All Star Special

All Star Special. Many things come to mind when I think about this feast offered by Waffle House.

Many late nights were spent inside of a Waffle House eating the beloved All Star Special. When I was done attempting to eat this behemoth that is called a meal I would always been caught off guard by how expensive it is. I would vow that next time I came back I would remember the price and order something smaller that is more the size of what a grown man can eat and less the size of what a bison can eat. Upon my next visit I would always forget and give in to the beautiful picture displayed at the top left corner of the Waffle House menu.

The Jukeboxes that litter every Waffle House have cost me a pretty penny over the years. I almost always use a few quarters of my own (or of my wife's) to play some horribly outdated music. Today we listened to Freebird simply because my friend wanted to get the most music for his money. Biting into a syrup soaked waffle while listening to Ronnie Van Zant sing his soul out trying to convince me that he is free was just too perfect and let me know that we surely did get the most (if not the best) music for our money.

Post concert road trips were always spent inside of a Waffle House. When packing for the road trip I would grab things like tickets, printed out mapquest directions, eye drops because people smoking cigarettes always dried my eyes out (actually often I would skip the drops and just wear glasses), cd case full of trendy cds, and a coat. Even in August a coat would be included in my packing list. I never went further north that North Carolina for a concert and yet a coat was always included. There are 1500 Waffle House's in America. Each and every one does the darndest to offer indoor ice skating and a petting zoo where one can pet penguins, polar bears, and even woolly mammoths. They are all colder than a normal AC unit can go. Thus, every concert I would go to I would pack a coat just for that 1-2 hours I spent inside of a Waffle House.

The All Star Special itself. Two eggs, 1 waffle, 4 pieces of bacon, grits, and two pieces of toast. Way too much food. Today was the first time in my entire life that I was only a few bites away from finishing the All Star Special. I could have finished it but foolishly I left a few bites of grits for last and I just didn't want to do anything to get the sweet sweet flavor of waffle out of my mouth. Waffle House does not offer their nutritional information but someone was able to break into the top secret headquarters and found out the waffle alone is 314 calories. Whatever it actually is I can just guarantee that it is way too many calories and the fact that after eating it I do not feel sluggish is enough alone to let me know I need to get into shape.

The All Star Special is an All Star and is Special in my heart and it is something nothing can force me to give up, not even the coronary heart disease I am sure to be diagnosed with in about 10-15 years. It is part of what makes me an American and I love it for that. Today when I blessed it I thanked God for "this feast of food that I am able to eat on just a regular day" and it really is the little things in life that can make you understand how blessed we have it in life.