Chicago Trip: Lambert's

On the first entry about the trip to Chicago, I want to talk about eating at Lambert's in Missouri. Lambert's is a country cooking restaurant about 2 hours north of Memphis on the way to Chicago. I have heard about the place for a long time, but have never gone there before. Dabney and I decided to eat there as part of the trip. Dabney said she ate there before but it had been a while ago. We got there about 11:30 and the place was already packed. We were seated and somebody came by and offered some fried okra even though we had no dishes or anything. The way Lambert's works is in addition to huge servings they have these homemade rolls they famously throw to people, sometimes across the room. They also walk around with pots of fried okra, fried potatoes, black eyed peas, and couple of other dishes. We looked at the menu and it was mostly fried foods, but they also had meatloaf, steak, and other hearty dishes. Dabney and I ordered and while we were waiting one of the guys threw a roll at me. I caught it and realized how hot it was. We split the roll and it was pretty tasty. About that time our plates arrived and they were large plates covered with food. While we were eating they were walking around offering more of the sides. When you talk Europeans about America one of the things they tend to talk about is how much Americans eat and how their serving sizes are so huge. It was a mind boggling amount of food for a restaurant that was not a buffet. We both left with to go plates because there was no way we were going to eat all that food. We left Lambert's a lot more full than we arrived and continued on to Chicago.

Looptacular

Looptacular

This is something I found on The Nerdist site the other day. A girl named Josie Carlwood uses a guitar, keyboards, and a computer to create a cover of the Gorillaz sound Feel Good Inc. I am sure people do stuff like this all the time, but to see someone do this life and in person. The way she is all the tools to create the Gorillaz sound by herself is so awesome to see. One big difference is that is a rap section that is more aggressive in the original, but Josie is able to keep it in her style but it still sounds good. I think it is fun and exciting. I am very impressed by all the trial and error that must go into learning how to use all these tools together to make something.

Three Day Work Week

I have a three day work week this week. Monday was Labor Day, Dabney and I spent the day chilling, watching movies, and just enjoyed being together. I have to work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Then Friday Dabney and I are heading to Chicago for Dabney's Math get together. Dabney and I had an excellent day today. Hopefully we will have a good but short week starting to tomorrow, followed by a trip to Lambert's followed by heading North to Chicago.

Commitment

I have been working on eating better and making a commitment to changing the physical aspect of myself. I have been doing this for a couple of months, and it has not always been easy. It has not been difficult in the obvious way though. I have not been tempted by eating unhealthy food or things I shouldn't. It has been the energy it takes to do this. I am not good at doing things half way, I need to be all in or not all. I guess that is why I have problems with follow through because I know the energy it takes to do something properly. In the case of losing weight and eating better I know it is a long term project and it happens a little bit a time. There is a lot of waiting and being patient enough to take it one step at time. I want this to happen faster but it simply can not happen faster. Your logical brain can say it did not take a few weeks to get this way, so it will not take a few weeks or months to fix it. It can be very, very hard to accept these terms. You want to be smaller, you want to be able to wear different clothes, and it can be a very frustrating process. I just have to be happy with the progress I have made, I have to remember that each step gets me a little bit closer to my ultimate goal. It just takes a lot of energy to do this, and my brain keeps thinking about this. It makes difficult to start other major projects when this is my current major project. I am going to work on multi-tasking and making this is one of the things I am working on.

Low Country Boil

Rusty McSpadden had us all over a Low Country Boil. It involves a large pot of water with shrimp, crab, sausage, corn, and potatoes. I have never had this but I have been to plenty crawfish boils which is basically the same thing with mudbugs instead of shrimp & crab. The whole gang was there and everyone seemed to have a good time. As usual there was ton of other food there. When you have that big group shared food thing, there is a fun communal aspect to it.

Sekisui and Atan's

I have been eating more sushi lately. There are two places that we have been getting sushi from. Atan's was originally a Chinese restaurant but they bought the space next door, and expanded adding a hibachi grill and sushi bar. Dabney does not eat sushi, but there are things that she can order from there. The sushi is not quite as good as Sekisui but it is a good compromise. Speaking of Sekisui they are the number one sushi place in Memphis with several locations. They have my favorite sushi roll. It is called a Nasville roll. They take a roll with spicy crawfish inside and seared tuna on top. The nice thing about Sekisui they have a full sushi menu, but they have a full Japanese menu and wide variety of small dishes to choose from as well. There is a variety of options that are not sushi. It is a little expensive, but the food is really good. I have enjoyed eating more sushi, and like the fact that both places have options for Dabney.

Spinach & Bean Tacos

I had a kind of strange leftover dinner tonight. Dabney had a girl's night out with Stacy so I was on my own. I started off cooking some onion and mushrooms. I added some leftover spinach that had onions and mushrooms in it. After all that heated up some I added some leftover chicken and some fresh spinach we had. When the spinach cooked down, I added a can of red beans. So I had this kind spinach & bean Mexican mix. I put that on some flour tortillas with salsa and cheese. It was very tasty and I enjoyed it very much. I was tempted to go somewhere and grab a quick bite but I came home and made myself dinner. I was almost wooed by Central BBQ and of course the one time I decide not to eat there, no people were waiting in a long line coming out the door.