Full Plates and Fuller Bowls

Hello, hello, and welcome to T.E.A. Time with Tayvin Bayless. If you are joining me for the first time, I am glad you are here, and I hope you decide to stick around. And to my returning listeners, it is wonderful to have you back with me again.

What’s keeping you busy right now? Work? Family? A project you are excited about? A project you are considerably less excited about but already agreed to do? We all go through seasons when life feels especially full.

Today, I want to tell you about two of my goals whenever we visit Utah. Making sure that we accomplish these goals whenever we’re in town keeps both my schedule and my stomach full.

This brings me to our warm-up phrase for today: have a lot on your plate. Have a lot on your plate.

First, picture an actual plate at a large meal. Maybe you are at a buffet, a restaurant where you choose from many different dishes and get to serve yourself as much as you can eat. You see meat, potatoes, vegetables, bread, and a dessert that you absolutely do not have room for but take anyway. By the time you sit down, there is so much food on your plate that you can barely see the plate itself. Eating all of it is going to take some time and effort.

In English, when we say that someone has a lot on their plate, we usually are not talking about food. We mean that the person has many tasks, responsibilities, or problems requiring their time and attention. The image is simple. Each responsibility is one more thing on the plate, and there is only so much room.

A builder may have several houses to finish before winter. A teacher may need to plan lessons, grade assignments, and meet with parents. A parent may need to work, clean the house, buy groceries, and keep a tiny human from trying to eat bugs and dirt from off the floor. All three have a lot on their plates.

The phrase has appeared in print with this figurative meaning since at least the 1920s. You may also hear someone say that they have enough on their plate or too much on their plate. If you have enough on your plate, you do not want another responsibility. If you have too much on your plate, you may be struggling to handle everything.

Here’s a quick example: whenever we come to Utah, I try to make plans with several different friends and family members. Between those plans, a family wedding, a reunion, and everything else that comes with traveling with a one-year-old, I have a lot on my plate.

Keep that phrase in mind. The image may get a bit more literal than usual before we’re done.

So, as I said, whenever we come to Utah for vacation, I always have two major goals for a successful trip. The first is to make time to get together with each of my friends and family members at least once during our stay. We often split our time between my grandparents’ basement and my wife’s parents’ basement, so finding time to do something with family is usually not an issue.

Scheduling something with my three best friends, Chip, Chandler, and Jarom, can be a bit more challenging. Each of them has a lot on his plate, but we make sure it happens, often by making plans a few weeks in advance.

My second goal is to eat some chili cheese fries.

I do not think I have talked about them on the podcast before, but it is no secret that chili cheese fries are one of my all-time favorite American foods. Exactly who invented this masterpiece is disputed. Several restaurants and cooks have been credited with the idea, but there is no single origin story that everyone agrees on. Utah is not usually part of that debate, and yet I believe it can claim the title of best chili cheese fries around.

Chili cheese fries are one of the best-known members of a whole category of delicious food called loaded fries. Loaded fries are french fries covered with other ingredients. Those toppings might include meat, cheese, onions, peppers, gravy, or almost anything else you can put on a potato. I could spend an entire episode talking about loaded fries, and I may do exactly that in the future, but for now I am going to focus on the chili-topped classic.

Some people in my audience may not know what chili is, so let me explain. Chili is a thick stew made with chili peppers and usually meat. Depending on who cooks it, it may also include beans, tomatoes, onions, and a wide variety of spices. The dish is deeply connected to Mexican and Tex-Mex cooking and became especially famous in San Antonio, Texas. Its exact birthplace is difficult to pin down, and people still argue about what belongs in a proper bowl of chili. Some Texans will tell you that beans do not belong in it at all. They may tell you this with surprising intensity.

Chili can be extremely spicy. Some people make it hot enough that it feels as though it might melt your mouth straight off your face. But it does not have to be spicy. Its flavor changes depending on the peppers, meat, beans, and seasonings you choose to add.

As you may have guessed from the name, you need three main things to make chili cheese fries. First, you need crispy fries as the base. Second, you need piping-hot chili to pour over the fries. Third, you need cheese to put on top of everything. The final product depends almost entirely on the quality of those three parts. If each one tastes good on its own, it will probably taste even better when you put them together. This is not advanced culinary science, but it works so well.

Utah is home to a local fast-food chain called JCW’s. It has five locations across Utah and Salt Lake counties. That is it. You cannot find this restaurant anywhere else. As a self-described connoisseur, or knowledgeable judge, of loaded fries, I will confidently declare that you cannot find a better deal on chili cheese fries anywhere.

American food is known for its massive portion sizes, and the fries from JCW’s are a prime example. For around ten dollars, you get a bowl large enough to be an entire day’s worth of food. I have often ordered it as my only meal of the day. The fries are thick-cut and crispy. The chili is flavorful, with a good ratio of meat to beans. And then, I honestly think they shred half a block of cheese on top before toasting it until the cheese has thoroughly melted.

You can also get hot sauce and fry sauce. Fry sauce is a blend of ketchup and mayonnaise, often with a few extra seasonings. Utah helped turn it into a regional institution, even though similar sauces exist in other parts of the world. It is an absolute travesty that you can’t get fry sauce at every restaurant that serves fries. I’m so passionate about this that I’d start a worldwide campaign if I could.

JCW’s does not serve its chili cheese fries on a plate. They come in a foil bowl. So, if you ever get the chance to order some, you will not have a lot on your plate. You will have a lot in your bowl, though.

You may be wondering why I have chili cheese fries on my mind. It is because I met up with my friend Jarom at JCW’s on Saturday, and we chatted for a couple of hours. He ordered their fish and chips. I think you can guess what I ordered.

It was great to catch up with him at a restaurant that has been one of our favorites since high school. He told me about his new full-time job doing the demolition portion of home renovations. Demolition is the process of tearing out or tearing down part of a building before new construction begins. Between that job and his performances with the a cappella group, meaning a singing group that performs without instruments, he really does have a lot on his plate.

Jarom and I spent a couple of hours chatting at the restaurant. That is why I thought it was kind of funny that I did not learn until later that his group, Known by Name, would be performing in a concert today. He texted me after we had both gone home to tell me about it, and luckily, we were able to get tickets. Emma and I will be going with several members of her family.

When you are juggling many jobs and responsibilities, it can be overwhelming. And English has another food-related expression for the moment when you do not merely have a lot to do. You have taken on more than you can reasonably handle.

That expression is bite off more than you can chew.

The literal image is not difficult to imagine. You take an enormous bite of food, only to realize that you cannot chew it comfortably. Now your cheeks are full, you cannot speak, and the people sitting across from you are watching you reconsider several recent decisions.

In English, to bite off more than you can chew means to accept a task or responsibility that is too large or difficult for you to manage. It can describe taking on too many separate tasks, but it can also describe one job that is simply beyond your current time, resources, or ability.

This expression appeared in American English by the 1870s. Merriam-Webster dates its first known use to 1877. Some language historians connect it to plug tobacco, a dense block of tobacco that people would bite off and chew. Others point out that the same image works perfectly well with an oversized bite of food. The tobacco explanation is plausible, but the evidence does not give us a completely certain origin story. Language does that sometimes. It leaves us chewing on the question.

There is an important difference between today’s two phrases. If you have a lot on your plate, you are busy, but you may still be handling everything successfully. If you have bitten off more than you can chew, you have crossed the line. The amount of work is now more than you can manage.

For example, Jarom has a full-time job, regular rehearsals, performances, friendships, and family responsibilities. He clearly has a lot on his plate. But I would not say that he has bitten off more than he can chew unless those responsibilities become too much for him. Being busy and being overwhelmed are related, but they are not identical.

Here is another example. Imagine that I agree to write three podcast episodes, edit ten transcripts, redesign my website, and play the accordion in a concert on Friday. I don’t play the accordion. I have not merely put a lot on my plate. I have bitten off more than I can chew.

We also change the verb to match the time. You can say, “I think I am biting off more than I can chew” while you are taking on the work. After the consequences become obvious, you might say, “I bit off more than I could chew.” You will also often hear it as advice: “Be careful not to bite off more than you can chew.”

So here is something to think about. What’s on your plate right now? Are you busy but managing it, or have you bitten off more than you can chew? If your plate is too full, consider whether there is one task you can postpone, simplify, or ask someone to help you carry. And the next time life gets busy, keep an ear out for these two expressions. Notice which side of that line the speaker is describing.

We all go through times when we have a lot on our plates, and sometimes we bite off more than we can chew. I think it is important to reach out and connect with people during those busy times. Especially during the busy times. The support of a friend and a moment to get your mind off your responsibilities may be exactly what you need before you return to them.

Jarom and I both had plenty waiting for us when we left JCW’s. We still made time to sit down, catch up, and eat a day’s worth of fries in one sitting. The work could wait for a couple of hours. The chili cheese fries could not.

And with that, my cup is empty. Thanks for joining me for T.E.A. Time. Until the next pot.