There is a new (to me) good times on 16th street. I ordered and bacon cheeseburger and fries. Then I ate them.

to make it one post for this whole year:

I had Wendy's cause I was driving all over town looking for a present for a white elephant party. Who knew you were supposed to buy something for a white elephant party? I thought you dug around the bottom of your closet and threw it in a bag. But they said "no more than twenty dollars" and I thought "well zero dollars is less than 20" but then Noah bought this mug that is a pig head dressed in red white and blue colonial clothes that the handle to the mug is the pigtail or pig's ponytail and shamed me. It really is a reenactor pig mug.

So I bought a troll dressed as an elf baby and you can open the flap on the pajamas to reveal his butt.

And spicy chicken combo. I know! the wheat! the horror! Screw me disease, I wanted some fuckin mayo on a sandwich.

If either of us come home with the present the other bought this is the last white elephant party I'm ever going to.

today my office threw an "employee appreciation lunch" which consisted of green salad with radish, carrots, cucumbers, croutons, and choice of house vinaigrette or ranch, meat or vegetarian lasagne, garlic cheese bread, cookies, and cheesecake bars.

i opted for the veggie lasagne, a piece of garlic cheese bread, salad with house dressing, and a cherry cheesecake bar (approx. 3 x 3 in). ice tea to drink.

it seemed like they didn't appreciate us very much because the veggie lasagne was bland and the garlic cheesebread was rubbery and not garlicky. and i felt ill the rest of the day.

i'm having the Bene! Gourmet pizza lunch deal which includes a fresh slice, your choice of caesar or regular salad, and a drink. i got the chicken pesto slice which includes chicken, pesto sauce, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and fresh spinach. it really is delish.

I went back to Subway even tho I swore I wouldn't. I went with my dad and forced him to eat SunChips instead of potato. Also we cruised a house that seemed nice but turned out to be doo doo.

i went to jason's deli a couple hours ago and got the club royale sandwich. i've described this bad-boy before, but for those who don't remember, it's stacked ham and turkey on a buttery, flaky croissant, with bacon, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and a honey mustard spread which is the bomb. it comes with chips and a pickle spear. when i picked it up, i wish i'd gotten a cup of red beans 'n rice.

usually when i go to jason's, it's on a friday because fridays are casual, and i usually get a slice of cherry cheesecake. that is of course unless there's a cute chick taking the order, in which case i do not get a slice of cherry cheesecake because i feel embarassed ordering it. it just makes me feel like a pig ordering it for some reason. so today, no cheesecake. even though i was craving it like a madman.

I went to Subway and got a turkey and cheese on wheat. I searched forever for my sub card and then I finally found it and they said they stopped taking those.

Also TaTu was playing and they were singing a Smiths cover. There’s gotta be some kind of law against that.

I had to go bring a sample to a media company and ran into the owner of another media company I do some work for. He was on his way to get pizza with his company and invited me along. So I got free pizza. Which rocked.

it's hard to find an italian beef sandwhich in colorado. i know of two places that actually have them on the menu. today i went to one of them. it was hard to call it authentic cause when i asked for it "wet and spicy" the man behind the counter had no idea what i was talking about. just the same, the sandwhich was pretty good. the i-beef was well "marianated" and the peppers had some kick. i'd try it again just to make sure i really enjoyed the sandwhich and not the novelty of an italian beef in colorado.

today is one of those few days that subway got it right: fresh bread, crisp and plentiful veggies, just the right amount of spicy mustard, you get the picture.

i got the usual: 6" italian b.m.t. on parmesan oregano bread, with provolone cheese, all veggies except pickles and banana peppers, one line of spicy mustard. sun chips and diet coke.

one of my new york city lunches was actually a 4 pm brunch because we slept in until 2 or something. the place was fucking awesome for brunch: they give you a choice of like 15 brunch menu items, plus four alcoholic beverages - choice of mimosa, straight champagne, bloody mary, or margarita. all this for $14.95! needless to say we got a little buzzed and then proceeded to stop at a bar on the way home for happy-hour peebers. this was on sunday i think.

Today I covered the Gift & Home show, which was much cooler than it sounds, and they had free media lunch kits. I had a tuna salad sandwich made with red peppers and some type of spicy mayo and capers. It came with greasy, green pasta that I ate anyway and a wonderful peanut butter cookie. I love free lunches.

I to Urban Burrito for a taco salad today. It's so much further from my new work. I miss being downtown. But the salad was delish.

I don't have very long for lunch so I called in an order for the Fiesta Grille and raced down the road to pick it up. I thought I ordered three tacos, and was surprised when it wasn't ready when I got there. So they ring me up and I realized the woman on the phone and I didn't understand each other and I ended up with 20$ of tacos and carnitas and beefy cheese dip. I didn't tell them the mistake, and stuffed my face all the way back to the office.

I went to fig with my dad. Ran into Heather there.

I had this carrot lemongrass soup and a salad with walnuts and goat cheese vineagrette and deviled eggs.

I was talking with my dad about how happy I am that 50’s food is so in vogue. ( had tomato aspic yesterday for the first time. Gag.) He said that in the 50’s when you went to a really nice restaurant you got a half of grapefruit and maybe some tomato juice. Sounds shitty, but I guess that’s why they were so much healthier than we are now.

I started a new job so my lunches have been a little wonky as i get in the swing of things. Yesterday I had guacomole and chips and a banana, for example. Today I had spaghetti that I froze from about a month ago, the cafeteria spaghetti. The weird thing is that because of my new schedule, I now eat lunch at 3:00 EST. It really messes your mind up.

today i went to Bene! Gourmet Pizza. i'm eating it right now and it's quite the bomb. i got the lunch deal which includes a slice, caesar salad (or house but i always get caesar), and popsky.

my slice is the mediterranean pizza which is vegetarian and includes: tomato-basil (or sundried tomato sauce, i can't remember) sauce, mozerella, spinach strips, feta, olives, diced tomatoes, red onions, capers, and artichoke hearts. the caesar salad comes with a slice of red bell pepper and a lemon, and has just the right proportion of parmesan, croutons, dressing, and lettuce. and all for under $9.

i had business meetings today so it was a ctered box lunch. i had a chicken pesto sandwhich, one of thos small bags of chips (plain, salted), a cookie (suger) and a coke.

I got a taco salad from Wendy's. I went thru the drivethru. The total was something like 5.39 and I handed the guy $6.00 and he had the change ready in his hand. He was like: Aiaght you didn't think I'd be ready, didja? I was like: Haha, but can I have a straw?

just got back from lunch at new york deli news. casey raved about the corned beef & pastrami on rye, but i got the rare roast beef & swiss with tomato and lettuce on rye. it was a triple decker, the roast beef was delicious, and you automatically get a dish of pickle spears when you sit down, which i thought was the bomb. they have great mustard too, and you'd probably get cement slippers if you asked for mayo on the sandwich.

Last night Alison and I went out ti dinner to Cafe Parvaneh in Chapel Hill. Its one of those places you pass lots but never actually stop to eat there. It was delicious, and I had leftovers of my Curry Polo. On their web site they link directly to the Orange Co. Health Dept. web site, since they are very proud of their sanitation grade. I got totally grossed out over Vespa's rating of a mid-range B.