TheSnackHound

Spice organization has been rolling around in my head lately, since they mostly have been rolling around in my cabinet. In my kitchen, there is an original built-in with several cabinet drawers covered in decades of white paint. No one took the time to remove the hardware, so it too is mummified with just a small white bump where the screws used to go.  It is just not enough for all of the dishes and food, so someone installed a lovely circa 1980 “photo of wood siding” auxiliary counter/drawer/door bank. Lovely.

Inside the adorable 1920s part of the kitchen, the only way to go is to have little caddys and wire shelves and spice racks with the little rubber feet on them. That is so shabby chic/art deco/midcentury-like with just the right hint of Rubbermaid, but what is not accounted for is the gap in the side of the cupboard. Bombs away.

Oh, and forget a wall spice rack, which would be Concussion 101. My kitchen is devoid of wall space with the dormer ceiling. Then there are the drawers – not deep enough to label all the spices on top, but I can lean them. There is a chrome spice rack I saw recently, which I loved. But yikes a 5 lb shipping weight. That sounds more like a car part to me.

I’ll let you know what I decide. For now, its the survival of the fittest – the spices that are in heavy rotation such that they are stationed next to the stove win. Anything that is in the back of the dark cupboard and are starting to clump are voted off the island. Maybe after all of this, I won’t need a spice rack, but just a small little drink coaster to display “THE ONE.”

Right now, Zenni Optical is offering a variety of $6.95 prescription eyeglasses for Valentine’s Day. Some are merely in solid red or pastels, but some are a bit more blatant with cupids and hearts on the arms.

This little number, at left, has the Chinese characters for happiness on the side. That’s a very long string of characters to only mean “Happiness, ” sister. I’m a little suspicious. It’s kind of like a friend who was a foreign exchange student had their sister visit. She asked her sister a question and the sister went on for four minutes and my friend translated, “She said she’s happy.” What??

The glasses may be fine and good bebopping around town, but what if you read the reviews of a new, sit-down, classy restaurant that offered the best Chines cuisine? What if you sat yourself down with your glasses, made it a point to brush your hair away from the arms so the owner of the restaurant could see how coordinated you are to your dining experience, and found out that they way you had smudged something on them, the character has been altered to be perceived as a naughty word? Would everyone laugh or kick you out?

I digress. Cheap eyeglasses can help your coordinate your astigmatism for any occasion, but be really careful out there.

Guest post written by my buddy Fidel Hernandez

My brother kept telling me, “you’ve got to get Satellite TV For Your Business” but I was really resistant. I need to spend a lot of money on other things having to do with the business and I didn’t really see what good having some extra TV channels would do in my office. But after a while I finally gave in and as it turns out per usual, my brother was right…

Patient put really responded to having the news on or the cooking channel or whatever it is in the waiting room while they are waiting for me. I feel like when there’s an interesting TV show on they don’t get so upset with me when I’m running behind in their appointment is pushed back.

I love being in business for myself but it’s tough having to answer to other people when you’re not running on your schedule or something happens that’s totally out of your control. I guess it’s all part of the trade-off you get when you work for yourself.

Some people would give their sweetheart the moon and the stars. Goofballs that we are, the equivalent for My Favorite Guy and I is the keys to the chocolate factory. We have a particular one in mind that wouldn’t require us to relocate to inherit, own or manage it. We have our fantasies all ironed out just in case they happen in real life. Why be trite. The star that everyone else is swinging on would be a bit crowded.

Apparently, for a $175.00 set up fee, you too can trick your friends that you indeed own a chocolate factory, or bestow elegant, tasteful chocolate business gifts to your clients. Somehow if your other fantasy of being as successful as Bill Gates comes true, the question of whether you have a food handling license would probably come up if you decided to go your own way, actually make truffles for 5,000 people and stuffed them into foldable boxes from Joann’s Fabric.

The $175.00 includes the set up of your logo to print on golden-sheened boxes. After that, its all up to you, you just purchase as many different boxes from the tiny to the huge. Of course, you wouldn’t pay $175.00 if you only wanted one box. You would need to order 150 boxes right away, or at least in a 12 month period. If you do not take delivery in that window, a $2.00 storage fee per box will be accrued and the rest will be delivered directly to my house. Not really. But I can keep dreaming, can I?

Do you think custom chocolate products will impress your friends and clients? Or would you do it for your own vanity?

If you have a fancy last minute brunch, a “day after the wedding” breakfast for guests or suddenly the Queen of England knocks on your door at 5 AM and asks to use your bathroom, it is pretty poor form to say “I’m on a budget” and offer guests a few crumbs out of the end of a generic vesion of Corn Pops and a stale piece of toast.

Make your guests think you just walked over to one of those expensive chain coffee shops and brought them all yogurt parfaits.

1) Firstly, scour the world for Kashi coupons. There sometimes are coupon codes from Kashi, including occasional deals on Amazon, but you can also try to combine electronic coupons, your store sale, and manufacturers coupons. What you’ll want to buy is the Honey Almond Flax cereal. Then scare up one tiny container of in-season fruit. You’ll only need a slice or two for each parfait.

2) Get out your good crystal. If you don’t have any, before the party, visit the thrift store and consignment shops for mismatched water goblets and fancy wine flutes. Sometimes you can find whole sets, but sometimes you can cheaply buy mismatched singles.

3) Fill the goblets with a few spoonfuls of Kashi Honey Almond Flax cereal, then add a few dollops of plain yogurt. After that, add a few slices of strawberries or even a drop of chocolate syrpup, then more yogurt and Kashi. Ultimately, the top layer should be raspberries or some other more expensive fruit.

4) Inspect for chips. If one is chipped but won’t cut a lip, all the better. You now can knowingly gaze over to the guest with the chip and announce that they have either won the prize or feign embarrassment while you scoop the goblet up and tell the story of rich but crazy Aunt Felicity who brought the goblet over on the Mayflower. Actually, use “Uncle Oceanus.” Apparently, someone named Oceanus was either born on the ship or born slightly later in the “new world” and folks could actually look up and verify that he was a real person.

One last thing, you’ll want to purchase one actual yogurt parfait from the pricey coffee shop. This way, you can have a receipt lying around somewhere, so everyone will know that you at least spent $3-7 a piece for them, and they’ll do the math.

As far as clean up? Just set them on the back porch. When no one sees goblets in the sink or on the counter, they’ll assume you have a staff.

Christmas has been officially over, which leads the mind to stray about chocolate again. Valentine’s Day is coming up, and though I don’t mean to rub it in the noses of folks who are not affianced, it clearly is a moment of overabundant chocolate choices that persons of any status that are true chocolate lovers can appreciate. You just have to really watch out for all the waxy novelty goods.

See’s has a Valentine’s Day fundraiser programs that schools, teams and nonprofits can take advantage of. It involves selling select items from See’s regular stable of offerings with a V-Day slant. Chocolate fundraisers can sometimes be a lesson in personal tooth decay or a crapshoot. It is well worth it to groups with a set in audience of candy lovers, but not worth it if the profit margin is low. Chocolate candy bars sometimes have the highest profit margin if you are earning half of the sale price, but let’s face it: You have to sell a zillion to make those fifty cents add up. When you sell larger ticket items, you may sell fewer, but you may profit more on items people might decide to buy at the pharmacy or grocery store if it wasn’t for your team.

Honorably, See’s has a profit calculator. You enter the number or participants, and the number each participant is projected to sell.

With my absolute slacker example with only 5 participants selling maybe one of each item, none of the high ticket items and maybe a few of the low ticket items, the group made $400+ profit. You can use the calculator to speculate as much as you like to see if it makes sense. For groups where there are 50 active participants, the fundraising ends up in the thousands. Of course, this does not take into account that some of the participants might actually be stockpiling the goods for their own future use.