Tasty Thursday: Chilled Salt-roasted Beets with Skordalia

I had this amazing dish at Kouzzina by Cat Cora at Disney's Boardwalk last week. It is vegan and gluten free as it appears on the menu - what a thrill as I don't often get to order something straight from the menu without the chef modifying it in some way. It was delicious! The beets did not taste like soil as so often can be the case. The garlic was tangy but not overwhelming. The dill in the olive oil drizzled on the plate was so fresh you could smell it even with all the garlic. Well worth the mere $5.99 price for this appetizer!

Waste Not Want Not Wednesday: Eye Mask

Due to the hours I work, I find a sleep mask absolutely essential to getting all the rest I need. We have lots of them around the house as everyone has odd schedules here. This one was a freebie. The elastic slipped out of the seam in one spot, leaving me with only one band of elastic to keep it in place and a long, stringy tail to get tangled in my hair.



Why bother to repair a freebie when I have others? Because #1 it was free and #2 there is no reason for it to be in the landfill when a few hand stitches will make it good as new. Knowing hand sewing isn't easy for me (it makes my wrists hurt) you can see how important I think it is to keep your things in good repair and avoid adding to all the discarded trash on our planet.

Nap time!

Travel Tip Tuesday: #AYCJ

The JetBlue All-You-Can-Jet pass is back again. Visit jetblue.com/aycj to find out all the details. Most notable change from last year is the ability to buy the pass and book your flights online. No more having to call in to book your pass travel. Enjoy!

Edited to Add:

Looks like Sun Country is doing a similar deal.  You can check it out here.

Tidy Thursday: Front Closet

Today I went through everything in the front closet. I found a sweater I forgot I had! I thinned the contents by three - an XL very warm faux sheepskin lined collared sweater, a fleece collared zip up jacket, also an XL and a zip up juniors S black windbreaker. All went into my box for Online Angels. I debated making a skirt out of a sweatshirt that was in there but I decided to leave the sweatshirt intact for now. Hubby might still wear it. Next time I come across it hanging there without having gone through the laundry (if it had I'd know he'd worn it) it will become a nice, soft, and easy to make skirt for lounging on the deck in.

I also put the carpet cleaner where it belongs - in the closet against the wall - and hung the various jackets that were on the hooks properly on hangers.

Did you do a little something today to brighten your surroundings? What was it? I need ideas for my next burst of straightening up.

Travel Tip Tuesday: EZ Rent-A-Car

We tend to do much of our travel on the spur of the moment and often visit Orlando, Florida since I am a Disney junkie. Hey! It's not a problem, I can stop any time I want to. Just don't try to make me. ;)

Often, with a last minute reservation we find our preferred rental company is higher priced than we'd like. I've tried showing them a reservation from a competing company and asking them to match it without luck. So we're finding that we use our #2 choice more and more lately. EZ is located inside the terminal at MCO. The rates are good, the staff is efficient, and although there is no automated check in or preferred customer line we usually find the pickup and return process to be easy. If you choose, you can have your receipt emailed to you instantly upon check out. I do it all the time and it works out great.

The cars are comparable to any rental company; we usually take a subcompact but have occasionally been upgraded when they had no subs available. We once were given a convertible PT Cruiser.

Visit their website and sign up for the EZ Money program and the company's e-newsletter. You can also find the listing of rental locations there. This is a small company but I feel they offer a very nice product. And don't forget to look under the Coupons tab for instantly redeemable coupons (usually 5%) off your rental.