[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Oops. I really should have put a in there to show my intent.

Oh, I knew you were mostly teasing. I don't know why I didn't use that link in the first place.

Sounds like a place I'd like. Hoagies and salads are important food groups, just like pizza.

It's definitely a local institution. In fact it's funny, where I grew up - way north of Cinci proper - we didn't have any of their places at all until the last 10-15 years. I had never eaten their food, ever, until I started working where I work now. One winter we had a day with really bad weather and only a few of us made it in to the office; I was one of them. The doctor who was here that day said that it was a good day to order lunch and he would buy LaRosa's for all of us who were brave enough to venture out and show up for work that day. I asked if we had a menu and you could've heard a pin drop. Nobody could believe that I'd never been to LaRosa's. The doctor even joked that anyone who needed to see a LaRosa's menu probably didn't deserve to eat there.

But that was my introduction to the franchise; when I moved to my apartment there was actually a place right down the street. I ate there sometimes but reallly indulged after they put online payment on the website, which allowed me to place a delivery order through the site instead of calling them which had been the norm previously.

Nevertheless I can still sing their phone number - if you read the wiki article, it mentions the fact that years ago they consolidated all of their phone ordering under one number which was featured prominently in their radio and tv ads. BOY WAS IT EVER. I doubt there's anyone who's lived around here for long who can't sing the LaRosa's phone number. Very clever, setting it to music like that - it became unforgettable, kind of like those old bits from Schoolhouse Rock.

Chili is also an important food group, but in this case I think I agree...yuck! I tend to by the canned stuff and then dump in what I like. I've only made my own from scratch once, but it was pretty good.

I've never made it completely from scratch, but there's a mix that I like - dry spices and whatnot in a pouch kinda thing - altho it's been hard to find except for one or two stores. Huh, whaddya know, they sell it on Amazon!

http://www.amazon.com/Tempo-Chili-2-.../dp/B000H25YHK

So I guess what I like would fall under the category of Southwestern style.

I just follow the instructions which call for ground beef and a can of tomatoes, but I add a can of beans too plus a little Tabasco. Cincinnati style would be to ladle it over a plate of spaghetti or a hot dog, but usually I'll do chili macaroni instead. Chili over macaroni topped with some shredded Cheddar Jack and sliced fresh green onion: OM NOM NOM. Really nice on those cold winter days.

I was just stealing an opportunity to brag about the 60+ boxes I still have left over from when I worked at the book warehouse fifteen years ago. I'll never read them all. At the rate I'm going I'll never read any of them, especially since I keep buying the ones I actually want to read.

I'll probably end up having fewer books than I think I have, lol, because a lot of my bookcase space ended up being used for storage of other items that just wouldn't go anywhere else. It will be interesting to get all my bookcases in place and start unpacking them, just to see how much shelf space they take up when they're put together in one place. I may even have room for more!

I did the measuring and I should have room for 5 cases, each about 31" wide and 80" high - six shelves each. And mabye one matching 15" one in the corner where the two rows will meet. All in one room! That's probably as much shelf space or more than I had scattered around my apartment - and most of it can actually be for books this time. I'll have to see once I start unpacking that stuff, but I may have storage space on the other wall for DVDs/CDs plus extraneous office stuff.

You have to love it when people can't bother to be bothered. My management is very professional in that department, always checking on the details and following up. I'm sure your people will try to blame you for everything.

The property manager is rather scatterbrained - but I knew that when I moved there, as my sister used to work for her. She had another person who was actually responsible for managing that building then though. I figure I'll call them this weekend, if nothing else they need to know that the electricity will be shut off on the 31st unless they call to make the necessary arrangements to avoid that. You'd think they would assume that needed to be done anyway, but I'm not counting on it.