AT THE RESTAURANT:
- Tell yourself: It's OK to leave food on your plate. It really is. It isn't 1943. We aren't in a terrible depression. (OK, maybe we are.) If it bothers you that much, you won't order as much the next time. (Please Note: This is great in theory, but doesn't work for me. I can't stand to leave food on my plate...after college I lived in Hungary, where I lived on $40 a month and often went Hungary.)
- Co-order: If you have a taste for several of the appetizers, work with your spouse or people at your table to share some of the dishes rather than ordering a full serving. This works great with desert, too. I go one step further: I make my boyfriend order a desert and then eat off of his.
- Don't be afraid to substitute from other entrees. The ship I'm on has multiple meal options, and I often pick and choose between them: Hold the fries and get a side-salad; hold the pasta and get the vegetable of the day. In the Mexican restaurant, a salad that I love comes with one of those crispy bowl-shells - delicious, but hardly necessary. I always ask for the salad in a regular (inedible) bowl. If there are fries on my plate, I'll eat them - so I try to cut them off at the pass.
- Ask for water if it's not served.
- Ask the waiter to take away the bread basket once everybody has had some bread; or put it out of reach. Put it in front of the other couple at the table. Bread is an easy way to add tons of calories to your meal! (When I have bread, which isn't very often anymore since I suspect I'm allergic to gluten, I always butter it: It's delicious and lavish and the butter makes one piece feels more substantial. And I could die tomorrow, so I'm gonna butter my bread.)
No comments:
Post a Comment