This time, however, our Shallow Thought guru and guest poster John Lindner sent me a gift: the Top 10 Reasons to Dine Out. Actually he sent me 15 reasons, and the only work I had to do was choose which ones I liked best.
Without further ado, here's John's list, in more or less his order. Interesting where "because we're hungry" falls, and I think he's probably right: ...
1) Someone else cooks for you, serves you, and does the dishes.
2) Experience tastes you can't get at home
3) Opportunity to use more than one fork during a single meal
4) Good excuse to dress up
5) Great way to experience different cultures
6) Excellent blog conversation (argument, melee) starter
7) Decent way to make a living*
8) Great way to say "thank you," "congratulations," "I love you"
9) Because we're hungry
10) Because life is brief and brutal and ends with a party you don't get to attend
* More than decent. EL
(Photo illustrating No. 2 by Tasha Treadwell/Sun photographer)