Life on the Road

I wanted to share with you the fruits of our labors – virtually, at least.

Here are the pickled eggs that Nick and I made as our very first canning project:

I’m not a pickle fan myself, so these aren’t the yummiest project I can imagine… But we can do it! We’ve taken that first big step out of uncertainty.

And in a timely manner, Amazon is having a big sale on Canning Supplies right now – up to 40% off!

I still don’t think I can justify the outlay for a pressure canner right now, but it sure is fun to “window shop”!

We’re on a hunt… For the perfect ice cream.

We bought a terrific ice cream maker on clearance at Cracker Barrel last year. Big, electric, and looks like a wooden bucket. So we started hunting for recipes…

I don’t have a lot of vices, or even a lot of expensive food tastes. But one thing Wolf and I agree is a “must do” for vanilla ice cream is vanilla bean. If it doesn’t have those little brown specks in it, you can tell without tasting it that it’s not “the one.”

We have a couple of vanilla options we’ve tried, from a vanilla paste, to vanilla sugar, to actual beans. So that part is going well.

But the ice cream?

Not so much.

We started out with a cold mix recipe that a friend recommended:

4-5 eggs
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 cups whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon salt (pinch)
1/4 cup vanilla
1/2 can milnot / evaporated milk
1 box vanilla pudding (optional)

Mix well in bowl and add to chilled canister of 1 gallon ice cream maker. Fill with milk to 1/2 inch below fill line.
Follow manufactures instructions for using ice cream maker.

We’ve tried any number of variations on this – more of less of each of the milk-ish ingredients, combinations of vanilla and extract (since this quantity gets pricey fast), with and without the pudding, etc.

It’s good. We enjoy it.

But it’s not… you know… IT.

So we tried the other major family of vanilla ice cream recipes: custard-based.

We’ve made a couple – they’re all very similar. Here is Emeril’s recipe, courtesy of Food Network (BAM!):

Ingredients
4 cups half-and-half
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split in half and scraped
6 egg yolks

Directions
In a saucepan, over medium heat, combine the half-and-half, sugar, and vanilla bean with pulp. Bring to a simmer. In a small mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Add 1 cup of the hot liquid to the egg yolks and whisk until smooth. Add the yolk mixture to the saucepan of liquid and whisk until incorporated. Bring the liquid back to simmer and continue to cook for 4 to 6 minutes or until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Pour the mixture into a glass bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the mixture. This will prevent a skin from forming while cooling. Cool the mixture completely. Process the mixture according the ice cream machines instructions.

Here, again, we’ve tried using more or less of the milk components, etc…

But no matter what, at the end of the day, this tastes “eggy.”

It’s not necessarily a bad thing. I even have one friend who says she makes “frozen custard” (same recipe) – and with that expectation going in, it’s delicious.

But it’s still not the pure vanilla ice cream taste we’re looking for.

The search goes on…

I’ve missed my Mountain Dew a lot lately.

As I mentioned in my post on High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), we are boycotting Pespi products doubly.

Well, the morality boycott goes on, but I was out and about with a migraine coming on, and I had to have caffeine. I decided to at least salvage the health issue, and I grabbed a Mountain Dew Throwback. It’s sweetened with…

(*gasp*)

sugar.

And it is… simply delightful!

Wolf says it tastes like the Mountain Dew he remembers from his childhood. (Never much of a soda drinker, I don’t have that association).

It is unquestionably better tasting than the mainstream sodas today sweetened with “glop” (our nickname for HFCS)!

Why are we – societally – tolerating something that tastes second-rate, whether or not you agree with the health concerns?

We’re content, as a rule, with our Winn-Dixie Naturals and Whole Food sodas (all sugar sweetened)… But there’s just nothing else to compare with the flavor and caffeine jolt of a Mountain Dew.

My mom and sister made a wild and crazy trip cross-country to come and celebrate my birthday with me. It was a little nutty, but I suppose you only turn 40 once! (Ooops, did I say that out loud?)

One of the highlights of the schedule was Sunday Brunch. Wolf and I had both eaten at 94th Aero Squadron locations in California, so we decided to give the Miami location a try for the big meal.

Due to the folks’ flight schedule, we were on the early side, and we arrived right as they were opening. We enjoyed the themed decor indoors and out, and were ushered in and treated very graciously.

There was a lot of food, but surprisingly a bit disappointing on the breakfast side.

Lunch and dessert was set up in the bar area, and there were literally dozens of dishes to choose from, including a carving station, a chocolate fountain, and a wide variety of seafood (crab, oysters, you name it!). Champagne was free-flowing, and the orange juice was fresh squeezed (so mimosas too, although not for R.T. and me).

At the breakfast bar, there was a cook making eggs to order. I would have preferred a few more selections for my omlette toppings, but it wouldn’t have been worth mentioning except in light of the other issues.

There was a real lack, though, in the breakfast area.

First of all, not enough selection for my taste. One small counter area, as compared to the vastness of the lunch spread.

Pancakes and waffles were pre-made, and sitting in a chafing dish. Bleah! At a brunch that nice – and yes, that expensive – I really expect them to have waffles being made fresh (along with the omlette bar). Pancakes not so much, but there must be a better way, as these tasted stale (and it was first thing in the morning!).

Frankly, this breakfast had nothing on the (cheaper!) buffet we’d eaten the morning before over at the Hilton where we were all staying.

And on the service side?

Everything was exceptional… Almost.

Our server (team) was very polite and helpful. Drinks were refilled, empty plates removed…

But crisis management was apparently not their forte.

Poor Miss J was not feeling well all weekend (went to the doc Tuesday and got antibiotics for an ear infection), and in her grogginess she managed to dump her FULL glass of lemonade so that it gushed across the table and right into Papa’s lap.

Wolf jumped up without sustaining too much damage, but the whole table was a soggy mess. The servers flocked over to us, took away dishes that were flooded, and mopped up the remaining liquid.

But then they blew it…

They shook out a clean white (cloth) tablecloth, draped it over the offending area, and re-set the place settings.

I didn’t stop and think about this until a few minutes later, when I saw Wolf reach for the napkin in his lap and grimace.

Yeah, the wet tablecloth (underneath) was still dripping, oozing, and leaving a sticky mess all over him!!

Frustrated-Mama-First-Aid, I folded the wet end up onto the table. His plate was now sitting on a slight mound, but it was no longer sliming him.

If you have cloth tablecloths, you shoud know what needs to be done in various situations – and that was NOT what needed to be done in that one.

Overall review?

The food was good, and the atmosphere was nice…

But I wouldn’t pay that price for that kind of “prefab,” limited breakfast, and that kind of second-rate service.

Googling brought up a lot of brunch places in Miami – next time we might even go down to the Keys instead!

I felt very important when I discovered a comment on my previous High Fructose Corn Syrup post from none other than a representative of the Corn Refiners Association!

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has been the subject of a lot of attention and misinformation in the past few years.

[see comments broken out below]

Thanks for your consideration.

Mark on behalf of the Corn Refiner’s [sic] Association

One thing I found interesting about the comment right off the bat is that it is apparently a generic response to people posting negatively about HFCS, and addresses many of the common concerns – some of which I had not even mentioned in my post.

Let’s start at the beginning and look at his remarks.

Both HFCS and sugar contain the same simple sugars (glucose and fructose), they both have the same number of calories, and your body metabolizes them the same way.

According to WebMD, glucose and fructose are NOT metabolized the same way by your body. 

They say it’s not a big deal, since (despite the name) HFCS is about 55% fuctose to 45% glucose – not a huge departure from the roughly 50/50 ratio found in table sugar and other sweeteners.  I don’t know how significant that differene really is…

I did mention the fructose issue in post, as something raised in my cursory literature review, but this is not a big issue for us since we are not a diabetic household.

The American Medical Association in June 2008 helped put to rest misunderstandings about this sweetener and obesity, stating that “high fructose syrup does not appear to contribute to obesity more than other caloric sweeteners.”

This is not an issue I raised, nor one that ever occurred to me.  Doesn’t that just say “eating junk food maks you fat?”  Duh.

There has been significant confusion about just how much high fructose corn syrup is contained in everyday foods. It is true that this highly versatile ingredient performs numerous functions besides sweetening that make it useful in many food preparations. But it does so in most cases using very small amounts. How small? You would need to eat 87 bowls of cereal in a single day to reach the recommended daily allowance of added sugars from high fructose corn syrup. For bread, they would need to eat 39 slices.

I find this statement misleading.

Sure, there’s not too much sugar-or-HFCS in a slice of bread.  But there’s a whole ton more in a can of soda pop, or fruit chew candy, or cookies.  And I’m imagining that how much there is in “a bowl of cereal” varies pretty widely.

HFCS is also so universal that it’s hard to even track the total cumulative amount. 

• It’s in your cereal, your jam, your yogurt, your granola, and your juice. 
• It’s in your weight-loss shake and your health-food protein bar. 
• It’s in your bread, your peanut butter, your cold-cuts, your soda, your cookies. 
• It’s in your chicken nugget coating, your ketchup…  Ack!

And furthermore, the very premise is a dodge.  The point it is trying to make is that you don’t get more HFCS every day than the amount of SUGAR that’s “allowable.”  An while they may be metabolically smilar, there are still other issues which may cause us to choose agains HFCS.

NBC Nightly News recently did a report about the misperceptions on HFCS http://bit.ly/m1YHT

This is a complete fluff job, with nothing new to add to the conversation.  I guess some people will believe it if they hear it on the network news.

The clip also leans heavily on the above point that HFCS is not any greater a cause of obesity than sugar, which is not one of the biggest issues I’ve heard discussed.

3rd party testing also shows that there is no quantifiable levels of mercury found in HFCS http://duketox.mc.duke.edu/HFCS%20test%20results4.doc

He cites a study that says NO, The Washington Post cites a study that says YES.  I’m not going to take sides, since I don’t have the inclination to go through and try to evaluate the research methodology of either one.

Again, though, this is a very peripheral issue in terms of people’s concern with HFCS.

So, there you have it.  That was the length and breadth of his “rebuttal.” 

A lot about not causing obesity, and nothing at all about the issues of biggest concern to our family:

• Made from corn which is typically genetically modified.
• Two of the enzymes used to create it (yeah, it’s a big chemical process), are genetically modified.

There is a study showing health risks from a Monsanto corn, and the NY Times reported the European Union’s proposed ban on two varieties fron DuPont (other good links here to more information, mercury studies, etc.)

• Increasing concern about corn farming in general – economically, environmentally, etc.

This is from a comment left on a study comparing the carbon footprint of ethanol (corn-based fuel) and gasoline at New Scientist:

Industrial-style corn farming is arguably one of the most ecologically damaging activities carried out in the U.S., causing devastating pollution of the two largest river systems in the country and creating a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico the size of New Jersey (http://www.smm.org/deadzone/ , etc.).  Corn requires more water and fertilizer than any other crop, and the most toxic insecticides and pesticides.

Similarly, corn farming is described as “a nightmare” by Ken Green of AEI (a DC think-tank), also in an article on Ethanol.

• It is simply so processed(see above), when many of us are trying to eat more naturally

Perhaps least-scientific but most-cited: It’s a weird, toxic thing that makes kids act crazy.  In our house this includes:

• Wolf gets his ulcer-like stomach pains after drinking YooHoo, which is very high in HFCS. 
• Jewel used to get stomachaches on a semi-regular basis right after eating… and we noticed a connection to the amount of HFCS consumed.
• Jewel becomes a totally zoned-out zombie if she eats a high HFCS “treat” after dinner or at any other vulnerable time
• Nick is far more ADD-like after eating high HFCS foods
• I get a migraine much more often from a high HFCS food than from an otherwise-identical item sweetened with honey, sugar, etc.

MOVING ON… 

What I actually wanted to talk about was, as I titled the post, how our life has been since we banished HFCS.

Between HFCS and the Pepsi boycott, Wolf and I are both without our favorite soft drinks. I’m missing my Mountain Dew, and he prefers Caffeine-Free Pepsi.

I’m not much of a soda drinker anyway, but with certain foods – like pizza – it just seems like the right choice.  You know how certain foods call for red or white wine?? 

We’re also trying to switch over to less expensive, more natural options, like iced tea.  Thanks to our Klean Kanteens, we can travel with anything and everything.

And the best new thing we’ve found? 

For those times when you just really want a soda, there’s Winn-Dixie (store brand) “Natural”.  Well, certain flavors.

The Black Cherry, Root Beer, and Grape are really, truly yummy.  The Cola we’re not crazy about, but it might do in a pinch if you really crave cola.  Orange and Cream is, um, not recommended. 

If only they had a Mountain Dew flavor…

There are other small-bottler and “natural” sodas available that are HFCS-free (typically sweetened with cane sugar) – but most of them are marketed as “Premuim,” with a price tag to match.

The Winn-Dixie Natural costs more than their regular line sodas, but at $2 – $2.50 for a six-pack, it’s quite a reasonable alternative to the big brand name sodas.

Some thing we haven’t bothered to replace commercially.  We’ve found simple recipes for everything from ketchup to tartar sauce, at places like RecipeZaar and Debt Proof Living.  We bake our own bread.

Less ulcer pains.  Fewer migraines.  Not as many stomach aches.

It’s hard to imagine there’s not something to this.

Father’s Day was a little hectic here…

Nick left for his summer experience with Worldview Academy in Denver.  A 7 am flight (checking bags), get to the airport around 5:30, leave home by 4:30 at the latest – so we got up at 3.  AM.

And since it didn’t make sense to go home when our church is so far north of us (on the way home from the airport), we got dressed and ready to go. 

We did have the pleasure of stopping at Krispy Kreme on the way back, since we had some time to kill.  I never buy them from the grocery store, but I also rarely pass up these infrequent opportunities to get some “Hot Now”!

After church, the little ones and I took Wolf to Outback Steakhouse (the Kendall, FL location) for Father’s Day.  A good steak is probably his favorite thing to eat.

Next time, remind me to officially move our Father’s Day celebration to a different day.  Ugh!

It seemed to start out well.  Although they were busy, we were able to be seated right away.

Then came the annoying-but-trivial:  The menu says, “Ask your server about our fresh-brewed flavored iced teas!” 

Actually, all they have is the generic “Sweet” and “Unsweet” tea.  You can also order flavored lemonades (made with syrups) from the bar (no free refills).

So anyhow, we ordered.  Wolf got a steak – big surprise.

We ordered a Grilled cheese sandwich for Jewel, and asked what kind of cheese was on it.  American.  Eeeew!

When we asked about options, she said there was also Swiss.  Not a kid favorite.

At our insistence, she agreed to check with the kitchen, and indeed, a Cheddar Cheese sandwich was made.

Why was it such a struggle?

I ordered Prime Rib.  Medium-Well, end cut if possible.

The piece of meat I got was pretty thoroughly (over-) cooked on the outside.  But the inside was dark pink all the way through.  It looked about like this illustration of “Rare” from About.com Steaks.  While the middle was more towards pink, there was perhaps even less brown border than this!

Clearly, this was cooked at WAY too hot a temperature. 

I can only assume that they were trying to hurry things up, knowing it would be a busy day.  Bad idea!

The bread was also a little bland and stale, and we wondered if perhaps they had baked ahead yesterday to accomodate the holiday traffic.  Again – Bleah!

And isn’t it common to serve or offer steak sauce with a steak, and horseradish with prime rib?  We had to ask for both, and then further ask for sour creme to go with the straight horseradish.  What a hassle this meal was!

Anyhow, the waitress came and took my meat back to the kitcen.  I said to Wolf, “The only way that is going to have any hope of being cooked right is if they butterfly it.  Otherwise it will just be totally dried out and gross.”

Guess what?  Yeah – it was totally dried out and gross.  At this point I was sad to hear Wolf say that his steak, while thin enough to be relatively done, was also dry and tough!

The manager came over while I was taking Jewel to the restroom, and told Wolf he would make me a new steak.  That was not necessarily the resolution we wanted at that point, since the meal was over and the kids were fussy, but he was in such a hurry he didn’t even ask.

He brought the plate back, and the new Prime Rib was cooked…  Adequately, I guess – probably in all fairness it was cooked to Medium; I wouldn’t have sent it back if it had come that way the first time.

Just for reference, Medium-Well should look like this (again from About.com):

Unfortunately, by now the kids were squirmy, and we just needed to get going. 

I explained this all to the managers, who stood there with a blank face.  I felt very awkward, and didn’t know whether to stop or keep talking…

Eventually, he took it to pack up to go, and also agreed to take it off the bill.

But it didn’t feel like a “warm and fuzzy” resolution, nor like a happy Father’s Day experience.

It’s not like Outback doesn’t have packed-to-capacity traffic on other days (every weekend!), so I’m not sure why this happened.  But it sure did shake my confidence in them as a nice place to get consistently good food and service.

Not just in general!  I’m talking about the wonderful Homestead Blessings DVD series.

The good people at Frankling Springs Media sent along the set of the DVDs for us to watch and review – and they were a blessing, indeed.  We watched them snuggled up in bed as a family, and everyone enjoyed them as entertainment as well as education.

The hosts are The West Ladies - Vicki, and her daughters Jasmine, Hannah, and CeCe.

Each DVD is a little less than an hour, jam-packed with information on a particular homesteading task.

One of the best things about these DVDs is that they make the topic very accessible to the novice.  If you think breadmaking, making soap, or do-it-yourself candles is an overwhelming task, these are for you!

With simplicity and warmth, the ladies walk you through the materials you need, setting up, and getting started.  In most cases I don’t think I would actually undertake the project without looking up some details online or in a book…  But their comprehensive overview makes me confident that I can do it.

Although they describe the specialized equipment some people use for the crafts, they also discuss (and typically use themselves) simple, re-purposed, or home-made tools.

Here are the three titles in the series:

Homestead Blessings: The Art of Bread Making is perhaps the one disc that is truly everything you need to know to get started.  All the steps are dscussed and explained, and there’s even a .pdf file of the recipes incuded! 

They go over basic bread, then move on to some fun meal and snack ideas, hamburger buns, corn bread and even cinnamon rolls!

Homestead Blessings: The Art of Candle Making was quite an eye opener.  The ladies walk you through the process of dipping candles to make tapers, making “glow lamps,” making adorable gift ideas, adding scents and natural decorations, re-using (recycling) candles, and more.

Candle making is probably not something that would have been on my list of homesteading skills to master right off the bat.  But after watching this I might be tempted to give it a try, for some softer light and homey honey-scent in the evenings.

Homestead Blessings: The Art of Soap Making.  Make my own soap?  You’ve got to be kidding!  Isn’t that an incredibly long process, with toxic chemicals involved?

Well…  Yes.  But you can do it!  And the West Ladies will hold your hand.

Everything from the basics of making your own soap from scratch on up.  Milled soap, adorable molded soap gifts, recycled soap balls, adding scent and color, and much more…

As sensitive as my kids’ skin is, it would really be nice to have soap that I knew was safe and pure.  How empowering!

One fun thing about the DVDs is that the ladies take turns hosting sections.  One will show how to make basic bread, then someone else takes over to make pizza sticks, and so on.  It’s neat to watch them working together as a family, and yet feel like you’re getting to know them each as individuals.

I can envision our life down the road where these skills will fit in even more perfectly…  In a self-sufficient little community called Contentment.

If you want to buy one, I’d suggest Amazon.com – linked by title, above – $19.99 each and eligible for Free Super Saver Shipping.  If you want the whole set (and why not?), head over to get a deal straight from Franklin Springs ($39.95 for all three).

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) has been getting a lot of press lately.

It’s getting more and more negative attention in health-conscious circles, and more and more “fighting back” from the usual suspects (manufacturers that make it, use it, etc.).  Yes, the Corn Refiners Association is running two television spots, and has a whole website up about the benign and wonderful HFCS.

From my (admittedly brief) survey, some of the causes for concern that are frequently raised are:

• Extra high levels of fructose, which are bad for diabetics, and may even contribute to causing diabetes.
• Made from corn with is typically geneticaly modified.
• Two of the enzymes used to create it (yeah, it’s a big chemical process), are genetically modified.
• Increasing concern about corn farming in general – economically, environmentally, etc.
• It is simply so processed (see above), when many of us are trying to eat more naturally
• Perhaps least-scientific but most-cited: It’s a weird, toxic thing that makes kids act crazy!
• At least one study found that there was Mercury in nearly half of the HFCS samples tested! (cited in the Washington Post).

For some in-depth reading on some of these, check out The Double Danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup, and The Murky World of High-Fructose Corn Syrup at the Weston A. Price Foundation website.

We have had a few instances lately when it was crystal clear that HFCS was the culprit in some troublesome issues.  We’re going to keep a food log and track more cloesly what other relationships there may be, even though we’re working hard to eliminate it from our diet.

• Wolf gets his ulcer-like stomach pains after drinking YooHoo, which is very high in HFCS. 
• Jewel gets stomachaches on a semi-regular basis right after eating… and we are noticing a connection to the amount of HFCS consumed.
• Jewel becomes a totally zoned-out zombie if she eats a high HFCS “treat” after dinner or at any other vulnerable time.

As one article pointed out, it’s hard to even gauge how much we’re getting, since it’s SO prevalent:

• Ketchup, for goodness’ sake! 
• Cheerios are fine, it’s mostly those highly-sugared cereals that we don’t eat anyway that have it.  but my Frosted Mini-Wheats do, too!
• Obviously cookies and candy bars mostly use it…  but so do “health food” protein bars and granola bars.

We are striving to eat more foods in as close to their natural state as possible, cook more, etc., so that should go a long way…

For us, Easter is all about celebrating the birth of Christ. But that doesn’t mean we don’t do anything fun! As usual, we had a great time dying eggs.

Jewel was most delighted with simple, bright jewel-tones (go figure!). She drew a Christian fish on the one in her right hand, and on her left hand and arm you can see where all the orange dye went (hint: NOT on the eggs!)…

Jewel's Easter Eggs

Nick did some gorgeous “tie-dye” style creations, using rubber bands around the eggs.

Nick's Easter Eggs

Wolf did some fun designs with wax prior to dying, including this Confederate flag:

Wolf's Easter Eggs

Me? I mostly wrangled R.T.

But, as always – What do you do with all those eggs once the egg hunting is over?

Lots of Easter Eggs!

My family’s favorite is a dish from my childhood – Creamed Egg on Toast.

I started with a recipe from my favorite “basics cookbook”:

Bechamel Sauce (your basic white sauce), Egg Version

• 1/4 c. butter
• 1/4 c. flour
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 t. pepper
• 1 t. dry mustard
• 2 c. milk
• 2-3 chopped or sliced hard-boiled eggs

In a medium saucepan, melt butter.  Blend in flour, salt, pepper, and dry mustard (if you don’t have any, a squirt from the mustard bottle in the fridge works!).  Cook until mixture is smooth and bubbly; gradually add milk.  Heat until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly (I use a whisk).  (Be patient, this does take a while!).  Stir in eggs and allow to heat through.

For our family of 4 1/2 I make a batch double that size, with considerably more pepper (I don’t measure), and 8-12 eggs (we do chopped).

Toast enough bread to serve each adult 2 slices, and each kid 1 (obviously, you can determine for yourself how much everyone needs to eat!), then spoon the creamed egg mixture over it.

All you need is a salad or veggie, and you’re set!

A friend told me that her family chops up the toast, as well, and calls the dish “Woodchuck.” I like the toast bits idea, but I think they should work on the name.

Want some more egg recipies? Check out The Incredible Edible Egg, and The Parent Bloggers Network.

You may recall that not long ago we Fired Pizza Hut.

You know, in this economy especially, I’m not going to give my heard-earned money to a business that doesn’t deserve it.

So guess what?

Denny’s …  You’re Fired!

We had dinner at Denny’s tonight as a party of 4 + a baby.  From the best we can recall, we’ve eaten at this restaurant maybe 4 (other) times in the last year and a half, and probably 2 or 3 of those times our waiter was “Victor.”  (For those of you local, this is the one on Marlin and U.S. 1).

Victor is not a good waiter.  He never smiles or makes any friendly comments.  He doesn’t care if they don’t have the side dish you (or your 3 year old!) really want.  He doesn’t come back to check on you very often.  He’s unapologetic and unsympathetic when something is wrong; and something is often wrong.

So tonight we again had Victor as our waiter, and he proved even more of a disappointment than usual.  He was very curt with us, did not make eye contact, and of course he never smiled or said anything friendly – while other servers and hostessesses were clogging the aisles tocome “coo” at R.T. and compliment us on his cuteness.

There were no grapes, so Jewel had a frustrating moment re-choosing her side dish, and of course he was totally unhelpful and uncaring. 

He misordered my meal entirely, bringing me the “Prime Rib Skillet DINNER” rather than the “BREAKFAST” then tried to blame it on being ordered wrong (Wolf and Nick confirmed my already certain recall) and was totally unapologetic. 

He handled the “fix” very poorly as well. 

The breakfast and the dinner are very similar – the only visible difference is that the breakfast includes scrambled eggs.  By evaluating the prices, I’m assuming that the dinner has a larger portion of meat instead.  But he had served me the dinner plate, taking that meat portion “off the market.”  It would seem like the polite thing to do would be to leave that one, and bring me the eggs.

Instead he took my plate back to the kitchen, and we waited, and waited…

I insisted that everyone else eat, so they wouldn’t have cold food to deal with on top of everything else.

Eventually, he brought me an entirely fresh breakfast plate.  That kind of waste is surely frowned upon by Denny’s… except that he’s not nice to them, either, and they don’t know about it.  He explained to me that he was taking one of the drinks off our bill to compensate for the price difference.  The breakfast was $1 cheaper, and the drink was $1.89 or something, so I guess I was supposed to feel good about that.

Really, though, I think that was better looking on him than to cancel out the dinner and put in the breakfast.  Everything being automated as it is, I’m sure they track things that way…

A similar issue:  after bring our drinks and seeing that we all needed refills quickly, he brought a pitcher of water and a pitcher of iced tea and lft thm on the table.  Now of course might be taken as helpful… except that in context it seemed an awful lot like trying to get out of checking on us and filling our drinks.

He did bring our check, but I had to hunt him down to get a To Go box. 

So we paid.  He ran the register, making an awkward situation; we dodged by mentioning to each other that we could leave a tip on the table. 

We had no intention of leaving a tip for such bad service, of course – unfortunately the same case as the prior occasions when he was our waiter. 

We were out in the parking lot heading for our car when he ran out of the restaurant yelling for us! 

He asked if we’d left a tip on the table, because he hadn’t found anything!  Then he said something like, “If it’s one time, maybe it’s okay, but this is a couple of times now…” 

Oh, my!! 

We were absolutely SHOCKED speechless!  (And, yeah, that’s saying something…)

So… on top of mediocre food and horrible service, we are stalked and harrassed by our waiter in the parking lot?! 

We will NOT be dining at Denny’s anymore. 

You’re Fired!