Half-a-Pastrami

Tomorrow I'm back in the restaurant, but today I was left to my own devices. Made an 11am yoga class -- with only one other student, the privilege of having an irregular schedule. Went to the movies with Y afterward, then Y took me to the 2nd Avenue Deli for lunch, as a gift for graduating c-school.

I have a long relationship with the 2nd Ave Deli. I used to occasionally go there with my father for lunch. When I was in the music biz, I took a band from Montana there, who felt pastrami was just too weird -- most of them got burgers. My friend Y comes from a restaurant family, and looooves to eat, and we've spent many late nights at the original location. Chocolate babka, no matter how stuffed we were, was always dessert no matter what.

When my father passed away a few days before Thanksgiving, one of my first nights out of the house with friends was at Y's house around Xmas. Y made a glorious meal with her boyfriend at the time, and I brought a whole babka from the 2nd Ave Deli (if I did that today, I would have made it myself.) We ate a vast quantity, and then there was the babka. We didn't eat a piece of the babka -- we ate the WHOLE babka. The babka was love -- love for my friend, love for my father, love of my time I spent in that restaurant with them. I rolled out of there with a seriously distended tummy and when I got home, got promptly sick.

When Y asked me where I wanted to go to lunch, it was the obvious choice. Starving from yoga and hoping to cycle after, I thought a pastrami sandwich would be quite enough. However, I could only eat half of it -- in my entire life, whenever I've ordered a full pastrami, I've eaten it. I had a few of Y's fries, sure, and the health salad and the pickles, but by the time half got down, I was just....done, and being with Y, desert was not optional.

There is half a left over pastrami sandwich in my fridge. Man, I guess I'm not the same person I was when my pops was around.

ADDENDA:
Thing is, the pastrami was good...but not that good. Too lean, needed more fat -- if you're going to eat something as nutritionally dangerous as embalmed meat, it has to be macho -- you go large or you go home. Anyone who purposefully orders a lean deli sandwich, that's up there with sugar & fat free ice cream, caffeine free diet coke and turkey bacon. Just pointless.

BREAKFAST: 10am, cupcake, banana, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5
It was either eat a cupcake, or throw 'em out. It was nice that I could taste the slight staleness -- a real cupcake, not a preserved industrial convenience store thing.

LUNCH: 3:30pm, health salad, pickles, half a pastrami on rye with mustard, a few french fries, water, a couple pieces of rugala, small piece of babka, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, small cup of vanilla ice cream, a few tiny graham cracker cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5