YOB: #28. Have A Progressive Dinner
Monday, September 14, 2009 at 10:42PM MAD21 By Lara
I think I went on a progressive dinner when I was in middle school with the youth group I was attending at the time. I don't remember it being terribly painful. I don't remember much about it, actually. I suspect that my being a picky eater played a large part in my remembering the experience positively.
Progressive dinner sounded like something that would be fun to do as an adult, so Beth and I added it to the Year of the Birthday list.
When the day finally arrived, we decided on a four course dinner over several hours.
For the appetizer portion of our meal, we went to Ruby Tuesday's for spinach and artichoke cheese dip. We took pictures of the menus. Several people took notice of that. We took pictures of the food. Several more people looked over. We took pictures of ourselves/each other eating the food. Yeah. At this point in the adventure, I had an awkward conversation with a former acquaintance who was also dining at Ruby Tuesday's. He didn't come out and ask me why I was photo documenting my meal, but I could tell that he wanted to. I imagine that he made up a more interesting and less plausible version of the story when he retold it.
After digesting for about an hour, we headed over to Red Lobster for salad and bread. It was already crowded in the dining room, so we took a tiny table in the bar area. Caesar salad and cheesy biscuits were consumed and photographed. I knocked a couple of drink menus off the tiny table in the bar area. One of them flung pages all around the floor... some of those pages may have hit other patrons. Did I mention that the table was tiny? That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
More digestion took place before we drove over to Buffalo Wild Wings for our main course. I wasn't exactly hungry at this point, but I was determined to finish the challenge... er... event... uh... adventure. I had the boneless mild wings. I don't remember what Beth ate. She might have gotten a sandwich. We were still enthusiastic about the picture taking, though.
At that point in the evening, I was finding it hard to walk or breathe or think about the fact that we still had to eat dessert. We decided that we needed more time to digest. Kate, Beth and I went shopping for a couple of hours... and watched a movie or two...
Finally, at the last possible moment, we dragged ourselves to Friendly's for sundaes. There were pictures, but they were less enthusiastic. Mostly, we just wanted to finish the food so we could sleep it off.
I had a fun day with Beth and Kate, but I will never partake in a progressive dinner again as long as I live. TOO MUCH FOOD! Seriously. Unless you're a teenage boy or are afflicted with tape worms, it is unbearable. Progressive diners beware!
Reader Comments (3)
I think I would have exploded after doing it this way, at least not eaten for a day or two. Wow.
I think when one usually hears of a progressive dinner that it's usually between people's houses. Going to different restaurants is a fun, yet expensive alternative.
We did a surprise birthday party as a progressive dinner once. My house was last and hosted the 'surprise' portion of the dinner (dessert, presents, and more people). It was fun, and still a lot of food.
I'm not sure how you keep the food from overwhelming you no matter how the progression went. Maybe... appetizer at first house, walk next door for dinner salad and water... ride bike 5 blocks away for dinner... run 5k to dessert... ?? No? No takers? :o)
I think it would be worse to have to run or swim or cycle after eating all that food. You know it would be visiting you again...
I was waiting for that! Ya. That would be a bad thing, wouldn't it?