Concasse?

I got the July Lee County Shrine Club newsletter in the mail yesterday. No article this month either, I sent out a one page newsletter. A one pager means one legal size sheet of the 24 pound paper printed on both sides with the calendar on the back with the address header. We aren’t meeting in July, due to the holiday week and people being gone. Attendance would be very low. Plus our main cook will be in Toronto at the Imperial Shrine session. I have an idea for an article about the ten year old girl that passed away last month. She was a Shrine Hospital patient with more problems since birth than you can imagine. She was a sweet kid though and I have to get it down just right to satisfy me on the article. I already have approval from the parents to write something.

Funny thing happened last week. On Tuesday, while Christy was on vacation after the store inventory, I went after us some lunch. She was focusing on house cleaning stuff, like getting rid of stuff and cleaning up her scrapbook room. I went to Subway for a couple of sandwiches. This was about 11:45 AM and the Subway on West Main & North Thomas was packed. I was in line and I ordered two ham & turkey subs and while I was waiting for all the toppings, she girl behind the counter was telling the guy in front of me that he could get two sandwiches because it was “Two for Tuesday.” He said he didn’t want a second sandwich but she insisted, so he gave in and said he could feed it to his dog or throw it away. Good deal, Two for Tuesday, right? I was getting two sandwiches, so I wanted a free one.

When I got to the register to pay I asked, “Two for Tuesday, right?”
“No, that doesn’t apply on the ham & turkeys, they have to be melts.”
Then she said, “You can add bacon and get one for free, that would make them a melt.”
I was confused. How could adding to “their food costs” make me qualify for a discount? I didn’t want the bacon. My doctor wants me to cut down on fat and salt. So I said “Okay” and paid full price for both sandwiches. When I got home I stewed on this and it made me mad. The guy in front didn’t even want a second sandwich and they insisted he take the extra one for free. I started looking at the Subway web-site and saw that the sandwiches I ordered were the “healthy” ones. So I guess eating better costs more and you can get free food if you eat extra bacon.

I sent them an e-mail through their contact section. I told them where and what I ordered including the store number and receipt number from my purchase. I simply asked them why adding to their food costs would qualify me for a discount. I also told them that the guy in front of me didn’t even want a free sandwich but the counter girl insisted he take it anyway but then refused to give me a free sandwich unless I added bacon.

I have only contacted a company a couple of times before. One was a true complaint and one was just for grins. I contacted Hardees a few years back after seeing a girl doctor another girl’s new tattoo on the food line. I was at the drive-thru waiting on my order. Someone from Hardees called me and told me they would be taking care of this and he said I was the kind of customer they wanted.

The other time was over a TV commercial. It was a Healthy Choice commercial; the actor tasted this soup and put his soup back in the pot of soup. It’s a commercial, no real harm to anyone, but I was tempted to contact someone. I did a little research and found out the brand was owned by Con-Agra Foods and sent them an e-mail. It was about four months later; I thought they had ignored the crazy guy from Mississippi when I got a response e-mail. The e-mail explained that their company was all for food safety and it was just a commercial and they were only actors. I saw the commercial later and they had cut out the returning spoon part. That was funny.

A manager from Subway called me the next morning. He said he had received my e-mail, read it and said he agreed with me. He said, “I’m sorry some of our employees are stupid.” He said they might as well wrap up a dollar and given it to me. He also went to explain that the “Two for Tuesday” promotion was for melts and if he tried to explain any exceptions that would only make it worse, because some of their employees were stupid. He told me to simply order a “melt” and hold the bacon and/or cheese. Then I could get the ham & turkey sandwiches I wanted. He agreed with me completely and told me he was going to send me some coupons. I told him I was looking for anything in the way of compensation, I just wanted to understand how adding to their food costs would qualify me for a free sandwich. He still sent me three coupons for free six-inch subs. I gave them to Christy to use when she has a short lunch from work. Now I feel obligated to have a “good” experience at Subway and e-mail him and tell him about the good part to balance out everything. So on Tuesday, order a “melt” and simply tell them to hold whatever you don’t want.

O concassed a tomato, actually a couple of tomatoes now. To “concasse” actually means to “peel seed & chop.” I like the word. I was watching Julia Child on the new Cooking Channel and she mentioned “peel, seeding & chopping” tomatoes but she never used the word “concasse.” I guess many people are doing something fancy named while cooking but never realize there is a fancy word for the process. I heard Martha Stewart mention once that if you love your family you will peel your tomatoes. The old boiling water and ice water plunge really works well. So I guess if you love your family you will boil some water. I have found if you get into the habit of doing the little things right every time, it won’t seem like a bother. Using decent cookware and a good sharp knife also helps.

I am growing some basil along with my pepper plants this year. I am growing it in a plastic window box type pot and it has done really well. That fresh basil plucked off the plants just before you use it is amazing. The flavor is so nice. I am finding stuff to cook that I can use it in now. I was whooping up me a quick lunch the other day after I finished printing the newsletter. I chopped an onion, garlic and some of my mild peppers and one jalapeño. I started to sweat that then concassed a tomato and threw it into the mix. Then I tossed in a can of herring filets in tomato sauce that I found at Big Lots. You can tell Christy was at work, because she would never eat something with herring filets. While my herring sauce was simmering I cooked up some linguine noodles and had one heck of good lunch. I used fresh grated parmesan also. I know buying real parmesan cheese of good quality seems to cost more, but in the long run it tastes better and you get more cheese than you will out of some container of fake filler parmesan product.

This morning I made my version of caprese bruschetta. Caprese (kah-PREH-seh) is a mixture of tomatoes, basil, olive oil and mozzarella. I added some onions, peppers and garlic though. But I got to concasse another tomato and use some more fresh basil. The only side effect is I now sound like an Olive Garden. The bruschetta was tasty though.

I am reading Anthony Bourdain’s new book “Medium Raw.” It’s pretty good and I agree with a lot of things he has to say. Some people might not like him but the man can write. Maybe this book is what has me thinking about cooking and food. Now if I can break my Facebook farming obsession for a while. Why this virtual farming is so habit forming I don’t know, but it seems a lot of people are wrapped up in it. I see a group called Farming Anonymous coming up. People addicted to virtual gaming to a point it controls their lives. People that don’t drink, do drugs, or gamble but have lost everything because their grapes were due. We are destined to become a society of “weebles” sitting at home in front of a computer screen plowing and planting. So I guess the cure it to sit around blogging about peeling seeding and chopping a tomato, CONCASSE!

By the way, here is a link to a whole encyclopedia of pasta.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pasta

More Blogging for the sake of blogging; Don’t Panic

A while later….
I guess I am not as good as a blogger as some, but it isn’t a job and I am sure that my readers number in the few. But I do appreciate the ones that actually read my blog and I would hate to make tolerating my musings to be a daily chore. I have been involved in reading a book which for some reason inhibits my desire to write anything; kind of like I don’t have anything to say yet because I am not finished with this book.

My regiment of daily blood pressure pills affect my ability to rest, because I am supposed to take this one pill twice a day and it makes me sleepy. Taking it during the day creates a problem staying awake then you don’t sleep through the night. Reading has helped. Now I am awake in the middle of the night drinking a pot of Community Coffee, half New Orleans blend and half Between Roast laced with Half & Half, it’s good.

I have several things to do today to prepare for my trip this Sunday and Monday to Shreveport transporting a couple of kids to the Shriners Hospital for Children located there. Making these trips does take up two days of your life but it also recharges my Shriner batteries. I am taking another Shriner with me so he can be ready to help out with our transportation program. It will be two full days and I also have a meeting in Starkville Tuesday night. I have a lodge meeting Monday night and hope to get back in time to make it to lodge. My Facebook activity will slow down except for what I read and post from my phone. At least my wife will have some quality computer time while I am gone. I wonder if Facebook will shrivel much while I am gone? (facetious question by the way)

My wife is baking a cake for her grandmother’s birthday tonight, so I will be cooking supper for her this evening. I am planning on fixing roast beef, steamed asparagus and roasted potatoes, carrots with onion. I have been trying to figure out how to use some of the fresh basil I have growing on the back porch, so I might fix a simple baked tomato with fresh basil and mozzarella. After looking at Mark Bittman’s iPhone application “How to Cook Everything” I will probably use lemon zest and lemon juice to dress up my steamed asparagus. I like cooking for my wife and making her happy. She is a good wife. I know, because I have experienced a bad wife. Now to have to kitchen clear and oven ready when she starts the cake baking. Her plan is to have it for Sunday to take to the nursing home. This is by request from her father, so I am glad she is able to bake one for the occasion.

I have been reading the “Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” which is five complete novels and one story all by Douglas Adams. Amazing writing, it is totally original and fun. I bought this “classic” edition a few years ago, but kept pushing aside until lately when I was looking for something to read until Daniel Silva’s latest novel come out in July. I should have read this collection of work long ago. Like all good books this one is an experience; one of a different caliber more “avant-garde” than you will normally find. I can understand how the various series of this work became so popular. “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” is a book that needs to be experienced; it will blow your mind.

I am almost done with the fourth novel part and about ready to put it down for a bit. Mainly for two reasons, one my brain needs a break from the wild ride this writing generates and secondly I am anxious to start two other books on the food world. One is the recent “Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook” by Anthony Bourdain. I enjoyed his “Kitchen Confidential” book so I had to get his latest book just published. Bourdain may piss a lot of people off, but the man can write. His No Reservations series on the Travel Channel is enjoyable as well. I don’t get the Travel Channel on my cable but I can see his shows though the On Demand portion, which is better, low commercial content. I previewed the first pages of this book the other night while waiting on a computer to update at my bother-in-law’s house and I’m expecting it to be another good read.

The second book I have on deck is “Heat: an amateur's adventures as kitchen slave, line cook, pasta maker, and ...” by Bill Buford. I hadn’t heard of this one and found it in the bargain book section; actually it was a resold library book from a library in Ontario. I think I paid three dollars for it or something. Sorry Bill, I guess you don’t have Bourdain’s connections, but the other day I also saw Hemingway in the bargain section. From what I have previewed in the book it should prove interesting, especially for a foodie person. When I Googled the book, I found it got decent reviews; I guess I will find out. I will probably read the Bourdain book first.

I am a cookbook fanatic. I always look though the cookbook section of a bookstore and I have five or six iPhone cookbook applications on my phone. While looking at an Ina Garten thirty-five dollar slick page edition I found a Moosewood cookbook next to it that looked really interesting. With what I already own plus the vast resources provided by the Internet and my phone, I don’t usually need to buy a lot of cookbooks anymore. I guess Ina is going to have to get an App like Tyler Florence has now. I can’t even find Ina on Twitter and I thought everyone was on Twitter. I guess living in the Hamptons means you have so much money you don’t need to tell people what you are doing every day.

The Food Network is all over Twitter and Facebook, the Food Network Twitter account has over 136,000 followers but the much more interesting part is that they are following 1098 different people and groups on Twitter. Is there someone at the Food Network monitoring all of these Tweets? Is it them just participating in the on line world by clicking on everything food related or corporate paranoia? I wonder if Monday morning a report will be on someone’s desk at the Food Network that will include that Melvin from Mississippi used lemon zest on his asparagus this weekend. Probably not but they are following Britney Spears and Conan O’Brian though.

The sun is up, my wife left for work and I made more coffee. Kharma Jean the Phenobarbital dog is on the couch after her morning dose wondering why I didn’t share my rye bread toast with her. After six hundred dollars in vet bills in the last six weeks, she is going to eat that blankety-blank expensive dog food we had to buy.

I haven’t written anymore articles for my Shrine Club newsletter lately because I had photographs from the fishing rodeo for June and we aren’t meeting in July, so I will put out a single page July edition. I have one in my head, but it isn’t totally created. This past month I went to a funeral home visitation of a ten year old girl I knew as a Shrine patient. She had several things medically wrong with her from birth. I want to write something about her but the sadness of her life and loss is overwhelming. She didn’t talk and was blind but she was a pure angel. I felt real bad for her parents, whom are also nice people. I am not sure how to write down what I am thinking and feeling about her. She obviously touched a lot of lives because the funeral home was full of people.

This has been Shriners International Awareness week, I hope many were aware. I am going to drive a couple of children to Shreveport tomorrow for their appointments Monday. I am aware of what we do for children. Time to start my day…..