Sometimes you get goofy ideas. Sometimes you follow through on them before anyone tells you no.
For some reason, Ohio Valley Style pizza has made the rounds as “Pittsburgh Pizza,” and that’s fine with me. We just had Beto’s the other night. For me, it’s delicious, inexpensive, and filling. It seems to be rather polarizing. I know DiCarlo’s & Police Station Pizza have their followings, too.
And, now that design is available on all kinds of stuff in my TeePublic & RedBubble shops.
Check it out, and tell your friends. Buy it on something you dig it. Both stores have T-shirts, stickers, magnets, hats, & so much more!
Of course, I really enjoy Aiello’s, Badamo’s, Slice, & Italian Village Pizza, too. Also, if you catch a Fox’s on a good day, it’s pretty good too! There’s room for all styles at the table.
Hit me up in the comments with your pizza manifestos because people seem wildly adherent to their opinions, and drop your design critiques too!
So, I guess I had no idea that AI music was as advanced as it is. I assumed the stuff I saw on social medial was from paid or sophisticated programs. I have been monkeying casually with text prompts at ChatGPT or Meta AI, and image generators at DALL-E 2, Craiyon, & in the PicsArt app for a while. Luma AI even animates photos in the creepiest way possible. I have recently started messing with Google’s Gemini, too.
While the first two AI song generators that popped up when I googled did not require me to download an app or pay any money, I was able to have them bang out a song in less than a minute. The second one even let me insert lyrics, so I used ChatGPT & Gemini to write lyrics. Of course I chose punk rock, and the subject matter was just me poorly describing the blog. This stuff is wild.
The prompt was: “World (and Lunar) Domination” a punk rock song about drawing mazes and writing goofy letters.
For some reason, I can’t seem to embed these ones. 🤷
AI Music Factory automatically spits out 2 songs from the same prompts.
All of the songs are generic pop punk, street punk, and a weird attempt at some uncanny valley-ish horns. They are formulaic pop punk, of which I could certainly be accused of doing when I was actively playing in bands. The weird part is that is not all that dissimilar from my actual creative output. The lyrics have some interesting ideas & hooks too, if I’m being honest. Does that mean I am a terrible and generic songwriter? Perhaps my lack of commercial success in that area speaks to that. 😆
Self-depreciating humor aside, I feel like I have been involved in the creation of some fun, silly, & kick-ass music, and I was never really doing it for financial gain or recognition. It was an itch that I needed to scratch. I needed to make art via punk rock.
The above songs are derivative of a thousand different punk bands, but the one vocalist sounds oddly like Bad Religion. All of it is stealing from something though. Is it scouring the whole internet? Is it using Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, Apple Music, or Amazon Music? Is it creeping on hard drives in home studios or at record companies?
I feel like this is really close to having the ability to be passed off as a real band. It even reminds me of Crotchduster,
Is it theft, or inspiration? I would not have picked up a guitar and tried to write punk rock songs if I had not heard the Ramones & the Misfits doing what they did. Led Zeppelin’s entire catalog is arguably not entirely derivative of everything that passed through Jimmy Page’s earholes. (I mean, George Lucas did the same thing with Star Wars – it was just Flash Gordon, The Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, & Dune.)
It can be argued that the music is soulless. I get that. I need music to move me in some way, in order to feel that connection. There are already lots of human generated songs out there that don’t really hit me that way. It’s terrible when a song evokes no emotion. I feel that way about Nickelback, even though it’s unironically cool to like them now. Ha ha.
In keeping with the theme of this post, I also used a bunch of AI image generators with various prompts about my blog, and got some weird weird wild stuff. None of them seem to accurately display text whatsoever at all… but the compositions, colors, & design choices are interesting. Is is stolen work though?
It was said that Robin Williams was notorious for stealing bits, but I have read/heard that he was always “on,” and just pulling in ideas and churning out jokes at a constant speed… he may not have realized that his thoughts weren’t entirely his own. But then again, were they? Everything we think, say, & do is a response to our own audio & visual input. (And, all the other senses.)
If AI is putting something out, and the way it “senses” is browsing the internet, what’s wrong with that? Is it stealing because it is not alive? Is it just a tool like a paintbrush or a calculator? Is AI song generation different than loops or sampling or guitar pedals that drastically change a tone?
Images generated by various AI image generators, with prompts pretty much just describing my blog.
🤘🐈⬛🎸
Because every single one of my thoughts also has an incomprehensibly tangential aside, I just did this as the idea came to me while blogging:
𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖉𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖍 𝖒𝖊𝖙𝖆𝖑 𝖐𝖎𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖘𝖔𝖓𝖌 – I had ChatGPT write those lyrics a long time ago to be silly. It deleted the chat from the history as it found the content to perhaps be “inappropriate.” Luckily I grabbed a screenshot. I just used my last freebie at AI Music Factory to make this, and unlike with the other songs, I actually downloaded the mp3’s because I find it wildly amusing. AI plays guitar better than Kerry King.
“FEED THE KITTEN” album art by Meta AI“Feed The Kitten” by ChatGPT
So, did I just write a song? No. But… I had the idea for one. It, much like my own artistic output, was a silly idea. (I was always sad that Gasoline Dion never completed songs that we were working on, including but not limited to “667, Across the Street From the Beast” and the ever poetic line “Let me put my meat hook in your beef curtains.”)
I just let my 10yo daughter hear the metal kitten song. She laughed and said it sounds like everything else I listen to (she’s a Taylor Swift fan). When I told her it was AI generated in under a damn minute & that ChatGPT wrote the lyrics, her eyes got wide and was all “That’s not good…”
She immediately understood the implications. Anyone could make a hit album. We could all be Milli Vanilli. Even better, you could probably create a video avatar of an artist or band. I haven’t delved into AI generated video past the tiny Luma AI clips.
Would using AI as a muse, or to flesh out partial lyric ideas be “wrong?” Are we in an era like the early days of sampling where soon someone will figure out how to give artists royalties for music or artwork being fed into AI? I know there are already cases out there. I also know you can’t copyright AI images. Not sure about music, though? I know Mötley Crüe was accused of using AI to write songs.
Will commercials, social media, radio, TV, & movies forgo traditional composers and just make their own jingles, scores, & soundtracks?
It was fun to play with, but do I like it enough that I will pay for it? I doubt it. I can’t think of a practical use for myself other than making a fictional band or something… and who would want AI generated crap content right now? If I paid to put it on streaming services (if you can even copyright it), how would that generate income or even be sustainable? Live shows would be (for now) out of the question. I don’t think it would “feel good” to put that out, like it does to release actual music you created. Maybe kids will dig AI music in the future… or our eventual robot overlords might.
Because I can’t stop, Luma AI animations of AI generated images:
OK, I went back & messed with Udio again. I found where you could pop in the kitten lyrics from Chat GPT. I do not like the output nearly as much, but it’s still pretty wild:
So, what are your thoughts on AI generated stories, art, music, & video? Are we in the wild west? Do you use any of it? If you do use it, what sites/apps, and to what end? Please, hit up the comments!
Oh yeah, those sites automatically generated videos I could download too.
I have really enjoyed seeing the wildlife in my backyard through my Birdfy Feeder & my Birdfy camera (& the accessories). The folks at Birdfy reached out to ask if I would like to test a new product, so of course I said yes! I have been using it, sharing my camera feeds with the company, & providing feedback for a while now with the company, & uploading photos/videos to a private Google photos album. It was exciting to see them respond & change features/settings as the testing went on. They really improved tracking, AI recognition, & picture/video quality rather quickly.
It has ben hard to keep quiet about it & not share the video or photos!
As a company, they’re constantly reaching out to solicit suggestions on product ideas, design, features, and more. They have recently updated their app to enable editing of AI tags as per customer suggestions.
I’m relieved to be able to share the fact that I have been helping to test the new camera, & to finally share the photos/video.
🐦
I need to make a blog post when I get time, but if you're looking to get a camera birdfeeder, and you like my videos, please consider buying a Birdfy by Netvue, and doing so with this affiliate link:https://t.co/KBCtDHH9D1
Here my son helped me film the unboxing/setup, if you want to see a really poorly edited video. I have set up over 7 Birdfy cameras at this point through the app, and all of them have been really simple.
The one that was sent to me has two cameras, the Birdfy 2, & the Birdfy 2 Pro, and it’s a Duo feeder with the Pro camera mounted in the middle, and the 2 mounted on the side. It also came with a solar panel. I mounted it on a pole that I had purchased from Amazon.
The Birdfy 2 Duo Feeder with the Birdfy 2 Pro & Birdfy 2 cameras.
I like the looks of it, and the color when compared to the original feeder. It just seems a bit more elegant or classic of a design. The bamboo feeder is really nice looking, too. I also like that the lid of this newer model opens up & back, so you can see better into the hopper as you’re filling it… and that the cameras are wholly independent of the housing for ease of access. I have removed the two plates per Birdfy’s request, as the bords seem to have more room to perch without them in the way.
The cameras take a while to charge at first, but the solar panel typically keeps it close to 100%. Occasionally, I do have to bring a camera in for a recharge across all the products. (I don’t have a nest or a hummingbird feeder yet, but maybe someday.)
The app is easy to navigate from the setup of the cameras, to checking out the various videos and photos captured. It has a daily highlights feature, and a monthly recap. The FB community is great for ideas and seeing others’ setups and the birds (& other animals)#CaughtOnBirdfy, and Birdfy support is incredibly responsive.
The video & photos are what shines here, though. The Pro 2 has two cameras, one that moves & tracks the birds. Videos can be downloaded, shared with the community or “collected” in the app, and you can see both cameras at once from the live view. I had to quiet the notifications, because I literally get them all day. The AI bird recognition is pretty good, and getting better, especially now that functionality for correcting the tags has been implemented.
Photos from the Birdfy Duo Feeder with the Birdfy 2 Pro & Birdfy 2 cameras.
🥜
If you have any questions about the feeders, my setups, or anything related to this… don’t hesitate to ask in the comments or reach out on social media. I enjoy vegetable gardening, keeping a nice backyard, and living in harmony with nature even here in the suburbs. These feeders add to the enjoyment. I don’t have to be outside all day to catch a glimpse of nature at work. I try to plant flowers for the pollinators, I’m working on a birdbath and may eventually make a little pond. I have bee/butterfly baths & bug houses.
Bird people seem to be mixed on the squirrels & chipmunks though. I love to watch them, too. Ha ha. I have a squirrel feeder out with a camera trained on it, but may use a Birdfy camera to build into a squirrel feeder eventually. Maybe a barstool style feeder? I’ll have to fortify the wires, as sometimes they can apparently chew them and be quite destructive.
🐿️
I am in the suburbs just south of Pittsburgh, PA, and I use a varying mix of fruit & nut mix, dried mealworms, a songbird seed mix, sunflower seeds, & sometimes some hot pepper seed mix or cayenne pepper or chili powder. The latter tends to keep the squirrels at the squirrel feeder, but the dust can smudge the camera lenses sometimes. I also tent to put out peanuts and corn for the squirrels (although that pulls in raccoons & deer, too).
You can poke through my whole playlist, or see some videos from just the Birdfy 2 cameras here:
So, it’s been a long time since I have been to a punk rock show… or really any kind of show or concert. It’s been even longer since I was a regular attendee or participant in such shenanigans.
I posted about it on FB a bit, but wanted to share it here too and see if it sparked any discussion on obtaining bootlegs (or official recordings) on shows you have attended.
Went to Setlist.fm, & made a playlist of all 3 bands’ songs last night on Amazon. We live in the FUTURE.
Although, this is slightly less cool than when I found an “Import” at CD Warehouse in Monroeville of the Bloodhound Gang at a show I saw at Metropol. I wish I had the Nerf Herder set from that night!
Somewhere, I probably still have cassette tapes of the Guns N’ Roses set from Three Rivers Stadium in the early 90s. Anyone remember those rock conventions where you could buy mad bootlegs that sounded like someone had a Radio Shack tape recorder jammed squarely up their keister?
I have legally purchased digital versions Metallica and Willie Nelson shows that I have attended. This shit ought to be standard practice for even smaller shows. I’d slap $ on top of the ticket price for a live recording of a show I attended, no problem.
Would you like to more easily be able to buy downloadable audio/video of shows or concerts that you attend? I know I would.
Looks like someone posted the sets from Monday on YouTube:
It was a late night for my dude, but he pepped up with these songs! We were up front (at Ian’s insistence) for #LeftAlone , the middle for #TheAggrolites , then hung back for #TheAquabats ! All the bands put one hell if a great show, and it will be a killer tour. I’ll have to wade through video & post some tomorrow night too. Maybe on YouTube. #PizzaDay#RoxianTheater#Pittsburgh#🍕📆
So, recently I was hungry for stuffed cabbage. I had never made it before, so after Googling a few recipes and soliciting advice from a Facebook food group and Nextdoor, I came up with my own. You can put this URL into Just The Recipe or do the Cooked Wiki “hack” to skip all my bullshit up here.
I’m not a huge fan of rice in meatballs like you typically see with stuffed peppers or stuffed cabbage, so I was googling recipes without it and kept finding stuffed tagged as “keto,” or with other grains substituted in. I think it’s a texture thing for me, so I opted to go my own route. Also, get out of here with your sweet/hot sausage, I’ll add my own spices. Keep your veal/beef/pork mixes. Maybe ground turkey would be cool. Keep the lamb away.
It seems that many are tied to their family’s traditional way of making it, and that’s pretty cool. I always thought of it as an Eastern European type dish, but lots of cultures have their own spin & own words for it according to Wikipedia. The thought of omitting rice, or using condensed tomato soup instead of a tomato sauce or V8 sent some people into a tizzy. I even learned that lots of people include sauerkraut, and some people like it served with sour cream. Some people make it like a casserole. We always had the tomato soup version growing up, so that’s what I like/expected. Who knew? I’ll probably make it different next time… but both kids & the wife liked it, so I won’t experiment too much.
I used glass baking dishes covered with foil, but got advice that a roasting pan, an electric roaster, the crock pot, a Dutch oven, a soup pot on the stove, or a pressure cooker all work well, too.
Although, I would like to wrap a piece of bacon around the rolls and throw them on the smoker…
At any rate, check out the recipe, and give me your recipes. tips, tricks, advice, and heavily guarded family recipe secrets in the comments.
Also – What do you call them?
Here’s what I did. 🤷
Get It:
1 head of cabbage.
4-ish lbs. of ground beef. (I used 3 lbs of 8/20 & 1 lb. of 90/10)
2 eggs
½ Yellow Bell Pepper
½ Spanish Onion
1 cup shredded carrots (I bought a bag and I’ll use it for other stuff too.)
1 beef bullion cube
1 stick of butter
3 23.2 oz. cans condensed Tomato Soup
Bread crumbs (Do I look like I measure stuff? Probably a cup and a half?)
Shredded Parmesan Cheese (in the ‘lil fancy container by the expensive cheese)
Minced Garlic (just have the jar ready I’m lazy and don’t crush/mince my own)
Spices. I used salt, black pepper, white pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, Season All, & Table Blend. (I just throw it on at every step indiscriminately with complete abandon and total anarchy.)
Do it:
Preheat Your oven to 400°.
Get a stock pot, fill it enough to cover your cabbage. Drop in the bullion cube, and salt, minced garlic, and whatever seasoning your heart desires, and crank it to high with the lid on.
Chop your onion in half. Toss half in the boiling water, but take the lid off first & then put it back on.
Mince the rest of the onion.
Cut up the yellow pepper. Feed half to your kids, the dog, or your significant other. Or just eat it. That’s the perk of being the cook. Mince the other half.
Pull out a handful of the minced carrots, a big knife, and what them up until they are tiny pieces of shredded carrots. Our dog loves carrots, so I sprinkled some on her food bowl.
I greased 3 glass baking dishes with the stick of butter. I used a 9″x13″, an 8″x9″, & a 9″x9″ because that’s what I had. I swear we broke like 3 glass dishes last summer.
Melt what can surely be described as an obscene amount of butter in a skillet and sauté the onion, then the pepper & carrots on medium heat. I was sure to hit them with onion powder, garlic powder, salt, & pepper. I like to cook onions slow & low.
Drop the head of cabbage in your now boiling water while you’re doing all that. Yes, remove but do not replace the lid.
Put the sautéed veggies aside and let them cool a bit while you get the meat mixture ready.
Set up a colander or strainer over a large bowl, & get your tongs ready.
Beat your eggs, & add spices.
Mix the meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, some cheese, sautéed veggies, some minced garlic, and lots of spices. I do it by hand. I wash my hands very well before & after, so you probably should too. But hey, you do you.
By this time, hopefully your cabbage has been boiling 10-ish minutes. Use tongs to gently peel one leaf at a time and place it lovingly in your colander. Don’t go too quick with it and splash/burn yourself, because I would definitely never ever do that.
Open the cans of tomato soup and cover the bottom of your baking dishes.
Get the leaf, cut out the bottom tough part of the leaf rib if so inclined, slap in your meat mixture, and wrap it like a burrito – folding in the ends part way through. I didn’t measure, I eyeballed the meat to leaf ratio.
Fill the baking dish(es), pour on & season the rest of the condensed tomato soup, sprinkle on some more parmesan cheese, cover in foil, and bake for an hour.
Tips/Lessons Learned/Parting Thoughts:
I was going to bake it at 375° and I probably should have, taking the foil off for the last 15 min. They were well over the recommended 160° internal temp for ground beef. Maybe some browning/caramelizing would not be a bad thing?
I saw a lot of tips for freezing the cabbage instead of boiling it, but I also read just as many responses saying that it can drastically affect the texture and not in a good way.
I may put in back next time. Maybe inside? Maybe wrapped outside?
Hear me out… Reuben cabbage rolls. Corned beef? Sauerkraut? Thousand Island or Russian dressing? Rye breadcrumbs? (We make non-traditional stuffed peppers sometimes, too.)
If you like rice, by all means include it. Or barley, or any other grain. I considered those tiny lil’ pasta balls… but maybe I just like to say Acini de Pepe way too much. Some people recommended cauliflower rice, also.
Are you still reading? Check out the recipe, and give me your recipes. tips, tricks, advice, and heavily guarded family recipe secrets in the comments.
I have been in the mood for stuffed cabbage, and I finally had the time to make it. I've never made it before, but I think it turned out good! Both kids said they'd eat it again. My 9yo food critic son said it was a 10/10.#stuffedcabbage#cabbagerollspic.twitter.com/o4AXtqXXsI
Well, the tweets from before were apparently incorrect. The La Choy teriyaki variety that I liked has been discontinued. I emailed Conagra via webform and found a bunch of names and tried to garner email addresses online, which worked on at least 2 counts. I also got some replies from various grocery stores.
From: Conagra Consumer Care consumer.care@conagra.com Date: Tue, Dec 19, 2023 at 1:03 PM Subject: LA CHOY Consumer Care Response: Case # 06631637 [ ref:!00D800cIJR.!500QU02afd0:ref ] To: [me]
Hello Eric,
Thank you so much for taking the time to reach out to us regarding the La Choy Teriyaki Sauce. There was obvious passion in your correspondence, both for the former product you preferred and for the current product that does not meet your expectations. We’d like to offer some background and what we hope is a worthy alternative.
Previously we produced both the La Choy Teriyaki Marinade and Sauce that you enjoyed, and the La Choy Teriyaki Sauce and Marinade. With two similar sauces available, earlier this year we discontinued production of the La Choy Teriyaki Marinade and Sauce. We work with grocery stores and other retail partners to optimize our product assortment. Through these conversations, we often need to make decisions about discontinuing products. These are difficult decisions, as we know a discontinued product can be a disappointment to consumers.
We appreciate your candid feedback on the current La Choy Teriyaki Sauce and Marinade. This feedback was shared with our brand team and will go to our internal culinary team as well. Every piece of consumer input is valuable to us.
Within the Conagra Brands portfolio, we also offer PF Chang’s Home Menu, and we hope their Teriyaki Sauce is one that you’ll enjoy. PF Chang’s Home Menu is inspired by the tastes and high-quality ingredients of PF Chang’s bistros. The Teriyaki Sauce is part of a collection of sauces we introduced a few years ago, and if you’re interested in trying it, we’d be happy to send you a few bottles. If this would be ok, please reply to this email with your complete mailing address, and if applicable, please include the Unit or Apt. #.
Thank you again for your loyalty to the La Choy brand and the time you spent providing us feedback. Both are appreciated.
From: Conagra Consumer Care [consumer.care@conagra.com] Sent: 12/11/2023, 1:43 PM To: [me] Subject: LA CHOY Consumer Care Response: Case # 06631637 [ ref:!00D800cIJR.!500QU02afd0:ref ]
Hello Eric,
Thank you for reaching out to Ms. Schaefer’s office to let us know you were a fan of our LA CHOY TERIYAKI MARINADE AND SAUCE.
From time to time we reformulate our product recipes, this also includes how consumer preferences change over time. Unfortunately, it’s no longer available but we’ll make sure to share your comments regarding your request to bring back the older formulation with appropriate personnel.
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact our supervisors at 1-800-722-1344, between the hours of 9:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. CST, Monday through Thursday, and between the hours of 9:00 A.M. and 1:00 P.M. CST, on Fridays. Please give reference number 06631637 to the supervisor who answers your phone call. If a supervisor isn’t available, please leave a voicemail with your name and reference number. A supervisor should return your call within 48 business hours.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your feedback.
Thank you for replying. We're unable to provide the recipe as it is proprietary but appreciate your interest in our products. Thank you again for taking the time message and enjoy your week.
From: Guest Relations guest.relations@target.com Date: Mon, Dec 11, 2023 at 4:12 PM Subject: Your Inquiry to Target.com Executive Offices To: [me]
Hello Eric,
Thank you for contacting Target about your experience. I received a copy of your email from our executive offices along with a request to reach out.
Thanks for asking about this “La Choy Teriyaki Sauce and Marinade” we understand you are interested to know if we carry or plan on carrying this. I do apologize, but we do not have this item available in our assortment and at this time we do not have any additional information to share regarding future availability. To view the wide variety of other Teriyaki sauces we do carry please click here.
We appreciate you reaching out and sharing interest with this item. I’ll be sure to share your comments with our buyers.
From: Melissa (Fresh Thyme) support@freshthyme.zendesk.com Date: Sat, Dec 9, 2023 at 10:50 AM Subject: [Fresh Thyme] Re: La Choy Teriyaki Sauce & Marinade To: [me]
Your request (26880) has been updated. To add additional comments, reply to this email.
Melissa (Fresh Thyme)
Dec 9, 2023, 9:50 AM CST
Dear Eric,
Thanks for reaching out! The products available at our stores may differ by location. To find out if your local store carries (product name), you may visit our website http://www.freshthyme.com and search for any of your desired products.
I will forward this to the Store Director for the Bridgeville, PA store location for you as well.
Thank you for being a Fresh Thyme customer! Melissa Fresh Thyme Customer Care
Nothing from Giant Eagle, Walmart, or Shop’n Save.
You should try to solve the maze, & then post it & tag me on social media. I’m @AiXeLsyD on pretty much everything.
I write to you today to invite you on a journey with me. The journey is the quest for the most absolute perfect Teriyaki sauce. You may find yourself wondering if it exists. I can assure you, it does… or at least it did. Over the past few years it has been increasingly difficult to find. You’re surely wondering by now, to which magical elixir I am referring? It is confusing, but I will try to explain: The original La Choy Teriyaki Marinade & Sauce is wondrous perfection, yet the La Choy Teriyaki Stir Fry Sauce & Marinade is devastatingly abhorrent.
I know that “teriyaki” may refer to a style, much like “barbecue” can denote many kinds of sauces, but it ought to be a crime to label these two sauces with the same descriptor. “Ketchup” came to describe the sugary tomato-based condiment we all know today, even though at one point it could have referred to many different things including a sauce with fermented fish.
I have seen the words on the label move around in various orders, so I’m not 100% sure exactly what to call the sauce, or how to differentiate it by descriptor… but I can tell you that the darker sauce in the bottle with the same shape as your soy sauce is fantastic, and the other stuff in the salad-dressing style bottle with seeds floating in it is terrible.
Over the years, I have written to my local grocery store, and they said the distributor discontinued it. I had one local store that carried it, and they have replaced its spot on the shelf with a similar yet inferior brand that we would have called generic in my youth. I have reached out to Conagra on social media, and was told to use the product locator. The product locator shows that no one around here sells that sauce, and seems to indicate it is not available online.
The La Choy website that lists all of the sauces does not show the good style sauce, but only the gross style. Is this an indication that you no longer manufacture the good stuff? Google searches lead to one gallon jugs or full cases. I only need a few bottles at a time. Looking closer, it shows as “out of stock” on some sites. Are you having supply chain issues? Is it being phased out? Is it available only regionally outside of my region?
I am writing to implore you to get me some answers other than the stock “Yes, we still make it. Please use our product locator.” I would like some real concrete answers. I also plan to write to all of my local grocery chains.
Please enjoy the attached maze, to help you as you contemplate a suggested resolution to my quest. Are you able to let me know the names of any of the distributors or local/national grocery chains where I can reach out to request your product, or even independent stores? I am in Bridgeville, PA, USA… just south of Pittsburgh.
I would love email addresses, or even snail mail. I am not a fan of these constraining contact forms.
I look forward to your reply, and thank you for the many tasty dinners that I have enjoyed thanks to your delicious sauce. I won’t even ask for an apology for the terribleness of the other sauce, even though you really should apologize for it.
I thank you for your time and attention, may you have a joyous and cheerful holiday season this year!
Your Hangry Fan, -Eric aixelsyd13(at)gmail.com
Help me on my quest!
I sent that to Conagra’s contact form, well, what would fit, but was able to attach the maze. I also sent it through Facebook and Instagram messages, and tried to reach out via Twitter (again).
I used a google search to find their CEO’s name and their supposed email syntax, and sent the message to several variations of his address. None have bounced back yet, but I doubt they will all go through. I did also email their media relations and investor questions email which I found in a press release.
What’s my next move? Snail mail? Other executives? Board Members? I plan to email local food chains & maybe even smaller grocers. How do I find their distributors? Should I snail mail these out?
I feel like I have been getting the run-around on this for years:
So, @ConagraBrands… how can you (in good conscience) call both of these #Teriyaki sacue with the only tiny disction on the label being one is a marinade & one is for stir fry… while one tastes like kissing an angel & the other like licking a demon's butthole? #LaChoypic.twitter.com/NvNohQ750J
This is my take. Not sure what inspired it other than pure unadulterated gluttony pair with an absolute love for the Thanksgiving meal.
I wanted cheese, but a soft white sort of mild cheese… nothing crazy sharp. This time I went with gouda slices and it was perfect. I solicited suggestions a few places online and found some fantastic ones.
🍂 AiXeLsyD13’s Thanksgiving Sliders! 🍂
I took some stuffing out of my typical recipe, formed some stuffing balls, & cooked them in a glass dish at 375° Fahrenheit for 20 minutes and they were perfect. I let them cool, & slapped ’em into a Ziploc bag & put them in the ‘fridge.
At lunch time on black Friday, I got out some turkey and gravy, heated it in a pan on the stove, cut the stuffing balls to be like a sandwich bun, added the cheese & cranberry sauce on mine, assembled the sandwiches & cooked them sort of like a melt on our panini press countertop grill.
I just kept it on until the cheese started to look nice & melty. The outside got a little crisp, but not burned.
I will do this again. In fact, I’ll make stuffing and cook a turkey breast just to do this.
I made them to order. My wife wasn’t feeling the cheese idea, and my son wasn’t sure about the gravy. Neither wanted the cranberry sauce. I did one with, & one without. The one with was much more delicious. My daughter had a slider with gouda, turkey, & mayo on a dinner roll.
What else would go good on this? Mashed potatoes? Yams or sweet potatoes? Green bean casserole? Squash? If this were a food truck, I would visit once a week. I enjoyed this just as much as Thanksgiving dinner.
What do you do with your Thanksgiving leftovers? Is there a sandwich or other concoction like this from somewhere that I missed?
Gouda fit perfect, have any suggestions for other cheeses? White American, White cheddar, havarti, Swiss, brie, & even mozzarella may all be contenders. A smoked cheese may be good too.
I love to put together a holiday meal, especially thanksgiving. I have it down pretty good to corral the chaos.
Turkey in the electric roaster!Thanksgiving Dinner Plate!
First prepping the turkey & stuffing…
I do the bird in the electric roaster, stuffed, for 15-ish minutes per lb. @ 325° Farenheit. I roasted in the preheated pan on full for about 45 minutes at the start before turning it down. I inject the turkey in a few sports with a mixture of melted beer, butter, & spices. I usually rub some softened butter on top and toss on lots of seasoning there too. I usually pour a bottle of beer and a box of turkey broth in the bottom, & include some carrots, celery, & an onion.
Don’t worry about samonella with a stuffed bird. Take it to 165°. Always use a food thermometer. Some of the dark meat of the turkey will be overcooked but it will still be juicy & delicious. I haven’t killed anyone with my turkey yet.
The extra stuffing can be made into stuffing balls, but I put it in the crock pot. You just have to stir it, & maybe add extra turkey or chicken broth if needed or it will stick to the sides a lil’ burnt.
Do the math, & time it so you’re pulling the turkey out about a half an hour before you want to serve it.
I cut up the butternut squash first, & put it in the fridge for when I needed it.
I peeled & quartered the potatoes, let them sit in cold water (& turkey broth).
Cut up & prep the brussels sprouts & carrots, you want to pop them in about 45 min before you plan to eat.
Prep the squash & put it in right after the brussels sprouts.
Turn on the potatoes, by the time they cook & you do your thing… it the other stuff should be ready to go.
Others brought even more sides… cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, & rolls!
If I make green bean casserole, I pretty much use the Campbell’s recipe or French’s Fried Onions recipe… sometimes with an added can of mushrooms, fresh green beans, & maybe even some bacon pieces or ham.
World (and Lunar) Domination 