Eating Good in the Hood

A week ago I made a quiche. It was really good. I made it with breakfast sausage, cheddar and parmesan cheese and fresh basil. I wish I could say that I made the crust from scratch, but I find that to be pointless. Pillsbury makes perfectly fine pie dough and I can save myself the hassle of cutting in the lard and rolling the thing thin. I ate one piece the night I made it, and another for lunch the next day. It was better the second time around. But two meals is enough, so I cut the rest into slices and vacuum sealed them to be stored in my freezer for another day. 

Later that week I made an Italian sausage and vegetable, pasta dish using more of the basil. It was awesome the first night and again, better the next day. But it made a lot, so I froze three meals of it.

Saturday was game-day, so all the pizza companies were hitting the airwaves hard with advertising. I haven't had pizza in a while and really wanted one. I went online and ordered from Little Caesar's because I like their pizza. They had a pretty good deal on it, but after all the fees to have it Door Dashed and the tip, etc. it ended up costing $25. I was kind of scolding myself for the expense. I have to pay for a move. I can't afford to go throwing my money around. But when it arrive, I realized that it was game-day in a college town. Pizza, Pizza! I got two pizzas for the price of one.  Twenty-five dollars isn't bad per meal when I'm getting 8 meals from it. I won't have to order pizza for a while. I love my vacuum sealer.

While I was feeding my sourdough starter this evening I was thinking about what I could do with the loaf of store bought bread I have before it goes bad. I decided to make it into French toast. 

I should fill my freezer and refrigerator with meals like these. They are easy to reheat with a minimum of pans and utensils, and can be eaten from paper plates while I am packing up to move. It will make packing the kitchen so much easier. 

Then I got a text message on my phone. It was from "Mr. Cary" the property owner. He sent it to all the residents of the apartments. He wanted to remind us that we are under lease agreements to maintain the appearance of the property by not disposing of trash or storing personal items on the porches or in the breeze ways, and that we needed to pick up our litter. That hit the wrong nerve with me. I responded to all, probably rashly, that he needed to consider the tone deafness of his text. That in my opinion he had admitted on public record before the planning committee that he had broken the lease agreements by failing to maintain the upkeep of the apartments. And that he need not lecture the tenants on keeping a lease agreement that he himself had violated. So far there have been 72 thumbs up on my response. Mr. Cary was not one of them, but he has a way of ruining a good meal.

My outburst has me thinking. He really has publicly admitted on record that he broke the covenant. I wonder if we as a tenant group could use that as leverage to get him to release us without penalty from the leases if we find other lodging while our agreements are still current. I wonder if their is a lawyer in town that would answer that question for me pro-bono. 

I cleaned up the kitchen and took the trash out to the bins, then went to the mailboxes to get my mail. The landscapers had been out all day trimming the bushes and picking up the trash. The waste management company had made a non-scheduled pickup of the the trash in the bins. I will bet that Mr. Cary's concern arose either from having a developer coming to inspect the property before purchase, or from a neighborhood complaint to the public safety commission. I think it was the latter as I saw one of their inspection vehicles circling the parking lot. What I received in the mail upset me further. We have all been getting these since the news that we will be forced to move. They are offers for loans, checks that are really loans and pre-approved credit card offers with high limits and very high, predatory interest rates. This one is actually pretty mild compared to most of the ones that come. I have seen as rates high as 55% and I have a decent credit score. The vultures are circling. 

Some humans ain't human...