Daily Mood Quote
Day 144 – September 24, 2011
“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.”
La Rochefoucauld
As my husband and I have become better cooks, the one thing we don't do very often is eat out anymore. However, it is a treat when someone else does the cooking. Yesterday, my husband surprised me by treating me to lunch at a local restaurant. This is a restaurant we have been to a few times over the past nine years and one we enjoy. It's clean, the atmosphere is nice and the employees are always nice and smiling. It's a good place to share a meal with your family. However, the experience we had yesterday was one that begged to be talked about today.
On the outside the menu looked familiar, the company's branding carried through every little nuance. But, when we looked inside, clearly things had changed. New product line-up from start to finish. Sure some of the old favorites where still there, the pancakes, the combos, and the omelets seemed familiar, but the lunch and dinner menu was a complete surprise. Clearly we had been away for awhile and the menu had changed “ALOT” (thank you Peanut and Jeff Dunham). There were new salads, new entrees, new meal combinations, and new appetizers. Unfortunately, the new menu comes along with less options.
I was safe because I ordered a garden salad with ranch dressing, but my husband was hungry for a cheeseburger and french fries. The only problem was that the burgers had grown “ALOT.” The only ones available were massive half-pound Angus beef, giant, monstrous burger that came without a side. The side needed to be ordered separately. Why not, let's face it, the burger is a meal for two people...maybe three, itself. Brings a whole new meaning to bigger is better. Anyway, my husband was also hungry for some fries. So innocently, he ordered them as a side. This was lunch, a salad for me and burger and fries for him. Pretty simple,huh? The prelude was appetizers, fried mushrooms and cheese bits.Yum...
When things began to arrive, well, to quote Jim Nabors from Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (1964-1969), “Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!” What a surprise it was... First, the appetizers came at the same time as the meal and they where a meal in themselves. The burger and side of fries came on a ten-inch plate with the fries heaping over the monster burger. My husband was just stunned. Looking and sounding for all the world like Roy Scheider, when he saw the Great White Shark in Jaws, my husband said; “We're gonna need a big box!”
To the point of today's blog.... Who on earth can eat that much food? We were just looking for “a little lunch” but what we got... Gee Whiz! giant food!!!. Not that I advocate restaurants that serve “elf food” (not sure where I saw that commercial) and I also realize, that we have gone to bigger meals for "bigger folks," but this was over the top! No options for less and fewer options altogether, left me feeling a bit uneasy. Two little people, facing a mountain of food? I really got mixed emotions. First, I don't subscribe to the notion that you have to clean your plate, if it's going to make you sick. No question eating all of this food would. Secondly, bigger portions and fewer options may look good on a balance sheet, but here in the Heartland of America, that means less return customers (us included). Thirdly, there we sat, with enough food (from two orders) in front of us to feed four, or five people. I admit the we both felt a bit guilty about that. It really hit home. Perhaps they thought they were giving us “our money's worth,” but maybe that money is better spent elsewhere. Then there is the heart and health thing; it seems like you can't find middle ground; either its full-on health nut menu, berries and nuts, or full on heart attack/high cholesterol menu. Take your pick and pick your destination: Emergency room, or bathroom. No middle ground. Hmmm, sounds like Congress (just heard they are haggling over the budget...again). I'm guessing a 12% approval rating isn't low enough for them?
To quote Morgan Spurlock in the movie Super Size Me, "See, now's the time of the meal when you start getting the McStomach ache. You start getting the McTummy. You get the McGurgles in there. You get the McBrick, then you get the McStomach ache. Right now I've got some McGas that's rockin'. My arms... I feel like I've got some McSweats goin'. My arms got the McTwitches going in here from all the sugar that's going in my body right now. I'm feeling a little McCrazy." No, it wasn't “those guys” but they did start that trend, didn't they?
Anyway, I hope that we find ways to level out restaurant meals and provide a more balanced approach to eating out, or I'm going to be doing a lot more cooking. Good thing I like to cook.
Anyone for balanced nutrition today?
Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote
Thank you for reading
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