Rant thread

[Meadbh]

Is this a Canadian Rant thread?

Yup, eh.

 

[Sunset]

Does anyone remember when the wings were the cheap part of the chicken? Now wings cost more than the thighs!

I have my eye on some rabbit. Specifically the one getting into my garden. Eliminate the problem and provide dinner in one shot! Literally!

I remember when chicken wings were free !!

My parents were poor for a few years, so in the summer we ate chicken wings on the BBQ every night, as the butcher would give them to us for free.

I still like them, but would rather buy boneless skinless chicken breast at $1.80/lb than pay $3.00 lb for wings...

It was the bars that drove the demand and price up

 

[haha]

I am getting more and more selective with my poultry. I find supermarket chicken disgusting most of the time, slimy, with a nasty texture, bland taste, and a faintly foul smell as well. It makes me want to become vegetarian. So I don't eat a lot of chicken, but when I do I spring for a local, free-range chicken from my local butcher. It is very fresh and tasty.


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I would enjoy that. Soon a Whole Foods is coming 4 blocks away, I hope their chicken is good. High quality high price independent butchers so far have not done really well in Seattle, I think it may take a larger city of affluent people. Many of the young affluents around me either eat out all the time, or are vegans.

I find that I have replaced all my chicken and some of the beef and pork with wild caught fish. Not the same, but very good, and reasonably priced. Often in mid winter Pacific cod is 7-$10/#, and sole, rock fish, calamari. oysters, Oregon shrimp all winter long are cheaper than I would pay for similar edible portions of high quality free range chicken. Thursday I paid $20/# for a magnificent halibut steak ( I usually buy steaks, as all the fat is around the backbone and lean halibut is too lean.) Halibut is not plentiful enough anymore to have it often, or I would have to ration it. Seasons are short and tightly monitored,

A little later the good salmon runs begin, and I 'll be down to wild fish, grass fed lamb chops, and mostly grass fed burger (sometime I really want nice fat market trim ground beef, and it never seems to be available grass fed. The meatcutters could make some 20% fat ground meat by using the fat saved from the people who want low or zero fat in their ground meat, but I think it might be a hard sell to the type of people who shop at whole foods. So I buy Safeway 20% market trim, no meat not cut in their shop included.) I also have gone to about 5 cans/week of King Oscar brisling sardines for snacks. And of course bacon. The last good pork chop I had was when my buddy went out of the weaner pig business.

Ha

 

[W2R]

I would enjoy that. Soon a Whole Foods is coming 4 blocks away, I hope their chicken is good. High quality high price independent butchers so far have not done really well in Seattle, I think it may take a larger city of affluent people.

I'm trying to think of a larger city of affluent people than Seattle, in the U.S., but with no success thus far....

There is a Whole Foods not too far from me, and while it was being built I could hardly wait. But, that said, I never go there because it is much more expensive (and more crowded) than I had envisioned at that time.

 

[audreyh1]

I'm trying to think of a larger city of affluent people than Seattle, in the U.S., but with no success thus far....

There is a Whole Foods not too far from me, and while it was being built I could hardly wait. But, that said, I never go there because it is much more expensive (and more crowded) than I had envisioned at that time.

Same here. Is it really less affluent than San Francisco or Austin?

 

[M Paquette]

We have been to SF so many times over the years, that I literally lost count. But if Bresse chicken is offered there, well, that will give us an impetus to stop by once more in our next RV trip, which is 1 month away.

The US domestic version of the Bresse is the blue-foot chicken. It's served at a number of restaurants in the SF area, usually 'when available'.

Marin Sun Farms has them from time to time in their Rockridge (Oakland) and Point Reyes Station shops. Most seem to go to their CSA poultry 'subscription' customers. Fulton Valley also produces them, but mostly for the restaurant trade.

 

[cooch96]

Okay, I'm getting warmed up on this rant thing.

Does anyone else here abhor Hickory Farms?

To wit: their sausage tastes like plastic, probably from all the wax they introduce; their mustards are mostly corn syrup; and the cheez spreads are abominations of cheese-inspired dairy by-products!

And their customer service is even worse! Or at least it was the last time I bought a gift from them (fourteen years ago; I was young, stupid, and frequently drunk).

How are they still in business? Is it simple inertia, like the tradition of fruit cakes? thank goodness that seasonal travesty is nearly extinct.

Whenever DW and I get a box from Hickory Farms, my first reaction is to wonder what I did to the giver. Did I kick their dog the last time we visited or make fun of their drapes?

My second reaction is to plot my passive-aggressive revenge. But absolutely not by sending them a Hickory Farms gift in return. Though poetically justified, That company will never get another dime from me.

 

[haha]

Same here. Is it really less affluent than San Francisco or Austin?

Likely not compared to Austin, but Seattle is Podunk compared to the north part of San Francisco city. Also western LA, Boston, DC, parts of Manhattan, Chicago north coast and others too. What counts I think is not average or median income, but a sufficient number of affluent customers concentrated in a fairly small area.

Ha

 

[MRG]

Okay, I'm getting warmed up on this rant thing.

Does anyone else here abhor Hickory Farms?

To wit: their sausage tastes like plastic, probably from all the wax they introduce; their mustards are mostly corn syrup; and the cheez spreads are abominations of cheese-inspired dairy by-products!

And their customer service is even worse! Or at least it was the last time I bought a gift from them (fourteen years ago; I was young, stupid, and frequently drunk).

How are they still in business? Is it simple inertia, like the tradition of fruit cakes? thank goodness that seasonal travesty is nearly extinct.

Whenever DW and I get a box from Hickory Farms, my first reaction is to wonder what I did to the giver. Did I kick their dog the last time we visited or make fun of their drapes?

My second reaction is to plot my passive-aggressive revenge. But absolutely not by sending them a Hickory Farms gift in return. Though poetically justified, That company will never get another dime from me.

I'm glad I'm not alone in my dislike of their "food". I guess people buy their stuff never having eaten it.

I have no idea what they do to that "cheese" stuff. It makes my mouth burn.

 

[Walt34]

Does anyone else here abhor Hickory Farms?

I think I did buy something from them decades ago. Once. Overpriced and not very good. But they make a pretty package and that's all that it takes for someone buying a gift when they don't know what else to give.

 

[HFWR]

Okay, I'm getting warmed up on this rant thing.

Does anyone else here abhor Hickory Farms?

To wit: their sausage tastes like plastic, probably from all the wax they introduce; their mustards are mostly corn syrup; and the cheez spreads are abominations of cheese-inspired dairy by-products!

And their customer service is even worse! Or at least it was the last time I bought a gift from them (fourteen years ago; I was young, stupid, and frequently drunk).

How are they still in business? Is it simple inertia, like the tradition of fruit cakes? thank goodness that seasonal travesty is nearly extinct.

Whenever DW and I get a box from Hickory Farms, my first reaction is to wonder what I did to the giver. Did I kick their dog the last time we visited or make fun of their drapes?

My second reaction is to plot my passive-aggressive revenge. But absolutely not by sending them a Hickory Farms gift in return. Though poetically justified, That company will never get another dime from me.

How about a fruitcake?


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[Choices]

I wonder what has happened to all the fruit cakes. I volunteer at a food bank and we gets lots of unwanted hickory farms cr*p and Harry and David exotica but few unwanted fruit cakes.

 

[Walt34]

I wonder what has happened to all the fruit cakes. I volunteer at a food bank and we gets lots of unwanted hickory farms cr*p and Harry and David exotica but few unwanted fruit cakes.

I think a valid commercial use was finally found for them in large ships as ballast.

 

[MichaelB]

I wonder what has happened to all the fruit cakes. I volunteer at a food bank and we gets lots of unwanted hickory farms cr*p and Harry and David exotica but few unwanted fruit cakes.

I recall hearing that there really aren't that many, it just seems there are because people send them back and forth to each other in perpetual re-gifting.

 

[audreyh1]

There are a lot of old companies still riding on their fame from their good old days.

 

[travelover]

OK. Finally remembered something to rant about. Delivery services (Canada Post, UPS) .........

What's up with shipping stuff from the US to Canada? First, postage is ridiculous and secondly there seems to be tyranny of customs charges, especially when using UPS and FedEx. A number of Canadians seem to have an alternate US address just across the border so that they can avoid the hassle and just drive to the US to retrieve items.

Why is it so hard to buy in the US for Canadians?

 

[Meadbh]

What's up with shipping stuff from the US to Canada? First, postage is ridiculous and secondly there seems to be tyranny of customs charges, especially when using UPS and FedEx. A number of Canadians seem to have an alternate US address just across the border so that they can avoid the hassle and just drive to the US to retrieve items.

Why is it so hard to buy in the US for Canadians?

FYI, my items were shipped from Canada (Vancouver and Missisauga). No customs, no US address required. Both packages had shipping included.

I have no interest in dealing with the hassle of customs charges, U.S. postal boxes, and adverse exchange rates, so I prefer to order within Canada if the total price is comparable.

 

[Tailgate]

I wonder what has happened to all the fruit cakes. I volunteer at a food bank and we gets lots of unwanted hickory farms cr*p and Harry and David exotica but few unwanted fruit cakes.

Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas
Fruitcake accounts for 98 percent of the bakery's total sales. The company sells about 3 million pounds of fruitcake each year, which equates to 1.5 million individual cakes.

The majority of orders are placed by mail, and during October to November.

this bakery has been making fruitcakes since 1896..the original ones are probably still ok to eat.. like Twinkies

 

[braumeister]

What counts I think is not average or median income, but a sufficient number of affluent customers concentrated in a fairly small area.

Or tradition.

Cincinnati is a smaller city than Seattle, but we have many great butcher shops.

My favorite is one that has been in business here under the same family for over 120 years. They make their own sausage (several dozen varieties), their own smoked bacon (two varieties), their own cold cuts (about a dozen varieties), along with homemade soups, gravies, etc., etc., ad nauseam.

You would love it. But I seem to recall you once lived here and may remember.

We have a huge number of families of German descent, and a good butcher shop is part of the culture. Consequently, we have at least half a dozen of this type of butcher in the city or close to it.

 

[HFWR]

I wonder what has happened to all the fruit cakes.

Most are at my former employer...


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[devans0]

Most are at my former employer...

QUIT RE-GIFTING THEM!!!!! WE HAVE ENOUGH OF OUR OWN!!

Rants are in caps!! It's a rule somewhere..

 

[robnplunder]

You all need to post much "worse" rants or this thread and the Pet Peeve threads need to be merged! Ratchet it up, folks. That's my rant of the day. .....

 

[NW-Bound]

As I have said, and I will say it once more. Give us some time. We will ramp it up.

Doggone it.

PS. I am headed to my high-country hideout now. Will not be ranting for a while. Hope that this thread still stays open when I come back. You have not heard the last of my rants. And that's a promise.

 

[photoguy]

Send the fruitcake to me. I must be the only person that like them

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[splitwdw]

I wonder what has happened to all the fruit cakes. I volunteer at a food bank and we gets lots of unwanted hickory farms cr*p and Harry and David exotica but few unwanted fruit cakes.

Because, January 3 is "Fruitcake Toss Day". Come on, get your holidays straight!

https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/fruitcake-toss-day/