New Fall Menus and Other Things!!

The 'New Fall Menu' is an exciting time for those restaurants attempting to rework certain existing entree selections/appetizer lines to present a brand new face of time honoured fan favourites. It is a time of great excitement for the dining public. ... Or is it? ... During this cleansing period of the restaurant's menu, certain popular items are gone or reformulated, too costly, perhaps, to continue to be offered in their present format.

The introduction of dishes with deceptive design features helps to perpetuate a dining experience that is, perhaps, less than truthful.. ... Are wide rimmed bowls and dinner plates a distraction for the patron as to what is not being offered: a reasonable amount of food contained within the bowls of these mega sized dishes? Soup or salads arrive in strangely contoured bowls. Does food seem to look more appealing now? Do we now have more value? Is this visual trickery? ... Then we are seated at a table for two or four that barely accommodates the menu selections we have ordered. The plates take center stage, a way of showing the patron, in a cunning and dramatic way, that great value has been offered. ... (The table is now too small for all the food ordered.) ... Next, we have the fried food phenomena we love to order with our portable burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches. ... Fries, onion rings, sweet potato fries, salads are all housed in designer containers, sloped in the front, in the back or at the bottom, with one side 'open'. (The contents can only be filled so far before they spill out.) What ever happened to straight sides all around? (or we have wicker baskets arriving at our table 'full' of fries atop 'very fluffy' waxed paper?) ... These 'deceptively designed' takeout/in house containers continue to give us less and less. What is the point of small? Who wants six fries for $1.00?

When a change in container size or shape occurs along with a higher price, 'double dipping' has occurred. . A new menu with new logos, colours and a change in graphics, all help alter our perceptions and recollections of what the menu used to be. ... The price has increased, perhaps, while the size of a particular item has been downgraded. ...Shame on us for tolerating such deception. ... (Once upon a time, the 900-gram family sized cheese block would go on sale. Now the current size is 500 grams, in the same shape and length, but vastly thinner, a way to fool us into thinking we are still getting great value, on sale.)

Then there is pizza in small, medium or large. For some eateries, small is masquerading as an individual slice while large is medium, at best. ... Our interpretation of large is not the same as the proprietor's. (Words change, prices go up.) ... Is the amount of dough used when making small, medium or large sizes, much different, simply stretched more to fit the pan size you have ordered? (Small seems almost redundant, at times.) ... Then we have the old standby: a side order of coleslaw, often included with fish and chips. ... (The amount of shredded cabbage-with a dusting of carrots- from a whole head of cabbage is astronomical (Momsey has made coleslaw many times at $1.29 or less a head in the retail market) yet the amount the customer receives when the side order is included, is barely a mouthful worth of finished product, an insult to the integrity of the paying customer!) Who decided that a microscopic amount of coleslaw was the equivalent of a side order? (A large is no longer large. (It is barely medium, at best.) Value is value or it is not. What seems to be the problem?  Why do so many restaurants have trouble understanding the concept of large or medium? The rest of us don't! ... Adding insult to injury are the fresh fries that are cooked repeatedly, on high heat, after the first blanching, fried into oblivion, past both the prime of the oil and the fries themselves and given to the next unwary customer, in the off hours of meal time. (Any food repeatedly fried, over and over again, should not be eaten.) It is unhealthy! ... After many repeated uses, oils should also be tossed out. But are they? Once upon a time, 'paper' boxes were the containers used for hot fast food. ... Now, styrofoam is king, a cheaper and more toxic alternative to paper takeout containers. The chemical ingredient called polystyrene used to make styrofoam is proven to be a cancer causing agent, too. (Hot food melts styrofoam. Then the leaching begins...)

Dining out should not be a deceptive practice, hazardous to our health? Without the loyal customer, there can be no business! Who is in charge? We are, of course! ...Maybe, we need to start exercising this free choice and patronize only those dining spots who respect human health and the after tax, hard earned dollar the public spends eating out!

'More Momsey Musings'

The second anniversary of “The Momsey Blog” is fast approaching. Since my first anniversary, on March 2013, a few more things have piqued my interest and affected me, deeply, many things about  the animals in my world. ...

It is virtually impossible to feed a large breed dog, canned puppy food. The daily cost is exorbitant, more than any budget can bear AND is a physically demanding and arduous task for the animal to accomplish. ... The act of swallowing and some chewing is now a project, not a simple meal for the poor animal puppy! ... For our Mr. Wiggles, based upon his size and age, a diet of 7 cans of a top brand of food would be required to meet his daily nutritional requirements, a ridiculous amount of food for any mere mortal to consume.. Who has the time or the strength for that? How much moisture has been added to mask potentially nutritionally deficient food, while adding to its bulky contents. Is a soft diet - day in, day out - really that healthy, long term for any animal?. Our eleven month old Mr. Wiggles is not that interested in food right now. We dance to his demands and make sure he is eating the best. People-food is also a part of his healthy diet. Chewing he loves. He may know something the rest of us don't. Crunch is a good thing, after all.


Our second little kitty cat called 'Georgie' died last month. ... He was only 5 years old, rescued when he was two. (He kept being returned to the rescue mission for all sorts of reasons.How does anyone return an animal, for better or for worse? How does one do that?) ... Anyway, he was adopted, finally, by our middle son, a former 'allergic to cats' child. Georgie's short life - sudden death - rocked our world! We were numbed by his departure. Georgie was a gem of a companion, making everyone his 'bud.' ... My 10 year old 'Tiggy', had reminded our son of the joy and wonder of kitty cats. ... (It was a Brutal,Barbaric Way to Die, 2012) ...We were not 'cat people', never thinking such an animal would come, listen or love. Boy, were we wrong!! So, here we are cat lovers. ... Georgie was adorable, cute, talkative, no question about that! He was our smart little guy who loved to perform, meow and converse, all day long, much to our delight. He was so friendly, so social and full of things to say. Strangers were his friends, too. He and Mall Cop were simply business acquaintances, not close associates. But that was good, too. They met almost daily in the circumstances of their lives, respecting the boundaries each had.

Georgie had a mean cuddle and simply would not let his 'mom and dad' sleep in peace. He loved to talk, especially, in the wee hours of the morning when Lucy, my editor, needed to sleep. She would laugh as he began to talk, talk and talk some more. ... (His death pulled the rug from underneath my world. I could only imagine what it did to his 'real' parents, all three.) ... Our precious little guy suffered a blood clot one evening, last month, became paralyzed, then died the next morning, surrounded by family.. It was a solemn moment we embraced with dignity. ... At death, he was surrounded by love. Video snippets of his life have been watched many times, since. (We will never forget.) The lessons here are simple: give an animal a home for one of life's greatest pleasures. You will wonder how you made it, thus far, without 'them'. Make every interaction, an event because they deserve that little. ... Animal ownership is cheaper than you think. Time flies, aches disappear, health improves and love multiplies when an innocent animal is in your life. You find out who you really are when you have a pet. What they need is much more important than you. ... Georgie, Tiggy, Mr. Wiggles, Mall cop, his sister and Miss S, (Z-bunny an abandoned rabbit, cared for till his death) and a host of other 'dognitaries' have graced our landscapes and illuminated our lives, tenfold. ...Time has helped us move towards the next step - another adoption: 2 year old inseparable sisters. They have become a part of the heartstrings of their new family. These two darlings are also former 'returnable' babies. (Who does that? We return because we can, is that what we do??) ...


A three bedroom with a view is not a requirement for any act of love and compassion, just what resides inside all of us: the capacity to love and show it daily. Tomorrow is guaranteed to no one. Animals tell us so!