Excommunicated Cheeseburgers

My daughter, lovely young woman that she is, is writing a new blog. If you’ve been following my blog since its inception nearly 2 years ago – EGAD! That long? – you will know that she is in the process of reinventing herself (See Inspirational Text Message, posted October 2010). She is battling one of the most difficult issues facing over half of America today: weight loss. She has already dropped a significant amount of weight and is not resting on her laurels yet. Congratulations, Dear Jenn! As we say in Chinese: Jia You – keep going!

In a nod to Lent and to make the weight loss challenge more interesting and fun, she has decided to give up her favorite food, cheeseburgers, for an entire month. Her new blog, titled The Cheeseburger Chronicles details her struggles in resisting what she considers ambrosia.

Of all the foods available in America, cheeseburgers are not what I miss the most. Pizza is. So much so that, about once a month I treat myself to a meal at Pizza Hut right here in China. The pizza is authentically American in taste and texture, and served exactly the same way. Naturally I can’t afford to indulge too often. Not only are foreign restaurants like Pizza Hut expensive in China, but who would want to maintain a diet of pizza?

Hey… THAT’s not a bad idea!

No, I probably wouldn’t want pizza every day. But I wanted one today. I haven’t had one in a while. There is a restaurant in Wuhan called Gianni’s that makes an excellent, wood oven pizza, New York style. I haven’t had such a pizza in about a year because Gianni’s is off the beaten path and a bit out of the way. Today I decided I would head there and make a day of it. Enjoy a nice pizza, and then find a cozy tea house to sit for a few hours and read my book.

Because it had been so long since I’d been to Gianni’s, and I’d only been one time before, I did not remember everything they had on their menu. I just remember their delicious pizzas. Imagine my surprise when I saw the very first pizza on the list was a cheeseburger pizza!

Between reading the menu and waiting for the server to come take my order, all sorts of delicious thoughts ran through my head: I should tell Jenn about how I tortured her from half the world away by ordering, of all things, a CHEESEBURGER pizza. And then I decided, since she is a faithful reader of my blog, to write about it myself and let her wail and exclaim and maybe lament in her blog about the unfairness of it all.

When my pizza arrived it was everything anyone could want from a pizza: gooey cheese, fresh, crisp, well seasoned toppings and of course that wood fired oven crust. It looked spectacular and smelled divine. Tasted heavenly! The only thing was the texture: under all that cheese the crust was a bit limp and, after nibbling off the toppings, very bland.

I have to say: Pizza Hut gets the nod for excellent crust, in my book. But Gianni’s by far outdoes them in toppings.

What will Jennifer do or say to me about my stealing her cheeseburger thunder? Or maybe, would she accuse me of taunting her with cheeseburgers?

No such thing, my daughter! I just thought that, seeing as you excommunicated cheeseburgers for a month, maybe it wouldn’t hurt if I had one.

Even if it is in pizza form.