Compared with day one, day two of Campus Progress’s Free Food-A-Thon was a tame spectacle. Two interns, Artair "I don’t care" Rogers and M.I.Aaron, decided to throw in the towel well before steaming DC hit its high of 92 degrees. Maybe it was Nick "Pastry" Pastan’s imposing stance or that nifty headband he sometimes wears. Whatever the case I guess they decided to ignore Michael Jordan’s maxim that, "I can accept failure, but I can’t accept not trying."

Yet the lack of competition did not deter Nick from gallivanting about the city in search of the freest and tastiest food around.  First, the Pastry Pastan took advantage of his faux Hispanic heritage to enjoy a heart attack inducing heaping of bagels, cinnamon rolls, crème filled pastries, muffins, and scones at the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Conference. After his inchoate Spanish skills resonated far beyond his beat red ears, Nick quickly headed for the exit.

Accompanied by Day 1 champion HardeeHarHar Aditi Hardikar, Nick’s uncomfortable display of journalistic posing at lunch left his belly grumbling, but he luckily had a back-up plan. The spread of sandwiches, salads, chips, and other goodies at the New Democracy Network event was enough to brighten up even this guy. But the Pastry Pastan didn’t end his lunch escapades there, he made a pit-stop at a ritzy DC hotel on his way back to the office to score a basketful of desserts to bribe the judges. 

Although the competition was lighter than a Calista Flockhart lunch, Nick “Pastry” Pastan turned out a stellar performance. He joins HardeeHarHar Aditi in Tuesday’s final where friend turns into foe and anything goes.

Stay tuned to see what day three participants have up their sleeves…