KSL Graphics

The trouble with Olive Garden's breadsticks are they are just TOO DAMN GOOD!

Saturday, the family takes Dad out to Olive Garden for Fathers Day. His favorite restaurant. Having a fairly large family, we get the nice big table in the back. We get settled and the waiter takes our drink order and places 3 piping hot baskets of breadsticks. I look around and wait for someone at the table to take the first one. I don't want look greedy of course.

As the family talks, one after another breadstick is devoured. I realize that the amount I'm eating will have an impact on how I enjoy the remainder of the food, yet to arrive, but something in the back of my head tells me to plug away. They are just to tasty to stop eating.

The salads arrive and they become a utensils. An aid for getting those little pieces of chopped carrot onto my fork. Pushing all the tiny pieces of lettuce that are too small onto the oversized fork.

The main course arrives and for the time being, the breadstick take a rest on the little bread plate. Surely, he also brings over a fresh round of bread. Occasionally, I reach over and grab a bite. That occasion comes sooner and sooner as the meal is consumed. Now its back to the bread. They become the perfect tool for sopping up the remains of the pasta sauce pooling at the bottom of my plate.

The family sits back in their chairs to allow food to settle and to get back into conversations that were interrupted by eating. Perfect time to grab ONE LAST piece of bread. The waiter stops by to drop the check off and to see if there is anything else we need. I see him eye the empty basket of bread in front of me and before I know it, its full, steaming hot and enticing me to eat just one me.

As the waiter brings back the change, he brings with him 3 little bread doggie bags. and sets them in front of me. At that moment, as if it were orchestrated, a family member on each side of the table, grab the baskets on their ends of the table and hand them down to me. I exclaim .."Hey, I can't eat all of this" knowing full well that not only would I be eating every last one, but its likely that several will be consumed on the way home.

As I drive home, the seatbelt is a constant reminder that I ate FAR too many of those tasty little begets. I start to feel much better as I make my way home. The hour long drive provides a southing vibration that settles my overly stuffed belly. As time goes by, I start to wonder, do I have time to reach back and grab a stick during this red light? After the third light, I take the plunge and just get the bag closed as the light turns green. I tell myself.. THAT IS THE VERY LAST ONE ... until I get home.

As I unpack the car and bring in the small foil lined bags of bread, I start to wonder, what am I going to do with all this bread. Maybe I can cut some up and make croutons for my salads. Perhaps I'll get creative and slice one down the center and make the worlds longest and skinniest peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Maybe a baloney sandwich for lunches next week.

Well, that doesn't matter now. The remainder were gone before the weekend finished.