Just Desserts

Kale.

Discuss.

Have y'all had it? Do you like it? Like, REALLY like it? Or do you pretend to like it because it's cool to like it? Trendy. Don't people call it a smart food? What even is a smart food? Does it make you smart if you eat it or are you smart because you eat it?

Am I asking too many questions? Are you ready for me to quit asking questions?

I've always thought of kale as the green leafy stuff they put around the bowls of salad on the S&S Cafeteria line. If you know S&S you know what I'm talking about. It's the part at the beginning of the line where you get your congealed salad, your macaroni salad, your carrot and raisin salad, your potato salad, your tossed salad, your fruit salad, your cole slaw, your watermelon chunks, your cottage cheese...you know. It's after you get your tray and silverware but before the desserts. The cafeteria folks have it all figured out. They put all that at the front of the line on purpose. Think about it. If they put the entrees at the beginning, people would load up on that and skip the kale section and the desserts at the end. The strategy is to put the fluff at the front where hungry eyes see it first and it somehow ends up on the tray. Then by the time you get your meat and veggies, bread, and tea you've spent $25 on lunch just for yourself. No alcohol. At a dadgum cafeteria.

I don't ever go through the line at S&S that I don't want to get a dessert, but I never do. It would be naughty. Girls aren't supposed to eat dessert once they turn 12, right?

Wait a minute.

On second thought you know what? Now that I'm all out of give-a-damns, the next time I go to S&S I'm gonna get dessert. More than one. Maybe I'll ONLY eat desserts. JUST DESSERTS. Who wants to go with me? I'll need at least one person to go with me in case I slip into a diabetic coma.

Do we love cafeterias? Like, the authentic, old-fashioned kind? Not Golden Corral. That's not a cafeteria. That's a feeding trough. I like the S&S okay but I don't go very often for some reason. When I was a little girl, we sometimes would go to the Davis Bros. cafeteria. There was one at Westgate Mall and another on Riverside Drive I think. I seem to have a memory of organ music playing there for some reason. Does anyone know if there was a real live organ player or was it just music piped in?

Or am I completely making this up in my mind?

And then there are hospital cafeterias, school cafeterias, prison cafeterias, etc. They're not in the same league. Although, I seem to remember a long time ago people would actually go to the cafeteria at the Coliseum Hospital for lunch after church on Sundays. That seems so strange. Was it that good?

Or am I completely making this up in my mind too?

There was Morrison's at the Macon Mall. And Atlanta had Piccadilly too. I kinda love them in a nostalgic way. I can remember going to the S&S with my grandparents. Trout Almandine was the thing. I'm sure I didn't like it but can't really remember what I usually got. Something fattening, no doubt. Macaroni & Cheese, Chicken & Dumplings, Mashed Potatoes, etc. Shoot, I probably got all three of those in one meal! My little brother always got chopped steak and lemon meringue pie I think.

Actually, I could be completely making this up in my mind too.

Who even knows these days? Some things are crystal clear in my memory and other things are fuzzy. I guess it's that way for everyone though. Please tell me it is.

Now I'm craving S&S.

Back to the kale. Like I said, I've always thought that the leafy stuff they put around the serving bowls in the salad section was kale. Can someone verify this?

Anyway, someone suggested that I do a video tasting of the Chick-Fil-A kale salad. I thought it was a good suggestion, especially since I had done such unhealthy foods the first two times. And since I had never had kale it would allow for a more extemporaneous and genuine experience.

This video kinda didn't go as intended. You'll see.

I wonder if S&S has a bowl of kale salad surrounded by kale in the salad section. If so, I might get one to go with my desserts. You know, being smart like that.

Or I might get Just Desserts.

Mama Tries

“Life occurs somewhere between our aspirations and our just desserts.”

― Stewart Stafford