Birthday Week = Cheat Day Week!

Go here for your Birthday and you're gonna have a GOOD TIME

Zach: Hello friends, family, and well wishers. Zach Finch here for week 3 of the "Cheat Day. Don't Care" web diary. Liz and I did not have an official Cheat Day yesterday as it was my Birthday Last Tuesday and I took this week to give no amount of fucks as to what I did to my body and when it is your birthday I would expect the same out of you!

Because of Cheat Week, instead of Cheat Day, I did not weigh myself to see how much weight I had gained. Next Sunday's weigh in will reveal just what I can get away with as far as going week on/week off with this slow carb diet. And let me tell you internet, I really did a number on myself. I still feel shitty, bloated, slow, hung over, wrecked, icky, nasty, befuddled, and all sort of just wrong as I write to you today. Would you like to know how I got this way? Sure! let's get started.

Tuesday, October 1st 2013 (My 28th Birthday)

My lovely girlfriend Liz surprised me with breakfast in bed atop a beautiful cajone as a gift. The breakfast was usual diet food. Eggs, spinach, and black beans with a little sirracha. This is part of the reason why I love this diet. Having that for breakfast isn't far off from what I would normally eat for breakfast. Liz then had to get off to work, but not me as I took off that day and the next, cause guess what?! Cheat day! Don't Care. Birthday REALLY don't care.

I went on home and reverted back to my middle school self just getting home from school as I devoured snacks left over from a previous Cheat Day. Things like cheddar and sour cream potato chips, snack wells cookies, granola bars, and various candies (snickers, smarties, candy corn…ya know like I'd already gone trick or treating). At lunch time I made way to Taco Bell after my folks gave TB's new Smothered Burrito a strong recommendation. I'm a HUGE Taco Bell fan. I even risked getting a DUI in order to get Taco Bell one evening. And got a DUI I did! But not before eating 3 pounds of burritos in the Taco Bell parking lot.

Anyway, that's another story. For this very special birthday Taco Bell run I put away a beefy 5-layer burrito, a chicken quesadilla, and the greatly anticipated smothered burrito. Everything was excellent AND Taco Bellish as usual. The smothered burrito even boasted a different sort of zest from the usual Taco Bell twang. Should you be a Taco Bell fan reading this, give the smothered burrito a try on Cheat Day!

Then, for dinner we went to the newly opened Buzz: Burgers, Barrels, and Beer (BYO) at 1935 W. Irving Park Rd. in Chicago, Il. Now I live EXTREMELY close to this restaurant and I have been waiting to try it since I moved back in July. It just opened up in the middle of September and it is not open Sundays, which is, as you know Cheat Day. Don't Care. There Liz and I shared the Alamo Burger, a burger topped with pepper jack cheese, avacado, onions, some sort of fancy spicy sauce (or aioli) and some mother effing Mexican Chorizo. Before we dug in to the delicious truffle mac and chee and the Alamo Burger we order a little something they call Hipster Poutine.

Now, for those of you who don't know, poutine is a canadian dish that is just right for cheat days. Poutine is simply french fries topped with gravy and cheese curds. Well Buzz's Hipster Poutine is fries topped with melted cheese curds, PBR gravy, pickled peppers, pulled pork bbq, and a fried egg all mixed in there. I must admit, I was a little disappointed at the size of the portion for the poutine, but it was so rich in flavor that it filled me up quick. It is clearly meant to be served in portions that size. My roommate Gabriella came with us and she ordered some fried pigs ears as well, which were surprisingly tender and little sour but good.

Finally, for the main birthday event, myself and quite a rambunctious crew went to MOE'S TAVERN in Logan Square off the Belmont Blue Line stop in Chicago, IL. Where I sucked back a "Flaming Cease & Desist" not once, not twice, but thrice. Those things were spicy let me tell you. However, the proprieter of Chicago's Moe's Tavern, not to be confused with Springfield's, Maureen was just as surly and entertaining as Moe Sizlack. They gave us a free weird blue shot every time the Blackhawks scored a goal and they were offering free ham sandwiches and chicken noodle soup. The place was a dank pit (and I wouldn't dare recommend they get rid of that dank). It was a urine soaked hell hole, or a peepee soaked heck hole for those of you with virgin ears. If it were in my neighborhood I would most certainly make it my neighborhood bar.

And, just because I am a glutton for punishment and just a glutton in general we capped the night off at good old Dinner Diner where I and my roommate Gabriella each polished off one of their slingers. Their slinger consists of hash browns, two cheeseburger patties, chili, cheese, and 2 fried eggs. They gave gabriella and I each a certificate for completing it. I thought this odd since I have gone in there several times and blasted through them with not so much as a "pay your tab and get out you walking tub of beer sweats." Just kidding, they aren't that mean there…or clever most likely. Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for my GREAT AMERICAN CHALLENGE experience later this week!

From Right Mike H and Gabriella G