Okay, I finally proved to myself… Smithfield’s Chicken N BBQ has really good sweet tea… has awful unsweet tea! I would normally not order sweet tea at Smithfields. I’m Type 2 Diabetic and don’t need the easy sugar, so I did order unsweet tea, and then I had some really lousy unsweet tea at Smithfields. I have had really bad unsweet tea there several times, not just one location but many. I’ve sent emails to the company, and no reply.

When I say the unsweet tea tastes like someone put cigarette ashes in water, that is genau (exactly) what it tastes like to me. It is no exaggeration. And, no amount of sweetener is going to make it taste good. I’ve told this to friends, and have even said several times, “I used to love the tea at Smithfields, before I had to switch to their unsweet tea.” I didn’t think to actually try their sweet tea again, until yesterday. Damn, what a surprise. Their sweet tea was fantastic! It had a distinctive flavor, and it was sweet… and even the remainder, this morning was still a good flavored sweet tea.

Why would Smithfields intentionally make good sweet tea and intentionally make awful unsweet tea? Well, cigarette ashes are probably much cheaper than tea.

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So, I had a stack of frozen beef liver (Skylark) that I had for some time. The liver slices were packed neatly as a solid frozen block, but slices individually wrapped also. But I just never seemed to have the desire to unthaw some of it and cook it… and I love beef liver. Get it sometimes at the Rainbow.

So, when I finally take the package out, each slice is also packed in a sealed plastic package. I take two out to thaw in the refrigerator. A couple of days, and now I am ready to try to cook this at home. I finally decide to peel a couple of potatoes and boil them and make some descent mashed potatoes, with margarine and half-n-half. They turn out well. I also open a can of garden peas, put some margarine in them and they heat well. When I slice the packages of liver, I pour out a little blood, and then the slices, which now appear as very thinly cut, ooze out into the pan. I don’t add any flour. A little olive oil in the pan, and oh yeah, I’ve also sauteed a small onion which I now add back to the liver in the pan.

Bottom line is that the liver turned out okay. The mashed potatoes with a little more margarine were good, and the garden peas were also good. I would say however, that although none of the four items mentioned (onion included) had any off flavor or bad taste, the whole experience wasn’t a super positive. Not really negative either. Let’s just chalk this up to my old age, and my taste buds not serving me as well as they have most of my life.

I think this thin sliced liver will make an excellent sandwich, with maybe some sweet mustard. Susssenf.