06-05-00
For someone that is attempting to get into shape, I sure eat out a ridiculously large amount of time. It's not that I don't know how to cook good food, or even that I dislike cooking in general. I just am a lazy cuss.
Saturday, I had to go on a field trip to Wild Cat Den State Park to look at ferns with my botany class. It's a pretty place, but I'm not sure it was worth driving 53 miles to see a rattlesnake fern in the wild. On the way back, I gave a girl in my class a ride back to Iowa City. We drove through Muscatine and West Liberty, and I remarked that there is supposed to be a fantastic Mexican restaurant somewhere around there. She thought it was in Nichols. I wasn't sure. We ended up talking about the joys of Mexican food the entire trip back to her car, so after I dropped her off, I decided I needed to eat something with a south-of-the-border kick.
I visited La Casa for a taco platter. Now I am reminded why I don't eat there, which I seem to forget every 3 years or so, make a repeat visitation and promptly remember. They don't give you chips and salsa on the table, you have to ask for and then pay for them. That's a strike for me. I sat there, nursing my glass of water until the waitress brought out this gigantic plate and told me it was hot. Ah, La Casa, the home of the gigantic, semi-rigid, open-faced taco. Imagine two of these on a plate, next to a creeping puddle of runny refried beans, and dried-out, flavourless spanish rice. I hacked one of the tacos apart and ate it as a sort of salad. I didn't have the heart of the energy to attack the other one.
And later that evening, Dana and I went to Village Inn, where I had some delicious apple-pecan crepes. Who would have thought such a culinary masterpiece could be found in a chain restaurant? Much less accompanied by hashbrowns and crispy bacon? Dana had the same thing she always has; the avocado-swiss chicken sandwich with the chicken replaced by a gardenburger patty, and fries with a side of ranch for dipping.
Sunday, I had my typical dinner of three 49-cent hardshell tacos from Taco Bell. No frills, except for some hot sauce. One packet per taco. And to be honest, I enjoyed those cheapass tacos much more than the expensive-yet-inedible La Casa varietal. And a 99-cent bag of WOW! potato chips. And most of a movie-theatre-sized box of Hot Tamale candies.
I am apparently not only lazy, but piggish as well.
