The Power of the Internet

Last weekend I was feeling particularly lackadaisical, so rather than rush around in an effort to complete various tasks that had gone undone during the week, I simply draped myself over the sofa and spent the afternoon, cup of Marco Polo tea at my side, watching old episodes of Nigella Bites on You Tube.

Stunningly enough, I actually came across an episode that I'd never seen before called Nigella's Christmas Bites. A full hour of holiday treats and simple dishes that Ms. Lawson happens to enjoy during the holidays months. Lentil and chestnut soup, pickled vegetables, Indian spiced potatoes, pasta in walnut sauce, pomegranate meringue, macadamia nut brittle...it all sounded so good! And, as is the case with most of her early recipes, although these dishes aren't hard, nor are they wildly exotic, they tend to be just different and imaginative enough to feel like a series of small revelations.

Although I don't use the one cookbook of hers that I own terribly often (I have Feast, and use it mainly for her granola recipe, pavlova recipe and if I'm in need of some sort of a cake) I was inspired to look into the possibility of purchasing her book Nigella Bites. There were plenty of used copies for sale for less than $4 on Amazon, but as I am both a tightwad and am also loathe to bring yet more stuff into our apartment for fear of causing clutter, it did give me pause.

But then I realized that I had $10 worth of Amazon gift certificates from Swagbucks, which meant that the book would actually be free. And I am not one to turn down free books. Ever.

You do know Swagbucks, no? A search engine that works just like google except for some searches you earn points. And eventually points turn into some sort of merchandise or gift card. That you would actually want to use. This at first glanced seemed a bit to close to those "make $1,000 a week sitting at home!" ads for comfort, but I must admit I've been converted. And now I'm trolling Amazon for something to spend my remaining $6 on.