Year 2, Day 94: Watch What You Renounce

As some people who know me well know, I was at one time very interested in becoming the authority on the available lunch items anywhere in a ten mile radius of the company I worked for. In fact, I always prided myself on knowing (or at least being able to suggest) the best place to eat, for a particular group of people or for some particular occasion. For this reason I dubbed myself the manager of "Food Services" (with Jill) at the first incarnation of Domania. I feel that it's important for someone to care, and pay close attention where folks should and shouldn't go. After all, where we are now, a local sub shop caused many a case of gastric distress and was put on the 'watch list.' A very suspicious Chinese restaurant called the "Tiki House" was ordered from only once; it's food was determined to be non-edible. I feel it's my job to keep people from repeating my mistakes. This often means 'taking one for the team' at my own gastric risk. But it's worth it, because the exciting few times when you trail-blaze something new is so very rewarding. Of course, now it's become so much harder, since I rarely eat pizza, never eat subs, and avoid so many things that are standard fare at lunch places. So I have all but given that up.

Breakfast
1 Slice Balthazar Bread
2 Soft-Boiled Eggs
Tea

Snack
2 oz. 50% Jalapeno Cheddar
6 Sticks Celery, 2 Tablespoons SCPB

Lunch: Asiana Fusion
Broccoli
Chicken with Celery, Bok Choy
String Beans
Scallion Omelet
Unidentified Chinese Greens

Dinner
Chicken
Cauliflower

Now it's gotten to a point where people actively seek me out to tell me about new places, and one co-worker told me about a barbecue restaurant that he saw was opening within walking distance of our office. Being a fan of BBQ and loving to walk, I thought it was perfect. In fact, today we did just that—we all walked and then met the rest of the staff at the restaurant. I won't go on about the fact that it was not BBQ at ALL but simply a Chinese restaurant, because it is clearly misleadingly labeled as "Asian Fusion Barbecue." Surveying the menu I found only two items that could be called "Barbecue" (ribs and a pork dish) and even less that could have been called "fusion". For this reason we all mercilessly teased the employee who told us about it. He didn't find it especially funny that we kept referring to everything as the product of 'fusion' for the rest of the meal. So, I went for 'fusion' but instead met a standard Chinese lunch buffet. And here, just days earlier I had renounced all lunch buffets. It was $6.95 for the buffet, and I thought that preposterous, since everything looked like carbs. When I checked out the menu I realized everything even remotely SoBe friendly was 12 dollars. I went with the buffet. I kept it one lunch plate and a second plate of broccoli and beans. I completely avoided the fountain of fondue chocolate with side plates of melon, bananas, marshmallows and strawberries. Though stuck at a buffet, I was not conFUSED.