$78.00 and The Art of Suggestive Selling

There's a blurb on one of our TV commercials that says if shopping could cure breast cancer, it would be cured by now. The commercial is a composite of different clips. I'm not sure who is making the comment however...

Rephrase that several ways and the sentence might go if more cookbooks could cure allergies (or the inability to cook), than Myrna would be cured by now. How about if more pre-packaged, gluten, dairy, corn, and soy free foods could cure allergies, than Myrna would be cured by now. And then there's if more dietary supplements could... OR if more knowledge could... OR if more _______ could... fill in the blank with your own solution. Believe me, I've been trying them all.

GUESS WHAT? Apparently, $78.00 might do the trick. My friend Sharon is also allergic to gluten, dairy, corn, soy and a gazillion other things. In fact, her allergies just might be my fault. Her symptoms sounded similar to mine, she went to the naturopath for testing, and sure enough. Last week, she went back and told him she couldn't stand this anymore, he needed to do something. And just like that, he gave her a de-sensitizing treatment.

Why when I was sitting right in front of him, crying my eyes out, lamenting what will I eat, didn't the naturopath, the very same naturopath that Sharon went to, say there's a treatment for food sensitives. For $78.00 I can desensitize you. It might take more than one treatment. I wouldn't have cared. I'd have pulled out my cheque book, plonked down my MasterCard, begged, borrowed, or stolen the money. I am HIGHLY invested in a cure.

Me wanting the treatment was a no brainer sale. Obviously, he needs some lessons in business management, in particular in the art of suggestive selling. For goodness sakes, I learned that at fifteen when I worked at McDonald's. Would you like fries with that burger? Would you like to upsize that drink? How about an apple pie with your meal? HELLO.




My allergies developed one at a time. Each time, I bought packaged foods and cookbooks that met that criteria and then, I developed more allergies. That meant different packaged foods and different cookbooks often making the original purchases obsolete. Eventually, the choices got pretty slim and I've had to learn (am learning) how to cook.

It's been two years since the original diagnosis. I can't even begin to imagine how many thousands of dollars I've spent on specialty ingredients trying to feed myself to say nothing of the information (overload) that I've acquired and the number of things I've cooked and thrown out because they taste like terrible. The pile of cookbooks above totals $299.59 and it's only part of my research AND - as I've said before - unfortunately cookbooks don't cook.

I'm waiting to see what happens with Sharon, how the treatments go, how many she needs, and then I'll be lining up. Even so, I don't expect to be able to eat copious amounts of these foods. I doubt I'll be eating wheat bread, corn meal muffins, or lattes. What I'm hoping for is to be desensitized to the point that if an ingredient contains some modified corn starch or skim milk powder that I'll tolerate it without symptoms. That alone would give me more choices cooking and eating out and make me a more welcome guest. I'm hoping.




My latest acquisition is The Spice and Herb Bible by Ian Hemphill. My intention in buying it is to learn more about spices so that I can take similar ingredients and turn out different results. The author is extremely passionate about spices. He grew up involved in his family's spice business in Australia and has spent forty years working with spices. He's internationally respected. Even so... for me, it's a bit like reading a how to write a romance book. I think I can do this only my eyes glaze over and wander away and find some colorful piece of fabric to follow up instead which is really quite intriguing, what catches your passion and what doesn't. Intriguing if you're not hungry that is.




Three weekends ago, I took the Vogue 2983 skirt muslin with me to the Ron Collins workshop. I sewed a version of the skirt and didn't like the fabric. Sewing it again, I decided not to cut the center back on the bias thinking that would resolve some issues, which it did and created others, like the ugly pulls above. These are because the wrap around seam doesn't have enough give. If it had been cut on the bias, it would. See the yoke? See the seam in it? That should be at the side. It's about an inch too far forward. I'll wish I had noticed that sooner.

In essence, I've been perfecting this skirt for three weeks. I am making progress. I'll show you more tomorrow. Before the wrinkle picture, I had made a muslin and two supposedly real skirts. Neither quite worked. Since the wrinkle picture, I have made two more muslins and I'm debating a third or another "real" skirt. In essence, I've sewn this skirt five times and my eyes are not glazing over. They are not wandering away to find a different pattern or a different piece of fabric. I'm totally intrigued with getting this right - the diver as Lorrie described me. One bag of everything free pizza crust mix that tastes like crap has me feeling like a failure of a cook. One muslin that doesn't work has me sewing another one and another one and another one. I just have to get it right. I love the challenge and the learning. I see in fabric. I don't see in food.




Yesterday was Howard's birthday. He asked for an apple pie. When I told my friend Francine, she offered to bake it for me. When I told my friend Sharon, she asked if I had a recipe and when I inquired, isn't there one on the box, she said, I'm scanning and sending you one. Now... to be completely honest, I used a Tenderflake pre-made crust but... I did chop and core and peel and slice and mix up the apple ingredients and I think it turned out pretty good for a non-baker. The guys each had two pieces last night so it must have tasted good too.

The pie clearly illustrates why at forty-eight I'm still learning to cook and why I would have happily - a gazillion times over - have paid $78.00 to be even just a little bit desensitized. It would be nice if food was fun again. My naturopath needs Stephan Shiffman's book UpsellingTechniques: That Really Work. I have a feeling he could be making a lot more money if he read it. He'd also have a lot more happy clients. Maybe I'll buy it for him and ask for a cut of the increased profits - LOL.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving. There is so much to be thankful for. The word progress seems to encompass much of it for me. It's nice to be making some.