Window Shopper

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Frankly, I just have to comment on this. A while back, I did a review on the “other sub shop” which wasn’t as much a review about their product as it was about their operation. I actually have no idea what their product tastes like. I went to the website and had a nightmare time trying to access small details like how much something is or how large it is. No information of that sort on the website whatsoever. And I actually thought that someone might want to know this. The page views on that post were slim and none. Nobody cares about that place at all from the look of it.

Now we come to Subway, the sandwich shop that I do know a bit about. I have been eating Subway sandwiches for years. I drove a truck starting in 1984 and somewhere along the way, I discovered Subway. They like the idea of having you pick out the toppers so that you will be satisfied with their sandwich. I have been that for years. Now the price is getting up there. I can’t say that I believe that $7-$9 is a good price for a sandwich. My goodness no!! But the fact that you can have the toppings you want is a good thing.

But I do have a gripe about them. This is a silly gripe. I know it. But it is so strange too. Now since I no longer travel all over the country, I cannot tell you if this little practice is all over or just peculiar to this area or even this store. The last time I talked with the manager from the store we go to, it was a while back but he was a strange puppy. And now, strange is the order of the day at that store. Or maybe I am just being that way. Who knows. But here it is….TADA!

These people at this store are making the sandwiches upside down. I know. You were expecting something important, weren’t you? But I just figured that if I was paying out the amount I have to pay for these things, you would think I could at least have the thing right side up, right? Do you realize that if you had all those ingredients at home, you could make the thing for less than a couple of bucks? Yet, they want to charge you at a minimum of $5 for the list of 8 sandwiches that are apparently basic enough to be on that list. Then you have the rest of the menu which is much more or a little more. In either case, if you order a sandwich, it’s going to be built upside down.

With the OTHER sandwich shop, on their website, I could not find any evidence of prices or sizes of sandwich. A similar situation is happening with Subway in some ways. We asked for a brochure on the list of sandwiches available. No prices on it. None. If you are wanting to know what’s on that list of 8 sandwiches, you have to go into the store to see what they are. Not in the brochure. I have NOT been to their website so don’t tell me it’s there and I should quit griping. My actual gripe is about how they are building my sandwich. Now you may see this as asinine. I probably would too except that when you order certain types of bread for your sandwich, most of the real taste for that bread is in the top of it!

One more argument on this and I will shut up…..about this. When I want to eat a sandwich, I want to taste the whole thing. It seems to me that if you get those tastes in the correct order it will taste the way you want. If it is changed, then you do not get the same result. I am telling you that the sandwich tastes different. So, you go to build a sandwich and put in the cheese and the meat first. Know what’s next? The TOPPINGS! And why are they called toppings? I don’t know. Maybe because they belong on the TOP of the sandwich, hence calling them TOPPINGS!!!! Am I being anal? Maybe but I still have the right to have my sandwich built my way. If they don’t want to do that, I don’t have to go there. Sigh. I want to be able to have it my way because I am paying for it. Is this going to hurt business that I want the blasted thing done right? Is it SOOOO hard to turn the bread around and make it right? Come on here. It takes NO MORE TIME to make the thing the right way than to make it the other way. There is no excuse for this other than people who simply want to be different. And frankly, I doubt seriously that the whole food chain is doing this. If I am wrong, then I guess Subway lost a customer. That stinks.

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That statement for those diehard fans was a DUH, I know. But I’m a slow learner so it took a few days for me to get that fact in my head. While we love pro football, we are not always available or able to watch the games. In other words, we are NOT diehard fans but we do love to watch the game when time permits. I haven’t been as much of a college football fan but some games are well worth the effort too. Now, whether it’s a tailgate party or sitting at home in front of the television, big screen or small, you have to have the good football food to go with it, right? Time to get to the store and stock up.

I have a few ideas for things to serve at such functions, whether it’s a few family members around the tv or a bigger tailgate party. You definitely want to have something that’s going to warm the stomach and the heart for that game! I suggest chili recipes and dips to go with it. Yes, yes. All lame suggestions since you are there at the tailgate party and I am not. Nope. I just know what I would like to have at such things. Chips, dips, popcorn, pretzels, sandwiches, hot stuff for the cooler days and nights like various chili bowls, various barbecue things like wings and pork tenderloin, brownies, cookies. See? I do know. No, I did not mention every possibility since that would take an entire blog with nothing on it but that!!! But you get the idea. Two places I know have good chili recipes are Tinfoil Chef and Popcorn Cook blogs. They both have put up chili recipes that will get you though a good football party, one is HOT and the other is not. Yep, it rhymes. More later on that football tailgater or big screen moment. Oh one tiny thing here. I am shamelessly promoting both blogs. One belongs to my husband and one to me. *grin*

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That sounded goofy, didn’t it. I tend to overlook the end of October’s obvious day and head straight for Thanksgiving. Our family, as much of it is in the neighborhood, always get together at my Mom’s house and celebrate the day. Three are currently away in other states. One of those will be home for the holiday. That will be the big meal. Christmas is usually more about having a good time and celebrating with the kids while they ooh and ahh about their presents. Regardless of the holiday, there is always dessert. Always. What’s a holiday without dessert?

Even now, I can taste Mom’s pumpkin pie, mincemeat pie and there will usually be cookies galore. Mom acts like the typical Grandma with all the kids, young and older. Inevitably, there will be an exchange of dessert recipes because I don’t have all of hers yet. See, I am more of a cook than a baker so my attempts at baking can be disastrous at times. Except for cookies, usually chocolate chip and oatmeal, I tend to leave the grand baking to Mom. The crusts on her pies are awesome. I don’t think I have ever had that type of flaky crust on any other pie but hers. So, do you see why I am skipping the one for the other? Besides, we do not recognize that day at the end of this month anyway. I am thinking of turkeys, dressing, salads, green bean casserole and so much more….and desserts!!! Can’t forget those.

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There are times when it is such a lot of fun trying to get someone’s attention. I do this to my sis all the time by sending her Stumble Upon pages that have food or some animal on them. But the food items or recipes are the best ones. Recently, I ran across a simple yet incredibly good one that has cream cheese in it. That is one of my favorites anyway. Actually, I love cheesecake but have not had any of that for years. It’s kind of expensive at the moment. So, I look for things that are almost as good. This particular recipe seems to be like that. However, if you are taking Akavar to lose weight, you might want to find a substitute for the cream cheese.

It’s a pumpkin spread that could be used on bagels or muffins. I cannot think of a thing you could not use it on if you get creative enough with it. The simple fact is that this is really simple. You have cream cheese. You have a can of pumpkin. Put them together and you have a spread that works on whatever you want it it be on. Well, it’s a tad more complicated than that. A couple more ingredients that I have actually forgotten now. Yes, that helps, doesn’t it. Hey, you can even use it as a dip for fruit. Having now found this little gem, I am going to be having it for lots of occasions. Just so I don’t completely let you down on this, the name of the recipe is Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Spread and I found it on a blog called Pinch My Salt. There now. That should just about redeem me from getting lynched, right?

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Perhaps you feel that Quiznos is THE sub sandwich. I cannot say that since I have never had one. What I was planning was to do a verses type post on the two major sandwich outfits. So, what I had in mind was to go to their website and order from them. And then I could compare. However, that is not going to happen. And I wanted to tell you why that is the case. A couple of years ago, we went in to a Quiznos to order a couple of sandwiches. Since we were already familiar with “the other sandwich” place, this was an easy call. Quiznos has different sizes of sandwiches, as in different from the OTHER place which has two sizes. From what I recall, there were three or four sizes. The prices, even then, were so far out of range it was not funny. They wanted more than $10 for a less than foot long sub sandwich. We walked back out and never thought about it again until now.

While it would be unfair of me to compare the two sub sandwiches in taste since I have never had a Quiznos, I am qualified to tell you what I ran into just trying to navigate their website. What a nightmare! I was looking for sizes of the sandwiches, prices, locations and availability of delivery. Did I find it easy to navigate their site? NO! Did I find sizes of sandwiches? NO! Did I find prices? NO! Did I find locations? YES! Did I find availability to deliver? That depends on how you look at it. Delivery is available to me from a store that is well over 60 miles from my house yet it says I can get delivery. That’s weird. But okay. We do go to all four available locations that came up. They were all at least 60 miles away, some much farther than that. I thought maybe we could try them again anyway.

Prices, sizes, navigation. Those are pretty important. I did find a menu though it is in a PDF file. When I went to get the PDF file, I had to agree to a LICENSE agreement before I could even look at their menu which, by the way, did NOT have their prices or sizes on it. There is a very POSITIVE NOTE here with them. Their menu is awesome. They do have a lot of sandwiches available, far more than that OTHER place. If I were going simply by the menu alone, it would win hands down. No question. Black Angus Steak sub is absolutely fabulous. Just looking at the picture is enough to get you wanting it and wanting it RIGHT NOW!!! I have no idea how many items are on that menu but you would find what you wanted, no doubt in my mind. But that was not the problem.

What I have learned is that in order to place an order with them, you will have to generate an account and log in. I suspect you will not be able to do a single thing without it. And I am also guessing that there will be no account allowed if you do not live within their designated limits for delivery. However, I cannot tell you for certain since I have not created an account with them. I actually see no reason to do so because I do not know if I want to buy anything from them. I am a comparison shopper. There is nothing to compare here. No prices, no sizes, no way of knowing anything prior to logging in and starting the buying process. I did try to start a purchase without creating an account. The first thing they want is your location. Still no prices or sizes available. I will say this. IF those things were available to see, I might be interested. How can I know one way or the other?

All in all, my experience with Quiznos is a non-experience since I am unable to get any information whatsoever from their site. The experience going into their store was interesting in that the prices were too high, the sizes of sandwich could not be compared to the OTHER places since there were no similar sizes (no matches at all) and despite standing there for about 5 minutes, no one asked us if we wanted anything or could they help us in any way. They were not busy at the time. My experience therefore is that I have no plans for the forseeable future to go to or order from Quiznos. If anyone has had a better experience, I am glad.

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Before anyone gets goofy and goes to PH to see about the contest, that is on a blog called Lisa Cooking. As for what’s new at Pizza Hut…a new Tuscani Pasta dish called Premium Bacon Mac ‘n Cheese. For anyone who happens to like mac and cheese plus bacon, this dish is for you. It has a cheddar cheese sauce, more cheese and topped with bacon. Who could resist that? Not I. Oh, you get 5 breadsticks with that. Now for the great news. Lisa Cooking has a contest going on to win a certificate to try that particular dish.

She has three available certificates for this contest. In order to enter the contest, you will need to go to Lisa Cooking and follow the directions she has given. You can enter a number of ways. Each entry gives you a chance at winning a certificate to try the Premium Bacon Mac ‘n Cheese Tuscani Pasta at Pizza Hut. I know that you will like it. Why not check the contest out. Remember, go to Lisa Cooking and put in your entries today!

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Well, I did not expect to make a list. It would be huge for those that I like. Those that I hate are a smaller list but definitely hated. In all of this, I enjoy food most of the time. When I was in the hospital, the food was not a great thing. In fact, I was probably losing weight so I did not need a diet pill to get the weight down. It was happening anyway. And I am sort of grateful now but at the time it was difficult to deal with. I was not feeling well and they gave me crap to eat.

That is a problem for me. You would think that they would want to feed their patients good food that would make them well again. But no. They do not want that. They want to be cheap even if you are paying the bills. Of course, that does not matter. Either you pay or the insurance, whatever kind you might have. Since they pay the bills, the hospital can slight the patient so that they can save money. At least that is my take on that particular little problem.

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A few months ago, we had a full refrigerator and full cupboards. Then a sort of money drought happened around the same time we were able to help someone have a place to stay. Do you know what happens when more food goes out of the fridge than goes in it? Big, raging holes of nothing are in the fridge. That’s what happens. No one is at fault, mind you. It’s just that way.

At the moment, I feel like the Old Mother Hubbard though I hope I ain’t that old. But the cupboards are certainly looking a tad more bare than usual. And now, the big question is….what happens when people know that the cupboards are getting bare and some of the things they usually have available no longer are available? I can tell you! Voracious appetite hits. When that happens, you get bad attitudes. ACK! You know what I think? People ought to get on Phentermine 37.5 mg because that would take care of voracious appetite syndrome. I do believe that’s what it is.

These more than sane people usually could care less about those things sitting in the fridge and the cupboards. Those items could sit there until they were out of date on the label. I am not kidding here. But let there be a few holes in the items in there and you get insanity!!! Okay, I am done hollering about it now. Oh, hey what about that cupcake that was in there? I want it!!! Wait! No!! NO!! Don’t take that! It’s MINE! Rats. It’s gone. Somebody got it first. Sigh.

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Recently, we were able to partake of the lunch buffet at two different Pizza Huts. I just thought I would comparison shop. Having done so, I am now able to give a review of both places. And I thought I would share that so that you, the reader, may be able to see what is going on at your own Pizza Hut or other buffet offerings wherever you live and eat. The two Pizza Huts in question are the store in Batesville, Arkansas and the one in Ash Flat, Arkansas. And I want to be perfectly clear here, we are not in any way affiliated with either store nor are we affiliated with Pizza Hut on a national level. We are simply consumers who saw things that we are reporting to you.

1) The Ash Flat Pizza Hut-Fairly new, built a few years ago. The buffet is in a good place in the room and accessible from all areas of the restaurant. We noticed that the buffet table was clean, neat, appealing. The person in charge of the getting the pizzas out so that there are no spots without pizza evidently knows their job. With few exceptions, the table was quite full for the lunch time. They had a full house during that time.

At frequent times, the person watching the table would come out, look the table over, combine pizzas onto one pan and leave room for more. The “more” was quick in coming. The person came out with the new one. The pasta dishes were treated exactly the same. When the pasta was getting less than half a pan, it was replaced with the person putting it into the next pan. Rarely were there any spots open on the table. They used one place in the six place table for dessert pizza. The rest were for the regular pizzas. Nothing stayed on the table for long whether because the customers took it or the person who watched the table took it because it had been there too long.

The salad looked appetizing and fresh. The person that looked at the table cleaned it when necessary. When we sat down at the table, the waitress asked us what to drink…water….which she brought right away along with silverware wrapped in a napkin very neatly. The waitress was very attentive. If we had had any problems, she would have addressed them. We asked for a special order on the buffet. They had no problem. It was there very quickly. And last but certainly not least, our waitress was very attentive to our needs. And very nice.

Result: We were quite pleased with all parts of the visit, at the way we were treated, the buffet table both in appearance and the way it was not allowed to be empty at any time. Very nice. It was just great to go there and eat from that buffet. You knew that they would not serve anything that was very old because it was not allowed to be old. Cost: $5.99. We give it a 5 out of 5 pizza rating!!

2) The Batesville Pizza Hut-When we went into the store, the buffet table was somewhat messy with food on the counter part of the table. We were asked before we sat down what we wanted to drink. As we sat down, she brought the drinks. We were not served any silverware or napkins. The silverware, we noticed, was sticking out of a container that are usually used for the salad part of the table. They were not wrapped but were out there for any food to drop into the container. We got our own napkins from the buffet table. We did ask for fresh silverware which the waitress, who was surprised at the request, brought out and it was wrapped in a napkin in haphazard fashion. We think she wrapped it as she brought it out.

The pizza side of the buffet table was messy. When we got there, there was a dessert pizza that ended up being there the whole hour we sat in the place. There were six places for pizza as before. They used four for regular pizzas and two for dessert pizzas. The second dessert spot was for cinnamon rolls. They appeared to be more interested in the cinnamon rolls getting there than the other things although that space stayed empty for the better part of almost twenty minutes before cinnamon rolls were put there even though there was little to no pizza on the table at the time. It seems to me that since they had a full house that more pizzas, not dessert, would be in order. The salad side of the table was not only messy but the salad appeared to have been there awhile. I wondered about that since we arrived at 11:15 am. It looked limp and not very appealing. There were almost empty containers on that side as well.

The house was full. Most of the time, the four pizza pans were nearly empty. It was obvious that the pizza maker could not keep up with the crowd. The usual was that there might be between a half and a whole pizza on the table if you combined the pans. Most of the pizzas contained sausage. There was little variety. No one seemed to be watching the table because at no time did anyone come out to inspect it. Once in a while someone would bring a single pizza out. Never did they have two new ones at once. Never did anyone think to clean the table. It was messy when we got there. It was messy when we left.

We asked for a special order. It came out fairly quickly and was very hot. Nice. We liked that. They ran out of pizza plates, the oval kind. People had to use the salad plates for pizza since they have a clean plate rule which I, by the way, agree with. The pasta pans were nearly empty when we got there. At no time during the hour we sat there did they change those out. In fact, by a half hour, they were empty and stayed that way. When we left, a person was putting a new pan in…after we mentioned that fact at the register, I might add.

When asked if everything was all right, I said no. They wanted to know what was wrong. I told them a couple of things. My husband mentioned a thing or two. Nothing had been done prior to us mentioning those things. Right before we left, what I heard from one of the people behind the register was “we do the best we can.” Hmmm.

Result: Unsatisfactory visit. Too many things wrong. No attention to details at all. No cleaning of the table. No interest in keeping it stocked well. Not very good service at all. The only bright thing was that the buffet was cheaper than the Ash Flat Pizza Hut. This cost $5.49. This would be about a 2 out of 5 pizza rating. And the only reason it gets that is the cost, the special order and the waitress who was attentive.

These visits were totally different. It shows what happens when people are happy where they work, are attentive to their customers and care that the customer gets what they order or want. Pizza Hut execs, you should take note of the vast difference in the way the stores are handled. Amazingly, the store that worked the best is in a rural area but is still quite busy at lunch time. They were not pressed to get it right. They had it going on. The other store which is in a larger town with a college, could not handle the crowd in a much smaller dining area. And the tables appear to be similar in size. I should mention this one thing too. If I am not mistaken, the rural PH is larger than the other one. That means that they are far superior in all respects to the other PH that’s in a city.

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My husband has a blog that deals with cooking, recipes and lots of things to do with the kitchen. And he has a list of the other cooking blogs that he likes. Through all of it, one of the things I like so much are the chocolate recipes. And that is a problem in itself. I love chocolate! Love the recipes for brownies and other recipes that use chocolate. I also love raspberry recipes. They’re so great.

I do think there is a problem though. With our family seeing these recipes and trying them out, we could have real sugar issues some time. But also, we do see that there are other things that we cannot ignore. I mean, you know what it was like to be a teenager, right? I remember. Most of us had to battle the big zit problem one way or another. And with all those chocolate recipes, our niece will be looking for acne solutions sooner rather than later if this keeps up. So, we have decided that he can write the recipes but we can’t always try the recipes like we would love to do. And that can be the best solution for us right now. But I do miss my chocolate. Sigh.

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