I'm a Big Cheater...

Remember all that talk about my anti-inflammatory diet? Well, sometimes I cheat. Like if everyone at the office is going out for a birthday, I can't be like, "Oh, sorry guys - I have to eat my nuts and twigs so go on and enjoy those juicy steaks and crispity fries without me." Or, like today, when food is being offered for FREE and it's...well...do I really have to say it? Let's just say it's the most wonderful time of the month.

We headed over to "the pit" - which is an underground enclave of restaurants and shops on Flower Street in downtown. There is one, bona fide resto down there - the Weiland Brewery Restaurant. The atmosphere is decent enough for a work lunch, and the food - while not fancy or original - is pretty good and reasonably priced. It's a great sandy/soup/salad hangout.

Welcome to the Weiland Brewery

Here's the thing about cheating: If you're going to do it, would you ever consider going for Tobey Maguire over Gael Garcia Bernal? I mean, why waste a night of debauchery on the sweet-but-safe action hero when you can have absolute HOTness? (<--BTW, I don't ever cheat in relationships and this is strictly an exercise in the hypothetical. However, if I ever did get a chance with Gael Garcia Bernal, I believe there would be some negotiating with whoever I was involved with at the time that I meet him. That sentence was too complicated and wordy so let's move on).

Before I go any further into my eating cheating, I'll reveal what my coworkers had (See? They were as bad as me - meh!).

Joey opted for the Cobb salad sandy. Oh, let me be clear about one thing before I go on: In no way does my use of the word "sandy" have anything to do with Rachel Ray, goddess of blech-y cuteness and bad cooking. It's just shorter to write "sandy." Anyway, Joey's had lettuce, turkey, tomato, bacon, blue cheese and a side of fries and Ranch dressing. He seemed to like it, but commented that his fries were too soggy. Dark brown, and soggy. Pretty tough feat - burnt and limp.

Joey's Cobb Salad Sandy

Jose, who eats a chicken sandwich every day, chose a chicken sandwich. Wait...what? He eats a chicken sandwich EVERY DAY? Yes, folks, I do not exaggerate. Jose just likes him some chicken sandies and he sticks to what he likes. No matter where we go, it's a chicken sandwich on wheat with a side of fries. He decided to live a little and got some guacamole on top of this particular chicken sandwich, but the guac was too spicy and had some peppers in it that he didn't care for. See? When restos slip in major ingredients (like hot peppers) without mentioning it on their menus, it drives Jose to rue the day he decided to try something different and forever stick to the one thing he likes. Big thumbs down from Jose on his overly-spicy sandy:

Jose's regretful sandy

OK, so back to me and my cheating now: instead of choosing the wise green salad and soup combo, I dove right in for the BLT and FRIES!! I love me some BLT...almost as much as I love me some GGB. And this one was pretty awesome - cold, crisp lettuce, juicy red tomato and crunchity, salty bacon. The fries, like Joey pointed out earlier, were dark brown and soggy. Did that stop me from eating all of them? What do you think?

BLT worthy of GGB


Up close and personal with the "other foodstuff"

On a somewhat unrelated note (no food involved, but this has to do with coworkers), Tony - a.k.a. Too Tough Tony, our accountant, decided to run the dishwasher at the office yesterday. After a few minutes, the machine started spewing out tons of suds. Turns out that Tony used regular dish soap in the dishwasher - and the result was like a scene out of the Bobby-puts-too-much-detergent-in-the-washer episode of "The Brady Bunch."

Classic!

Will they ever learn?


Tony poses with his masterpiece