What Did We Do with All Those Tomatoes?

We are nearing the end of August and the end of summer here in New York. Even though I love the fall season, I’m not ready for summer to end just yet and wish to prolong it for as long as I can. What better way to stay in summer than a quick post about tomatoes?

5 Reasons to Take the CPA Exam Right After College

If you recently graduated from college/university, I want to congratulate you! Well done! Are you starting a new job this fall and would rather do anything but study in your spare time? Do you want to take a short break from studying since that’s what you have been doing for most of your life? Well, despite all that, it may make more sense to take the CPA Exam sooner rather than later.

See, I made the mistake of pushing off serious studying for the CPA Exam during my first year working at a CPA firm. In the early 2000s, there were lots of layoffs in the Finance industry in New York, and this included CPA Firms. It became extremely important to have as many billable hours and not much “unassigned time.” I could not afford to lose this job and spent my free time asking Seniors for work that they needed help with instead of studying. I figured I could “wing it” on some parts and study hard later when things slowed down.

As the years went by and my personal and professional responsibilities increased, it grew more and more difficult to study. I kept trying though – passing parts, failing others. I took breaks from the Exam. This process started to repeat over and over again. If I knew then what I know now, I would have tried to find a balance between work and studying very early on in my career.  

If you sit for the CPA Exam soon after graduating, you may be able to avoid these 5 things that are currently working against me:

Some Quick Organic Quinoa

 

I want to substitute quinoa for the French fries that have somehow become my standard side dish over the summer. Yes, I said French fries! See, it starts slowly – Too hot to stand in front of the stove? Just bake some French fries in the toaster oven. Grilling outside and don't want to walk in and out checking on food? Bake some French fries. Call it convenience or laziness, you get used to it and before you know it, you are serving French fries with veal because “it goes” and it only takes 20 minutes. 

To break this habit, I picked up a bag of Organic Quinoa from Costco recently and have resolved to use it instead of having it sit in the pantry until it expires. It is said that white quinoa (which this one is) has a mild nutty taste; whereas red quinoa has a stronger nutty taste. From what I can remember, I noticed a slight difference, but not enough for me to declare either one tastier over the other. Then again, I am not a quinoa connoisseur. 

Healthy but Quick Series

I gained 20 lbs my first year in public accounting. It was all thanks to the restaurant takeout we ordered for lunch AND dinner while working until 1 AM. Since I was the one picking up the food (first year!), I felt obligated to eat that food, too. Just because it is called a salad, does not make it healthy. And I ate that salad twice a day for months. We had to wear suits because the client was business dress. By the time that client audit was almost over, my suit jacket buttons would not close at all and I was afraid to split my skirt zipper sitting down. All work and no time or money to buy new suits (non-matching separates were frowned upon and this was early 2000 before internet shopping was the obvious solution), I started making some food on Sundays to bring for lunch and dinner for a couple of days early in the week.

A decade and a half later, I am trying to eat healthier again and wanted to write a series of recipe posts that are Healthy but Quick. Many people want to eat healthier but don’t have time to cook a full, complicated meal after a day at work or school. Some recipes sound delicious but we give up for a number of excuses and just pick up takeout. Of course, the one item that really makes the recipe is not in our fridge and it’s too late to go to the supermarket; or we really don’t have the time or patience to follow a series of steps involving multiple cooking methods and pans. We also see something at the supermarket (usually a vegetable) and just leave it there because we have no idea how to cook it. Or we buy it and never make it (yes I have been guilty of such laziness!).