So, yesterday I had plans to meet up with some friends for a little Sunday lunch. (Well, I also had plans to go downtown to cheer on some other friends as they ran the Marine Corps Marathon, but the cheering plans were derailed a bit by the "Is it four AM already? Again?" night the night before. I hold Josephus responsible.) We decide to go to the falafel joint that I (wisely) decided not to visit eight hours earlier.
I walk over and stick my head inside to make sure they aren't there already. Since I have just enough coffee in my system to hold my hangover stomach's hand over the bridge from nausea to hunger, I briefly consider knocking down a falafel while I'm waiting for them to show and then doubling up once they arrive. I decide against it because, hey, we all have an upbringing to live with.
Just as I'm beginning to reconsider my lunching chivalry, the first of my three lunching companions arrive. We stick our heads back in to make sure the other half of our party didn't sneak by while I was down the block getting coffee. For the second time, I stand in line for a minute before going back outside.
After another ten minutes, the other two finally show up. We go in to stand in line in earnest at last. Lunching Companion #1's cell phone rings. She looks at it to realize that Lunching Companion #3 is calling her, only LC3 is standing next to her and is not on the phone. Upon answering, LC1 discovers that LC3 dropped her phone on the street on the way to lunch, where it was recovered by a well-meaning passerby who was taking pains to return it to its rightful owner.
"OH, GOD DAMN IT!" says I, as I yet again turn away from the line to go on a thirty-minute hike back to the car to meet the Giantess Samaratin. (Did we all need to go? No, but I don't get to see these people all that often.)
But, the difficulties and delays in acquiring a much-needed lunch got me to thinking in the course of that walk: is all of this nonsense going to make this lunch even better? I eventually got my falafel, and it was remarkably tasty. (That may, of course, be due to the fact that it was the first time I had ever gone there in daylight and sober.) I concluded for that particular experience that my lunch was heightened by the slow, at times maddening, ascent to the table, as it were.
So, my question to you, fellow OWFLers, is this: do you engage in any lunch foreplay? Do you ever stretch out your approach to lunch so you can savor the anticipation? Are there any times when you think you should? What's the best way to intensify your lunch experience by what you do (or don't do) beforehand?
And, of course, WFL?
PS - I had a couple of other gem illustrations, but Blogger is being a little bitch this morning. Or, I'm dumb. One or the other. Damn it.
18 comments:
unfortunately, i don't believe in lunch foreplay. when i am hungry, i want my food in my belly. if i see a long ass line, i will find an alternative place for lunching unless all places in the area happen to be about the same amount of wait. if i am in a group, i try to be nice and amenable. but in my head, i am so ready to chow down. b/c if i get too hungry and then sit down to eat, i shovel the food in so fast that i get heartburn. not cool.
today is left over chinese food from eat first...yummy! ginger scallion lo mein and some shrimp & pork fried rice. i think the fried rice is the best i've ever had in my entire life. no joke.
I eat lunch late, like 2:30 or 3 usually. And I do that intentionally to make the last part of my day go by faster. I think it began when I worked and lived in Reston. I'd break at 3 and go home to watch General Hospital. Plus everything is less crowded at that time. I can easily grab a table downstairs or outside, or order a sandwich without waiting 20 minutes in line. I only take about 30 minutes for lunch on most daysk, so the less time I spend in the lunch rush the better.
My lunch foreplay today will involve treking across town, going through some security, getting name badge and whatnot, before going into noontime speaker/conference thing.
Not sure what they dish up at this place for lunch, i'll report back.
I suspect it will be a sandwich, bag of chips, coke product, and cookie ensemble
I agree with LC. Instant gratification is almost always my first choice.
However, Instant Gratification(tm) has consistently gotten me into trouble over the years.
So, I like to go running before I eat a huge meal nowadays. I don't eat carbs after 3pm (I've cut-out beer unless its a special occaision). So I do wine and some hard liquor for drinking. I no longer eat that big piece of chocolate cake when I want it (muchies) at 9pm at night.
So I've been happier with myself. And yes, I kicked ass at a 5k this weekend. Sixth place in my age group. HollA!!!
oh, I was supposed to be on topic.
uummm I started bringing my lunch... it takes all I have no to eat it all by 11am. Does the "trysting" with your lunch before the "afternoon delight" have anything to do with the topic?
I'm with Lady A. I like to eat my lunch later in the afternoon, particularly on days when I get started early. It's almost like a little end of the day celebration. Less hassles, less postprandial bullshit to deal with.
I'm going to Chick-Fil-A today with a co-worker. She and I make the considerable trek every month or so, and we're due.
I'm going to eat too much to compensate for the fact that I was just on an hour-long conference call discussing the ins and outs (speaking of trysting) of software development of an applicant tracking system.
Who decided to take THIS job?
I too am with the Lady A and EQ camp of trying to eat late in the day when I'm working. Not so these days, when it's me and Dirty Mitts home all day. I usually eat something around 11, and then again at dinner, or not really at all, other than maybe picking at some things. Of course, should there be consumption of tasty adult beverages later in the evening, the eating early, but then not again, route leads to strife. (see: Saturday)
Lunch today was leftover pad thai. I'm still really sick, so I may top that off with a trip to the Dr.
Nice post.
The easy answer is that OWFL provides me very satisfying lunch foreplay everyday. As soon as I start reading I get a little hungry and the more I read the hungrier I get until finally I can't hold it in any longer and I throw my lunch down on my desk and proceed to violate it Rocco Sifredi style. "You so nasty...you like that don't you lunch? So nasty."
All that lunch chilvary that earthquake describes quickly becomes annoyance and anger to me. If I have a scheduled group lunch and someone starts slowing us up I will almost always make them decide on a concrete later time that must be adhered to. That way I can get my stomach back on a clock and if need be pick up a small sandwich from Mom's downstairs to tide me over. If the offending party misses the new deadline then the plans are cancelled in favor of a new day when they aren't being an asshole.
Saturday night was fun, I think. It was a good warm-up to the big Lady A bash coming up this weekend.
Lunch today will be dictated by what I see first after leaving citibank. My money is on a sammy from Daily Market.
Improving lunch the MikeySunshine way:
1) Deep Bong Hit
2) Add Skittles
3) MMM
Lunch today could not be improved the traditional MS way, as sadly the years long affair with Mary Jane is on rocky terms and I don't think we'll make it too much longer before we break up for good.
SO to improve lunch today , i made it. Slaved over a stove I did. Also adding Bacon and Feta made it great.
Grilled turkey and cheese with the above mentioned ingrediants added.
WHERE IS MIKEYSUNSHINE AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HIM???!!!!
If you do see him...tell him I owe him a pie for offering his manly muscles to kweef on multiple occasions.
When I worked a strict 9-5 job, now its like 8:55-5:15, give or take an hour, I used to always wait until at least 1pm before taking lunch. Delaying the gratification. Not so much for the food factor, but for the recreational escape from routine that is lunch. I figured if I waited until 1pm to take my lunch, half my day was already over, and the second half would involve yummy food for 25% of that time. If I could push it even later than it was even better.
Nowadays I just eat when i'm hungry or have time
I'm with the eat lunch later crowd. It makes the afternoon go so much quicker. Although lately I haven't been able to wait - combine that with not being able to get out of bed early, and I'm barely a third through my day before I'm eating lunch . . . sigh. I need to stop that.
Today was lunch at home - leftover veal parm from Friday night's dinner. It was ok - didn't keep all that well. The breading was soggy. The best part was the garlic bread I made to go with it. Oink. I've gotten through 2 practice tests today, which would be much more impressive if a whole slew of q's on each one didn't have 'N/A's in place of the answer, since that specific paper is no longer on the exam . . . . I have to go stretch my back out somehow before I sit down to give exam 2002 a try. My back hurts. Ugh.
ok I totally grabbed a second lunch and it was an orgy of wraps and everybody got their cookies.
I finished my lunch before I went on the daily lunch today. After I finished the run I was STARVING. So I ran down to Jason's (wasn't slow or bad this time) Deli and got a sammy for way too much money. But they gave me two cookies.
:)
So it wasn't just one lunch today ... but two. What is that called?
the daily run .. not the daily lunch .. damnit!
Nov. calendar up.
Dear Blogger,
What the EFF is wrong with you. It is now 4:30. I ate lunch hours ago. But you're just letting me view OWFL now? That's not foreplay. That's mean.
Frustratedly,
GimletGirl
17 posts at 4:35?
My think-tank lunch was sandwiches (three halves, though one was like a quarter), salad, cookies, and a coke product.
I was only wrong about the salad in place of chips situation. Perhaps think-tanks are thinking to provide better nutrition in their tanks
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