What to make for lunch

I love lunch. I am always so hungry in the middle of the day so it comes at the perfect time. I also like typical lunch foods like sandwiches and salads, and going out for lunch is one of my favourite meals to eat out. I have never loved (nor, until recently, been particularly good at) making lunches. Luckily for me, my mom made my lunch until I was 18 and graduated from high school so I never had to make it then. I can't really remember what I did for lunch in either Berkeley or Austin but I know I didn't often eat big lunches or I would go out for lunch with friends. I rarely made lunch. Throughout my first two years of law school I ate relatively little at lunch. I'd have an apple, two mini light babybel cheeses, and an energy/power bar. In retrospect I can't believe that's all I ate but at the time I didn't want to buy (and there weren't good places) something every day and I didn't want to make lunch. Plus, I felt that eating less at lunch let me justify eating more at dinner.

But then last fall, I accepted that I was always really hungry at lunchtime, I no longer liked energy/power bars (not sure what exactly turned me off them but I don't like them anymore), and an apple and two small cheeses was not enough. Around the same time, D. and I decided we needed to start making lunch. For a while I emailed friends for lunch suggestions and did some googling (I googled: easy lunch suggestions) and we were really good about making lunch. We settled on turkey wraps (very good and easy to make: just a wrap, lettuce, corn, tomatoes and turkey) and were quite diligent about making them for a few months. Our good efforts then kind of trailed off (making lunch every day - though it sounds like it should be easy - can be hard! especially when lunch can be bought) but have started again since we moved at the end of June. Eating a proper lunch (so more than an apple and two babybel cheeses) is a necessity at work. I feel like I'm even hungrier at lunch at work because I'm usually running around and/or in court all morning. (While writing this post I also realized that when teaching English in Paris I would eat lunch every day too. I think working in the sense of interacting with other people expends more energy (and thus makes me hungrier) than sitting studying for school the way I did the last three years.)

The last few months before I left Montreal I went to this cafe called Resonance regularly. It was really close to where I lived, had a relaxed and nice atmosphere, and had really good food. I particularly liked their chili and also this sandwich they made which they called "The Thai." I liked it so much that I made note of all the ingredients (there weren't a lot) and decided I would start making it once I left Montreal. I am happy to announce that I have done just that. I am the type of person who once I like something, can eat it over and over and over again. (I can do this for breakfast and lunch - for dinner I prefer to have a few different options, but even then I usually eat one of five different options each night). Therefore, I have eaten my version of the Thai sandwich every single weekday in July. I plan on continuing to eat it in August too, and will probably eat it until I get sick of it and just can't eat it every day anymore. It's not that odd for me to eat the same thing every day for lunch as back in high school, I would eat the same lunch (that my mom so nicely made me) every day: a peanut butter sandwich on a bagel, cucumber slices and an apple. I think eventually, maybe in September, I'll have to come up with something else for D. and I to eat for lunch. Maybe we'll go back to turkey wraps? But in the meantime, I have always wanted to take pictures of each step as I was cooking, like they do on food blogs. And now I'm doing it!

Here are all the ingredients: almond butter, snack size dill pickles,  sriracha sauce and coconut flakes.

First put almond butter on both pieces of bread. 

 (One thing Resonance did that I have not yet tried is make the sandwich on all different kinds of bread. So sometimes it was served on a baguette, sometimes just plain whole wheat bread, etc. I have only ever made it on whole wheat or multigrain bread.)

This picture encompasses two steps: first, put the sriracha sauce (I only put it on one piece but if you really like hot sauce put it on both) on one piece, and then cut the pickles in half and put them on one piece. 

Last sprinkle the coconut flakes over both pieces.

And finally put the sandwich together and cut it in half. 

It doesn't take long to make this sandwich and it is delicious! Enjoy and happy lunches!