Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue

Life in 1983 wasn't too bad, overall. The world wasn't generally as stressful, and lots of good music was still being made then.

Good vibes were being spread by Guyanese-British musician Eddy Grant, with his "Electric Avenue" song. After the song's video began airing regularly on the then-young MTV network, the song became very popular, and became one of the year's top-selling records.

Located in the Brixton district of London, Electric Avenue is a real street. A diverse population lives in the Brixton area, and the song Electric Avenue reflects several different musical styles.

Interestingly, several reliable Internet websites feature articles regarding a lawsuit that Eddy Grant filed in 2020 against Former President Donald Trump.

According to the Business Insider website, an animated Twitter tweet from the former President in August 2020 used Electric Avenue as background music in the tweet. The tweet was released during the 2020 presidential race, and was not complimentary to now-President Joe Biden.

 The BI article says that Mr. Grant's lawsuit was seeking $300,000 in damages. 

Grocery Home Delivery from Stop & Shop is a Great Option for Any Size Household

                                                                               

Do you enjoy grocery shopping? Grocery shopping is something I've generally enjoyed since I was a kid. 

In today's consumer-driven society, most of us utilize the same the same type of products, month after month. While it's easy to remember to purchase regularly used items, remembering to buy household staples and seldom-used products can be more difficult.

When you shop online at stopandshop.com, there's no hurry, and you can check-out specific items for as long as you want.

Even though I regularly shop in-store at both West Hartford Stop & Shop locations, as well as Big Y at Bishop's Corner, I find that periodic Stop & Shop grocery home deliveries are a big help. 

Price

The delivery fee that Stop & Shop charged for last week's big grocery order was $6.95. That's a very reasonable fee, in my opinion, and I don't mind paying it at all.

While I do consistently shop in the local stores for week-to week items, I was running low on several staples. Actually, I was running some things out in preparation for a home delivery from Stop & Shop.

Ease of Ordering

Ordering groceries for home delivery on the Stop & Shop website is very easy. Food items are separated into categories, similar to the aisles in the physical stores. 

A very cool option allows you to add or subtract items from your "list" until approximately four hours before the scheduled delivery time.

When deciding what the best delivery date would be, the Stop & Shop site allows you to schedule a delivery up to 13 days in advance.

Convenience

With today's busy schedules, it's great to be able to take your time with grocery shopping. Last Saturday, I had a grocery home delivery from Stop & Shop, but I was adding or removing items from the order for several days, before it was finalized.

Competition

When Shop-Rite still had its massive store on Kane Street in West Hartford, I used to get grocery home delivery from there approximately twice a year. Since Shop-Rite pulled out of West Hartford in 2019, the options for delivery are few.

As far I know, Crown Supermarket features home delivery, and Big Y offers Instacart grocery home delivery. Whole Foods also has an Amazon-connected grocery home delivery option.

The Delivery

It's very apparent that the entire Stop & Shop grocery home delivery system is an organized, highly-efficient organization. With last week's order, the delivery window was between 6:00-7:00 p.m., and the driver arrived at 6:45 p.m.

Most of the delivered items were separated into plastic bags by category. Once the delivery truck arrived, it took about 10 minutes for the driver to bring the items into the building.

As for maintaining the temperatures of the foods, the items for delivery are packed in ice in the delivery trucks. The refrigerated items I ordered were nice and cold when they arrived, and the frozen foods were still frozen.

The entire delivery experience took approximately 15 minutes, because the driver was parked a good distance from my door. The driver was really hustling in the 90-degree heat, and I gave him a $5 tip.

All things considered, grocery home delivery from Stop & Shop  is a great option for any size household.

Fun With Food #II

With just a little bit of imagination, any ho-hum meal can become a fun occasion. "Just Don't Try To Bounce It!" This fun piece was originally created around 2003-2004, I think.

I Feel Lucky

If you could use a little pick-me-up or attitude adjustment, just take a listen to this rollicking, happy tune from Mary Chapin Carpenter. Bold and brassy, with a driving backbeat, "I Feel Lucky" is a motivational song that makes you want to celebrate this thing called life.

Things to do With Mayonnaise

 

Depending on your point of view, there are lots of fun things you can do with different food products. Besides mayonnaise, some of the foods that are fun to do things with are mashed potatoes, pancakes, olives, meatballs, whipped cream, blueberries and cheese.

Stouffer's Pepperoni French Bread Pizzas are Great to Eat at Any Time: Product Review

Stouffer's Pepperoni French bread pizzas have a great flavor that is decidely more appetizing than most frozen pies. While they certainly do offer very satisfying flavors, these frozen pizzas also have pleasing textures, or mouth-feels.

The first time I became aware of Stouffer's French bread pizzas was in the late 1970s, at a buddy's house. A bunch of us neighborhood rats were in the basement drinking a case of beer while underage. At one point, my friend's Mother cooked a couple of the pizzas, and served them in bite-sized pieces.

The French bread pizzas were a new item when my friend's mother served them, and I enjoyed eating them from the get-go. At the time, the idea of using a piece of French bread as a base for pizza was considered pretty revolutionary.

Here is a short review of Stouffer's Pepperoni French Bread Pizzas.

How to Heat

On the Stouffer's website, cooking instructions are given for conventional oven, micro-bake and micro-air fry methods.   

Since the late-1970s, I've probably cooked close to 100 Stouffer's Pepperoni French bread pizzas, and every time, I've cooked them in a conventional oven.

Price

The regular retail price charged for one two-pack of Stouffer's Pepperoni French Bread pizzas at most supermarkets is approximately S4.99.

Texture

One of the things that sets Stouffer's French Bread Pizzas apart from the myriad other brands of frozen pizzas is the French baguette bread crust. The crust maintains an appealing crunchiness, with a somewhat-light texture provided.  

Size

Each 159-gram Stouffer's Pepperoni French Bread Pizza is about 6.5 inches long, by 3 inches wide. Their size makes them just right when you want to eat a small amount of pizza, and not have half of a leftover pie sitting in the refrigerator the next day.

Nutritional Facts

One Stouffer's Pepperoni French Bread Pizza contains 400 calories, with 20 grams total fat. Each pizza also contains 30 mg of cholesterol, 920 mg of sodium, five grams total sugars and 15 grams of protein.

Flavor

Stouffer's products are well-known for their excellent flavor and high quality, and that certainly applies to their pepperoni French bread pizzas. The pizza sauce offers hints of herbs and spices, and works well with the pleasant-tasting cheese.

The slices of pepperoni are appropriately chewy, with a slightly smoky flavor that positively complements the other ingredients. Just the right amount of mozzarella cheese ties everything together, very tastefully.

In other words, these are some pretty excellent pizzas, that are reasonably priced and easy to prepare.

Overall Rating

In the world of frozen pizza, Stouffer's Pepperoni French Bread Pizzas sit at the head of the class. Approximately five years ago, I ordered a pizza and grinder for delivery from a longtime Hartford pizzeria that happens to be in a high-crime neighborhood.

Years earlier, I had enjoyed their pizza a few times, and I was looking forward to trying it again. When I ordered the pizza on the phone, I was told that customers' had to come out to the delivery vehicle to get their food. The delivery driver was supposed to meet me in front of my apartment building at 7:00 p.m., but didn't arrive until almost 7:30p.m. When I walked up to the car, the driver said he was robbed at the stop before mine.

Apparently, the robbers ambushed the driver, and took his money, as well as the pizzas that were on-board (including mine). As the delivery driver drove away down Farmington Avenue, I looked across the street at the CVS Pharmacy at the corner of South Whitney.

My tastebuds were definitely anticipating pizza, and I remembered that they sell Stouffer's Pepperoni French Bread Pizzas in the frozen foods section at CVS. Without hesitating, I purchased a box of the pizzas, and cooked them at home that night.

As I was eating one of the pizzas while watching the "King of Queens," I realized that the French bread pizzas satisfied my appetite as well as pizza restaurant pizza would. They were also a lot less expensive than pizza from a restaurant.

On a scale of one through ten, I would assign Stouffer's Pepperoni French Bread Pizzas a rating of 9.25.

For Outstanding Tacos, Moe's Southwest Grill is the Place to Go

For years now, I've been shopping at the Big Y supermarket at the Bishop's Corner shopping center in West Hartford. Although I had seen the adjacent Moe's Southwest Grill  a few times while walking to the nearby bank, it was unbeknownst to me that they served tacos until just a few months ago.

In the past few months, I've ordered tacos to-go several times from Moe's, and I like them so much I figure other people should know just how good they are.

Several Tasty Protein and Shell Options

Taco-lovers appreciate the six different types of protein they can choose to fill their tacos with at Moe's Southwest Grill. In addition to the traditional ground beef filling, customers can choose from pork, white meat chicken, tofu, steak and Adobo chicken.

You can choose from crispy shell or soft flour shells to hold your taco. Just to keep things interesting, it's fun to order one crispy, and one soft taco.

If desired, tacos can be filled with vegetables only.

                                             

Free Extra Ingredients

When you order a taco at Moe's, there are numerous free, extra ingredients that you can order. Standard fillings such as shredded lettuce, shredded cheese and Pico de Gallo are available, as are a wealth of other items.

Among the other free ingredients are black beans, Pinto beans, cucumbers,sour cream, black olives, cilantro lime rice, seasoned rice, fresh jalapeños and roasted corn pico.

Add-On Extras

If you want, you can have your choice of bacon, queso or guacamole added to your taco for about $1.49 each.

Flavor

So far, I've eaten Moe's ground beef tacos at least half-a-dozen times, and every time, the tacos have been top-rate. The ground beef filling has a pleasing flavor that works quite well with lettuce, Pico de Gallo and a little bit of shredded cheese.

More than once, I've stored tacos from Moe's overnight in the refrigerator, and the taco filling has still been very good the next day, after being zapped in the microwave oven.

                                             

Price

As of July 2022, the regular price charged for one taco at the West Hartford, Connecticut, Moe's Southwest Grill location is $4.99. Two of these awesome tacos go for $8.99, and $10.99 is the price for three tacos.

If you're in the mood for something different, Moe's Southwest Grill also serves nachos, salads, bowls, burritos, quesadillas and more.