Chilled noodles make nice cool meals for summer days but we also love to eat them in the winter. You can use any type of asian noodles and even angel hair pasta to make chilled noodles. They are espeicially good with the  homemade noodles we blogged about previously.

To prepare the noodles, simply cook as required for the type of noodle you use and rinse in cold or iced water.

To made our Spinach and garlic sauce you will need (for 1 serving):

• 1 tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 -2 tbsp Seasoned rice vinegar (or rice vinegar, salt, and sugar)
• 1/2 tsp Chili oil
• Raw  garlic (Diced)
• About 1/4 cup chopped spinach (thawed)

Mix the above ingredients and adjust to taste. Toss in the noodles, add a dash of Furikake (sesame seeds and dried seaweed) and you are ready to eat.

You might add extra sugar if the sauce is too sour.  We like Chu Chow Chili Oil best, but you can substitute with your favorite hot sauce or make your own chili oil by pan frying or soaking chili peppers with garlic.

Welcome to the 12th Carnival of Pecuniary Delights, Catch a Wave Edition!

For those of you who haven’t yet had the pleasure of getting to e-know me (7 Things You Didn’t Know About Me), I grew up in Hawaii, and for several years suffered a serious addiction to surfing. Don’t get me wrong, I sucked. But just one good ride a session was enough to keep me getting up at 4:00 a.m. on a weekend, suiting up and diving into freezing water in the hopes of catching just one more good ride.

I lived at Sunset Beach on the North Shore of Oahu during those years, which afforded me the best views of some of the best surf in the world – Sunset Beach, Banzai Pipeline, Waimea Bay, etc. So for today’s edition, I thought I’d take you on a stroll down one of my memory lanes.

I have invited one of my favorite bands, The Beach Boys, to set the mood for today’s edition of the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights. Press play (unless you’re at work) and proceed. And it is true: catch a wave and you’re sittin’ on top of the world.

Editor’s Picks

Photo: Kanaka’s Paradise Life

• My Dollar Plan presents 10 Financial Tips for New Grads.
• DoughRoller presents Say Goodbye to Cable and Hello to Free Digital TV!.
• Bargaineering presents Making Your Own Dog Food.

Read the rest of this entry »

My dog Luwi (”loo-vee” short for Ludwig) loves movies. Ever since he was a puppy, he has been fascinated with the television, especially scenes with animals or action. He would jump up on the TV and lick or bite the screen when he saw something exciting. Naturally, he was equally if not more captivated by the remote control, the all-powerful apparatus that could switch the wonderful television on and off.

Over time, however, Luwi became more and more fascinated with the remote control, to the point of obsession. While he still loves the TV and watches it, his focus has shifted more to the remote control. When we mention any of the words “TV,” “movie,” “watch,” “DVD,” and anything else related to the activity in question, he runs to the remote control and stares at it with a mad gleam in his eye.

Whenever we pick up any of the remote controls, he jumps up in “ready position” and doesn’t take his eyes off the remote till we put it back down, and he continues to stare at it until he’s sure we’re finished with it. If and when he can, he steals the remote control to hold or guard on his spot on the bed. He still watches the TV, but I believe his enjoyment of it is less than it used to be because he is now obsessed with getting the remote control rather than watching TV.

Luwi is a good example of how we, people and animals, can forget the original reasons why we do certain things. Many of us are concerned with saving money becuase we want to be able to live comfortably or happily without the stress of being in debt. But we can sometimes get too caught up in the act of saving money and forget our original reasons for doing so. If you ever find yourself spending hours and hours looking for a better deal rather than spending that time doing something more productive or enjoying time with your family just to save a few dollars, you have forgotten.

The same goes for making money. In the beginning, many people want to make money so that they can provide a comfortable life for their families. Over time they sometimes forget and get caught up in making money, become workaholics, and instead of spending a weekend afternoon playing with their kids or pets, they’re locked away in the office working (or blogging ) and shouting at the kids or pets to keep it down.

I am not saying it’s bad to want to make or save money. Just don’t let it consume you the way the remote control has consumed Luwi. An activity he used to enjoy has turned into a vigil rather than a hobby. He is now more concerned with the state of the remote control than what is actually happening on the screen and has completely forgotten the point of it all.

We would like to thank the following carnival hosts for including our posts in their recent editions:

Wise Bread: Carnival of Personal Finance #205: Pay it Forward Edition included our post DIM (Did-it-Myself!) Country Kitchen Storage Shelf.

Almost Frugal: The Carnival of Pecuniary Delights No. 8 included our post Sewing: A Frugal and Fulfilling Hobby – Save Money by Sewing Your Own Clothes.

I Pick Up Pennies: Carnival of Pecuniary Delights No. 7 included our post The No-Budget System

Stretchy Dollar: Money Hacks Carnival – Otter Pop Edition included our post Use Amazon Price History Tracker to Make Sure a Sale Really is a Sale.

Quite a few years ago, when P. Pince and I were starting out, we rented a tiny studio apartment. To make a little more space, we built a free standing loft over our beds where we had a computer, some little shelves and cabinets and one of those pouffes for a chair.

After moving into a comfortably large house, we gradually disassembled our loft and reused the boards and hardware to make furniture more befitting our new lifestyle. Most of the pine boards went into making a large wardrobe called “the Monstrosity” and the top of our computer desk.

After making two little beds (like the ones in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) for our puppies on their first birthday, all we had left of our old loft was a rickety set of steps.

We had often been on the verge of tearing apart these three crudely made steps, but we felt sentimental about the last traces of our former and relatively poorer life. So, I finally decided to keep our loft stairs as a step stool for our library/master bedroom where we had built a wall of ceiling-high shelves.

But I like everything to look pretty in my life in as well as to having a dual purpose, so I turned the stairs on end, nailed on a back and bottom, installed a hinged top on each step, and painted it pink with leftover paint from doing Penelope’s bedroom floor.

Our renovated little staircase stands three feet high and is great for hiding things out of sight, especially long rolls of wrapping paper. Our steps also make a pretty display for baubles and antique books. It goes with our mother’s old dining table which has also been redone with the same leftover paint.

Making new things from old or broken objects is one of my favorite creative/useful activities. To anyone interested in this sort of craft, I suggest reconsidering the potential of any old or broken furniture you own, consider taking them apart for lumber, turning them upside-down or sideways, and reusing ornamental parts or hardware. You could even volunteer to “dispose” of unwanted things for your friends, family and neighbors. One could even start a business selling unique furniture made from reassigned materials.

This past Saturday, I decided to get some air and take a leisurely stroll out to the mailbox at dusk to see if any goodies had come in the mail. However, I was very unpleasantly surprised to find that I had somehow missed a payment on our water bill and received a $15 penalty.

Our city’s water billing system is run by a tiny 2-person department that seems to send bills out when they can instead of on a set schedule. Our water billing cycles are 2-month periods, so logically we would have a bill due every 2 months. But our water department being so small, with more and more people moving into the area, those 2 poor ladies are swamped from 8-5. I tried all day yesterday to call them but always got a voicemail, and finally left a message around noon today and was surprised to get a call back in the afternoon (a first with this department.)

Anyways, this means that our bills come very irregularly and we sometimes don’t get a bill for 3 or 4 months, and then sometimes we receive a bill a month for 3 months in a row. It isn’t unusual for us to be paying a bill for services from fall of the previous year in the spring (i.e. paying for water used Oct 2007 – Dec 2007  in March 2008). Needless to say, this can get confusing and I often have little panics where I think I’ve missed a payment when I haven’t.

This week was one such instance. I had made a water payment on the due date of March 12, 2009 and so wasn’t expecting to have another bill due until mid-May. It turns out that they had sent out another bill some time in March or April, which I don’t recall receiving, and that I had a payment due April 24th. I honestly don’t know what happened with that bill but obviously somehow messed up.

When I spoke to one of the ladies from the water department today to ask about it, she told me that, yes, bills are due once every 2 months, but no, I did miss a payment on April 24th. I think because she saw the illogic of it, she was nice enough to waive the $15 penalty for me. I didn’t even have to ask (though I had been planning to) for this one-time courtesy.

So, it never hurts to call in and inquire when you have a billing discrepancy such as this. If the late fee is just $1 or $2, it might not be so bad, but a $15 late charge on a $68 bill not even a month overdue was a little too much for me to let slide by.

Just remember when you call in to be polite, don’t demand but ask nicely, and you will most likely have a positive result.