Challenge: neighborhood bar and food trucks

I suspect it's little coincidence my weight loss started to stall about the time Little Fleet opened in the neighborhood. For the first time in my life, I want to sit at a bar all day.

I haven't been there that much. But I want to be. It's possibly the most perfect hang-out in the world, and it's only two blocks from my house.

If I walk by in the evening, I will likely see someone I know, and it's so very easy to join a table, or stop to chat by a food truck, and before I know it, I'm ordering something.

If I walk by in the afternoon, it's so very easy to decide I really don't want to cook that day, especially if Roaming Harvest is there. Or I may be tempted by the amazing and decadent dirty fries at the Anchor.

Across the street from Little Fleet is my favorite restaurant, The Cooks' House. For better or worse, it's also Mario Batali's favorite restaurant, as well as hundreds of other people's, so tables are always booked in advance, preventing me from succumbing to any walk-by temptations. But of course, I start mentally counting the days until we have a special occasion to call for a reservation.

Directly across the other street is an excellent cupcake shop and the best new casual restaurant in town, Georgina's. Then, if I'm headed downtown, before I've walked another block, I'll pass the always-hopping Bubba's, the fabulous Morsels coffee shop, and Northern Natural cider house.


That I've had anything to eat or drink at home this summer is nothing short of a miracle. If I didn't like to cook and feel compelled to stay on budget with food and money, I would basically live within a block of Front and Wellington. I'd head with my laptop every morning to Morsels to caffeinate and write, grab lunch at one of the many excellent eateries in the vicinity, then drop by Little Fleet for happy hour and walk home later to sleep. I won't name names, but I suspect some people I know are basically doing that. And if one of you is reading this, and wants to have lunch at my house, let me know.

What are your local challenges and how do you handle them?