A Shameless Endorsement...

I am not one who usually waxes poetic about companies or products, but I have to promote a company that consistently saves me money, Gateway Tires on S'port-Barksdale Hwy.

The story begins with dinner out on Friday night.  I started driving home in the gloomy rain around 10pm, only to discover that I had no "dim" headlights.  I had hi-beams and fog lights, but no "regular" lights.  Scary, and I'm sure the oncoming traffic was confused, too.

This morning, being the first morning I had time to deal with this, I took my car down the road to a local garage and asked them if they could fix it.  I left my car, walked home, and received a call about an hour later--no, they couldn't  They'd have to take the entire front end off the car and the bulbs cost $145--EACH--and no one in town had them, I'd have to take the car to the dealer, yada, yada, yada.  You get the idea.  Sounded to me as though they really didn't want my business.

So, I called Gateway.  I told the guy my problem and what the garage here said.  He said, "Bring it here first.  We can probably take care of it more cheaply than a dealer can."

The bad news--the bulbs from the dealer would cost $216--EACH--but Gateway could get them for $128--EACH.  Gulp.  Total with tax and labor would be about $328.  And it would take an hour.

I graded papers; I re-read the stories for my Eng. 215 class.  I tried not to panic.  How soon could I get to the bank and transfer money from savings?  Did I really need to go to the grocery store this week? 

I'm ready to start a movement--before a dealer can sell you a car, he/she must tell you replacement costs for every part you might have to replace.  Just about the time I had worked myself up into a full-blown crusade, Craig, one of the counter persons, came over to me and said, "We checked the part numbers for the bulbs, and we think we can use bulbs that cost about $10 or $15 each.  Does that sound better?"

I offered to cook for him for a year, but, smart man, he turned me down.

Total cost for parts and labor?  $84.47!

And that's why I will shamelessly promote Gateway Tires to anyone who asks me.

Instant Karma...and the recipe for Peach Honey

I stopped by the bookstore where I work part time to pick up a couple of monster zucchini from one of my coworkers. I really only needed one, but Neil brought me three--other than make zucchini-chocolate muffins, I'm stymied about what to do with them--they are good in lasagne, though. I'll check on the Internet. I can always find anwers to my questions on the Net. "Zucchini Recipes"--should be a sinch!

I pulled out of the parking lot and started towards home, when I began to hear some kind of "thwack, thwack, thwack" every time the car moved. I pulled over three times to check for what I thought might be a broken belt, though the car was driving just fine. I finally pulled into the Eastgate Shopping Center and checked again. Two strips of rubber/radial had come loose from the right front passenger tire. Those strips were making the "thwacking" sound as they hit the wheel well.

I called Gateway. I could have called my insurance company, for the third time since December, and gotten a tow, or Mazda, which would have cost me too much money, but I called Gateway Tire. The guys who own the company have always done a decent job on my car, be it tires or oil changes. They sent a guy to put the spare on. I drove over, and they installed four tires in about an hour. The price was decent, too, but, of course, I wasn't expecting to have to do this today. Silly me; "new tires" has been on my "To-Do" list since the summer began, which proves that, if you ignore something long enough, it's going to get your attention in an unpleasant and scary way.

I recommend these guys to everyone I know. My friend, David, told me that, when he had a flat tire, they sent a truck to his house to fix it. I don't know too many companies that will do that for their customers, new or long-term.

So, I can cross "tires" off my list along with "riding lawn mower." The last "big" thing to work on is the tiller. Neil gave me a line on a Black and Decker, so I know what I'm looking for.

I finally arrived home aroud 2:15pm and immediately set out to bake the muffins. I also made a "New Orleans Apple Cake"--I found the recipe in the newspaper while I waited for the new tires. And, of course, I had to sample both--not bad!

I just finished cleaning up the kitchen and coming down from my sugar high. Now for some real work!

As per Susan's request, the recipe for "Peach Honey" (which is absolutely delicious on bagels with cream cheese or butter, so I'm sure it will be great on biscuits or toast):

4 cups peeled, sliced peaches
4 cups sugar
juice of 1 lemon (or 2 to 3 tablespoons of lemon juice)

Combine sugar and peaches in a large saucepan; stir constantly over medium heat (really, the sugar liquifies because of the juice in the peaches) until mixture comes to a boil. When mixture boils, add lemon juice; continue to stir; bring mixture back to a boil and cook until thick (varies from about 15 to 30 minutes). Stir it constantly, though, so it doesn't burn.

Ladle mixture into hot, sterilized jars and seal.

Voila! Peach Honey. It's a bit "runny," but it tastes wonderful. After you open a jar, store it in the fridge and it will thicken a bit. The book this comes from, The Southern Country Cookbook, is vague on cooking times, etc. I wasn't sure if I should process the jars in a hot water bath after sealing them, because that wasn't in the directions, but I noticed that the cookbook tells the cook to do that with some recipes when it's warranted. I didn't process my jars after I sealed them, and they look fine--the jar lids sealed.

As for quantity, I used smallish Ball jars, and I ended up with about five half-pint containers the first and second time I made the honey, with a couple of very small jelly jars extra; the third batch, I ended up with one pint jar, two half-pints, and about a half of another jar. I refrigerated the partial jar. Oh, and, on the third batch, I added some fresh, sliced ginger to the sugar/peach mixture at the start. I tasted the syrup and it's good!