I'm lovin' it?

I have a confession to make. I eat McDonald's...a lot...more than any self-respecting yuppie* should or would at least be expected to. And I'm not talking about eating McDonald's in times of desperation like on road trips and late nights at the airport when McDonald's is the only thing open. I ate at McDonald's for lunch today...and yesterday. I feel the need to confess this to my loyal readers, both of you. ;)

It all started about 2 or 3 years ago when I was looking at Chiquita Brands at work. I was excited about investing in Chiquita Banana's (the woman with the fruit hat, not the fruit, I love her!) company, but ultimately since the company's future at the time depended heavily on banana tariffs as determined by the EU and the US and because I wasn't an insider on banana tariff discussions, I passed.
I think the stock trades now roughly where it traded when I looked at it (yay me!). Anyway, at the time, I read research on the company, its annual report, and listened to earnings call. (Bear with me, I know you're wondering what a woman who thinks bananas are impossible to beat has to do with McDonald's.) And I learned a lot, because it's my job. Most importantly, I learned that Chiquita Brands owns Fresh Express and (at least at the time) Fresh Express was the purveyor of fruits and vegetables for McDonald's. So I thought to myself, I buy Fresh Express salad mix at the grocery store, I wonder if Fresh Express salad mix at McDonald's is any good. And you know what? It is! I've been a McDonald's salad eater ever since.

Of course then I started eating at McDonald's frequently enough to warrant trying some other menu items (you know, the things that don't come in the magical green plastic salad bag, which assuages some of the guilt of walking around with a McDonald's bag) and I've got to say - they make an excellent grilled chicken sandwich, lovely chicken strips (when you're feeling like you deserve that sort of thing) and a darn good salad. I'm serious, people! My name is Kathleen, I love to cook, I make most things at home from scratch, and I love McDonald's. "Hello Kathleen..." It's so sad to me that this will be my first blog post with the label "food." But I gotta keep it real, you know?

* And yes, I classified myself as a yuppie. It has such negative connotations, but it stands for Young Urban Professional. That's me, right? The only thing that's suspect about me calling myself a yuppie is the young part. I'm, like, totally urban and relatively professional, at least during the day when I'm not carrying a paper McDonald's bag. Of course, now I just read the wikipedia entry and the connotations are horrible. Nonetheless, it's a convenient word for young urban professionals, so I'm sticking with it.