A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Customer Service by Mad TV's Bon Qui Qui

Hilarious!!!!

Doctor's Kitchen Monday: Edamame Succotash with Brown Rice

 

Look at all that great food for work one night last week...and then it was so horribly busy I never got a chance to eat a bite of it all night long. Oh well. I ate the succotash for breakfast the next day so at least I got to enjoy it!

 

I make this dish fairly often because it's great for you and super quick to put together, works perfectly for lunch, dinner, or work lunch, and is a great "getting closer to vegetarian" dish for us meat eaters.  Gene says he really likes it but he'd like it better with a bunch of chicken in it.  I tell him that defeats the purpose of eating a vegetarian dinner once a week for our health. He thinks chicken is vegetarian. :-)

Click below for the recipe.

An Award--One Lovely Blog: Sherry Cermack

  While we were in Maui with Kendall and Chris, Kimberly of A Growing Violet presented me a blog award called "One Lovely Blog".  I was flattered by her kind words:

Glenna is at A Fridge Full of Food ... And Nothing To Eat!
~ Oh how I love Glenna. This woman can COOK folks! And, as if that weren't enough for you to go check out her blog, she also crochets hats for premature babies! I love that. Please check out Glenna's recipes and those adorable little hats she makes.

Kimberly herself had a premature baby who stayed for months in the NICU, the same baby who has grown into a lovely precocious young girl who seems to pretty much hold the heartstrings of everyone she meets.  So Kimberly loyally reading about food and diet adventures and applauding my endeavors with Preemie Hats is very special to me.  Thank you, Kimberly.

The one "rule" of acceptance is that you must pay it forward by nominating your own list of Lovely Blogs.  There are so many friends I have made over these last three (!) years and so many folks that I admire their cooking, their talent, their creativity....but I'm hoping you'll all understand if I narrow it down to one blog that was more special to me than the rest, if all my dear foodie friends will forgive me for saying so.

A year ago this week we lost our wonderful friend Sherry Cermack of What Did You Eat? to a massive heart attack.  I still think about her every day, miss her like the dickens, and cook her food with pleasure all the while sending my love heaven forward.  Sher's husband, Bob, has left her blog up and running so for those who never "knew" Sher, feel free to click on the link and explore the online diary of my, and many of our, good friend Sher.  She was a lovely person and I will never forget her.

 

Rosati's Authentic Chicago Pizza--Restaurant Review TAKE TWO

 

For those who are just joining us on the Rosati's review, I had had a problem with service on an order I place last Friday.  I have since (yesterday) talked to the store manager who was kind, professional, and genuine. She offered to do "whatever it will take to make this right."  I mentioned that I was studying for my ACLS (adult codes) recertification and she volunteered to send over dinner so I didn't have to cook.  I so appreciated the offer since the last thing I wanted to do was cook!

Charlotte was so very generous with both our dinner and with a gift certificate that I can use at work to feed pizza to the night shift crew who were working with me the night the problem happened, that she ended up making this MORE than right and my confidence is regained in multiples and so will that of my co-workers be regained as well, I'm confident.

I had wanted to try Rosati's for several months. I'd seen the brochures around the hospital and had driven by several times but just hadn't gotten there yet.  Last night I got my wish and can now honestly tell you what I thought.

Aunti Miranda happened to call right before they were to deliver, and since she had been one of the first commenters on the original post and she only lives a few miles from us, we invited her over to break bread, so to speak.  She, also, was very pleased with dinner and her affections have been re-won as well.  After dinner, I rudely kicked her butt out the door so I could finish studying.  (Kidding)

Our collective favorite thing was the ribs. Yes, I know that sounds strange that a pizza place has great ribs but they were dynamite. Actually, the menu is quite extensive which makes them a great choice for co-workers ordering together or any family where one person wants pasta, one wants chicken, one wants pizza, one wants, a sandwich, etc. 

 

The ribs were meaty, succulent, tender, and the sauce was very tasty, not too much, not too little, not too boring, not to spicy. An all around great rib.  Gene, our family rib fanatic, will always say "almost but not quite" any time I order them take out and bring them home (except Buckingham's) but this time he not only demolished them all, he (sort of) pretendingly cranked that and Aunti and I had taken any from him, and said "Yes, that will definitely work."  From Gene, the man of few words, that's high praise indeed.

Our next favorite thing was the salad.  The Ceasar salad was good with nice crisp, the greenest, romaine but the clear winner is the Greek Salad with homemade dressing.  THIS is a definite pop in and grab for dinner on your way home from work or for lunch or whatever.  Gene's not much of a salad guy but Aunti and I will be going back for this one again and again: fresh baby spring greens, tomatos, red onion, pepperocini, feta cheese, and KALAMATA olives.  Let me say that again: KALAMATA olives. Not the California tin-tasting ones.  The dressing, a good balance of sharp, sweet, and herbs. The Greek Salad equals and all around "YUM!" for good salad fans (and salad snobs like Aunti and I).

 

Pizza! We're up to pizza!

I asked to try The Godfather:  sausage, sauteed onions, fresh garlic, and hot peppers. I also asked for them to leave off the hot peppers just because I knew my stomach couldn't take it on the night before a recertification. They would have been a nice zing but even without them the pizza was delicious.  The sauteed onions and fresh garlic added a sweetness and under-layer to the overall simplicity of one meat, sausage, that made it a hit.  I'll be ordering that again too.  This is going to sound weird but I like cold pizza. I actually prefer cold pizza, or at least pizza as it cools and the cheese sets.  When I went back for a slice of the pizza after it had cooled I found that the garlic and onion flavors were even more pronounced and the sausage flavor more in the background which I really loved.  I can't say enough about how much those two simple flavors added and you can't get sauteed onions and fresh garlic on your pizza anywhere else that I know of. Even when I order other toppings I'll probably always include those two items as well for the extra taste dimension they add.

 

The desserts were also very nice: cannolis and tiramisu.  We laughed that this was our kind of dessert menu--no chocoloate included!  (At least with our order.)  For some odd genetic perversion most of the folks in our family aren't big chocolate eaters but we will scarf down cannolis and all things tiramisu in a heart beat.

 I said I would be honest and I will. The one thing we were completely neutral about was the Baked Mostaccioli.  We didn't love or hate it, it just didn't hold our attention like the ribs and pizza.

The one thing we all commented on, though, was that we liked the slight sweetness of the red sauce. The way I was taught to cook red sauce by my mother (Aunti's sister) and my grandmother (Aunti's mom) and Aunti is to always add a pinch of brown sugar to cut the acid in the tomatoes so, for us, often a red sauce with a high acidic end note is jarring. This wasn't. It was smooth with a pleasant mellowness we enjoyed.

As the radiologists at work summarize their reports: "Impressions:"

Rosati's:  Impressions:  We were deliciously sated by the ribs, pizza, and salad, and pleased by the attention and genuine enthusiasm of the store manager, Charlotte Lundin, and WILL be ordering/dining in again.

Rosati's Authentic Chicago Pizza--Restaurant Review

UPDATE:  I want to thank everyone for your comments and for sharing your stories and your support. I especially want to thank Charlotte Lundin, the STORE MANAGER for Rosati's who not only posted an incredibly kind and professional comment to the blog last night, but also tried to reach me at work last night, and called my house today.  We had a lovely conversation and I am completely at ease about the whole situation now. 

I told Charlotte I'm at home today studying for ACLS class tomorrow and she volunteered to send over dinner for us tonight so I don't have to cook.  I'm looking forward to getting to taste the food, like I wanted to in the first place, and I cannot begin to express how much respect and appreciation I have for Charlotte as a person and as a manager.  The owner of that franchise is a lucky man to have her heading up his restaurant. She is now very aware, from all of our comments, about the training that needs to take place on the evening shift and I have no doubt that the problems we've had will be taken care of. I'm not happy about "winning" per se and any negative actions that might come of this, because I would have much preferred the original problem to not have happened at all,  but I am very pleased by the prospect of the improvements that I'm sure will happen and I was happy to be able to tell Charlotte how friendly and helpful both the driver and the cashier who took the order were to work with.

I'd like to ask everyone to give Rosati's another chance to show the "best side" of their service and product.

I'll photograph and review the food either later tonight or tomorrow after ACLS....

Thank you again to everyone!

Glenna

 

I review a lot of foods, products, and restaurants on this blog and I am always honest.  Rosati's?  I'll be honest on that one too.  I've wanted to go there and have mentioned to Gene that I wanted to try it. I knew it was a chain store but I like the logo with the four old guys.  The marketing appeals to me.  Did I like the food?  Have no idea.

Let me tell you my experience. 

Last night several folks in our dept ordered (delivery) from Rosati's. We work nights so we're usually the last order in before closing time.  Connie had just called everyone else's order in a few minutes before I came back to the tech room and found out they'd ordered.  I called and added my pizza to the list.  The gentleman on the phone was very nice and personable and verified which order my pizza went with.

All is well.

I went out on the floor to do more Asses & Treats and came back in. Connie said the delivery person was waiting for someone in the ER entrance and asked if I'd mind going to get it. No problem. I took our stack of cash down there, met the nice delivery girl and she gave me the total.  It was a different figure from what I thought I remembered but, shrug, I hadn't been that involved with the whole thing and I figured "How do you divide $10 up between the 8 people who ordered?"  Too much of a hassle and I really feel for people who work on tips. I figured "What the hell, we'll make her night" And gave her all the cash even though it made for a $25.00 tip.  It never hurts to be generous, right?

I took the food upstairs and we divided everything out but my pizza wasn't there. 

All is not well.

I was disappointed but it was almost 11pm at that point and I figured they were already closed....what could I do?   Connie was ticked and called them anyway and it happened they were still there. She needed to go do something else (work must go on!) so she handed the phone to me to wait for the person she had explained the situation to to come back on the line.  The same man I'd spoken with earlier came back on the line and said they were sorry, that when he'd added to the ticket the cooks didn't realize it wasn't simply a reprint of the ticket and didn't look at it.  Hey, mistakes happen. I was by then out of the mood for pizza, I was busy, and I didn't want to have to walk all the way down to the ER again, only now from Peds, to get the pizza if I made them go ahead and make it.  So I told the guy that I understood it was a mistake and I wasn't upset but that I'd appreciate it if someone could bring my money back by the ER and give it to the ER RT whom I would catch up with later.  He said no problem, seemed sincerely concerned about the order not being right, and was very pleasant to deal with.

I hung up the phone and everyone talked about how much it sucked but, but again, I wasn't mad.  I'm really not a loud bitchy customer.  Mistakes do happen and as long as people are nice about it and admit it, like the guy on the phone, I"m pretty easy to deal with.

While we were talking, the phone rang again and I answered.  The man introduced himself as the "Manager" of Roasati's and said that HE had been the one to pick up the reprinted ticket and didn't double check to see if there was anything added.  Not only did he NOT apologizefor the mistake, his tone of voice implied that he was angry with me.  He said that we hadn't been charged for my pizza so they weren't bringing any money back. I was in shock. I explained that I gave all the money we collected to the girl thinking that there had been a misunderstanding of the total but that of course I never dreamed that my pizza was left off the order. The leftover $25 tip included my $10 pizza. 

I kid you not, the next words out of this MANAGER'S  mouth were "It's not my fault you gave her a big tip, now is it?  You weren't charged on that ticket and we're not bringing  money back."  That's it. That was the sum total of this man's customer service skills.  I was like "Are you kidding me?"  This entire conversation had no warmth, no concern, no attempt at customer service.  He didn't even offer to send the pizza he never cooked instead of the money. Then he said that he GUESSED he could ask the driver when she came back if she wanted to bring my $10 back but he didn't think she would and he wasn't going to make her because it was MY fault I paid for food I didn't get. 

Are you kidding me?  Blaming the customer for your staff not filling the order correctly?

I was so angry I slammed the phone down.  Not very nice of me but then I don't remember ever being treated so rudely by a restaurant manager. Ever. Everyone in the room was in shock. And pissed.  The consensus was pretty much "I wouldn't take that crap!  We won't be ordering from them again."  (And we've since been informing other units in the hospital who also place orders with them.)

Here's something to think about.  If I HAD told them to make the pizza and send it over....do you think the manager would have charged me AGAIN for it? I get the feeling he would have.  I'm now very glad I didn't ask them to make it because I would have ended up paying over $25.00 for a $10 pizza by the time I paid for it twice and tipped the driver twice. Yeah, that's fair and good customer service on WHAT planet?

So, for those of you in the Springfield area who've been thinking about trying Rosati's, give them your money at your own risk.  Apparently any mistake they make is your tough luck because you're not going to get customer service and they'll just blame you for their screw up.

That's what bugs me the most.  Mistakes happen.  People are human.  All I expected was to be treated fairly and with a little generosity of spirit in the name of normal customer service.  The first mistake was his--they didn't cook my food--that's a pretty big mistake.  My mistake was at least on the side of decency--I was too generous to his employee.  His second mistake was being snotty and hateful instead of turning that situation into a win-win for his restaurant by employing a little honesty and humility.   All he had to do was be nice, apologize for the mix up and, if he didn't want to send cash back, he could have asked for my address and offered to send me a gift certificate just as a good faith gesture over the mixup. That's what a good manager would have done.  No harm no foul.  Restaurants  have marketing budgets for just that EXACT situation.  I would have walked away telling my friends "No big. Mistakes happen.  Look how nice they were about it."  But instead I feel personally insulted and ripped off.

I realize I'm only one person. I realize there are only about a dozen and a half RT's on night shift any given night.  There are about 75 of you folks here in Springfield who read this blog and even if we ALL chose not to go there it wouldn't break their business but if you add our lack of enthusiasm with all of the other people this manager's abused, it's certainly not going to help them maintain a clientele.  I'm not so egotistical as to think that this man was rude ONLY to me out of eveyone he deals with on a daily basis.  The restaurant business is a hard business (I worked it for 15 years) and there are tons of problems, snafus, and complaints that happen all the time no matter how streamlined the operation.  Thnk about it.  If that man was so easily dismissive and snotty to ME, imagine how he acts with people who AREN'T as understanding and generous about his mistakes as I am.

Rosati's, I would have enjoyed tasting your food but it's not worth the heartburn from your night manager.

Just for Fun....

FYI--New Search Widget for My Blog

Hi y'all,

Several people have dropped me emails looking for certain recipes of mine that they couldn't readily find. I hear that.  Even when you find the right category you might have wade through pages and pages of posts looking for that one recipe you remember in the back of your mind.  I've installed a search widget called "Ligit". I'm now "legit on ligit".  :-)  It doesn't specifically say it but the navy blue search box is for my blog content only so if you get stuck for a dinner recipe and want to check out how I make it...please help yourself to the search bar. 

Thanks to those of you who mentioned your frustration--I'm flattered and happy for the attention!

Storing Roasted Garlic for a "Rainy Day"

 

I generally prefer the sweet mellowness of roasted garlic to raw garlic in a lot of my recipes but the problem is the extra time, or lack of, it takes to roast garlic prior to making any dish with it.  A couple of years ago I figured out this quick and easy solution: make a big batch and freeze it so it's available to me any time I want to cook with it.

Doctor's Kitchen Monday: "There's Chicken in my Spaghetti"

 

Chicken, a simple substitution that has much less fat in it than beef in spaghetti, still has all the taste of meat and and the healthy goodness of the tomato sauce.  A perfect dish for the crockpot, it's also easy to throw into a roaster to cook it low and slow while leaving it alone for the afternoon.

I first had this at the soon-to-be in-laws of my friend, Shawna, 20-something years ago.  I'd flown to Calgary to attend her wedding and we got snowed in, blizzarded in I should say, at her wonderful in-laws where we were served this for one of the dinners. 

Let's talk the weather in Canada for a second, shall we?  I'm from Missouri, although I have lived in Washington (state) and Utah but that still didn't prepare me for Canadian "spring".  The wedding was in April and I remember Shawna saying about clothes "wear whatever you would normally wear in spring".  Hmmmm...what she meant to say was "wear whatever you'd wear for Missouri winter". Although we get a few snows over the winter, our snow is usually gone within a few days. I wasn't prepared for snow that stayed on the ground until almost summer and the freezing temps that accompany that snow. At the time I freaked out in my light sweaters and khakis but now I look back and smile and am warmed by the memories of spending time with my dear friend and the hospitality of her new family.

This dish is my entry this week in Ruth's, of Once Upon a Feast, wonderful Presto Pasta Nights, hosted this week by Graziana of Erbe in Cucina .  Be sure to drop by her "place" on Friday to see all the wonderful pasta dishes rounded up this week.

Happy 4th of July!

 

We're off tomorrow to Eureka Springs, Arkansas for an Independence Day cookout bash that also just happens to be our dear friends, David and Becky's 40th Wedding Anniversary! Happy Anniversary to the Siscos!

I'm taking little flag cupcakes made by striping a bag with blue and red gel before adding the white chocolate/marshmallow buttercream (recipe following).