http://news.perlfoundation.org/2009/11/frozen_perl_call_for_speakers.html

The Frozen Perl 2010 workshop is scheduled for Saturday, February 6th at the University of Minnesota's McNamara Alumni Center in Minneapolis, MN. The organizers just put out their call for speakers a day or so ago.

If you have no fear of freezing temperatures[1] and want to attend or speak at a great Perl workshop, check it out.

Also, the are still looking for sponsors if you'd like to help out.

[1] Freezing temperatures optional since the closest hotel connects underground to the venue

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2009/11/07/the-best-pot-roast-ever-a-frugal-recipe-for-november/

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=7117

“It’s been a long time since you shared a recipe at Get Rich Slowly,” I told Kris last week. “What about that pot roast recipe?” she asked. “You love that.” “Yes. Yes, I do,” I said. This guest post from my wife may be the best thing I’ve ever shared at Get Rich Slowly. It’s certainly the tastiest.

I’m usually a from-scratch kind of cook, and the sort of “semi-homemade” ingredients for this pot roast make me cringe a bit. But although I’ve tried other recipes and other methods, this one beats them all hands-down. I got the recipe from an old friend after enjoying it at her house a couple of times and wondering why my pot roast was never as good as Kim’s pot roast.

This recipe has one cardinal rule: You must start with good beef. Otherwise why bother? We use a roast from the beef we buy in bulk; it’s pasture-fed on a local farm and the resulting beef literally falls off the bone in succulent shreds of savory goodness. This roast cooks all day at a low temperature. It’s simple enough to start before you leave the house so that it’s ready when you come home for dinner.

I use a Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid for this recipe. If you don’t have one, you can line a roasting pan with foil, then cover the meat with another piece of foil, and then crimp the two all the way around to make a sort of meat packet. The goal is to hold the moisture in while the beef becomes completely tender. The roast forms its own gravy as it cooks.

Separately, I like to roast vegetables to serve as a side dish for this beef. In a shallow pan, I cook carrots, onions, and russet potatoes, drizzled with a bit of vegetable oil and seasons with salt and pepper. I cook them for 80-90 minutes at 400 degrees or so. If you aren’t lucky enough to have two ovens, make mashed potatoes on the stovetop instead.

I don’t recommend baking vegetables at the low oven temperature needed for this pot roast. Don’t try adding them to the roast; their high moisture content somehow messes up the texture of the beef.

Internet versions of this recipe exist using a crockpot on low for 8-9 hours. This might be worth a try someday, but I’m reluctant to meddle with perfection! I’ve also heard you can start with two cans of soup if you’d like more gravy at the end.

I like to serve this meal with a salad, homemade applesauce, and our favorite homemade bread.

Do you have a favorite low-effort recipe? What do you make that offers maximum flavor with minimum fuss?

J.D.’s note: This pot roast is fantastic. I cannot rave about it enough. In fact, I’m tempted to call Kris right now and ask if we can have this for dinner tomorrow. Yum. Photo by Merelymel13.

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Related Articles at Get Rich Slowly:

• Frugal Recipes for Miserly Moms
• Making the Most of Cheap Cuts of Beef
• A Cheaper Cup of Coffee
• Frugal Recipes: The Best Salsa Ever
• Cinnamon Spice Muffins: An Easy, Frugal Recipe for March

http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2009/nov09/09-11-06.html

our cat is adopted.

when we got him, he had tummy issues. probably due to eating garbage, which we still catch him doing.

we started him on a canadian brand of cat food called ORIJIN. it seemed like a good food. and it only costs $20 for a big bag.

then we took him to the vet, who told us to buy the vet food instead. medi cal hypoallergenic gastro-stuff. it is $44 for the same bag. i think the vet food is good. although, i do still notice that he has diarrhea sometimes.

is there a cat food we can buy that is similar (aka hypo and gastro and good for him!) but less expensive???

http://bit.ly/3qVdT2

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2009/11/06/the-curse-of-a-big-win-mentality/

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=6706

This article is by GRS staff writer Adam Baker. Despite his best attempts, Baker struggles to budget while adapting to life in New Zealand.

Earlier this week J.D. tackled an important issue with his tenet Large Amounts Matter Too.

This concept goes by many names:

• Focus on big wins.
• Pick the low-hanging fruit
• Attack high-leverage areas.

You get the point: It’s efficient to do things that have major impact with minimum effort. J.D. wrote:

Some people spend so much time sweating the small stuff that they don’t bother to do the same on the big stuff. They’re penny wise and pound foolish, negating their daily scrimping and saving by making poor financial decisions that burden them for years. Kris has a co-worker who once bought an SUV for $43,000. After a year, he decided to trade it in, but could only get $23,000 for it. Ouch!

His advice is spot on. An intense dedication to frugality can often do more harm than good. Getting caught up in the details can lead to mistakes or oversights in areas that cost us thousands.

But there’s another less-talked-about side of the coin.

While you certainly don’t want to miss the opportunity to capitalize on a major event, you also don’t want to develop the habit of relying on them either. These type of large gains for minimum effort can make us lazy.

After all, why should you clip coupons when you could spend that time planning your next pay negotiation? Why would you save money by making your own products at home, when you could be aggressively monitoring the classifieds for the next killer deal on a car?

Why casinos want you to win money
People that have been around the gambling industry will tell you that winning on your first trip to the casino is much worse than losing. Why? It changes your mindset. Most people will go from “I’m probably going to lose, so I’ll just plan to have a little fun” to “Wow, that was easy! Next time I go back I’ll be playing off my winnings”.

Next, you convince yourself that the losing streak you’ve bumped into is just a natural part of how things work. Hitting just one hand will make up all your loses. From there, it only gets worse.

Casinos make their profits when they can detach you from the value of your money. If you win the first time you visit, that process has already started. They know the average person will be back and will spend far more money than the guy or gal who lost it quickly on the first visit.

Encouraging lifestyle inflation
In our finances, the big wins have the potential to detach us in the same way. The value of these events is lost if you use them as an excuse to not attack your impulse spending or creeping lifestyle inflation. We are a culture that loves to celebrate shaving $200 off our monthly mortgage with a new $300/month car payment.

The problem is that all to often, we create a zero-sum game. We end up shuffling back ten steps in our daily lives and then trying to make it up in one big leap. That works well as long as we can keep leaping back up. Occasionally, though, we stumble when trying to leap. And when we do, we fall flat on our faces.

A constant reliance on these big wins is not sustainable. They aren’t meant to be Band-Aids to cover our daily financial boo-boos.

Reversing the curse
The cure for this curse is balance: Neither obsessive frugality nor an intense concentration on the big-ticket items will lead to long-term success. Balance will.

These big wins can be powerful influences in our financial lives. We can use them as sparks to turn around a desperate situation, or as fuel to build momentum on our existing progress.

For Courtney and me, focusing on correcting our day-to-day habits has actually fostered more big wins. Getting the basic principles of money management and frugality under control has given us more time, relieved stress, and provided more freedom to pursue larger activities.

What about you? Have you experienced the curse of the big-win mentality? Which has been the leading focus in your financial life: the small daily habits or the higher-leverage large amounts?

Photo by Haundreis.

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• links for 2007-05-18
• Parent Hacks
• The Best of February — Facelift Edition
• Daily Links: Hard at Work Edition
• Ads I Hate: Life Takes VISA