Dinner Time!

Dinner has always been a special time for me. It is probably as a result of how dinner was growing up as a child. It was great having dinner with my two siblings and grandma daily. Then, having Tuesday nights to include my mother and Thursday nights to include my father (Most of the time eating out). This routine continued till probably Junior year in high school, it was great having home cooked meals every night (Especially ending with the rice on the bottom of the pot with water! And the wonderful soups). I really miss these days, spending so much time with my brother, sister, and grandma. Sometimes it included my cousins, which made it more wonderful.

Then, after that it seemed that a different tradition started. It started with a group of friends going to King’s Garden on a Thursday night. Starting a routine of going to a restaurant, usually Asian cuisine, every Thursday night. Through the multiple years of this, we went to plenty restaurants around Rhode Island. Most of them being excellent, returning to some place multiple times, like The Islander (Crab Rangoons! Thanks Dad!) and Seven Moons. Of course there were outrageous moments to be had, especially with a pretty huge entourage we traveled in. I always looked forward to the dinners every week, hoping for a recommendation for a new place. It may have cost a lot but it was well worth the experience.

Then, college dinners happened. It was just natural in college to have dinners with your buddies in the delicious dining halls. It was great having Northwest dining hall open till 9 at night. It doesn’t even compare to the quality to Thursday night dinners but what do you expect from dining halls. The experience is totally different. Having college kids around everywhere, trying to find a table that’s not dirty carrying a fully loaded plate with a drink. I can shamefully say I didn’t finish everything on my plate with what seemed to have mashed potatoes everyday. So many great memories including a girl that looked like Emma Watson, ridiculous conversations about anything (And I mean everything! Probably entertaining others around us), and trying to recover from sickness resulting from a Slurpee run on a day with 4 finals (Bad Idea but aced every exam! Including a differential equations exam I finished in half the allowed time because of my headache from the rapid drinking of a Slurpee). It was great having routines every week, usually having meals at specific times to meet everyone’s schedule (at least the majority of the group’s). It was great times in the dining halls.

Now, in Fort Wayne dinners are just as special. While getting comfortable with this town, it was restaurants that we went to try get a feel for the place. We quickly learned that eating is quite the activity here. Ask anyone what there is to do, and I bet they say eating. It was great getting to know people through these dinners at restaurants. We ate out every night it seemed; now it has dramatically decreased. But now some friends and I have weekly dinners at each other’s places, rotating every week. This is much different from the dinner groups I’ve had before, being home cooked meals. I’m learning things that I’ve never thought about cooking before. It is also very interesting hearing stories of the others too. Hearing about experiences outside of the Northeast is pretty nice. I really need some recommendations to cook when it comes my week again!

Dinner has always been a great time for me. Many of my memorable moments occurred during dinner while getting to know other people better, not even mentioning the amazing food I’ve had. I look forward to the many extraordinary dinners to be had in my future.