I have covered sleep, walk (exercise), today I am going to talk about the good we eat. As I came to the US about 18 years ago, I recall a friend and a fellow Chinese graduate student once said: food, sleep and exercise are 3 key elements of being healthy. This was very relevant as we were both new to this country, and trying to adjust to everything in the US. For most Chinese students and coworkers in my era, I understand our main food is still Chinese food (rice, stir fry, etc.). Many Chinese coworkers bring lunch to work. I do that sometime too. Also, as I was aging, I started to pay more attention to breakfast. This is different from when I was in graduate school or new to work. I think in about 2005 since I moved to my current condo, there is one Panera Bread (St. Louis Bread Co.) in walking distance, and I started to enjoy the bagel and coffee in the morning. Two reasons I got coffee there instead of brewing my own, or get it at work: 1) The coffee there is good or better; 2) I just get one cup and that’s done, trying to control the caffeine intake.
That bagel habit stuck to me for almost 10 years now. I passed that habit to my old daughter Serenity. She started eat bagel as a toddler. I tried bagels and bread from other places too, e.g, bagels from Einstein bagels and bagel factory (New York Style water bagel). They are different from Panera’s (Panera are more sweet or sugary).
For lunch, I bring my own lunch more often these days. But I usually go out to eat if I join a new place new. From Fazoli’s (fast Italians), Panera Bread, Chick-fil-a, to Culvers (midwest hamburgers), to most recently Picklman’s (sandwich). I usually stick to one thing for a long time before exploring. For example, I recall eat their grilled sandwich until one day I found there is a bug in the lettuce. Then I switched to Pastas, etc. For Panera, I started with Frontega Chicken panini. Later on I expanded to their soup and salad. Chick-fil-a is always good, I usually got their calendar each year ($7), which pays itself quickly with monthly free food/drink. I visited Culver’s the first time when I visited a client at Rockford, IL, which is close to Wisconsin (Culver’s home state). I liked the buttery flavor of burgers. Picklman’s is a sandwich shop started in Show-me state (Columbia, MO, where Mizzou is), I liked their Italian beef sandwich. Since that I have not gone back to Subway. 🙂 I was never big on lunch at work place. I recall at one time I did eat a few times at Unigroup cafeteria, their food is fair and cheap. Probably because they don’t pay people as well as other places 🙂 They only take cash. At current place, I only been there a few times, and all I got was pizza.