Ode to a greasy piece of cheese pizza...

I never, ever, ever get tired of pizza.

It is my 'stranded-on-a-desert-island-one-choice' food. So how great is it that there's a slice joint just over in the TCF skyway? Well, maybe not so great. I've got the nearing 40-year-old, male health concerns: watching the blood pressure, sodium and fat intake. Plus if you're black - like me - you bear the additional burden of the 'predisposition factors.'

Brothers don't live real long, relatively speaking. So any food pleasures we may enjoy ie: fried chicken, bacon, Fanta Red Pop, etc. will likely kill us before we're 55.

But sometimes, like today, you gotta just say if this greasy slice of pizza is going to kill me, then it was worth it.

Skyway sushi Friday

Spicy Minnesota rolls and the spicy tuna/California roll combo at Tensuki Sushi

I used to reserve paydays as 'Sushi day' here at the office. But now, 'sushi day' is just about anytime I feel like it. Apparently, I'm not alone. Sometimes it's hard to fit into the little shoebox of a joint to get to the cooler where they place trays of rolls and nigiri style sushi. I'm a sucker for spicy tuna rolls.

It's gyro time y'all

King-size gyros with fries from Falafel King.

I used to go to Falafel King (located in the TCF bldg skyway) only for the falafel. But after a while I kept getting mealy balls of fried chickpeas that appeared to have been sitting in the steam table for a little too long. So I gave up. Which is too bad because a fresh falafel is a glorious thing.

It's apparently harder to screw up a gyros, so that's what i ate today. The fries are an extra indulgence. But I'm going to have a long day, so I need to fill the tank to the rim.

Default lunch

The chili corn bisque at Au Bon Pain w/ baguette

Au Bon Pain is where I go when I don't have a craving for any particular food. The fare at the Pain isn't bad - in fact the chili corn bisque is creamy, yet contains no cream. It's also quite flavorful AND there's no meat in it. (I'm trying to cut back on the carnivoring).

But there's nothing there that when the clock strikes 11:20 a.m. makes me go 'ohh, I'll go have some soup and bread."

However, the soup and bread is cheap. Just give them five bucks and you'll get 80 cents change - enough for a sweet snack later in the afternoon. And, if you're like me and trying to decrease the volume and the fat content of your food intake, then Au Bon Pain is a fine default.

More tales from the 'human habitrail'

Though I try to do right by my cardiovascular system by walking up the six flights of stairs to my office everyday - I often take the easy way out. And while it's a short trip, often the elevator ride is full of little vignettes that would make great plots for episodes of "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

These events evoke thoughts in my head, that only the show's creator and star Larry David would say out loud.

Here's a common occurrence. I stand in the back of the elevator as a pack of heavy duty office honies, fresh off a lunchtime smoke break and a 'run to the border' (they're still carrying the 64 oz. Taco Bell cups of soft drink). These are ladies with low centers of gravity. They wobble but they don't fall down.

We start on the skyway level - 2nd floor - and one of them pushes '3.'

I imagine Larry David - were he in my place - would follow the women to the edge of the elevator door and offer a suggestion and a smirk as they waddle away.

"Excuse me ladies. Ah, you know maybe walking up a flight a stairs wouldn't kill you. I mean, I'm not saying you're...But I'm just saying."

lunch in the human habitrail

As a member of the downtown Minneapolis workforce, I regularly forage the human habitrails - or skyways - as they're more commonly known - to get food.

Lunch is my 2nd favorite part of the day (next to quittin' time). And there's a vast array of food options to choose from. In my immediate vicinity - meaning within two or three blocks - there's several asian joints, a decent pizza slice vendor, a Falafel King, sushi and of course your chain establishments: Au Bon Pain, Taco Bell, Taco Johns, Brueggers, etc.



Today? The veggie curry from Zen Box Eatery. A simple, no humble, bowl of white rice, and chunks of carrots covered in a rich, spicy curry. It's cheap - 4 bucks and change, it's tasty and it's filling. Once I slipped and ordered the Katsu curry, which includes a panko-encrusted, cheese-filled, deep-fried pork chop. Huh? Of course I had to eat the pork chop. However, it may as well have been panko-encrusted, cheese-filled, deep-fried shoe leather. Way overcooked.