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TOP JOBS

By KELLY PREW
Food Editor

Following last week’s Readers’ Swap, I began thinking about the best meals I’ve ever had, classified more by atmosphere and memory than the food itself.

I guess I can track this all the way back to the rehearsal dinner for my brother’s wedding in 1986. I remember that meal because my Grand-mother Ferguson fixed my hair in two braids. I can still remember sitting in her hotel room holding the brush and barrette for her.

I also remember making the napkin rings for the table settings out of conchos and red, white and blue beads that doubled as key rings for party favors. My mother and I must have spent a thousand hours in the living room floor threading beads in the weeks prior to the wedding.

Another best meal happened at the Taste of Texas steak house in Houston a year later. My sister came home from college and met us there. I remember being so excited to see her, and when she walked in, was absolutely beautiful! Of course, she had really big hair and lots of makeup, but it was the 1980s and I was 9 and in love with Barbie, so I thought she was perfect.

I also can remember the first time I ate at a Jason’s Deli on a UIL trip in high school. The team traveled to San Antonio for a competition, and we all voted to stop there. That was my sophomore year in high school, and the tradition was born. Each year thereafter, the team stopped at the same place and took the same picture in one of the booths.

Those photos are very special.

There was the breakfast at the U.S. Press Club in Washington, D.C. my senior year in high school that was pretty amazing, too. I heard Eleanor Clift, a contributing editor for Newsweek and member of the McLaughlin Group, speak, and felt like I was choosing the right career path. Her inspiration stuck with me through college and career.

A high school boyfriend “proposed” we go to prom together at a swanky, elite restaurant in Austin. He surprised me after school with a drive into the city and made a big show with flowers and everything. He even tipped the violinist to play at our table.

The food was delicious and way too expensive. I knew he must have saved dearly for the opportunity.

I accepted the invitation, and we returned a few months later with six other couples for our prom meal.

I cannot go further down this chronological memory lane without mentioning one of my first meals as a married woman.

My husband and I went to Las Vegas for the honeymoon and set out right away to find something to eat.

We stopped at the Harley Davidson caf? and ordered salads. Upon ordering, I broke down in tears from fatigue (a monster wedding with 500 people and a dress that weighed 50 pounds, followed by a drive to the airport the night before).

I looked up and realized my new husband’s “deer in the headlights” look and the waitress glaring at him with contempt. I could not control the laughter then.

He was confused, and the waitress thought he caused it, when I just needed a nap.

We’ve had plenty of romantic dinners over the course of our marriage, but that lunchtime laughter episode was one of the best.

He, however, never did think it was funny. …

Finally, there was the finest meal of Whataburger and DIET COKE immediately following the birth of my baby.

After nine months and no caffeine, that moment was spectacular — not to mention I watched while my husband held her and conducted their first conversation.

It was dark and everyone else had gone home for the day. It was the first glimpse of our little family in a quiet moment at the hospital.

There are so many others I could share, but these are a few of the greats. Write in and let me know what meals made your favorite memories.