Tag Archives: Food

Mixed Emotions

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My contemplation of this matter has led me to a profound ethical crossroads. The consumption of meat is not merely a dietary choice, but a complex moral transaction where sentient creatures die to sustain human existence. Each hamburger and hotdog represents more than a meal—it embodies a silent, often overlooked narrative of animal mortality that we too readily dismiss without reflection.

In an ideal world, I long for a way to enjoy the rich, savory flavor of steak without the necessity of an animal’s life being sacrificed. Our contemporary lifestyle has distanced us from the direct process of obtaining meat, with industrialized food systems handling every stage from raising to slaughtering livestock. We are far removed from the primal act of hunting and preparing our own food, instead receiving neatly packaged proteins that often end up discarded, rendering the animal’s ultimate sacrifice meaningless. This disconnection raises profound questions about our relationship with food, consumption, and the ethical implications of our dietary choices.

For sure, even those of us who do eat meat, we should endeavor to make sure that not one ounce of meat be wasted. However, when we live in a land of plenty, it’s just so easy for us to kill a hundred animals when we only need eighty.

Throughout biblical history, the consumption of meat is not merely permissible but divinely sanctioned. The Passover narrative demonstrates God’s explicit instructions regarding both the selection and preparation of meat. Moreover, Jesus Christ himself participated in meat consumption and even prepared fish for his disciples, exemplifying the acceptability of this dietary practice. Given these scriptural precedents, it would be totally wrong to challenge or critique such established traditions of sustenance.

Every morsel of meat deserves respect, and we must strive to minimize waste in our culinary practices. Despite my own past shortcomings in this regard, I am committed to improving and encouraging mindful consumption.

Even more, we should all be mindful to take a moment or two to tell God how grateful we are for the meat and the vegetables as well. While we’re at it, we should also be thankful for our shelter and clothing too. It’s all so easy to forget the things provided to us by God.

In the midst of life’s complexities, we often neglect God’s most profound gift: salvation. The Passover lamb, sacrificed as a symbolic precursor to Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice, reveals a depth of love that transcends human comprehension. While the death of an animal carries weight, Christ’s voluntary surrender of life for humanity’s redemption is infinitely more profound. Tragically, many remain unaware or indifferent to this transformative act of divine grace, overlooking the most significant offering of love in human history.

Yes, I feel bad that animals must die for my life. But how much more, how bad I feel to know that that the creator of all gave up his life, that I might have eternal life. So very much, I wish that was not a requirement for salvation. However, I don’t believe he would have laid his life down for me if their was another way.

When we get to heaven, as near as I can tell, we won’t eat meat; only fruits and vegetables. Animals won’t need to die to provide life for me.

Right now, yes, I eat meat. However, one day, I won’t. I’ll have no need or desire for it.

Daily writing prompt
What are your feelings about eating meat?
View all responses

Encouraging Waste

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If I want a large drink, why am I encouraged to order over twice the fries I want? Then, of course, I toss half the fries.

It is a mindset that is difficult, nearly impossible to overcome. I have tried many ways. I order them separately, with a small fry and large drink, and the response is, “Would you like the meal…?” I have even tried to tell them to charge me for the large combo and give me the small fries. Some agree and give me the huge fries instead. Then of course, half of them end up in the trash. I must admit, they are determined.

Tonight, I decided on a new strategy. I ordered one large meal, one sandwich, and a large drink. My logic was to share my fries with my wife. There would still be more than enough.

Not just once, not just twice, but the employee suggested the meal three times seemed indignant that I would actually want my food my way.

Communication often proves challenging, especially when nuanced preferences seem to conflict with standard procedures. Despite my repeated attempts to clarify my specific order—emphasizing that I want a large drink but not large fries—I encounter consistent misunderstandings. The service staff appears bewildered by my non-standard request, wearing expressions of confusion and handling my order with apparent reluctance. It feels as though my deviation from expected patterns disrupts their typical workflow, making what should be a simple transaction unexpectedly complicated.

From now on, I’ll confidently state my order with clarity and conviction. “I want large drinks and regular fries. This is straightforward, and I expect to be understood immediately.” If asked to repeat myself, I’ll simply walk away.

In the Little Known Fact Department

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In the Southern landscape of yesteryear, home gardens were as ubiquitous as the warm, humid air. Tomato plants stood as culinary sentinels, their ripe, sun-kissed fruits gracing every meal from dawn to dusk. I fondly recall plucking a fresh, juicy tomato straight from the vine, its vibrant flavor a testament to the garden’s bounty, regardless of the hour.

Freshly picked from the garden, these tomatoes burst with flavor, a stark contrast to the bland, mass-produced varieties found in supermarkets. On a sweltering summer afternoon, biting into their juicy flesh was a delightful respite, despite the inevitable mess of crimson droplets trailing down my fingers and chin.

It does make me wonder if we might somehow go back to eating two or three vine ripe tomatoes a day might be a good way to avoid many of our modern health problems. Have you ever looked at the heart health advantages of the tasty tomato?

I want to be transparent: my insights stem purely from observation and thoughtful analysis, without any personal financial incentive.

Imagine a world where wellness is prioritized through a simple, daily ritual: a large nutritious glass of fresh tomato juice presented to each person. This innovative health initiative could revolutionize preventive care, offering a delicious and cost-effective approach to boosting public health. While the implementation might seem challenging, the potential long-term savings in medical expenses could far outweigh the initial investment, making it a compelling strategy for workplace and educational institutions.

Now as I think back over it, there is simply no way it would work. Just think of all that would be lost by the doctors, health workers, and hospitals. It might cause the pharmaceutical industry to take a power nosedive. I mean, people must get sick. If we don’t, fourteen percent of our economy would simply go away.

Customer No-Service

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I heard one time that J.C. Penney once said something to the effect, “Please give me the privilege of your complaint.” I’m not sure if it was Penney or someone else who said it. I have spent many hours looking, trying to find the original source.

Nonetheless, it is logical. You take a critical diner. The waiter places the flatware before them, and it has a few water spots on it. The diner does not complain. Perhaps they will use their napkin to wipe the spots off. There are people who have such obsessions. I have personally witnessed them firsthand.

Then, naturally, the diner enjoys his meal and leaves without so much as one complaint. However, he never returns due to the water spots.

Perhaps some of you have seen people like this. On the other hand, some of you might be as this diner, maybe in some other way.

I’m not nearly that picky, though sometimes, I must admit to cleaning the spots. I guess the obsession might have come from my days of working in a restaurant. However, I would neither complain about such things nor would I cease visiting the dining facility.

There is a dual purpose to my writing. Always provide the party you are doing business with your genuine complaints, to the greatest extent possible. Secondly, always seek customer complaints, even more than the accolades. It always hurts more to hear the complaints, but the complaints just might help your business succeed.

And then, of course, you have businesses that provide no way for customers to complain. Can these businesses really expect to succeed for long? There was a talk show host who had a name for a department in such businesses. He called it the “customer no-service” department.

My best guess is likely also your best guess as to why. Obviously, he was tired of getting the runaround from some company that did not value customer complaints. Somehow, I suspect most of those reading this know exactly what I mean. Certainly, if you are half the age I am, you have likely had experience with a customer no-service department.

If so, I would welcome your short, polite comments. In fact, I’d love to see a few hundred of your comments. But please keep them G-rated.

What do I Like to Cook

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Oddly, I have some expertise on this one. I actually cooked for a living for a short time. Well, I couldn’t call myself a chef. However, in my brief history at the grill, I did cook a bunch of hamburgers. It was very enjoyable, which might surprise a few. Sometimes I wasn’t so perfect, though. One night a young man came running up and yelled that there was no meat on the his hamburger. It might be where Wendy’s came up with their slogan, “Where’s the meat?”

Well the guy was understanding and even had a good laugh about it. Don’t ask how I pulled that bonehead mistake. As they like to say nowadays, it’s complicated.

A question does come to mind though. Does the prompt only mean what I like to cook or what I like to eat after it’s cooked. I’ll try to answer both.

With just the four of us in the family, it was a little wasteful to buy a big bird, though we did a few years. Oddly, though neither my wife or I ever cooked a turkey before, it must have turned out good. The boys and their friends picked the bones clean in the next two days. Incidentally, on the days following Thanksgiving, they did have friends.

Nonetheless, we found a new way to cook turkey for the four of us. We found one pound turkey roasts in the frozen food section. Far easier to cook. Better tasting. Juicier. Just the right size for the four of us and it came with good gravy.

My wife’s grandma sure learned to like them. She kept 4 or 5 of them in the her big freezer all the time.

Nowadays, it’s just the two of us. No reason to even cook the roast. We just find a restaurant. Easier, faster. And no cleanup after.

Oh yes. That reminds me. When I cooked for a living, I loved it. It’s the cleanup I don’t like. And so it is to this day. It is the primary reason we normally eat out. No pots or pans to clean.

How-some-ever, turkey is still about my favorite meat. It just is, most restaurants only serve it on Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Daily writing prompt
What’s your favorite thing to cook?
View all responses

Salads… They’re Disappearing

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I am sure, it was not that long ago that MacDonald’s used to sell salads. One strange aspect of it, they did not serve it with thousand island dressing. I say it is odd, because, to the best of my knowledge they put it on the Big Mac.

If you should find yourself in one of their stores, I think you will note, the salads are gone. They are no longer on the menu. I wonder who it was that made that decision. Well, truth be told, they weren’t all that good anyway. So, maybe not so many ordered them, especially without the thousand island.

There used to be a place just down the road that had a salad bar, a good one. The name of the place was Danver’s. They also had the best roast beef around. It’s no longer there. I don’t like that. I went there quite a bit. I do miss their salad bar, but I really miss their roast beef.

I can’t remember if Burger King had salads, but they don’t have them now.

Wendy’s still has salads. They have one I particularly like called a taco salad. They throw a bunch of lettuce and tomatoes in a bowl and give you taco chips and a bowl of chili to toss on top of it. For me, it is something of a meal in a bowl. It does taste far better than it sounds.

The hitch is, they don’t like me going into Wendy’s. It seems here, lately, every time I try to go in, the doors are locked. Well, they let me go through their drive through, but as you know, I don’t do drive throughs. Besides, I just can’t imagine me trying to eat one one of those salads in my car. For that matter, I can’t imagine eating one of their burgers in my car. After all, my car is just a little over a year old and the interior is still in good shape. Effectively, those salads are not available to me.

There was a day, before the virus that their dining rooms were full, even before that, they had a salad bar. Sometimes we went there after church and I would get a salad with my burger.

One day, I was fixing my salad and there were three elderly women who had opened the wrapping from the burger and they were all fixing themselves a salad on the wrapper. From the way they dressed, it was easy to tell they had just been to church.

Now, I ask you is that right. Not only were they stealing the salad, but they are putting a bad example before God. It’s what is known in the church as being a bad witness.

I mean, it appeared that when these old women arrived, maybe they need to watch them, or better, close the salad bar until they leave.

It is sort of the way things work in the capitalist system. It relies on people being honest. When people rob the businesses the businesses will go out of business. The more they steal, the faster the business goes under.

On the other hand, that goes the other way too, now doesn’t it. When a business gets a bad reputation, doesn’t that hurt their bottom line too.

Frozen Food

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The young man seemed confused as he looked back at the young woman who had just asked, “Do you eat frozen food?”

The young man glanced at the meal he just put in the microwave, then back at the woman. “Of course not. Who in the world would do that. I heat it first.”

Okay, before you complain too much, remember just how much you are paying for the little bit of entertainment.

The fact is, nowadays, almost all of us eat frozen food, well heated first. It has all sorts of advantages, certainly for me. It’s fast and simple to prepare, assuming I can find a magnifying glass with enough magnification to read the instructions. (has anyone come up with a magnifying ap for my phone?)

One nice thing, I don’t have any dishes to do after eating a heated frozen diner. The serving size is good. It discourages me from overeating. It’s fast. In the microwave, 8 to 10 minutes or half an hour in the regular oven.

If you have a large family, everyone can have their choice of what they want to eat. Some can have chicken, some chicken fried steak. Personally, I like that steak that looks and eats like hamburger.

To some degree, it is something of a preppers tool. If I keep enough of the meals in a large freezer, I can go for maybe a week off the grid. As long as I have a gas stove, I can have nice hot meals. The meals will remain edible in a well insulated freezer for at least a week. If it is winter, longer.

There are, of course, other forms of frozen food. When the kids were young, we used to by a 1 lb. turkey roast, whip up some instant mashed potatoes and some frozen vegies and we had a good Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Maybe it wasn’t what you would get in a 5 star restaurant, but the kids went nuts over it.

Now, with the kids out of the house, we either buy a frozen turkey diner or go out. We wouldn’t mind fixing it, but we just don’t eat that much.

I think others are doing the same. When we go out to eat on a holiday, we are far from alone. Usually, we have to wait a while to get in. Most are close to the same age as us.

Frozen vegies, I am told are healthier. They can wait longer to pick them because they freeze them in less than 24 hours after they leave the field. Fresh vegies may have to last a week before they get eaten.

Going back to the question by the young lady in my story. Is it really so bad to eat frozen food, as long as it is heated first.

HOT DOG!

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It is not a mistake that people use the term to express that something good just happened. I mean, any kid, when something good happens, they will exclaim, “HOT DOG!”

However, let us go back to the source of the interjection. We need to face it. Hot dogs are one of a child’s favorite form of sustenance. I guess, in a way, that makes me one of the oldest ever kids. Love hot dogs in almost any form. Incidentally, drop that hot dog in corn meal and deep fry it, and it all gets more so. I mean, who in their right mind can resist a corn dog. Bad thing is, the Kristal’s nearby has stopped serving them. That is not fair.

When I was just a little lad, a hot dog was a hot dog. I could eat them plain; with mustard, ketchup and mustard. My favorite, which will offend some, the works which included mayonnaise. Immediately after posting this, I am sure there will be those who will want to raise their indignations. However, as much as I have a freedom of speech, I also have a freedom of how I eat hot dogs.

However, it is more, far more than that. I would guess there are close to a dozen ways of cooking them. When a kid at home, the way we cooked them, it usually just meant tossing them in boiling hot water for a while. However, they can be roasted over an open flame. I think that is my favorite. Then there are those machines with multiple rollers that cook them slow and very evenly. Yeah. I like that kind too.

My mouth waters as I think of it. There is the lazy man’s way. I cut them in half and heat them in a frying pan, fist insides then outside. If I can, I will put them on a bun. On the other hand, if all I have is sliced bread, I make a sandwich out of them. Not as good, but still good.

Did you know that you can heat them in a microwave very quickly. Maybe not the best tasting, but, you know, some of us kids get impatient. Incidentally, good for when you have a crowd of kids around. Let’s face it. Unlike us older kids, they aren’t so picky.

Then, I guess there have to be dozens of types of hot dogs. If you don’t believe me, just take a gander through them at your supermarket. There are beef, turkey, sausages of various types and the list goes on. Moreover, there are places that actually specialize in various hot dogs. There used to be one in Memphis, which the family and I went frequented. When we went to the mall, it was the first place we went. The four of us always looked forward to it. The problem was that we all ate so fast that they never lasted nearly long enough.

Now, you might wonder, just why it is I am writing this. I have this really strong longing for a couple of hot dogs, yes with mayonnaise and the works and we’ve run out of them. It will have to wait until the stores open, a little longer. As a kid, I can’t wait. You know. No kid can ever wait, you know.

Oddly, a Good Word for McDonald’s

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Okay. I’ve sworn off Micky D’s. Everyone knows it. I really don’t like the place. I have written many posts on the poor service. So. When they do good, I do feel obligated to say something. Perhaps someone saw me come in and said that I better get some good service. (Just kidding. They don’t know me.)

At any rate, the wife and I were on the way to the range a few days ago and we decided to stop in and get some breakfast. And… guess what. We did get some breakfast… before I was able to get my Diet Coke. That is fast. And, by the way, it was good and it was hot. So, from me, an honest thanks for cooking for me and doing so well.

While on the subject, that evening, we went to the Huey’s in Southaven. I have never been disappointed with any aspect of that place. It is always clean, fast and the best shrimp and fries I had anywhere. My wife had the steak on a stick and, of course, I had to have the shrimp. I don’t know how they did it, but they had our dinner to us in about 4 minutes. …and the shrimp and fries were so hot I had to dip them to keep from burning my tongue.

The truth of the matter is, they truly know the way to do good food… fast. In today’s world, that is especially good.

Unfortunately, it won’t matter to most of those reading my posts. Most do not reside in Southaven. Many do not live in the US. Still, I guess it won’t hurt to say something. Who knows, one day, someone will visit Southaven from some distant place and they will want some good hot shrimp… fast.

Sometimes, They Get it Right, Sometimes

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Most of time, they are wrong. As mentioned before, I frequently go surfing the web, looking for things I don’t need. I have looked at yachts before, though there is no way I could afford one, even if they gave it to me. Nonetheless, I do occasionally see ads about yacht oriented things; you know, marine oriented equipment. I have done research on Paris years ago. I still see ads for tickets, not only to Paris, but Rome and London too. I don’t even have a passport.

The current thing is those air fryers. I’m still trying to figure that one out. I don’t think I would use an air fryer if I had one. Most of the time, we go out to eat. I am spoiling my wife now. Besides, with just the two of us, if I cook at home, we end up with a lot of waste. Most of what little cooking I do is with a cast iron skillet. It works good and it is very reliable. I cook a couple of hamburger patties in about 3 minutes. Virtually impossible to ruin. If I used an air fryer, it would be difficult to save much time.

Nonetheless, I turn to the left and I see the benefits of air fryers. I turn to the right and I find out I can fry fries without frying them. Pardon me, but doesn’t that mean they aren’t fries. Don’t know what they are called.

The ads don’t bother me, but I do laugh at them. I see the ads when I play Free Cell. At any time of any day, as I go through the channels, I see them advertised on TV. They pop up in bunches in my emails. I just laugh at them. They serve no purpose. If I should decide I need one one day, I think I would go down to Walmart and get one. Thing is, I would not even need to make a special trip. I went right by one yesterday when I went to the bank. Worse thing about those air ovens, they take up space. With a 900 square foot house, I need space more than an air oven.

I thought about making a list of things that they advertise, aimed specially at me, that I have no use for. Then I could write a book about them. That way, I could share the humor.

As a side note, there are some things I’ve seen ads for, I just might find out what they are and what they are used for. Those that read the book might could tell me.