Never 21

The actual title of this post was supposed to be

Forever Never 21

but they don't let you do strikethrough in a title.  Another thing to be angry about.

Now I better just warn you that I'm still quite upset.  Maybe I should wait until this is a month behind me and I'm not so angry.  No, that wouldn't be as interesting.

Try using a quote from "Runaway Bride" to try calm me down.

"I don't blame you for being mad.  Or furious.  Irate?"

"Livid."

Deep breath Heidi.  Inhale.  Exhale.

This is me.

Let's get straight to my story . . . several weeks ago Kate and I went on a little jaunt to the mall to look for a new coat for mommy.  After trying several other stores, we headed into Forever 21, and found quite a good selection.  I tried on a few, and found a gray one in a style that I liked.  Still not sure though, I decided to buy it, take it home and get Dave's opinion, and then decide for sure.

{Dave said, "That looks just like your other coat."  Note to husbands: that is not exactly what your wife wants to hear.  But that's not the point of this post.  After wearing it for a few more minutes I decided it was too itchy around the neck anyway, and I decided to return it.}

I take the coat back, in the bag, with the receipt, and the girl is very helpful.  "Is anything wrong with the coat?" she asks in a very chipper voice.

"No," I reply, "I just decided I don't want it." 

"Great," she says, "would you like to exchange it?"  

"No thanks," I say.

"Okay, then I can give you store credit."

"No, I just want my money back."  

"Well I'm afraid we don't give cash refunds.  We only do exchanges or store credit."

"Well, I don't see anything that says that," I answer back, starting to get a little annoyed.

"It's on your receipt," she says smugly, pointing to the no cash refund policy at the bottom of my receipt in small print.

"Oh, the receipt I received after I'd already paid for the coat?"  I question, just as smugly.

"Oh, well there's a sign right here . . . well, I'm not sure where it is right now, but it's always right here on the counter."

"Well, I didn't see it." 

After this runaround continues for a few more minutes, I finally ask for the manager.  The sales rep looks relieved, and runs to grab the manager.

"Yes, how can I help you?"  The manager gives me a very condescending look as if she's dealt with people like me a hundred times.

"Yes, I want to return this coat, and I want a cash refund, not store credit."

"Well, we don't do refunds.  It says that at the bottom of the receipt."

"Oh, the receipt I received after I'd already paid for the coat?"  Sound familiar?  And then, I kid you not . . . she said - 

"Oh, well there's a sign right here . . . well, I'm not sure where it is right now, but it's always right here on the counter."

"Well obviously it isn't always right here," I say, and now I'm really getting mad.  Furious.  Let's just skip irate and go straight to livid.

She looks at the bottom of my receipt and says, "Besides, Jason ran your transaction - he's our head cashier, so I'm sure he would have mentioned it."

Did no one teach this lady that the customer is a guest?  They have a wallet?  They can choose where to spend their money?  That you actually want a customer to return?  Because I've never worked in retail, but I thought that was pretty obvious.

"Well, he didn't."

The lady wouldn't budge and insisted that since the day Forever 21 opened its doors 25 years ago they've always had a no cash-refund policy.  The cash register won't even give cash refunds, she insisted.  The encounter ended with me angrily grabbing the gift card with store credit in it for the price of the coat and leaving in a huff.  Yep, I left in a huff.  I like that phrase, and it perfectly describes how I felt.

But this was not over.  I talked to Dave about it and he called Forever 21 (he's better at intimidating people than I am).  I'm not sure how he does it, but he is very good at talking people into things, including me.  When he called in to Forever 21 headquarters, a district manager agreed to call him this past Tuesday, meet us at the store, and give us a cash refund.

No wait, this gets better.  It's now late Thursday night, practically Friday.  No call.  But we're not quitting until we get our money back.  In the meantime, I'll just rant and rave in the blogosphere.

And may I just take a moment to rant and rave about stores that don't give cash refunds?  To me that says, "We don't sell quality products" loud and clear.  In fact, because they don't sell quality products, they have no faith in their own merchandise, which is why they don't give cash refunds.  They believe that given the choice, you'll take your cash and spend it elsewhere, which is why they'll only do exchanges or give you store credit.  And they'll put that policy at the bottom of a receipt in small print, and they'll hide the signs that are supposed to be at the checkout counter.  Grrr. 

I'll keep you updated.  In the meantime, you should join with me in my boycott of Forever 21.

Mini Me

What can I say?  Kate has learned from the best.

When I brought my chocolates home, Dave sampled one, giving Kate a little taste.

Then she dumped Dad and went straight to the source (the chocolates are in those boxes).

Notice how her tongue is already out.

Also notice her cute little ruffle bum.

Here's the wonderful little contraption we received from someone in our ward:

It's an M&M dispenser.

An M&M from one side.

An M&M from the other.

I have a love/hate relationship with the fact that they only come out one at a time.

Confession: sometimes I just unscrew the lid.

But Kate, well, she wasted no time figuring it out:

If I accidentally leave it out, I often a find a very happy little munchkin with red and green drool.

P.S. I just realized I haven't posted anything about Christmas on this blog.  It's like I'm a Scrooge or something!  But I promise I really do have the Christmas spirit - head over to Everyday Families (my other blog) if you don't believe me!

P.P.S. My favorite are my nativities - please be sure to take a look - click here!

Just Call Me Lucy

You may think that looks like Lucy, but it's actually me.  No, really.  I made chocolates.  No, I didn't go to the store, buy some, and say that I made them, I actually did it!  That's my big surprise, and it's one of the reasons I've been a little MIA.

I have to admit, making chocolates has been a life-long dream for me . . . my grandma used to make them when I was young, but she got to the point where it wasn't a physical possibility for her to continue, so I never got the chance to learn from her.  So when I found out that Dave's aunt makes chocolates every year . . . to be honest, that's what sealed the deal for me (just kidding, honey - love you!).

So out of the goodness of her heart wonderful, wonderful Rachelle decided to set aside some time to not only teach me how to make chocolates, but help me.  Did I mention she has 5 kids all under the age of 12?  She's seriously superwoman.  And she makes hundreds, no closer to thousands, of them every year to give away to neighbors and take to family parties and such - and she doesn't even make excuses like December is really busy or my kids don't take naps any more.  She just does it.  Superwoman I tell ya.

Let me tell you about this adventure - not quite over yet, but I was honestly too proud to wait and tell you.

The kind I made is chocolate maple - the fondant is maple, and then it's dipped in chocolate.  Really good chocolate, but we'll get to that part.

First, you bring all the ingredients (lots of good stuff like whipping cream and sugar and such) to a boil until it reaches a certain temperature.

Before you take it off the heat, you have to test it multiples times for the "soft ball" state.  I don't really know what I'm talking about, I'm just using impressive terms so you will be impressed.  Are you impressed?  You should be.

Like so.  

Once it's reached that phase, you pour it out into a large glass pan.

Like so.

Then you let it cool completely - usually in the fridge, or outside if it's cold.

 The next part makes me tired just thinking about it.  It's called "turning" the fondant, and I dare any man who thinks he has legitimate arm muscle to try it.  Basically you just keep the fondant moving - kind of like stirring - but you have to keep it all at the center of the pan.  Keep in mind - it's still soft, so it runs, but it's just hard enough to make your arm ache.  Once your arm has started aching, you have to do it for another 20 minutes.  Rachelle makes 4-5 batches of this stuff every year (plus all the other kinds of candy/chocolate) - are you starting to see why I call her superwoman?

When you're done, it reaches the "hard ball" state -

Like so.  At this point, you add the flavoring.

By this time, you're tuckered out.  You call it a day and hold off on the dipping once you've given your arm all sorts of recovery treatments.

Now we get to the REALLY good part.

CHOCOLATE.

And when I say chocolate, I mean chocolate.  We're not messing around here.

Yes, that is TEN POUNDS of gourmet chocolate.  And yes, it is taking up the entire cutting board.

When I saw that 10 lb. block, my life seriously flashed before my eyes.  And you know what I learned?  That one of those is maybe a tenth of all the chocolate I've consumed in my life.  Probably less than a tenth.  I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.  No, it's good.

So then you melt that chocolate, roll the maple fondant into small balls, and dip it into the extremely delicious chocolate.  The worst part is you do it with your fingers, and they get all chocolatey, and every time you stop you have to lick them off (and then wash them, of course!).

This is what the finished product looks like:

Voila, delicious chocolates!  Handmade!  By me!

(Actually, the two above were probably Rachelle's - they look way too beautiful to be mine)

Thus far, I'm really enjoying my chocolate making experience.  I only have two disappointments.  

1) Rachelle did not slap me and slather my face in chocolate.

 

Sad, because I really would have enjoyed that.

2) I did not work on a chocolate wrapping assembly line in which I was forced to shove large quantities of chocolate in my mouth, in my hat, and down my shirt in order to keep up.

But I did sneak a few when Rachelle went and picked up her kids' carpool. :)

P.S. You are welcome to come over and watch I Love Lucy reruns with me.  Just bring some chocolate.

Just for you:

Lime Cilantro Butter Sauce

So remember how I was drooling for days after eating at La Jolla?  Well, I wondered if I could somehow recreate their Salmon baked in Cilantro Butter Sauce.  I googled it, and TONS of recipes came up.  So of course, I had to try!

I have tried two so far: one very simple one - it's not the real deal, but does the trick if I'm short on time and some more complicated ingredients, and one that is more complicated, but very delicious, and still not that hard.  So, if you love cilantro and seafood, be sure to try this out - it can go with pretty much anything 20,000 leagues under the sea!

Cilantro Garlic Butter

1 lime cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Squeeze half of the lime wedges onto the fish, season with salt and pepper.  Bake the fish.  In a small saucepan, heat the oil and then add the garlic.  Let the garlic cook for about 2 minutes and then stir in the butter, remaining lime juice, and chopped cilantro.  Pour the cilantro garlic butter over the fish and enjoy!

Lime Cilantro Butter Sauce
Adapted from a recipe at laylita.com

1/4 cup water
1 medium sized shallot
4 garlic cloves
juice from 2 limes
lime zest (as much or as little as you want)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 serrano pepper (or more if you want more kick)
1/4 cup butter
1 bunch of cilantro
salt to taste

Put water in a medium-sized saucepan on medium heat.  Mince the shallot and garlic cloves.  Add the minced shallots and garlic, the lime juice, lime zest and cream to the water.  Let simmer on low to medium heat for about 10 minutes.  Chop the serrano pepper into fine pieces and add it to the sauce.  Then add a little bit of the butter at a time until it melts into the mixture.  Remove from heat.  Chop up the cilantro and add it, then pour all of the sauce into a blender or a food processor, until it reaches a smoother consistency (about 1 minute).  Add salt to taste.  Serve with any seafood.

A couple of things about this recipe.  First, can I just say how awesome it made me feel to cook with a shallot?  Yeah, it did.  That was definitely something on my bucket list :)  Second, I served this with tilapia and rice, but I know it would be delicious with salmon as well.  Third, when we had this, I really did think it was delicious, but I felt like it was missing something.  Oh yeah, the salt.  Oops.  Salt is a very key ingredient, and really brings out the flavor, so don't forget that key ingredient!

Delinquency

For those of you out there who read my blog, I have a LOT of excuses up my sleeve as to why I haven't posted for so long.  For example,

My dog ate my computer.

He is NOT as innocent as he looks.

I needed a mental health week.

Is it that obvious?

I have a solar-powered computer and it was cloudy.

Honest, it was.

I was kidnapped by terrorists and they only just let me go, so I didn't have time to do it.

 Look at the bright side, at least they let me go.

Or, it could be that I've been really busy.

Cleaning up after Kate.

Decorating for Christmas.

Christmas shopping!

 Watching Law & Order (at least I can admit I have a problem).

Seeing White Christmas at Pioneer Theater!  I'm gleeful about this :)

Working on a secret project that I will reveal soon.  And, if you don't already, after seeing this, you will think I'm awesome!

Anyway, please forgive my delinquency.  Please! Please!

With a cherry on top.

No, with three cherries on top.

I knew you'd forgive me.

Now, on to other matters.  I will be posting soon: some new recipes, book reviews, and a current event that's been on my mind.  And we all know how you've been dying to know what's on my mind.

Like literally, dying.

So stay tuned!