Tannaz Sassooni's blog

How to Get High-End Electronics with One Simple Question

My friend Mandy became the proud owner of a Mac PowerBook G4 in perfect condition, without spending a single cent. She's also come into a Canon digital camera, a Dali lithograph, a house full of antique furniture, and plenty more, all completely free. And the only thing she had to do was ask for them.

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Save the World and Save a Dime: Eat Locally

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Onigiri: Behold The Mighty Triforce

He zips around the lush pixelated world of Hyrule, battling monsters on his quest to save Princess Zelda, a sacred triangle perched atop his head. Link knows that the ancient relic holds great power, but what Link never learned is that the Triforce is also deeelicious.

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Fifteen Minutes of ...

One day when i was in fourth grade, my parents sat me down at the dining room table. Their faces were very concerned and it all seemed very serious; I thought I was in trouble. Not really, they just wanted to have a talk, about a subject that to 9-year-old me was a bit nebulous. They told me i was bazigoosh, a word that translates directly to game-ear in Persian, but basically means I'm a slacker, easily distracted, a procrastinator, too fun-loving for my own good.

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A BBC Production America Hasn't Ripped Off Yet

The BBC are so selfless. They offer us Americans the addictively hapless crew at The Office, and never complain when we totally rip it off. They give us the deliciously candid fashion criticism of What Not To Wear, even though we copy it outright. (Not that we didn't have a history of this behavior: Three's Company, that beloved American classic, comes straight from Britain's Man About the House.) But there's one wildly successful project BBC's putting out there that is theirs and theirs alone.

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How To Get Mugged

Awesome, 10:45 and there's still one parking spot only a few buildings from mine. I do the parallel parking bit, grab my purse, lock the car, and start the quick walk to my apartment building. As I walk past our next-door building, a car stops in front of me, and the passenger steps out. Weird, he's talking to me. "OK, give me your purse."

Next thing I know I'm splayed out on my back like a dying cockroach on the curb -- except much wrigglier, and much, much louder.

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The Way to Your Honey's Heart Is Through the Kitchen

They say a way to a man's heart is through the stomach, but on Valentine's Day, our men take no pains to take that very route to their ladies' hearts as well: call every restaurant in town for a last minute reservation. Finally have the host at Chez Exorbitante tell you the only table they have is at 5:30 pm, but you'll love sitting next to Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Atric -- they have great stories to tell. Pay an appalling markup on a bottle of bubbly (had you only consulted the lists earlier). Suffer through a meal at a restaurant where every single customer expects personalized special-occasion service, from a waitstaff made of mere human beings. Avoid the risk of driving home full of boozy bubbles, by shelling out more cash to take a cab home (in rush hour traffic no less). Isn't it romantic?

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And One for the "Readers": LibriVox

A short while back we learned about DailyLit , a service that delivers public domain literature works to your email inbox in easily-digestible chunks. But what if you don't feel like reading? Or what if your eyes are too busy doing something else, like knitting, or cooking, or solving Fermat's last theorem (what, it was getting a little too domestic there!)? In this modern age, we're all about multitasking, after all. Well, friends, reading the classics has entered the age of the internet: it's free and convenient, and doesn't even involve reading anymore! Now that's progress.

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Pop That Corkage: A Cross-country BYO Roundup

For me, drinking wine at a restaurant is a classic image of living large: sipping rich purply red from a bulbous stemmed glass, laughing at your companion's urbane chatter, and enjoying the moment. But often the restaurant markup on a bottle of wine is twice or even three times what you'd pay retail, prohibiting this picturesque scene for those with tight purse strings. Fortunately, plenty of restaurants allow you to bring your own bottle. And diligent folks across the country and the internet are tracking them down.

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Get Your Booze On for Free

Recently a reader here at Wise Bread accused us of being European, citing our proclivity for writing about wine and beer. Mais non, my friend, but indulging in a little of the sauce every now and then is a luxury I'd rather not give up due to budgetary constraints. And I've found a fun way to do it for free, so I will risk name-calling -- continental, drunkardly, or otherwise -- and share this knowledge with you.

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Not Just Some Junk in a Box

There are some things you just don't do: you don't wear white to a wedding. You don't talk on the phone during the movie. And you never bring box wine to the party. You just don't. It's gauche.

Except, now you do. Of course, it's a completely different box. And a completely different wine.

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Ethnic Markets: Feel worldly for cheap

Growing up in an immigrant family meant living on a shoestring, even when we didn't need to. It also meant needing ingredients that you simply aren't going to find at the local supermarket. So, ethnic markets were part of the routine for us -- frugal Mom knew she could save tremendously at them, and still make elaborate meals with their bounty. Granted, you may have to deal with a bit of grit: these are generally not national chains, so the decor might be pretty un-spiffy, and the staffing may be slimmer. But steel yourself -- it's an adventure that surely beats the local Mega-Lo-Mart, and an exploratory attitude can really pay off. The produce is substantially cheaper than supermarkets across the board, and you can find deals on gourmet ingredients and, of course, ethnic specialties, if you know where to look.

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