The wife had something come up within the last few weeks, so I was on my own for lunch. A few times a year I get a craving for a BLT, and knowing we had the stuff to make one, I decided to treat myself.
First, here is my ingredient list:
Indiana Kitchen Bacon (Regular Cut)
Stan’s San Francisco Sour Dough Bread
Duke’s Mayo
Sliced Tomato
Red Leaf Lettuce
I cooked the whole package of bacon in the oven – aluminum foil lined baking sheet at 400F for around 20 minutes. Easiest way to do it. Bread in the Ninja air fryer/oven/toaster just enough to get it lightly toasted. I still like it pliable. I assembled the sandwich using about 2/3rd (ten pieces) of the bacon with mayo on each side of the bread as a binder. Here is the end result.
I added a few Lays plain chips (yellow bag) for the side.
It was very good, but too rich. A little heavy on the mayo, as you can see it oozing through the hole in the bread above. And overall, just too much food. The quality of the bacon, the mayo, and the bread just amounted in a sandwich that kicked my ass. While I was finishing it off (I rarely waste food), I was thinking, yeah, I don’t need a BLT for a while.
The aftermath. Let me start this by saying I felt great that day. It’s why I decided to make a full lunch as opposed to just a salad or some soup (ramen). I ate this slightly before noon, and by about 1:30 pm I was practically knocked out – woozy and swaying in my office chair. At this point I really expected someone to yell “FINISH HIM!” I mean I felt terrible. Not sure if it was the sodium, the bulk (picture don’t do it justice), the carbs from the chips and bread. I have no idea, but I was not being productive. I could barely keep my eyes open, so I took a break to get the sauna going, and did some yoga while I waited for it to steam up. Yes I do yoga, and yes it makes me feel better.
During all this grogginess, I kept thinking – what the hell happened? Long gone are my younger days of hitting the Chicago’s pizza buffet with my old coworkers. Taking down a large salad followed by about 4-5 pieces of pizza and breadsticks with cheese sauce. Going back to work and still being productive followed by class sometimes at night. No adverse effects! Sigh. Getting old hits you sometimes in different ways – realizing you can no longer eat like you’re going to get rewarded with a championship belt from Nathan’s Famous just happened to be how it hit on this particular day. The days of Five Brat Nate* are long gone.
*One Carb Day during my early twenties at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway I ate five bratwursts in buns in about two hours. They were just going down so good with the beer I couldn’t help it.
The BLT did me in, so it was a salad for dinner, and I skipped lunch the next day.
TLDR: Heavy lunch (BLT) made me sick; younger me used to love gorging on pizza and bratwurst; salad for dinner.