Cross Stitch - Progress on San Francisco

I should keep track of how many hours I spend on this, but I won't. It's a gift for a friend.

Germany - Fast Track Dresden

I am currently spending my little bit of paid vacation time in Germany. Split between Dusseldorf and Dresden.

A friend of my husband got married just outside Dresden this last Saturday, so we spent the weekend in town.

We drove from Dusseldorf to Dresden Friday morning, and arrived just in time to take the only English language walking tour. Seema, our guide with Dresden Walks, provided a "private" tour for us, as we were the only people to show up. It was lovely but over before you know it. Dresden isn't a large city. UPDATE: See my review on TripAdvisor here.

The next day we did almost the exact same tour but we acted as the guides for two of our friends also in town for the wedding.

Money - It's a Hard Knock Life

I have been thinking a lot lately about my financial situation. I think this often happens around tax time. It's when I take stock of what I made the previous year and what I owe to the feds. But I owe a lot of money not just to the federal government, but to credit card companies, to student loan providers, to family members. This is not the way to live.

Full disclosure: My husband does not live this life. He inherited excellent money ways from his parents, culture, and some luck of the draw. He has no debt that isn't easily done away with by earning one week’s pay.

Also I do not believe my husband with his cash fluidity should just pay off my debt. He works hard for his money as do I, and it's almost cruel to make him take his savings to eliminate my debt. Especially when he has such lofty goals for it, like buying a home.

My debt was primarily accumulated pre-marriage. It's my debt. I need a plan to get out of it.

My initial plan was to get a "real" job. Meaning 9 to 5 with benefits. And I did that. The pay is good, and I'm making a small dent in the mountain of debt. But now is the time to make a more aggressive plan. Now is the time to strike.

I have free time. I work 8:30 to 5:30. There's lots of hours left in the days.

I have no dependants. Currently it's just me and my husband. No hungry mouths to feed, or minds to mold.

Since I am now an employee, I no longer have a fear inducing tax burden every year.

So first step: cut spending.

Step two: earn more.

Step three: Pay off wisely.

Step four: celebrate!!!

So easy to write, so hard to execute.

This time I'm hoping to rope in a few people to hold me accountable. I'm hoping to write once a month about my progress. Because it's actually a relief to share and one more way to be accountable.

I don't know about setting a timeline. It just isn't reasonable to say that I will pay off over $100,000 worth of debt in 12 months with only $50,000 in income. And I can't fathom what life will bring me in 6 months let alone a year, 5 years, or 10 years. I do want to calculate how long it will take me to pay off the full value according to the current payment plans. And I want to slash the time it takes.

100% debt free isn't the goal of this blog. My personal goal, yes; of this blog, no. I will discuss what measures I'm taking to reduce my debt, what obstacles I'm facing, and the latest theories I've encountered.

Also what this is not: A discourse of someone who has significantly less debt than income. I hate to break it to those people, but if they just cut out their daily Starbucks habit, or cut back their excessive shopping habits, they would be just fine. As I pointed out earlier, my debt far exceeds my annual pre-tax income. There really is no way I could pay it off in a year. Unless I won the lottery. Literally.

And I know of lots of people who are in this situation. It actually worries me how many people I know who are in this situation. If the percentage of debtors to debt-free people in my life is indicative of the proportions in the rest of the country, I am deeply worried. But hopefully, I will become one less. As I learn, you will too.

Design - The Defunct Wally Findley Galleries

Store for rent

Check out this lovely space!

That beautiful staircase connects all three floors.

Side note: Next week is the NYC D&D Building's First Look event. This big post-Neocon event gives designers a chance to see all the new product that the commercial furniture and fabric manufacturers revealed at Neocon Chicago.

I am sad to say that I cannot make this year's event. I had a wonderful time every time I've been, but unfortunately I am out of town this year.

If you are a designer and are in town, I highly suggest checking it out.

Food - The Perfect Chicken Saagwala

Upon moving to NYC, I was exposed to so many new cuisines. One of my favorites is Indian. And one of my favorite things to order (besides the naan bread!) is Chicken Saagwala. This is completely different from all of the other curries. Rich yet light, healthy from all of the spinach. No cream or coconut milk so it's nice to my tummy. Most people are more familiar with Palak Paneer, a similar dish made with a fresh farmer's cheese.

While in grad school when I was poor and getting into cooking, I discovered the Delhi Saag in a can by Jyoti company. This won a spot on the weekly dinner rotation. Often getting two days because of all of the leftovers.

Now that I'm making more and more things from scratch, I wanted to find a way to make Saagwala without using bunches and bunches of spinach and without standing over a hot stove for hours. Last night I finally attempted to make it. I started with this recipe from Ruchi's Kitchen. She has a stovepipe version and a Crock-Pot version. So after reading both, I went with stovetop with a few tweaks.

First, I used frozen spinach. This was supposed to be a quick weeknight meal, and washing and blanching the spinach seemed like too much. Second, I bought a can of diced tomatoes. I figured it would be about equal to two chopped fresh tomatoes. Third, obviously I added chicken instead of the paneer since that's what I was going for. Lastly, I added twice as much spice as called for. Crazy, I know! But we don't shy away from spice in my house and adding the chicken was going to bland out the recipe.

I put the onions and chopped garlic in the hot pan. When they were starting to get translucent, I added the chicken and all of the spices. Stir to combine. After several minutes of cooking, I added the tomatoes.

This is when I started to follow to recipe. I covered the pan, put it on low, and left it to cook as per the recipe directions. Then I added the spinach and stirred to combine. Recovered the pan and cooked as directed.

It didn't end up looking like it was in my head, but it was still beautiful and tasty. Though my husband's comment was that "it didn't taste Indian enough." Whatever that means.

Obviously, fresh spinach would make a huge difference. But besides adding more garam masala, I don't know how to make it "more Indian."