Rotisserie Chicken

Part of my life at the Smelly Gourmet is a routine grocery shopping trip on many Mondays throughout the year.   It is  a hundred-mile round trip into Cincinnati via the Kroger's in Harrison Ohio and the Sams Club store on North Bend Road.  Drudgery, but necessary to keep the business going.

But lets get back to Sams Club, because that is where the whole effort is really made worthwhile for the day.  Near the end of my Sams Club shopping path, after the paper towels and toilet paper have been collected, and the salt, brown sugar and canola oil are in the cart, and those heavy jars of pickles and cases of water are loaded on, that is when you come to the most sensual part of the entire trip- the part that makes the entire effort worth it:  You come to the heated case at the meat counter that holds the fresh roasted rotisserie chickens:  cooked, hot, juicy, aromatic, beautiful, ready-to-eat!  They are huge, delicious looking and smelling, and under five bucks!  (You can't even buy a RAW chicken this size for under $5!)

I can't help myself- I've gotta take one home- sometimes two!  I load them carefully into and onto my cart, and protect them until I get them to the car, where they usually ride in a place of honor on the floor of the passenger side up front. That way, if I had to get on the brakes hard while driving home, they won't get upended on the floor.

After arrival back home, and after unloading all the heavy groceries into the house (do you know how much 50 pounds of flour weights? A case of 40 bottles of water?  4 one-gallon jars of dill pickle spears?  That stuff is HEAVY!) But what makes it all worthwhile?  I know that as soon as everything else is in, I get to dig into the rotisserie chicken!  That is my reward!

And WHAT a reward it is!  Pop that plastic box open and you are immediately assaulted by the intense aroma- which you've just been getting a hint of on the ride home. But now you get it full force!  Then, because I have washed my hands thoroughly, I take my sharp knife and remove the two legs from the chicken because that is the only part of the bird my bride really likes.  I put them aside for her, then get serious about dismembering and dining on the delicious juicy delectable bits of perfectly roasted meat.

This process totally captivates me- pulling off parts of chicken, tossing bones into the trash, tasting bits as I go.  Oh my God, that roasted skin with all the seasonings on it is so delicious!  But I know I can't eat all of the skin because it will ruin my diet, so much of it goes into the trash also, each bit a struggle for me to let go of as it goes into the can, but paid for by another bite of delectable thigh meat (my favorite part!)

There is something about my time alone tearing up this rotisserie chick that is very personal and private- I try not to think about the poor animal that has been sacrificed for my pleasure.  Brenda seems to understand to just leave me alone while I enjoy this experience.

I was not paid by Sams Club or anybody else to write this.  It comes from my heart!

Testing IPhone posting to blog

I am checking to see if I can post to the blog from my iPhone. If it looks like I wrote something stupid, I blame the voice recognition technology.

Why Smelly Is Like He Is

The fridge magnet (designed, of course, by Smelly Himself) says it all!  If you want to sell magnets like these (as a super impulse-purchase item) in your retail store, without the stupid watermarks of course, you can check out Smelly's new "Bits of Wisdom" magnet website.  We'll have them available individually for retail sale sooner or later, but for now if anyone's interested, just call or email Smelly or, better still, come visit him at the Smelly Gourmet in Metamora!

Living In Your Business

People have often asked me what it is like, living upstairs in our old historic home with the shop downstairs, in our lovely little village of Metamora, Indiana.

My wife and I would not have it any other way. Whereas we've had commutes to work in the past that were as long as an hour, now our commute is only sixteen steps. Convenient. When its snowing outside, or below freezing, I used to hate the time it took to thaw out and warm up the car in the dark to get to work.  Now, I just let it sit- if I have to go somewhere, I can usually wait until the sun is up.

Some couples like to get out of the house for work so they can have their "own" lives apart from each other.  Me, the only life I want is shared with my bride- we've spent nearly 24-7 together for most of the past eleven years and it just keeps getting sweeter and sweeter.  Living here, working together here, is the only life for me.

And we've got a full-service quality coffee bar just downstairs!  They let us sit there and drink our cappuccino in the morning in bathrobes and bare feet (well, before the store is opened to the public anyway.)

I probably isn't the life for everyone, but it certainly beats having a job for us. 

Of course, you don't make any money at this like you do with an actual job, but money is overrated anyway. My Navy retired pay covers the basics.  So we do this at the Smelly Gourmet for love- of the lifestyle, our little pre-civil-war village, interaction with our customers, and time with each other.

Retirement?

Was talking about retirement the other day with some friends. What IS retirement? Fishing? being bored?

Naw, I think I'll just stay here in tranquil Metamora making the best cappuccino this side of the Atlantic, converting dead computers into sculptural clocks, and talking with new friends (customers in our shop the Smelly Gourmet), growing old with my beautiful bride! THIS is retirement!

The Smelly Gourmet has moved - but not far! - just next door into our newly purchased historic home built in 1845- the Jonathan Banes house. Still working on rebuilding the coffee bar area, will be back open soon! Come visit us this spring.

Smelly Gourmet Coffee Bar Specialty Drinks

Stop in the Smelly Gourmet in Metamora, Indiana and ask for one of our Iced Coffees. You can choose from over 25 different flavors.

You haven't experienced excellent Iced Coffee until you tried one from the Smelly Gourmet. We go the extra mile to assure that you're getting the best coffee available. Don't believe us? We back it up with our money back guarantee!

At the Smelly Gourmet we make our Iced Coffee different than anywhere else. You have to come and try one to see what it is we do that is so different from all the other coffee bar. Our customers agree that this extra step makes all the difference in the world.

Stop in and try it. What do you have to loose? It's guaranteed.

http://www.smellygourmet.com

Getting Ready for Christmas

Busy busy busy! The shop is currently loaded with boxes full of stuff to get unpacked, priced and displayed for the Christmas Walk. Got clock "Geek Sculptures" to finish, more Smelly Jelly's to make, more cleaning to do, schedules to write, signs to paint........

Hanging Christmas decorations on the outside of the building ranks right down there with accounting for my favorite things to do with this business. But its a necessary thing, and now complete with beautiful weather today.