On eating the 100% perfect lunch one beautiful January afternoon

Just like I get obessesed with certain music, I'll become obsessed with certain other things. A particular food, for example. I'll eat crepes every day I get a chance until I'm sick of them — or until my eating companions get sick of them and refuse to go anymore.

This week's workday lunches have been themed around the delicious soup and half-sandwich.

The first day I went was a disaster. I went to Pasta & Co., which sounds unpromising now that I think about it, but they had a big sign touting their soups du jour and I figured everyone has sandwiches, right? Alas, their soup was tomato cheese (and you know I hate tomatoes) and they had no sandwiches. At all. So instead I got what seemed to be a good substitute: a risotto cake. I also picked up a bit of "island fried rice" as a solid back up plan.

So it turns out: I really do dislike tomatoes, even when paired with cheese and turned into a hot steamy soup substance. And on closer inspection of the risotto cake, I discovered an ugly secret: it appeared to be using a tomato based sauce as the glue that held the cake together.

And it was cold.

So I decided to try the fried rice, since it was to be my saviour, but no dice: the fried rice was full of pickled peppers or some shit. Hey everybody, I found where that peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked went! In my fried rice.

So instead I ate threw the risotto cake in the soup and ate that. Well, some of it, anyway.

The next day, I tried the Honey Baked Ham Store (or whatever it's called) on the advice of a co-worker. The veggie sandwich was actually really good! The soup choice was between seven-bean and minestrone. I chose seven-bean. I got what appeared to be half seven-bean and half-minestrone.

And it had pickled peppers in it.

And the servers were surly Jay and angry Silent Bob who appeared to be annoyed at anything that would keep them from going out back and taking another hit from the bong they'd fashioned out of an entire ham.

So, I guess I'm not going back there.

Today I just went to the QFC and got cream of potato-bacon soup and a turkey sandwich. It was OK, but the problem with this paradigm is that I end up with twice as much sandwich as I need.

And, embarrassingly, I somehow got some soup on my hair (no doubt by making one of my ridiculous gestures) and didn't notice until someone pointed it out. By the way, I do not recommend working someplace where 80% of the employees are guys and getting cream of anything soup in your hair. It's just, well, uh, don't do it.

So my quest for the perfect lunch goes on. I hope I don't have to go to two different places to get my one lunch. That would suck.

Or I'll find something else to fixate on, no doubt.

. . .

Felt overwhelmingly sad today. No particular reason.