I Think I’ll Stay at Home and Fix it the Way I like It!
The other day my wife and I were driving back from the Salt Lake area. We had just dropped off one of our older girls who will be staying down there at school for the next seven months or so. Of course we had to stop and get something to eat. The food was pretty good I guess but it got me to thinking about what it cost for a nice meal at home versus whatever at a restaurant.
Going to a restaurant, in my mind, is kind of like playing Russian Roulette except there is usually more than just one bullet in the gun. I don’t have a lot of luck when it comes to getting a good meal out.
It seems there are oh so many restaurants out there that are not giving it the old college try. So I’m a little reluctant to put down good money for something to eat when I can often do better and for a lot less myself at home.
When I first got out of the Marine Corps My brother gave me a job working in his small locker plant. I learned to cut meat and to go out on the farms with our mobile slaughter truck and take the live animals in the fields and pens and bring them back to hang in the cooler for further processing. It was hard work. We would start before sun up and wouldn’t be done till long after the sun went down.
Working hard like that made a guy hungry and my brother and I ate really well. There was this little restaurant just across the street from our locker plant which just happened to be in downtown Camas Washington. The locker plant was right next to a flower shop on one side and there was a bank or something on the other. Not really a very good location for a meat processing plant. We used to get a lot of complaints whenever we would roll the hot carcasses across the side walk and into our small locker plant. But that’s another story.
Quite often my brother and I would be right over to that little restaurant first thing in the morning before heading out with the truck for a long day of mobile butchering. We would grab two or four of the still warm and delicious donuts sitting there on a large serve yourself platter set up with easy access for the morning diners. Man they were good. Next would be a double chili cheese burger smothered in onions and shredded cheddar cheese with hash browns and four over easy eggs and toast or English muffin. Of course we would top it all off with a short stack of pancakes (two plate size beauties) and a quart of milk. We worked hard and we ate even harder.
In those days I didn’t think twice about the money I spent on a meal but times have changed. There weren’t as many of those fancy shmancy type restaurants with the shiny menus and million dollar ambience and the prices to match. When I go out I want a nice meal and not a lot of fuss. You know we pay for all that fuss.
The restaurant we chose on our trip back from Salt Lake was a fancy Mexican place where there were at least five different people who waited on us. One that sat us down, one that brought the chips and water, one that took our order, one that brought us the food and one that took our money. I felt like I had to tip the entire staff.
I like to go out but if I want a steak or something on the expensive side I’ll just fix it at home. My favorite steak is a large choice porterhouse. I’ll pick one out at work, when they are on sale, that has lots of marble and take it home and fix it the way I like it. If I bought a two pound choice porterhouse in a restaurant I would have to sell a kidney to pay for it.
Some day I would like to open my own restaurant where I would serve nothing but good stuff with generous portions and without any excessive frills. In the mean time I think I’ll eat at home more and save my money for an occasional Porterhouse fixed the way I like it.