Grocery specialty holiday dinner
Supermarkets have sold ready-to-eat holiday dinners for many years. However, there is little resemblance, other than the menu which remains traditional, between the dinners sold then and those that are sold these days. There are advantages and disadvantages to the way it was done then and is done now.
Supermarket holiday dinners sold in years past had three major advantages over those sold today.
- The delicatessen was the department in the store that prepared and sold the dinners. They had the advantage of more employee hours than today’s supermarkets. Competition has increased dramatically and the profit margin for a well-run supermarket—approximately 1 ½ to 2 percent of gross sales—has become much more difficult to attain. As a result, labor hours are always the first line item on the budget to be reduced. The additional labor hours allowed the employees enough time to sell the dinners to the customers. The customers could taste-test the different dishes served in the dinner right off of the cafeteria line where hot foods were sold for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The holiday dinner dishes were sold every day in December leading up to Christmas so the customer could be convinced of their quality.
- The dinners were prepared from scratch with ingredients bought at wholesale from the meat, grocery, produce and bakery departments. This gave the delicatessen the very best cost possible on the components that went into the holiday dinner. Turkeys and hams from the meat department, cranberry sauce and spices from grocery, celery and onions from produce and rolls and pies from the bakery. Since the ingredients in the dinners were bought at inexpensive costs and prepared in-store they could be advertised and sold at inexpensive retails. The customer literally could not make it from scratch for the price charged by the supermarket.
- Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, giblet gravy, pies and rolls were prepared and sold fresh. The products that went into the dinners were grade A quality and as fresh as they could possibly be. It is true that when you begin preparing dishes with fresh top quality foods they have to turn out to be good. The customer even had the option of picking up the dinners on Thanksgiving morning already hot and ready to serve. The delicatessen employees cooked the various dishes on giant rotating ovens located in the bakery department. The dinners were customized to fit the customer’s preference regarding the type and amount of any item in the dinner. They were then labeled with the customer’s name and the date and time they would be picked up.
Today, supermarkets buy dinners produced half-way across the country, packaged in plastic and have a 30-day shelf life—hardly freshly prepared. The employees will take your order but you have to get their attention. The supermarket delicatessens have lost the advantage of offering the customer an inexpensive dinner because the supermarket buys it manufactured and no longer prepares it themselves.
Oftentimes, the old ways are best.
Silver wedding anniversary in absentia
My brother-in-law and his wife were married for 49 years. Within a week or so before Christmas and before he was deployed to Germany by the army, they tied the knot in a small town in Kansas. Their 50th wedding anniversary would have been this year—2012—but for the fact that the cancer he had been battling for the last year finally claimed him.
Losing a life partner after almost 50 years of living together, raising a family, experiencing the joys and hardships of the past while planning ahead for the future is devastating. My wife has been in touch with her sisters and they have devised a plan to give my sister-in-law her 50th wedding anniversary just as though her husband was there to share in the joy.
When this all began, I cautioned my wife that holding the anniversary party might be too painful for the sister-in-law, especially in the middle of the holidays and right before Christmas.
She said that the sister-in-law would be grief-stricken in any event and the party just might cheer her up. I have my doubts but there is no choice but to defer to the ladies on this one. I am very nervous about my sister-in-law's reaction during the party, but at least she will be in the company of friends and relatives.
My wife also reminded me that they notified my sister-in-law before sending out the invitations and she seemed to like the idea and was very appreciative. Regardless, I know there will be a great deal of emotional behavior and I don’t like to be around that. I have spoken to another brother-in-law and while he feels the same way he also said that the party wasn’t about us but instead about my sister-in-law.
Needless to say, after thinking about his statement for a few moments, I felt pretty selfish and self-centered. The party is coming up soon, we are making our plans to attend and selfish or not, I’m still uncomfortable about the grief we are sure to face.
The perfect Christmas party
If you’re planning a Christmas party, you may be way behind the curve. Many people who want to throw a Christmas party have already sent out invitations and received RSVPs. While many parties are planned right up to and including Christmas Eve, most begin the first week of December and continue through the weekend prior to Christmas.
The first component of having a successful party is to determine the number and type of guests you want to entertain and then make certain these guests will show up. When you are operating with a short timeframe, it’s best to invite guests by:
Telephone
Every party should have a core group of guests that are friendly, outgoing and pleasant to whomever they may encounter. Make a list of friends or co-workers as well as people recommended by the friends or co-workers that meet these criteria. Make certain your party has a ratio of approximately 25 percent of these preferred guests. Be certain to get a positive confirmation that they will attend. Ask for their e-mail address and immediately send them an invitation that includes all the details. Immediately invite another guest who has these same characteristics when someone is unable to commit.
The bulk of your guests will be friends and co-workers. You are likely to have their e-mail addresses or can get them easily. Send the e-mails with as much notice as possible and ask for an immediate RSVP. If you don’t receive one with several days, follow up with a phone call or personal visit. You must find another guest to replace those who can’t attend. Every party has a certain number of no-shows no matter how many times they assure you they will attend. You need to make certain you have the number of guests necessary to conduct a good party. Nothing kills a party faster than one that is poorly attended.
One word of caution: take special care to not invite the “party animal” that shows up at many parties. Whether a close friend, relative or co-worker, the “party animal” will drink too much, talk loudly and make a scene in one fashion or the other. No matter how good the music, food or venue, your guests will only remember the loudmouthed fool who pulled all manner of stunts to grab the spotlight. Do not invite a “party animal” under any circumstances!
Christmas gift ideas for that special man in your life
Christmas shopping can be hard. Sometimes it can be harder to find that perfect gift for a man, especially for a man you care about dearly. You want to express your feelings. Yet, how do you do that when most of the advertisements say that men want and need tools?
First, of all, there is nothing wrong with buying a man tools. If the man loves tools, this can be a great present. By loving tools, this should mean they are something he uses during hobbies and fun activities, not work. If he works with tools all day, he may not get so excited about them. If they are something he uses during his off time such as weekends, presents like these are saying that you know what he likes.
Yet, if you know nothing about his hobbies, his hobbies don’t involve tools or he just doesn’t use them, there are many other presents to buy a man who shows that you think he is special. First, consider the man. What are his hobbies? Does he play music, play sports, follow any sports team religiously or is he a huge exercise fanatic? Could you find any presents that are related to these hobbies?
What about something personal? Would he wear a watch or a new pair of driving clothes or winter gloves? What about cologne? Do you know his preferred brand? Does he have a preferred brand? Is there a scent that you love?
What about clothes? Would he enjoy a new sweat shirt or T-shirt that advertises his favorite sports team, band or hobby? However, do be warned here. Don’t buy clothes that you wish he would wear. If your guy is a T-shirt or flannel shirt type of guy, don’t buy him sweaters. If he is a sweater or button up shirt type of guy, there is no need to buy vintage type T-shirts or baseball caps for him. Don’t use this holiday as a way to change his wardrobe.
Finally, buy some little things he is sure to love. This can include a gift box filled with his favorite snacks or protein powder drink mixes. It can even include a CD of his favorite band. Most of all, don’t stress too hard over the gift or gifts. This will take all the fun out of the holiday season for the both of you.
Christmas shopping for that special woman in your life
You love her. You want to express that love in the way of a gift. Yes, you have heard the saying in the movies that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. Yet, you are young, times are tough and you can’t afford diamonds. What do you buy that special woman in your life?
Start with the basics. What does she like?
Does she wear jewelry? Do you see her wear a variety of jewelry when the two of you go out together? Will she possibly wear different styles of necklaces, bracelets or earrings? If the answer is yes, than jewelry is an option. Luckily, during this time of the year, you can find some major mark-downs on nice gold, sterling and even some diamond enhanced jewelry, without breaking your budget. If the answer is no or if you notice that she sticks with a basic necklace, earring set or bracelet, most of the time, then you may want to steer clear from the jewelry idea.
Does she like perfume? Does she smell different each time you see her? If she does, she must like perfumes or spray on bath oils. The perfumes usually have a stronger scent. Perfumes can be purchased at most department stores. Never buy these without smelling, them first. The good ones will have tester bottles for this purpose. Bath oils and sprays can be purchased at department stores or specialty shops.
What about electronics? This is something women like as well as men. If you can’t afford purchasing her a new laptop or tablet, you may be able to buy her some well needed accessories. This can include a new carrying case for the one she has.
Finally, you can also buy her some smaller gifts such as: gloves with touch fingers that will allow her to text and keep her fingers warm, a box of her favorite candy or even a gift certificate to her favorite store. No, Christmas shopping for the one you love doesn’t have to be hard. You just need to be more imaginative.
Avoid arguing in front of your kids
If you are a single mother due to a divorce, it is so important for you to avoid fighting or arguing with your ex in front of your kids. This is something that is not good for kids to witness and it can cause children to feel really bad.
No matter how much you dislike your ex, you should never be disrespectful to him or her. When children see their mother being disrespectful to their father, it can cause many different feelings. One of these things is resentment. The kids might learn to resent their father because of this.
If the kids are always with their mother, they may tend to think more like their mother and side with her more. This can often cause a child to believe that his father is a bad person. A mother should never do this to a child. The other result is that the kids may become resentful toward their mother. They may see her treating their dad this way and they may not like it.
Bickering in front of children is never something that is beneficial. There are no benefits whatsoever that will come of this, so keep the arguing separate. If you think you will get into a fight with your ex, avoid talking to him when the kids are around. Let him know how you feel about this and maybe he will agree that this is not something that should be happening. Always protect your children first and think of the way these things can affect them.
Manna from Heaven
As a freelance writer, there are times in my career where it seems like I do not have enough work to do. It is like a feast or famine and this can be frustrating and overwhelming. Last week I began to think about this and decided to try something new.
My new philosophy is to wake up each morning and ask God to provide me with just enough work for that day. I want to stop worrying about tomorrow and next week and that is why I am now relying on God to supply just enough for the day. So far, God has been faithful to my request.
As I was praying about this and thinking about it, I was reminded of a popular story in the Bible about Moses and the people of Israel. While they were wandering in the wilderness, they were hungry because they had no food to eat. Moses and Aaron prayed to God asking him why he would send them to die in the wilderness.
God responded by saying, I will provide you with food. God gave them specific instructions to go along with this too. God offered manna from the sky each day. They were instructed to take only enough for one day, except on the sixth day which was the day they were allowed to take enough food for two days.
This is a really neat story if you think about it. God provided them food each day. If they were greedy and took extra, the food would rot. This taught them to trust in God each day to meet their needs. God was faithful and never let them starve.
I really think that this correlates well with my decision to let God provide me with enough work just for today. I need to allow him to be in control and I need to trust him. When I finish each day with plenty of work for the day, God will be the one receiving the praise for this.
Reading Pile: 11/19/12
BPRD Plague of Frogs HC Vol 1-4- So I think in the long run I’ve always given a healthy review for most BPRD projects, so I didn’t really plan to re-review this entire run. The thing is I was just in the mood to revisit the previous plots and character development since Vol 4 just arrived a week ago, so I made it a point to work my way through everything in about three days’ worth of reading. This reinforced my belief that BPRD is largely underrated in the eyes of many Helboy fans, and I completely believe this is a better title than Hellboy. Now don’t get me wrong, I loves me some Hellboy. The thing is, this title just has an overall better balance. Because Mignola tends to take a long time to put anything out, your first major difference is the consistency of this series. Then you have the fantastic scripting and writing of John Arcudi, another talent in this business that deserves much more attention than he tends to receive. Then you have the Guy Davis artwork, which is amazing and so unique in tone and character that in many ways it communicates a little bit better than Mignola’s artwork. Despite Mignola’s amazing layouts and sense of storytelling, I’ve always felt his weakness was in facial expressions and general emoting. So you take all of that and role it up into a nicely produced hardcover package at an incredibly amazing price point of $34.95, then you have a truly fantastic comic on your hands. Seriously, considering how dense these books are, that is a freakishly good deal. Volume 4 also has some great stories and more going for it, including one of my favorite scenes featuring the character Devon and a phone booth. A+
Red She-Hulk #58 & 59- In tone I still feel like I’m reading Parker’s Hulk title, and that this is just another story arc to develop another character. It’s fun superhero action, and really doesn’t try to be anything else which is great. It’s also great because it’s a good focus on Machine Man, and not the Nextwave version. I love the Nextwave version, don’t get me wrong, but it was an editorial mistake to try and adapt that version into the main Marvel Universe. A smarmy Warren Ellis character should only be written by a smarmy Warren Ellis, because when other people try to capture that it’s sort of destined to fall short. I will say that Marvel’s rebranding design on all the Marvel Now books really detracts from the actual comic and makes everything look like an overly modernized clutter. I hope people are actually trying this out despite the re-launch mentality and just latch onto it because it’s a fun book. B+
ABC pulls the plug on two highly-touted freshman dramas
Well, it's November, and that usually means it's time to start mourning the loss of some new TV shows that, for whatever reason, didn't make the cut. Over the weekend, ABC nixed two major new series: Last Resort and 666 Park Avenue. Unfortunately, I watched both, and I'm not surprised with the decision.
ABC isn't the only network that's dumping shows, but so far this season, these were the two biggest to get the ax. Anyone shocked by the news? Are you distraught?
I had really high hopes for Last Resort. I liked the pilot episode, and I loved the cast (especially Andre Braugher and Scott Speedman, aka Hot Ben From Felicity). The premise was interesting and the first few episodes definitely left me wanting more.
That being said, I started to feel like things were getting a bit dull over the past week or two. I also began to fear cancelation, so I pulled back. I've been burned by so many show cancelations in recent years, I try now not to get too attached. Farewell, Last Resort. It was fun while it lasted.
ABC also decided to cancel 666 Park Avenue, a creepy drama set in The Drake, a fictional apartment building on Manhattan's posh Upper East Side. I started watching this one mainly because it aired right after Revenge (a favorite show) and because I adore Terry O'Quinn from his work on Lost.
I feel like this show never really got rolling for me. Secrets began to be revealed only very recently, and I hope if nothing else, we'll find out who O'Quinn's Gavin really is and what's actually happening at The Drake before the show's swan song.
Last Resort and 666 Park Avenue will continue to play out their 13 episodes in coming weeks. I get the feeling that both of these shows could have been great, but I thought that about Pan Am and Flash Forward too, and look where that got me. Fans, are you devastated that 666 Park Avenue and Last Resort are canceled? At least Nashville got picked up for another season.
Final 'Twilight' movie installment takes top spot at the weekend box office.
Is anyone in the world surprised that Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 was the winner at the weekend box office? I didn't think so. I mean, come on people, this is the last Twilight movie after all! Still, believe it or not, some of us actually did hit the movie theaters to see other films, myself included.
We saw Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, and despite my already ridiculously high expectations, I was blown away by Daniel Day-Lewis' portrayal of Abraham Lincoln. This man is the finest actor of our generation, without question.
What did everybody see this past weekend? As I mentioned, we were fortunate enough to finally see Lincoln, and we weren't disappointed. It's a great film, and definitely will get several (deserved) Academy Award nominations. We also rented The Campaign, and loved it. It's always a good thing to see a great comedy movie, especially one starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis.
But back to the weekend box office: Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 cleaned up, taking in just over $141 million domestically. That's incredibly impressive. Even more impressive? Breaking Dawn Part 2 made a grand total of nearly $341 million worldwide. In. One. Weekend. I cannot imagine how much Summit Entertainment is going to miss this money-making franchise!
Despite the hype, Twilight wasn't the only movie in theaters this past weekend. The latest James Bond installment, Skyfall, continued to do well, taking the second slot with $41.5 million. I'll say this again: We've seen Skyfall and it's a fantastic Bond film. I still love Goldfinger the most, but Skyfall is way up there among my favorite Bond movies now.
Lincoln was third at the weekend box office, taking in $21 million. Go see this one people, go now, if for no other reason than to say you've seen one of the best, if not *the best ever*, Daniel Day-Lewis performance on film. Wreck-It Ralph and Flight rounded out the top five, by the way.
We've reached critical mass now for great new movie releases. This is the cream of the 2012 movie crop coming out right now. Next up for us, I think, will be The Silver Linings Playbook. Right now it's only in limited release, but hopefully it will expand to additional theaters through the long Thanksgiving weekend.