Category Archives: food

Dear Tres Cugini, Was that Swordfish or Chicken?

Dear Very Expensive Italian Restaurant,

Here are a few ideas:

  1. If you run a restaurant where entrees cost $28 and $32 and don’t include a salad, the entree should look and taste Spectacular.  (see: The Chop House)
  2. Even if your entrees cost $10, your wait staff should be Very Good.  At your prices, the wait staff should be Excellent, which ours was not.  He was snooty and seemed bothered to have us for customers.  I think Bistro Bella Vita would be happy to take our money next time.
  3. See # 1.  That was the worst excuse for swordfish I have ever seen.
Thank goodness the conversation with great friends made up for it.  But you can bet that next time we’ll enjoy each other’s company at Leo’s or Rose’s or even Noodles, who’s employees always seem thrilled to have our business.  And don’t accept tips.
I’ve been to Italy, dear sirs, and I’ve never eaten a single meal there that approached that dismal dish you served me last night.  For shame.
Without hope for your improvement,
A former and rather disgusted customer

School Fundraisers

Even though I’ve been a PTO President, volunteered for umpteen book fairs, and written my fair share of flyers telling parents about “exciting opportunities” to support the schools, I have a confession to make.

I’m not a fan of school fundraisers.  Nope, I’m really not.

I am a fan of financially supporting the schools.  I am also happy to write the school a check to express that support.  I do not need random candy, sweet breads, or wrapping paper in return.  (Although I will say that the wrapping paper has been very nice paper.)  I especially do not want to pay a 70% premium for a crappy item that I could find for next to free at Target, so that the school earns $.59.  Why don’t I just give the school $25 and call it good? Can someone explain this “get random junk for a high price so your school can earn pennies” philosophy to me?

But, as you may have guessed by my ranting thus far, I do, indeed, pony up for the aforementioned random items.  Case in point:  this year’s sweet bread.  It’s a dessert, I guess.  In an attempt to clear some of the who-knows-what from my freezer, I dug this out from last fall so I could be the Best Mom Ever by serving dessert on a Wednesday.  A Wednesday, people!

So I review the package, and it says this:

Which I did, right?  I just dug it out of the scary depths of my freezer where it was busy making friends with italian sausage and some soup from 2009.

And now I’m ready to bake it.  So here are the instructions for baking:

Anybody notice anything strange?  Why does it have “Thawed” instructions, when I was clearly told to KEEP FROZEN?  Nowhere on the package does it say, “Thaw before baking.”

Luckily for me, it also has the Frozen instructions.  On the downside, it appears that all of the cinnamon popped out the side of the bread somewhere between the time the frozen bread shipped from who-knows-where to the school, where I’m guessing it did not stay frozen, until it arrived at my house, via backpack.

Dessert on a Wednesday might not turn out to be so great after all.  Frosted Mini-Wheats for dessert, anyone?

photo credit:  Stepheye

This week is flying by, isn’t it?  It’s a bit of a blurry haze.

Baby, it’s also cold outside.  My kids love to roll around in that freezing snow, and I love to watch while I feel the warmth from the cozy fire and the hot cocoa in my mug.

When the boys come in, they want some hot cocoa, too.  If you visit me over at Midwest Parents today, you’ll see my recipes for  how to make homemade hot chocolate and the best sugar cookies ever.  And I’m warning you:  I do mean best ever!