Dollar vs. Dinner

I have been sitting here racking my brain, going through the years in different states and different scenarios and nothing is coming to me as being particularly pricy. Don’t get me wrong, I have had some meals that were above average in the cost department, but nothing that stands out as something you would gasp at and clutch your pearls when presented with the bill.

I would recommend that you start thinking about your answer now as you keep reading because you know I will be asking in a few minutes.

What I can do is tell you of a few dining experiences through the years that were in fancy places. Hopefully that will do. Come along down memory lane with me.

My first nice restaurant meal came in my senior year of high school. We had just finished the last of our final exams and my little core group of four decided to treat ourselves to lunch.

We headed over to the mall and went into this little French bistro. We thought we were hot…well, you know. We ordered sparkling water and had escargot as an appetizer. I don’t remember the rest of the food, but we did order cute little desserts. The meal was wonderful, but I have not eaten snails since, just not my thing.

I can see the four of sitting around the table in my head. It is like a scene out of movie where the voice over says they thought they would know each other forever. We didn’t. I haven’t seen any of them since we graduated a month later in 1988.

Jumping ahead to 2000.

My boyfriend at the time was working for a few months in New York City and the job was going to go through Thanksgiving. He decided to spend the holiday in NYC and told me to come up for a long weekend.

Can I tell you how excited I was?

New York City at Thanksgiving!!!!!! To me it was more magical than Christmas there because of the Macy’s Day Parade. You know me and parades. And yes, we stood on Columbus Circle and watched it live and in person. It would have been a bucket list item checked off for sure if I actually had a bucket list.

For Thanksgiving dinner, we ate at The Plaza Hotel at The Palm Court. How Dan got reservations on short notice, I will never know. He surprised me with it. All He said was let’s dress up and make it an occasion. Something he never did, but I went along with it.

We left the apartment he was staying at, walked around the corner and he led me up the iconic stairs into The Plaza. I thought it was a joke, but nope. We had a drink first at The Champagne Bar and went into dinner. Magical. I do not know what it cost. I think he actually charged it to his company.

After that my memory fails me.

I have had some good meals since then. Some fantastic buffets that were slightly more than normal in the cost department, but totally worth it.

We don’t make it a habit of going overboard on fancy, multi course meals because that is just not our style. Just give me a good meal with a good drink and some great conversation.

It’s not the price of a meal that makes it great. It’s the conversation around the table and the people you are with…oh and dessert…you have to have dessert.