Tag: burgers

searching for the best cheeseburger

I heard someone say:

A life spent in the pursuit of the perfect cheeseburger would not be a life wasted. I wonder if the same could be said of milkshakes…

That sounds good, in a way. I’ve pursued the best cheeseburger (and found it on my own grill), and I’ve pursued the best milkshake. One time in high school, my best friend and I had driven to the nearest city, and we decided we’d try milkshakes from all the places we knew about, to see which was the best. Looking back at that now, when I understand more about calories and fat grams, I wouldn’t do it again. At least, not all in one day. I still enjoy milkshakes just as much, but my metabolism is many times slower than it was then, so it’s just not a good strategy to have them often. But in high school, I could do that and not gain any weight. (I sure miss my metabolism!)

But thinking back to that philosophy of chasing the best, it’s not always the ideal mindset. There’s nothing wrong with trying to find a better version of something, and I encourage that to a degree, but I’ve learned that chasing perfection can lead to not enjoying what you have.

You can’t always eat at the best burger joint or the best steakhouse or the best seafood restaurant, and if your mindset ends up being, “This isn’t the best” and that makes you disappointed, that’s unfortunate. Then you have a lot of meals that you aren’t enjoying because they aren’t the best.

I’ve met people who became that way, where they were never satisfied at a restaurant nor with home cooking, because it wasn’t the best it could be. I felt sad for them, because they could be eating really good food that they used to enjoy, yet be disappointed and complaining about it.

I’ve learned to try to enjoy where I am. My meals today probably won’t be the best they can possibly be (although I will try to make them good within reason), but I will still choose to enjoy them.

Your mindset makes a huge difference in how much you enjoy it. Even if the taste is the same, how you think about it — your expectations and your narrative about the experience — play a large role in how you think and feel about it. I’ve seen children talk themselves into not liking chicken strips or spaghetti or mac ‘n cheese, even if it’s the exact same kind they had the week before and really enjoyed. Adults can do that, too. What we tell ourselves matters.

So choose to enjoy today. It won’t be perfect or ideal — it never is — but enjoy it anyway. Where you are right now is your actual life, and you will not pass through this day again. You can choose to make the best of it, or you can complain about it and not enjoy it. It’s your choice. (I recommend trying to enjoy it.)

eating like a millionaire

I don’t make it a habit to daydream about how I’d live if I won the lottery and had millions of dollars. It’s just not all that productive or fruitful, though I admit it has happened before. But I thought of it again recently due to a news story.

Mike Lindell (CEO of My Pillow) is back in the news because the FBI “raided” him at a Hardee’s drive-thru and took his phone (with a warrant). I won’t get into all the politics of that (except to remind you to get your news from multiple sources so you get the full story and not just what fits the narrative of “conservative news” or “liberal news”). (Also let me remind you to not get into a political rant in the comments or it may be deleted. If it’s a funny joke, that may be okay, though.)

Anyway, so Lindell is a multi-millionaire, at one point worth an estimated $500 million. He can afford to eat anything he wants. And of course, he is free to choose to eat anything he wants, so if Hardee’s is his preferred place for a burger, that’s fine. It just seems odd to me. I’m not trying to dis’ Hardee’s at all — they sell fast food at a certain price point, and there’s a market for that — but there are better burgers available, albeit for a higher price. It’s just that Lindell can afford any burger he wants.

I don’t know what restaurants are available in the town where he works, and I don’t care to research that. But here’s my idea. Since he’s the CEO of his own company, he could just hire someone to grill burgers for him with an actual charcoal grill and cook whatever else he wants whenever he wants, and clean it all up, and he could write the whole thing off as a business expense. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

Granted, it is somewhat extravagant to have your own personal chef, although he is a millionaire. But he could do even more with that idea — he could share that food with other people in the company, which would boost morale significantly. I used to work at a large corporation, and I still remember when they’d have free burgers. They weren’t great burgers, but they were good, and they were free. People get excited about free food. And even if the company didn’t want to add that expense, they could offer it to the employees at cost. They could even use high-quality ingredients, then. That would boost morale, and it would encourage employees to take a shorter lunch by staying on-campus. Then it becomes a win-win.

I do realize this whole discussion is based on the premise of grilling a great-tasting burger. I don’t know if most people feel this way or not. But I have researched the taste of my own grilled burgers against the burgers at various restaurants around town, and I prefer a freshly-grilled burger at home. If others don’t feel the same way, maybe that just means they’re not as good at grilling… 🙂 It is important to note that the quality of ingredients matters, too — not all beef patties are the same quality, as well as other ingredients, and technique matters.

Maybe Lindell is is penny-pinching because he’s concerned about that lawsuit over the voting machines where Dominion is suing him for all-the-money… Although one could argue that he should live it up while he can because he may soon be poor or middle-class like most of us.

Note-to-self: if any of us ever win the lottery and start a research company, we could do this food write-off proper. Well, not just proper (which is a saying), but next-level awesome. The concept could be applied to other foods, too. And while free food is great, the IRS now wants to tax employees for it when they receive free food at work, so selling it at cost might be the better option. Imagine if for your lunch break you had the option to get a steak grilled to your liking using high-quality ingredients, at cost. I figure most of us would like to eat more steak, but it’s quite expensive, especially if you want it done well. If it was at cost, it could be just a few dollars, which would greatly improve morale around the workplace…

the Krispy Kreme milkshake

I heard that there’s a restaurant that created a Krispy Kreme milkshake.  If you’ve ever had a fresh Krispy Kreme donut (doughnut), your mind has probably already concluded this might be one of the best milkshakes ever.  I wouldn’t be surprised if someone has already left for the store to get donuts to put in your blender.

This Krispy Kreme milkshake is made from two donuts added to a blender with a vanilla milkshake.  How could that not be awesome?

I found a review of the Krispy Kreme milkshake, and the author said he couldn’t finish it because the sugar rush was “formidable”.  I can imagine it being quite rich, but I’ve never met a dessert I couldn’t conquer.

It looks like the inventor of this is the Flip Burger Boutique in Atlanta, GA.  The menu looks like a gourmet place, with “burgers” costing between $7 and $21, without a side.  (I say “burgers” because some of theirs don’t even have beef.  In most circles those items would be called sandwiches.)  It seems like an odd fit because the restaurant appears to feature only fancy novelty type foodstuffs.  While a donut milkshake is quite the novelty, it doesn’t seem as “sophisticated” as the rest of their sides.

If I find myself in Atlanta, I hope to try one, solely for research purposes, of course.  🙂

FYI, while researching this story, I saw a news article saying Krispy Kreme had created their own frozen beverages a few years ago, which were effectively a drinkable version of their doughnuts.  I’ve been in a few Krispy Kreme stores and never noticed this, so perhaps they didn’t stay around.  In a way I can see that — while it would surely be great tasting, when you’re in a Krispy Kreme store and can get hot doughnuts that melt in your mouth, why would you pass on that?

Wimpy’s burger challenge

We’ve reviewed Wimpy’s burgers before, and in summary, they’re awesome.  Well, now Wimpy’s has a burger challenge for those who dare to attempt it.  It is a burger with approximately 4 pounds of beef and a 10″ bun, with a pound of battered french fries, and a 24 oz. shake.  I saw a picture of it next to a double, and it was HUGE.  When I went, 5 people had attempted it and all had failed.  They have the challenges on Tuesday nights.  I talked with one of the workers about it, and she said it was a good time.

I don’t plan to take this challenge.  I might could’ve eaten it back when I had a metabolism, but not now.  But if any of you would like to take it on, I’ll go along to provide commentary and document it on the blog.

Visiting Wimpy’s website today, I see that someone conquered the burger challenge this week.  I’m impressed.  That’s 5-6 pounds of food plus a shake.  And that’s a lot of beef to eat at one sitting.