Potato Jalapeno Soup

This is a deliciously creamy potato soup with a delightful kick. It's not as spicy as you might expect… but you'll definitely know there's some jalapeno in there!

We had a bunch of jalapenos left over from this summer's garden. What do you do with them? Here is a great idea. It's a take off on a soup we had aboard a Royal Caribbean ship.

1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup margarine or butter
3 pounds potatoes, cubed
8 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 cup jalapeno peppers, finely chopped
1 pinch baking soda
4 cups evaporated milk
black pepper to taste
salt to taste
1/2 cup cilantro

• In a large stockpot, sauté the onion in butter or margarine until it becomes tender and translucent.
• Add the potatoes, chicken broth, and cumin.
• Bring to a boil, cover and cook until potatoes are tender (about 20 minutes).
• Remove from heat and add the jalapenos, baking soda (to keep it all from curdling), and the evaporated milk.
• Use a potato masher to coarsely mash the potatoes in the pot.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Put back on the stove and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often to keep the evaporated milk from burning or scalding.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool a bit.
• Ladle several cups of the soup into a blender and puree for a minute or so.
• Continue pureeing small batches until all the soup is creamy and smooth.
• Return three cups back to the blender, add the cilantro and re-puree.
• Add that back to the main pot of creamy soup and stir until the cilantro flavor is mixed throughout.
• Garnish with cilantro sprigs and/or sour cream.

What A Great Caribbean Cruise!

Back from the Caribbean cruise! We had a great time! Horseback riding in Cozumel… exploring the Mayan ruins in Belize… visiting friends in Key West... and more incredible food than we knew what to do with! Details and photos are posted at Travel.MarshallMcPeek.com.

The Pittsburgh Weekend

It only took me a week to get it all posted... sorry.

But the pictures from the weekend holiday to Pittsburgh are posted at travel.marshallmcpeek.com!

We Walked Out of the Restaurant

Restaurants do lots of things to be "edgy." They try gimmicks to differentiate themselves from the competition. An Italian place has its servers write their names in crayon, upside-down and backward, so
the table can read it. Another joint's employees hurl rolls at each other from across the room. And the Smokey Bones chain apparently leaves hand-written "jokes" on the table.

Today was our first visit. We went to the store near Easton. Seemed like an okay place at first. They sat us relatively quickly. But when we got to the table, we found The Note. No, it wasn't directed at us. It was waiting for whomever the next patrons might happen to be. 

That didn't make it any less offensive.

"Do vampires get AIDS?" it said in big, hand-written, yellow letters.

"Well, that's just ignorant," I said. It's inappropriate on at least a dozen levels. There is no reason for that to be on a restaurant table. It speaks volumes about the education and sensitivity training that still need to be done.

I was ready to walk out immediately. Dan was calm and cool... unphased... willing to give them the benefit of the doubt... until the server arrived.

The guy showed up at the table all smiles. Dan handed him the note and said, "The bus boy must have forgotten to remove this." "Oh no," the server said. "That's supposed to be there." Benefit of the doubt relinquished, Dan --who is not usually one to cause a scene-- instantly rose from the booth and declared, "That's just ignorant. We're outta here." The kid was stunned.

As we headed for the door, we asked for a manager. The server handed him the message before sending him over to us. He told us "the kids bring in lists of these jokes that they print from the Internet." He says he usually pre-approves what actually goes to the tables... but this one got through... and he agreed it was inappropriate. He didn't make any effort to try to win back the two customers he had just lost. The discussion was brief... and, it seemed, fell on uncaring, unsympathetic ears.

We will not go back. And we shall not speak kindly of the establishment.

Whoever thought it was funny needs a serious lesson in customer relations. There's a fine line between "edgy" (as the manager called it), and downright offensive.

Key West: The Return Trip

All the details of the trip... including the nightmarish 39-hour voyage home... are on the travel blog.

Wanna get REALLY angry?

Check out Media General's SEC filings from last month.

Here are links to the "Definitive Proxy Statement" and the "Annual Report."

In the 2008 Annual Report, Media General reports a net loss of $631,854,000.

But despite the layoffs, downsizing, furloughs and massive cuts... the Company's upper management did pretty well for itself.  Seems everyone ELSE had to make cuts.

Here's what the SEC filing says about their "Total Compensation for 2008:"

Marshall Morton, CEO                  $2,767,867
Reid Ashe, EVP/COO                    $1,555,073
Graham Woodlief, VP                   $1,000,616
George Mahoney, VP/General Counsel    $1,064,601
John Schauss, VP Finance/CFO          $  884,856

Even shareholders had to sacrifice because "due to the economic uncertainty, the Board of Directors suspended the dividend in January 2009."  But management still got eye-popping paychecks.   Shouldn't the shareholders be outraged?

And the Annual Report says employees will continue to make sacrifices in 2009.  The Company is 

"delaying compensation increases, suspending payment of dividends, suspending the company match on the 401(k) plan effective at the beginning of April through the end of the year, and employee furlough program; additionally, the Company does not anticipate a level of earnings in 2009 that would generate a 401(k) plan profit sharing contribution or warrant management bonuses."

In other words:  no raises, cost of living or otherwise... nothing for the shareholders... no retirement contribution... and more mandated, unpaid time off.

Hmmmm... the only sacrifice upper management is making... is giving up its bonuses.  THE COMPANY LOST $632 MILLION DOLLARS.  And all you're giving up is your BONUS?  Are you kidding with this?!

Many Media General employees live paycheck-to-paycheck. Taking pay cuts and furloughs makes it very difficult for people to make ends meet. Some are even trying to pick up second (or third) jobs to make up the difference.  But upper-level managers still want us to think they're making sacrifices.

Let's review the Company's Values Statement:

Our mission is driven by our core values of Integrity, Quality and Innovation. We have a long-term commitment to our employees, our customers, the communities we serve and our shareholders.

So, what happened to the "long-term commitment to our employees?"

New Definition of Marriage

My friend Don pointed this out earlier today.

It's from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, "America's most trusted authority on the English language."

Merriam-Webster's website says the company, "has developed and refined an editorial process that relies on objective evidence about language use, and it applies this process to create reference products that meet rigorous standards of quality and reliability for both print and electronic formats."

In other words, once a definition makes it into a Merriam-Webster product, researchers have proven that definition reflects how the word is being used in America today.

So, here's the new definition of marriage.

Note, specifically, the second-half of the first definition, 1a(2): "the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage (same-sex marriage)."

The world has changed. It's about time. Perhaps the law will catch up soon, too.

NBC 4 Parent Company Orders 10 Days Unpaid Leave for All Employees

The letter came by e-mail from the Ivory Tower in Richmond. It went to nearly 5,600 employees from Tampa to Providence... including the gang at NBC 4 in Columbus. "Earnings reports have been worse than expected... each of us will take a mandatory 10 days off."

10 days. Everyone. We've been furloughed. The entire company has to take four days before the end of March and three days in the second and third quarters. They haven't said what will happen in the fourth quarter... yet.

The pay cut is nearly 4% for every Media General employee.

Four percent is a lot. Especially for many people who are living paycheck-to-paycheck.

As of 02/18/2009, Forbes.com reports that Media General CEO Marshall Morton rakes in a compensation package of nearly $2.8 million per year. A four-percent cut certainly won't put much of a crimp in his household budget. A letter from him feigning empathy rings exceedingly hollow. Thanks, pal.

This involuntary sacrifice is supposed to save the company money. At least $9 million. Suspending the 401(k) match and killing off the stock dividends brings the total "savings" to nearly $28 million.

The Tampa Tribune is losing money hand over fist. The entire newspaper industry is in a death spiral (at a later date, we can discuss the print industry's abject failure to recognize the importance of the internet). The broadcast division is still making money (for now)... and propping up what's left of the newspapers. It's time for the print industry to either switch to the web or die. There simply is no future for any of MG's 24 dailies or more than 250 weeklies. They're sucking the life out of the company. It's over.

Media General's website lists its core Mission and Values. "We have a long-term commitment to our employees, our customers, the communities we serve and our shareholders," it says. Furloughed workers would certainly agree the Company has a commitment to its shareholders... but might question the Company's "commitment" to its employees.

Media General Website

The Official News Release: Media General Announces Employees Furlough Program

Trading Markets.com: Media General to furlough employees

Wall Street Journal: Media General Implements Furloughs

Do Worms Fall Out of the Sky?

Had a great call at work today.

A woman says, after a recent rainfall, the parking lot and the driveway were covered with worms.  So many worms, they must have fallen from the sky and covered the ground.  Is that possible?

Well, ummm, in a word, no.

There is no (normal) mechanism to pull the worms up into the air.  Let alone drop them back to the surface.  Sure, a tornado can rip things out of the ground a drop them miles away… but that’s just not normal.

Think of it this way:  when a hurricane picks up moisture from the ocean, that moisture fuels the storm and falls later as rain.  The rain is not salt water.  It’s just plain water.  That’s because salt doesn’t evaporate.  So, the salt isn’t pulled up into the air… only the water.  As luck would have it, worms don’t evaporate either.  So they don’t fall with the rain.

Believe it or not, even though there are lots and lots of worms, they crawled there.

Thanks for the question! Wow.

Marshall's Losing Weight... Lots of It.

"Thank you!" to all the folks who've written to us lately to say you've noticed that I'm going through some positive changes. For those who've expressed some concern, no, I'm not sick... I'm losing the weight intentionally (and with concerted effort).

As of this week (mid-November 2008), I've lost 37 pounds. It has taken about four months to get this far. I'm hoping to lose another 15 or so in order to get back to what I weighed when I came to Columbus seven years ago. My goal is to be back at my "starting weight" by mid-January. I already feel much better, have more energy and my self esteem is improving.

Many people have asked, "What's your secret?" "What are you doing?"

I wish there was a secret. Unfortunately, there's really only one formula:
less food + more exercise = weight loss.

One thing I've been doing is keeping a food journal on a free website (http://www.fitday.com/). To be honest, when you start keeping a diary, it feels like the dumbest thing in the world. It's kind of a pain. But stick to it. You'll be amazed how educational it really is. When you look at the list of things you've been putting into your mouth, you'll be shocked by how quickly the empty calories add up.

3500 calories = 1 pound of fat.

And working out again has improved my flexibility, my cardiovascular health, my breathing... everything. It doesn't take long until you start to feel the benefits.

You're not going to win every day. Some days you fall off the bandwagon. In a big way. And that's okay. That doesn't mean you've failed. It means you're human. Just get back at it the next day. Want that pizza? Have two slices and save the rest for other meals. If you completely deny yourself the foods you enjoy, you'll be miserable... and you won't want to stick to your healthy eating plan. Allow yourself to eat the foods you crave... in moderation. And eat them knowing how they affect your body.

This has been an amazing experience so far. It has already changed my life... in a myriad ways.

The hardest part is yet to come: keeping the weight off after reaching the goal.

Thanks again for your kind words and your support. It is really appreciated!

Marshall