I started another blog a while ago to stockpile recipes, then kind of forgot about it. I need to start using it again!
Here’s the first public link to the thing. It really needs tweaking, but I hope the focus is on the food, not the layout. Ha ha ha.
via Cookpendium
I hate to sound like a commercial, and I know I’ve gone on & on about this before; but Chick-fil-A is consistently the best fast food chain around, without fail. I signed up for the Chick-fil-A of South Hills mailing list a while ago, and I’m always getting coupons and emails about specials and post-cards in the mail. One great recent one was that if you went in on Tax Day (April 15th for those anarchists out there) & saved your receipt, you could get the same meal for free on any day in May just by handing over the receipt! How cool is that?
The most recent cool promotion is that I got an invite in my email to request an invitation to try their new spicy chicken sandwich before it’s widely available next week. (The invites seemed to pop up all over Twitter & Facebook too, so they were readily available if you knew where to look!) I made the reservation, and printed an invitation with a custom barcode. I signed the wife up, so we could both enjoy a new sandwich.
Tonight we went & redeemed the coupons in the midst of some other errands, and the sandwiches were excellent… but the service (as always) was top notch. It was busy, but we were in & out of line quite quickly. We were greeted with a smile by the young girl at the cash register even though it was obviously a crazy work night. We even received beaded necklaces with a hot chili pepper charm to go along with our sandwiches. Of course, it’s always “my pleasure” instead of “you’re welcome” when you thank them for anything. Our food was out in a reasonably quick time, and seconds after we seated ourselves another young man in the dining area politely asked if we had everything that we needed.
About halfway through our meal, another young man came out with an envelope, on it was handwritten “Eric and Bethany Carroll”, and inside was this…
Chick-fil-A | Thank you for coming to the Spicy Premiere Week!
Free Hand Spun Milkshake
…yeah, it looks like the employees on duty tonight actually signed the postcard/coupon thing!
Apparently, it’s working because I’m blogging about it, and spreading the word, and I’ll be talking about it, and I’ll be crazy by working it in when anything remotely related comes up in conversation.
Before I was halfway to the garbage can on our way out this evening, the young man from the dining room took my tray & dumped it, this is usually a regular occurrence here too… just imagine it happening at McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, KFC, or Taco Bell. You can’t, can you?
These guys know how to get me to keep coming back, and how to get me to talk about them. Genius, I tell you. So if you’re into Spicy Chicken, try the new sandwich out. If not, check out Chick-fil-A anyway, for the best fast food experience you’ve had in a long time.
So I’m not completely biased… Chick-fil-A, if you’re listening, add baked potatoes to the menu! That’s the one thing you’re missing. I know I had one at a CFA in Florida… we want them in PA too!
These are individual promotions for the South Hills location, but I’m sure many others are doing things like this.
Got this in my inbox recently…
On Thursday, April 15th, you WILL NOT want to miss our Receipt Day 2010! In celebration of taxes being completed, we are hosting Receipt Day again this year! Come to any Pittsburgh Chick-fil-A on Thursday. Eat with us, save your receipt, come back any day in May and the SAME order is FREE! Your receipt will be printed on colored paper!
Lastly, on Friday, April 16th, join us again for Breakfast for Dinner. From 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm you can buy our normal breakfast OR dinner menu during our dinner time. We would love to see you in your pajamas!
We hope to see you sometime this week or maybe even every day! Thank you for being loyal fans and customers! This week is for YOU!
How awesome is that? A free meal sometime in May? Their little tiny nugget-filled breakfast sandwiches for dinner? Genius. It’s rare to see a grumpy Chick-fil-A employee too, at least in my experience. I don’t know if they pay well, beat them into submission, brainwash, or what… but it works.
They’re always having ridiculous events. I wonder if I can get a job as a Chick-fil-A cow?
EAt MoR CHiKiN
I got a letter in the mail today from Taco Bell. You may be familiar with my emails to them concerning the death-filled tacos that they were recently peddling. This is perhaps the best reply I’ve ever received to any of my either serious or goofy letters to any company.
I’ll dispense with the usual long-winded introduction and get right to it…
You can see that along with the letter, I received five $5 Taco Bell Bucks certificates. That’s $25 in death-free Taco Bell food. That’s got to be the coolest thing I’ve ever received besides my T-shirt from Turner’s. I’m not sure if they’re buying me off, rewarding me, if they make so much profit per item that it really doesn’t matter if they give this much away for free, or what. This almost makes me want to write back to Pillsbury/Totino’s and make them feel ashamed for sending me three 35¢ coupons. In fact, I may add that to the list.
The best, and I mean absolute best thing about this letter is that they’re forwarding my request to Pizza Hut. Wow. I trust you’ve seen my unanswered letters? I can’t even express how hilarious and ridiculous and absolutely gratifying that is.
Death Taco. No, that’s not the coolest new metal or grindcore band, although maybe it should be. It’s what I’m (of course) calling the newest Taco Bell menu item. I have had some inquires as to why I hadn’t mentioned it yet.
Well, I did make a faint mention via Facebook or Twitter a while ago, but had declined to rant here as I’ve been relentlessly trying to contact Taco Bell. You know how successful webforms are, so of course I got no answer from that, then I fished around for email addresses to send a full email, bugged them via Twitter for an address, and even posted an Ask Yahoo! question. Out of nowhere, I finally received a reply, and I have no idea if it was in reply to the webform, my emails to random Yum! Brands and Taco Bell email addresses, or some other forum.
I’d like to share my original messages with you. First the one via webform:
Hola, mis amigos de Titan Taco! Firstly, this isn’t about an incident at a specific Taco Bell, but the form didn’t allow room for general inquiries. I’d like to express my disappointment with a commercial that I saw advertising new shrimp tacos. Well, I guess my disappointment is not with the commercial, but with the product… and the main ingredient. I don’t think I can express my thoughts in a box with a mere 500-character limit. Do you have an actual email address where I can contact someone?
…And this was to some email addresses that I found after some Googling.
From: ERiC AiXeLsyD <world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 4:11 PM
Subject: Taco Fail
To: webmaster@tacobell.com (and a bunch of other addresses)Hola, mis amigos de Titan Taco!
I’d like to express my disappointment with a commercial that I saw advertising new shrimp tacos. Well, I guess my disappointment is not with the commercial, but with the product… and the main ingredient.
I have a severe shellfish allergy, and Taco Bell has been a shellfish-free dining safe haven for me for years. It’s one of the few places where I never had to worry about shrimp, crab, lobster, oysters, etc. ending up in my food, or worse yet… crossing paths in the kitchen somewhere.
I will sadly have to cross Taco Bell off of my list of places to dine… but I’d like you to know that there are many of us out here with severe shellfish allergies who have an increasingly difficult time finding safe places to dine out. Fast food joints have long been a safe-haven for those of us with a shellfish allergy… as most fine dining and now even chain family style restaurants have several shellfish dishes prepared on multiple kitchen surfaces. Formerly, as long as I stayed away from Long John Silver’s, I was OK. Taco Bell, KFC, McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Chick-fil-A, …were all safe places.
I guess I’ll now have to get my quick Mexican fix at Qdoba or Chipotle.
If you’d like to know what it’s like to dine out with a shellfish allergy, please read this blog post.
Here’s an excerpt…
If you know me in person, have dined out with me, or have ready any of my lunacy online… you most likely know what I have a severe shellfish allergy. What does that mean exactly? Well, it means that I can’t eat any shellfish, or I go into anaphylactic shock. Not only can I not eat the shellfish (that’s crustaceans & molluscs including but not limited to ,shrimp, prawns, lobster, crab, crayfish, oysters, mussels, clams, scallops, octopi, squid, snails, and probably even scorpions and pill bugs), but I can’t eat any food that comes into contact with it. That means, if you cook shrimp on the grill, take it off, and put my steak on without washing the surface, it’s the same as me eating the shrimp.
I certainly can’t expect the restaurant to clean the grill in between every meal, as that’s certainly not productive on their end… I just usually try to see where the shellfish is prepared, and eat from another cooking surface. That seems easy enough, right?
I get that it’s my responsibility. Yes, I’ve had an epi pen. But I’d really love to not ever have the need to use one. I’ve even considered getting Allergy Cards, but they seem a little pretentious or something… like my verbal reminder isn’t enough.
Well, getting me in to a place with shellfish is an issue in itself. Why? Well in with the aforementioned cooking surface issue…
I hope that this helps explain what people like me go through, and I hope that you re-consider selling death-filled tacos!
Running from the border,
-Eric
And, this is the reply, although I’m not sure if it’s the reply to one of the above messages, or in poking around on Twitter:
From: Poetsch, Rob (Public Relations) <Rob.Poetsch@yum.com>
Date: Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 7:30 PM
Subject: Pacific Shrimp Taco Inquiry
To: “world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com” <world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com>
Cc: “Hunsaker, Brittany (Contractor)” <Brittany.Hunsaker@yum.com>
Dear Eric,
Thank you for taking the time to contact us about Shellfish allergens concerning our new Pacific Shrimp Tacos. We want you to know that we take these matters very seriously and that the business of our customers is our top priority. We value loyal customers such as yourself and would like to take the opportunity to win your business back.
To , to our customers who might have Shellfish allergens, we have displayed information at multiple locations in our fish. These include Shrimp allergen signs that are placed on our window and door clings as well as in our ads where orders are taken. While the Pacific Shrimp Tacos are offered for a limited time only, all Taco Bell employees have been trained and certified to not have any food products come in contact with Fish and Shellfish during cooking and/or serving.
We would like to send you some Taco Bell Bucks as a token of our thanks, so please email me back with your mailing address. We hope you will continue to “Think Outside the Bun” at Taco Bell, and appreciate you taking the time to write to us.
Sincerely,
Rob Poetsch
Taco Bell Public RelationsRob Poetsch
Taco Bell Corp.
One Glen Bell Way
Irvine, CA 92618
O: 949-863-3915
F: 949-863-2252
rob.poetsch@tacobell.com
Of course, I needed to reply:
From: ERiC AiXeLsyD <world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 5:15 PM
Subject: Re: Pacific Shrimp Taco Inquiry
To: “Poetsch, Rob (Public Relations)” <Rob.Poetsch@yum.com>
Cc: “Hunsaker, Brittany (Contractor)” <Brittany.Hunsaker@yum.com>
Hello Rob,
Thank you for the reply! I was beginning to wonder if Taco Bell has a stand on the issue. While I am pleased to hear about the allergen warning signs along with the employee training and certification, I must say that I still have some reservations about safety. I am relieved to hear that the shrimp tacos are available for a limited time only.
It is great that you take responsibility in posting signs about allergy warnings. Your fellow Yum! Brands organization, Pizza Hut, ought to take note. They display allergen information on their website, noting that the pizza sauce may come into contact with shellfish… but there’s no shellfish on the menu. When I asked where the contamination may occur (e.g. in the processing/canning facility?) they were unable (or I sadly suspect unwilling) to provide a detailed response.
Back to the subject of Taco Bell… the giant window-clings showing what I’m sure to many is a succulent appetizing piece of shrimp spilling out of a lovely soft taco shell looks to me like a giant Mr. Yuck sticker or the old-time skull & cross-bones “poison” logo that you’d see in cartoons. They serve as an effective if not spine-chilling reminder as to the presence of shellfish allergens on the premises. They would also kick my survival instincts into gear, not even letting me enter the presence. Seriously. I would wager that right now, it would be pretty difficult to physically get me into a Taco Bell restaurant. My Eustachian tubes are starting to itch just thinking about it. I realize that this is also a highly personal mental health issue, but one that ought not be taken lightly, as it’s grounded in a very real fear.
Recently I read the blog of a man who almost died when he ordered a vegetarian Indian potato curry dish that he was assured was safe. Apparently the dish was flavored with a shrimp brine… which ought to be disturbing to vegetarians, vegans, kosher folks, and people with shellfish allergies. This is alarming to say the least. I realize that simple cross-contamination may not seem as serious as flavoring an entire dish with shrimp-juice, but I can assure you that it is indeed just as deadly. Our friends with wheat/gluten and peanut allergies seem to get a lot of attention lately, hopefully it will spill over to the rest of us with the “big 8” and those who aren’t even covered by that umbrella.
Have you taken the allergen training, or do you know what’s involved? I am finding it hard to tactfully express my concerns about the way that the message was conveyed to Taco Bell employees and the actual willingness of the employees to understand and comply. We’ve all watched training videos on various subjects and rolled our eyes, promptly taken pamphlets and placed them in the trash, or been angered when someone who doesn’t do our job gives us a new or added process that we must adhere to when we’re sure that the person suggesting the changes has never been in our shoes.
While I mean no disrespect to Taco Bell or any fast food restaurant, have you been to a Taco Bell lately? Sometimes I am concerned about the personal hygiene and motivation of the employees let alone the cleanliness and efficiency of the kitchen. Sadly, the low quality and poor service of fast food establishments has become a passively accepted facet of 21st Century life in the United States. For evidence, I give you the term “McJob“.
I have a theory that for so long now, it has been expressed to kids everywhere to get higher education so you don’t end up as a laborer, janitor, or fast food employee… that fast food jobs have garnered such a negative connotation, the only people left willing to take the jobs are the highly unmotivated individuals, people with no other options, or people using the part time jobs for extra cash with no real pride in their work since there’s no real fear of losing the job or striving to move up the chain of command.
I would invite you to imagine that in the Taco Bell kitchen where you are about to dine there are the standard (and innovative!) sour cream and cheese caulking-gun looking dispensers all loaded on the food preparation area… along side a caulking-gun-looking dispenser filled with a highly toxic pest-control chemical that looks interestingly enough like cheese or sour cream. Would you still feel safe in eating there? Sure. The employees can read. Sure, they know the difference. Are they ever rushed in a fast food kitchen? Do mistakes ever happen? Of course. I’m guessing you would at least think twice or watch closely before you dine.
I understand that this scenario is preposterous because I would hope that some sort of federal regulations would forbid any toxic chemicals from being stored in a food preparation area. No such federal regulations exist for people like me, although Massachusetts is moving forward with this type of thing.
While I trust that your training an certification was put forth with the best of intentions, you must understand that I question its implementation, practicality, and how it’s received and practiced by what amounts to be the first line of contact with your customers… the Taco Bell team member. What exactly does the certification say? Does each employee have it, or does a certification apply to an entire restaurant or shift?
I challenge you to quiz the workers at Taco Bells in various locations… inner city, suburbs, malls, and the combo units, and see how much the workers really know about cross-contamination and allergy issues and how they’re observed in a Taco Bell kitchen. (Hopefully, they fare better than Subway employees.)
All that said, I appreciate and applaud the considerable thought and effort that has already gone into allergen awareness. Spreading knowledge is the first step. Did you know that May 9th-15th 2002 is the thirteenth annual Food Allergy Awareness Week? Now is the time to act and inform, my friend!
I would certainly appreciate some Taco Bell Bucks, if you’ll understand that I may hold on to them until well after the current Pacific Shrimp Taco promotion is over. (Pending reviews, it may not last all that long, eh?) Taco Bell had previously been a shellfish-free Mexican-ish fast food haven for me for many many years. I can’t tell you how many tacos I ate at the mall nearby to where I grew up when I was a teenager. A dollar went much further at Taco Bell than it did at McDonald’s, Burger King or anywhere else in the food court.
My address is…
Eric Aixelsyd
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Pittsburgh, PA XXXXX-XXXXI would like to thank you once again for your time and the thoughtful informative reply. I look forward to perhaps what may be a continued dialog about allergy awareness issues in the fast food industry, and more specifically relating to Taco Bell and other Yum! Brands.
-Eric
Wow, do I hope they write back.
A while ago, I decided to write a goofy letter to the Pope about shellfish & Lent. It was surprisingly very easy to find the Pope’s email address online. I wrote an email, and again got some editing/revision help from Dave, and sent it off to the Pontiff himself. Here’s that email…
from ERiC AiXeLsyD <world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com>
to benedictxvi@vatican.va
subject My struggles with Lent & dietary concerns…
mailed-by gmail.comGood Day Your Holiness,
I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to find your email address with a quick Google search! I find it fascinating as well as endearing that you make yourself so accessible to the world, and embrace this new technology. I’m not sure if this is monitored and directed by yourself, or your trusted staff, but either way… I salute your effort. Also, I’m not sure if this would need to go through translators, or not. Perhaps I should use Google translator and post the results after my message in English?
I’m sure you are quite a busy man, especially in preparation for the upcoming Easter holiday, so I will try to make my point as succinctly as possible.
I would like to express my frustrations with the Lent season and the proliferation of seafood specials on Fridays at nearly every restaurant where I would otherwise be happy to dine. You see, I have a severe shellfish allergy, this makes dining out an adventure under normal circumstances. During Lent, restaurants that normally have minimal or no shellfish selections seem to produce them out of nowhere. This really hampers my ability to dine out comfortably, if at all.
With any cross-contamination, I can go into anaphylactic shock almost immediately. This means if I have a steak or piece of chicken that touches a grill where some lobster was just cooked, or if I have onion rings from the same fryer that was also cooking shrimp; I would begin the process with an internal itching/burning sensation in my Eustachian tube and rapidly closing bronchi.
I would like to ask if you could perhaps add shellfish (and possibly even regular fish) to the list of recommendations of things that one ought to give up in observation of lent. They are part of the “big 8” allergens in the world today. It would really help out a lot of followers & non-followers out there, being able to dine during the Lenten season in complete comfort! I figured that as the Pope, you’re in the best position to propose and act upon a movement of such magnitude.
You might even be able to offer up an explanation at why people have been eating fish for the lent season for so long, now that it’s no longer really an inconvenience. This would be in line with your call to return to stricter Christian values, no? Perhaps it would dispel the rumors that the Catholic Church of yore was in league with a local fishmonger and pushed fish on lent solely (pun intended – would that pun translate well into German? See, “sole” is a type of fish, and is also the root word to “solely” meaning singular…) to raise profits for the fishmonger, who in turn would up the amount of his tithe to the church. I can only assume that this is a rumor, as I find different versions of the tale on the internet, and no real concrete evidence to back any of the allegations.
I’m not Catholic myself, but am a Protestant (United Church of Christ, more specifically). I would say that in recent times we’re “on the same team” though, wouldn’t you agree? Perhaps Peter didn’t intend to include shellfish when he repealed the laws of clean and unclean animals put forth in Leviticus? Perhaps something was lost in translation?
I have one final idea. For Lent, all devout Christians ought to revert to a strict kosher diet. This would certainly strengthen ties with our Jewish friends and put more emphasis on the kind of Passover meal that Jesus would have had with his disciples at the last supper. I would think that this is wholly appropriate for this time of year, and it certainly helps me with my dining problem. Perhaps I ought to just convert and stick to kosher delis and grocery stores? Ha ha ha.
I would like to thank you for your time, and truly cannot wait to hear your thoughts on the subject at hand. I also look forward to a possible continued dialog about faith, shellfish, and allergies.
Humbly,
-EricGoogle translation:
Guten Tag Eure Heiligkeit,
Ich war angenehm überrascht, wie einfach es ist, Ihre E-Mail-Adresse mit einem schnelle Google-Suche finden! Ich finde es faszinierend wie liebenswert, dass Sie sich so der Welt zugänglich zu machen, und die neue Technologie. Ich bin mir nicht sicher, ob dies überwacht wird und von Ihnen selbst gerichtet, oder Ihren Mitarbeitern vertrauen, aber so oder so … Ich begrüße Ihre Bemühungen. Also, ich bin nicht sicher, ob diese müssten durch Übersetzer, oder nicht. Vielleicht sollte ich Google-Übersetzer zu wenden, und nach den Ergebnissen nach meiner Nachricht in Englisch?
Ich bin sicher, Sie haben völlig ein viel beschäftigter Mann, vor allem im Hinblick auf die bevorstehenden Osterferien, also werde ich versuchen, meinen Standpunkt ebenso knapp wie möglich zu machen.
Ich möchte meinen Frust mit der Fastenzeit und der Verbreitung von Meeresfrüchte-Spezialitäten am Freitag um fast jedem Restaurant, wo ich nicht anders ausdrücken würde sich freuen, zu speisen. Sehen Sie, ich einen schweren Schalentiere Allergie haben, das macht einem Dinner ein Abenteuer unter normalen Umständen. In der Fastenzeit, Restaurants, die normalerweise keine oder eine minimale Auswahl Muscheln scheinen zu ihrer Herstellung aus dem Nichts. Dies behindert wirklich meine Fähigkeit zu speisen sich behaglich, wenn überhaupt.
Mit eine Kreuzkontamination kann ich in einen anaphylaktischen Schock gehen fast sofort. Dies bedeutet, wenn ich ein Steak oder ein Stück Huhn berührt haben, dass ein Grill, wo einige Hummer nur gekocht wurde, oder wenn ich Zwiebelringe aus der gleichen Friteuse das war auch das Kochen Garnelen, ich würde den Prozess mit einem internen Juckreiz begin / Brennen in meiner Tuba und schnell schließen Bronchien.
Ich möchte fragen, ob Sie vielleicht könnten Muscheln (und möglicherweise sogar regelmäßig Fisch) in die Liste der Empfehlungen der Dinge, die man aufgeben, in der Beobachtung der Fastenzeit soll hinzuzufügen. Sie sind Teil der “Big 8” Allergene in der heutigen Welt. Es wäre wirklich sehr helfen, von Anhängern und nicht-Anhänger gibt, in der Lage, die während der Fastenzeit im kompletten Komfort zu speisen! Ich dachte, wie der Papst, Sie in der besten Position zu schlagen und die Reaktion auf eine Bewegung von solcher Tragweite sind.
Man könnte sogar in der Lage sein Angebot bis auf eine Erklärung, warum Menschen wurden Verzehr von Fisch für die Fastenzeit so lange, jetzt, da es nicht mehr wirklich ein Nachteil. Dies stünde im Einklang mit Ihren Anruf, um strengere christlichen Werte zurückgeben, nicht wahr? Vielleicht wäre es die Gerüchte, dass die katholische Kirche von einst wurde in der Liga mit einem örtlichen Fischhändler und schob Fisch auf nur geliehen (pun intended zerstreuen – wäre das Wortspiel auch ins Deutsche zu übersetzen? See, “allein” ist eine Art von Fisch, und ist auch die Wurzel Wort “ausschließlich” bedeutet Singular …), um Gewinne für die Fischhändler, der seinerseits würde die Höhe seiner Zehnten der Kirche zu erheben. Ich kann nur annehmen, dass dies ein Gerücht ist, wie ich verschiedene Versionen der Geschichte im Internet zu finden, und keine wirkliche konkrete Beweise vorzulegen, um die Behauptungen zurück.
Ich bin nicht katholisch mich, aber ich bin ein Protestant (United Church of Christ, genauer gesagt). Ich würde sagen, dass in der letzten Zeit sind wir “auf der gleichen Mannschaft” aber nicht würden Sie zustimmen? Vielleicht Peter hatte nicht vor, Schalentiere, wenn er aufgehoben den Gesetzen der reinen und unreinen Tieren setzte sich weiter in Levitikus enthalten? Vielleicht etwas in der Übersetzung verloren?
Ich habe noch eine letzte Idee. Für die Fastenzeit, die alle gläubigen Christen sollten eine strenge koschere Ernährung zurückzukehren. Dies würde sicherlich zur Stärkung der Beziehungen mit unseren jüdischen Freunden und legen mehr Gewicht auf die Art des Passah-Mahl, das Jesus mit seinen Jüngern beim letzten Abendmahl hätte. Ich würde denken, das ist ganz angemessen für diese Zeit des Jahres, und es sicherlich hilft mir bei meinem Esszimmer Problem. Vielleicht sollte ich erst konvertieren und halten Sie sich Feinkostläden und Lebensmittelgeschäften koscher? Ha ha ha.
Ich möchte Ihnen für Ihre Zeit danken und kann wirklich nicht warten, bis Sie Ihre Meinung zu diesem Thema an die Hand zu hören. Ich freue mich auch auf einen möglichen weiteren Dialog über den Glauben, Muscheln und Allergien.
Demütig
-Eric
Yes, that’s a crudely copy n’ pasted Google translation, and I have no idea if it made any sense at all in German. Judging by some of the bounce-backs that I received, it may have been stopped by some SPAM filters.
As expected, it went a couple of weeks without a response, so I looked up some other addresses at the Vatican, and for national & local Catholic organizations, and wrote this little forward to send to a bunch of them, along with the original email…
Hello Friends,
I recently sent an email to Pope Benedict XVI regarding some allergy concern issues that I have surrounding Lent, and possible modification of policies on the Church’s policy of not eating meat on Fridays.
I realize that the Pope is probably the busiest man in the world. He is the head of an organization that transcends many country, political, and cultural borders… and he has many important duties, most especially in this holy time of year.
I was wondering if you would perhaps be able to direct me to someone who would be better suited to open a dialogue about my concerns noted below?
Thank you for your time, and thank you in advance for your help!
-Eric
Finally, we have a response, and not surprisingly, it’s from someone at a local level…
from Gretz, Rev James R <jgretz@diopitt.org>
to world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com
cc “Bielewicz, Vy Rev Harry R.” <hbielewicz@diopitt.org>,
“Wagner, Laura L” <lwagner@diopitt.org>
date Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 1:15 PM
subject My struggles with Lent & dietary concerns…
mailed-by diopitt.orgEric,
Peace and greetings to you. Your letter sent to many in the Diocesan Offices eventually came to me as the Director of the Department for Worship. I will attempt to answer your concerns as best as possible.
It is wonderful that our Holy Father is accessible via the internet. He did recently challenge priests and the Church to better use electronic media for reaching out to people. Thus my email response to you!
While I am not in marketing, I do see the proliferation of restaurants attempting to make a profit with the “target audience” each Lenten Season. I guess that’s how business works. At the same time, I do sympathize with your allergy plight. Personally, I do not suffer with allergies, however, my late mother had one to lactose and it was very difficult to take her out to dinner. I know of others who suffer with “celiac-sprue” – the allergy to gluten and wheat products. That too is a horrible cross to bear. My mother and the others solved it by frequenting only the restaurants that would gladly serve their needs. I would suggest the same.
The discipline of abstinence, refraining from meat products, actually has an ancient history. I too know of the truly legendary stories of fishmongers and their unions, if you will! However, the discipline goes back to an extant document of the early Second Century known as the “Didache” or “The Lord’s Instruction to the Twelve Apostles”. You mentioned the kosher diet. So, yes, when we think of Jewish people, that dietary style comes to mind. That was the intent of the Didache. The early Church wanted to have their own dietary laws to make them distinctive as well, hence abstinence, especially on Friday, the day our Lord died for us, so that we too might suffer a little with Him. That is our mark on the world, if you will. I seem to recall that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops back in the 1990’s was discussing this discipline and perhaps returning it to all Fridays of the year. The objection was that since many are refraining from red meat in general and more people are vegans, what does abstinence mean to the modern world? Of course, the discipline remains for the Lenten Season, however, it is good to dream as to what the modern version of abstinence might be….
Which, then, leads me to your final thoughts about adopting the kosher diet for Lent. Actually, if all people really embraced the meaning of the Lenten Season – a time for conversion and returning to the Lord – we would definitely have a much better world.
If you have any additional questions, do not hesitate to contact me. Until then, I remain,
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Rev. James R. GretzRev. James R. Gretz, M.Div., M.T.S.
Director, Department for Worship
Diocesan Master of Ceremonies
Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh2900 Noblestown Rd.
Pittsburgh, PA 15205
voice: 412-456-3041
fax: 412-456-3163+++++++++++
Someone took this letter quite seriously! I wonder if I’ll hear from anyone else… and I’m wondering how to continue form this point on. It certainly is fun to see my W(aL)D insanity taken seriously. It is fun to know that I got a response. No offense intended here, but I always viewed the Catholic Church as a little “stuffy”. Maybe they’re mellowing out in this digital age?
I was hungry for meatloaf, so the other day I asked my wife to pick up some ground meat and croutons at the store, and last night I decided I was in the mood to cook.
Every time I make meatloaf, I think of my mom & grandma telling me how my grandpap used to make it with hard boiled eggs in the middle. I always thought that would be fun to try… but something pushed me into finally doing it. A look at Wikipedia seems to indicate that the eggs-in-the-middle is a Hungarian, Phillipino, Bulgarian or Czech thing… Thanks for the help, Wikipedia. As far as I know, that side of the family is mostly German & Irish… so who knows where it came from? Not like people couldn’t come up with this stuff independantly… but I like to read useless information.
Whenever I make meatloaf, I never use a set recipe. I always end up googling something like “How long and at what temperature do I cook a 2 lb. Meatloaf?” or going to Cooks.com and simply searching for “Meatloaf” right before I start. This time was no exception. I also usually end up calling my mom, to see what she would do as far as time/teperature.
I’m amazed at how many things you can do to meatloaf. I’m gonna try shredded carrots some time. And maybe I’ll even try soaking bread crumbs or croutons in milk before mixing them in. I have used just chunks of bread, crumbled crackers, bread crumbs, and even mashed potato flakes… but too many bread crumbs or crackers and the meatloaf is just gross… more loaf than meat, and that’s certainly not a good thing.
This time though, I kept it pretty simple… except for the eggs, I guess… and the bacon…
Here’s what went into it…
All that got mixed together, well, without the hard-boiled eggs… then I formed the bottom of the loaf in a glass pan, on top of 3 slices of white bread… made spots for the eggs, placed them gently in the raw ground goodness, and covered them over with the rest.
Eggs in meatloaf mixture, on top of the bread slices...
I picked up the meatloaf on top of slices of bread trick from my dad. It serves a double purpose, it prevents the bottom of the loaf from burning, and soaks up any extra grease… I needed a loaf rather than a few slices for this one, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
Grandma used to usually put ketchup on the top of her meatloaf. My mom said that my grandpap used to sometimes top his with some mashed potatoes & brown them for a potato frosting. My meatloaf needed something on top… my signature, if you will.
This is where we cross from odd into ridiculous. I couldn’t decide, so I made a triple topping. Typically I go with a glaze on top that’s a mixture of Ketchup, whatever honey mustard, and A1. But the eggs in the middle told me to do something goofy… so I got out some shredded cheddar jack cheese… Then the eggs reminded me of bacon… so I got that out too.
So for the top of the meatloaf we had…
The glaze is probably about 2/3 ketchup, 1/6 mustard, and 1/6 A1. How much of each? I dunno. I eyed it & mixed it in a coffee mug. I put that on top of the meatloaf. It looked pretty good. Then I sprinkled the cheese on top of that… Still lookin’ OK, albeit a little brighter.
Meatloaf + Cheese & ketchup/mustard/A1 glaze...
Then the “aaaaaaaaah”/choir of angels moment… BACON.
I’ve used bacon-bits in meatloaf and chili before, but I’ve never wrapped anything in bacon. There’s a first time for everything, right? Of course, I had to top the bacon with more fresh ground pepper.
After reviewing a bunch of stuff on line, and talking to my mom… I decided to cook it for about an hour and a half and make sure the meat thermometer reached 160° F. I had it covered in foil for about an hour, the last half letting it go uncovered to get the bacon nice & brown… maybe a little too brown this time, but oh well.
I realize this isn’t the most healthy meal in the world, but I seemed to offend the senses of some and become a champion of sorts to others simply by posting photos in photobucket and sharing the link on facebook.
It's... BACON!
My sister-in-law asked how many calories it was, and while I know it was in jest, it got me wondering, so I asked Yahoo!.
The finished product!
This is the meal of a carnivore, as it has stuff from three different animals… although one didn’t have to die in the process of harvesting its delicious nutrition.
Next time, I may not use so much bacon… because it made a pool of grease at the bottom of the baking dish that wasn’t all that appealing.
The eggs are a neat surprise, and a good way to stretch it I suppose… but I doubt I’ll do every meatloaf like this from now on. But, at least I can say I’ve done it, and I know what it looks and tastes like.
I hope you enjoyed my tale of meaty decadence… and I hope to hear others recipes/ideas/surprise ingredients!
World (and Lunar) Domination 