Why is it that we always end up at the damn Boathouse for lunch? Well, we rarely go out to eat… there’s very few selections in downtown Conshohocken, and it’s damn skippy close. I wish there were more choices around here.

D got the french onion soup (I’m totally into french onion soup) and hot popcorn shrimp. That toast looks a little burnt, no? I tasted one of these shrimp… um… it was popcorn shrimp covered in tabasco. Not really something I would ever choose to eat again. I love me some hot sauce, but it should be a seasoning, not the seasoning.

R got a mushroom sandwich. This sandwich would be my ultimate nightmare… I don’t like mushrooms (except for a select few kinds) so to have it be the main ingredient of a sandwich… eeg. But I snagged some of her fries.I got one of the specials, which was a spinach salad with blackened mahi mahi. It came with a dijon dressing, but I passed on that since I don’t like mustard. This salad was alright. Perfectly acceptable, but nothing exciting. Seriously, their food isn’t that great. It’s a good thing they sell booze here…

You know that I’m not a big chain restaurant girl… I avoid them whenever possible. But sometimes, you know, you just have to go. In R’s futile attempt at finding an appropriate party outfit for our holiday party on Friday (yes, I know, it’s way past the holidays), we had to appease my growling stomach, and stopped in on ye old Cheesecake Factory. Guess what folks? If you go on a weeknight at 9:30, you don’t have to wait for a table. Voila!

Free bread. Nothing wrong with that. Also, it was really nice out (near 70 degrees), so we both got smoothies. R’s was strawberry, mine was tropical, both were ginormous. It pretty much became my meal. My belly was full by the time the entrees came out, which really didn’t take very long. How do they cook these meals so quick? Especially considering they have umpteen-thousand items on their menu.

R got shrimp with angel hair pasta. As usual with most Cheesecake Factory food, ginormous. And look at those shrimp – they’re the size of my hand.

I went with the spicy chicken chipotle pasta. Again, giant plate, giant heaping of food. I barely made a dent in this. Luckily, I got to eat it for two additional meals. And even more luckily, I liked it. It had super sweet and fresh peas and asparagus, both favorites of mine. If you’re gonna put veggies in pasta, I’d vote for either of those any day. The pasta was also good and cooked well, the chipotle sauce spicy, but not too spicy. The chicken was a little dry and bland, and I wouldn’t have minded if there was no chicken in this at all. I do still have issue with the portions at this place. You could just half the portion and the price, and I don’t think anyone would mind. But you know, as is with everything else in America, everything just keeps getting bigger and bigger. But I can’t pretend that I don’t like their food. It is actually pretty good for the most part, even though I’d always pick a non-chain place first! And no, we were too stuffed to get cheesecake!

I usually don’t go out for lunch during the week. We get few a couple days a week, and for the rest of the week, I brown bag it or grab something quick from Wawa. The other day, R wanted to grab some chinese, so I thought I’d go along. We hopped on over to Golden Dragon in Conshy, which is in Plymouth Square shopping center, where the REI is. It’s one of these non-descript chinese joints with no windows. And on the inside, some booths along the edge with red fabric, some tables, and chinese zodiac placemats.

R went simple with wonton soup and an eggroll. Soup? Just fine and dandy. I went with one of the $6 lunch specials – beef with broccoli. Came with soup and eggroll, and fried rice. The eggroll wasn’t too great, it was more weird. Random shredded dried stuff on the inside, couldn’t really tell what it was. But yes, I ate it anyway!

The entree was quite fine. A bit salty for me, but otherwise, a perfectly acceptable lunch special offering. The veggies were quite fresh. I even had so much that I got to eat it for dinner… I love leftovers! The service was ok too, it’s a total family run place. The two ladies working the joint that day looked exactly alike, and had the same funny curly short hairdos. Are there better chinese restaurants around? Hell yes! But it’s fine for a quick lunch bite.