5 FREE(ish) Things I Enjoyed This Week

Because I am truly a broke ass, I go through my week trying to fill my unemployed hours as inexpensively as possible. And I know I’m far from being the only one with monetary limitations, so here are five FREE (if you work it the right way and pretty close to FREE if not) things I enjoyed this past week without even putting pants on. From me to you, with cheap, cheap love, and in no particular order:

1. “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”

I’m assuming that most of you have seen “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”. No? It took a few various people telling me to watch it before I actually did too. I suggest you watch it now. I’ll wait. In fact, I’ll watch it again with you. Voiced by Jenny Slate from SNL, Marcel is sure to steal your heart. Or at least a teeny tiny itsy bitsy piece of it.

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2. “Fuck You (Remix)” 50 Cent Featuring Cee-Lo Green.

The song was pretty catchy on its own, and then 50 Cent felt attacked (I’m assuming here; we missed our weekly “Sharing Our Feelings” phone conversation this week) and responded adding his own verse. I always like my music with a little drama.

Julia and Paul

3. Julia Child’s book My Life in France.
All I previously knew about Julia Child was that she had a very unusual voice that my dad would make fun of when we’d flip through the channels. And French food doesn’t even really appeal to me. But this book made me wish I could sit down and watch Julia make bÅ“uf bourguignon while we got shitfaced together on expensive French wine. She was a passionate and gracious woman who lived life by the balls. My sister happened to send me a copy but it’s worth dusting off your library card (or even paying your library fines for).

4. Homemade Crepes. Hmm. I wonder where I got the idea to make these? They were surprisingly easy, not thin enough (that was my fault) but delicious. I happened to have all the ingredients at home (err, my roommates did), so it was FREE, in a manner of speaking.

Recipe from allrecipes.com (I would have used Alton Brown’s but I didn’t want to wait an hour and I don’t have a blender): mix 1 cup of flour and 2 eggs, then add 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup water, stir in 2 tbs. of melted butter and add a dash salt; cook on a buttered pan until golden and flip, takes about 3 minutes or so. Then I drenched them in lemon and powdered sugar. If you know French, add words for taste-bud satisfyingly awesome.

5. The Great Food Truck Race. This is a new show (only 2 episodes in) on the Food Network that is in the same vein as The Amazing Race (which, holy shit, is on their seventeenth season?), but with seven food trucks. They are driving their trucks throughout the United States, competing in various cities to win $50,000. My two favorite teams that I’m rooting for, so far, are the Grill ‘Em All Truck (solid dudes who are friends of friends and I’ve had the pleasure of eating one of their out-of-this-world (veggie) burgers) and the Austin Daily Press. Maybe I’m a sucker for shows like this. Correction, I am a sucker for shows like this, but it’s a compelling hour of Sunday “After ‘True Blood’ and I’m Not Quite Ready To Go Home, Thanks For Letting Me Eat All Your Popcorn, Next Time I’ll Wear Pants At Your House” TV. Airs Food Network, Sundays, 10PM.