3 Stomachaches

This weekend inadvertantly turned out to be all about food.

stomachache #1: It started on Friday at work for January birthday lunch. We ended up at Red Robin. This is not at all exciting to me, but I was hungry and stressed so I ended up gorging. I had the usual -- the Banzai burger. And if it wasn't actually done well for once. The few times it's ended up being overdone and dry, but this one was juicy and good. And because I've been stressed at work, I decided to get a Mai Tai to start. I ended up having part of Melody's chocolate shake and birthday Sunday. By the time I got home, my stomach was hurting bad and I was not hungry for the rest of the night.

stomachache #2: I had a haircut appointment on Saturday. I figure that I have to take advantage of my trips across the bridge so we planned a lunch after at Smarty Pants in Georgetown. I may have found my new fun hangout joint that just happens to have fantastic food. We planned on having sandwiches (I heard they were good) but since I never did have time for breakfast yet, I was drawn toward the Troublemaker Pileup. On name alone, how can you pass that up? OMG -- it was incredible. Up there in the top 5 of best brunch dishes ever. Grilled chicken and onions (and cheese) piled on a bed of scrambled eggs and hash browns. Topped with a slice of bacon. Served with a side of trouble. Trouble turned out to be some sort of creamy sauce with a bit of a kick. I was so impressed that I have to go back for a sandwich now! Ok, and if that wasn't enough, the bloody marys were also kick ass. The joint has a motocycle theme and seems to attact that crowd as well, but there was a good mix of people. I had to buy a hoodie sweatshirt before I left because it has a motorcyle on it and says Smarty Pants. How cool is that?

stomachache #3: There are 3 January birthdays in my family -- so we tried the breakfast buffet at Palisades to celebrate. I've done dinner there and have been very impressed, but breakfast was also very good! The cool thing is that you get to order an entree and then along with that you get unlimited trips to the breakfast buffet which had a nice selection of fruit, salads (I did not have room to try any), banana pancake bar, and a bunch of desserts (including eclairs that were pretty yummy). Talk about another gut buster. I had the salmon benedict, with a bunch of fuit -- and because it's my favorite -- banana pancakes!

So after all of that -- home for a run and then (gasp!) I actually got hungry. I put together a nice salad with some pasta, greens, a bit of beef from breakfast and some roasted vegetables and tomatoes. All dressed with a lemon juice vinaigrette. It was actually very good! And for once I don't feel sick. I've got some yummy-looking (light) recipes lined up for later in the week.