Sometimes, I wish I wasn’t journaling my food for this year. As a ‘foodie’ and trained culinarian, I feel that there is the expectation that each meal (well, dinner at least) that Wendy & I eat should be dramatic. Glamorous, even.

Here’s the harsh reality, folks… Not all meals are dramatic or glamorous. Even for culinarians. Some meals I’ve eaten while working in professional kitchens have been some of the most humble ever. It’s not all foie gras and truffles during family meal!

Last night was a humble meal. Wendy & I had several errands to run, so we stopped off at Cici’s Pizza, a pizza buffet chain. A pizza buffet sounds like a great idea on paper — low food costs, family-friendly, very little waste, and heck, everyone loves pizza. In application, however, Cici’s Pizza seems to have forgotten one important detail — food should taste good. Cici’s Pizza doesn’t taste bad, it just doesn’t taste good. As described by Wendy, the food at Cici’s is “hot and brown and plenty of it“.

We had salads from their small salad bar before tucking into slices of various pizzas — pepperoni; sausage; pizza blanco; and a horrendous notion that had to be sampled just because it sounded so foul, the Macaroni and Cheese Pizza. I can see the thought process of a marketing guy working on the ‘next big thing’ for Cici’s… All kids love Mac and Cheese. All kids love pizza. Slap the two together, and you’ve got record-sales-in-the-making. Alas, it tasted like wallpaper paste on cardboard, with a bit of fake cheese powder on top.

I am ashamed. 😉

Tonight, Wendy & I used a couple gift certificates (thanks Bill!) for TGI Friday’s restaurant. Wendy enjoyed her “Baked Potato Soup” and “Double Stacked Quesadillas”, stuffed with chicken, cheeses, onions & peppers.

I took part in Friday’s $13 for three courses deal and had pot-stickers (which finally arrived long after Wendy finished her soup), barbecue Jack chicken with a nice Jack Daniel’s sauce, and Wendy & I split my dessert, which was a slice of Cinnabon Cheesecake.