The "No More Chicken" Moment

Sometimes I get cravings for very specific foods. 

Yesterday is was chicken fingers, but kind of flavor-y ones. Not bland kiddie ones. 

So I ordered my favorite gas station chicken fingers from Krispy Krunchy Chicken. 

Now, I normally hate when businesses intentionally misspell words, but their chicken is so good, they get a pass. And don't even get me started on their biscuit thingies. There's something about their texture that tickles my brain exactly right. 

Also,  I always feel compelled to defend my love for gas station food, but I need to get over it. Gas station food is delicious, if you know where to look. Plus, discovering a new tasty gas station spot is an amazing feelings. 

So don't judge me on my adoration of gas station eats. 

Yesterday, I ordered four chicken fingers, two dipping sauces and two different kinds of potatoes, because my brain couldn't decide between wedges and fries. 

(peep my pistash in the background) (also the boxes are much smaller than they appear. That is a reasonable amount of food)

I get a big chicken finger craving about once a month and I give into it because I know what will happen:

I'll get midway through finger No. 2 and I'll hit a weird piece of gristle or weirdly textured meat and my brain'll say, "Nope that's it, that's your limit. Switch to potatoes now."

If the chicken is super good (like Krispy Krunchy always is) I'll save the pieces I didn't eat because my brain was being a bitch and give them another try later. 

Reheating these fingers (and the wedges!) in the air fryer works incredibly. 

Last night, however, my brain was 100% against additional chicken. The weird texture earlier in the day was just too much for it to overcome. So I ate more potatoes. (The wedges were the clear winner for tastiness, btw.)

I gotta wonder... wtf is my brain doing at that time? Is it trying to protect me from something? If so, what? Tastiness?! Crispy flavor?! 

Chicken fingers isn't the only food it happens to, but the one it happens with most often. 

I used to try to fight through it and keep eating, especially when I was growing up and there was a "clean plate initiative", but there comes a point each meal where it's a losing battle and I have to give in. 

Mealtimes were awful for me as a kid. Meat was the centerpiece of each one and it was almost always overcooked. I remembered sitting there night after night with a hunk of half-chewed and very gross meat lodged between my cheek and my teeth, staring at at least 17 more bites I'd need to eat before leaving the table. 

Sometimes I'd be there very late. Not once do I remember anything other than just eating it... or "eating it".

Sometimes, I'd get "clever" and make some trips to the bathroom with my cheeks filled with half-masticated meat. I'd empty my mouth and head back to the table for another round of sneaky meat trash. 

That had to be so obvious, right? Lil Jacki tryin' to be slick. 

So now, as an adult, when I get the "No More Chicken" moment, I listen to my brain and my gut, cause I remember the suck it was to suffer through this. 

I know I'm not the only one that experiences this, right? Why does my brain want to keep me from delicious food? I LIKE food. Annoying brain.