Take-Out

I had such plans for dinner tonight.  We were going to eat healthy, damn it!

Chicken stir-fry - lots of veggies, very little (if any) rice, and I was going to make it all myself (and by make it, I mean dump everything out of the frozen bag it came in and watch as it magically became dinner).

Ah, such is life - things don't always go to plan.

I had a haircut after work today, so rather than go to the grocery store near our apartment, I went to the one near the salon, which I am less familiar with. 

My quest began with the search for fresh chicken breast tenders - much easier to cut up and stir-fry.  They didn't have them - or at least if they did, I couldn't find them.  So, I grabbed the full chicken breasts and headed for the frozen vegetable section. 

It bears mentioning that I did walk through the produce area of the store when I first arrived.  But, seeing as I am officially missing the "cooking gene", I was only able to stare at the rows of tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, lettuce, and carrots, wishing that I was the kind of person who could buy those things and magically create a meal with them.

So, off to the frozen vegetables I went.

Already frustrated at not being able to find the right kind of chicken, I was even more irritated to find that the limited selection of frozen veggies did not include the stir-fry mix that I'd gotten so used to.

Annoyed and nearing the end of my rope, I called Ben for moral support.  After a few minutes of "Honey, I don't know what to tell you, just get whatever sounds good to you", I was inspired to make one of my old favorites, so I abandoned the veggies (and my ambitions of healthy eating) and headed towards the pasta aisle.

Once again, fate had other plans for me.  The Pasta-Roni that I like to mix with cooked shrimp was not there.  Sure, they had other flavors, but I wanted my sun-dried tomato flavor!

Refusing to give up, I regrouped and decided that vodka sauce with regular pasta and shrimp would be just as good.  You can imagine my disappointment when I found that there was no vodka sauce.

Utterly frustrated (and near tears), I put the superfluous chicken back in the meat section and trudged to the self check out to pay for the few items that I'd collected during my tour of the store.

From the car, and officially in tears, I called Ben to inform him that not only was I coming home a half hour later than I thought I was, but I was also coming home empty handed.

In the 10 minutes that it took me to get back to our neck of the woods, I decided that I'd just suck it up and go into our grocery store to get the damn stir-fry and make dinner!

Long story short (too late)...I managed to find the stir-fry mix, but in my haste to get the hell out of grocery store #2, I forgot to get more chicken (since I didn't end up buying it at the first store).

That pretty much sent me over the edge.  The damn chicken!

So, now that I'm done moping, I can tell you what I'm thankful for. 

I'm thankful for take-out.  On days that I simply can't put together a meal to save my life, I'm glad that there is a drawer full of take-out menus and coupons, I'm glad that there's a Chinese restaurant less than 5 minutes from our apartment, and I'm especially thankful for Ben, who was nice enough to go and get it for me!