Complex Numbers

Fast Food

Wait... you can make meals?

PROMPT November 11th

What is your favorite meal to make when you are really hungry?

Delivery pizza.

No, I'm not joking.

For the last couple of years, I've been on a meal plan. During the first year, that plus exercise caused me to lose a lot of weight, which is a good thing. Then the pandemic came along, and I started drinking more and canceled my gym membership (yes, it's possible to do that), so the meal plan, at best, now helps me keep off what I've lost. It also has me eating smaller meals more often, which usually keeps me from getting too painfully hungry.

Also, I've been single for a while, so I don't cook much anymore, apart from a few things in the meal plan. It's not that I never learned how; I used to be a passable cook. it's just that I can't be arsed. You know me: maximum return for minimum effort. If it's just for me, I don't bother with anything fancy or complicated; I don't need to show off for myself.

Like anybody, though, I'm not perfect. In fact, I'm less perfect than most. So I don't always stick to the plan -- hence, the occasional pizza. I will say that's a lot more rare now than it was before I began to lose weight. It's almost as if there was a correlation there. I've also all but eliminated other kinds of fast food from my intake.

Things are starting to get colder now, though, and I might have to break down and cook a pot of my chili. But the chili wouldn't count for the prompt; it takes way too long to prepare and cook when I'm actually hungry.

When it comes to "making" food while starving to death, it needs to be something quick and easy, like a sandwich -- but I usually don't have sammich stuff lying around because it goes bad before I can eat it. What I should probably do is cook the chili and freeze serving sizes of it, so when the mood takes me I can just thaw some and plop it into a bowl. But it's not like me to plan ahead like that.

In case you're wondering (you're probably not, though), there's a pizza place near me that is not crappy chain pizza (e.g., Domino's or Papa John's) that usually delivers in 20-30 minutes, unless there's something like a sportsball game going on so that they're busy and there's traffic. So the time between "I'm really damn hungry" and "nom nom nom" is pretty short. The place has been in business as long as I've been in town; it was the first phone number in Charlottesville that I memorized, though these days it's easier to order online. As far as I can tell, their recipe hasn't changed in 40 years.

There's another restaurant near me that has better pizza, but sadly, they don't deliver. They do takeout, however. I haven't been there in a while. Of course, now that I've thought about them, I'm going to have to go. So thanks for ruining my diet.