy and healthy... that's the mantra in this household as we have certain health issues to be dealt with.  This is a lighter version of the Italian classic that makes use of my stored sauce.

For two servings:

1 chicken breast, sliced into halves (sliced butterfly style to make thinner cutlets)
the standard Italian dry herbs
1 egg, beaten
flour
Panko bread crumbs (these are lighter and crunchier than regular breadcrumbs, a regular in my pantry)
tomato sauce
fat-free grated mozzarella (of course, this is cheaper) or fresh mozzarella slices

Preheat oven at 375-degrees F. Season the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and herbs. Rub them in, so the flavor stays even after breading the chicken.  Dredge chicken in flour, then dip into the egg, and finally into the Panko. Breading does not need to be thick, just enough to cover the chicken.  It's best to use a cookie cooling rack to bake these so the breading does not stick or gets soggy on the tray; so you get both sides of the chicken breast crunchy.  Otherwise, you can use a greased pan.  Put in the oven for about 20 mins.

Take out of the oven and pour tomato sauce over each chicken breast, just enough to cover the top.  Sprinkle the cheese on top of the sauce, the amount according to how you like it.  Put back into the oven just until the cheese melts. That's it!

I like to pair this with pasta, of course--another use for the tomato sauce.  While this is definitely not the same as the fried version of the dish, the Panko breading makes for a delightfully light crunch. This is one of our favorite meals in the household.  Quite a bit more than just a tolerable low-fat, low-sodium dish.

My Version of Scott Conant's Sauce

Pin It Inspired by the No Reservations episode on the basics of cooking, I finally attempted an easier version of Scott Conant's sauce.  Check out the episode here:  Scott Conant in No Reservations (his part comes in the end and you have to go to another video for the second part).

He blanches and peels fresh tomatoes for his sauce.  I used canned whole peeled tomatoes... just keeping it real, I'm not that passionate. Besides, the big cans of Red Pack (my brand of choice, as recommended by former Roomie) go on sale for a dollar each, probably every three weeks or so.  And because I have the dried Italian herbs, I also use that instead of fresh basil.  What I like about this recipe is the fact that I don't have to sautee anything.

So here's my easy version of his sauce.

3 large cans whole peeled tomatoes in thick sauce
about 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
about 1 1/2 heads of garlic, peeled
fresh basil or dried Italian herbs

Pour in tomatoes into a big pot.  Season with salt and pepper.  Scott pours in some oil with his tomatoes, but I skip this since I use tomatoes in sauce.  This further cuts the fat that I use in the sauce.  Simmer for about 45 minutes.  Crush tomatoes with a potato masher.  I just let this continue to simmer while the olive oil infusion is being prepared.

In a separate sauce pan, pour the olive oil. Add the garlic and herbs.  I like to pound the garlic a little bit to make sure that the flavors are further infused into the oil.  Let the flavors infuse the oil over low heat for about 20 minutes.  The aroma of garlic and herbs in the kitchen will tell you that it's working.  Strain oil into the crushed tomatoes and let them simmer together for about 15 minutes.  If you're using the dry herbs, check for taste, add more if needed.

This is a very subtle sauce that tastes pretty authentic and will cost you much less than the jarred sauces from the store.  And it really doesn't take that much effort, especially if you use the canned tomatoes.  So now, I always have this sauce in my fridge for those nights when I run out of ideas.  I'll follow this up with some recipes that I make with the sauce.

My Go-To Loaf Recipe

Pin It

Two years ago, I would never have thought that a ten-pound bag of flour will be a regular in my pantry.  Today, I can make this loaf from memory. This is based on my friend Franny's banana bread recipe that I tweaked a little bit. The basic loaf recipe below is a great blank canvass that I use mostly for banana and blueberry loaves. But I imagine the recipe can work for several fruits, like dried cranberries or fresh/frozen raspberries (hmmm... I have to try that).

Here's the basic loaf recipe:

1/2 cup (1 stick) melted unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar (no need to pack the sugar, the fruit will sweeten the bread enough)
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
2/3 cup buttermilk (I use reduced fat, so if you use regular, maybe you can use less)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven at 350-degrees F.  Sift flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.  Add the vanilla to the buttermilk so the wet ingredients are already mixed together.  Set these aside.

In a mixer, beat melted butter and sugar together until well blended.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing until egg is incorporated before adding the next. Now add the dry and wet ingredients alternately, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. The dry ingredients will be added in three parts, mixing well before adding the next.

Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for a minimum of 50 minutes.  Depending on the flavor of the loaf you made, this may take longer. My banana bread is done in an hour and my blueberry loaf is done in exactly 57 minutes if I use fresh fruit, and one hour if I use frozen.  I like to check if it's done every five minutes after the first 50 minutes (stick a toothpick in the heftiest part of the loaf; if it comes out clean, it's good).  The crust should be golden brown and crunchy, while the inside is moist.

For the banana bread

3 large bananas, mashed
bittersweet chocolate chips (optional--eyeball the amount depending on how chocolatey you want it)

After beating the eggs into the butter mixture, add the mashed bananas and mix well before adding the dry ingredients.  If you're adding the chocolate chips, these are folded into the batter in the end.  Adding the chocolate makes this loaf extra yummy.

For the blueberry loaf

about 1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries


Make the batter as indicated above.  Fold in the blueberries gently so they don't get crushed, making sure that they are well-distributed.  Add more blueberries according to your liking. After pouring the batter into the pan, I also like to sprinkle a little bit of brown sugar and ground cinnamon on top. This makes the loaf extra crunchy and tasty. Proceed as indicated above.

The money-saving tips here... great for using those overripe bananas that you would otherwise throw out (And bananas are cheap!).  Also, I find that using frozen vs. fresh blueberries doesn't make much of a difference in taste, but frozen blueberries are much cheaper.  These don't really take much time to make (most of it is spent just waiting for it to finish baking) and it's great to just have around for breakfast, snacking and even dessert.  If you have the time to make it, it's actually cheaper to make the loaf instead of buying from the store.

Oh, I also found that using good vanilla does make a difference.  It can be expensive, but I got a bottle of good quality vanilla extract from Marshall's at about the same price you'd get the cheap ones in the grocery store. So now I check this section every time I go there.

Quick Friday-of-Lent Dinner

Pin It It's that time of the year again when I have to figure out meatless meals on Friday.  And it turns out, I had only one serving of salmon left in the freezer.  I found that the best way to make a meal for two people when there's not enough salmon for an entree was to make pasta. I've been making this go-to dish for a while now and used to make it with sun dried tomatoes.  But the husband doesn't like them... nor is he too thrilled about salmon either.  But this dish, he actually likes.  So I used grape tomatoes just because it was the only thing I had in my pantry. What's even better about this dish is that it probably takes, seriously, 30 minutes to prep and cook (not including boiling the water, of course!).  If you're actually taking this recipe seriously, I don't have measurements because everything depends on your preference.

finely chopped garlic
olive oil
dried Italian herbs (I get the Badia Italian Seasoning where the dried herbs are already mixed)
fresh tomatoes
cut pasta like farfalle or rotini

Poach the salmon in slightly boiling water until medium rare, because this will finish cooking in the dressing later on. I really don't know how long for, I just check by flaking the fattest part of the fish.  Take it out of the water, then flake with a fork.

While the pasta is cooking, sautee garlic and tomatoes in enough olive oil to coat the pasta.  I sautee them until the tomatoes have cooked enough that they color the oil.  Season with salt, pepper and the herbs.  When pasta is almost done, add the salmon to the tomato-olive oil dressing.  Re-season with salt, pepper and herbs.  Drain the cooked pasta and add to the pan where the dressing is cooking.  Don't turn off the flame because you want the pasta to finish cooking in the dressing.  This will let the pasta absorb the flavors of the dressing.  Toss the pasta until fully coated with the oil.  If there's not enough oil for your pasta, just drizzle some more olive oil to finish.  Adjust seasoning to taste.

Top with fresh basil if you're concerned about the presentation.  After all, salmon and tomatoes are in the same color family.

A note on using the dried herbs
 
I use the pre-mixed Italian seasoning for two reasons: it's a lot cheaper than buying these dried herbs separately or buying fresh and my husband's Italian--I use this flavor A LOT!  I don't claim that this is gourmet, but I claim that this is real.  We're not all Ina Garten or Giada de Laurentis who can walk out to their garden to pick their fresh herbs.

Recession-Proofing Your NY Wedding: Part I

Pin It

I’ve decided that a good starting point for the blog was to write about how we were able to throw a wedding in NY for 150 people.  And proudly at a budget that I believe was below the U.S. national average for weddings (I’m sure it was definitely below the NY average!). Here are some of the things we did to cut costs while still having a party that some of our guests kindly told us was one of the best they’ve been to.

The Dress

            Unlike other brides, I never really had a wedding dress that I’ve always dreamed of.  That made the decision much easier.  On a trip to California, my cousin (who was also my matron of honor) took me to a small bridal shop that was having a gown sale.  When we got there, incredible dresses were lined up that would have otherwise cost thousands of dollars. Now for the big BUT:  because they were on sale, you didn’t really have a choice on the sizes and alteration would cost about three times as much as the cost of the dress itself.  One dress that had gorgeous beading came down to $150 after the 90% discount.  Tempting, but to have it altered would have cost me $450! 

            Now, my husband says I’m cheap, but I think I’m only practical.  I wasn’t spending too much money on a dress that I was going to wear only once.  So I walk over to the bridesmaid dresses.  I discovered that when a designer makes bridal gowns that cost thousands of dollars, the bridesmaid dresses would be good enough for a more casual wedding at a fraction of the cost.  I found a Watters bridesmaid dress in khaki (looked like a darker ivory) that same day.  I did have to have it shipped to NY and altered by a local seamstress, but the whole thing probably cost me just about $400.

Photo by Kim Thao Photography

            Knowing the seamstress who I took my dress to before I bought the dress, however, might have saved me even more.  She worked at the local dry cleaner, and she told me she would have made a dress to order! If you have a design in mind and can find a trustworthy seamstress like Vicki, then you would have a dress made specifically for your body in the fabric of your choice. 

The Wedding Party Dresses

            Keep it small. Our wedding party consisted of a maid and a matron of honor, and two best men. And my maid and matron of honor both have very strong ideas about what they were NOT wearing.  Definitely not the nightmare that Katherine Heigl was subject to in 27 Dresses.  Consider checking out dresses from department stores instead of bridal shops.  My cousin and I looked at the evening dresses at Macy’s, also during my trip to Cali.  Fortunately, we found these London Times cocktail dresses that were on sale that week for about $60.  And the color worked perfectly with my theme.  The next week, the same dress was back to its original $98.  Got two sizes for my maid of honor who was in NY.  We returned the other dress to Macy’s in NY (the beauty of getting it from a national chain of department stores) without any hassle.  Happily, because they were not meant to be bridesmaid dresses, they both said they would actually wear this dress again. 

Photo by Kim Thao Photography

Shirts for the Groom and His Best Men

             There’s a cultural twist to the men’s wardrobe at our wedding.  Because I am Filipino, I thought it would be cool if my husband and his brothers wore the traditional Barong Tagalog.  These are hand-embroidered shirts, the best of which are made from pineapple fiber.  My brothers-in-law loved the idea that they didn’t have to wear suits in the summer and the shirt didn’t even have to be tucked in!  All they needed was a pair of black pants and they were set.  Budget-wise, the barongs probably cost less than $100 for all three because I had them made in the Philippines. My sweet mother brought them with her to NY when she came for the wedding… and ultimately gave them to us as a gift.

MIB: Men in Barongs (Photo by Kim Thao Photography)

The Church

            This was not a very hard decision to make at all. I knew that if I was ever to get married in NY, it was going to be at my Alma Mater.  The Gothic style of the Fordham University Church building in the Bronx is always a sight to behold.  And the inside made for even more dramatic photos.  And best of all, because the church itself was so beautiful, I only had to put tall flower arrangements on each side of the altar and we were set.  This was especially helpful because the church does not clear out decorations after weddings.  This made it simpler for our friends to just grab the arrangements when we were done.  Sure, Fordham was about $200 more expensive than our local parish here in Long Beach, but we saved so much money on flowers and decorations that it was definitely worth it.  Not to mention, the headache of clearing them out at the end that we had avoided!  The guests were so impressed by the beauty of the church and I am convinced that adorning it too much would have distracted from the very reason that I wanted to get married there in the first place. Although only alumni have the option to get married at Fordham, there are many beautiful churches in NY that are impressive enough in themselves.

Photo by Kim Thao Photography

 To be continued…

God Bless You for Bothering to Read This

Pin It

I graduated with a Ph.D. in Economics.  For the past year and a half, I have also been taking the series of CFA exams.  With all this education under my belt, I thought it would be so much easier to find a job.  And as fate (and the recession) would have it, I am still searching after seven months.  Six years of grad school, however, did make me more resilient to a bad economy.

What I do have, though, is a lot of time in my hands.  So I have been using the past few months to learn other skills that have been put aside all these years.  Cooking and baking are two of those that I have been doing a lot of.  I’ve also taken up sewing again… the last time was probably 10 or so years ago. And since my husband and I got a puppy a couple of months ago, I’ve also become a Cesar Millan wanna-be.  And all these had to be done within a very strict budget constraint. So I decided to share the things I’ve learned in this blog… which also gives me another thing to do.  Because let’s be honest, when you don’t have kids, you can only do so much in the house when you’re house-bound.