Two topics

Topic of the first part, Good things: I bought a quart of honey while I was on my trip to Cincinnati. On the way home we stopped off at the orchard that my Great-Grandfather started in 1905. It is no longer in the family and was bought out a few years ago, but I still feel a connection to this orchard. Now instead of trees and strawberry beds the main fruit stand is obviously storage and the new owners have built this barn like structure which is gift shop/fruit stand/restaurant. The fruit part now seems to have a minimum part in this gift and there is this large playground in back of the barn/restaurant.

While perusing the various “tourist trap” wares I came across a shelf with pints and quarts of honey. I like good honey and the last two pints I bought was from a guy at the big flea market in Ripley, Mississippi. He had his honey marked by the different strengths of the honey. The two I bought were both good honey. This honey I found in Kentucky was labeled Suttons Honey and listed that is had won several awards, like some State Fair best eight years in a row. So I bought a quart. I started to buy a pint but I got to thinking if this honey was as good as the label indicated I would really regret only buying a pint. I am real glad I bought a quart, because it is some real good honey. My wife said it reminded her of her Grandfather’s honey.

I told her that when this jar ran out….she finished my sentence by saying “we’re taking a trip.” That would be just like me to drive seven hours one way to buy a jar of honey. I would like to think I was more restrained than that. We have driven a couple of hours to another town to see a movie that wasn’t playing in Tupelo, but that was a couple type outing. The problem is once you taste a food item with superior taste you are disappointed with anything less. My wife tells me I have a snooty palate, but after finding things that taste so much better than you had before you aren’t satisfied with “before” anymore. Everyone likes good food, but the people that are happy with bad food truly confuse me. While society still allows us we should seek out more and even better tasting food items, either sweet or savory as long as it is better than you had before. I would rather pay twenty dollars for a wedge of real parmesan cheese and grate it myself per use than any filler-filled facsimile. Not only does it tastes better, but you get more and have to use less. It’s no secret that the best will cost more or even require more effort, but if you get in the habit of using fresh ingredients and better cooking techniques you will reap the rewards. Now I have to start figuring out how I will get more of this honey. Several very delicious items I have found were by being adventurous and not fearing trying new things. Personally I think it is wrong for a person to declare they don’t like something they haven’t tried before. Plus sometimes it isn’t the food item but the preparation of that food that made it taste bad. Try something new every so often and I think you will be surprised with some of your new discoveries. Recommendations help but please remember that “taste” is very individual and not everyone is the same. So be open-minded and enjoy.

Topic of the second part: Advertising. Daily, hourly and every minute of the day now we are bombarded with advertising. You would think these ad guys would realize that by increasing the volume of a television commercial only results in hitting the mute button and ignoring the ad rather than getting our attention. I don’t mind a company advertising their products, but now there is so much advertising I am getting were I don’t listen to or read any of them. Plus, they have to repeat the same ones constantly. Ads should be limited to only once a week, even once a day would be nice. Everything has a sponsor. The homegrown ones are the worse. True ads make it possible for some TV shows and events to be shown but we also pay good money for cable service. When is the last time you saw an advertisement and was inspired to buy that product? The ones about the “free” credit report make me wonder, if it is a free service what is paying for all those annoying ads? The local boys with the used car lot that think they are entertainers only make people avoid them. We should be able to block an ad once we seen it once. Do people really buy the premium brands with the fancy ads or do they opt for the store brand at a lower price. Some premium brands are better due to quality not because of the advertisement.

Once I saw a food ad where the person tasted the soup and put the spoon back in the pot. I e-mailed the company telling them about the lack of food safety portrayed in the advertisement. About four months later I got a response stating they were very serious about food safety and that they were actors not company food professionals. I saw the same TV spot after that and that part was edited out. I thoroughly enjoyed my little victory.

The print media isn’t any better. Magazines are mostly advertisements but at least they aren’t loud with annoying songs. The internet is racked with ads and will jump in your face. I once knew a newspaper reporter and actually went on restaurant reviews with her. She told me that we couldn’t give a bad review because the advertising department wouldn’t allow it and the advertising department controlled the paper because they brought in the money.

So like most Americans I have learned to ignore all the advertisements I see on a daily basis. I have become so overloaded with ads I am not affected, inspired or amused. All that money, time and energy spent on so many calculated seconds while I get a refill or go to the bathroom. The mute button gets hits automatically and I miss whatever is out there that can and will improve my life. I guess I won’t be talking to my doctor about that pill which will allow me to walk romantically on the beach regardless of a possible heart attack, blindness, stroke, rash, dry mouth or gas.