Unsatisfied

During the last two days, I've been extremely unsatisfied with the restaurant options in my neighborhood. I've been so busy during the last two weeks, that I haven't had time to cook or properly plan meals for the week. I've been tossing whatever I can find into the kids' lunch boxes -- but so far no one has complained. The saving factor was probably the loaves of spiced pumpkin and whole wheat breads that I made yesterday.

We had a late-afternoon doctor's appointment for my son on Wednesday, and it ruined any chances of having a reasonable dinner or relaxing evening at home. Luckily, the appointment went well and our worries were set aside for the moment. But worrying about dinner was another matter. We chose the Brooklyn Burger Bar, a seemingly hearty sort of place in a prime renovated corner spot. But the service was horrible, the food was mediocre, and we were very disappointed. The kids each had hot dogs and french fries. The two plates could have served four hungry kids, but our kids only nibbled, having slurped down their 16-ounce chocolate milks in a hurry. Our food took much longer to arrive and the turkey burger I had really tasted like ground chicken. My husband's burger was served without the mushrooms he ordered and he was never told that they were out for the night. The manager agreed to give us a 30% discount, but we vowed never to return.

On Thursday, I spent the whole day working on an assignment and really didn't eat much. I thought I would go and grab a sandwich for the drive to my class. The first sandwich shop had a great selection, but they didn't take my debit card, and I was out of cash. The second shop, which was ironically called "Grab and Go," was out of sandwiches and didn't have any other lunch items to grab. I ordered some cheese and bread, and the counter person had trouble figuring out that I wanted to make a cheese sandwich. He cut huge slices of Manchego cheese and gave me a hard roll. I also ordered some expensive almonds. There wasn't much that appealed to me, and there weren't any other options, as far as stores. I was famished by this point. I was fairly close to where my car was parked, and I really needed to get on the road or I was going to risk being late. The service at this shop was SO slow. I dashed out, and vowed never to return.

The funny thing is that I have a cupboard relatively full of food - canned soup, frozen things, juice, milk -- but I've noticed that when I'm in a hurry, I don't even have time to open a can!