Yesterday during my lunchbreak I went to the pet store for cat food. I bought a new brand of kibble a few weeks back, and at first the cats ate it, but now they just LOOK at it, then look at me, then look at the kibble, then look at me, then sigh in disgust and walk away. And truthfully, I didn’t find that this new food was doing nothing to help Boogin’s “digestion.” In fact, if anything, I would say perhaps it has made the problem worse.
So it’s back to the drawing board, which in this case means back to the pet store, where I have now picked up some cans of EVO 95% Turkey, and Wellness Turkey (Grain Free). Both brands get great reviews, and in all my reading, I’ve learned to stick with fowl for sensitive kitty stomachs, rather than beef or fish. So we’ll give these new foods a whirl, see if either of them might turn out to be “the magic pill” to help Boogins feel better.
Now all of that I say by way of introduction. Because, as you can see, the title of this post is not TRYING YET ANOTHER CAT FOOD, it’s about my quest for the perfect side salad. How do I get from here to there? Well, after my pet store visit, I stopped into the local Arby’s, where I ordered a large tea, and a side salad. And here’s my evaluation of that experience.
The Arby’s side salad is not really that complicated, just iceberg lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, and a few chunks of diced tomato. Actually, it was more than just a FEW chunks of tomato. I have to give them that. They did not skimp on the tomato. So that was good.
And the dressing was good too! Their Marzetti Buttermilk Ranch dressing comes in a 1.5 ounce package, so there is plenty of it (unlike the Wendy’s salad, where they only give you a one ounce package, so you have to go back up to the counter and ask for another package, and you don’t know if they’re going to try to charge you or not, so all in all it’s kind of uncomfortable eating a salad at Wendy’s. But their chili is to die for.)
The Arby’s dressing packet would have been more than enough for the salad, which is a decent size for a $1.69 side salad. But I was amazed at how far the dressing actually went!
You see, over the years I have developed this practice of sometimes “enhancing” a simple fast-food salad with items from home. It’s easy enough to prepare a small container of whatever —-sliced mushrooms, onions, olives, cheese chunks, beans, or even tuna fish. Then, when you get your salad, just reach into your oversized purse, pull out the container, dump it on, and voilà! That simple little $1.69 salad is now a meal.
Yesterday I brought a container of black beans and some diced celery. Beans are a fabulous and delicious source of low calorie protein, and celery is just all-around healthy, no matter how you look at it. I always try to add a little celery to whatever salad I’m eating. When I added my items from home, my salad went from this…to this:
Now personally, I think this looks scrumptious, and I have to tell you…it was scrumptious! The lettuce was simple iceberg, and thankfully it did not have that “too green” taste I’ve been running into a bit lately. The dressing was thick enough to cover the entire salad. The cheese and the beans made this a hearty meal.
I like the Arby’s salad bowl. It’s deep, rather than wide, which gives you a good opportunity to move the salad stuff around without it possibly falling out on to the table. The lid of the plastic bowl is sometimes a bit hard to pry loose, but once you get it off and get to your salad, it’s smooth sailing all the way.
Yes, Arby’s does charge you a bit more for their side salad than say McDonald’s , but I think they also give you more food. The real plus for me in going to Arby’s is that there is a tree INSIDE the restaurant, which I just think is cool, and their iced tea tastes great. Lately, I do not always have good luck with the tea at McDonald’s. Sometimes tea can have that too strong/too bitter flavor at McDonald’s. But not so at Arby’s. Nice and fresh.
And not once yet have I had the experience at Arby’s of finding the sweet tea in the container marked “unsweet tea.” That’s happened to me a couple of times at McDonald’s lately and it’s just a pain to have to ask the girl to get me some tea from behind the counter. And nobody apologizes or even seems concerned that they’ve got sweet tea in the unsweet container. They just go on as if that’s perfectly okay.
Well, I didn’t mean to start ragging on McDonald’s in this post about Arby’s, but that was on my mind from the other day. I don’t even like to stop at McDonald’s so much anymore. And Burger King? Don’t even get me started! Last time Russ and I were in Burger King we looked at each other and said “Never again.” Which is a shame, because I really do like the Jr. Whopper.
Well, I’m off topic. The Arby’s salad is a good deal, with a good deal of good dressing. I say: go for it!
