Great care at the Forsyth Care Center!

On an overcast day in late December, I discovered a friend of mine named Pat Betz, (who had recently undergone a series of surgeries at  Springfield hospital)  had been moved to the Forsyth Nursing and Rehab Center located in Forsyth MO, in order that he could mend and recuperate. I had called him and we agreed to meet for a lunch at the cafeteria they had located on the premises.

As it had been some time since I had visited this care center, I was happy to see that it was still operating at a high level of efficiency. (The site offers a full spectrum of healing services including; IV therapy, rehabilitation, housekeeping and laundry just to name a few). Their full service cafeteria also puts out abroad selection of meals that can be customized to any special dietary needs!

Pat appeared to be in great spirits and looked forward to only short stay as on site therapists got him back into full health.The care center is located at 477 Coy Blvd, Forsyth, MO 65653 and can be reached by calling  (417) 546-6337!

Lunch at Forsyth's Subway!

At some point last summer, I stopped at a Subway located near my home in Forsyth Missouri and fell in love with their Cold Cut Combo 6” meal deal! (A great lunch time selection and hopefully a healthy addiction over time)!

And so it was on one of the coldest mornings of the 2016- 2017 winter, that I stopped at the 14974 US Hwy 160 venue (a location that was just to the north of small town of Forsyth Missouri), to grab a midday lunch! And, yes, I knew exactly what I wanted to chow down on!

Their Cold Cut Combo is just one of many sandwich offerings to be found at Subway, but it had tickled my fancy mostly because it was a healthy combo of veggies and meats on bread - simple and wholesome, just like myself. [OK. So, maybe I'm just simple].

I arrived at the popular eatery early on a Tuesday morning, at around about11:30 AM, in order to skirt the crowds that always seem to show up right at about the noon hour. I ambled into the always spotless eatery and found that there was only one person at the order counter. Perfect! But, now a word of caution! When you approach the counter of any Subway in the US, there is most always a great looking display of 'chips-in-bags', just begging to be snatched up. But, don't do it! These little bags of joy are actually 'caloric weight bombs'! And when they detonate, they can wreck even the most carefully devised diet! Thus, as I approached the counter that morning... I quickly grabbed myself a bag of Lays chips! [So, go ahead and sue me]!

Bag in hand, I then got the attention of the person I like to call the 'Facilitator'. (That's the guy or girl who assembles your sandwich according to your instructions). From a strictly procedural standpoint, you first call out the base and style of the sandwich. 'White bread, 6 inch cold cut combo,' I stated assertively that morning. The Facilitator eyed me casually and then asked, 'Ya'll want that toasted?' 'Yes, I do', I answered back. (My mouth had began to drool a bit, at that point. A troubling, but well understood development from past visits).

That chore accomplished, the last item in the order process was what most always got me flustered. My 'virginal white bun' had just come out of the flash oven and it smelled terrific! It was hot-to-trot and merely awaited my personal selection of veggies from what looked to be a cornucopia of mouth watering selection bins that contained every condiment imaginable. (On this day, however, excessive drooling forced me to forego normal speech in favor of a cannibalistic form of grunting and pointing. Thankfully, the Facilitator interpreted these strange gyrations correctly). [FYI - I prefer hot peppers, mayo, lettuce and onion on my cold cut combo]. In no time, the meal was expertly 'wrapped up' and I then paid up.

OK, just a word about Subway and the cost of their food. It's atrocious! Seriously, I sometimes feel like an addict scoring some drug for a hundred dollars. OK, may be not as bad as all that. Still, the 6 inch sub and the bag of chips cost $5.25 including tax! Personally, I think that a little costly! But hey, I'm a true culinary addict, like I said...

Critique: Fat Daddy's Piglet Pork meal!

Forsyth MO. - Nestled along Hwy 160 in a small town located in southwest Missouri is a restaurant that I enjoy eating at. The place is called Fat Daddy's and for someone on a diet, you'd think I'd avoid something like that like the plague! And while Fat Daddy's does offer up a host of man-sized meals, they also have very tasty creations available that have much smaller caloric footprints!

 One such place you can find more 'sensible' meals is in the section they call their 'Lil' Piglet Meals'. In that section you can choose from a number of offerings that all taste great, but do so with perhaps a little less adding to the old waistline. One selection I choose fairly often is the Piglet Pork which is a quarter pound of smoked pulled pork in a bun with a medium order of French Fries. There are sauces available at each table so you can slather on your could of mild and hot varieties. For myself, I like the hot stuff!

Above is an estimate only

As you can see from the graphic at right, this meal won't break the diet budget and at just $4.99, it's very affordable also!

Hair's the Place owner has moved!

Forsyth MO. - Colleen Barnes, long time proprietor of Hair's the Place, recently moved to 233 Main Street in Forsyth, just across from City Hall where she joined forces with the other professionals at the Town and Country Salon. I'd been a long time customer, and so followed her over to her new location when it came time for a haircut.

Colleen is always is a good mood and it was nice getting my haircut at a location right in the center of town! Customers can reach her to make an appointment by calling 417-546-3039 during normal business hours.

Area gasoline prices declining!

Forsyth MO. – In what would be good news for many who commute, I've noticed a steady decline in the cost of a gallon of gas over the past few weeks. Back in September the cost was at about $1.95 per gallon for standard while on the day of this post we had dropped to $1.85! And, while a ten cent drop doesn't mean all that much, it's the trend that counts!

A tale of two eateries!

Following is a short comparison of two hypothetical eateries that opened across the street from each other. One eatery prospered while the other not so much so;

Charlupa's Meat and Such!

Charlupa's owner pretty much has his head up his ass and so everyone suffers. He opened a rather nice looking steak joint that was all show and no go! Chuck is his name and other than that, the elevator didn't go up very high.

When Chuck opened his place, things went well for a while. But after some time, that wasn't so much the case. You see Chuck didn't really seem to care about his customer base. He didn't bother collecting and building an email file on those who ate at his venue nor did he bother to advertise in print or on the net. His menu was rather lackluster with no photos of his 'wonderful' signature dishes... which he never really bothered to tell anyone about. His staff, while hard working, lacked direction, goals or even a playbook for success. In a word, the place was blase to the point of boredom. I understand his people began to refer to him as Upchuck behind his back....

Herbs Steak and Potato Joint!

Herb's restaurant was run by a guy name Herb. He was there all the time and made it a point to greet his customers at the door. Yet Herb was also lazy and so hired on an intelligent and motivated staff. Herb knew how to delegate responsibilities and how to incentivise his people. Every week, Herb offered his staff monetary incentives to push slow moving or high profit foods. He trained them on how to build up a loyal clientele following via email and social sites. He changed his menu every six months to keep it fresh and made sure to go the extra distance to include mouth-watering photos of items he was proud to serve. Yes, Herb was a busy man and he was a happy man as he watched the profits roll on in.

Someone once told me that it was almost impossible to fail in the eatery business. I'm betting old Chuck is giving that idea a run for its money!

Rockaway and Merriam Woods join forces!

Oct 7. – In order to further the protection and safety of its citizens, the cities of Rockaway Beach and Merriam Woods elected to join their police forces together to bring that number to four. Almost from the get go, there were numerous arrests as the police executed an intense 'crackdown' via a saturation patrol.

Now, while that sounds good on the surface. I cannot help but wonder what the effect of this action will have over the long haul. Unless something is done to improve the business atmosphere, I'm afraid both areas will become ghost towns.