It was just that that led me to this at 9 p.m. last night:
Sharing chicken tenders at Tully’s with Andrew.
It all started with good intentions (don’t they all?); I had a Membership and Marketing ‘Team’ (which is what we’re calling ourselves now since it sounds more fun than ‘work group’ or ‘committee,’ which is what we’re all here for, right? Oh, and to open a cooperative grocery store in East Aurora…) meeting at the Panera up in Cheektowaga at 6 p.m.
While I could have gotten a yummy and healthy dinner there, I find it hard to go out to eat when I have perfectly good (and potentially perishable!) food at home (despite my Christmas gift cards–thanks grandma and Mom Layer!), so I ate before I left, intending to get a tea and save some calories for ice cream later.
Anyway, our meeting ran a bit late and after a quick errand in Target, I realized I was STARVING at 8:30. At just that moment, Andrew (who had found himself at the Eastern Hills Mall after his basketball game) called requesting my presence there–he’d been on the hunt for some on-sale golf shoes in his size and found them at the Dick’s there. The only snafu? Our Dick’s gift cards live in my purse. So, off I went, driving even further away from the house and not quite sure of my destination’s exact whereabouts.
To make a very long story short, Andrew decided against the shoes just as I was nearing the mall and we found ourselves rendezvous-ing in a Dairy Queen parking lot, looking for dinner (for him) and dessert (for me). We decided, after much conversation on the phone in separate cars, that we should probably just start driving home and be on the lookout for something along the way.
Well, we didn’t want fast food, nor did we want a traditional sit-down place (it was 9 p.m. after all) and everything else seemed to be hole-in-the-wall pizza joints. Well, I’m not against hole-in-the-wall or pizza, but last night I wanted an establishment that would offer variety, a.k.a something for me to order that wouldn’t break the caloric bank and I’d still enjoy. Thankfully, I had about 400 “saved” calories, so I wasn’t too worried…
ANYWAY… We finally get to Tully’s, which is a sports bar Andrew had heard good things about, and as I was beginning to get to the point of extreme frustration with not finding anywhere and watching the clock tick on the dash, I gave in.
It was packed (the Sabres were playing–they won!) and had what seemed like an upbeat atmosphere, so I was pleasantly surprised. Did I mention I was dressed up in jeans and boots and a cardigan and Andrew had come directly from his game? We made quite a pair, I tell you.
After perusing the menu, we realized their specialty was their “Tully’s Tenders,” and Andrew wanted to try both the buffalo style and the regular with their special honey mustard sauce. To get the half-price deal we had to buy two drinks, so I acquiesced and ordered a Sierra Mist. It arrived in the largest cup I’d ever seen! I mean, really, does anyone need a cup that big with free refills?! (The picture does not do it justice.) All I could see was about 40 calories, making it’s way from her hand to our table. I resolved to enjoy a bit, but not finish the entire thing, and I’m happy to say that I succeeded.
We shared the tenders and fries and I feel like I did pretty well; of the 10 tenders we took 2.5 home and I probably ate 2.5 on my own. It was the fries (not to mention the dreaded blue cheese!) that did me in… I was definitely hungry, but I was just craving the salt!
This picture, while completely horrible, pretty much sums up how I felt by the end: not too full, pseudo-proud of myself for not totally overeating, and very “fat and happy.” In the end, despite the frustration of taking awhile to find a place and being indecisive and not getting home early to get all the things done on my list that I’d planned, it was a great opportunity to spend some quality time with Andrew, away from the distractions of the house.
Tully’s Tenders might not be enough of a draw to get us back there, but I’ll remember how much fun we had on our spontaneous trip.
thehealthypineapple 