Most weeks, Friday is the beginning of the weekend. If I haven’t already put something into my Palm Pilot by Thursday night, then I spend Friday morning obsessively sending and checking email, surfing messageboards, and rapid-fire IM-ing with friends and acquaintances in an effort to kickstart the weekend in the most outwardly social way possible.
But there are weeks when Friday is really just the end of the work week. I’m tired. No, make that drained. I’m sapped of all mental, physical, and social energy. If there’s a diamond in my Palm Pilot, I spend the morning trying to get out of it. Email or IM starts with “Hey...sorry, but about tonight...” And then when the clock finally 3...2...1 ticks down to 5 o’clock, loaded down with my bags and laptop, I drag myself to my car, start driving in a strange surreal daze and when I finally pull up to the key box to open the garage gate, I can’t even remember the commute home because I was on auto-pilot.
On those Fridays, there’s no cooking. There’s not even enough energy to sit in a restaurant and make nice with a server for an hour just to have dinner. No, on those Fridays, the local market with salad, deli, and prepared food bars, is my savior. And God, if I could have someone at the market beam over my dinner for $500, I’d pay it.
Thank God for the Whole Foods Market that is not more than a three minute walk up a gentle grade over Montana then through a Brentwood back alley. It’s not a new location. It’s not very big. But on Fridays that are the end of a work week, the little, familiar Whole Foods Market is better than a Michelin 3 star.
Roasted tomato soup is a little thin and flat without any added fat, but it can be made luxurious with a dollop of sour cream swirled into a paisley back at home. Vegetarian quesadilla right out of that black plastic container is soggy and cold, but it can be refreshed in a frying pan to oozy crisp. With Team America on DVD (yes, yes, I am very behind when it comes to movies), end-of-the-work-week Friday almost feels like a Dinner-and-a-Movie Friday night date. Almost. Just without the annoying date. :)
Eve says
That sounds like the most perfect and relaxing and fulfilling evening in the world to me right now. And that tomato soup looks good, but I have trouble eating tomato soup without a grilled cheese sandwich-I guess that's a summer camp thing...
sarah says
awww....when you're done with your exam, there is no way the evenings are going to be spent "in" with food picked up from whole foods! dress up! go out! drink and celebrate!!
and i think the quesadilla was sort of the new "grilled cheese!" ;)
Eve says
ok ok, dress up, go out, drink, yada yada, but i think that means baja fresh is back in the picture, lol :)