All You Can Eat

So my little brother is up at some cottage on a lake probably drinking himself stupid (stupider?) while playing Guitar Hero 2. My mother is meanwhile north of here with family watching over my grandmother, who has taken a turn for the worse recently after surviving for two weeks after a different turn for the worse.

Now, my father isn't lazy. It's just that when he comes home my mom already has plans for steak, potatoes, salad and beets or something ready. So when he comes home to a house that's basically empty with me downstairs in my corner room, he only has one thing on his mind.

"Let's go out for dinner."

Well, he said this last night as well, but I was in no mood. He had sandwiches and complained about it. So tonight I decided to go out with him and we'd have a meal somewhere. We ended up deciding on the Mandarin, an all-you-can-eat Chinese-based restaurant.

Man, I'd really like to explore some of the research that goes into perfecting the all you can eat restaurant. Smaller plates mean more trips, less food outgoing at one time, and also a lowered chance for waste from full eaters. Smaller drink glasses means more (free) refills, more waiting, and more consumed (cheap) water. It'd be interesting to see where the psychology of the restaurant goes to work on the consumers. Or maybe I'm just over-thinking things.

I was almost immediately amazed by how welcoming everyone there was. Of course it's mostly an Asian (If not Chinese) staff, but they all turned to say hello when you arrived, and goodbye when you left. They knew where to be at the right time, and they were also constantly on the lookout for people to assist. I was really quite amazed by the amount of work the staff put into everything. There was a gentleman standing by the grill-table who would dish out the steak, chicken and sausage that they cooked there. He would happily load up your plate, thank you as you left, nod as you passed... I could never do something like that. If I had to see someone once every 15 minutes I might be able to handle it, but the idea of having a person pass by every 5 seconds and come looking for food every 30... It'd drive me insane.

I ate a lot, of course, as you should at such a restaurant, and though I was careful in my picks each of the three times I went up for the main course - other than the delicious grilled sausage - I don't think I ever had seconds of something. I should have saved more room for dessert as Lemon Meringue Pie, my personal favorite, was there in plentiful numbers. Instead of having more of it and more Jell-o squares - as there's always room for Jell-o - I decided to have some small cake and brownie slices instead.

I don't have to feel bad about eating a lot. I missed dinner last night due to, well, a lack of quick things to eat and I didn't eat today either. My lifestyle was meant for this kind of thing.

My father enjoyed his meal a lot as well, which was good, since he won't feel the need to go out there again for 6 months or so. He also went to bed pretty early, he was ready to sleep as soon as we came in the door! He always tends to feel a little down when my mother's away, so he bugs myself or my brother for some quality time. So I don't much mind getting 'hassled' with having a meal with him.

I'm probably going to lay down until my stomach stops complaining. It enjoyed the meal too anyway.