Chick Fil A

Going to the post office is undoubtedly my least favorite errand. I’d rather get a flu shot and a root canal at the same time. There are never more than two people working the counter at any given time, yet there always seem to be several employees walking back and forth behind the counter chatting casually with each other – while the line is all the way out the door. The lackadaisical attitude of the employees is infuriating! They act absolutely oblivious to the fact that there is a huge line – as if it never occurs to them to try to work a little more expediently. I guess it doesn’t.

Coming in at a close second are doctor visits. Only once in my life have I been a patient in a doctor’s office where I truly thought they were organized, efficient and running the practice seamlessly.  And hospitals? Geeesh. I’ve never seen a bigger lack of communication, organization and efficiency…nevermind accuracy! I won’t delve too deep into that subject, as not to offend any of my friends who are nurses, but come on!

There are some of things that can be overlooked if you are getting good customer service, but when a business is being run poorly AND the customer service is bad, that’s a lethal combination. One last shout out over to my friends at the mall: if you want me to buy your $27 face powder, you should come over and help me instead of chatting with your friend about her upcoming nuptials. I’m just sayin’.

Postmaster, hospital administrators, doctors and retail clerks –  I’ve had it! It’s time for you to take a lesson in business management and customer service from a fast-food restaurant. You need to go to Chick Fil A right now! As a matter of fact, it wouldn’t hurt you to eat all three of your daily meals there until you figure out what they’re doing right and try to copy it. Every single time I have ever been to Chick Fil A I’ve had exceptional customer service. The employees are happy to help me, happy to have my business and eager to serve. No other fast food restaurant – or business for that matter, can match their level of service. Not once in 15 years has my order ever been wrong, and the food is always delicious. I’ve never had a bad meal there.

More to the point, whatever system they are using to facilitate the work flow is amazing. On any given day, the line of cars in the drive-thru at lunch time wraps all the way around the building and into the street. That sight would be enough for me to keep on driving if it were any other establishment, but I never hesitate to pull in and get in line (even if it means sitting in the street)! By stationing employees outside taking orders, they are able to keep the line moving quickly, so that even if 20 cars are in line you still don’t wait more than 7-8 minutes for your food. It’s truly impressive. The same can be said for inside dining as well. The line moves quickly, everyone is working instead of playing hanky-panky with their co-workers. I’m always approached during my meal, either by an employee or a manager, to see if I need a refill or anything else. At no other fast-food restaurant has that happened. What’s more, every employee has a smile on their face and a great attitude. Always. As a result, I have no problem driving out of my way to give them my business. High-five, Chick Fil A!

Sally

The joy of cooking?

There are many things I excel at. I’m a great speller. I’m super organized. I like to clean. I can change a diaper in under a minute (wet or dirty)!  But if I were to be graded on my overall performance in life, there would be a big fat “F” next to cooking. And it’s really starting to bother me. As a single person in my twenties and early thirties, it was okay that I didn’t know how to cook! It was part of my charm.

But now…well, things have changed. I’m 36 years old and have a husband and two children! Now, I’m very fortunate that my husband prefers to do the cooking in our house. And I’m slowly realizing how rare that is among other families, especially ones where the wife doesn’t work outside the home. But, my kids are growing up and grilled cheese sandwiches aren’t going to cut it for much longer. Sure, I can make the kids happy with frozen waffles in the morning, but I can tell my days are numbered. Sometime in the near future, I’m going to have to tackle MY Mount Everest: cooking.

I mean, there are a few things I can make for dinner. I have about five or six things I can make if I need to do the cooking. But understand, these are very simple, very basic meals.  Honestly, I get bored…or distracted…or overwhelmed when it comes to following recipes. If there are more than five ingredients I lose interest. And sometimes I’m too embarrassed to admit that I don’t recognize a lot of the ingredients of a supposedly simple recipe (thanks Pinterest). What on earth is kale? And endive? Forget it, I’m tired already.

My cooking skills in relation to my age are like being in college and reading at a 3^rd grade level. They’re not good. But I can’t figure out how I ended up like this. I remember my mother cooking dinner every night when I was growing up. Granted, she wasn’t making gourmet meals, but you would think I’d have picked something up along the way! I got married when I was 32, and before that I never really had a reason to cook. As a single woman, it seemed pointless to cook for myself, so I didn’t.

The times, they are a changing, I guess. For several reasons, my family doesn’t eat out very often. The biggest one being that we have two toddlers and eating out with them is not very enjoyable at this stage of their lives! They are impatient, fidgety, picky and loud. The evening usually ends with our food in a to—go box, their food on the floor and at least one child crying. Not because they are bad kids, but because they are one and two years old!

This means that I need to come up with something to make them to eat three times a day, with a couple snacks in between. Not only that, but it needs to be healthy too!  And this is where my anxiety sets in. And I feel like I’m failing a little bit as a mother, because isn’t this one of a mother’s most important roles?

So, I suppose my path to becoming a better cook will be quite similar to the path I’ve walked as a mother. I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, but I want desperately to succeed. I will look to my close friends for advice. I will consult the internet (and sometimes even my mother-in-law) for guidance. Maybe I need to seek professional help….like a cooking class. Above all, I will do MY very best. Hopefully that will be enough. My grilled cheeses aren’t made with fancy cheese or expensive bread, but they are damn sure made with love.

Sally

Tita’s Taco House

I’m fairly new to the Houston area. I moved to Kingwood in January of 2009, after living my entire life in another state. Finding my new favorite restaurants has been a lot like making new friends – scary, daunting and a very slow process. Lots of trial and error on both fronts!  I never realized how much food was a comfort to me, until I moved here and didn’t know where to go for a cheeseburger, sushi, Mexican food or barbecue. I mean, I had all my favorite spots back home and finding restaurants that compare has been a challenge! Honestly, for every 10 restaurants I would visit, only one would be good enough to warrant a repeat visit. It’s exhausting! And a waste of money a lot of the time….

I’m still in search of THE breakfast place. That one has been my biggest challenge. I’ve tried several different places and have never walked away happy. I pretty much gave up, but my husband told me about a place he heard about from (insert random name here) that makes awesome breakfast tacos, and we should really check it out. He told me it was a little blue house on the side of the road and I immediately rolled my eyes and dismissed the idea. Frankly, I’m tired of packing up the kids on Saturday mornings to eat a subpar breakfast I could have made at home for a fraction of the cost.

But I went…because a wife has to humor her husband sometimes, right? It’s called Tita’s Taco House, on Wilson Rd. just south of FM 1960. And sure enough, it’s a little blue house on the side of the road. The first thing I noticed was how packed it was. That’s usually a good sign….but I’ve seen a lot of bad restaurants be packed too, so I was still skeptical. And to be honest, I have never even liked breakfast tacos but I guess I’ve been converted. They were SO good! The tortillas were better than any I’ve ever had before, and the choices for fillings were great. My personal favorite is potato and egg, but everything I’ve had there has been awesome. My husband usually gets bacon and egg, but during Lent we gave up meat on Fridays so we had an egg and veggie breakfast taco – also VERY good! They also serve lunch, and their beef tacos are incredible and far different from any others I’ve had. And their special green hot sauce is the proverbial icing on the cake.  Aside from the delicious food and unique building, the atmosphere is fun and energetic! Every time we go, we are treated like family. Tita’s is definitely a hidden gem…but if the line on Saturday mornings is any indication, I’m pretty sure it won’t stay hidden for long.

Sally

Calling all mom’s

I have two children.  My oldest is a girl who is two months shy of her fourth birthday and my youngest is two and half. When my daughter first started eating solid foods she was very picky.  I had to tell her that everything was chicken or she wouldn’t eat it.  As she has gotten a little older she is more eager to try new things and will at least try new foods.  My son was the exact opposite.  He ate like a champ from the start and he needed it.  By the time he was three months old he was nearly 15 pounds and the growth continued.  When he started eating solid foods he didn’t shy away from a thing, he would anything that you put in front of him.  Now that he is two and a half the problems are emerging.  He won’t eat anything unless it is chicken nuggets, hot dogs, tater tots, yogurt or some sort of fruit.  Breakfast and lunch are okay but when we get to dinner he rarely eats.  We have a rule in our house that if you don’t eat the dinner that was served you won’t eat at all.  Needless to say my son has gone to bed without dinner on a number of occasions, which I absolutely hate. 

My question is for the mom’s who also have picky eaters. How do you make sure your child gets a healthy, balanced diet without making two seperate meals every night?  Bring on the suggestions! I hate making food just to put it in the trash and even more so, I hate puting my son to bed without dinner.  Any help is MUCH appreciated.

Distracted cooking is NEVER a good thing

I have been away for far to long!  The home buying process is not fun.  I have been so distracted with it that I haven’t written a thing in over a month.  We still have to eat though and as I have recently discovered, cooking while you are distracted is not a good thing.  Like many other people, (I hope) I have had my fair share of kitchen mishaps.  When we were first married I left a dish rag too close to the stove and set it on fire, another time I put a loaf of bread in the oven to broil and THAT caught on fire.  One thing I had never done was create a bomb out of Pyrex, until last week that is. 

My husband wanted brownies for dessert one night last week so I, being the time managing aficionado that I am, (yeah right!) I baked the brownies before I started cooking dinner.  Everything was fine, the timer went off, I took the brownies out of the oven and sat them on the stove top to cool off and then started a pot of broccoli.  I have an electric stove so I don’t have a flame to tell me when I have turned on the wrong burner so I sat down on the couch to visit with my husband who had just returned home from work and was very excited about the brownies I had made.  About five minutes later my husband looked into the kitchen and asked me what was burning, I told him nothing, it’s just the steam from the broccoli.  You can probably see where this is going.  It was not the broccoli that was steaming but in fact the brownies, I sat them on the front burner to cool and put the broccoli on the back burner to cook but being as distracted as I was, I turned the front burner on HIGH.  I picked up the glass baking dish that the brownies were in and sat them on a different burner that wasn’t on and the moment I did the dish exploded.  It didn’t just crack into a bunch of small pieces, it EXPLODED.  I had created fire hot, chocolate covered shrapnel that shot as far as the hallway leading to my children’s room, about twenty feet.

It scared the you know what out of both me and my husband but luckily there were no little ones in the kitchen and no one was hurt.  Well, my husband was hurt, but only because he wasn’t going to get his brownies.  It then took three passes with the broom, vacuum cleaner and mop to get all the glass off the floor.  I must say that as far as kitchen mishaps go, this one is pretty good.  Who knew you could blow up Pyrex?!  So now you know, if you are as distracted as I have been lately, it might be safer to order in.  Happy and safe cooking everyone!

AND THE WINNER IS….

Sally with her youngest son, Joshua.

I received  a number of entries for the Cinco De Mayo salsa contest but my favorite was the recipe submitted by Sally Linhart of Kingwood.  She is a stay at home mom of two little boys Jake and Josh.  The recipe is one that her mother used to make.  Growing up she and her siblings would call it “gross dip” because it didn’t look all that appetizing but I assure you it is good.  It’s not too spicy but I am sure that if you wanted to, you could definitely turn up the heat!  The recipe is as follows:

2 bunches sliced green onions
3 large tomatoes, diced
2 cans chopped green chilies
2 cans chopped ripe olives
1 can sliced mushrooms, drained
1/4 cup salad oil
4 tablespoons vinegar
Garlic salt

Make sure all ingredients are sliced, diced chopped or julienned into pieces that are not individually recognizable. Stir together. Add salad oil, making sure mixture is well coated, then add vinegar and garlic salt. Stir well. Best if refrigerated overnight.

Sally, I hope you enjoy your gift card to Chachi’s!  My favorite thing to order besides fajitas is a margarita, they make them good there!  Thank you to everyone else who submitted a recipe as well.  I hope to have more contests and giveaways in the future so be on the lookout!