By Joel Thurtell
Anybody else troubled by this?
Okay, we make long drives between Michigan and our summer place in Ontario.
Ten hours on the road is what we tell people, but truth is, it’s more like eleven or twelve.
A haul.
Gotta eat, don’tcha know?
And I do know that the fast-food places are not good for me.
Oh yeah, I saw the movie, “Super-Size Me.”
Yep, Mickey-D being the absolute worst.
For years, we wouldn’t touch Mickey-D.
Somehow, maybe due to shrewd placement of their golden arches, we got back into lunch or breakfast or whatever you call it at Mickey-D’s.
The one in Espanola is very, very convenient. Half an hour after departing the Bay, there’s the arch place, right on Highway 6.
Oh sure, there’s Roger Rabbit also in Espy, with great Canadian breakfasts. But the service is Canadian-style, too.
Slowwwwwww.
Maybe that’s not so bad. compared to the aftermath of a meal at our regular eatery.
It took me a while to realize that a certain thirstiness, a certain dryness of throat must be attributable to the fare at McDonald’s.
If I didn’t have a bottle of water to swig on, the experience could be pretty bad.
I said as much to Karen. She agreed, so on our last trip down-country, we swore off the yellow arches.
Stopped for lunch at a Big Boy.
Damnation!
Couple hours later, same saltiness, same awful dryness of mouth and throat.
No more fast-food joints!
Tonight, driving home from dinner with a couple friends at a full-service Ann Arbor restaurant, I felt that thirst welling up in my gorge.
Salt, or whatever it is, was pasted to my mouth.
Cross that place off.
And I know what to do about those cross-country trips.
We have a wonderful device made by Coleman called an “iceless cooler.”
Plugs into the 12 volt direct current socket in our car.
The solution?
We will make sandwiches before leaving home, stuff them in the cooler and save ourselves a bunch of money.
Not to mention stop those droughts-in-the-throat that are extremely unpleasant.
And unhealthy.
Bye-bye, Mickey-D!
Drop me a line at joelthurtell@gmail.com
We, too, have cut back on eating out because the food is just too salty. We would look forward to a restaurant meal, and then be disappointed. More and more evidence is pointing to the unhealthful effects of salt.
Just try ordering soup at any fast-food eatery — and even at some places that tout themselves as healthy restaurants: I got some at Panera’s a while back that was so salty that I couldn’t bear to eat more than two spoonsful. (Two because after one spoonful, I couldn’t believe how salty it was, and took a second spoonful just to be certain.) It had so much salt that I felt that if I finished it, some hunter would come along and place me in the North Woods as a deer lick. As for club sandwiches or any sandwich containing chicken or turkey, forget it: The so-called “pressed” (read “processed” with God knows what additives) or “deli” turkey — at Panera’s and even at otherwise top eateries — tastes as if it’s been soaked in brine. The last time I ordered one — not realizing what it was really like — I ended up taking all the turkey out of the sandwich and leaving it on my plate. When I got home, I wrote the manager.
I have discovered two great exceptions to the salty soup and salty turkey: Grape Leaves in a strip mall on the East side of Greenfield just south of I-696 makes delicious soup — and the only flavoring is the tasty base ingredients and a lovely hint of the Mideast. Superb!
For anyone who wants a super turkey club sandwich, Spangas on Woodward just south of 14 Mile Road, on the Royal Oak/Birmingham border is tops. Tom, the owner, is always there to make sure diners get their turkey cut thick, thick, thick (I don’t think he EVER takes a vacation), and there’s none of that horrid drowning-in-salt-water taste that one gets elsewhere. Where do the area law enforcement troops go to eat? Spangas. What else can I say . . .