So, all of us Conspicuous Consumers out there probably have a habit of using those wonderful little plastic things we call “Credit Cards” to pay for wine, gourmet food, and other luxury items.

Inevitably, we get into a little bit of a credit card debt crisis and need to figure out how long it will take us to pay off that credit card and get back to consuming conspicuously.

Fortunately, the Conspicuous Consumer is here for you. I’ve created a quick little tool that will allow you to quickly calculate a monthly payment for your credit card so that you can pay the card off in the time you want to. It’s not fancy and it’s not very pretty - it’s about as basic as it gets, to be honest.

If you’d like to quickly figure out how to pay off your credit card, download Quick Credit Card Payoff Calculator.exe today.

As a Conspicuous Consumer, I’m also always looking for ways to make some more money. Recently, I purchased a copy of Chris Rempel’s excellent eBook, Confessions of a Lazy Super-Affiliate.

Chris’ book isn’t another get rich scheme or “work 5 minutes a day and make $500,000 a year” type gimmick. While the title includes the word “lazy”, don’t let that fool you - in order to make money using Chris’ system, you will have to do some work. The difference between Chris’ system and many others is that his system emphasizes generating passive income - you will do a good bit of work to get your mini-sites up and running, but after that you won’t have to touch them very often.

Focus on Desperate Buyers

The first, and most important part, of Confessions of a Lazy Super-Affiliate talks in great detail about how to target and attract visitors to your site that are eager to make a purchase. In fact, the real focus is on developing a never ending stream of this type of visitor.

The first and most detailed part of the ebook is centered around building a mini-site (20 pages) targeted completely on customers who are eager to make a purchase. According to Chris, this is how you make money in the affiliate marketing business.

Unlike many programs that preach writing lots of content aimed at convincing people to buy, Chris’ system is built around getting in front of the right audience and simply pointing them to the product they already want to buy.

According to the eBook, Chris’ mini-sites earn him $250 a day or more.

A Complete Business

The most important thing to remember about Confessions of a Lazy Super-Affiliate is that the process is only beginning with that first 20 page mini-site. There is an entire process that begins with research and testing with a simple mini-site, expands into multiple mini-sites, includes the development of freeware applications (NO, you DON’T need to be a programmer) for viral software marketing, to creating your own “feeder” products, and (ultimately) a full network of mini-sites and a “mother” site that allow you to effectively take control of your niche and maximize your profits.

Outsourcing: The Lazy Solution

One of the common themes in Chris’ eBook is the trends towards outsourcing as much as possible. Obviously, talented individuals could do most of the work themselves, but Chris outlines how he does things and explains the process of outsourcing most of the work involved in developing these mini-sites, freeware applications, and “feeder” products.

Confessions of a Lazy Super-Affiliate will jump start your business thinking and show you how to create a logical affiliate business structure, in which each action you take provides powerful leverage, boosting other parts of your affiliate business, and boosting your “hands-off” sales.

Get Confessions of a Lazy Super Affiliate-Affiliate here

I was flipping idly through Technorati this evening and came across a great post that does a great job of explaining what to look for, smell, and taste when enjoying a glass of wine.

To many people, wine should just be poured and drunk. Sadly, when we do that we miss out on a great deal of the complexity and character of the wine. There is so much you can learn about a wine just by looking at it in the glass before the first sip ever passes your lips.

Check out Tips and tricks for wine tasting from CVN Home.

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Linksys Media Center Extender

As a lover of fine wine, I so often find myself focusing on bottles of wine that cost $50, $60, or even $150 dollars or more. However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy the occasional inexpensive bottle. In fact, often as not, the bottle that is open in my house cost me less than $9 or $10. Why? Because it isn’t necessary to open up a 2001 Grgich Hills Cabernet Sauvignon or 2003 Roessler Savoy Pinot Noir (my personal favorite) to enjoy a glass of wine.

Here are a few good choices that you can find for less than $9:

La Vieille Ferme Cotes du Luberon Blanc 2007

This is a nice white wine from the Rhone Valley in France received an 86 from Wine Spectator. It’s a good, inexpensive wine to enjoy and can be had for around $7.99 a bottle.

La Vieille Ferme Cotes du Ventoux Rouge 2006

While it is usually priced just over $9.00, I included this nice Rhone Red because I believe that it is still a very good value. Wine Spectator rated the 2006 as an 86 out of 100. For a sub-$10.00 wine, this is a very good buy.

Columbia Winery Gewurztraminer 2007

“Bright, zippy and off dry, with tangy grapefruit, nectarine and pineapple flavors that show restraint even as they linger on the expressive finish. Drink now.”
Wine Spectator

These are 3 quality wines that can be had for less than $10.00. To find more quality wines in this price range, follow this link: Find More Wines Under $10.00 at Wine.com

Gourmet food brings to mind a great variety of foods and styles of cooking. It can mean fine dining at restaurants like Per Se, The French Laundry, or one the myriad 4- and 5-star restaurants scattered around the United States and world.

Healthy gourmet food sometimes seems to be a misnomer - too often when we think of gourmet food we think of rich sauces made with cream and butter, heavy in starches, and loads of things that are both tasty and fatty. Fortunately, that attitude seems to be changing and gourmet food is rapidly becoming “healthy”.

The simplest way to cook healthy gourmet food in your own kitchen is to do what chefs around the world are doing: Focus on whole foods and simple preparations. By simply shifting the focus of a dish away from those rich sauces and focusing more on the ingredients themselves, a meal almost instantly becomes healthier.

Take my dinner this evening, for example. I’ve lapsed somewhat on my vegetarianism (just can’t do it 100% - sometimes I just really want a nice lean cut of beef or fish) and was craving a staple of home cooking: Beef and Green Peppers. My mother made this all the time when I was growing up and it is a dish that is just too satisfying to abandon completely. The way I typically see it prepared is heavy on soy sauce, salt, etc. Instead of preparing it that way this evening, however, I went the healthier route and skipped the soy sauce entirely and simply did a stir fry of yellow bell pepper, green bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, and lean top sirloin. I used 0 calorie olive oil spray instead and, at the end of cooking, added about half a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce for a little extra flavor.

So, instead of loading up on the sodium by using a large amount of soy sauce I avoided most of it by simply using a small amount of the Worcestershire and let the real flavors of the dish come from the peppers, tomatoes, and beef.

At the moment, I’m in the midst of trying to plan a weekend getaway for some time during the beginning of the month of November. I think I’ve arrived at where I want to go, but the “where” question is much easier than the rest of the planning. It looks like I’m going to go to New York for a couple of days and planning a trip to New York can be very daunting.

The first step is to figure out your budget for the trip - I’m not planning to go overly extravagant, but certain things like the location I stay at and restaurants are non-negotiable.

Usually, when I travel to New York I stay at the Hudson Hotel near the Time Warner Center. The Hudson is an amazing boutique hotel with plenty of amenities and a very popular bar (The Hudson Bar). However, this time I’m looking at maybe trying out the W in Midtown. Selecting a hotel in New York is all about location and amenities - unless you’re going to spend a small fortune and get a suite, your room is going to be little more than a place to sleep and shower since the rooms are usually VERY small, so remember the first rule of real estate and think “Location, Location, Location”.

Since I’ll only be there for a couple days, I’ll have to think pretty hard about what to do during the day and what restaurants I want to go to in the evenings. More than likely, I’ll spend part of one day doing some shopping and wandering around since I just love walking in the city and just hearing, seeing, and experiencing life in this incredible city. Beyond that, I’ll just look to see what exhibits the museums have going and plan accordingly - I’ve seen most of the touristy places and don’t even want to mess with them on this trip.

To many people, eating healthy means eating tiny portions of bland foods every day. While some people have success doing this, others find this too boring and start “cheating” within a couple weeks.

Here are 5 tips for how you can still eat gourmet food while maintaining a healthy diet:

1. The hand rule
The “hand rule” is one of those old standards that never really goes away. Why? Because it works. The basic idea behind the hand rule is that it allows you to determine portion sizes appropriate for your body size - a salad should never be larger than your two hands put together, meats should be the size of the palm of your hand, and a handful of fruit or vegetables is an appropriate serving.

2. Buy high quality ingredients
When I go to the supermarket, it amazes me the number of people I see buying the lowest quality meats, poultry, and fish. When you’re buying beef, opt for higher quality grass fed beef instead of corn fed beef because grass fed beef is lower in cholesterol and fat. Buying free range poultry allows you to avoid the hormones and chemicals that are given to most farm raised poultry. Yes, these higher quality products are more expensive, but keep in mind the hand rule and realize that your portions are going to be smaller - you won’t have to buy as much.

3. Opt for better carbs
Carbohydrates are an important part of every diet. Yes, there are some diets that achieve a great deal of success restricting carbohydrate consumption. However, if you are not going the “low carb” route, simply avoiding things like white flour products, potatoes, and items high in sugar and replacing them with better options like sweet potatoes, yams, or brown and wild rice.

4. Use fresh herbs for flavor instead of heavy sauces and condiments
Herbs are extremely low in calories, fat, and carbohydrates. In fact, the chopped herbs that help flavor a dish rarely add any nutritional impact to the meal. So, instead of using heavy sauces and condiments, garnish or rub your meats with fresh herbs before grilling to add additional flavor.

5. Grill Meats and Bake Fish - Never Fry
As good as fried fish or fried chicken may sound at times, it is rarely a healthy alternative. Do what most gourmet chefs do - grill your meats. Grilling properly allows fats to drip away from the meat, lowering the fat content in the finished meal.

So, there you have 5 easy tips that can allow you to enjoy gourmet food while still keeping your diet healthy.

This is a recipe that I just recently came up with based on a few other recipes from around the ‘net. It is a healthy and lite meal that is perfect for just about any lifestyle or diet.

Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh or frozen cod fillets
• 1 large bunch of fresh spinach
• 1/2 shallot minced
• 2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed citrus juice (blood orange, orange, key lime, etc)
• 1-2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions

For the vinaigrette, place the shallots, vinegar, and citrus juice in a small bowl. Let sit for approximately 30 minutes to allow the shallots to macerate. After 30 minutes, whisk in the olive oil.

For the cod, spread the fillets onto a baking pan and drizzle the fillets lightly with a small amount of the citrus vinaigrette. Bake the fillets uncovered in a 375° oven for 20-25 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

For the wilted spinach, remove the stems from the spinach leaves and discard the stems. Put a few teaspoons of water into a sauce pan with the spinach over high heat. Lightly shake the pan over the heat until the spinach is wilted.

Serving: Plate a generous portion of the wilted spinach on 4 dinner plates. Rest one cod fillet on each serving of spinach. Drizzle the remainder of the vinaigrette over each serving. Add salt and pepper to taste. For some additional color, lightly sautee some julienne red and yellow peppers and place a few of each on top of each cod fillet.

Serves 4

Chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa of Nobu is known in gourmet food circles for his sushi and Asian inspired dishes. One of his most famous dishes is his New Style Sashimi. Nobu’s “New Style” sashimi departs from traditional sashimi because a hot mixture of sesame and olive oil is poured over the fish right before serving.

Here is the recipe for his New Style Sashimi:

Ingredients

• 8 - 12 oz. Sashimi (Atlantic Salmon)
• Tablespoons Minced Garlic
• Julienne fresh Ginger
• Julienne Scallion
• 12 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 4 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
• 4 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
• 4 Tablespoons Yuzu Juice
• 2 Tablespoons White Sesame Seed

Preparation

Cut the fish fillet into paper-thin slices. Fan out the slices in a circle over 4 dinner plates. Scatter some of the minced garlic and some of the ginger and scallion julienne over the fish; sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Sprinkle on the soy sauce and yuzu juice.

Combine the olive oil and sesame oil in a nonreactive small saucepan. Set over moderately high heat and bring almost to a boil (about 200°); the surface will shimmer. Remove from the heat and immediately pour one-fourth of the sauce over each serving of fish. The hot oil will sear the fish as you pour it on. Serve at once.

If you’d like to see more great recipes from Chef Nobu, check out his cookbook Nobu: The Cookbook available on Amazon.com