The Write Ingredients

Day 2, well, we can't control everything.

After a locally baked scone from Yum, loaded with beautiful mixed berrys that I'm sure couldn't have come far, I ended up at, of all places, T.G.I Fridays for lunch.

Yuck.

But the clients picked it, and we tried to change their mind to The Good Earth, but you can't win them all, eh? It turned out to be a pleasant lunch, despite the food. One client brought her three-year-old son, who behaved so well, I often forgot he was even there. We ordered the crispy green bean fries to start, and like anything deep friend, they were addictive. Here's their description:

CRISPY GREEN BEAN FRIES
Crunchy and crisp battered green beans with a cool creamy Cucumber-Wasabi Ranch dip. Be warned, these are addictive.

Yes, they were battered and fried, but wasabi was as far from them as local ingredients were. The clients tasted something "hot" but I suspected some the classic substitute, horseradish.

I asked the server if they had any vegetarian options, and not surprisingly, he pointed out one. It was a portabello pasta, which didn't sound have bad. But there were 8 pages of dishes, including the pastas and salads and sandwiches, and that was all he could come up with? I turned to their "healthy" page and ordered the dragonfire chicken. I believe chicken can only be so bad, or so rubbery, but the other option, the mahi-mahi, kind of made my skin crawl. Here's the description of the chicken:

DRAGONFIRE CHICKEN
Marinated chicken breast topped with fiery Kung Pow sauce, mandarin oranges and pineapple pico de gallo. Served with stir-fried brown rice and cilantro lime seasoned broccoli.

And it was edible. In fact, the sauce was pretty tasty. I wouldn't really call it fiery, but hot at least. The rice was brown, yes, but brown rice? Probably not. It had the soft texture of white rice, with some sauce and dried vegetables mixed in. Though not a fan of broccoli, I ate it because, well, it's good for me, right?

So the meal wasn't a total waste, although far from being local. But my real beef was with the straws. I told coworker on the way out, that if the server offered me a straw, I would refuse it. (Too many straws go directly to landfills.) But before I even noticed, he set the (plastic) glass of water in front of me with a STRAW!! Eeck. And the worst part. Instead of filling up my water with a pitcher, he brought me another (plastic) glass of water with ANOTHER STRAW!! So, not I'm guilty for TWO STRAWS!!

(I'll have to drive that scooter for months to offset that plastic.)