Responsible Consuming

Mon, 1 Mar 2010 19:05:42 -0500

I take my role as a consumer very seriously. If I have a note-worthy experience, good or bad, I always give feedback to the company. Yes, it takes time, but I think it’s important.

This is why:

How else will companies improve if they don’t know what they’re doing wrong?
It’s not fair for me to stop giving a company my business because of a bad experience unless they know about the situation.
I want good employees to be rewarded when they do a good job. How else will they be motivated to continue doing a good job.
I appreciate companies who care about my opinion, and it’s nice to see who cares, and who doesn’t. I am happy to give a company a second chance if they apologize or rectify the situation. It’s only fair for me to allow them an opportunity to do that.

One nice thing about giving feedback, is that most of the time, they give me free stuff. I honestly don’t care at all about the coupons and checks, but it is a nice perk to being a responsible consumer.

The picture above is a check from a recent bad experience with Clorox. They just bought my business for $4. They just earned themselves a whole lot more than $4. Good job Clorox.

Donuts With A Difference

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 10:57:24 -0500

One of the things that I love about being married to Peter is that we share a passion (yes, I said passion) for searching the world for delicious baked goods. Every place we go, we actively seek out bakeries and konditories to test different pastries. Our bakery budget is the most flexible of all our budgets.

Two years ago, the first time we ever went to Boston together, we discovered a little, hole-in-the-wall donut shop with the best chocolate cake donuts I’ve ever tasted. This weekend we went back to that little shop and were not disappointed. The donuts were just as amazing as we remembered. By far the best chocolate cake donut I’ve had, and I’ve had LOTS in my 27 years on this earth.

To me, a cake donut’s deliciousness is defined by a soft, moist, melt-in-your mouth center, crispy outside (almost shell-like), and glaze. The soft/crispy/glaze ratio is very important.

We got seven chocolate cake, two boston cream, one buttercrunch, one blueberry, one cinnamon.

The Man Cold

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:19:46 -0500

This video is totally awesome. And totally true. I can’t wait to use the line “poor little bunny” next time Peter gets the sniffles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbmbMSrsZVQ

Donuts

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:28:09 -0500

Remember how one of my new year’s resolutions was to learn to make donuts? I can cross that one off my list, I did it this weekend.

Can you believe I’ve never made anything with yeast before? I know, for someone who likes to bake, it’s a little strange. Yeast scares me. It seems so fragile and temperamental that I’ve never dared try it on my own for fear that it will turn out a big disaster.

I saw this recipe on Pioneer Woman a few weeks ago. I read and re-read it before I started so I could get everything just right. Late last night, I discovered I didn’t have a biscuit cutter, and I wasn’t about to put off my donut making another day. I pulled out all my cookie cutters and had to get creative. Thanks to my year as Camp Director I own a pair of tin snips, (I knew that calling would pay off at some point), and a hammer. I cut up a cookie cutter I never use, hammered out the kinks, and made myself a couple of circles to use for my donuts. They surely weren’t perfect, the they worked just fine.

Today was the big donut making day, and it wasn’t so bad. I got a little nervous when they didn’t rise in an hour like the Pioneer Woman’s did, but it turned out ok. They weren’t totally amazing, but they were pretty tasty and I think I’ll make them again sometime. I liked the cinnamon sugar ones the best.

Next I think I’ll try cake donuts.

Grocery Shopping

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 21:29:43 -0500

This is what happens when Peter and I go grocery shopping without a list.

Three boxes of Multi-Grain Cheerios
One pack of lightbulbs
One jar of crunchy Skippy peanut butter
One package of springtime Oreos (if you haven’t purchased yours yet, get them while they’re still fresh!)
Two packages of starburst jelly beans
One package of conversation hearts (Brachs, not Necco brand)
One can of hairspray
One pound of butter (not sure what I’m planning on doing with this, spread it on my Oreos?)
One eyebrow brush

I think we’ll be awfully hungry this week. I also think next time we’ll make a list.