Falling off the wagon

Boy, I tell you, that all-carb diet is awfully hard to stick to. Just got back from a very enjoyable lunch with My Friend Jeff™ over in the wilds of Homewood. Ate at a place called Sam’s Deli and Grill, with the improbable logo of a big tropical red sun and palm trees. It looked much more like something from the Bahamas than the Middle East, which is the actual flavor genre of the food. I got the gyro plate, which came with meat sliced from a freshly-killed gyro that had been lovingly baked in the vertical oven, and a nice salad. And I got a Diet Coke. Thankfully, it also came with a small serving of rice, hommous, and pita bread to even the carb thing back out. I might have to have myself a Skittle-coated honey bun in a bit for good measure.

Interesting sort of place--it’s in the same location that once housed Moneer’s and judging by the menu, it’s owned by the same folks. It’s a tiny little hole in the wall place with an order counter right inside the front door, but with a huge outdoor dining area in the back and on the side and on the sidewalk. Lots of good-sounding food, too--stuff with all sorts of glottal stops and pharyngeal fricatives. Love that stuff.

And lunch was the usual excursion through what all’s been happening at work and at home--our kids, his siblings, the new fixer-upper he just bought down the street. We walked over and looked at it after lunch--it’s a smallish 1970 conglomeration of Ranchocolonial influences and 34 years of neglect. He has big plans for it, though--going to go both up and out and try to give it a little architectural character. Promises to be quite the little project, but he and the missus are pretty hot after it because it’s only four houses down the street from school. Hard to beat that.

And then the part that makes actually having to eat with My Friend Jeff™ worthwhile, the ritual Swapping of Car Magazines. As always, I received two Car and Drivers, while Jeff received a treasure trove of a stack of AutoWeeks, two Automobiles, a Mopar Muscle, a Hot Rod, and believe it or not, a Motor Trend. MT throughout most of the past couple of decades read as if it were produced by the same people who publish Tiger Beat, but the last few I’ve read through are actually pretty good. That whole Car of the Year deal is still a scam, though.

Anyway, after all that lunch and all that walking around and all that poking through an old house, I am thoroughly ready for a nice nap. Because dieting is nothing without exercise.
posted by Terry at 1:53:00 PM