Day 4: The BBQ Challenge

Day 4 brought one of the hardest challenges yet. The morning started out perfectly ok. I had a variation on the smoothie I've been having lately with banana, spinach, mango, strawberries and apple, but instead of almond milk, I switched it up for coconut water. From the time I woke up, my stomach just wasn't settled. Of course Thursday is my day of meetings, and I wasn't feeling great, but gotta power through.
The Senior VP of Business Development came down around 9 and asked if we (my boss and I) wanted to go to lunch with a visiting retailer. I asked where we were going and he said Johnny Carino's. He indicated that they have a salad bar and soup station. Perfect, I can make that work perfectly with the challenge.
When we were pulling in the parking lot of the restaurant though, the VP asked the visiting retailer which she'd rather have, Italian or BBQ. She chose bbq because in her words "You can have Italian anywhere, but when in Kansas City, one should get bbq."
Absolutely true statement, but as soon as she chose my boss and I looked at each other and laughed. What the heck were we going to eat?
The restaurant was Arthur Bryant's. Now here's the thing, I have an appreciation for the point made in this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/dining/a-vegetarians-struggle-for-sustenance-in-the-midwest.html?pagewanted=all, but bottom line is you don't go to a bbq restaurant and try to eat vegetarian or vegan. It is like going to a Chinese restaurant and asking for a taco. It just isn't the place.
I didn't have any choice though, this was where we were going. Nothing on the menu fit the stipulations of the challenge. The only meatless options were coleslaw, potato salad, baked beans (possibly?), french fries, and sweet potato fries. Another consideration was a smoked chicken. After much internal debate I went with coleslaw and sweet potato fries. I have no idea if this was the best option, but I tried to evaulate what I had to work with and came up with that. The coleslaw was filling, but unfortunately the sweet potato fries had a seasoning on them that included brown sugar. They were good, but not idea for a main entree.
I survived the challenge though. Of course we got a few questions as to why we weren't eating meat, but at least I felt good when my boss said he would have caved and had meat if I wouldn't have been there to lead the way. It really is best to do these things with support.
I didn't feel great after eating, I had a headache, but after I got back to the office and scarfed down a banana and half of an avocado, I was feeling better.
Mom made black bean tacos for dinner that were really yummy and having those and a big salad rounded out the first REALLY challenging day of the challenge.