Once again, apologies for the delay in postings. I got admonished yesterday by a loyal reader who apparently checks this blog every morning for updates and was very upset that it had been a week since I posted anything. I have a blog groupie! Awesome!
But the reason for my delay is also the topic of today's post... I was on the road for work. My job often has me traveling around in circles visiting college campuses. The problem, of course, is that in the midwest and south (my territory), most college campuses are not in major metropolitan areas. In fact, they are often in the middle of nowhere. So that often means that a very full day of work will consist of only 3 meetings, with a good hour and a half to two hours drive between them, and no downtime whatsoever (think car-campus-car-campus). That, coupled with the fact that I'm often driving through incredibly rural areas, also coupled with the fact that when I finally do get to a destination it's a college town and predictably filled with mainly college-town restaurant chains, makes following the Au Naturale diet very difficult. Or in the case of this most recent trip, downright impossible.
Now granted, maybe I should give myself some slack- this is my first trip of the year since committing to the Au Naturale lifestyle. But put yourself in my situation on my first day of the 3-day trip: when you have a 9:30am meeting that goes an hour and a half, followed by a 45 minute car ride, followed by a noon meeting, followed by an hour and a half drive, followed by a 3pm meeting.... when do you eat? And when you're hopping the state line between Wisconsin and Minnesota 3-4 times during that drive... where do you eat?
In my case, at McDonald's.
Terrible, I know. Can you think of a less Au Naturale choice? But it really was the only option. Sure, I could have had a salad. But trying to eat a salad while driving? That is a recipe for disaster. And by 2pm, when all I had for breakfast was a terrible luna bar-like thing from the "market" at my hotel (I had totally misjudged my prep time in the morning), I needed something majorly filling. So a double-cheeseburger and fries it was. Sigh.
This did cause me to reflect on something that I have increasing noticed as evident to maintaining a successful Au Naturale life: prep and foresight in food choices. For my next trip, I need to make sure to pack both healthy and slightly decadent treats to live in my rental car. But when it comes to the rushed meal in the middle of the day (and it will be rushed, and most likely eaten while driving), that's where I need to find a better solution. Up next: another three day trip in rural western Kentucky. Oh, loyal 2 or 3 readers: any suggestions?
As dramatic as I'm being, the whole trip wasn't a total loss. In a rare chance to stay in a metropolis during my travels, I spent two nights in Minneapolis and had a wonderful treat of being able to see some good friends who have moved there. One evening, my friend Sara and I hit up Bradstreet Craftshouse Restaurant , an inventive restaurant that specialize in craft cocktails (consulted by Violet Hour owners, for those in Chicago who know that bar) and great food. What especially pleased me about Bradstreet was their commitment to local and organic products in each of their dishes. As much as I talk about organic and preservative-free in my food choices, local and sustainable means a lot to me, too. Each menu item that contains a product, whether it be cheese, produce, or meat, from a local farmer lists the farm and a description of their business and practices. Satisfying to the stomach and my conscience. And the next day at the airport, I actually found a French Meadow Bakery & Cafe in the terminal, which offers organic and all-natural choices.
One of the fun things about traveling in rural areas is seeing first-hand the kinds of farms I am both trying to patronize and avoid. Stay tuned for a quick story about one of those....
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