Up Early Today

I woke up at 5:30 today, looked at the clock, and decided since there are lots of things I need to get done today I might as well get up. I heard a bunch of banging around in the kitchen, too, and was wondering what in the world was going on in there since Keith was supposed to have left for work already. Since we are in the hot time of year the crew at his work have been starting to come in at 5:30 instead of 6 so they can leave a little earlier at the end of the day and not be in the heat for that last half hour. Except this morning he forgot. So when everyone else leaves early today he'll still be stuck there for that extra half hour. Or if he is smart he'll just leave when everyone else does despite the extra half hour.

He had to leave work early yesterday so we could go for his follow up on his endoscopy, which came out fine with nothing other than irritation from the acid reflux, no cancer or other big issues. The doctor said the meds he is supposed to take should help things heal up and then with diet modification it should be manageable.

We were talking about salad bars the other day and how there is nowhere in this town to get a good salad bar since the demise of Fresh Choice, and while the Golden Corral may have a salad bar, it's certainly not someplace we'd ever want to set foot in again. I really think the joke is on the consumer there, the people who named that restaurant had probably seen human behavior at a buffet before and realized that we did look just like corralled animals, all milling about and shoving into each other, and trying to get to those troughs of food. I'm surprised there isn't someone standing around in Golden Corral with whips and cattle prods to keep everyone moving along.

Anyway, salad bars. I googled salad bars in Bakersfield and I did actually find a local restaurant that is a soup and salad buffet. And why haven't I discovered this before? It's called The Garden Spot and I have seen the sign for it before but I guess I thought it was some kind of vegan/vegetarian restaurant even though I should have known better, it seems like most residents of Bakersfield are quite carnivorous.

I read some reviews for The Garden Spot and most sounded good except for the ones complaining about how it's an 'old people's' restaurant and they had 'old people' food like pudding and jello, and how the decor was kind of funky and not unlike a cafeteria. So, despite the review from the old person hater, we tried it out yesterday afternoon, and we made it in time for the 'old people's' happy hour, where between the hours of 2:30 and 4:30 you got the buffet (including a drink) for $5.95 if you were 55 or over. Well, I'm over 55 so I got dinner for $5.95, and it was not bad at all. You get your salad first and then pay and on to the breads and muffins and soups. The decor WAS funky and not unlike a cafeteria, but I was glad to finally find a salad bar that wasn't located in a corral.