Situation: Lunch

I have a weird food issue. Frequently, I don’t know what I want to eat and nothing sounds good.

At work, this manifests itself in my not eating anything at all until the problem becomes not only figuring out what I want to eat, but also getting to a place that serves it to me fast enough that I don’t collapse from starvation.

It was once suggested that I automate the process. Just have the same thing every day. Except the same thing doesn’t sound good every day. I had a spell when packaged fat free tuna salad on crackers was the best thing since sliced bread … and now it totally grosses me out.

I ate at the food co-op deli 2-4 times a week for months and now when I go there, nothing appeals to me.

Lately, I’m liking Japanese food. Teriyaki and sushi, depending on the day. I’ve discovered a conveyor belt sushi bar that is superfast and cheap by sushi standards. It’s a real sushi bar though; I can’t eat grocery store sushi anymore, not even from Trader Joe’s, because the rice and seaweed is so rubbery.

I’m almost too embarrassed to go there more than twice a week. You’d think there would be a lot of people who pop in, sit down, grab a few plates from the conveyor belt, eat and leave. But I feel weird when it takes me less than 5 minutes to eat my lunch. Like I need to linger over tea or something.

This restaurant is awesome though, it also has a regular teriyaki menu AND hibachis where the chef prepares the food at the table. Makes me wish, not for the first time, that I didn’t always eat lunch alone.

Otherwise, I swear there are more teriyaki joints than there are Starbucks around here. How in the world do they all stay in business? Have other people figured out, like I have, that the California rolls are best at Tokyo Stop, and the salmon teriyaki is better at Jackpot Teriyaki, but Best Teriyaki is where to go when time is of the essence?