Many singles and couples find it difficult to cook at home, so here’s my first attempt at offering a tasty and easy ethnic recipe to try. This is a follow-up to a post I made last month on saving on grocery shopping by going ethnic, addressed mainly to the same audience.

A little preamble: I don’t do complicated dishes. I’m a pretty lazy person when it comes to cooking. (My hubby’s the one who likes long, complicated dishes that involve multiple pots and marinades, and yep, I know I really lucked out in this respect!) The recipes I like involve using only one pot, or two if noodles are involved, and are very forgiving when it comes to measuring, cooking time, and mixing. I find Asian home cooking fits this description very well. Half of the dishes out there involving fried rice or noodles are actually “new” dishes made from leftovers.

Recipe below:

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If you’re like me and have signed up for a few newsletters to get online discounts or coupons, apply the adage “out of sight, out of mind”. (I’ve heard of dieters taking this approach as well.)

On the sign-up page for a newsletter from an online merchant, choose “text-only” instead of HTML, if you have the option. Yes, I know this is old school ASCII, and it defeats the purpose if you’re actually interested in what the merchant is offering, but that’s one easy way to reduce impulse buying temptations. No more colorful photos taken from interesting angles luring you away from your Inbox. Better yet, I have an old school account that doesn’t allow HTML, so the newsletters are completely unreadable in this format. On the other hand, if I were a merchant, I’d have to wonder whether it’s even worth offering a text-only option.

Merchandising is an interesting field. I wasn’t aware of it until I worked at a Barnes & Noble bookstore, where an entire department was dedicated to implementing that month’s merchandising instructions from the corporate office. Endcaps (the outward facing featured books at the end of each aisle), tables, chairs, display windows, those large stands in front of the cash register bar — all of them are positioned carefully to encourage impulse buying.

And returning to online shopping, Amazon’s one-click shopping button was created for no other reason than to release impulse buying behavior.

I’ve never enabled this feature myself, but for those who have, do you find that it’s effective?

With all the talk of real estate bubbles and the cost of housing these days, it’s always inspiring to be reminded that there’s always a way to build a better mousetrap. Building a House on Limited Means describes how one couple managed to build their dream house and find an alternative to the 40-hours-per-week, work-in-a-job-you-loathe-to-pay-your-mortgage lifestyle.

We’ve collected magazines and catalogues on architecture, furniture, and design elements that we like, in the hopes that some day we’ll be able to integrate some of those into a dream house somewhere. One of those is Sunset Magazine, which often has articles about innovative living in small houses and spaces in the West.

And you think you know manufactured homes? Take a look at these modular and prefab designs:

• Empyrean’s Dwell Homes
• Michelle Kaufmann Designs
• Live in a Shipping Container
• Marmol Radnizer Prefab

For more info, Fatwallet has an entire thread dedicated to the topic.

Like everything else, there are always other ways to get a roof over your head, and here again, better solutions are to be found while bucking mainstream trends.

Today’s paper had an article on cheap Hollywood fashion tips with a some interesting pointers. I’ve added a few sites of my own to their list:

Get makeup and makeup tools on the cheap: Sites like e.l.f. (aff) (stands for eyes, lips, face) sell basic makeup and makeup brushes for $1. Shipping costs apparently can outweigh the low prices, though maybe a customized makeup kit, buying several makeup brushes can make the deal worthwhile, or putting in a big order that you then share with friends.

Makeupalley.com is another site, good for finding reviews on all sorts of beauty products and even offers a product swap area for members, if you’re into that. Also, check out Mario Badescu’s line of products. They’re generous with samples (just fill out their consultation page) and if you choose to buy, have high-quality products at reasonable prices.

Liked this entry? Check out the one on salon training nights if you haven’t yet!

Just a quick post as I get back into the groove of writing now that guests have departed and the long weekend is almost over. Via Fatwallet, Etrade customers can get 52 weeks of the print version of Barron’s for free. Nice deal!