One reader will be happy there are no pictures today, well
maybe one..
Want to take a little detour from the overall journey to get
couple of things (slight rants) off my chest..
otherwise they just pile up and get such a backlog that it is untenable
to recount all… so here we go:
As you know, I watch a lot of television, mostly sporting
events (which must be live, or I’m out) and with sporting events on TV, along
comes commercials. There are a few that
really aggravate me.
Liberty Mutual Insurance:
a nice young lady positioned with the Statue of Liberty in the
background, telling us that she had a car that she loved so much that: “I named
it Brad… I loved Brad”; followed by “and
then you totaled Brad”.. what? Excuse
me? were you drunk? Speeding? Distracted?
Awww, you totaled Brad. Then goes on to say how the insurance company
called with the good news with their (optional - $$$) full car replacement, and
“you break into your happy dance”. How sweet.
Oh, by the way, the “optional” full car replacement requires (besides the
additional premium): Policy Deductible
applies; Replacement is same model year; totaled car must be less than a year
old and have less than 15K miles on it.
More happy dance by the Insurance company.
Michelin Tires: a
series of heart tugging commercials about mommy or daddy getting a text that
kid is lonely or something and mommy or daddy brave the elements (only hook to
tires, I guess) to come home and comfort the little darling. Fair enough.
But the version that gets me shows a chef or line cook in front of a
prep table, reaches for phone (allowed?), sees text: “ is homesick”. Looks concerned, puts down phone and…… JUST
LEAVES! Walks off the line. No communication with Chef… JUST LEAVES. Just walks!! If it were my kitchen, she could spend as much
time as she wanted with junior before looking for another job. Sheesh.
Tipping: some
interesting stats from one of my hospitality mags (the one that features a
cover teaser about “Best Sandwiches in America”, a future posting. Anyway,
about tipping:
Best Tippers (in order): Men; Northeasterners; Baby Boomers;
Republicans; Those paying with credit cards.
Median tip of that group is 20%.
Women median tip is 16%, with southerners and Democrats is 15%. Offered without comment.
Other stats: Percentage of Americans who always leave a tip:
80%; Percentage of Customers earning
above $75K: 99%; 2% of those surveyed never leave a tip (at a sit down restaurant),
and 7% said they tipped “only sometimes”.
Just offered without comment. A whole sensitive subject: tipping.
Wine Speak. Alert
readers will remember that I often go on about winespeak when wines are
described as having “hints of barnyard, with overtones of baked clay and
crushed blackberries, and sweaty saddle”.
Well in today’s Washington Post Food section there is an review of 29
Chardonnays, Cabernets, and red blends by their wine guy, Dave McIntyre,
entitled: “they’re cheap, and they’re
everywhere, But are they worth drinking?”, which reviews wines around 10
bucks. Common names we see everywhere,
Barefoot, Sutter Home, Cupcake, and so forth.
Here’s his winespeak about Chardonnay’s: Barefoot ($8.59): “Industrial
aromas of machine oil, as if you’re at a factory rather than a winery. Green and underripe flavors.” Cupcake ($11): “Funky, skunky, wet dog”;
Yellowtail (white, $6.79): “Caramel? Plastic? Birthday Candle? Sweet and
cloying”; Sutter Home ($10 1.5L) “Smells of sewer gas and is simply unpleasant”.
Reds fared no better: Frontera Cabernet- Merlot ($5.20): “Boiled Potato Skins,
sauced with rendered cough drops”; 14 Hands (Cab $12): “Tire rubber. Aged in inner tubes. Like a gym accident when you get strangled by
a resistance cord”.
For value priced Chards, he recommends anything with Robert
Mondavi name, like Woodbridge ($7.59): “rather
Tasty”; or RM Private Selection ($11.69) and generally Chilean Reds (Santa Rita
120 Maule Valley, Chile ($9); Cousino-Macul, Maipo Valley ($10.69).
Interesting article.
and what may be most depressing of all, is that according from research
last year Americans spent $670 million on Barefoot Wines, with Sutter Home a
distant second at $368 million. Now, you
might think that Mr. McIntyre is just being snobby, but his rather colorful descriptions
match my experience. Besides he took
the time to respond to me when I sent him an email asking what he meant by a “fun”
wine (which he sometimes uses).
Refreshing..
Okay enough next edition will get back to our journey
through Michigan.. where we did have a couple of legitimate occasions to be
DFD
Oh, okay, one image... here’s the subject of a future review…
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