Pictures good enough to eat!

I'm not usually one to take pictures of food, but the dishes I prepared this past Friday night were just so "pretty" I had to share them. Well - the pictures of them, anyway.

The first is a chicken pot pie, called "Just Chicken Pie" and it is aptly named. There are few veggies present. It was quite tasty, though I had to add a few spices. I got the recipe from a cookbook my sister bought me. Thanks, sis!

The second is a "Blueberry Buckle," courtesy Alton Brown. You can find the recipe right here (though I think mine was prettier).

Cooking show sellouts

I seem to remember a time when "celebrity chefs" were few and far between. Julia Child was probably the most well-known, but, who else could you possibly see appear on a television program, and go "I know who that is!!"

Enter the Food Network in 1993. Three of the network's earliest stars were Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, and a guy named Emeril Lagasse. Soon, "celebrity chefs" were everywhere. Everywhere as in, now I can't go to a grocery store without seeing some chef's face on products.

Emeril himself has several restaurants and books. He had two cooking shows on Food Network (Emeril Live was recently cancelled for some odd reason). He appears in commercials for Crest toothpaste, and Louisiana tourism. And for reasons I still don't fully understand, he had a short-lived sitcom on NBC. Go to a cooking store, and you're likely to find his own line of cookware. Grocery stores carry pasta sauces, marinades, salsas, and spices with his face and name. Until recently, I'd say Emeril was the highest-profile chef out there.....

...until Rachael Ray came along. Her show 30 Minute Meals is a good one, showing you how to make a full meal in little time. Fans will probably say they're attracted to her "bubbly" personality. For awhile, you could only see her on her show, and on her books (based on the show). Not too long ago, she started her own self-titled syndicated talk show, and now she's EVERYwhere. She has her own magazine now. She's got her own line of cookware (I gotta say, Rachael, I'm not a fan of the cookware - too gaudy). She loves cooking with Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) so much, that now she's got her own brand of THAT. Endorsements? Let's see...Burger King, Nabisco Crackers, and Dunkin' Donuts, among others. Apparently she's got her own sheet and blanket line now. If you go to a grocery store, you're bound to see her face somewhere.

Mario Batali is branching out (he too, has his own cookware). Giada De Laurentiis, with her enormous mouth which I fear could bite my head off, is starting to appear more places now. I got a Crate & Barrel catalog in my mail the other day, guess who appeared on the cover?

Do I hate these chefs for all these products and endorsements? Of course not. Several of them didn't even start off on television, they opened/ran restaurants, which can be an expensive business. Why not use your celebrity to make some of that money back? (Though Rachael doesn't seem to need the money - her family has owned several restaurants)

My problem is, for many of them, it's not completely about the food anymore. I admit several Food Network personalities really got me into cooking (though to be perfectly fair, it was my Mother who did the most inspiration). But now I'm being put off by some of their antics. I see shows like Hell's Kitchen and think "wow, that really takes the fun out of cooking." I see chef's faces on products at the store, like so many sports stars that irritate me, and it turns me off. You'd think that an accomplished chef would be against endorsing a prepackaged product. After all, isn't that what cooking is about? Making your own food using fresh ingredients? And it certainly boggles the mind endorsing something like Dunkin' Donuts.

Would I take cooking classes? Sure, I'd like to some day. Would I use it to become a chef? Probably not. I like cooking, and I'd use the classes to cook for myself and my family. I don't want to use my training to sell frying pans.

Bad Product Names (If Misread)

"La Mer."

Seriously, I had to read the package a couple of times before I realized it was two words..

Respect THIS

Someone once said, "Respect your elders."

That someone apparently wasn't nearly hit by an elderly driver in a store parking lot in full view of several witnesses, all of whom denounced the elderly driver's actions.

Just like I was. In clear view of the driver. I had to jump out of the way, by the way.

You have to give respect in order to earn respect.

Take that, Jack Thompson!

Gamer uses virtual training to save lives

The USPS: We Just Don't Care Anymore!

As I touched upon not too long ago, when you work in a customer service job, there are two ways you can respond to constant negative criticism from customers. You can overcome the negativity and become better for it; or, you can adopt an "I'll get them before they get me" attitude. I'd have to say that the United States Postal Service has adopted the latter. ALL of the United States Postal Service.

How did I come to this conclusion? Personal experience. I ventured to the post office for the first time in a long time a few weeks back. The day after Christmas, I received a "pink slip" from the USPS - one of those tiny pink pieces of paper that they leave you to say that you have a package. In my experience as a long-time apartment dweller, the USPS will generally leave the package with the leasing office. This time around, however, my pink slip said my package was at the post office. It was late afternoon, but the post office was only about 5 minutes away, so off I went.

I stood in line awhile before realizing they had a "package pickup" door, complete with "doorbell." (On a side note, I got a real "Wizard of Oz" feeling from this door, almost as if someone with a top hat was going to peek through, saying "No one sees the wizard, no way, no how!") I rang the bell and handed the man my slip. He glanced over it and declared that they didn't have my package, because the mailperson was still out delivering mail - the package would be available tomorrow. I thought to myself "they might have written that info down on the slip and saved me a trip," but shrugged it off, as it took minimal effort to get there, and was in no hurry to get my package (my birthday being 2 days away). I left, with plans to come back the next day.

And so I returned the next day, and spoke with the same man I did the previous day. He looked for my package, and informed me again that they didn't have my package. His excuse? "The carrier probably made a mistake," he said, "he probably meant to say that the package was at your leasing office." It was annoying, but made some sense. I ran some errands and returned to my leasing office. They didn't have my package.

So again I returned to the post office, this time dealing with a different person. She looked for my package, and for the third time I was denied. She made a pledge to talk to the carrier to help find the package, and took down my phone number so they could call me. I was again annoyed, but it was a fair enough proposal. So I left.

Then January 2 rolled around. 3 regular mail days had passed, and I had not heard anything from the post office. I visited a packed post office that morning, only to angrily turn away when I was told no one was manning the package pickup office. When I returned I dealt with a "pleasant" young woman (Note the parenthesis around pleasant). By this time I was quite perplexed at the total lack of anything resembling organization or customer care. I didn't want to deal with a rude person. And yet, there she was, right on cue. The woman seemed annoyed to even have to deal with ANY person - she took my slip with a frustrated look.

I explained to her the situation, and that I had not heard back from the carrier. She turned away to go to the back, mentioning in an annoyed manner that "the carrier was on vacation, that's why you didn't hear back." Yep, she couldn't even say this to my face, and - how the heck was I supposed to know the carrier was on vacation??! She returned empty handed. She then turned on the excuse machine, bringing up ideas like "maybe he left it on your doorstep and someone took it." She went to great lengths to point out the fact that my package was not insured, as if to say, "sure, we lost it, but it's not insured, so we're not liable." All the while I gave her the "you're full of it" look, and she informed me they'd be talking to the carrier soon. I turned away and said in a loud voice, "yeah I'm sure I'll be hearing from you REAL soon." All I got back was an annoyed grunt. As I left, I was walking beside another visitor who told me, "I wish I could be paid a lot of money to stand around all day and be incompetent." Wonder if he dealt with the same woman I did.

The next day, on a complete whim, I checked with the leasing office again. The package had miraculously shown up, with no notification to me whatsoever. I happily took the package, glad I could wash my hands of the USPS.

Any other company in a similar situation would have made some slight effort to help the situation. With most organizations you can generally ask for some kind of manager or supervisor, and plead your case. You may not get helped in the end, but with most competent organizations, they'll at least make an effort. They want to keep your business. Not so apparently, with the USPS. They won't lose a heck of a lot of business if you send your package via FedEx or UPS - because in the end, the standard mail is going to be handled through them. They get the money from those stamps. And if you complain to a "manager," they probably won't care.

And so, another situation comes along where someone or something doesn't care about courtesy. It's a frightening trend. The USPS doesn't care anymore. The USPS represents our government. A disturbing prospect.

Odds, Ends, and things in-between

Well, here we are, over one month removed from the last post here. Where have I been? Mainly moving, and working odd hours. Up until about a week ago I had been working back-to-back overnight shifts, 12 hours from Friday night to Saturday morning, and then again Saturday night to Sunday morning. I’m sure that’s nothing to certain people (doctors, for example), but I’m just not used to it. I got started on a few posts, but couldn’t finish them due to my brain just going bye-bye for the night.

My Mom said everyone should move every 3-4 years, and I tend to agree with her. The reason behind this is that it gives you an excuse to clean up and get rid of some of the junk that has accumulated over time. I had things in the storage closet outside that I had no reason to keep around, such as empty boxes from products I’ve purchased. I had a few empty cardboard boxes from the last time I moved – complete with newspaper that I used. I had receipts from purchases I made a decade ago. Why? I’m sure I couldn’t tell you. But I can tell you I spent several hours shredding the receipts (Word to the wise: spend money on a good shredder. I had to stop several times because my cheap-o shredder kept getting stuck).

The amount of money I spent moving was crazy. Not with the move itself, but with the fees involved – everyone loves to charge you something. There are the moving fees that the cable company charge, that the fees that the electric company charge – not to mention the usual fees when you live in an apartment – pet deposit, security deposit, registration fees, etc. Luckily the Internet makes this process rather painless. Also, if you think those “move for free” services are scams, well; I had a rather nice experience with them. Yes, they’ll tack on silly little fees such as if you’re moving from a second floor to a third floor apartment (I was), but these guys were fast and efficient. I must’ve spent several weeks packing – the movers packed all my boxes and furniture, drove to the new place, and then unpacked all my boxes and furniture in the span of about 90 minutes to 2 hours. Not bad!

Local delivery restaurants – I’ll expand upon this in another post. I just think its silly the fact that the new local delivery restaurants basically have the same menus as the ones where I used to live!

On cheaters and alleged cheaters – 2007 saw several sports records matched or broken. Sadly, the people and/or teams involved with these records have been involved with cheating, either admitted or alleged. New England Patriots – first 16-0 season in the NFL (though not the first undefeated season). They admitted to videotaping other teams play calling signals in order to get an edge. The all-time home run record in baseball was broken by Barry Bonds, who has been linked to steroid use, and is now being investigated for lying to a Federal jury. Then there’s all the other sports controversies – Michael Vick and his dog fighting, the Mitchell report (Google it), and others. These people and teams are making millions of dollars and are pulling this crap. Meanwhile, ER doctors, firefighters, teachers, military personnel risking their lives overseas – these people usually only make enough money to get by. If one of them was involved in dog fighting, they would go away for a long time. Someone like Michael Vick? His 22-month or so sentence will probably be cut in half since he has the money to work the system. Geez.

On yelling advice to random strangers: this is just a bad idea. I went out shopping the other day, and while driving through the parking lot, almost hit someone who was backing out. They simply weren’t looking where they were going. I screeched to a halt, stopped, and backed up so the person could leave. They didn’t – they just sat there. Finally, I drove around them and parked nearby. I shook my head as I got out of the car – annoyed at another careless driver. “Oh well,” I thought, as I turned and headed towards the store. “Calm down!!! It’s not the end of the world!” This I heard yelled by the driver of the other vehicle as they drove away. I certainly wasn’t angry as the other driver seemed to think I was. What if I were unbalanced? What if I were a criminal? There’s always that horrible chance that someone telling me my business would cause me to lose it. In my experience, giving advice to a stranger doesn’t end well, especially when it’s advice they probably don’t want to hear. Telling an angry/sad person to cheer up, or similar advice, usually doesn’t sit well with the other person. Not that I’m against giving advice (heck, I do it all the time here), it’s just that in this day and age, you never know how a person is going to react. Stick to giving it to people you know (and most people reading this are people I know).

On me, posting on this blog: I hope to produce more. Even if it’s a “this is what happened to me today” post, I hope that you’ll be hearing more from me in the future.