Big thank you to Macro subscribers for your outpouring of support following yesterday's early release / TFD-venting session. While it’ll take a spell for me to return to full operating capacity, your kind words (and a fun night out – though the food was a major disappointment does no one use salt anymore jesusfuckingchrist) certainly helped. Will resume regular weekly dispatchery a week from Sunday. ❤️

notes on a restaurant i want to love but yeah

  • Food solid but lacks flavor (solution: fucking add salt) except the sweet potato fries which are wonderful but still fucking add salt – and not that umbrella lady iodized shit: I'm talking real, grainy, melt sidewalk ice kosher salt – to meat I mean come on.

  • Claustrophobic on Sunday brunches, especially when half of their plates are the same size as some of the smallest tables (solution: use smaller plates: a lox bagel does not need to be served on a serving platter brimming with capers and half-past avocado FFS).

  • Breathtakingly slow service – I try not to be annoyed, and I know the wait staff is doing the best they can but damn it, the hanger is real – from being woefully understaffed (and underprepared) for the amount of brunchers and accompanying half-assed and ill-followed reservation policy (solution: Sunday brunch is reservation only, smaller menu, remove center tables; if you don't have a reservation, see you after 12:30).

  • An atmosphere that tries to be something to everyone (chic and trendy with family-friendly downhome comfort and childless Guinness and eggs benedict alcoholic 🤗 bruncher mimosa college crowd college professor crowd blah blah blah) and ends up being utterly forgettable (solution: fucking pick one and roll with it I mean I don’t love Bob Evans but at least they have their schtick and stick with it).

  • Question for myself: would I be more forgiving of the above if they fucking added salt? Perhaps. It’d be a start.

“dive into the cheese magma”

(via SoraNews24): Simultaneously horrified and intrigued by Domino’s Japan’s Cheese Volcano Pizza. Pretty sure I need more insulin (and/or a stent) from looking at this picture:

To promote their concoction, Domino’s Japan hired opera baritone Teruhiko Komori to deliver this stirring number (translation, from SoraNews, below the vid):

“Domino’s Pizza’s Volcano is amazing! It’s delicious!
Domino’s Pizza’s Volcano is amazing! It’s delicious!
The cheese magma is simmering. It’s hot. It’s delicious.
Dive into the cheese magma and it will melt so much.
Let’s go, let’s go to Domino’s Pizza.
Let’s eat, let’s eat the Volcano.
It’s amazing, it’s delicious, it’s amazing, it’s delicious!
Let’s all eat the Volcano.”

experiment

Second day of current experiment and I’m considering it a success: since my breakfast is now portable (a protein shake of frozen fruit, almond milk, vanilla ice cream-flavored protein powder, spinach, and greek yogurt) I assembled it midway through the morning's workblock and came back to work until +/- 0730. Not sure why I didn't try this before (other than long-engrained habit and heretofore non-portable breakfasts); seems, at least for now, that NuHerbie is amenable to this change.

Far better use of my time (and dwindling stores of willpower) to work and breakfast instead of falling prey to the insecurity of what's in my email (fuckall) or in the RSS feeds (yawn, mostly) or in the news (nothing good) and breakfast.

yes it blends

Started drinking a protein smoothie for lunch instead of the same lunch I've eaten since my pancreas and immune system decided to engage in scorched-earth fisticuffs seven and a half years ago because I wanted to make an effort to not be so completely zombified in the afternoon.

So far, so very good (and delicious): basically keeping everything I ate before minus the half turkey sandwich on rye: spinach, greek yogurt (must stay since Kirby loves his midday yogurt container) have been joined by half an avocado, a cup of (frozen) fruit, a cup of almond milk and a scoop of vanilla ice cream whey protein powder. The results, so far, are not only quite delicious, but managed to balance out my blood sugar for the first afternoon in years (with the same amount of insulin as my former lunch) AND leave me nowhere near as zombified – tired, yes, but the hanger and general lack of societal tact isn't as pronounced and I can actually, you know, do stuff in the afternoon beyond wish I weren’t so tired and curse my existence and that of everyone within a 20 mile radius of me.

Nothing quite like rectifying an afternoon protein deficiency (mornings are fine as I baseline eggs, but I guess I was using up my stores on the morning's exertions, be it running, boxing, or strength training) to put one on, if not the right path, then at least a more tolerable and wakeful one.

Mem: need better blender as these first efforts have been more work than they feel like they should be. Little Ninja food processor is great, but it reminds me a bit too much of when I had to make a layer cake one layer at a time because I only had one cake pan.