Suki: The Health & Wellness Crusader

Up this week: Health and Wellness Crusader Suki! No idea what her last name is because I am horrible with names and when people call asking for her by her last name, I tell them that we don't have anyone who works here by that name. Ha. I'm an idiot.

Last week's icy fall turned out to be a couple of broken bones (elbow and tailbone), so I wasn't sure I was going to be able to share a meal with someone this week. But thankfully Suki came to the rescue and we set out on a #curestaurantweek adventure.

Suki is another admin at the city. You may have seen her in an episode of my future award-winning series Champaign City Profiles. If you have yet to catch that show, shame on you. I'm not even going to link to it here because it is so good I'm going to make you work for it if you want to watch. Even though that was a work project, I think it captured her big spirit. So much fun to work with. I think I keep saying that about my co-workers, but it is true.

Suki's restaurant choice was The Space in downtown CU. Smash burgers and Falafel sandwiches seemed like a great thing to try out at this place I'd never eaten at before. As is often the case with these early plans it didn't happen the way is was supposed to. The Space doesn't open until 4pm! What? How can you be downtown and not open for lunch. Seems insane. So we went to the old faithful backup plan and headed to Guido's.

Started with some simple Chips and Salsa, but it was delicious. Loved the salsa myself. Forgot to ask Suki about it, but I am just going to assume it was the best chips and salsa she has ever had. Why am I going to assume that? Why not, what can it hurt?

For our meal, I wanted to have something different, so I went with the Italian beef, and Suki had a hard time deciding what she wanted to have. Finally decided on the Quesadilla, but I think she would have rather had a Patty Melt with a black bean burger substituted for the beef patties. For some reason that seemed like a difficult request, so we weren't sure they would be able to make it work. Might have to try again to see if we can make it happen. So that was the food. Still loved the curly fries.

What did we talk about? Suki is a dedicated single mother who cares a lot for her kids. I already knew that. We also talked about her plant-based diet. I hadn't realized that she has been doing it for a full year. She may have been a little tempted by her memories of steak quesadillas, but I think she is doing so well with the healthy lifestyle that she won't even look back.

That is a couple weeks in a row with healthy eating people. Not sure if I need to start eating healthier or if I need to choose some less health-conscious meal mates. I think my docs would be on the side of eating healthier.

If you would like to start getting healthier, be sure to check out Suki's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@nextlevelsuki She is a Wellness Enthusiast and has a lot of Plant Based recipes and advice. (And she's got some really nice thumbnails.) She is working hard on the channel and starting to gain a following. She is at 190 subscribers right now, let's see if we can get her up over 200. Subscribe now.

Ok. You are now back after subscribing to her channel. Thank you. (and for those two of you who didn't subscribe, I see you and I am disappointed.) So, that was absolutely all we talked about. We definitely did not veer off into topics that should not be documented in this project. But if we had, there would have been some fun conversations, and we would have learned a few interesting things about each other. But, like I said, we didn't talk about any of those topics. Ha.

Another week down. Hopefully, I will be in a little less pain next week, and if things go as planned, the next meal will be A-Maize-ing. Thank you, Suki what ever your last name is.

** And for those of you curious about how I remember Suki's first name check out this band called Sukilove. That is what I think of whenever I see her. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLMBiZtQ7aU