Cosmic Cafe

WHERES THE BEEF?
A tribute to Dave Thomas

Born July 2,1932, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, named Rex David Thomas, he never knew his birth mother. He was adopted by a couple from Kalamazoo, Michigan at the age of 6 months. At the age of 5, Thomas's adoptive mom died, and by the age of 10 he'd lost 2 step-mothers as well. Minnie Thomas, his adoptive grand-mother and closest relative lived in Maine. Thomas spent many summers with her and due to that, she had a big influence in his life.

When Thomas was still young, his father Rex, remarried again, and moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana. While there he worked a variety of jobs including paperboy, golf caddy, and as a soda fountain clerk at the drugstore. When Thomas was 15 he got his first job in the restaurant industry, and shortly thereafter his family decided to move yet again. This time he refused to leave, dropping out of school in his sophmore year and going to work full time.

During the Korean War, Thomas served the Army as the manager of an enlisted-men's club. Upon his return from his tour of duty, he went back to Fort Wayne to find that Phil Clauss, his former boss at the Hobby House restaruant, owned some of the first franchises in the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain. Clauss offered him the opprotunity to turn around the failing restaurants located in Columbus, Ohio. Thomas, knowing that the Colonel Sanders's chicken had been popular at the Hobby House, accepted the challenge, and decided to go for it, as he felt that he could sell the chicken in Ohio. By 1968, and at the age of only 35, Thomas sold the franchises for a whopping $1.5 million dollars back to the headquarters. Having in just a few years turned the failing stores into an amazing profit of more then $1 million dollars. He realized while in Columbus, that he wasn't able to find a good burger and as a direct result, decided to open his own restaurant. On November 15,1969, his dream became a reality when the birth of the Wendy's chain was born. Though at the time, it was a single restaruant that was known for its square hamburgers with choice of toppings, it quickly caught on and within less then 10 years grew into a chain of 1,000 stores. Thomas had named Wendy's after his 8 year old daughter, Melinda Lou who was known as Wendy. She was the youngest of the five children he had with his wife Lorraine.

Thomas gave up the day to day command of operations in 1982. Four years later, he was urged by the company president to take a more active role in the company, as it had suffered some business mistakes that had hurt the company sales. It was at this time that Thomas began to visit franchises, and in 1989 he took on the role of television spokesman for the company with a series of very successful commercials.

He quickly became a household name due to his family style and relaxed pitch for the Wendy's chain. In a survey the company did in the 1990's, a time where all the Wendy's commercials starred Thomas, found that 90% of Americans knew who he was. 800 commercials later, it was obvious that he was one of the biggest reasons Wendy's was the number 3 burger restaurant in the country, surpassed only by Mc Donald's and Burger King, and now had more then 6,000 stores in the chain.

Thomas worked throughout his life to promote the adoption of foster children. He founded the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, he promoted the creation of an employee benefits programme for people who adopt, and other groundbreaking programmes. In 1990 President George Bush appointed him as the national spokesman for adoption. In 1993, having regretted never finishing high school, he hired a tutor and was awarded his G.E.D. on the high school equivalency exam. In a quote from Dave Thomas, he once said, "Quitting high school was one of the most stupid mistakes I made."

In December of 1996, Thomas had quadruple bypass surgery. He did return to the busy schedule of making commercials, and began kidney dialysis in early 2001. On January 8, 2002 Dave Thomas passed away, at his Fort Lauderdale, Florida home, at the age of 69. He had a carcinoid tumor, a slow growing cancer, and after more then 10 years, he passed away from cancer of the liver.

As Dave once said, "Adopt a special child, they grow up to be special people."

For more information on the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, please visit:
http://www.davethomasfoundationforadoption.org

The following are orginazations that Dave was associated with, and as stated on www.wendys.com the family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to:

Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
P.O. Box 7164
Dublin, OH 43017

Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital & Richard J. Solove Research Institute
The Ohio State University
300 W. 10th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43205

The Dave Thomas Family Primary Care Center at Children's Hospital
700 Children's Drive
Columbus, OH 43205

The Wellington School
3650 Reed Road
Columbus, OH 43220

As a tribute to Dave, the recipes I have chosen for this months feature are all Wendy's related in a sense. This month we are doing Square Burgers, Loaded Baked Potatoes, Chocolate Milkshakes.

SQUARE BURGERS

1# Ground Beef, formed into square patties.
4 sliced onion
4 leaves of lettuce
4 slices of tomato
burger buns
your favourite toppings, I reccomend ketchup, mustard, pickle slices, and cheese

Cook the burgers till desired doneness. Generally in fast food restaurants, they are all well done. When the burgers are nearly done, on a griddle, melt a little butter, and toast the buns slightly. Remove the buns and assemble using your favourite toppings.

Serves:4

LOADED BAKED POTATOES

4 large baking potatoes, cleaned and scrubbed
sour cream
shredded cheddar cheese
bacon bits
chopped green onions

Preheat the oven to 375°F, and bake the potatoes until tender. Remove potatoes from oven, place on serving plates, and with a sharp knife, cut an X on the top of the potatoe. Using your fingers, of course washing hands first so they are clean, push slightly on the sides near the X to open the baked potatoe. Using a fork, fluff the inside slightly, and top with sour cream, a spoon of bacon bits, sprinkle on some cheese and finally a bit of chopped green onion.

CHOCOLATE MILKSHAKES

(Ok so ya'll get ta learn my secret ingredient to the perfect milk shake!)

Now so ya'll know, Im not including exact measurements on this recipe, as everyones tastes are a bit different on amount of chocolate, and thickness of the shake, so use this as a general guideline, and adjust till desired taste and texture is achieved.

For each 2 scoops of chocolate ice cream, use 1 scoop of *Frozen Whipped Topping (also known as Cool Whip, and aka my secret ingredient). Now instead of using regular milk, use Chocolate Milk. Add all ingredients into a blender, and blend until desired consistancy is achieved. Add milk as you go so as to not make it too thin, but also so you dont burn the motor out in your blender.

*Frozen Whipped Topping~~ The purpose of this is adding a creamy smooth taste and texture to the shake. This works especially well when making alcoholic milkshakes, such as a frozen White Russian.

****BONUS RECIPE****
FROZEN WHITE RUSSIAN

2 scoops Vanilla Ice Cream (I try to use the homestyle or French Vanillia Brands)
1 scoop Frozen Whipped Topping
1 shot of Kahlua
1/2 shot Vodka
Milk, as needed

Add all ingredients to your blender. Blend on high until desired consistency is reached. Please note: You need to add a little milk to this in order to reach desired consistency, as the alcohol does not provide enough liquid to make a good shake.

Please watch the Cosmic Cafe for further recipes this month. I chose to only add a few to this months feature as I was trying to do a Wendy's theme. I have loads of new stuff to add, and will be adding them all month long! Until next month, take care, be safe, and smile some, make the world wonder what your up to!! (((HUGGS))) ~*~KALI~*~