Tell us about your favorite meal, either to eat or to prepare. Does it just taste great, or does it have other associations?
Photographers, artists, poets: show us FOOD.
I am not a good cook, although I can cook pretty good food if I wanted to – or actually, had to. And since I grew up with two brothers and not a sister in sight – and my mother didn’t really cook till she was in her later forties, when my American stepfather told her that he really would like it if she did learn how to cook, for when we would all move to the United States, there would be no maids in the house to cook, clean and do the laundry. The first dish my mother cooked, or attempted to cook, was white rice.
She forgot to pour the water in the pot.
Anyway, the delectable table you see set before you is not of my own making. It’s of my friend Lolita’s and with the exception of the ham, she prepared every dish with the main course being paella, perfectly made in its own paella dish. She also had more dishes in the stove and oven but since there was no room on the table, they ended up on the kitchen counter.
So why am I telling you this when I should be talking about what my favorite meal is? Well, because ever since I met Lolita, I decided to leave the cooking to those more capable than me. And whatever she cooks and sets on her table in front of me, is my favorite meal. Case in point, everything on that table.
Otherwise, if left to my own devices, my favorite meal would be whatever my in-laws make for the week that they have my husband pick up from their house on his way home. For heaven only knows, we’d all go hungry if I had to come up with something other than burnt rice.
Morrighan's Muse 
I love it when others love to cook for me. I love to cook myself. If someone else cooks, often they have made something that I have never had or made in just that way. When someone else cooks, especially if it is rare, it feels special. And our mothers’ cooking is that way. She only has certain things that she cooks, but she does them well and there are memories attached to them. If we have family that cooks based on a culture (mine is Cajun) then that is often our favorite because of that connection. If someone is says they’ve made a Crawfish Etouffee and to come on over – I’m there banging on the door before they’ve even set the table, wine bottle in hand. So yeah, my favorite foods are very often the gifts from others.
Crawfish étouffée sounds delish!
Sea food. I see food and I eat it.
I’m on a sea food diet myself 🙂
“I decided to leave the cooking to those more capable than me” – that’s my excuse too 🙂
That does look like a smashing spread.
I’m always running to her house every time she cooks! And I make sure to wear my pregnancy pants, too 🙂
Heh heh, I love it – “pregnancy pants”! There’s nothing worse than a huge pile of delicious food and really tight trousers 🙂
I think they even had Joey on Friends wearing one for Thanksgiving dinner. Now, that’s bring prepared!
That rings a bell now you mention it 🙂