What's Everyone Having for Lunch Today?

I haven’t yet decided if I’m going to eat the leftover tacos from last night’s dinner order. It’s the simplest but least attractive option, because refrigerated and reheated tacos don’t age well, so if I do eat them, I’ll probably eat them cold. Also, if I make this decision, will I choose the chorizo joints or the portobello? We’ll see.

Perhaps I’ll track down one of the many food trucks circulating the area. My favorite right now is Blue Sparrow, which has a cheesy kimchi fried rice dish that I ask them to add cilantro and chorizo to. It’s one of those types of robust meals that can carry you through dinner. If I choose that, I won’t be hungry again until 7 pm—which isn’t always the best thing, because I’ll also feel heavy and bloated, and I’d rather not. Especially since I have a few Zoom meetings today that I don’t wish to burp through.

Breakfast for lunch is an option, too. Which is actually different from brunch. Because while brunch combines traditional breakfast foods with foods usually associated with lunch and dinner, breakfast for lunch is just breakfast but three hours later than you’d usually have it. If you decide, like how I might decide, to whip up some pancakes and sausages at noon, you are not eating brunch, so don’t call it that. The details matter.

Anyway, if I decide this, I’ll probably whip up some grits, scramble a few eggs, and fry up some bacon. (Funny how “up” works after both “fry” and “whip” in that sentence but doesn’t quite work after “scramble.” No one really says “scramble up.” You just scramble. But it’s a verb just like “fry “and “whip” are. Language is funny.) If ambitious, I’ll chop up the last bit of ribeye from Tuesday night’s dinner and mix it with the eggs.

Also, I know it’s not the healthiest decision to fry the bacon first, remove the bacon, pour a bit of the grease out of the pan, and then make the eggs in the same mostly greasy pan, but it’s definitely the tastiest. I discovered this food hack when I was 13 and made some bacon and didn’t feel like washing the pan out just to make eggs, which makes me wonder how many inventions spring not from ingenuity but laziness. The wheel, for instance, probably exists because someone had to go somewhere but was like “That’s too far, fam.” and needed to find a way to get there without walking.

Anyway, I think I’m leaning towards late breakfast.