In which there is way too much shopping

I do not have the shopping gene. I especially hate shopping for clothes. Even when I was skinny, I hated it, and now I'm fat (and mostly okay with that) and it's even more no fun.

But I have my nephew's wedding weekend that I'm leaving for in a week, so over the past month or so I've been trying to amass enough to have decent clothes throughout the weekend. (My mother asked me a couple of years ago why I tend to bring so many clothes when I come to visit. I told her the truth: I was forever scarred by her asking me one too many times, "Are you wearing *that*?" I learned to come with options. She did stop doing that eventually, but I'm still paranoid.)

I semi-jokingly asked lydy if I could borrow a dress of hers. Turns out it looks good on me, and she graciously offered to loan me Angel (long lovely Elise necklace) and matching earrings. I liked that dress, but was worried that a long dress would be considered inappropriate. So I made an appointment with a Nordstrom personal shopper. The shopper came up with a variety of things. One dress was acceptable, though I wasn't wild about it. It needed some tailoring, but when the woman from alterations came over, she said what was needed was one size smaller. So that was ordered, since it wasn't in stock. I also bought a couple of new bras. That was painless: my size and favorite brand/style was available.

On that same trip to the Mall of America, I wanted a new pair of casual shoes from the Rockport Store. Surprise! It was gone. So I went to DSW Shoes instead and found a pair of Naturalizers that were reasonably priced and felt good. I also looked at dress shoes. But I was pretty much shopped out by then, and had to be somewhere, so I left.

This was about two hours of shopping, and nothing to show for it regarding the wedding.

A few days later, I went to a local Marshall's. I was hoping to find white silk (or otherwise floaty) pants to be part of an outfit for the rehearsal dinner -- which, as I understand it, involves no actual rehearsal. They didn't have white, but they did have gaucho pants in black. A size larger than I normally wear, but looking acceptable. I also bought four short-sleeved tops, one of which is white linen and I think will work with the gaucho pants for the dinner. That was fairly quick -- about 45 minutes to spend $90.

The only problem is that the linen top is kind of see-through, so I'll need a camisole, which is something I've never owned. Today, I'm heading to Kohl's to see if the one on their website a) is available in my size, b) fits, and c) doesn't show when I wear the linen shirt.

I can wear the gaucho pants with another top for the Sunday brunch, so that's sorted.

Yesterday, I went back to Nordstrom because the dress in the smaller size was in. In-between, I'd checked with my mother, and she said a long dress was fine, so I wasn't going to buy the Nordstrom one unless it was perfect. It wasn't, so I got a refund on that. Then I went back to DSW Shoes for another try at dress shoes. I'm seriously hampered there because I have very flat feet (inherited from my father), and have trouble with heels, and really need some support. Ankle straps are in this year, which helps, but it seemed like everything I could stand was a matte suede, and I wanted something a little more partyish. My mother happened to text me, and I ended up chatting a bit with her about the shoe woes. She suggested that heels were optional, and had I looked at the flats? I went over there and found a pair of gold Roman-style sandals that fit and were reasonably comfortable.

I then went to Chico's for an attempt at white pants, but no luck. And after that, home again.

That was another three hours, though at least I had something to show for it.

And finally, finally, I think I'm set for what to wear. Except for the camisole, that is. All told, I got off pretty lightly in cost -- about $140 for the pants, tops, and pair of shoes. Plus another $70 for the casual shoes from the first visit, which will also go to St. Louis with me. I had a $10 off coupon from that DSW purchase that was applied to the gold shoes. Buying the gold shoes netted me $25 in coupons, so I'll probably be going back there before it expires at the end of June. I guess I've accepted DSW as my feudal overlord when it comes to shoe purchases.

And I really hope I'm done with shopping for the next year or so.

Help me use my leftovers

I've been subscribing to Hello Fresh for a couple of months now. This is a service where you pay for (in my case) three bags per week, with each bag providing sufficient materials for two meals.

Sometimes the instructions say to use only part of the ingredients. When they send two garlic cloves and say to use only one, I ignore that and use both. But today's menu (mushroom ravioli) came with a large onion and said to use only half. That worked out well with the balance of mushrooms provided. So I have half an onion.

Later in the week, a recipe for pancetta macaroni and cheese calls for using only half the pancetta. This is probably both for balance and to keep the calorie count under 1,000 calories. So I'll have two ounces of diced pancetta, unless I decide to go wild and toss it all in.

I know I could make a lovely omelet out of it, but I'm interested in doing something a bit more creative.

I also have a quarter-cup of panko crumbs left over from tonight's dinner.

Any suggestions for how I could use these? It seems like the obvious thing is to sauté the onions until they're soft, add in the pancetta and sauté both for a while and then add stuff. But what can I add that's interesting?