Thursday, January 10, 2008

Po' Boy Lemonade

I was reminded of this when I ordered water with lemon at lunch today...

My first job out of college was traveling full time with a musical group called the Spurrlows. It wasn't very glamorous, but I was living as a full time musician and traveling all over the country. Every week they paid me $150 in cash. (Actually it was $128 after they took taxes out.) We were provided housing (usually a crummy motel room that I shared with 3 other guys), but were responsible for our own food. As you can imagine, $128 can go pretty quick if you eat out every meal. At the time I was also dating my future wife, Anne, and needed to save money for an engagement ring. So, I decided to take $75 every week and save it, and then live on the rest. I had to come up with some creative ways to save money. In my bunk on the bus, I had a small shelf. I would keep some small groceries there and eat one meal a day on the bus. That usually consisted of crackers with tuna, or crackers with goober grape peanut butter/jelly, or soup heated up in a electric mug thing. Then one meal a day I would eat out. But I realized that if I paid for dinner and a drink then my money didn't go as far. So, I got into the habit of ordering water with lemon. When it was served, I would drop a bag of equal in it, stir it up and call it Po' boy lemonade! The funny thing is, I still make Po' boy lemonade! Sometimes I actually prefer it to soda. Through the years, Anne and I have come to an, ahem, agreement. She is ALWAYS able to order soda at dinner. If I want to remember my Po' boy roots, I have to do that on my own. :)

4 comments:

Aubrey and Jen said...

Love me some po' boy lemonade!! You should've added a tip for those who might be inspired to try... When preparing the delicacy in a styrofoam cup, be careful to wipe the lemon juice off your hands before handling the cup. It will begin to eat through the cup.

Anonymous said...

Oh how I celebrate your frugality! We are few and far between, but rejoice, I say rejoice in the discipline and thriftiness that God has blessed us with. :)

Juli said...

Benefits of Po' Boy Lemonade (I actually call it "Poor Man's Lemonade" but your name is better.):
1)It's cheap. Duh.
2)You get your water in.
3)The lemons combat local/regional bad tap water taste.
4)The free equal makes it actually taste pretty darn good.
4)Lemons are expensive - too expensive to keep on hand and rot before you use them all at home - let the restaurants buy them.
5)I always enjoy the server's response. They get a dejected look like, "Man! There goes my tip! This person's a cheapskate!"

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Was cleaning out my e-mail box and ran across your blog address which I hadn't visited in a few months. Sounds like things are great in Frisco.

Anonymous said...

Mark;

Loved this post. It reminded me of my college days, and that old standby - Ketchup Soup.. 2 packs of Mcdonald's ketchup, a mug of water, and a microwave...

we need to catch up sometime!

Matt