Restaurants Charging More Giving Less.

The article printed yesterday was great for my economic recession rant. Going out to eat is considered a luxury in this turbulent market. Many restaurants are feeling the squeeze on their bottom line and thinking of inventive ways to save money….. Of course at the customer’s expense.

The Washington Post reported yesterday that many restaurants are buying smaller plates to make the reduced servings look just as large or lighter silverware so that even if there are fewer bites per serving, each bite feels heavier than usual on the fork. A la carte portions of high-priced dishes -- steaks, for example -- are getting pared back and surrounded by low-cost starches and vegetables.

Chefs are tinkering with recipes, swapping out expensive ingredients for cheaper ones. Managers are using behavioral science research to rejigger menus -- putting high-profit items in the top right-hand corner, for instance, where diners tend to look first.

Chris Mentzer, a menu re-engineering and recipe development specialist with

US Foodservice. Chris does house calls for restaurants in distress, and he's currently booked three months in advance.

"I've been so busy in the last year," he says, "we hired two extra people."
Mentzer and his colleagues show up with a scale and a laptop and weigh all the ingredients for every item on the menu. Then they start crunching numbers. If the food cost for any offering -- the raw materials, before the price of labor and other overhead is added on -- is more than 32 percent of the price on the menu, there's a problem

Fortunately, Mentzer has a lot of solutions.

"The first thing I tell them is to round up every price that ends with 95 cents to 99 cents. You've got an item $10.95, raise it to $10.99. If it's $7.75, make it $7.79. All the chains have done it -- Applebee's, Chili's, all of them. It's just four cents and your customers won't notice, but that could easily mean $5,000 to $15,000 a year for the restaurant."

Another tactic that's gaining favor: Spell out the price instead of using a number, because it's easier to part with thirty-four dollars than $34. Hypothetically, anyway.

Every business is thinking how they can lure you away from your money. Many are hoping you will fall for the okey-dokey and spend as usual. Now ya’ll know that when the economy turns the restaurant industry will continue this trend of giving less for more. Trust me go to Mickey D’s and eat on the dolla menu and you’ll be just fine.

Bitter.... Who Me?

Last Friday at a fundraiser presidential hopeful Barack Obama stated that people in small town American are bitter.

Here's Obama’s exact quote from the closed door fundraiser: “You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Now y’all know his opponents Hilary and John were all over this quote, like flies on sh*t. Nowadays, every time Hilary opens her mouth bull-crap flies out. She had the nerve to say the comments were elitist, divisive and out of touch and did not reflect the values of Americans she met.

My question is who the hell did you meet? How can a person that made 100 million dollars last year be in touch with being broke, huh. That’s just like me saying that I can relate to the starving kids in Africa.

If this lady can not comprehend that Americans are pissed off about the economy, job loss, inflation, outsourcing, gas, and every other things that affect our money she is the one who is out of touch with the country.

All Obama did was state the truth. People are pissed off and when people are pissed off they don’t want to see immigrants and/or illegal’s “taking” jobs, who cares about trading with other countries when you can’t pay the electric bill.

Many of you have probably heard of East St. Louis, IL. I was riding through this area yesterday and saw dozens of old desolated factories and shops. It seems like one day all the factory jobs packed there bags never to return again. Unfortunately the town never recovered from the loss of these valuable jobs. The sad part is most of the jobs left in the late 70’s!!!!

Imagine working at Ford, Chrysler or GM, getting accustomed to making at least 20.00 per hour. You buy a house, put the kids in private school, let the wife stay home, and then BAM……………… you’re laid off. Many of these workers do not have training in other fields. The likelihood that they will find another job making the same level of money is slim. Do you think this person would be bitter?

White collar people are feeling the pinch too. Organizations are finding it hard to make a profit, with no money coming in people are being laid off. Looking for a job in this economy is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Not only is it hard out here for a pimp…. it’s hard out here for everybody including your average Joe Smoe.


As I write this I am bitter. I am bitter that college does not guarantee a good job, but does guarantee a big as debt. I am bitter that some jobs got the nerve to start grown ass men and women off at $8.75 per hour. I am bitter that gas keeps going up 10 cents every week. I am bitter that my dollar doesn’t stretch as far as it use to.

Blue Friday

OMG. I am just having one of the days where I don’t feel like doing sh!t. Really, I just want to lay down and watch t.v. and fart all day. I’m at work but my mind is at home in bed. I feel sluggish, weak and just plain ole lazy right now. I am so glad that it’s Friday I could shout!


I don’t think I could take another day of coming to work. Work is okay, but I gave a co-worker that is the biggest gossiper I ever met. And guess what……………HE IS A MAN. I’ve never met a man that loves to gossip as much as the women. Now I love to gossip but this just sickening.



As soon as someone gets up and leaves the room, here he comes saying something negative about them. “Can you believe what Rhonda said in the meeting?” , “ Did you hear what Jackie did to the reports”, “ Man, all Keshia do, is suck up to the boss”. I just want to tell dude to shut the hell up. He is always throwing shade on folks and I am just tired of it.


It has been raining all week. I miss California so bad. I miss seeing the ocean, blue skies and mountains. I thought I would not miss it but I do. Unfortunately, I really can’t afford to live there right now, but hopefully I can go back at some point. I’m just kind of sick of grey skies, torrential rains, floods, hail, and huge potholes from the winter.

Sorry people I did not mean to bring y’all down I just feel kinda blue today.

Whatever Happened to Girl Power

I am a woman who embraces her womanly powers. I teach my little girl cousins that there is power in being a girl. Women can be strong and feminine at the same time. While not a man, women are just as intelligent, powerful, smart, inventive and creative as men. I actually think women are smarter…. But hey that’s just me.


There is a disturbing trend that is bothering the hell outta me… and underlining the power of our baby girls. This princess crap is totally out of control. I dare you to go into the girls department of ANY store and not find something related to princesses. What happened to girl power? Disney is feeding our girls a fat lie.

WARNING: THERE IS NO PRINCE ON A WHITE HORSE. CAPTION

SAVE- A -HOE IS DEAD.

I am not advocating that little girls not be told fairytales…. But let them know that it is fake. There are 6,7 and 8 year old girls still talking about being a princess. First of all Disney took 80 years to produce a black princess. So that should let you know where they stand on the issue (hint, hint). Secondly, we come from a line of Kings and Queens, this princess stuff is nothing new. We come from royalty.

Sorry I digress, the problem is girls should not be fed some delusional bullshit about being dependant on a man and waited on hand and foot. Hell in most cases she will out earn the man. In today’s world it takes two incomes to run a home, ain’t no princesses in my neighborhood!

When I was a little girl, I loved me some She-Ra. Now that was the shit. She-Ra kicked ass and did it all while looking fly. You never saw She-Ra waiting on He-Man, now they may have fought together but waiting was never an option.

Instead of princess-dom, promote the girls being scientists, lawyers, doctors, presidents, CEO’s, ect.

I really have an issue with black girls imitating Hanna Montana but I will talk about her in another post

What Reccession?

My answer to that the HELL YEAH!!!!!!




If you’ve purchased gas, food, paid an electric or gas utility bill you would know this. Many people including myself are starting to feel the pinch of inflation. Inflation is felt when your dollar don’t stretch as far as it used to. When you finding yourself paying more for everyday things, but getting less. Don’t be fooled, the poor are not the only people feeling the heat; the “middle class” are feeling the fire too, maybe more than the poor. See we you are poor, or in my case ever been poor you have a whole set of survivor skill set that you can put to use anytime your funds are low. For example, I try to eat at other people’s house as much as possible. Due to high gas prices my car only moves if money is involved and on an emergency basis. You may find me sitting in the dark fully dressed with only the television on…. this is an effort to save on heat and electric. And when I do cook, I cook things that are usually in one pot and take 5 ingredients or less.


See you gotta learn how to revert to living on a budget when the economy is in turmoil. If you are one of the few people that think that America is not in a recession you may want to take notes. Soon and very soon the effects of the credit crunch and the housing market debacle will infect every part of our lives. Job cuts are ever present, in March, construction companies cut 51,000 jobs, factories eliminated 48,000 positions, and retailers cut payrolls by more than 12,000. Professional and businesses services lost 35,000 jobs and temporary help firms cut nearly 22,000 jobs. Financial firms chopped 5,000 jobs.

Here are some tips to save money
1. Increase the deductible on your car insurance, this will lower your monthly payment.
2. Eat more veggies….. their cheaper
3. Give up soda and kool-aid… drink water
4. Cook big meals you can eat for several days
5. If possible give up cable/satellite
6. Rent movies instead of going to the movies… if you decide to keep your cable then don’t rent movies.
7. Instead of going to the bar/club get drunk at home.
8. Leave your heat alone. Keep the heat between 68-70 degrees.
9. Open the windows and let the sun naturally heat your home
10. If you go out to eat…. Drink lots of water and only order from the appetizer side of the menu.
11. If you must shop only shop from the sale/clearance racks.
12. If you have a farmers market in your city shop there it’s usually cheaper than the grocery store
If you believe…. or don’t believe we are in a recession leave me a comment

Are You The One?

Today Show, CNN, MSN, NBC all reminded me this morning that yesterday was the day that MLK was assinated. To be honest prior to this morning I did not know what day MLK died on. I tried to watch most of the programs highlighting the life and untimely death of MLK, however I soon got bored and changed the channel. Nothing new, no new evidence, no new theories, just the same stories they usually tell around Black History Month.

Okay, I did hear a few new tid-bits about Martin. Like he was very depressed when the march in Memphis turned violent. Friends reported that the man did not smile for three days. Basically he was pissed cause he people showed their ass. I also learned that the FBI thought they recorded him engaging in a sexual act with another woman. Now, what I find interesting is that on the CNN piece the “friend” of MLK did not come right out and say, “That wasn’t MLK in the room.” Instead he said that someone may have home in the room and had sexual intercourse.

For me I think it’s time to stop dwelling on the past and look forward to solving the issues NOW, TODAY, IN THE PRESENT. I am grateful for MLK, we still reap the benefits of his efforts today. But I am tired of celebrating victories of the past, we have new issue and some old issues that we have not resolved.

Today we are not being attacked by water hose and blood thirsty dogs. Today we are being attacked by the criminal justice system, a dilapidated school system, AIDS, STD’s and drugs. Suicides among black men are on the rise, and blacks to some degree are still blocked out of the economy. Today racial issues still exist, but in much subtler tones. As a whole, the black community has been facing a serious set of problems for quite awhile.

Recently actress Cicley Tyson was receiving an award. While accepting the award Ms. Tyson slipped into the character of Jane Pittman. She began asking the audience…. Are you the One? She later explained that during slavery times when children were born the family would often look at the child and ask are you the one. The one that will lead us into freedom, the one that will correct the wrong society has done, the one that will stand up on our behalf, the one that will intercede for our community and the one who finally says enough is enough.

I believe we all are the one. We must do what we can to help our community and save our kids. No one is going to come and make everything alright, not Obama not Hilary, not Tavis, not Michael Basdien, not Rev Al or Jessie. This will take the efforts of every person in our community. We all have a small part to play.



My question to you is……. ARE YOU THE ONE?

Looks Like Another Love TKO

Well I finally decided that I'd had enough and broke up with my guy. Man this was the worst and longest break up I've ever endured. Have you ever tried to tell someone that you were not feeling them, but tried not to hurt their feelings at the same time? I tried to end this relationship four times, and each time he would talk me back into giving it another try. This guy is really a nice person, but not the person for me! Every time I would try to walk away he would bring up everything from our great sex life to God. And me being me, I try to stay conscience of every one's feelings so I kept giving it a try. Finally last night was the straw that broke the camel's back. It got down right ugly, he would not accept that I wanted to end the relationship. I started to feel like I was applying for a mortgage application and my job was to convince the bank that I was a worthy candidate. He would not leave my house, he wanted to talk all night, he forced me to stop being nice. The words finally fell from my mouth, " Dude, get the hell out of my house...... this relationship is OVER." Can you believe that he would not leave....... so the boys in blue gave him a personal escort. Normally, I would feel bad, but this time I feel like he finally gets it. Being single is one thing, but being connected to the wrong person is worst than being single. Hell at least you can deal with yourself, but dealing with the wrong man/woman takes all kind of bending, patience, conforming and a whole lot of uncomfortable internal feelings. I wish that brother the best of endeavours, I hope he becomes a success, but our time was up! Tell me why some folks just gotta make it hard? Why does it have to get ugly before some people accept the finality of some situations? All I gotta say is, I am happy to be single again. After this "experience" I am done with dating for awhile. Sometimes a breather is the best thing a person can do, it refreshes the mind, body and spirit. Life is nothing but a big ole lesson, the good teaches and the bad teaches too.