A Final American Food Tour

Before leaving the States, I decided to try and make a list of places and things I wanted to eat before leaving the country for 6 months. Since we're a very food-chain oriented nation, I knew I wouldn't be able to find any of the same restaurants over here, save a few fast food places, and mainly McDonalds (which I haven't eaten at in over 10 years).

I made sure to get some decent pizza since I'd heard that the pizza in any European country other than Italy is sub-par. When I made it up to Pittsburgh a week before we headed to Germany, I knew I had to hit up some restaurants that I'd crave if I didn't eat there before we left. Since I had only a week left, I had to choose the most important ones. We definitely went to Cheesecake Factory, Ichiban, Buffalo Wild Wings, Red Lobster, and a few others. I also made sure to get one last diet cherry limeade at Sonic (my all-time favorite drink). One of the things I wish I'd gotten to eat before leaving was a grilled Rachel at Food For Thought in Oakland. Food For Thought was a small deli directly across the street from our apartment and we used to get a grilled Rachel there all the time. It's like a Rueben sandwich, except it's turkey instead of corned beef and cole slaw instead of sauerkraut. It's something we took for granted when we lived there and I haven't had one since we moved out of that apartment in June 2010. I will be certain to get one almost as soon as we get back.

We used to eat out once a week after getting weighed-in and we've been here two weekends already and haven't eaten out once. They're not too keen on small children and the noise they make, plus prices are more expensive (before taking into account that 1 Euro is $1.30). We hope to make it out for major occasions and get a babysitter (we have some friends coming over in the next month that are very familiar with Brady). On the other hand, not eating out once a week will likely help keep my weight in check. On those days, I would often go well over my daily points plus allowance, if not double it with all the courses offered at most restaurants.