Not Even Close...

When I worked for Lehman Brothers there was a cafeteria in the building. This was incredibly convenient... though terrible for my budget. I would try to be good and dutifully bring my frozen Lean Cuisine (bought on sale!) from home. But it's awfully hard to convince yourself to heat up those cardboard noodles once you find out that the cafeteria special today is Swedish Meatballs... or Club Sandwiches... or a Chicken Caesar Salad with Housemade Dressing. They had some great stuff at that cafeteria. And the company actually subsidized the cost of the food, so it was really very cheap - just not as cheap as bringing lunch from home.

They served breakfast too, and about once a week I would treat myself to a bagel. Specifically, a bagel with cream cheese topped with a couple of slices of crisp, hot bacon. And sometimes there would be an avocado in the fruit basket, so I could slice it up and put it on my bagel, too. Heaven. That is the most incredible combination. Oh, it's not good for you, but it tastes SOOO good.

(I lost 10 pounds after I was laid off from that job. Sure, I was also pregnant and throwing up a lot, but I definitely think the loss of the cafeteria was a factor.)

I haven't had one of those bagel in years. Probably not since I was laid off, since I can no longer just walk into the room and find all the ingredients waiting for me. But for some reason this morning I suddenly remembered those bagels. And it sounded really good.

But it's cold (granted, not as cold as a lot of you, but still). There's several inches of new snow (I'm still trying to recover from the LAST time I went out in the snow - stupid knee). I would have to pack up Rylen and drive to the store to find the ingredients and then come home to make it (that's so much more work than just walking down the hall to the cafeteria). And oh yeah, I'm actually supposed to be working (don't worry, I'll make up the time later).

But WAIT! I do have cream cheese. And I have bread. And bacon bits... real bacon bits, not the crunchy fake ones. Toast with cream cheese and bacon bits is practically the same thing, right?

No. No it's not. It's not the same thing at all. It's really not even close. I guess I've learned my lesson; next time I'll have to do it right!