You Got the Fast Food, and You Can Take It to Eat Anywhere

    I don't eat out that much, maybe two or three days per month. I have many reasons for this.  First, I am kind of a picky eater. When I was a kid, there were only so many things that I would eat.  That's still mostly the case, although my tastes have expanded considerably.  I must admit that I have cut quite a few things back in the last few years, which I am hoping to change. Next, I do try to eat healthy whenever I can. I don't eat totally 'clean,' but it is usually a bit more on the healthy side.  It is one of the reasons why I learned how to cook.  (Another is that my mother is not that good at it.)  While I'm not the best, I am really quite competent in my wheelhouse.  Another reason is that I tend to try and schedule my meals in advance.  Back when I was starting college, there were nights when I didn't know what I was eating for dinner as much as an hour beforehand. I actually hate having to do so much scheduling, and I have put off final details a lot in the past few weeks, but I would rather make a list early than not having any idea until the last second.  That just happened to me this weekend, but it was more of what can I find while shopping that I need rather than not having any ideas at all.  It also helps me figure out how to alternate dishes so I don't eat things too similar too close together or repeat meals too frequently. It doesn't help that I can't eat leftovers. (I'm sort of a 'super-taster.' I can't tolerate the taste of most reheated foods.)  Finally, there's cost.  I just can't afford it all the time.  Just within the last year, I spent over twenty dollars just for two signature burgers, two sides, and a fountain drink. I won't mention where, but it is a local place and not one where I would even think of normally going.  Anyway, I had to eat out yesterday.  I was taking my mother to the doctor, so I had to leave early before I could eat a real breakfast. I have a hard time eating a full meal that early in the morning, so I had just a protein shake, with a small snack mid-morning.  She wanted to get some takeout.  I didn't want to eat at the place I had burgers at the last time, and my mother had some qualms about their rewards program lately. I was thinking about the new promotion at another place, since I really wanted to try it now that it was brought back, but I couldn't be sure if the local location was running it yet.  I was thinking about a few other place, but I really wasn't feeling it for any of their signature burgers that day.  My mother ultimately 'convinced' me to go to the place she had some coupons for, including one for something she absolutely craves and I couldn't care less for. Well, we were the only people inside at the time we went in. Someone had just left.  There was one person at the counter and the drive-through, and she was being easily distracted, especially when some workers from the back came out to check something out in the restrooms, maybe. The attendant had to process another order before she came back to take ours, after it took a minute or two for my mother to decide if she really wanted to use her coupons after all.  The attendant almost got us too many cups.  Then, she almost forgot whose order it was.  Things almost got worse when another attendant came up front to try and help out, and she almost got the orders mixed up as well.  By that time, someone else had come in and was waiting in 'line.'  Finally, we were ready to leave, although my mother almost got mad when the place was out of napkins.  She is obsessed with getting free napkins whenever she goes out. She also waited until getting to the car to double-check to see if the order was placed correctly.  That almost got food over my car.  At least we got to the store without any problems. Well, my burger barely had anything that qualified as lettuce, and I don't think there were any onions on it either.  I don't remember them.  At least I had double the tomatoes after I stole them from mom's burger.  (She doesn't really like them in the raw state.). While she complained that the meal was a little too expensive even after she used her coupons, she couldn't stop raving about the food after she ate it.  I barely could stand it.  It just didn't like the flavor.  I still can't believe she went from almost saying she would never eat there again to saying it was very good.  She is prone to doing such things.  She didn't even eat all of hers.  She is saving the rest of her burger to eat today.  Yuck.  As for me, I was fairly hungry for the rest of the afternoon.  Admittedly, I weigh over sixty pounds more than she, or even seventy, and with a faster metabolism, so that same amount of food just wasn't enough for me.  Even after a small bite in the afternoon.  How I wish I stood up and suggested any other place that day.  We would've spend about as much, but for something I might have actually liked.