Photo by Tim Hammill
Readers, I’m going to admit to something that may make you think differently of me. I don’t tell everyone this, so you should feel special that I’m opening to you like this. I fought with myself over whether or not I should write this. I couldn’t sleep last night. I tossed and turned, wondering should I or shouldn’t I? And well, I’m just going to do. I’m just going to come clean.
There’s really no other way to say this. So here it is.
I love food courts.
Actually, love might not even be the appropriate term. Here’s the evidence, you tell me what you think.
My home-away-from-home office in Los Angeles was a food court. Many of my birthday lunches were held in a food court. In fact, for my most recent birthday celebration my best friends and I got in a car and drove to the food court in Burlington, MA to enjoy Chick-Fil-A. Feel free to read that sentence again. I’ll wait for you.
While I’m waiting I’ll go to Google Maps to give you an accurate distance between Bridgeport and Burlington, MA. It’s 153 miles.
Welcome back. I’m not done yet. There’s more.
Off the top of my head, I can rattle off the names of the establishments in a given food court. Friends find that ability impressive or disturbing or some sort of combination of the two. If only there was an opening for a “Food Court Memorizer” I’d be employed again. Sadly, there’s not.
Why am I revealing this deep, dark secret to you?
Because tomorrow is the opening of the brand new food court, I’m sorry I meant Dining Terrace, at Westfield Trumbull aka “The Mall” and I’m fired up about it. I can’t even believe I just wrote those words. Think about it, a collection of food establishments, restaurants and eateries located inside a shopping center has me, not just excited, but “fired up.”
What can I say? I’m eager to see what they’ve done with the place. I’m pretty certain I know what the place is going to look like but that’s not stopping me from wanting to see the real thing. I may have seen this YouTube video featuring the artistic renderings of the Dining Terrace more times than James Cameron has seen Avatar. Pandora was nice and all, but imagine how much more beautiful it would’ve been if it had a Panera Bread.
Some people like to be the first ones to ride a roller coaster. Other like to be the first to see a movie. I’m looking forward to being one of the first to enjoy a meal in the sparkly new Dining Terrace. Best of all, it could be free. According to the Westfield Trumbull website, the first 500 people to arrive at the grand opening ceremony tomorrow at 11am will receive a free lunch. Will you be one of the other 499 people cashing in on the free lunch? Because you know I’ll be there.
