I have such a problem with my love for good food. Sometimes I get into trouble at home because I stress so much about putting meals together on week nights. My husband will say to me, “You don’t have to cook every night! Stop putting all this extra work on yourself!” To which I respond, “but I love food and I love to cook it and I don’t wanna eat the same thing two nights in a row!” I’m just chuckling to myself right now at sounding like such a fat kid. But seriously, who doesn’t love a good meal at the end of a stressful day?

I got to thinking the other day about what some of my most favorite meals have been in recent memory. Haven’t you ever been somewhere and have eaten something so good that you would travel again and again to that place just to be able to experience the goodness of whatever it was that you ate that day? Here are a few of mine:

1. The definition of a Churrascaria is actually “barbeque” in a Brazilian or Portuguese tradition and where waiters bring meat around to tables on large skewers. This actually sounds terrible to a person who could really do without meat, like myself.., but the Texas de Brazil in Memphis is on my list of favorite meals not because of the meat, but because of the SALAD BAR!!! I know, I know… half of you are like, ok Rachel, just shut up now, but have you ever experienced the salad bar down there? Several types of leafy greens to choose from, all sorts of veggies, some marinated in the sweetest of life-sustaining juices and oils, lobster bisque, every kind of cheese known to mankind, things wrapped in bacon and prosciutto… I mean the list goes on. If for any reason I ever wanted to live back in the city limits of Memphis, this salad bar would definitely be on the pro side of things. PLUS, who doesn’t want a tall-dark-and handsome guy with an accent walking up to your table to say, “Leg of Lamb?”

• My sister and I travelled to New York City in November of 2016 just for a quick 48-hour trip to see Hamilton on Broadway. The one day we had in the city to find things to do we decided to hit up a couple of art museums, Central Park, and to have Afternoon Tea at Palm Court in the Plaza Hotel. If you’re ever in NYC, at the very least, drive (or walk) by the hotel so you can reminisce about being a child watching Home Alone 2 – the scenes where Kevin gets into the white limousine with the cheese pizza outside the main entrance. Walking around inside the Plaza Hotel is quite a grand experience for a couple of West Tennessee gals, and I’m sure we looked the part too! Why is this experience on this list though? The cucumber sandwiches. Afternoon tea comes with a tiered serving tray of sandwiches, scones, and sweets, and I’m pretty sure my sister and I fought over the cucumber sandwiches. The creaminess of the filling and the tanginess of the actual cucumber made for probably the most pleasurable finger sandwich experience of my life. I’ve tried to replicate… but sadly, there is no replicating anything at the Plaza Hotel – especially those cucumber sandwiches.

• I’m going to lump these next two together because they’re both beach foods and both are located at restaurants in southern Florida within a ten-minute drive of the other. Our favorite place for dead-period vacations is St. Pete Beach outside of Tampa mainly because all of West Tennessee doesn’t end up down there at the same time. We also fell in love with that area because the little stretch of beach we tend to hang out at has a beach club with live music every night and a walk-up beach café with a full-service menu most of the day. That beach café, The Toasted Monkey, has some Mahi-Mahi Tacos on its menu that will make you wanna punch someone in the face. (Not your mama…, find someone else..) Its fresh Mahi wrapped up with some kind of tropical rice, some kind of dark sauce, and the sweetest mango/pineapple salsa on the planet. The first time I sank my teeth into these remarkable little pouches of sunshine, it was a HOT day out on the beach in late June 2020. I think my husband and I BOTH got a little too much sun just sitting there having lunch and talking to another couple who both happened to be school teachers as well. Each year when we are down there, I try really hard not to be the weirdo who comes in for lunch everyday and orders the same thing everyday, but I do…, because who cares?

The Mad Beach Fish House, a little up the road in Madeira Beach, has a grilled cheese sandwich that will change the way you view grilled cheese sandwiches. I started going down to this area vacationing with girlfriends in 2016 and the first restaurant we bebopped into was this little place. We sat out on the deck that first night, and as per our usual, just about got kicked out of the place for being too loud and obnoxious. Women are so crazy on a girls’ trip. Anyway, at some point later on in that trip we went back to the Fish House and that was the first time I held a Lobster Grilled Cheese Sandwich in my clammy little hands. Rich cheddar cheeses (yes, cheeses) and lobster meat on buttery, toasted bread! Every year on the plane down to Florida, we talk about just when we will get to go to the Mad Beach Fish House so I can get my Lobster Grilled Cheese. This last summer, it was the very first thing we did after renting our car and even before checking into the resort. I had my lobster grilled cheese with a cold beer, and then walked out to a loaded down Ford Festiva out in the parking lot.

• Since I’m already talking about food from the beach… my husband swears his most memorable meal was at a restaurant outside of Austin, TX called Pappadeaux  Seafood Kitchen where he first tasted alligator. Now, I know this really was his most favorite culinary experience because in 2019 when we went on our first beach trip together, he made such a thing out of finding restaurants that served alligator. We looked up menus, called ahead, and couldn’t find it anywhere! We finally found a restaurant that had gator on Treasure Island, reserved an Uber, got all gussied up, (after my husband decided on which hat out of his 14 to wear) got sat down at a beautiful little spot right beside a bright bay window, ordered alligator for our appetizer, and the waitress says, “oh I’m sorry but we are all out!” We just had a good laugh. We constantly look for gator at seafood places, but I don’t think we’ve ever once been successful at finding it. I happened to be at a Crabby’s restaurant this past fall break over in Daytona Beach with my two oldest sons – and guess what – they had alligator! I ordered it and I really wasn’t that impressed. It was like fried pieces of sponge, really….

• This is a sappy one. On Monday, September 10, 2018 I cooked a meal of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and roasted broccoli for this guy I had recently taken a liking to… it was the first meal my husband and I had together in my house as “friends”..with both of my boys. I remember the pink and white cardigan I had on with the white sleeveless blouse underneath it. The boys were outside throwing a football in the side yard when he pulled up in the driveway after he finished his own football practice at the high school and he went out there with them until I called everyone in for dinner. It was the first time I had seen someone else out in the yard playing with my kids and I remember standing at my side door watching and trying to keep my ovaries from exploding all over the den floor. Still to this good day that meatloaf, and it’s actually a Weight Watchers recipe, is still in my husband’s list of his most favorite things I make.