The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

While I feel strongly about the movie Food, Inc., and while it has caused me to reconsider a lot, I now choose not to beat the dead horse so to speak. Just know I pretty much agree with Lady L and JMo. Last week I went through how I was feeling about being a vegetarian, but to be quite frank I'm sick of thinking about feelings and emotions (I'm a dude- I know this). So I am going to return to the basis of being a vegetarian and what it revolves around- the food. Being a self-termed food critic is one of my favorite pastimes, so I will tell you about my good meals, bad meals, and ugly meals thus far.

Good:
Well usually you save the best for last, but then that would ruin my clever title- and I can't have that. So the best meal has thus far been (hold your breath) a salad. Yes, I did say a salad- and yes I know I have always said how much I despise salads. So here I am at Mimi's (where I adore their Brie Chicken), and I am searching the menu forever. At first, I was nervous because about the only options for me were on the Healthy section- meaning they were smaller portions. Since when did being a vegetarian imply that I eat less? False. I felt like a weirdo asking for a Chicken Salad minus the chicken, but let me tell you a little bit about this chicken-less chicken salad. It was a bed of greens covered in dried cranberries and feta cheese with balsamic vinegarette and a beautifully sliced strawberry on top. (I am starting to wonder if my true calling in life is with writing food blurbs in menus.)
The next 'good' meal was at Red Robin and that is simply because in very very tiny writing at the bottom of the menu are the words 'You can substitute a Boca burger for any of our burger options.' Thank God I found that tiny writing because I felt like I was actually enjoying a burger. For the first time I was able to enjoy reading every entry on the menu with an option of eating.

Bad:
I had to travel to Chicago on business for a day last week, and while the food was good, the timing was bad. So here I am with co-workers at a quick pizza place on our way out, and lo and behold the clients are actually here as well. So of course this in essence continues our meeting, and I had ordered a veggie calzone instead of pizza (never again). Always go with the flow. So everyone gets their slab of meat-covered pizza and I am just chillin waiting for the calzone. As everyone finishes their last bite of crust I get a giant calzone, and by giant I mean the client guy goes 'you going to be able to eat all that?'. I couldn't actually enjoy my food because everyone had to sit there and wait on me to finish eating, rather embarrassing.
Spinach Out-Of-A-Can quesadilla was quite possibly the worst taste in the world, even drenched in cheese and bean sauce and washed down with beer, the overwhelming taste of canned spinach prevailed. Therefore, moral of the story- spinach from a Mexican restaurant is NOT real.

Ugly:
Thai tofu- I love thai food, like love love. So I even love tofu curry, but here comes the problems with communication. So usually I get chicken brown curry, which is chicken, potatoes, onions, and peanuts. I tried to order this exact same thing with tofu instead- the problem is that when you order tofu, you are also asking for more veggies. So when I said tofu only- I actually didn't really mean that at all. So when my food came I had a giant bowl of tofu in curry sauce. While it was a good meal, it falls in the category of 'ugly' because a plate completely full of tofu so unappealing.
A Southern Baptist Church Covered Dish- While this in reality is one of the most beautiful sites ever, looking through green colored glasses (get it?) it is not so much. I made it nearly half way through the line with a very sad empty plate because every dish contained meat. By the end of the line I had clear space on my plate that basically contained concoctions of fruit- a really really ugly plate, especially compared to my usual plates. You are not meant to see the actual plate through the food.

So cheers to the good list growing, the bad list shrinking, and the ugly list continuing for good stories!