Lunch a la Cafe Costco

Yesterday I lunched at Costco. Not even at the snack bar, mind you. It was 12:30 and I was weak and shaky. I get that way when I don't eat snacks every few hours and meals at 6, 12, and 6. I just have to eat on schedule or I get mean, headachy and weak--bitchy to the max. (My husband once told my daughter, "You HAVE to feed your mother every three hours!")

So at 12:30 after being out for two and a half hours shopping for new shorts (that I could not find), I was famished and frustrated. The "restaurant" section at our Costco store in AZ is about twice as big as the one was in ID. And it's filled with geriatric eaters no matter what time of day you go there. It's like this is their food stop of choice. They LOVE 'em some Costco fast treats. Every table was claimed by a white-haired claiment while the mate shuffled up to the counter. The line reached to the front door. I wasn't about to try eating there.

Maneuvering my cart back to the bakery for husband's order of chocolate muffins, I could smell hot bread and cakes, and I nearly swooned. Then I noticed several people milling around a hair-netted server at a small table. They were munching out of white cupcake paper liners. There were free food samples! I dashed toward the beseiged area. Some kind of bagel energy bar--hot, buttered, nutty--ah! There was only one left on the tray or I would have taken more.

Around the next corner was fresh salsa samples on tortilla chips. Score! Now I was warding off the hunger pangs. The demonstrators must have been following a Cinco de Mayo theme because the samples had all had a Mexican flavor--bean dip, tacitos, more chips and salsa--I sort of lost count. One post had bisscoti (not sure of spelling). I usually don't eat petrified cookie/bread but as mentioned, I was weak. I went by that place twice. Dried up biscuits aren't bad when you're desperate.

And that, my friends, is how I ate my lunch. I didn't even get my Diet Coke because the line was still long and tables filled when I checked out. Blech! Those samplers need to include liquid refreshment. What are they thinking. Biscotti are dry as dust no matter how you spell 'em.

Oh, and another interesting thing happened at Costco. I told you I'd failed at finding shorts earlier. And there at Cosco I saw some cute bermudas in several different colors for $15.99. I was looking them over, holding them up and wondering how they'd fit. (You can't try on anything at Costco. You have to take them home and then return them if they don't work. Which would be fine, I guess, but I DON"T like to return anything and Costco is 45 minutes away from our house.) Just as I was about to put the shorts in my cart, an attractive lady came up to me and said, "If your legs are at all big, don't get these. I bought a pair in every color and my legs aren't even big and they were really tight on me. I had to bring them back." Then she looked down at my chubby little thighs that had just stocked up on treats from around the store.

I'm sure she meant this in the nicest way. I normally would love it if anybody in AZ bothered to talk to me or converse in anything close to a friendly manner. I smiled nicely and replied, "Well, I have chubby legs!" Looked down at my own saddlebags and put the shorts back. I know she was just being cordial. It's just that I've lost weight in the past year and I'd just grazed on junk. It was bad timing. I should have been grateful. As I mentioned, I HATE taking things back, but still--"big legs"--come on, people...! Tact!