Have I mentioned MY NEW MACBOOK? Well, along with all of its beautiful, sleek apple-liciousness, comes the ability to wirelessly pull the photos off my cell phone. Here are the sweet little pics of my baby boy I took just before his ear-tube procedure back in August. Although, the image of him in a baby-sized hospital gown will forever be burned into memory…
Believe it or not, we actually do still cook. The rules have, however, changed a bit. We do lots of cooking on the stove, because my oven’s heating power is the wattage and consistency of a 100 year old incandescent lightbulb. There is also the fact that we are country folk now, and our corner market is the local restaurant supply warehouse – which is like an odd combination of Costco meets Grocery Outlet meets The Dollar Store. Meaning, when you run to the market for milk you also come back with 6 pounds of bacon and a sleeve of 16 oz paper cups.
Meal planning these days usually involves harvesting a hunk of meat from the new chest freezer, and figuring out a way NOT to cook it in the oven. This soup has become a regular around our house because Porter could pretty much subsist on nothing but spaghetti, and Stella’s got mad skills at rolling meatballs.
Spaghetti & Meatball Soup
–from good ol’ Ray-Ray
Serves 6
3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 large onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
You can also add zucchini, mushrooms, peppers, spinach or whatever additional veggies you can sneak in
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 quart chicken stock
1 1/4 pounds ground beef sirloin
1 Tablespoon Worcestiershire sauce
Generous handful of flat-leaf parlsey, finely chopped
1 egg
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
Salt & Pepper
1/2 – 3/4 pounds spaghetti, broken into thirds (we usually use whole wheat)
Heat a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add olive oil, garlic, bay leaf, onion and carrots and saute 5 minutes or until softened. Season with a little salt and pepper then add the tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes and chicken stock. Cover pot and bring to a boil.
Place the beef in a bowl and add the Worcestershire sauce, parsley, egg, bread crmbs, cheese, salt and pepper. After thoroughly combining everything with your hands, roll the mixture into balls the size of a large walnut and drop into the soup pot. Once all of the meatballs have been added, wash up and stir the broken spaghetti into the pot. Cook 7 minutes more. Season soup with salt and pepper to your taste, and serve topped with grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
I know you are all sitting around waiting for me to finally get my butt in gear and post the sordid details from Holiday Season 2007. And you know what? So am I. I have most of the photos off my card, and have been loading them onto Flickr, set, by tedious set. However, based on the current reading on the Walston Motivation-o-Meter, a -5 isn’t really going to get you much. At this pace, it is probably going to be St. Patrick’s day before I get around to telling you about the obscene meal Steve concocted for his birthday dinner (hot dogs, wrapped in pastrami, smothered in 100-Island dressing, covered in a slice of cheese and toasted under a broiler), or until I am able to recount the steady stream of gift opening and food digesting that defined Christmas.
But the truth of the matter is that along with recovering from the holiday, and everything that entails, Steve and I both have had a hard time embracing that perky new year’s outlook. For both of us, work has been very emotionally draining, causing us to come home each day and threaten to quit everything and finally open that kitchen store. Neither one of us has been able to get back onto our exercise routine, and our commitment to quality parenting has been marginal, at best. Cereal for dinner, anyone? It hasn’t helped matters that we are now at week 14 waiting for a very expensive new bed frame that was supposed to have been delivered in 6-8 weeks. Follow that up with this little gem from Tuesday, and I guess you could say that although we are 9 days into our new year we are just not yet feeling the 2008 love. And have I mentioned the 7 consecutive days of storms that have knocked out the power twice?
Although we are feeling like we have started the new year with a thud, there have been some moments to help me keep perspective that not being able to return a pair of shoes isn’t exactly the end of the world. Like, finding out that a childhood friend died over the holidays. She was just 35 years old. She had been diagnosed with a partially in-operable brain tumor during the summer between our freshman and sophomore year, and continued to battle with it’s various complications throughout her life. Although we had not maintained a friendship through our adult lives, it was still painful news to hear. I felt especially sad for her mother, who had also recently lost her husband. Parents should not ever have to outlive their children.
Also, for the first time in recent memory, I can recognize and appreciate that all four members of our immediate family are simultaneously illness-free. No colds, no throwing up, no mysterious coughs and/or persistent runny noses, no ear infections, no sinus infections, no croup, no reflux, no antibiotics, no prescription antacids. After spending the last 4 years living with one, then two little germ factories – susceptible to any virus within a 10-mile radius – I realize the true miracle of this phenomenon. Now, if we could just cure The Angry.
I am sure that slowly, we will begin to find our 2008 mojo, and we can begin to focus on the important things, like how I am going to accrue the remaining 6 purse points to buy that yummy brown leather bag I have been eyeing since before Christmas. [You can imagine that this system – devised and scored by Steve – is rife with corruption and irregularity. However, I am confident that I can prevail.]
Now, if you’ll excuse me, it is time for me to go get on the treadmill…which is exactly why I am instead going to get a giant bowl of ice cream and sit on the couch and watch the E! Channel.
It is no secret that I have serious issues when it comes to poor customer service. Knowing this, you will not be surprised at my response to this recent interaction – an interaction that literally frustrated me to the point of tears. However, you will be surprised at which business will – after 10 long years – never again see me walk through it’s doors again.
This letter will be going out in tomorrow’s mail:
Hello Beth,
Although you have likely been briefed by your staff on this issue, I feel it is important for you, as the owner, to understand my perspective and the results from this unfortunate situation.
I bought my husband a pair of shoes for Christmas, with the hope that the usual sizing would work. As it turned out, it didn’t. Today, (the 8th) my husband tried exchanging them for the larger size at the Arcata store, only to be told that the return period had expired. Although it does state your 7-day return policy on the receipt, I obviously overlooked it, and incorrectly assumed we had 30 days. It is especially inexcusable considering both the frequency in which I shop at your stores, and how long I have been a customer. But, to be perfectly honest, in all the time I have been shopping at North Soles, it has just never come up as an issue.
After being told no, he dropped them off with me and asked me to inquire again in Eureka. And, although I was informed that they had the exact same shoe style in the size he needed, I was also told no. As I began to question the issue I was then told that it also looked like they had been worn. (They hadn’t)
So, I followed up with the general manager at the Arcata store. Again, but with increasing curtness, I was told that I was trying to return a used pair of shoes and that I should have paid closer attention to the receipt – after all, the grace period had been extended. All I wanted was to be given an equivalent pair of shoes that fit. I wasn’t asking for cash, I wasn’t trying to exchange for a different style, I just wanted to go home with a pair of shoes that my husband could actually wear. Instead, I was left with a useless pair of shoes, and the desire to never shop in your stores again.
I guess the bigger issue, and the reason I am writing this letter at all, is that I was so completely frustrated with how I was treated – basically as though I was trying to cheat you, and that it was repeatedly made clear to me that your inventory policy was far more important than my patronage.
In actuality, I am a customer who has shopped at North Soles for over 10 years, and used to be recognized and greeted by Cynthia, Kate and their staff whenever I’d come in to shop. (Still am, by Kate a couple of doors down). I have continued to shop at your store, even though the personal touches are gone, and although the online experience may be cheaper, I have always had a desire to support local business. Although your staff didn’t know any of this, I would expect fair and reasonable customer service.
I understand that you have these policies for a reason, and that your staff needs to make decisions in support of viable business practices. However, this experience left me frustrated and offended. I am aware that it will most likely be your instinct to defend your staff and your policies, however I do want you to know that because of this experience you have lost my business. I will inform my family and friends to no longer buy me the usual gift certificates, and will no longer bring visiting friends and family in for the usual shopping (my Mom buys at least one pair just about every time she visits). I also will freely share this experience with whoever is interested.
I know it may not seem it, but it really does make me sad that this has transpired. There is a personalized and comfortable experience to shopping the Plaza merchants that I have always enjoyed, and unfortunately, North Soles no longer embodies that for me.
Thanks for your time,
Natalie Walston
“It takes a long time to learn how to eat soup.”