Can we talk about the grocery store for a minute?

Because I have two things to say.

First, last night I made a recipe from a new cookbook my mom got me, Barefoot in Paris. I'm not really an Ina Garten fan, I find her a little pretentious and condescending when I watch her on TV. But it's a very good collection of recipes, I'm super excited to have a new cookbook, and I've been craving a good, new soup.


I decided I would follow the recipe precisely, so I could judge it as closely as it was intended to be. This required me to buy saffron. Recently, saffron was one of the secret ingredients on Chopped Champions so I was a little excited to check it out. Look at what a crazy package it comes in! A bottle full of these tiny capsules. I'm a sucker for interesting packaging.


After hunting down the aisles, it turns out, saffron is the most expensive spice in the world. (And definitely the most expensive of the world known as Harris Teeter.) Who knew? In fact, most of the time it's more expensive than gold at about $350/ounce. Good thing I only needed about .01 oz. And despite the red color of the little spice-twigs (?), they actually dye your broth a golden yellow color.

In the end, the soup was delicious, and I'll have lunch at work for days. And I really shouldn't be shocked that Ina's recipe required a teaspoon of the most expensive spice on the planet, because that's just a little bit snobbish isn't it?

Ok second. I need to officially air my beef with Dove. Because I think I'm going to write a letter, and maybe it'll add power to my complaint that I've publicly blogged about my grievance (pretend that my following is more than approx. 15 people).

Does anyone else hate how their products randomly disappear? It seems to happen rather inconveniently AFTER you've fallen in love with it.

For example, a couple years ago they had a line of hand soap. I'm particular about hand soap because so many smells bother me, but Dove's hand soap was nice and moisturizing and smelled great. I used it for a solid 6 months, but never thought to stock up because who worries about their soap disappearing? I mean, how long has Dawn been around? Almost 40 years.

So imagine my surprise when I went to re-stock and there was none on the shelf at Harmons. Odd. I checked Smith's the next day. No Dove. I even stopped at ghetto ALBERTSONS ON 5TH WEST. Nothing. I called store managers. I searched the Dove website. I searched Amazon and Overstock. And just like that it was gone and has never returned.
Which brings me to my present issue with Dove lotion. It was a big switch from the former brand of my teens to Dove, but it's a really great lotion. I've already tolerated switching types because they have discontinued two different lines. Annoying, but those changes were subtle (Dove Enriching Body Lotion to Dove Cream Oil, whatever). BUT. My bottle just ran out so I went to replenish and there is no Dove to be found on the lotion aisle. Not even an empty spot where it once was. I've checked two different grocery stores. I know how this story goes...

All this reminds me of that ridiculous simulation we had to do in strategy during the integrated core of the MAcc. We were a company with a cough medicine and we had to decide how to position ourselves in the market week to week and then compare our results to the other teams. There were choices like should we add a product to our line that has a sleep aid, or should we focus on cutting costs on our current formulation?

Dove has clearly decided they are aiming to be the newest product on the block, entering into new niches with good products, appealing to those who like the latest and greatest addition to the aisle, and then moving on whenever it suits them. Well excuse me but this hit it and quit it attitude towards my hygiene products is driving me crazy!

Anyway, let this be a warning to all you who use a Dove product in your daily routine. Go buy 15 bottles and put them by the wheat in your food storage. Maybe that will save you some of the misery I've experienced...