Des Moines, IA

My work sent me to Des Moines, IA to demo our software application to end use customers. When I travel for work, it’s usually to train our business clients on how to use our software so this was a unique experience.

For many years, I worked demoing and/or sampling products in stores, festivals, pubs, skateparks, radio events, etc. Not to toot my own horn but I’m pretty good at it. Sampling and demoing looks easy. I mean how hard is it to either show someone how to use something or give them a free product? Well, not everyone can do it. It take a lot of patience, quick wit, the ability to laugh at yourself often, and a desire to interact with the public. And last but not least: passion for what you are doing.

Personally I love to talk to people. I know, all of you are so surprised because I’m so shy. (For those of you who don’t know me, I’m not shy. Really.)I like to find out what they are doing, who they are, what they like, etc.

For this demo, I offered some fruit or nuts or even Kettle Chips newest baked chips. While you are grabbing the toothpick, I ask if you’ve had an opportunity to use the Fresh Ideas Center (see the kiosk beside me?) I then proceed to show you how to use it to find a recipe or choose a great bottle of wine.

Why do I do it? Well, besides the fact that its my job, I do it because I believe in our product. How many times have you gone to the grocery store and not known what you were going to make for dinner? Well, these handy (and might I say conveniently located) kiosks have hundreds of recipes on them.

Have you ever gotten a prescription at your grocery store and wondered if your St. Johns Wort interacted with the new medicine? Well, these kiosks have side effects and interaction information on them. Have you ever purchased produce that was on sale but had no idea what to do with it? Once again, these kiosks have information on buying, storing, and preparing all sorts of produce. You can even access recipes that use that produce.

So if you see one of these kiosks in the store, use it. Print out a recipe. Look up a health condition. Find out about some new produce you’ve been wanting to try.

Read the Recipe

I feel so stupid writing this post. It’s not that I haven’t cooked or baked before. I have. This morning I woke up and wanted to cook. I loved the burritos that I made last week. I wanted to make a few more that I could bring to work and eat for lunch. It was great walking through my office at lunch time with my burrito on the plate. So many of my coworkers looked at it longingly. It made me feel really good because I made it with my own hands with ingredients I had found in my fridge. I didn’t go on a special trip to buy anything. This was my version of recycling in action. And they were good. Really good. I was kinda surprised at how tasty they were.

burrito fixings

So I made the burritos. I’ll let you know how they turn out. Andy and I each ate one for breakfast and we both had our own feedback. I cleaned up the burrito dishes and then set out to make banana bread. I was using a recipe from a vegetarian cookbook that Andy’s Uncle Sean had given us several years ago. I’ve used this recipe numerous times. I felt very confident that I knew this recipe backwards and frontward. (This would be the part of the movie where you know something bad is going to happen. Hollywood punishes those that display that amount of confidence. At least in horror movies anyway) I read the recipe and realized that I didn’t have the applesauce it called for. It was a low fat recipe so it substitutes applesauce for oil. At least that’s what I thought. I used butter rather than margarine because I don’t purchase margarine anymore. The recipe called for 1/4 cup applesauce so I used less oil.

the beginning....

I put the banana bread in the oven along with the muffins I decided to make. I added more nuts than the recipe called for so drawing on a past baking experience, decided to pull some of the batter out. So I put it all in the oven, set the timer, and started washing dishes. I checked on the muffins after about twenty-five minutes and they looked ready. I gave one to Andy, my official taster. He bit into the muffin and gave it back to me saying that it wasn’t baked all the way through. I put the muffins back in the oven and settled back into chores. But in the back of my mind, I had a nagging feeling something wasn’t right. I looked into the oven and the bread had a tiny amount of liquid that was bubbling. This wasn’t good. Instantly I knew it was the oil. I had messed up.

I let the bread go for an extra ten minutes to ensure that it was indeed the oil and not my imagination. I complained to my mother on the phone about my mistake. I left the bread in the oven hoping the residual heat would dry it out a bit. Meh… Lesson learned. Read the recipe!!

Blog Stats

So I admit, I’ve gotten pretty jazzed up about the amount of page views and visitors to this blog. So far, we have over 219 total views. That’s pretty good for a blog about cats, cooking, school, and beer. I would like to think most of the views are a result of my shameless self promotion on Twitter, email, and posting comments to other blogs. I am okay with that. I want to see how much traffic I can generate using the method I just mentioned. It’s like a competition with myself. I was checking out the stats and so far Fridays appear to be the day I get most of my views. It’s probably just my mom. But I’m okay with that.

I’ve gotten a few questions via email about my postings. I usually write them out at night while sitting on my couch. I save them. I edit the post the next morning to try and catch mistakes. I don’t always do the best job. But I am trying.

So thank you all so much for the support, comments, and views. I really appreciate it. Have a great day!