Using rancid fruit for dessert

Catchy title, huh? Okay, so I didn't use rancid fruit. But, I did use fruit a bit past it's expiration date for tonight's dessert. We had a pear and apple fruit crisp (the apples were the stragglers from our fall trip to the orchard, when was that?). Sounds gross, I know. But, I peeled them, cut off the yucky parts, sliced them and baked them with a yummy oatmeal crisp topping. We topped it off with some ice cream and VOILA, dessert was served. If I wouldn't have baked the fruit, I would have had to throw it away, because, well it was really bad. But, I figure baking it to makes it all okay. I would say I completed a frugal deed today:)

French

I recently watched the movie Julie and Julia. I loved it! I am a foodie at heart. It is very surprising in all honesty because as a child I was a very picky eater. My parents can confirm that I am sure. The only vegetable I would eat was raw carrots. I would not touch anything with an onion, celery or anything crunchy for that matter. Peas, well, if my dad reads this post, I am sure he will chuckle when remembering my fierce stubbornness when refusing to eat peas. To this day I remember standing over a toilet getting ready to drop the one brussels sprout I was given at dinner, only to have my dad walk into the bathroom and stop me. As I grew up I started to taste the foods I feared and found I loved them. Cheeses, vegetables (brussels sprouts, peas and kale excluded), exotic fruits and whole grains became a part of my diet. I can in all honesty say I will eat almost anything given to me, heck, I ate black pudding in Scotland. For those who know what that is, you will know it is not a picky eaters dream food. I love to eat!

After watching Julie and Julia I went to the bookstore the next day and bought the book Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Tonight I made Boeuf Bourguignon for dinner. It was a hit, time consuming but relatively easy. We had a salad, french bread and red wine with it. It felt like a perfect French dinner. I of course picked out every pearl onion that landed on my plate, I still HATE onions. It felt like a perfect meal tonight. Late this afternoon we were interviewed and accepted to host a French foreign exchange student for the summer. We are very excited about it.

Hosting the exchange student was my son's idea. He gets so excited about opportunities like these. He will put his heart and soul into it and will make it such a fun experience for the boy we host. My list of summer fun ideas is a mile long. My husband pointed out that I will have to shorten it a bit. The representative that we talked to tonight even told me that I need to give him some down time. I will. I just want to show this boy all the fun things that are available while he is in our country. So far my list includes:

Brewers Game

Chicago (Field Museum, Planetarium, etc)

Twin Cities (Mall of America)

Swimming Lake Michigan

Great America

Door County Wisconsin

Wisconsin Dells

Bowling (a requirement if visiting Wisconsin) and a brat

Museums in Milwaukee (art, public and Harley Davidson Museum)

As one can see, my list is long, and it is only partial. I fear that child will need a vacation from his vacation when he gets home. It is only February and I am so looking forward to summer. We will have family adventure and it will be warm.

Bad Customer Service

Today I am going to use my blog as a means of telling other consumers about terrible customer service I recently received.

Friday night, my husband and I went to Office Max (for those in the Milwaukee area wondering which one, let me know I will be happy to divulge the location). We were in need of a chair for our computer desk. My husband picked out the chair, grabbed the little slip that was needed to buy the chair and proceeded to check out. When we got to the check out, one lone teenager was in charge. My husband handed her the slip, she than asked another associate who was passing by to get the chair. This associate said NO! and walked off. No? Is that really an option when a customer wants to buy something? The check out girl then stared at us, blankly. We stared back, a bit shocked, but still hopeful that the chair would appear. About a minute later, the manager shows up with a couple buying 2 reams of paper and paper shredder, pushes us out of line and proceeds to help the couple. Meanwhile, the Einstein that was not helping us continues to stare. Then, she moves over to where her fearless leader was ringing up the invaluable to reams of paper to help him bag! Really? This is like a joke right? How many incompetent Office Max workers does it take to bag a ream of paper? To make matters worse, the guy with the paper was unhappy with his discount, so they started over! I was at my wits end. Finally, my husband agreed to just leave. As we left, Einstein, stared at us with the same blank look that she had been staring at us all along.

When I got home, I emailed customer service at Office Max. We shall see what their response is.