Good Frozen Pizza

Friends say I make a good pizza pie from scratch, and I've shared how I make it here. But life isn’t limited to either/or actualities, and we don’t have to spend all our time in the kitchen.

Good frozen pizza exists! Today I’ll share what I like and pay for it. I’m a fan of DiGiorno Rising Crust pizza, which I buy when it goes on sale for $6.00 and sometimes $5.50. It comes close enough to good homemade or pizza parlor slices to be worth eating. In fact, it's superior to what’s sold by many of the newer Manhattan pizza parlors that are opening and skimping on ingredients or making cardboard dry crusts. There’s nothing more disappointing than eating bad pizza in a city historically known for its great pizza! How can it be? Why open up a pizza parlor when merchants could do something else they could take pride in?!

At home, I buy the DiGiorno Rising Crust Everything variety, and if out of stock, I’ll get the Pepperoni Supreme alternative, then finish it off by adding diced bell peppers, onions, and sliced mushrooms. On a frozen pizza, I always sprinkle parmesan cheese, oregano, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes before baking it. Perhaps it's the key to making frozen pizza taste better and even delicious.

I’ll pay up to $6.00 for a frozen pie. If it's priced higher, I’d rather go out and bring home a hot pie from a good pizza parlor, if one can be found. Frankly, it took a few bad pizza parlor pies to get me to try making my own and DiGiorno frozen pizza pies!

You may wonder why great pizza in Manhattan is harder to locate. Once upon a time, real Italians opened pizza parlors, but nowadays it could be people of any nationality. Or it could be because some of the new pizza parlors are not mom-and-pop businesses but are owned by private equity firms. There’s less love of the product!

On a brighter note, if you look for it, there’s still great pizza in all 5 boroughs of New York City, including Manhattan, but no longer will you find a great slice on every block. Alas, reason enough for me to have a box of DiGiorno Rising Crust pizza in my freezer and, when I have 24 hours to let the dough rise, to make it myself.

What’s your favorite frozen pizza?

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Blog Extra: Other food I buy when it is on sale:

1) Sushi - Fairway offers 10 pieces of inside/out sushi rolls for $5.99 on Wednesdays. I get nori with tuna and salmon = 20 pieces. So one day a week I don’t have to think about what to cook or scrounge up for dinner.

2) Coleslaw - $1.99 for a 16 oz. bag.

3) Mushrooms - Either 2 for $4, 3 for $5, or $2.29 each for 8 oz, depending on the sale. I select the mushrooms that are sliced for me.

4) Baby carrots - $1.69 - $1.99 for a 16 oz bag. Note: Baby carrots do not exist, but what a treat that someone else has cleaned, scraped, and cut them into bite-size pieces. Ready to eat! 

5) Light mayonnaise - $4.25 - $5.00 for a 30 oz jar. The price of mayonnaise is sky-high, like the price of gasoline nowadays. Who knew we’d pay $5 for a jar on sale!

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Khaite’s Luxury Leather Ensembles

Selena Gomez rocking her $5,700 Khaite outfit

Khaite, the New York luxury designer of leather mix-and-match separates, was founded by designer Catherine Holstein. The label combines buttery smooth leather, sharp tailoring, and structured styling. IMHO, the look is especially striking when pairing leather jackets with skirts. Let’s do a quick and dirty Khaite leather outerwear with skirts roundup to illustrate:

Of course, the leather jackets would also look fantastic paired with leather trousers, and for versatility, they also work well with fabric skirts or fabric trousers.

One of my favorite couplets is a Khaite leather jacket styled with a frilly, ruffled (silk?) skirt such as the right image👆, for a leather and softer effect. I think the leather jacket and skirt combo is what makes Khaite stand out from other designers.

Not many of us buy $6,000 (including tax) ensembles, but runway inspiration can be applied off the runway to budget-friendlier brands. Leather is the perfect warmth when summer turns into autumn.

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3 Mustard Chicken For Dinner With Mendel Bread For Dessert

Photo: Butter Your Biscuit: Click the photos for each blog’s recipe.

I was served a delicious 3 Mustard Chicken dinner by a friend, which I’m too lazy to make without a few tweaks. I don’t aim to buy 3 different mustards for one chicken dish to complicate its preparation! First, I’ll list the original ingredients, my friend’s recipe:

3 Mustard Chicken

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 tbsp Dijon mustard
3 tbsp whole grain mustard
2 tbsp hot-honey mustard
1 to 2 tbsp honey (adjust to taste)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Next: The 3 Mustard Chicken Dinner with Debra’s tweaks:

Photo: Sandra Valvassori

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 tbsp of any mustard - I have Dijon and yellow mustard. (Sometimes I buy spicy brown or whole grain, but didn’t for this.)
1 tbsp honey

1 cup water (I like sauce!)
1 large chicken bouillon

2 minced garlic cloves

1 medium onion, sliced

1 teaspoon of either dried rosemary or thyme (Both are tasty on chicken and look pretty. I used rosemary.)

1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to sprinkle on the raw chicken breasts

A pad of butter to grease the pan

A sprinkle of dried parsley after it was plated

Directions:

1) Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken.

2) Whisk together the mustard, water, chicken bouillon, honey,  garlic, and spices in a bowl into a smooth sauce.

3) Butter a baking dish. Lay onion slices on the baking sheet, and arrange the chicken breasts on top. Alternately you can cook it in a 12” chef’s skillet on a stovetop, covered with a lid.

4) Pour the mustard-honey sauce over the chicken breasts, fully coating each piece.

5) Bake in a preheated 400°F oven for 30 minutes or until the chicken breasts are white and tender. Alternately, simmer at midium-low on top of your stove until the chicken is fully cooked.

Photo: The CookieRookie

Let the chicken rest for at least 5 minutes before serving. Slice the chicken breasts and pour a good amount of sauce over them. Serve with potatoes and vegetables of your choice.

While hot-honey mustard is delicious and I love it, I don’t think you need to buy it for a chicken dish when you use mustard, honey, and red pepper flakes as ingredients. As noted, this dish can also be cooked in a 12” skillet on a stovetop. Steel or cast-iron skillets heat up hot and cook evenly, grilling to perfection. Drizzled in honey-mustard sauce, I bought 3 very large chicken breasts and sliced them to serve on a platter. The chicken breasts get so tender, and the sauce tastes amazing! This may the way I make chicken from now on. The dish works equally well with chicken thighs for dark meat lovers.

Mine on the stovetop

I have no idea who created this scrumptious recipe, as it's floating around the internet on all forms of social media. The finished mustard chicken from the 3 cooks I’m featuring on my blog looks amazing! Click the identifying photos to go to their blogs to compare their recipes. Making this recipe our own leads down the same road to deliciousness!

🌆🏢🥯🏙🗽🏛🌆🏢🥯🏙🗽🏛🌆🏢🥯🏙🗽🏛🌆🏢🥯🏙🗽

What a fabulous melting pot New York City is! Inspired by my Jewish friends and neighbors who’ll celebrate Yom Kippur soon, here is a simple dessert for tea(s), or when you make this mustard chicken dinner for friends. It can be made days ahead of the dinner:

 Mandel Bread is a traditional Jewish biscotti-type cookie. It is short for mandelbrot, which means almond bread. Dry, not overly sweet, like Scottish shortbread, but a different tasting cookie.

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

From Sparks Kitchen

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tsp cinnamon - Traditionally, the finished rectangular cookies are rolled in cinnamon sugar, but I toss the cinnamon into the batter.)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

2 tsp almond extract

1/2 cup of nuts (any, chopped almonds or walnuts or pecans)

Directions:

1) Using a fork, mix the dry ingredients in one mixing bowl.

2) With a fork, mix the wet ingredients in a 2nd mixing bowl.

3) Incorporate the wet and dry ingredients. Fold in the nuts, and refrigerate for 2 hours. This prevents the dough from spreading out.

4) On a buttered baking sheet or long baking pan, shape and the dough into a long, flat, even log and bake at 350 degrees F for 25 - 30 minutes, until it is lightly browned.

5) Cool the finished cookies for 15 minutes (so they don’t fall apart), then cut into rectangles, squares, or diagonals. You do you! These cookies go back onto the baking sheet for a 2nd baking at 25o degrees F for another 20 minutes. Remove and cool. I do not roll them in cinnamon sugar because I don’t want them sweeter or the mess of sugar falling off the cookies, nor do I relish getting my fingers mucked up. Avoid messes and extra dishes to wash by not creating situations for the messes to occur! 

Sparks Kitchen has ultra-fancy Mendel bread stacks that can be ordered for pickup, delivery, or shipping. Even easier, and there’s no shame in buying the cookies! We can do both at different times, right?😋

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3 Wellness Tools, 2 Will Stay in Their Boxes

When a child, my parents bought a waffle iron. We made waffles one time, put our new gadget back in its box and stored it on a shelf where it may still be to this day. We never made waffles again because it was extra trouble over pancakes or French toast that only requires a frying pan. The frying pan was much easier to wash and dry.

IMHO, the same hesitation will happen with 2 of the 3 wellness gadgets, and I’d think twice before buying them. It has nothing at all to do with the quality or functions of the wellness tools and everything to do with the innate laziness of human beings in not wanting to bother with certain aspects of using them. All 3 are appealing wellness gadgets, but it doesn’t mean customers will continue to use them after the novelty of owning them wears off.

Let’s go from negative to positive. The 2 devices that, IMHO, consumers will stop reaching for are: 

1) The Venom Go Heat and Vibration Massage Pad (top image👆) - The reason: It’s small and must be repositioned multiple times to get a comprehensive massage. It’s like a spot massager, and there are cheaper spot massagers already on the market, which humans will also stop using. Never underestimate our laziness! Better to get a heat/vibrator that is a full-body massager (for equal or less money because they’ve been on the market longer), that you place over a chair to massage your sore back and shoulders; or a foot/leg massager that you insert your feet into to massage your aching feet and legs at once. You don’t need to reposition either one to massage your entire body part.

2) Nanoleaf Lymphatic Body Sculpting Massager - The device uses massage and ultra red light to smooth skin and reduce puffiness, cellulite, tone the body, and improve skin texture. I have watched many YouTube demonstrations showing before and after the use of similar gadgets (some devices also treat fine lines), and the truth is, the difference is minimal. You must use them daily to get any results, and yet nobody ever looks much younger, less fatigued, or truly any better. It’s a lot of time and work -- that I’d need at least 10 years to be permanently removed from my skin -- in exchange for the motivation to use it daily! Wouldn't you? Reposition, reposition, reposition ... arghhh! Help, let me out of my bathroom or off my coach!!😱😱😱

IMHO, the gizmo consumers will faithfully use is the Autobrush Sonic Pro - Dentists tend to recommend using sonic toothbrushes to thoroughly clean your teeth without damaging your enamel. Usually, the job requires 2 minutes of time, positioning a standard sonic toothbrush in each quadrant of your mouth to go over your teeth for 30 seconds. The Autobrush Sonic Pro reduces those 2 minutes down to 30 seconds since it fits over our teeth to clean them all at once. It’s more than double the price of a standard 2-minute sonic toothbrush, but at $89.00 still affordable. Perhaps it’s worth paying the difference to get seniors or kids to thoroughly brush their teeth?

So that’s what I think. What do you think?

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My Temu Haul

I ordered a few things from Temu, the Chinese bargain online retailer of household goods, personal care tools, and odds and ends that might be fun to share. A Temu haul is gratifying when you buy useful things you can’t easily find elsewhere without overspending. Where have all the Odd-Job-Odd-Lot Trading retailers gone? Although a legitimate business, it’s best to stick to inexpensive items, as returns are a hassle. 

My senior mom is staying with me, and I ordered articles for her comfort and benefit:

1) Air Conditioner Air Deflector - 👆Top image. - Before she came, I didn’t need one, but she sleeps close to my Through-the-Wall AC, where it gets cold. In the daytime, the AC is 18 inches away, behind my click-clack couch, and the deflector will push the air up to the ceiling, where it will be more comfortable and disperse better throughout the room. I have a makeshift deflector that keeps falling to the floor. A $10 purchase should stop this annoyance!

2) Nail brushes - Although I started life in my mother’s womb, I’m against sharing certain personal care items with her, such as a toothbrush, hairbrush, nail clippers, nail brushes, and nail files. Sorry, Mom, but for sanitary reasons, I think each family member should have their very own grooming tools, mothers and daughters included! The brushes are to clean her fingernails since I won’t share my nail brush with her! Yuck!💅

3) The cable protectors are dirt cheap and useful. Computer charging cables often wear out and expose wires, so they won’t go to waste.

4) Toothpaste Manual Dispenser - I ordered this so we stop doing battle with our toothpaste tube. After we roll down the tube, we can’t get it to hold. It unwinds itself after we leave the bathroom! I hope this makes it easier to dispense the toothpaste after it is half or 3/4 empty. With 8 pieces under $2, we’ll have one for every bathroom and then some, won’t we?!

5) Persimmon Soap - This soap is to prevent seniors from smelling like old people. In fairness, my mother doesn’t have an odor -- bad, murky, musky, or otherwise -- still, I want to try the soap on her skin since she is old, out of curiosity! Perhaps she’ll smell even better. If we like it, we’ll keep buying it.

6) Leather Ultra Thin Card Holder - The genuine leather is thin, but it holds 6 cards and has a center pocket, convenient for her insurance and ID cards when I take her to the doctor. Costing under $3 bucks, she’ll get the value for what we paid for it.

7) Multi-Layer Movable Slim Gap Storage Cabinet Drawer Organizer - I’m a sucker for space-saving narrow organizers, and I’m taking a risk by ordering the 3-drawer version. Perfect for all my mom’s personal care items, including the ones I just ordered for her. Frankly, I prefer the 5-drawer option, but must settle for the lower height of 3 drawers to ensure it fits under the bathroom sink or beside it. By ordering the cabinet, I broke 2 of my cardinal rules: (a) ordering an item from Temu that is more than a few dollars (the cabinet was $21.99), and (b) paying for shipping ($2.99)! 😳😳😳 Why did I do it? The organizer is narrow, has wheels, and is made of durable plastic that withstands the dampness of a bathroom. Easy to clean, too. However, it’s a $25 loss if it doesn't fit in the intended space, so my fingers are crossed!𝑋𝑋𝑋

A look at the stash behind my couch.
Hidden if you’re in front of the couch. 

Caution: Orders of a few dollars each add up, so even at Temu's bargain prices, Savvy Shoppers should shop mindfully, constantly asking whether or not we really need it, regardless of how cheap and appealing it is. We never want to clutter up our homes with cheap, useless junk! If it serves no purpose, it morphs into junk!!

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Hexagona Paris Bags At Fair Prices

Hexagona Paris is a French leather goods company celebrated for blending traditional Parisian style with everyday functionality. The brand creates affordable luxury, aiming to “democratize" high-quality leather goods without compromising on aesthetics or craftsmanship, making the label’s bags a great find!

  

The brand began as a family-run leather goods enterprise in the 1980s, then in 1986 launched the House of Hexagona in the heart of Paris’ fashion district. Its mission is to deliver beautifully designed and crafted bags that are utilitarian at fair market prices. With a classic and minimalist aesthetic, the bags are made of full-grain and vegetable-tanned cowhide leather, incorporating high-quality zips and shiny gunmetal or gold embellishments. Several water-resistant synthetic and nylon bags are also offered for the retailer's vegan-only customers.

The merchant caters to both men and women with a full array of top-handles, shoulder bags, crossbody styles, backpacks, and small leather goods. Each leather bag comes in up to 8 colors. Impressive!

Its nylon bags can be hand-washed with soap and water. Canvas and faux leather should be spot-cleaned.

I’ve posted a few of my favorites, and it was hard to stop at 11! The website has many more appealing styles. 

The days of overpriced and overhyped designer bags may be numbered. Moreover, isn’t it time to stop supporting retailers who fail to love you back? At Heagona Paris, customers don’t pay a premium for premium French leather goods.

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Understanding Fine Jewelry Prices

Standard retail fine jewelry stores apply 200% - 300% markups on real gold, platinum, or sterling silver jewelry to cover their overhead costs, like space leases, sales commissions, and marketing. 

Kuvera Jewelers 

In contrast, weight-based jewelers price their jewelry on the literal gram or pennyweight (dwt) of the precious metal plus a transparent labor fee, rather than a fixed retail sticker price. This practice is deeply rooted in Indian, Middle Eastern, and Asian bullion jewelry cultures, where gold is both (1) a wearable asset and (2) a direct measure of value.

Unlike Western luxury or fashion brands that charge a"brand tax,” of 300% plus, traditional weight-based pricing follows a transparent formula that is spelled out for consumers: 

Net Weight in Grams of Metal x Real-time Market Price + Labor.

Direct-to-consumer (DTC or D2C) is a business model in which a brand sells its products directly to the buyer, bypassing third-party wholesalers, distributors, or traditional retailers. Magnolia on the right →

A growing tier of direct-to consumer (DTC) brands and traditional weight-based jewelers bypass the middleman to keep markups to a minimum, ensuring a customer's money goes toward the price of the metal and real craftsmanship rather than for a luxury name.

6 Notable Weight-Based Jewelry Retailers include:

Bijouterie Minted

1) Menè - The retailer is famous for its “radically transparent pricing.” It sells 24k gold and platinum by carat weight. "Every product page has a live calculator showing the exact breakdown of the daily precious metal value + the cost of design or labor."

2) Bijouterie Minted: Based in Montréal, Bijouterie Minted scales solid 14k–22k gold jewelry purely by weight tied to its live market rates. The shop ships a complimentary digital scale with a customer's order so we can verify the weight at home.

3) Magnolia Jewelers: Focuses entirely on pure metals and avoids gemstones. Pieces are "priced by weight with a clear and transparent manufacturing premium.”

4) Kuvera Jewelry: Offers solid 24K gold rings, bands, and chains with pricing directly tied to the metal mass.

Quince

5) Quince Fine Jewelry: Known for offering high-quality, ethically sourced and recycled 14k gold and lab-grown diamond jewelry at transparent factory-direct prices (in addition to its gold-plated stock, so pay close attention to which one you’re ordering).

Mejui

6) Mejui is another DTC fine jewelry brand that focuses on sustainable, accessible luxury using recycled 14k gold and sterling silver with ethically sourced natural and lab-grown gemstones at fair markups. Again, avoid ordering from its gold-plated silver line a/k/a gold vermeil, if seeking 14k gold fine jewelry.

The following section comes from various sources, gathered not from my personal experience, but by a Google search. I haven't bought jewelry on the Asian market but I know owning real gold jewelry is important to wealthy Asian families. By tradition, an Indian bride’s jewelry is part of her dowry. Investors and serious expert jewelry buyers might buy jewelry from Asian jewelers including these:

Consider the details below in quotation ...

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Indian Jewelers & Bullion

Indian jewelers focus heavily on 22-karat yellow gold, intricate temple designs, bridal sets, and gold as an investment.

Joyalukkas: A premier international brand with a strong presence in the US, offering a wide range of traditional 22K gold and diamond collections.
Aabhushan Jewelers: Known for carrying extensive Indian 22K gold jewelry, certified diamonds, and silver items.
Local Hubs: In the New York and Manhattan area, shoppers frequently look to Jackson Heights in Queens or specialized districts for authentic regional craftsmanship.

Middle Eastern Jewelers & Bullion

Middle Eastern jewelry traditions emphasize rich 21K and 24K gold, heavy solid gold cuffs, custom nameplates, and bullion coins.

Yasini Jewelers: Specializes in high-karat gold including 18K, 21K, 22K, and 24K jewelry, bullion, and custom Arabic nameplates.
Taj Gold & Diamond Jewelers: Focuses on authentic 21K and 22K gold jewelry imported from Dubai, featuring traditional and modern Middle Eastern and South Asian styles.
Baladna Jewelers: Offers 18K to 24K gold pieces alongside domestic and international gold bullion and custom 3D designs.

Asian & East Asian Jewelers

East Asian and broader Asian markets emphasize high-purity 24K (999.9) gold pieces, jade, and intricate cultural motifs.

Chinatown Districts: Local storefronts in Manhattan and Queens feature specialized Chinese and East Asian jewelers dealing in 24K solid gold pieces, bangles, and jade artifacts.

Queen of Hearts Jewelry

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Readers, I hope you have a better understanding of how fine jewelry is priced by jewelers, and this enlightenment helps you get good value for the money.

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