Waaaay back in the dark days before Midnight Sun, I was a food critic. Bet you didn't know that. Yes indeed, for about two years, I was the takeout food columnist, and I also reviewed restaurants for The Sun's annual Dining Guide. That was back when we had a Dining Guide.

It's been a while since I regularly wrote food reviews, and I was ready for another challenge. So when Kate Shatzkin, the editor of the Taste section and the blogger extraordinaire behind Charm City Moms, asked me to write about corned beef and cabbage (the piece came out today), I jumped at the chance.

Little did I know what was in store ... To be honest, I hadn't eaten that much corned beef and cabbage before this. I've had my share of corned beef sandwiches, and growing up, I would occasionally have corned beef when I was out and about. It was by no means a regular thing. And after this little corned beef binge, I can't say I'll ever order the dish again.

I ate five orders of corned beef cabbage in three days. Chew on that for a second. Five orders. Three days. At one point, I actually felt physically ill -- not in the food poisoning sense, but in the sluggish, I-can't-go-on-eating-this sense. Know what I mean?

People seem to think that being a restaurant reviewer is one of the best jobs in the whole wide world. After being one for a couple of years, I don't know about that. After all, there are only so many adjectives to begin with. You try writing about hamburgers without using the word "juicy," or Indian food without using the word "spicy." It's tricky business, I tell you.

Well, the piece is finished, and I learned a lot about corned beef and cabbage along the way. I'd say I learned enough for a lifetime.