Forgive me, fellow foodies, for I have sinned.

I confess: I've been going to McDonald's a lot lately. And by a lot, I mean once or twice a week, which is a dramatic increase from how I often I used to go – never – before I moved somewhere where there's one just down the street.

It all started when I heard that miniature My Scene Barbie Roller Girls were the new Happy Meal toys (I'm a Cincinnati Rollergirl and so I have a weakness for all things roller skating-related, even if they're small, plastic and appallingly scantily-clad).

Then I discovered that it's McDonald's Monopoly time, which means that certain menu items contain small peel-off versions of Monopoly squares which might win you some cash if you collect the full set of properties of one color.

So recently, I've been placing orders like this:

"Can I have an Egg McMuffin meal with no meat, hash browns and a medium coffee? And also one of the Barbie Happy Meal toys? It’s for my niece." (FYI, I don’t have a niece.)

I’ve discovered a couple of things on these trips. First, meatless Egg McMuffins (they normally come with Canadian bacon – and here I thought it was just ham!) and hash browns are pretty darn good, in a greasy, morning-after-a-friend's-birthday-slash-Halloween-party kind of way. And I'd take McDonald’s coffee over, say, Starbucks any day – it's tastier and cheaper.

Second, I am never, ever going to win anything playing McDonald's Monopoly. I got all excited when I got a Park Place token a couple of weeks ago because I would win $1 million if I also got a Boardwalk token. Then I got another Park Place token last week. My kitchen counter is now strewn with duplicate tokens of varying colors, which I'm afraid to throw away until the contest is over just in case one goes missing.

So tonight, I'm going to make a nice stir-fry with vegetables, tofu and brown rice to make up for my terrible diet of late. And I'm going to start driving a different way to work.

If "Fast Food Nation" didn't turn you off fast food forever, maybe this will

Via USA Today's Pop Candy blog, here is a photographic comparison of how various fast foods appear in ads vs. in real life. What looks the most similar? My vote's for the Filet o' Fish. Despite the disclaimer, the Arby's Beef 'n' Cheddar really does look like it was run over by a car. Gross.