No man is meant to eat that much meat in one setting.
So I wonder if that makes me superhuman.
Tag Archive: restaurant
Reputation as the eater
At what point do I decide that I want a reputation as a heavy eater? Yes, I eat lots. Good food is something that should be enjoyed. It’s not like I’m particularly out of control, otherwise my weight would have ballooned out of control, right? And given that I’ve put a lot of effort lately into actually losing weight, the reputation seems to be a bit of a mismatch. Except…it’s not a mismatch at all. Part of what’s helped my weight loss is certainly the fact that I run. One reason I burn calories is that I want to be able to eat more. It’s been good.
At team lunches, I don’t feel too shy going for it. Today we went to Korean BBQ to welcome the new team member. We had enough people to take two grills. As a result, there was a bit of a competition between grills. Who could order more? Who could eat more meat? In the end, we won. We were an efficient eating machine. For dessert, we were given a choice between green tea ice cream and mango ice cream. I was one of two people that opted for a scoop of both. Heh. And when all was said and done I feel like I still got the bigger rep as the guy that can down more. I haven’t decided whether I’m comfortable with this reputation.
After the heavy meal I didn’t really plan on eating dinner. In fact, when I got home I felt a big urge to burn some calories so I did an 8K run around my place. I can deal with the eating as long as I work hard to allow it. Why? Eating less or eating less-than-tasty food is just no damn fun.
No one came out a winner
Was over at the pub with a few friends. After browsing the menu I settled on getting the chili nachos. In so many pubs I’ve been to, when you order nachos you get a sizable but manageable plate. When I placed my order the server warned me that the nachos were a huge portion. Without knowing what he meant, he was effectively questioning my masculinity. What? You don’t think I can finish a plate of nachos? I just got him to bring them anyway with a pint. Ten minutes later he came back with a basket of nachos that made me just go “Oh, shit.” Sure he warned me that the portion was enormous, but I wasn’t expecting this much. I felt like I was over my head, but I set out to get the job done anyway. I actually did manage to eat all of the chips, beef, and chili. All that was left were vegetables. Now, you can say that I basically won that challenge. All things considered though, no one came out a winner.
So stuffed.
Away from the raw stuff
Tonight, post run, I ended up hanging out with a friend I hadn’t seen in a long while at our favourite all you can eat sushi place down the road. Just like I’ve mentioned in the past, it’s almost as if the ability to gorge ourselves got left behind in university. I had totally forgotten about it, but my friend mentioned a time when we felt like getting stuffed post exam and went to the Pizza Hut lunch buffet. I somehow managed to down 13 small slices of pizza that afternoon. And afterwards we walked over to the Dairy Queen next door to cap things off. Holy crap. I simply can’t even imagine doing that now. So, the lack of will and ability to really stuff ourselves only means that we take our time choosing stuff that gives us the most bang for our buck. I mean, it’s easy enough to pick rolls that would normally cost $8 anywhere else. Those pile up.
Anyway, mid-dinner, we were talking about our meal when I came to the realization that there’s a definite pattern in the way I tackle all you can eat sushi places. I actually rarely ever go for anything raw. That totally didn’t occur to me until tonight. I did order sashimi and it wasn’t really a favourite of mine. Instead I gravitated to the rolls and other cooked items. I do eat maki rolls, but I will go for the ones that have tempura shrimp or grilled eel as the protein part. It’s not that I hate the raw fish, but it’s simply not that great. I do remember eating sashimi in Japan, and man, that was some amazing stuff. Here though in Toronto, the fish is inevitably pre-frozen, and you can taste it. That’s not to say that the fish isn’t tasty, but the mouth-feel leaves something to be desired. I don’t want to eat something that’s simply “all right” when there’s plenty of other stuff on the menu that makes me happy, know what I mean?
Wow, I feel a little odd even admitting any of this. I mean, I do like sushi and sashimi. Just…I need to pick and choose when I partake in that kind of food, and oddly enough all you can eat Japanese is not ideal. Go figure.
Never thought I’d see the day
Umm…just a small thought:
All you can eat sushi is still kind of fun, but for whatever reason, for me its appeal is starting to wane.
What the hell is wrong with me? O_o
The gourmand tour 1
So, yesterday I told you about the food tour that me and my friend were going to partake in. It started out early in the day–I met up with her at 9:30 a.m. or so. We decided to get an early start because we were determined to get as much content in as possible. In the end, we covered a lot of ground, ate a lot of food, and even participated in a pillow fight. I’ll talk about the pillow fight in another entry because this one is going to be a long one as it is.
Read more of the food tour, and check out the photos after the jump.
Tasting Toronto
Firing off a quick post with regards to what I’m going to be up to today. I often have small complaints about not getting out enough. Well today I’m doing something very interesting. I’m meeting up with a friend and we’re going to be hitting up various restaurants spread out through downtown. These places have been recommended by blogTO so we want to see what the fuss is about. Stops will include: brunch, Ethiopian, cheese, chocolate, burgers, a deli, and Latin.
Obviously we’re not going to get stuffed at each stop, but will find small menu items worth sampling. We’ll be walking all over, so at least that will help us digest. That being said, I’m packing pepto with me.
I’ll be attempting to Twitter updates as we go. Should be great!
Fries, cheese curds, and gravy
Poutine is totally a Québecois thing, isn’t it? I was first introduced to it in the high school cafeteria. Fries are pretty ubiquitous in cafeteria setting. I guess it was easy enough for them to add grated mozzarella cheese and gravy on top. Sure, it wasn’t true poutine since it didn’t make use of cheese curds, but high schoolers aren’t that discerning, right? Anyway, that became a frequent lunch order for me. Unfortunately, the lumpen mass of food sitting in my gut caused me to be pretty lethargic for the rest of the day. Thinking about those days kind of makes me queasy. Ever since then, it’s only been an occasional thing–mostly when I’m in the mood for something totally trashy. Actually, even then, it hasn’t been on my radar at all. That all changed over the past month or two though.
The legend of the recently opened (I think) poutinerie has been bandied about at work and among my running buddies. Mention of it is inevitably followed by the question “Have you been there before?” That’s usually followed by “Awwwww, man…it’s sooooo gooood,” with extended vowels and all. So, earlier this week me and a couple of colleagues made it a point to make the trip down the road to see what all the fuss was all about.
I was half expecting a nasty place with an atmosphere thick with vaporised oil, kind of like the greasy spoons that we visit now and then. I was happy to have been proven wrong: it was clean and didn’t smell of smoke. All the items on the menu were pricey. You’d think that it’d be a factor considering these wonky economic times, but no, the place was busy. Being that there were all of these novel kinds of poutine with piles of other ingredients on top, I figured that I might as well go for one of the hefty ones. One colleague and I picked out the one that came with sausages, bacon, onions, and mushrooms on top of the already loaded fries, gravy and cheese curds. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing you’re probably thinking right now: “holy shit.” My other colleague ordered one with ground beef, onions, and mushrooms. They each came out to about $10. Like I said, they were some expensive items; they were a far cry from the $3.99 trays from high school. Anyway, here are some pics of the boxes we got. I took them with my cell.
Yeah, that’s some pretty heavy stuff. My strategy to make it through my box was just to eat it kind of quickly, thus getting past the “full” signal. I accomplished my mission. The colleague that got the beef one wasn’t so lucky–he stopped at 95%.
So, OK, this totally was one of those things where you would go to the restaurant for the experience, but wouldn’t go back regularly. First of all, it’s expensive. Secondly, it’s completely unhealthy. Ultimately, I think though that if I do ever crave poutine, it won’t be for any of this fancy business, know what I mean? Just give me the fries, cheese curds, and gravy and I’ll be good to go.
Recent Comments