49 Days of Pasta

Seven weeks with the Olive Garden Never Ending Pasta Pass

Day 49 – Addio

Hard to describe how I’m feeling about the end of the pasta pass. It’s a mix between feeling like a good friend just passed away, and getting out of prison. I suppose they say that if you truly love something, you have to let it go.

What am I going to do for lunch? Dinner? I’ll probably just starve, and curl up into a bowl and wake up when I’m about 20 lbs. lighter.

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The last pasta bowl ever? Fettuccine with spicy three meat and shrimp fritta. Looks like they started putting alfredo sauce on it before realizing it was supposed to be spicy three meat. Now, I kind of regret not having done a half and half sauce on one of the 49 days. That may be just about my only regret.

Olive Garden, it’s been real, please do the pasta pass promotion again next year.

Special thanks to everyone at the Center City Olive Garden – Marti, Dani, Will, Star, Tammy, Tammy, Wayne, and everyone else who was so pleasant and tolerant of the guy who came in every day.

Final numbers:

Weight: 173.3

Breadsticks consumed (today/total): 2/83

Cost per pasta bowl: $5.02

Total spent: $246 ($100 on the pass, $146 in gratuity)

Calories consumed: Roughly 82,000

After all of that, I end the project 0.6 lbs. lighter than when I started. I will never fear a carbohydrate again. Thanks again!

Comments from the wife: “I actually like the Olive Garden.”

Days 47 and 48 – Rating the Toppings

So how do the never ending toppings rate? No surprises at the top of the list…

1. Shrimp Fritta

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Crunchy, delicious, breaded shrimp. Hopefully these aren’t the ones being produced by slave labor. Did Costco ever find a non-slavery-using source for their shrimp? Read the rest of this entry »

Day 46 – More Takeout Shenanigans

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Had a dim sum lunch date with the wife Thursday. Philly’s Chinatown is just a few blocks north of the Olive Garden, so since I was in the area, I decided to grab some takeout and save it for dinner. Cavatappi, marinara and meatballs. On the way to the OG though, the wife wanted to stop by Reading Terminal Market for some sweets and produce.

My wife doesn’t cook much, but one thing she makes all the time is tomato and mozzarella salads. I was actually at Reading just a few days ago and remembered seeing the grilled cheese place advertising that they make home made mozzarella daily. They sell it for $8.99/lb., and not knowing what a pound of mozzarella looks like, we asked for a pound. Read the rest of this entry »

Day 45 – Both???

Today started off innocuously enough – nice bowl of chicken and gnocchi.

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Then I asked my co-pilot Marti to hit me up with something different. What does she do? Read the rest of this entry »

Days 43 and 44 – Week 7 Begins!

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Last week of the Pasta Pass! Through 44 days, there were only two days that I actually dreaded eating pasta. For the most part, I was really excited to go to the OG every day. Seems crazy, but the six weeks so far have flown by!

Yesterday, I forgot my camera so I only have a few poorly lit cameraphone pics to show the salad and cavatappi I had. Read the rest of this entry »

Days 41 and 42 – Week Six Comes to a Close

Wow, I’ve now experienced 42 days of pasta. Only seven more days to go! I’m getting sad. A few days ago, I was excited for the Pasta Pass to end. Now that the end is staring me in the face, I’m sad. Depressed, even. I may do some unpredictable things this week. Maybe it’s the cold weather coming in. After four years in California, this cold weather just seems inappropriate for human beings to live in.

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I didn’t go to the OG on Saturday. Why? Because it was cold, and this is what my freezer looks like. At this point, a zombie outbreak could occur and I’d still have more than enough OG food to complete the 49 days of pasta. I have over a dozen breadsticks in the freezer and somewhere around eight frozen soups, not to mention mounds of whole wheat linguine in the fridge. Read the rest of this entry »

Day 40 – Spaghetti with Shrimp and Fish

Fish? You’ll just have to wait and see. For now, let’s take a look at my Christmas wish list!

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Yep, pretty much this. I came pretty close to buying one for myself.

I went jeans shopping with my wife and ended up just a few blocks away from the OG. I wasn’t really hungry, but the OG is a mile away from my house so I decided to pick up some takeout. Spaghetti, marinara, and shrimp fritta. Read the rest of this entry »

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