Best Meals to Eat

I love to eat. During the day, I think about my next meal. Sometimes I have a game plan two or three days ahead of time for just what I'm going to do to a meal to make it great. What I eat during a day or a weekend has a major factor on whether I consider it to have been a good day or weekend. Is this stupid? Probably, but I really, really enjoy a good meal. My wife is a great cook and she is cool with all the ways I love to experiment with food by putting hot sauce (#1 is Texas Pete), jalapenos, cheeses, bacon, various kinds of homemade dipping sauces, etc. on the food.

When I see people eating the same meals over and over I feel as though they are missing out on life. It doesn't bother me because I know they probably just don't care but I just can't live like that. But there are so many variations on food you can do. A meal you may have been eating for years could be brought back to life with a dipping sauce or a couple spices. There's nothing like eating a great meal, and here are some of my favorite all-time meals.

Steak & Crab-
This meal is the tops, you can't beat it. For one thing it combines my two favorite types of food--beef and seafood, or as some people call it "surf & turf". But don't just have some crab legs with your steak, you need to melt some cheese over crab meat and mix in some heavy cream, maybe some chives--whatever you like...just get that creamy cheese goodness to go with the solid crab taste. Then once you've given the crab that extra flavor and moisture put it on top of the steak and eat them together. The combination is a taste explosion! Unbelievable! But if you're going to go to the trouble of doing this then you want to buy a decent steak and real crab. It might get pricey, but this meal is the best! Then you've got to go with the classic potato (mashed or baked) and salad for sides. My opinion is that a baked potato is the perfect sidekick to a steak because while you are preparing your potato, the juices and flavors have time to permeate the steak (when on the grill, the moisture is sucked to the center of the steak so you want to let it sit out for 10 minutes before eating).

Country Fried Steak-
Give me a country fried steak and some gravy. How about some green beans, mashed potatoes and a couple biscuits, and you can put some of that gravy on the biscuits too. Top it off with a sweet tea and I'll be eatin' good.

Fish Tacos/Buffalo Wings-
I am a connoisseur of fish tacos and buffalo wings. Each place that serves them has a different take on them and it is fun to try out what they've come up with. Plus they are a couple of the harder meals to prepare on your own, so I like to get these when I eat out.

Crab cakes-
I love crab, so naturally I love crab cakes. I recently made my own and they weren't that hard, and they were very good. Sometimes the key may be to create a great sauce to go along side it, or to go on top of it in a sandwich. Always start with a sour cream base for the sauce with crab cakes and go from there.

Nachos-
I really enjoy some nachos. Load up your plate with some Tostitos and taco meat and top it with melted cheese, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, green onions, jalapenos, salsa, and Texas Pete..it's a mountain of awesome!

Undoubtedly, the best meals come when you are the hungriest. If I had the capacity I would love to eat a 4-course meal every day, but I just can't do it. The best meals to eat at a restaurant are the ones that serve a little bread, then a cup of soup, then a salad, then bring me my entree. And of course you've got to plan ahead to make this the ultimate meal and top it off with desert. Eating is an experience and if this was served correctly this should take an hour and a half at least. I like to have 10-15 minutes between courses so I can settle in.

I could probably go on forever because I love food, but I'll leave it at this. I'm trying new stuff all the time, variations on food, maybe a great dipping sauce to liven up something. As I do, I'll post them on the blog.

JB