McDonald's and Me

I don't actually hate McDonald's. In fact, and this is not easy to admit, I really enjoy the taste of their food. Like most everyone else, I love their french fries. I really enjoy eating their Quarter Pounder. The problem I have is that after I've happily consumed it all I end up feeling rather sick. That being the case, I tend to avoid the Golden Arches as much as humanly possible. Today, for some reason, the cosmic forces moved my orbit just a little too close to the McDonald's at Boston's South Station for me to escape the gravitational pull of the Happy Meal. I was escorting three hungry children who wanted to go there and since this was their trip to the New England Aquarium I had to give in and bought everyone lunch at McDonald's.

There was a long line - the first of many that we encountered today - so I had some time to consider what exactly I could get for myself that wouldn't leave me feeling queasy. I considered the grilled chicken sandwich, but in the end I opted for the asian salad with grilled chicken. The salad was remarkable in one way - it was completely tasteless. The only thing in it that had a distinguishable flavor were the mandarin orange slices. The chicken tasted like salt and not much else. Those quibbles aside, the salad did fulfill my immediate requirements - it filled me up and didn't make me sick.

The girls gobbled up their happy meals and then started in playing with the toys. Here's the kicker - those happy meal toys were one of the best things that happened to us. The girls played an elaborate game with them on the 20 minute walk to the Aquarium, in the 30 minute wait in line to get into the Aquarium and then later when we were waiting for our outbound train at the station. The toys turned all that waiting time into a fun playtime. I guess that means it was worth the trip to McDonald's... although it is hard to admit.