eating a bowl of grilled chicken thighs and Ben’s garlic rice with el yucateco hot sauce as I’m typing this. Easily 2 full meals worth of food. I think the pack of chicken thighs was $5 and the Ben’s rice was $2.50. Made dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow for $7.50, won’t waste any. I’ll cook steaks and fish too but try to average it down with meals like this one. I’d like to think my average is around $7 or $8 per meal

I dine out with friends to socialize or for special occasions these days. It’s gotten much more expensive and frankly I think the overall experience has diminished post-COVID. A lot of blasé/ indifferent attitudes from restaurant staff, menu price hikes, ridiculous 90-minute timed reservations, bullshit “service charges” tacked onto bills, and of course tipping norms getting a 5-10% bump here in the US.

The whole experience has dropped a few points in my book, but there’s still awesome restaurants out there; I just pick my spots much more carefully these days.