Well. I have really done a shitty little job of keeping up with this. Here's where I think the problem came in: When I finally, after what seemed like days, finished my first entry, I went back and over-analyzed, scrutinized, and pored over the text, judging myself, thoughts, and writing beyond the point of ridiculousness. I deemed myself a blubbering idiot and decided to not return to the blog until I felt confident that I could turn things around. (I actually don't feel confident in that fact yet, but the only way to get to that point is to practice). Anthony has been a great help to me on this whole endeavor. He makes lots of suggestions, most of which are above and beyond my capacity, but they still reach me mentally and maybe somehow will push their way through. With that preface, I'll get back to the point, the most important point of this whole business. FOOD.

Obviously, in the however many days since my last entry, I have had many meals. I may have been on sabbatical from blogging, but that in no way means that my eating suffered. Instead of going back in time and doing a ridiculously long and dragging entry, I'm going to start by focusing on the present and the very very recent and most pertinent. Unfortunately I've decided to re-start this on the most boring of food days.

Today was boring because I worked at Joe's Inn, my restaurant, if I hadn't mentioned before, from 7:30 am- 2 and then again from 5- 10pm. This means that, unless I make concerted efforts, all of my meals will happen there. Did I make concerted efforts today, you may ask? No, not especially. This morning, I waited on a bunch of people eating their eggs with cheddar, and it looked so orange and vibrant contrasting with the baby yellow of the yolks, that I figured it had to be delicious. So, when I finally had a free moment I ordered an egg on a bun, on wheat toast, scrambled with CHEDDAR, spinach, mushrooms, and bacon. John Seymore made it up good for me in the kitchen and I was excited to realize that somehow I finally got a warm breakfast at Joe's Inn. Lately I've been feeling that every time I order, a parade of customers waltzes in and my food gets cold in my frenzy of work and bustling.

Which is worse? Cold eggs, or eggs without cheese? They both are bad but I'd have to say eggs without cheese. Regardless, I got warm eggs today, some could even say hot, but the cheese was lacking. Ryan is always talking up cheddar like it's God's gift, but you know what? God gave us American too and that, I believe, is what he wants us to put with eggs. I really need to stop basing everything I eat at work on what everyone else is eating and how good it looks. Looks can be deceiving. Not only a lesson in food, but a lesson in life. I think I also like soft bacon, but that's a whole other thing. In general, my breakfast was good. Toni, a coworker of mine, got a little wild this morning and was floating ideas around with me for a while until she settled on a grilled peanut butter sandwich with bacon. She said that 821 has a similar sandwich on their menu and I told her that I thought Elvis used to eat something like it. She gave me a bite, and I went in with an entirely open mind, but in the end I just tasted it for hours throughout the day and regretted it entirely. Later she told me that she added cold raw banana to it and that it really improved things. I think it would. I told her honey should have been involved and she agreed. I think it would have been a whole other thing. The bacon and the grease were just too overpowering for my blood. Also, it is my basic feeling that peanut butter is only good with sweets. Peanut butter and chocolate, peanut butter and nutella, peanut butter and marshmallow, peanut butter and apple, peanut butter and honey, peanut butter and jelly, etc. But enough about breakfast. (Note: I need to work on segueways).

After breakfast, I continued to have to work and drink coffee. I love drinking coffee in the mornings of working at Joe's Inn. I can have however much I want, whenever I want, with whatever I want. I can dump it out if it's cold. I can make it iced, I can have various cups of it set about throughout the restaurant. It's great. I love the whole drink system there. Sometimes I'l just take a souffle cup and fill it with dr. pepper and take it like a shooter. DP shots. Nothing better. Except club soda with lime and lemon squeezed generously. The other day Clair and Clancy and I were talking about our top 3 favorite drinks of all time. I thought top 5 was more practical but Clair insisted on only 3. My top 3 would be water, coffee, and red wine. Top five would be water, coffee, red wine, club soda, and dr. pepper. I'd really like to also be able to include apple juice, beer, bourbon, and tea. I also really like white hot chocolate.

Tank, in the kitchen, had a birthday mid-day and we all sang to him and there was ice cream cake involved. It was yummy. I wish I didn't oddly hate chocolate ice cream. It's such a travesty I feel. I was ashamed to even say it aloud today. I still ate it, so I guess I don't hate it that much, but something about it just bums me out. Luckily, this cake was tiered and there was chocolate ice cream at the bottom, then yummy little chocolate crunchies, then vanilla ice cream and white frosting. I ate the chocolate part first since it's my least fave, and then dove right into the crunchies. Those were delightful. Then I went home for a mini break, where I also, in a valiant effort to be healthy, rode my bike to ukrops for a big salad. It was basically a pound and a half of greenery. Spinach, broccoli, red and green peppers, edamame, cauliflower, celery, red cabbage, carrots, zucchini, cucumber, roasted pumpkin seeds, and craisins. Whenever I talk about getting a salad from ukrops this is what it consists of. I usually get these four times a week, give or take, just to make sure I get a good healthy dose of veggies. And of course, lots of fiber. I ate this salad for "lunch" at 5, when I got back to work. Work was boring, and when I finally got off, and felt like I had eaten pretty well for the entirety of the day. So, I decided to get something I have been denying myself for quite a while. Pizza. Wynter and I got a small greek pizza with light cheese, extra veggies, and no olives. I poured crushed red pepper all over it, a few dribbles of sririacha, and then spread a very very thin layer of ranch over it all with a butter knife. It was hot and delicious, soft and cheesy. Mmm mmm. I'm not sure that I can name any food better than pizza.

I've never done a blog before, but I'm hoping it'll be fun. This is a food blog first and foremost. I'm not sure of the direction I'm going to take, so I'll just start with my thoughts on the food that I eat throughout the day. Since this weekend was somewhat eventful I'll backtrack and discuss the great meals of the past few days.

On Friday, I started the day off with a peanut butter and oat fiber-one bar. One of my favorite breakfast bars; soft and chewy, low calorie, and chock full of fiber. I think there are about nine grams in one bar. That's almost half of the daily intake that is recommended. After eating that and drinking a couple of bottles of water, I went on a forced run, to try to justify eating like a hog later. When I got home from my run I puttered around hungrily until I finally convinced myself to go to the strawberry street market for one of my favorite quick lunches in Richmond. Their buffalo mozzarella wrap is killer. I bought that excitedly and then wandered over to the couple of soup kettles they have near the deli area. I'm used to expecting the same soups there everyday, but was thrilled to see that they had roasted red pepper and smoked gouda, a brand new one I've never tried. It's really hard for me to pass up anything with gouda. I bought those and walked home quickly, the smell of cheese and peppers wafting from my bag. When I arrived at my house I plugged in the George Foreman and put half my wrap in it. As it grilled, I slurped my soup in a frenzy. It was so good. In every bite I could taste melted Gouda and the sweet peppers. MMM. I hope they have that there more often. Just as I had spooned up every ounce of soup, the wrap was ready. I pulled it out, hot and grill marked, and poured a puddle of sriracha on my plate. The next five minutes were pure pleasure, every bite dipped generously in hot sauce, the melted cheese burning my fingers, the vinegar of the buffalo sauce cut by the clean mozzarella distributed evenly through the wrap. I probably get this about twice a week and have never once looked back.

Just when I thought I'd reached my dining plateau for the day, Lisa called and asked if I wanted to go to Ipanema for this 'wine down' thing where I guess wine is cheap or something. I had nothing better to do so agreed. We rode our bikes down there and enjoyed the warmth of the day. When we arrived we learned that 'wine down' is only Monday through Thursday. We were disappointed, but decided to make the best of it with snacks. I got a glass of white wine anyway, since it was such a nice spring day and we decided to share an appetizer of zucchini fritters. I'd never had these here, as I usually get the Gouda sandwich, but was not at all disappointed. I thought they would be big slices of zucchini fried, but it was actually shredded zucchini mixed in a batter sort of like hush puppies and then lightly fried. They were quite yummy and big too. I like how the people at Ipanema always give you whatever sauce you may need. Without having to ask, they brought us ketchup, sriracha, Dijon, and another mustard sauce that actually came with the fritters. There are few things I love more than sauce smörgåsbords. After that, Lisa would not stop raving about their vegan peach pie, so she ordered the last piece. I'm not usually a fruit pie person, so figured I'd just have a bite or two. When it arrived I halfheartedly dug my spoon into it, adding a little ice cream to the top of the bite and ate it. I cannot even begin to describe how delicious this pie was. It was hot, sweet, creamy, and buttery all in one bite. The fruit was ripe and baked perfectly into the crust that was lethal. The top was crispy and soft all at once, with the ice cream making it the perfect spring evening dessert. I couldn't stop eating it, and kept going back for bite after bite. We started to worry that we were going to need another piece and looked at the desert board to see that they also had a pear-blueberry pie and something with strawberry. We decided to not be cows however, so stuck with the one piece and definitely felt less guilty later for it. That pear-blueberry sounds delicious though, and I'm counting down the days until I get to go back and eat another piece, maybe this time all to myself.

Later that night I got back to my house and ate a salad I had purchased from Ukrops. It was so good in part because they just added hot sweet peppers to the salad bar and they gave that little extra something that my salad has been missing. I also have taken to adding hard-boiled egg whites to my salads and that is quite good as well.

Saturday, I worked in the morning and ordered myself an egg on a bun scrambled with American cheese, spinach, mushrooms, and bacon. Unfortunately, I got busy and wasn't able to eat it until almost 30 minutes after I'd ordered it. The egg was cold and the bun was stiff. Quite tragic. Later on, one of my customers ordered a big breakfast with an extra egg. I put it in the computer but the kitchen didn't read it right and accidentally added cheddar cheese to the eggs. I brought it to him and when I came back he pointed it out. He said he wouldn't usually send something back but he just hates cheese in eggs. It was an honest mistake and I took the eggs back and got him some more, but the most important point to me was... who doesn't like cheese eggs? I hate eggs without cheese. I just can't imagine. I feel badly for him almost. Luckily, since my breakfast was so disappointing, I got to eat his eggs which were nice and warm and fluffy. When Dawn got there, she made herself a little platter of snacks including grits and minestrone soup. Just last week she introduced me to a new combo of lentils and grits and sriracha all mixed together, which turned out to be quite tasty. I had hoped the minestrone would have a similar effect but it didn't. Later, for lunch, I shared a portabella sub with Katie P which also turned out to be a bit of a bummer. It always looks so good when I'm serving it to others, but when I get it I remember how mushy and vinegary it is. I ended up just eating the mushroom part since the bread was so thick and soggy. Ah well. Not everything can be delicious.

After work I had a mimosa with orange juice, champagne, and chambord, a raspberry liquor. So tasty and refreshing. I then went to a surprise birthday party for my friend Cat at these girl's house who are outstanding chefs. They made a home cooked birthday meal for her of fresh pesto and pasta with salad. I feel like it's been a while, probably since my vacation up north, since I've had a good solid meal like that made from scratch. If only my kitchen were bigger and my gas was turned on, maybe I could cook for friends too. I covered that pasta noodle to noodle in crushed red pepper and sucked it down like a hoover. For her birthday dessert Lisa made these oatmeal cupcakes that I can't describe. I don't know what was in them, all I know is that I could have eaten 4+ but stuck to just the one. When I got home I boiled up some broccoli, cauliflower, and edamame and covered it in old bay seasoning. The best healthy snack I know. I pretty much feel like I did not stop eating on Saturday.

Today I woke up feeling like pigaloni from the past couple of days. I had a fiber-one bar and another yummy breakfast treat of raspberry cottage cheese doubles, drank a bunch of water, and ran. When I was running back from Byrd Park I ran into Anthony who was on his way to Subway for the 5 $ footlong deal. I couldn't pass it up, even though I smelled like a men's locker room. We walked to subway where I told him all about this food blog, including how long and tedious this first entry is (sorry) and he expressed agreement that it did sound pretty boring. I'll have to work on that. This is the first time I've really written anything other than an email in a long long time. Anyway, at subway I got a foot long oven roasted chicken breast toasted on honey oat bread with just about every hot pepper or veggie offered. Topped with a little salt and pepper and chipotle southwest and I was good to go. As we were walking back Anthony told me to mention on here that if ever anyone goes to Subway for the tuna salad sandwich they should get it on honey oat with spinach, hot peppers, and sweet vidalia onion sauce. So there you go. Now I'm about to go to work, where I strongly doubt I'm going to eat anything too exciting. I may just bring this boxed instant Indian curry meal that I really like, 'tasty bites sprouts and bean curry.' It's basically already ready, you just have to microwave it. I usually add broccoli, cauliflower, and sriracha. On the fiber front, this stuff has about 14 grams. Wowser. Then again, I may just eat a grilled cheese at work and call it a day. I guess I'll have to report back tomorrow. Until then, uhh....happy eating? Bon appetit? It all sounds kind of trite. I'll keep brainstorming.