>>pk@columbia

9.23.01 - best dinner ever

I've been to some nice restaurants; I've dined at some nice places such as City Hall (good oysters), AZ (nice interior), and Babbos (unique Italian food). All of them were enjoyable as well as memorable, but none of these surpasses the best dinner I've ever had.

It was on a day in mid-June, a few days after school had ended. I spent the afternoon at my girlfriend Melody's house hanging out and flipping through television channels. When it approached dinner time, we were quite hungry and wanted to go out to eat. I was severely broke at this time, with no more lunch money leftovers to provide for my spending. I had a little bit more than ten dollars, so I wanted to go to a place where my money would be put to good use. A few days before, I had clipped some coupons from the mail and kept them in my wallet. One of these coupons happened to be Chicken Holiday, which was fairly close to where my girlfriend lived. I had a craving for fried chicken, so off to Chicken Holiday we went.

The restaurant was a nice place with a clean interior. We ordered up our food - I got myself a fried chicken combo with some side dishes and Melody got herself a salad with bread. We were the only people sitting down to eat there because this "restaurant" was mainly a carry-out place. I liked being alone with Melody and surrounded by many empty seats. I felt more isolated and peaceful. The food tasted very good because we were quite hungry at the time. Melody and I particularly enjoyed the macaroni salad and mashed potatoes. Using our plastic forks, we smiled as we enjoyed our meal.

"We're like a couple from a trailer who're celebrating a special day by eating at Chicken Holiday," my girlfriend joked as we enjoyed our meal. It was such a humble dinner, and yet, we had no complaints. The food was perfect for the occasion and so was the location, just a few miles down the road from home. It was such a great feeling to have eaten satisfactory food without spending much. What was even better about the dinner was that I sat across from someone who made a would-be ordinary dinner into the best dinner ever. The food-chewing, the smiles, and the sharing showed me why I adored Melody so much and how any food - no matter how cheap or poorly served - would be a king's feast with my radiant girlfriend.

The last dinner we had together before she left for Cornell was at a Vietnamese restaurant that she frequented. It was a small, family-owned place that I had gone to once before with her. The guy who served us was a young kid who was probably at most, a sophomore in high school. Though I noticed all the inadequacies about the place, it was an ideal setting for our last, pre-college meal. We each ordered a bowl of soup noodles as well as one plate of spring rolls that Melody loves so much. Melody paid for the meal and though she had a coupon for 15% off, she insisted that she pay the full amount because the place was small and didn't charge much anyway. I looked at her pay the sum and then turn to me with a smile; I knew for sure that I would miss our low budget dinners, and more importantly, I was going to miss her.