We took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese’s this week. I have a love/hate relationship with that
place. It’s close and inexpensive, which
means we can afford to go there more often than Happy Hollow, the aquarium or
any of the children’s museums. On the
other hand, it’s a dark pit of electronic games with little learning value. Granted, the children’s museum in Monterey
has little learning value as well, but at least the kids are running around and
getting exercise there. Either way, the
kids have a good time.
Cooking: Migas, via The Pioneer Woman
I love me some Pioneer Woman; she has the correct
application of butter and cream, whilst still having dishes that also include
vegetables and other good-for-you stuff.
So when she posted this past week about eating Migas again, I decided
that it was time to try them out. Mine
were more the “poor man’s” migas, on account of not having peppers, or much of
anything besides cabbage. So mine were
toasted corn tortillas, salsa, half-and-half, and eggs, topped with guacamole
and sour cream. These were pretty good,
though not as utterly delicious as Ree makes them out to be. Migas are pretty easy to make, though, so
I’ll most likely be making them again.
This is an interesting article about Sears/Kmart, suggesting
that the sum of the parts are actually worth more than the whole. In studying the grocery industry, I’ve also
had to research the discount retail industry because of the huge effect that
it’s had on the sales of food.
Sears/Kmart is pretty universally viewed as the dog of the industry;
declining sales and stores, offering low quality and high prices. Kmart has been stuck in unfortunate
locations, unable to get the financing to update their stores, and so on. Wal-Mart and Target basically eat the company
for breakfast.
But, this article points out that the company still retains
some very valuable brands; Craftsman, Kenmore, Die Hard (car batteries) and Lands’
End. These are brands that, in my mind,
are somewhat detached from Sears/Kmart; I own a Kenmore microwave that is high
quality, and I really like the clothing from Lands’ End. I would gladly buy Craftsman tools. But I hate stepping into the Kmart here in
town, with its high prices, dirty, outdated store, and slow-as-molasses
checkout. Edward Lampert, the CEO and
chairman of Kmart, has successfully spun off Orchard Supply Hardware stores, as
well as Sears Outlet stores; if the company were to do the same with these
other brands, it might be quite profitable.
And, of course the other news this week is the PS4 stomping all over the Xbox One. I really can't get over how Microsoft has alienated all the military guys stationed overseas. I expect all those guys will be buying PS4s, and will not be going back to an Xbox when (and if) Microsoft decides to backtrack.
That's it for this week! :D(images via thepioneerwoman.com, wikimedia.org)
