All By Myself!

Today, I was lunching with a dear friend of mine, WahooKate, who is in town for the long weekend (glad some of us get long weekends!!). Her and I were chatting about our jobs, and I mentioned that I would be traveling for work today. I travel for work about once or twice a month (more during my busy season). Sometimes I travel with my co-workers, and sometimes I am by myself. Today, I happened to be going by myself, to a small town about 5 hours away. I was actually looking forward to this trip, because I would earn reimbursement for my mileage (about $300!), as well as overtime for my travel time. Not too shabby!

Now, if you remember my post about having no alone time, you can obviously see why a 5 hour drive and a short solo hotel stay are kind of nice once in a while. While I was talking to WahooKate, I mentioned that my least favorite part of traveling by myself was eating. I am not a fan of dining out while by myself. I have little to no desire to sit at a restaurant by myself and actually order from a menu. I explained to WahooKate that I associate eating with being social (coming from a big Italian family, I am sure you can appreciate that), and there is nothing particularly social about eating by myself. Secretly, I am a little bit afraid that I will look like a loser, or feel like a loser, eating by myself. Usually, I end up getting some disgusting fast food, and carting it up to my room, where the smell of fried lingers long after the food is gone, reminding me of my poor nutritional choices in an effort to not feel embarassed.

I left today around 4 pm, to a client I have been to several times before, so I am familiar with the area, namely, the H.oliday In.n Express and the Cr.acker Bar.rel off the interstate (don't judge, there aren't a lot of options in sou.thwest Virgi.nia. The plan was for me to drive out tonight, so I can arrive at the client's office first thing in the morning, and return home tomorrow. As I was driving, I realized that if I maintained my speed, I would arrive at my destination at 9:30 pm, a full 30 minutes before the Cr.acker Bar.rel closes. Now, I am sure not everyone is a fan of Cr.acker Bar.rel, but in my opinion, you can't go wrong. Any place that serves BREAKFAST ALL DAY is golden in my book.

The Hubs and I were returning from our out of town adventure yesterday, and we decided we needed some pancakes around 7pm, so of course we hit the Barrel (they have this new apple-fritter french toast, genius. But I digress...). Today, I still had the craving for some good old country atmosphere, so arriving before they lock the doors was crucial. They have this salad, it's called the BLT salad, and, as you can guess, it's pretty much bacon, lettuce and tomato, but, as a salad. It's so simple, but delish. And there's cheese. It has bacon AND cheese. It is pretty much the stuff dreams are made of. I had been thinking about this salad since my last visit (about 26 hours prior).

My craving for the BLT salad trumped my self-imposed rule about not eating alone. I tore into the parking lot right at 9:30, as planned. I jumped out of the car, and walked up to the front door. I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw the sign advertising the operating hours - open until 10pm...still time to order, and it wouldn't be so late the staff would spit in my food. I walked through the over-the-top country store set up in the "lobby" area of all Crac.ker Bar.rel restaurants, and marched right up to the hostess stand. "How many this evening?", the hostess asked me, looking around for the other nonexistent members of my party. "One - just one" was my response. She blinked, grabbed two menus anyway, and walked me to my table. There was one other party (three business men who also looked like they were traveling) in the dining room, and I sat facing them (hey, if they were going to point and laugh, I wanted to be able to at least see it). I didn't even need to look at the menu before the waitress arrived, and I think I kind of shocked her a little that (1) I was alone, and (2) knew what I wanted to order immediately. A few minutes later, my salad came out, and I started eating! I tried to distract myself a little by playing with my blackberry...but I did it! I ordered and ate a meal at a restaurant by MYSELF. And I didn't feel like a loser as I expected I would. I was confident and happy that I conquered my self-imposed rule of dining out alone. Plus, I got my delicious salad. WIN.

Turns out, my appetite and cravings CAN also be used for good!