What Are You Eating/Drinking?, The Tastiest Thread Around Options

[Acadian]

Time for pizza!!

Ohhhh! One of the basic three food groups! I'm having iced coffee (another of the basic food groups).

[Decrepit]

Today's grocery run began roughly three-hours later than usual, following a 0915 eye-exam / glasses-fitting. That out of the way, I first stopped at Kroger, it being along my path home from the EyeCare Center. It is good that I did. Wowbutter is in stock again!!!!! I bought a jar, no questions asked. I debated holding off to see if Walmart has some, it being noticeably cheap there. Nope. I also bought Kroger's next-to-last jar of Sugar-Free Red Raspberry Preserves, assuming Wally World to be out. It is. Lastly at Kroger, Pink Lady apples were reasonably priced. I bought them.

The only thing Walmart was out of this run (besides two Kroger purchases) was Sugar-Free Apricot Preserves. Oops, and Distilled Water. I have enough of both to see me through the week. I bought Walmart's very last lettuce head.

Two checkout lanes were open. I picked the wrong lane. The customer immediately in front of me couldn't get her card to function properly. After much fiddling about, it was found that the swiping machine was at fault, not the card. Someone was brought in to "fix" the swiper. After more fiddling, the register was shut down. Another checkout lane was opened to take its place There I was, groceries set out on the conveyor belt ready to be scanned, fresh produce warming by the minute. As I get ready to refill my car, the fellow behind me starts putting his stuff in it. That situation was quickly corrected.

There was no consideration for me having been first in line, ready to check out. The folk behind me moved to the new register and the original second register while I was busy refilling my cart. Both those registers now had super long lines. In the end, I used self-checkout.

On a more positive note, the Service Engine Soon light came on during the drive home.

Another positive note, groceries were significantly over-budget today. I expect it. I needed Stivia sugar-substitute packets. That stuff ain't cheap! Still, by general consensus it's about the closest thing we have to a non-unhealthy sugar-free sweetener. Buying a 250-packet box, it'll last me a LONG time.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Oct 24 2022, 09:08 PM

[Dark Reaper]

Pancakes and fruit punch a hardy meal.

[Decrepit]

Adventures in grocery shopping:

This week's run was largely successful. I again bought apples and distilled water at Kroger. I also bought SF Strawberry Pres there, though as it turned out Walmart had plenty in stock, cheaper. No Garlic Basil dressing, sad to say. Thankfully, I've enough in my current bottle to see me through the week. No SF Apricot Preserves either. I might have enough to last the week. Bought the very last large tub of Walmart house-brand Old Fashion Oats. I suspect it hadn't sold because the tub was badly dented. I goofed and forgot to add eggs to the list, so will run out Friday. Every small tub of Cherub tomatoes contained tomatoes obviously unfit to eat. Luckily, the large tubs looked much refresher. That's what I bought. With luck it might last me two weeks.

No fancy meals to report. I abandoned those at the start of the pandemic. I might or might not eat at least one restaurant holiday meal with my brother.

[mirocu]

Munching on some brända mandlar I bought at a Christmas fair

[Dark Reaper]

Fruit Punch and a bowl a BBQ flavored chips, a hardy meal.

[Decrepit]

It's T-day in the U.S.A.

This marks the first time I have eaten in a restaurant since the start of the pandemic. Can't say that I miss the experience, but figured I'd give it a go to celebrate the holiday with my brother.

Not being overly picky as to where we ate, I left the choice of eateries to bro. He settled on an all-you-can-eat US-style buffet, located in a building that for decades housed a now-out-of-business steakhouse restaurant I occasionally lunched at back in my restaurant days. (I was never overly fond of it, but other members of my clan were, back when there were other members of my clan.) That's what he wanted. That's what we did.

It must be said that this is our first miserable day here in ages, weather wise. Cold and rainy. I dressed suitable for the occasion; jeans, sweatshirt, thick socks, medium toboggan, light jacket, umbrella. Bro wanted to be there at 1000, assuming a 1030 opening, in case a long line began to develop. He was sort of right. Arriving at roughly 1000, a long line had already developed. Much longer and sooner than in years past, according to bro. There was nothing for it but to immediately leave the car and get in line (rather than sit in the car awhile, as we had hoped to do).

Problem one: it got colder by the minute, colder than my clothes could protect me from. Problem two: bro erred on the buffet's opening time, which in reality was 1100. Standing an hour outside in cold and rain is not a pleasant experience, especially as prone to becoming ill as I tend to be these days.

As to the meal itself, I pigged out, as I tend to do on these occasions. Turkey, bashed potatoes, dressing, cranberry sauce, green beans, biscuit. The usual suspects. What's more, I went up for seconds, the one difference being getting baked beans rather than green beans. There were no standouts, but everything was good.

An aside. Both of us got our turkey from the carver first time round. Second time, I again got mine from the carver. He got his second helping from one of the buffet's regular meat bins, as he made a point of telling me. Why? He doesn't like "greasy" meat. This tickled me, reminding me that he gets a number of his eating preferences from our mom. She would not tolerate the least amount of moisture/juice in her meat. To her, it was all "grease" and must be avoided. Dry and well done, bordering on charred, was her thing. It's how I was raised. However, I'd barely left the nest before developing a taste for juicy, less well done meats.

[Acadian]

Nice to see you back on the restaurant circuit again, Decrepit - even if rare. Glad you had a pretty good TG feed.

Mrs Acadian has escaped the US winter to spend some weeks with the grandkids in Perth, Australia where it is a delightful 100 degrees F. For my TG, I got a turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce & mayo sub and baked a pumpkin pie the day before. Then enjoyed some of both on TG with a couple days of leftovers to enjoy.

[Grits]

I raise my cup to Acadian as I sit down to the best breakfast of the year so far, pumpkin pie and coffee!

[Renee]

The sort of place D describes sounds like Golden Corral, except maybe a little classier. Used to love that all-you-can-eat style buffet when I was pregnant years ago, especially.

I haven't been to a restaurant until this past summer. Place was packed, and not one mask in sight. But yeah, those past two years it was weird not going out at least once a month to eat. Once in a while we gotta treat ourselves.

[Acadian]

I raise my cup to Acadian as I sit down to the best breakfast of the year so far, pumpkin pie and coffee!

You beat me to it, my friend! I'm just now sitting down with the same and tipping my cup to you as well.

[Lena Wolf]

But yeah, those past two years it was weird not going out at least once a month to eat. Once in a while we gotta treat ourselves.

You mean - treat to not having to do the dishes afterwards?
We finally got a dishwasher!! Now there's a treat.

[Dark Reaper]

Coffee and tomato soup for breakfast.

[Decrepit]

Biting into last night's hardboiled egg, I noticed something odd. Odd to me at least. I've certainly not noticed it before. The egg contained two distinct yellow balls. Those balls abutted at one small point, as if they had not yet quite attained full individuality Chicken twins in the making, I assume, were that possible in these circumstances.

On a less wholesome food-related note, I sabotaged myself. Last Monday, noticing that free strawberry pricing has become painfully high, I elected to buy a much more reasonably priced 4lb bag of frozen strawberries. My plan was to use up my then-current tub of fresh strawberries, then fill that tub (kept in the refrigerator) with frozen berries from the freezer bag. They'd have an entire day to defrost on their own before use in the following day's oatmeal/fruit breakfast. This indeed came to pass.

Next morning, open the reefer door. I was greeted with a large puddle of red liquid, escaped from breathing holes in the strawberry tub. A mess! Not wanting to delay breakfast, I ignored the puddle and continued on as normal.

Next discovery: Those defrosted strawberries were mushy and tasted lousy. They went into the trash. I grabbed three strawberries from the freezer bag and defrosted them via micro. Mushy and didn't taste very good, but better than the overnight reefer defrost. I used them. Breakfast wasn't as tasty as normal, but the bowl's other ingredients made it edible.

Later that day, I tackled the refrigerator puddle. This ended up being a rather drawn-out affair, far more so than anticipated. In the process, the reefer compartment became room temperature. It also shut itself off. When at last able to shut the door, it did not turn itself back on. Quite some time past ere a periodic reefer check at last heard the welcome sound of cooling.

Fast forward to next morning's breakfast. My fresh blackberries, the tastiest tub of blackberries I've gotten my hands on in quite a while, were mushy and tasteless. Those frozen strawberries had not improved. Thankfully. frozen peach slices from the freezer, and my bananas, were little if any compromised. Still, the combo of yucky strawberries and blackberries made breakfast a chore rather than a pleasure.

Today was the last time I had to endure those ruined fruits, fasting tomorrow (Monday) morning in preparation for bloodwork in conjunction with a medical appointment. Monday being errand day, I'll replenish groceries on the way home from my appointment. You can bet I'll stick with fresh strawberries from now on, high cost or no high cost.

[Dark Reaper]

I had a sandwich and some water.

[Acadian]

A big salad and some iced coffee.

[SubRosa]

Pizza and breadsticks

[Decrepit]

Soon as I finished putting away today's groceries, I test-tasted another of those blueberries from the tub that had endured excess warm temps for an extended period. It was so obnoxious I couldn't chew it. The remaining contents of the tub were scattered across the front lawn. That craptastic large bag of frozen strawberries was scattered beneath the backyard weed tree. I made periodic checks to see if any birds or other critters were taking advantage of my rancid benevolence. Nope. Cold as it is, all birds have likely already migrated. If they hadn't before today, one taste of those berries would probably convince them to head south posthaste.

Xmas day lunch with bro is up in the air. At the moment, it's predicted to be super cold all day. Temps never rise above the 20s. I don't know that I dare expose myself to that, especially considering there will likely be a long outside line. I'll keep abreast of developments and not make a final decision until I must.

[Grits]

Coffee and birthday cake, leftover lasagna to follow. The Grits family has been eating like Nords for over a week. There will soon be a reckoning, but not today!

[Dark Reaper]

Breakfast sandwich, sausage and coffee.