Whew.

[somewoman]

I left the hotel at 5:45 this morning.  Worked at the plant until 4:30 PM.  Drove 2.5 hours home.  Stopped to have dinner at the winery en route, which has become my new favorite eating place because it's a mecca of fantastic, tasty vegetarian foods in the middle of rural MN/IA.  Good dinner, but I am exhausted.

I will say one thing, traveling for

Comments

[57degrees]

The whole eating-single thing always bugged me. I mean, I do it for lunch all the time. I do it for breakfast once in a while. If I do it for dinner, why does that matter?

Yet when I first started doing it, I remember being self-conscious about it.

Somehow, somewhere, society was trying to make me feel bad about it.

I don't.

I know what is best for me. And that does not include a relationship for the purpose of keeping up appearances. That is just cruel to the other person.

[somewoman]

I think it bugs a lot of people. I've tried to stop saying "just one" when being seated as though one were an insufficiency.

I've heard of people having bad experiences with waitpeople when dining alone, but I've always been treated as well as a table for 2 or 4 would have been. Eating solo at the winery was particularly nice because the people working there were chatty and the owner even came by to talk to me.

[tuxette]

Considering the number of people who travel for business, I find it odd that there is a "problem" with solo diners...

[57degrees]

BTW, that meal looks pretty tasty.

[somewoman]

It was delicious. Chickpeas in one quadrant, tomatoes and figs in another, and then the greens and parmesan. All with a nice subtle heat to them.

[tuxette]

Ooo, that looks like a nice little meal :-)

[somewoman]

They have a phenomenal menu. They put at least as much thought into their food as they do their wine.

[0x_blinder]

ha! yes! when i started traveling for work, i remember the first time i had to get dinner by myself. i was in los angeles, and i had it set in my head on the flight out there that i'd just find some grocery store and just get snacky things and eat a dinner in my room, but after a day of bullshit, i was just ravenously hungry and i noticed the hotel had a brew pub like place that had veggie burgers on their menu.

so i figured, "what the hell" and just strolled in. i guess i looked like a person on a business trip (exhausted) because the hostess just said immediately, "place at the bar?" (the place was packed) and i said "yeah that'll work."

that's when i learned of the joys of just sitting at the bar and having a meal. no one bothers you, you get the fastest possible service.

now, when i travel for work, that's the routine pretty much. yes, the straight edge nerd looks for a bar.

oh and great composition on the photo!

[somewoman]

You will never get faster refills on water than at the bar. :^)

Also, bartenders are really excellent at telling which people want to chat and which do not.

[57degrees]

Where is that LIKE button???