Chicken on a Honey Wheat Bun

That must be the new “big thing.” On Friday, I finally tried one of McDonald's new deluxe chicken sandwiches. They are really on the pricey side, for the venue, at least, but I was pleased with my “Classic” chicken sandwich. It rang in at $3.29, including a nice grilled chicken fillet, lettuce, tomato, mayo and a “deluxe” honey wheat roll.

Today, I tried one of White Castle's new chicken sandwiches, which — surprisingly enough — also are on a honey wheat roll. The home of the crave gives you a very nice honey chipotle sauce on top of the chicken, as well. It was a tasty little sandwich, and combined with a few slyders, I was well satisfied. Price wise, unfortunately, the little White Castle chicken rings in at $1.49. Given the size, you'd probably need to spend $4.50 to approach the amount of chicken in the $3.29 sandwich from McDonald's. I'll stick to burgers next time, I think). That is only $0.69 for the Jalapeno cheese variety.

A New Donut Company

I was introduced to a new donut company this morning: LeMar's. Well, it isn't a new donut company, but it seems to be relatively new to St. Louis and it only has one location, in Creve Coeur, at the moment.

I've now tried two of their huge, $.75 donuts, and I'm fairly happy with them. This morning, I had a lemon jelly donut. It was probably close to twice the size of an average jelly donut, was very soft and had a good icing on it. The lemon wasn't the tartest, but it was good. Just a little while ago, I tried another one, a German chocolate donut, that was excellent.

As a whole, LeMar's isn't as tasty as Krispy Kreme, I'd say, but I'll stop again. LeMar's claims the Rocky Mountain News chose their donuts over Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' Donuts (as well as others). While I'd probably agree that the donuts I enjoyed today where better than Dunkin' Donuts by quite a bit, I suspect it was a bit of hometown pride on the part of the News to pass up Krispy Kreme for first place. That's my professional donut eating story and I'm sticking to it.

Tim's Special BBQ Sauce

Ok, here's a first for asisaid. I present to you my new creation: Tim's Special BBQ Sauce.

• 1-2 oz. Maull's Sweet 'n Smokey Barbecue sauce.
• 1-2 oz. Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory Barbecue sauce.
• 5 jalapeno slices (or about 1/3 of a small, fresh jalapeno), finely diced.
• A liberal dash or two of crushed red pepper (dried).

Mix thoroughly. Microwave for one minute on low power, then twenty seconds on high power. Mix again. A small amount on a hamburger bun will add plenty of zest to you barbecue burger, for example; it should be good on other things as well. Bon appetite!

Sunday Brunch: A Brunch on Brunch

1) Do you eat breakfast on a regular basis and why or why not?
No. I love breakfast, but I love sleep even more. If I skip breakfast, I only have to get up one hour before I need to be almost any place I might need to go. If I eat a microwave breakfast, as I do sometimes, that ups the time by ten or fifteen minutes. A good, freshly prepared breakfast would do substantially more damage to my sleep time.

While I don't have to rise as early as some, breakfast just does not come out important enough to make it worth the extra time. As a side note, I would point out that most breakfast foods (short of a “full” breakfast as described below) do not seem to be overly filling, and therefore I just end up eating more on a day that I eat breakfast. If I just eat lunch, I end up consuming the same amount of lunch and feel just as satisfied, despite having a net of less food during the day.

2) What is your typical everyday breakfast?
A glass of milk or chocolate milk is my average “breakfast.”

3) How do you eat your eggs?
I prefer omelets, strongly, but I do like fried eggs on occasion. My favorite omelet is a western style with cheese and without mushrooms (i.e. green pepper, ham, onion and cheese, and, optionally, jalapeno peppers). Although I have not figured out how to create my ideal omelet, I know a cafe down in the Ozarks that does know how — they manage to make the egg very thin, thus allowing the omelet to be wrapped up like a burrito rather than the typical clam-shell style folding. The best omelet should have its ingredients that go inside the egg sautéed prior to making the actual omelet, rather than dumping the ingredients “raw” inside the egg. Cheese is best on top, not inside the omelet. Serve with ample hash browns and some good toast or biscuits with fresh jam.

If an omelet is out of the question, I will generally opt for two fried eggs, over medium, sausage links and hash browns. If available, though, I like Captain's Hash as well (that's where the sausage, and hashbrowns are tossed together with green pepper and onion — the egg remains on the side).

4) What is your favorite restaurant to eat breakfast out at?
McDonald's, Hardees or Jack-in-the-Box are all good for a quick breakfast, although I vastly prefer going some place that will serve the aforementioned, properly prepared omelet. At most fast food restaurants I will opt for a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich with a hashbrown. I do like McDonald's breakfast burritos and McGriddle sandwiches too.

5) Describe your perfect breakfast in detail.
I think I already did that in the course of explaining proper egg preparation. Like Christopher, I would express my dislike of breakfast served at times other than breakfast. The one exception would be a brunch type setting where you might have breakfast and lunch foods mixed in a late morning/noonish type setting, but I very much dislike breakfast for dinner.

Monday Brunch on Lunch

1) Do you take your lunch hour at work?
No. Since I don't have a schedule exactly, I eat whenever there is time. Usually between 11:30 and 1:30. Generally I take far less than an hour too. I do take a lunch forty-five minutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, however, since I have classes before and after the noon hour.

2) What is your favorite place to eat lunch at?
Tough question. I like lots of places, it just depends on my mood. St. Louis Bread Co. tasted very good today. My favorite lunch is just one that is different than what I had the day before.

3) What do you usually eat for lunch?
I vary a lot.

4) Do you have anyone that you eat lunch with on a regular basis?
Yes, but it varies depending on the day of the week.

5) If not eating, what do you usually do on your lunch hour?
Me, miss lunch? The only other thing I might be doing is frantically working so I can fit lunch in.

Have your Brunch on Lunch in the comments, if you'd like.

Old Spaghetti Factory

I tried the Old Spaghetti Factory for the first time last night. I was a bit concerned about it, since I'm not really one for spaghetti, but it turned out very good. I got the Breast of Chicken Fettuccine with a side of sausage — both excellent choices! The nice thing about this restaurant is that the meal is a complete meal. For eight bucks, I got the chicken and pasta main course, a salad, bread, iced tea and a scoop of very good ice cream.

I had heard about the Factory location downtown, but that was a bit out of the way. This location, in Chesterfield Commons, is much more convenient. Better yet, I have a reason to go back — after filling out the survey on the receipt, I received a coupon for free garlic cheese bread.

I'm hungry

I've been really hungry at night lately. I'm not sure why. I had a big BBQ dinner from Bandana's Barbecue tonight, but I'm getting in the mood for a nice, big snack. A piece of pie or pizza seems to beckon… I may just have to go get myself one or the other.