Coleslaw I actually liked!

Forsyth MO. - After searching for years to find a commercially prepared coleslaw that I could actually tolerate, I cam across a 15 ounce container made by Reser's. It was located in a cold case next to Deli counter at the Country Mart store in Forsyth. It sold for three dollars and change and was pretty darn tasty!

Random thoughts for October 20, 2017!

Rebooting the French Dip!

One of my favorite restaurant foods would be the French Dip with a side of au jus! A truly delectable combination of bread, beef and sop, if ever there was one! However, there's one thing wrong with that name. Interestingly, this culinary creation originated in America, not France! Apparently, some LA California eatery called Philippe’s came up with the first recorded mention of it way back in 1908! (Even French fries (which are often served as a side), were originally invented in Belgium! So, you can't always go by a name when trying to figure where some foods originated from. A rather messy way to go about naming foods, in my book. So, I thought that perhaps now was the time to 'reboot' the French Dip into something more PC...

Recently, i launched a campaign to rechristen it to the 'LA Dipper.' And, while I was at it, I felt perhaps that the beef drippings, (aka the 'au jus') could also be changed to plain old 'slop'. So, now when ordering this classic, you could ask for a LA Dip n Slop with a side of Belgium fries! Wow! Talk about being political correct! Inspired by my genius, I've even tried to call Governor Jerry Brown's office to see what he would think, but so far he's been out of the office each time I've tried...

Bernie Sanders is leading the polls!

Speaking of French Dips. Just look at Bernie Sanders and the fact that he was currently leading the 2020 Presidential candidate polls on the Democratic Party side! (A factoid that is driving many Republicans mad with happiness). Both they and I can just imagine what a wide appeal such an avowed Socialist would have in the upcoming general election in 2020!

Yes, I can just see it now. Old Bernie standing up there on a podium in early 2020 under the glare of media cameras, doing his best to convince voters everywhere that piling trillions more debt on top of the staggering amount we already owe, would not be completely insane! I mean, what could possibly go wrong with that kind of thinking? Go Bernie!

The Country Mart crawl!

As the years have flown on by, increasingly, my body has become more and more infirm and in meed of exercise. I'd begun to look, ever more longingly, at those neat enclosed malls where old farts like myself can get in a bit of exercise while also staying out of the elements. I think they're referred to a Mall Walkers! You can catch packs of them shambling around in endless circles most every morning in the neighboring town of Branson. Wikipedia even has a neat definition; 'Mall walking is a form of exercise in which people walk or jog through the usually long corridors of shopping malls. Many malls open early so that people may mall walk, however stores and other such facilities generally do not open at this time, though vending machine concessions are available.' Wow! I found myself in total geriatric envy...

Then it came to me that even though there was no mall in my particular town, we did sport a nicely sized grocery store! It's called Country Mart and I've discovered that if you are very careful, you can get there early and walk and walk and walk....

Preformed hamburger patties at the Country Mart!

Forsyth MO. – In the meat section of the Country Mart store are preformed hamburger patties the likes of which I've found to be somewhat addictive!

At $3.99 a pound, these burgers were way more expensive than the regular packaged ground beef offerings, but I've never been accused of being very logical!

The patties both weighed in at about .35 of a pound. I prepared one on my venerable George Foreman grill, as it takes only a few minutes and much of the fat is drained off. From there, I added a bun, onion, mustard and ketchup and was ready to go! At about 340 calories, this wasn't a diet destroying meal, (as I reluctantly left off the side of potato chips)!

County Mart and that fine print!

Forsyth MO. - Country Mart has been around for some time. In general, they have been my principle destination for all my grocery shopping needs. And, like a lot of folk, I try to take advantage of any sales that might be going on such as what they put online. It's also been a common practice for them to have ads that read '2 for $5' and stuff like that. So, it was with no little surprise when I fell victim to the ad pictured above. At first glance, it looks as though you could just buy one bag and expect to pay $2.50, but that wasn't so. If you look closely, you can see they have a 'disclaimer' or modifier that states that if you purchase one bag, you pay the full price. In their most recent flyer that will run from Friday, January 6th to Sunday, Jan the 8th, all of the other 'two for's' do not have that wording! It's just when one purchases these chips, that an unaware shopper might breeze through the checkout counter only to find that they paid full price, after they got home!

Now, I fully understand that this sort of thing is legal. It just seems to be shady to people like myself!

Country Mart offers take home Turkey dinners for the Holiday!

Just in time for the Thanksgiving Holiday, when many of us are stressed out from working, doing choirs are having relatives over for a feast, Country Mart located in Forsyth MO is offering three varieties of Thanksgiving meals with all the fixings!

As you enter the store, on the left, is a table with application forms. Just fill one out well before November the 26th, get it over to the Deli and your all set! I've included a copy of the form below.

On Country Mart's declining service!

Last Sunday, August the 23rd, I had to run over to a local Country Mart for a few grocery items. The store was only lightly populated with customers, mostly church attendees by the looks of how they were dressed. Me? I was less fashionable wearing scruffy jeans and an old T-shirt that had seen better days. And, while I am religious, I just don't like to make a public show of it...

Anyway, everything when swimmingly until I approached the checkout counter. I picked lane 3, a definite bad call as look back on it! The white woman at the register was the absolute epitome of all things slow. If some university were to give out a diploma for slowness, this woman would easily rate a PhD! Every motion she made was like watching some slow mo on the Tube, except that this was real like. And speaking of which, I felt mine passing before my eyes as I watched her work. It was almost like she was on break!

Seriously, the management folks at the Forsyth MO CM need to light a fire under their personnel. Maybe if the were to pay them a little more over the minimum wage....

The cost of veggies at the local grocery – October 2013!

Thank goodness that my eight or so pepper plants are motoring right along late in the season and are still producing some fine banana, bell and long red cayenne peppers! And, while the harvest has not ever been overwhelming, it has been steady enough to service my stir fries and salads.

I feel blessed to have at that one vegetable (which I use frequently at a cheap cost), because the other guys I buy at the local grocery – well, that's not so much the case. Here is a sampling of the cost of some of the vegetables as of the day of this post:

Bell peppers $0.89 each

Carrots $0.99 1 lb bag

Celery $1.49 1 lb pkg

Lettuce $1.79 Iceberg or head lettuce – no reason given for the high cost

Onions $1.49 per lb

Potatoes 2.99 5 lb sack

Here's a post I did earlier in the year in January, 2013 that lists some of the prices back then. Thankfully, the cost of gas is currently down some, now at 3.129 a gallon for unleaded. I fear that this lower cost, however, is more due to the terrible economy and the shutdown of the government than anything else. Everywhere, all across the nation people are blaming one side or the other or both for the shutdown. (For my part, I'm certain this was a Democratic Party and far left engineered deal that was spear-headed by a very evil and despicable President Obama). [Forsythkid]