Insane Random Ramblings

Wahoooo. That is so awesome. I was happy a couple of years ago when we finally got a IHOP here in Pittsburgh. I didn’t even know it had opened until we were riding by one day and saw a really small sign. When we drove back we made sure to drive by the area and saw that sure enough, there was a new restaurant on the side of the hill.

Today I was going to the Waterfront because I needed to make a deposit at my bank when I noticed that they are building a new IHOP right here in the city. I better get online and start reading reviews for top rated diet pills because I’m going to be spending a lot of time in the new IHOP come Spring of this year.

I don’t know if it’s such a good idea that this restaurant is going to be so close to me. I can already see me spending a lot of time there.

I specifically went to the store yesterday to buy healthy snacks. I got almonds, fruit and low calorie popcorn. There were no real perishables so I went out for a while before heading home. When I finally unpacked the bags (close to midnight) I realized that the almonds had fallen out of the bag and into the back seat of my car. I was not going back outside that late at night to get them either.

Now today I have no good snacks. If I had bought the weight loss supplement that I wanted to try I could have that. But I decided to wait until after the holiday weekend. I’m really rethinking that decision right now. Luckily I go to lunch soon because I am starving.

I went out to get something to eat. I knew specifically what I wanted. First I had to stop at the post office to mail a package and then hit the gas station since I was close to “E”. After that I went to the drug store. I didn’t get any prenatal vitamins but I did buy a diet soda and some chewing gum. After that I headed to get something to eat.

First there was a beggar in the store asking everyone for money. The manager told us not to give him anything because they had offered him food which he turned down. The store had a special but of course they were out of what I wanted. I ordered something similar but once I got it home, it wasn’t what I wanted.

That’s why I shop late in the day/early evening. There’s usually not as many people in the store and they almost always have what I want. Oh well maybe I’ll have better luck the next time.

Of course I have a ulterior motive behind my good deed though. If I take canned goods to my local casino, they will give me $5 to play with. 5 cans is the maximum for $25 to play on. The canned goods are for the local food bank. Even though people aren’t losing jobs here as much as they are in other places, people are still affected. I used the barcode scanners at my local grocery store to pay for the cans. Now I’m on my way to try and win a few extra dollars.

I guess I’m testing out that no good deed goes rewarded theory. I just hope it’s right.

It was expensive as heck too. I had chicken on a stick and a egg roll for $9.00. One friend had a quesadilla that was almost $7.00 that she didn’t like. She said that it was bland with no taste. Two other people had fries that weren’t hot and a lemonade that was bitter. She also asked for no ice, which she always does, and they gave her a half of a glass worth of lemonade.

There was also the smell of compost or something at the park. I think there may have been a plant nursery nearby or maybe it was just in the decor of the park. It is a fairly large park so we were able to move to escape that. I was impressed with the fact that they recycled everything so that’s a definite plus.

I have to say that we were pretty disappointed in the overall quality of the food. It’s ironic because the food is a bigger draw than the art at times. Oh well , live and learn. I know I won’t be going back there for any more food.

I feel like I haven’t eaten all day. I did have a fairly large lunch though. I also had a small candy bar once I got to school. That was pretty much all I had this afternoon. I should have taken these appetite suppressants that I got as a sample. I want to get out of the habit of eating late at night.

I may break that pattern tonight though because my stomach is really rumbling!

Ugh. Lately I’ve been on a junk food kick. Every week when I go to the store it’s a different thing. A few weeks ago it was fruit, which isn’t bad. Then it was chips last week. This week it’s cookies. Not just any cookies, but Famous Amos chocolate chip with pecans. They are so good. I’ve been looking online for cookie recipes to see if I can make them at home. I know they wouldn’t come out as good so I won’t even bother.

I know I’m allergic to chocolate and I’m gonna pay for this sooner or later. But for now, I’ll just enjoy the cookies.

Today is payday. Yay for that! That means that everyone will be shopping like crazy today and tomorrow. Stores in the area will be having sales and everyone will hand out promotional products to try to get you into their stores. I never shop on payday, I always wait until the beginning of the next week because you can find better deals.

I will however go out for lunch with my coworkers. I haven’t been food shopping at all this week and I don’t want what I have (a enchilada meal). I’ve never had that before and I don’t want to upset my stomach while I’m at work. I’m not sure where we’re going for lunch yet. I just hope it’s somewhere good.

Woohoo. Anything to do with food is exciting. I wrote a post back in April about IHOP coming to Pittsburgh. Finally. I just read in the paper that they are about to start building another IHOP in the area. It would actually be much closer to where I live. Instead of going to Robinson, it would be in Shadyside or Squirrel Hill. That’s practically around the corner from where I live now.

It would be so convenient to be able to get to IHOP within 15 minutes. I know I would be there way more often than I go now. Unfortunately they have to build it so it won’t be open until mid to late 2009. But for good food, I can definitely wait.

It’s not abnormal and it doesn’t require some crazy restrictive diet. If I cook I’ll learn how to lose weight because my cooking stinks. Today I cooked a smothered chicken dinner. It was one of those boxed dinners where you add your own meat. I cooked the chicken which came out fine. Then I added the rice and water mixture and stirred well.

I went into the livingroom and came back 5 minutes later and re-stirred the mix. Another 5 minutes passed and I went to stir it again and it had started burning and sticking to the pan. I took it off of the heat early and just let the water absorb into the rice.

It didn’t taste bad at all. But I knew it was burned. Every once in a while, you might get a crunchy scoop. Ooops hehehe. The next time I won’t season the chicken since that’s what cause the mixture to stick and burn. The rice is already flavored so it shouldn’t taste bad.

And my mom wonders why I don’t cook!