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HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Know what I really love?
Lunch.
Breakfast can be great, even transporting, when there's lovely cinnamon raisin toast, or a perfect bagel.
Dinner, too, runs the gamut from ordinary to heavenly, all depending. But for dinner, those “what’s for dinner” and “why do I have to think of it again?” questions weigh heavy.
But lunch. Oh, dear lunch. I look forward to it so much and I have to admit, I have the same thing every day. Half of a sandwich with real turkey, on When Pigs Fly pumpernickel bread or rye bread, with Honeycup mustard. And sometimes with arugula. Accompanied by 4 Siete chips, and 3 slices of new dill pickles from Grillos.
Reds and Readers, this is so heavenly, I cannot tell you. I honestly look forward to it.
Okay, from time to time tuna salad, or just plain tuna, if need be. But it’s not just the lovely sandwich, it’s the 20 minutes or so of not being at my desk (As I am EVERY OTHER MINUTE) and just thinking about whatever I want to think about, and every single bite is so delicious.
When I was on the road as a reporter, lunch was always CRAZINESS, with food grabbed whenever we could, eating a salad in the backseat of a speeding news car and trying not to get salad dressing on my suit. (If I don’t have lunch, I just...collapse.)
And so much pressure! Once, out on breaking news, I was so hungry, and SO on deadline, that I rushed into a deli, asked the guy “How long for a turkey sandwich?” and he said “two minutes!” and I said “too long!” and raced out of the place.
Reddies, how do you feel about lunch? Are you a creature of happy habit, like I am, or more adventuresome? (Or is it adventurous?)
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Anyway, tell me about yourselves–are you ladies who lunch?
RHYS BOWEN: I am a lady who lunches…meeting a friend for lunch is a treat I try to do every week. I have special places where I love to eat in both Phoenix and Marin County and friends I love to eat with. It breaks up the day so nicely and makes me work harder at my morning writing, knowing that a good meal awaits me. I am not a big eater so usually it’s a salad, or sushi or Chinese food or fish tacos.
At home my lunch is usually soup in the winter. I make big soups with various vegetables: carrot, parsnip, butternut squash and we freeze them so there is always one ready in the freezer. My favorite, however, is tomato soup with grilled cheese. My total comfort food. When the weather gets warmer lunch is avocado with chicken breast, or ham, or leftover salmon, or a beet salad, depending on how much time and effort I want to put into it.
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LUCY BURDETTE: Oh lunch is a problem! I want to eat more vegetables but I confess it usually ends up as melted cheese on half a bagel. Although today I am just back from a divine lunch with Hallie, Barb Ross, her hub Bill, and our good pal Pat. We ate at a wonderful hole-in-the-wall Mexican place that was amazing. Now I have lunch for tomorrow…if only I can stave off a nap for this afternoon, I could get some words written!
HALLIE EPHRON: I confess, lunch for me is usually leftovers because I still haven’t figured out how to make DINNER FOR ONE. I adore meeting friends for lunch, or having friends over. When all else fails, I make myself a sandwich with Italian canned oil-packed tuna with celery and onions and pickle relish and mayo on a slice of Dave’s multi-grain bread. Another standard is a Waldorf salad with apple, walnuts, raisins, celery, mayo, lemon juice. (I wish I could move the Mexican place (tacos al pastore!) I ate lunch at with Lucy today but I’d have to move the people, too!)
JENN McKINLAY: You might have sold me on lunch, Hank. Lunch is the one meal I’m okay with skipping. I eat a hearty breakfast – oatmeal with a banana or yogurt with granola or pancakes with an orange – and coffee, lots of coffee! Dinner is whatever the Hub is cooking and there are no sweeter words than “Dinner is ready” comin from the kitchen while I’m holed up in my office.
But lunch, unless I’m meeting someone, is a cheese stick and some figs or a slice of toast with peanut butter - just enough fuel to power through the afternoon’s words. But now, I’m rethinking. Also, I love Grillo pickles!
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DEBORAH CROMBIE: I love going out to lunch. Even on my own, if I have an appointment or an errand that puts me out in the middle of the day, but my very favorite thing is lunch out with my daughter.
I love lunch at home, too. It’s a break to look forward to, and I usually read while I eat. Or if my lunch is too messy, which is often the case, I just enjoy looking out the window. I eat leftovers, or sandwiches made with some Boursin cheese, tomatoes (Camparis are good for this,) arugula, sprouts, and sometimes Trader Joe’s sauerkraut, which I know sounds really weird but it’s delicious. Also big Greek-ish salads, and I love avocado with smoked tuna or salmon. Yum.
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Hallie, I want to know which Italian canned tuna packed in oil and where you get it!
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I adore lunch, in part because I never eat breakfast. (I know, I know, but I’m just not hungry in the morning.) I sometimes have leftovers, because, like Hallie, I still tend to make large-ish amounts of food for dinner, but my favorites are my sandwiches. I add everything; mayo, mustard, greens, meat, cheese- remember when stacked sandwiches were called “Dagwoods?” I doubt anyone under the age of fifty would get that reference. Count me in among the lunchtime readers - I want to enjoy my food, not shovel it down while answering emails.
We’ve been having very cold weather, so my current choice is grilled cheese or a toasted egg and cheese (luxurious!) In the summer, there’s nothing better than open faced tomato sandwiches with thick slices of tomato and Miracle Whip (or mayo for you purists.) Okay, is anyone else hungry now?
HANK: Oh, yes, when summer comes, tomatoes rule. And we can discuss the inappropriately named Miracle Whip at a later date.
Much later.
How about you, Reddies? Where do you fit in the lunch bunch?
Oh, and BREAKING NEWS! Join us for a LIVE Reds and Readers Happy Hour on our Facebook page @RedsandReaders --Thursday February 20 at 5PM ET! Will we see you there?
Lunch can be a variety of things . . . sandwiches are good [as long as they don't include lettuce, tomato, or any other green thing that belongs in a salad bowl] but the best sandwich is grilled cheese . . . . Soup is always a yummy choice . . . Sometimes we have a salad, sometimes leftovers because when we eat out, there's always much more food than we can eat, so food always comes home . . . .
ReplyDeleteYes, food always comes home! That's great topic for another blog, too! Watch this space! xx
DeleteI love lunch. Oh, who am I kidding. I love ALL meals. Toasted cheese is divine, except I've had to cut back on dairy due to my cholesterol numbers. Grrrr. And, Julia, I haven't heard the term Dagwood sandwich in ages!!!
ReplyDeleteMy current healthy lunch choice is a salad I make with couscous, steamed broccoli, cannellini beans, black olives, all drizzled with olive oil and vinegar. But I also love tuna salad sandwiches, leftovers, soup, whatever. I love the midday break. It helps me reset my brain for a long afternoon of work.
SO agree. It is such a perfect time and perfect way to recharge!
DeleteYes to lunch! Like Julia, I rarely eat breakfast, so I'm ready to sit down with a bit of leftovers or a sandwich. I have some hard-cooked eggs around, and yesterday I toasted a slice of my own whole wheat bread, then added mayo and slices of egg and slices of avocado topped with baby lettuce. Heaven. I always read the paper with my lunch or work on a crossword (on paper).
ReplyDeleteI also like a nice lunch out, preferably with a glass of wine. Last week Hugh drove me an hour to a doctor appointment in Wellesley (which is a well-off town kind of southwest of Boston, for those unfamiliar). I told him I'd take him out for lunch, and he found the most marvelous Turkish restaurant, Cafe Mangal. The food was amazing, the chef was friendly, but OMG, the ladies who were lunching! Lots of jewelry and well-kept (white) skin and very expensive clothes. It was apparently the place to be for that set.
Oh, Edith I love the way you described the women lunching at Mangal! Love it!
DeleteI live in a fairly expensive town near Harford. But my neighborhood is mixed. I guess it is mostly middle class, smaller 3 bedroom houses, but it's a rainbow. Black, yellow, white, tan, all religions, too. Our town center is known for it's restaurants, loaded with cuisines from around the world! If you lunch, you might see tables of white women with big diamond rings, but you also could sit next to a table full of people of any other color. I love my town!
How lovely to have diversity all around you, Judy - I should come for lunch with you one day. There's very little where I live on the NH border, but I love visiting Ida Rose in Northampton where there's skin color and religion diversity as well as a rainbow of gender fluidity.
DeleteYOu are so brave to have wine at lunch! I would be asleep for the entire rest of the day!
DeletePerhaps it won't surprise anyone at this point that I don't lust for lunch. Having to think about food prep for two meals a day would put me over an edge. I AM impressed by those who content themselves with HALF a sandwich or HALF a bagel. My goodness, I think I'd probably gnaw on the plate! In the summer when I work outside all day, I look forward to the noon break and mostly eat a sandwich made from whole wheat bread or whole wheat pita spread with natural crunchy peanut butter, plus a cup of coffee. That is my third and last for the day. During the winter I often make egg salad to eat without bread, and limit myself to half a cup of coffee. I don't burn off the caffeine the way I once did and these days the anxiety from the national news is so high that I'm very often up for the morning between 2 and 4 AM. (Selden)
ReplyDeleteDo you work on a farm?
DeleteI adore peanut butter. It is so perfect. ANd on whole wheat pita is lovely.
DeleteLove peanut butter also!💕
DeleteI’m with Deborah…I love going to lunch and I also love having lunch at home. Most of the time it is my main meal, a benefit of being the only person I feed. It is leftovers (if any) in the evening. Oh, and “lunch hour” is any time between 11am and 4 pm. Enjoy your Monday eating, all. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteYes, enjoy your Monday eating! Adnd agree, lunchtime is a moveable feast.
DeleteLunch is usually some leftovers or a sandwich of some sort for me, but I don’t obsess over it. After he retired my husband and I went to our favorite pizza place for lunch almost every Friday. A slice and a drink for me a 7” and drink for him. Now we go to all different places and any day of the week.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is lunch while listening to Hank or Hannah Mary McKinnon read a chapter of a book to me on First Chapter Fun! Anxiously waiting to see it return.
I miss my monthly lunches out with my two besties in Minnesota. But guess what? One of them is going to be here visiting with her husband today! They are coming up for the day from Orlando where they are visiting their daughter for the month of February.
Our neighborhood has a monthly ladies luncheon, but it is quite a large group and not nearly the same. This month we are going to a Thai restaurant.
That sounds like SO much fun--you are really embracing your new neighborhood! (And aw, thank you--Hannah and I are planning!)
DeleteI like ALL my meals! But lunch is a great break, and I always try to take a one-hour break for lunch and read a pleasure book. Since breakfast for me is a mug of tea and a piece of buttered bread (Swiss bread is delicious--no point in toasting it as far as I'm concerned), I'm hungry by noon for my second piece of bread with peanut butter or sliced Swiss Gruyère (from the nearby village of Gruyères) or, occasionally, a bowl of granola. And always a piece of fresh fruit--right now, in the winter, that's usually a clementine. Afterward, I drink a large mug of milky coffee to keep me going all afternoon.
ReplyDeleteA whole hour! Oh, that's wonderful! And so incredible to think that Gruyères is next door....
DeleteNow I want to try your Swiss bread and butter, Kim!
DeleteFifteen extra pounds into retirement, ten of those acquired after Kenai became too sore to go for long walks, and lunch is the meal that had to change!
ReplyDeleteWhen I worked, I mostly had a tiny breakfast and skipped lunch. Retired, I began to make a small or half sandwich for myself, using whatever I made for Irwin with some chips. 14 years, 15 pounds. No more!
Now, I eat an orange or an apple, one serving of cheddar cheese, a rice cake and, if one is ripe, 1/2 of an avocado. If I have made a soup, I will have that instead.
As for lunches out, I love them! I meet friends or family members for restaurant lunches at least once a month! On those days, I just shink my dinner. I know that I will never wear the size 4 jeans again. That is okay. But at my diminishing height, I refuse to go up another size. If I have to give up anything else, I just will. And, I am back at the gym trying to make some muscle to replace a little flab.
Brilliant. Giving up chips makes SUCH a difference!
DeleteLunch is my least favourite meal. I usually have a big breakfast and am not that hungry mid-day.
ReplyDeleteSo it's often leftovers from the night before or maybe a quick sandwich or Asian noodle soup.
Grace, dinner is my least favorite meal of the day. Sometimes I eat breakfast food like 🍳 for dinner.
DeleteYOu have it all figured out! I love that!
DeleteDiana, breakfast for dinner is the BEST!
DeleteWe should do a whole blog about it! ANd if you have an omelette for dinner, you get to have french fries, too.
DeleteLunch is a bowl of Greek yoghurt with fresh or frozen berries. I eat a big breakfast and dinner.
ReplyDeleteSO healthy! ANd delicious.
DeleteI do first breakfast at 5 am, rice chex and berries (eating now as I one-handedly type--my ortho appointment isn't til Thursday, the day we are having snow and freezing rain--I have a feeling I'll be in this uncomfortable splint for awhile longer), my favorite meal of 2nd breakfast after morning exercise at 8-ish (yogurt, granola, bananas and berries) and then lunch around noon--salad with smoked salmon or leftover chicken and/or rice cakes or GF crackers with cheese, smoked salmon or raw veggies. I don't go out for lunch very often.
ReplyDeleteSecond breakfast! Love that. xx
DeleteInsist on a removable wrist brace with velcro. You can adjust for comfort and swelling. Get two, then you can wear one while you exercise.
DeleteThe initial splint should not have beer left on for so long. It can cause skin damage and actually inhibit healing.
I had this same injury a few years ago,
Personally, I would remove the emergency splint and buy a wrist brace. The brace will stabilize until your appointment.
If I have to make lunch for just me it’s Cheerios and skim milk, unless there are leftovers. I hate making lunch. I love going out for lunch with friends (and a glass of wine if possible). Now that we’re both retired my husband thinks I’ll waste away if we don’t have 3 meals a day, Hah! In the winter I make soup out of leftovers, or just homemade chicken stock, lentils, rice, vegetables. Tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich with sharp cheddar might be my favourite!
ReplyDeleteCome to Amesbury for lunch, Suzette - we'll have wine with it!
DeleteGrilled cheese is so ambrosial!
DeleteI will start off with I wish I could have my main meal for lunch, as it makes me feel so much better, and solves the problem of starving until supper. Unfortunately, current customs do not encourage that practice.
ReplyDeleteSo, lunch is usually for two, and often leftovers – usually planned from last night’s main meal. Today we have no leftovers, so I (at this moment, always subject to change) think it will be tomato soup with some macaroni added and great gobs of cheese. The sandwich will be open face cheese on toast broiled with tomatoes and bacon and jalapeno peppers. Most likely a pickle will be on the plate. Dessert is sugar-free jello – orange today with crushed pineapple in it.
Oh, and there is nothing like a hot dog for lunch…
As for location – in the summer (any kind of warm weather) it is on Geriatric Row with any livestock that turn up – cats, dog, birds, butterflies, neighbours…) Winter is in front of the telly competing with each other and the contestants on last night’s Jeopardy. Noooo buddy, bet the bank!
Margo, be a rebel and create your own customs! Make your main meal lunch if that keeps your body running at peak performance. Plus, it is better for your body if you eat a light supper. -- Victoria
DeleteSugar free jello-- how do you put pineapple in jello? I thought that didn't work.
DeleteCanned pineapple works. Something about the heat of the canning denatures the protein, so it doesn't dissolve the jello like fresh does. Just a spoonful in the individual container before I pour in a bit of jello and let it set. 1 box of powder makes 6 individual cups. The 2nd half of the pineapple goes in the freezer until the next time.
DeleteOHHHH, science! Genius.
DeleteI love lunch, too. When I was in grad school, running all over campus, I'd bring lunch and it invariably became second breakfast, then I'd go out to lunch with friends--loved the schwarma at a local grocery/deli! Those days are far behind me, but I'm always hungry by lunchtime. Today's lunch will be a sandwich from leftovers and (Hallie's) tomato soup. It's the only tomato soup I ever have because it tastes just like I remember tomato soup from my childhood--when lunch was often tomato soup plus a hot dog (yep, Margo--hot dog for the win!).
ReplyDeleteWe like hot dogs in the summer once in awhile, too. Costco's all-beef are so good.
DeleteOh, yum, I went through a whole schwarma phase --so delicious!
DeleteLove lunch, especially lunch out. It's the one part of working life I miss, grabbing lunch with friends or clients, many of whom became lifelong friends. I like the more leisurely pace of retirement era lunches, though.
ReplyDeleteGiven the choice, my natural preference is to have a big lunch, then a light dinner, which I have always favored over the reverse. Unfortunately, I'm married to someone who insists on a "real" dinner most nights, the way God and his mother intended. Since I rarely eat a real breakfast, beyond coffee and a square or two of dark chocolate, I'm usually ready for a heartier lunch by noon. "Hearty" doesn't necessarily mean heavy, though. A sandwich and a small amount of chips or a handful of nuts will do.
I just burst out laughing. Tradition is tradition!
DeletePat D: I skip breakfast and lunch is iffy. When I’m cutting carbs I skip the sandwich and have a nice ripe avocado. I scoop it out, drizzle Alessi garlic dressing on and feta cheese. Yum.
ReplyDeleteOh, I just looked it up--that's HALF the carbs! Whoa. Wow. Surprising.
DeleteLately, a grilled cheese sandwich on wheat bread with pepper jack cheese and heirloom tomatoes appeals to me at least once a week, usually accompanied by a few chips or (pepper jack) Cheez-Its. Or I will bake some salmon with spices, then make salmon salad with red onion, celery, and green pepper, and have it for lunch for at least four days (no bread needed). On days when I have a card game in the morning or afternoon, I might skip lunch, since someone will bring some delicious snacks to the game, and I want to be hungry for those!
ReplyDeleteYUMMY!! I love that salmon salad idea. Have you tried "everything bagel" seasoning?
DeleteLike Hank, I have to have lunch. I KNOW that if I skip lunch, I get a major headache! These days I don’t have a big appetite. Since I started menopause, half a sandwich is sufficient. Lunch is a nice break in the day. I remember my French language lessons including dialogue about hour or two hours lunch break.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a young child, I loved to eat grilled cheese sandwich with chocolate milkshake at swensen ice cream parlor. Only one still exists in San Francisco as far as I know.
Awww...what a sweet memory!
DeleteWe used to have a Swensen’s here in Long Beach. I always got the Swiss Orange Chip - so delicious!
DeleteHank, that is one of my favorite memories.
DeleteLisa in Long Beach, I remember tasting swiss orange chip. I tried many different flavors.
Wow, am I out of sync with the group on this one! I am 5' 1" tall, and weight management has by necessity been a priority my whole life. Part of how I learned to manage my weight was to minimize my focus on lunch. During my working years, I had the same healthy breakfast each day (old fashioned oatmeal made with milk instead of water to maximize my calcium, with a dash of cinnamon and a tablespoon each of raisins and walnuts), and saved most of my calories for a dinner with my husband, which would contain probably more than half of the day's calories.
ReplyDeleteLunchtime was merely a refueling time for me. Unless I was eating out for some specific purpose, I packed a lunch that was a small protein (think 2.5 oz. packet of tuna, boiled egg, or half cup of cottage cheese), 5 Trisket crackers, and a fruit or vegetable. Or a homemadesoup or deli salad that roughly equated to that.
This became a point of difficulty when I retired. My husband, a man of around 190 lbs., is accustomed to eating a meal at lunchtime that more closely resembles the amount he eats in the evening. It took us a while to find how to balance those differences. Now he usually has a leftover from a previous evening for lunch, while I have gone back to more or less what I used to carry to the office. We can eat together companionably while munching very different things.
Perfect! And your "office lunch" sounds fabulous.
DeleteThat used to be my office lunch, too, Susan, as I am (or was) the same height.
DeleteI’m not much of a lunch eater because I eat a late breakfast. But those time when I need something extra I will eat Ritz crackers with a dip ( cream cheese with Buddig beef, green onions and Worcestershire sauce).
ReplyDeleteSo I have never heard of Grillo’s pickles. Maybe we need some kind of contest to win some.
I have heard of Dagwood’s. Oops just revealed my age.
Grillo's pickles are SO fresh! They might be local to new England..I will check. xx When I was a kid we had Buddig beef all the time for lunch..and I had totally forgotten about it. What a strange --and weirdly delicious--food. What is it, really?
DeleteI remember Buddig lunchmeat. Did you have the Tend-R-Fresh chipped beef?
DeleteAH, hmmm. It was in sealed plastic pouch, right?
DeleteI tend to be a grazer. My body reacts better to small, frequent meals, so I pretty much eat whatever and whenever. Good thing I'm single. I'd drive a spouse crazy! -- Victoria
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like it really works!
DeleteYou have all got me primed, so perfect as I'm meeting my daughter for lunch today!! We are going to a seafood place she loves in Dallas and I'm sure it will be delicious, but the company will be even better.
ReplyDeleteAwww.. so sweet! We want a full report!
DeleteSince I am working during the week, my lunch time is limited and there aren’t too many options for going out to lunch.
ReplyDeleteI prefer a salad if I have time to put one together, it’s not usually something that can be prepared the night before. At one time I used to be able to pick up some toppings such as pasta or a corn relish to add but I don’t have a salad bar near me.
Right now my additions might be some falafel which I get frozen from TJ’s and thaws out by lunch time. Pickles, raisins, possibly cole slaw-which replaces dressing, Campari tomatoes are other possibilities depending upon what is in the refrigerator and doesn’t require preparation.
On rare occasions when available I might have a few barbecued chicken wings but that doesn’t happen very often.
Falafel from TJ! DEEE-licious!
DeleteI love lunch, but I don’t always have it. I usually eat a good breakfast and might have a snack later on. When I do eat lunch, it’s usually a sandwich or some type of leftover. I love going out to lunch, but it’s been a while!
ReplyDeleteYes, it's been a while for me, too! xoxooo
DeleteFrom Judy KB Rhys "stole" my favorite lunch, tomato soup with grilled cheese. When I was growing up, that was our go-to summer dinner every other week. Whenever I'm someplace new, I like to try tomato soup. Best ever was at the Fairmont Frontenac Hotel in Quebec City. Best combo ever with grilled cheese and tomato soup was at Bouchercon 2023, although I forget the name of the hotel in San Diego. My friend and I had it for lunch AND
ReplyDeletedinner the day we were there. Oh, yum.
What made it so special? xxx
DeleteJudy, the ‘23 Bouchercon in San Diego was held on the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina.
DeleteThis is Jayna Monroe. I love going out to meals with friends and this time of year, because I hate driving after dark, it’s usually lunch. Yesterday three of us had Chinese in a favorite restaurant, May Dragon. Today I will eat the Combination Lo Mein leftovers I brought home.
ReplyDeleteLeftover chinese--so lovely! I just froze some leftover mooshi--think it'll work?
DeleteJust yesterday I was making a grilled cheese sandwich. I had some grape tomatoes so sliced them and put them on the sandwich too. As I was making this delicious combo, I said out loud to myself that absolutely NOTHING could beat a grilled cheese sandwich, either with sliced tomatoes or cream of tomato soup, as the best lunch (or dinner) EVER!!!
ReplyDeleteThere are lot of your sister GC and T fans here!
DeleteI’m in the process of changing around my meals. A couple of weeks ago my doctor advised me that I should switch to eating six times a day: three small meals, and three healthy snacks, because I get faint if I don’t have some food in me. My lunches are often leftovers from dinner. My current favorite lunch is peanut butter on an English muffin. I’ve also gone through phases of eating tuna, either in a sandwich or in a salad. Sometimes I like a platter of carrots, apple slices, a small bit of cheese, and hummus.
ReplyDeleteI do like to go out with friends for lunch. I usually order salmon or grilled chicken in either a wrap or a salad.
I suddenly remembered how one of my groups of friends and I got together during the pandemic: we met at one of the local parks, brought our own lunches, and spread out on picnic tables for social distancing. It was sometimes really cold out, but we didn’t want be isolated at home. And we nearly had to shout so that everyone could hear us!
DebRo
What a fun solution to a horrible problem! ANd yes, I go through lunch phases, too.
DeleteDebRo, my book club met in a park and spread beach towels to sit on back in the summer of’20. We were appropriately distanced and yet didn’t have to yell to be heard. Weirdly, in the midst of a global pandemic, that was a nice time. — Pat S
DeleteSUch memorable times--in so many ways.
DeleteI eat that way also Deb, keeping the blood sugar stable helps the brain fog stay away.
DeleteI love eating lunch out either alone or with friends. If I eat alone I use that time for reading while I eat. On the two days a week I work, I usually take my lunch — either leftovers or a sandwich. When I eat lunch at home, it’s whatever I can find in the fridge. Lunch at home or work is also reading time.
ReplyDeleteYes, one of the best multi-tasks there is!
DeleteI'm with Julia, lunch is my favorite. I love homemade soups, salads and sandwiches.
ReplyDeleteMy hubby loves breakfast foods and loves going out to breakfast. I prefer lunch so we will usually go out at 'brunch' time to places that have breakfast and lunch items and we are both happy!
Now you have all made me hungry so I'm off to make a salad!
HA! We are ALL so hungry now!
DeleteBack when I worked, lunch was usually something to be scarfed down at my desk while reviewing docs. But about once a month I would go out to lunch with friends who worked for other departments in the City. Favorites included the Curry House in Little Tokyo - the chicken katsu curry by which I measure all others - the dearly departed McCormick and Schmick’s, and the Water Grill.
ReplyDeleteLunch with pals can be so much fun! ANd yes, what happened to M and S? We had one in Boston, too!
Delete... adventuresome? (Or is it adventurous?)
ReplyDeleteI love questions about language. Both are acceptable - but it seems like adventuresome might be more general and used when describing groups or activities where adventurous might be used when talking about a person's personality. But, it is hard to nail down if there is actually a distinct difference.
Oh, yes, that makes sense. That distinction always flummoxes me...
DeleteI look forward to lunch because that is when I can (usually) walk away from my day-job and get some writing done. I get very irritated when someone schedules a meeting over the lunch hour.
ReplyDeleteMost days it's a half a turkey sandwich with cheese, greens, and spicy brown mustard with a small bag of chips and an apple. Some days, like today, it's leftovers - today was macaroni and cheese. And yes, on a cold day there are few things more delicious than a perfectly-toasted cheese sandwich!
Oh, horrors--scheduling a meeting over lunch hour?? Travesty, I agree.
DeleteLunch is often leftovers but nothing - nothing! - beats the already mentioned tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. (I made a tomato soup recently with quality canned tomatoes and some leftover goat cheese partly melted in at end. NY Times recipe. Perfect)
ReplyDeleteThis is such a funny thing to discover--the GC and T fans! I will have to try making tomato soup--I mean, I've always thought it was fine, but not anything to wish for. I seem to be wrong!
DeleteLunch is catch as catch can. Just something to fuel the afternoon. If I don't have something I can smash together - quick salad, leftovers, or tuna or chicken salad compliments of hubby's hands, then it's Belvita crunchy. High protein, and crunchy. I used to think what's not to like, but I just noticed they use GMO ingredients - this will be my last box - and then, what? Fig Newtons? Nah, maybe some good yogurt and berries. That's will do it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know Belvitas! Guess I can cross them off the list, too...
DeleteI am a fan of the sandwich, so I'm also a fan of lunch. However, I seem to eat breakfast (cereal) so late these days that my lunchtime gets pushed to two, sometimes three. That would be fine if my husband, who is usually in charge of supper didn't want to start in on supper by five, now a little later due to me. If it were up to me, I'd eat a lite supper and not worry about what needs to go with it. I've come to hate the words, "What do you want for supper?" Lunch is a me time meal, just a turkey sandwich or a bowl of chicken noodle soup as I read something. I love lunch out because I can order sandwiches that have much more on them than I am willing to mess with. And, I don't mind lunch out by myself at all. The therapist I went to had her office right across the street from my favorite downtown restaurant, so I'd always eat lunch after my therapy. I had a lifetime favorite lunch companion (and best friend), and going to lunch with her was such fun, but, unfortunately, she passed unexpectedly five year ago. She was a major reader, too, so talking about our reading was a big part of our lunch. Since you have me thinking about lunch now, my husband just called and asked if I wanted him to pick up anything for lunch for me, so I went wild and told him a Tuscan chicken sandwich from Great Harvest Bread. I probably will eat just a small bit of something for supper now.
ReplyDeleteSo agree: What do you want to for supper--THE WORST! And your takeout lunch is so terrific..sometimes in the summer, we walk to the sandwich place nearby and get carry out lunch. It is SUCH a treat!
DeleteComing in late in the day, but due to medical issue, I have to have three meals and day and if I'm at work, I get a salad at Pershing Square cafe which is a place I can easily walk to. Sometimes, I cheat and go for a grilled cheese and french fries.
ReplyDeleteI adore salad--it would be my first out-to-lunch choice. But sometimes you gotta have GC and FF. xx
DeleteWell, during weekdays when I have to work with students, I don't eat too much for lunch, for fear that I might be feeling sleepy. So, I either have the leftover in the fridge - Chinese, spaghetti, etc, or PB &J, or more of a snack-attack lunch like fruits, crackers, etc. But I need to have my coffee!
ReplyDeleteDuring weekends. I'm more of a brunch person - oatmeal at mid morning, chips and some turkey meat at mid morning..But I'm always looking forward to dinner because hubby cooks the best dinners!
Oh, that's so nice! It sounds like you have this all figured out perfectly!
DeleteI miss the lunch options that I had when I worked in the financial district in Boston. Sam LaGrassa’s Romanian pastrami is my all time favorite. Now that I am retired in the burbs, my choices for lunch are very limited unless I have an appointment in Boston. I have always tried to avoid breakfast all my life. So, I only eat two meals per day. I am going to read all of these notes today for some ideas. Thanks for sharing! Alicia Kullas
ReplyDeleteWell, this is definitely a grilled cheese and tomato soup bunch, right?
DeleteLunch is my main meal... A sandwich: lately Boars Head pepper turkey, ground mustard, mayo, sprouts and some chips
ReplyDeleteMustard AND mayo! Fascinating!
DeleteI usually just eat a sandwich, and my favorite is chicken salad! But sometimes I eat dinner leftovers instead.
ReplyDeleteChicken salad is SO unsung. It is so delicious, especially with grapes.
DeleteIt’s 10:30 pm, but reading about all these delicious lunches is making me so hungry! I rarely eat lunch, because I don’t like to eat when I get up, just drink a pot of hot tea. Then brunch and dinner. But when I do eat lunch, I love a good sandwich, whole-grain bread, real meat (not processed) Swiss or cheddar, and veggies. And don’t forget the mayo! Sometimes half a sandwich with a salad or soup. Like many others have said, I keep single servings of homemade soup in the freezer for easy heating.
ReplyDeleteThat is such a good idea! xxx
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