Posts Tagged ‘USD’
March 11th, 2010
Original Article from Snarky Gossip
If you have the money, to you too can experience the Jersey shore like the guidos did. For $1,800 per night, you can rent the real house that the reality show made famous. We wonder if the duck phone comes standard. [Reality Blurred]
Post from: Crushable
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March 10th, 2010
Original Article from Snarky Gossip
Blake Gernstetter is making our mouths water. Here’s her Julia Child-esque take on eating great food without going broke.
Putting together a delicious meal is a lot like assembling the perfect outfit: You pair splurges with steals, and show off your personal taste with key accessories. The same bargain-hunting rules you’ve honed at H&M apply at the supermarket. Here are six key ingredients for making more out of less when planning a menu for four.
Plan ahead and save
Comparison shop in your neighborhood to suss out the best deals: it might take a few stops to get the lowest price on every ingredient for a meal. Some supermarkets offer a five-cent rebate when you bring a reusable shopping bag. And be sure to check online for coupons and other promotions.
Pick a focal point
Start your meal plan with a main dish and build from there. Once you price out your protein, you can work within the rest of your budget to make your dinner cohesive. Chicken is a strong standby when cooking for guests, and you can buy the whole bird for the same price tag as a package of boneless, skinless breasts. Roasting chicken is a welcome departure from grilling or sautéing, since it’s not an ideal method for a quick-fix weeknight meal. Though you might have to wait a few extra minutes, your chicken will come out juicy and saturated with flavor, with a crispy, golden brown skin. Serve it family style for an effortless presentation.
Add big flavors
A library of spices and half-full bottles of sticky, store-bought sauce might make for passable palate pleasers, but for maximum taste value, nothing can replace fresh herbs and aromatics. Using citrus is a go-to trick to add acidity and brightness, while garlic, shallots or an old-fashioned mirepoix (diced carrots, celery and onion) draw out savory, mouthwatering flavors. The best part is that a little goes a long way: one lemon and a few cloves of garlic will transport your dish to the next level.
Recipe: Lemon and Rosemary Roast Chicken
This rustic recipe from Saveur.com is flavorful and requires only a handful of simple ingredients. Never carved a chicken before? This guy will show you how. A word to the (penny)wise: If you attempt this with an inferior knife, you will regret it. (Thanks, Ikea.) If you don’t like to get your hands dirty, you can try roasting your chicken whole.
*Tip: You can use the leftover rosemary to spruce up store-bought bread: Slice a loaf of Italian or French bread into rounds, drizzle with olive oil and rosemary, and bake until toasted.
Fresh, frozen, or canned?
While it makes sense to buy certain produce fresh (i.e. baby spinach for a salad), you can get the same taste for less if you consider frozen or canned vegetables. Stock up on basics like sweet corn (good solo or tossed with chopped red onion and basil), peas (perfect with pasta in a pinch), and black beans (which add fiber and flavor). Going green can cost less of it when it comes to broccoli florets, green beans and asparagus — not to men
tion it cuts prep time down to seconds.
Recipe: Steamed Asparagus
If you prefer, you can use frozen broccoli or green beans.
Place a colander in a large bowl and pour the frozen asparagus into the colander to thaw and drain. Once the asparagus is defrosted, steam in a sauté pan in a shallow water bath for about 5 minutes, until tender. Drain, season with salt and pepper, and serve.
Picture your plate
Balance our your dinner with complementary sides that add texture and intrigue to your plate. The striking, deep orange color of garnet yams in a sweet and tart glaze lends contrast to the crisp, earthy quality of steamed asparagus. You can whip up ways to enhance your favorite sides just by looking in your fridge. This dish uses butter, brown sugar, and orange juice to caramelize the sweet potatoes, but you could substitute maple syrup, honey, or a dash of vanilla to make it your own.
Recipe: Candied Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes may be rich in color and nutrients, but they’re one of the best bargains in the produce aisle. This glaze works well for carrots, too — just cut the cooking time down a bit.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1-1.5 lb. sweet potatoes and cook until you can pierce them with a fork. Drain water and let cool for a few minutes. When you can comfortably handle the potatoes, set them on a plate and peel the skin (you can use your fingers or a butter knife). Cut lengthwise and repeat until you have eight wedges per potato. Arrange the wedges in a 9×9 baking dish.
In a small bowl, melt 4 tbsp. (half a stick) of butter with about 1/3 c. brown sugar. Stir until thick, then add 8 oz. of orange juice. Mix and pour the glaze over the sweet potatoes. Bake at 400 degrees until the edges are caramelized and brown, about 45 minutes. (You can bake these at the same temp as the chicken, above — just check in after 30 minutes to make sure you don’t burn them.)
Make it look easy
No hostess wants to be a slave to the stovetop just as guests arrive for a dinner party — nor is it desirable to open your front door sweating and reeking of garlic. That’s why roasting is an ideal technique when you’re serving up dinner for friends. You can pop the chicken and sweet potatoes in the oven, take a breather from the kitchen, and when you’re ready to dig in, give the asparagus a quick sauté looking like a pro.
Chicken, whole (3.5 lb.) $6.97
Organic rosemary $2.49
Lemon $0.79
Garlic clove $0.60
Garnet yams (1.5 lb.) $3.59
Orange juice (14 oz.) $1.69
Dark brown sugar $1.99
Asparagus (frozen) $2.49
Total $20.61
*Note: I shopped at the Union Square Whole Foods in NYC – definitely one of the pricier stores out there – to prove that anyone, anywhere can buy these ingredients for $20.
Blake Gernstetter is associate editor at mediabistro.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @bgernstetter.
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March 9th, 2010
Original Article from PopCrunch
Listen up, people named Lindsay: The name ‘Lindsay’ is obviously taken — by the Lindsay, Lindsay Lohan. She doesn’t want you using her name. Pregnant women? Don’t even consider it. It could cost you big bucks to name your baby Lindsay.
E-Trade has produced a commercial with a badly behaved baby named Lindsay in it. Lindsay Lohan says the milkaholic baby was modeled after her and wants the company to pay her $100 million for her pain and suffering.
Lohan’s lawyer, Stephanie Ovadia, says that Lindsay has celebrity first name recognition — like Oprah — and wants an injunction to have the commercial pulled off the air. Wait a minute, Ovadia — Are we talking about the same Lindsay?
Source
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March 7th, 2010
Original Article from PopCrunch
Alice in Wonderland opened to a record-setting $210 million this weekend. Who saw it?
Despite garnering several poor reviews, director Tim Burton’s 3D update of the Lewis Carroll fairytale sold $210.3 million in tickets worldwide this weekend. Moviegoers in the United States and Canada contributed $116.3 million, the sixth-biggest opening weekend ever, according to research firm Box Office Mojo.
Setting a record for 3D films, Alice is now the best debut of Burton’s career, surpassing the $68.5 million opening weekend for his 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes. The Disney release attracted an even bigger opening than that of the Oscar-nominated 3D feature Avatar.
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March 3rd, 2010
Original Article from PopCrunch
Sorry, Jon Gosselin, your peen doesn’t have six-figure selling power. The cash-strapped former star of TLC’s Jon & Kate Plus 8 has been offered a measly $20,000 to strip down in an upcoming issue of Playgirl.
“We discussed it, and we’d offer him only $20,000,” Playgirl rep Daniel Nardicio told Life & Style this week.
That’s less than impressive, especially when we consider that the soft porn mag reportedly offered F-Listed celebrity baby daddies Levi Johnston and Scott Disick $100,000 to pose in nude pictorials. Although Playgirl reps declined to explain how they settled on the figure, rumors about Gosselin’s petite manhood are likely to blame for the lowball (No pun intended) offer. Last month, his former mistress Hailey Glassman publicly cracked jokes about the Octodad’s sexual prowess (or lack thereof) and quipped that he has the penis of a pre-pubescent boy.
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March 2nd, 2010
Original Article from PopCrunch
There Goes The Neighborhood: Wildchild jazz songstress Amy Winehouse is spending big bucks for a new pad in her old ‘hood. The walking health hazard has reportedly forked over $3.7 million for a five-bedroom, four-bath pad in her former neighborhood of Camden, London’s The Sun wrote this week.
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January 29th, 2010
Original Article from TV Guide Movie News
James Cameron may supplant himself as the box-office champ after all.
Avatar continued its assault on the record books, remaining No. 1 for the fifth straight weekend with $54.6 million over the four-day Martin Luther King holiday weekend. That brings its total to …
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January 21st, 2010
Original Article from US Magazine
Clooney will officially make his donation during a telecast Friday
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January 21st, 2010
Original Article from Celebrity Odor
Like a disgruntled laid off worker with 2 weeks left of work, Conan is doing everything in his power to not bow out nicely. Whether it be cheap shots to the execs in his monologue or in this case driving up the cost of the show with a fleeting 1 minute laugh at the expense of the world’s most expensive car….
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January 17th, 2010
Original Article from PopCrunch
FYI: FOX News correspondent Sarah Palin and her revirginized teen daughter Bristol allegedly earned a whopping $100,000 to pimp out their infant sons in the Jan. 25 cover of In Touch Weekly.
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