Fine dining
 

I am a fan of fine dining. It is an expensive hobby, and consequently I am not able to do it very often, as I am not wealthy (and even if I were, I think I'd feel guilty doing it too often). Last weekend, I returned to an extraordinary restaurant in DC after a long drought in my fine dining career.

About halfway through my amuse-bouche, I remembered that feeling: how exquisite good, fresh ingredients, simply but well-prepared and served can be.

Many find fine dining too stuffy, too expensive, too esoteric, too draw-out, etc. It makes some people uncomfortable. Maybe it's only cool in a pretentious way? I don't know.

Anyway, as I was eating my way through something as simple as zucchini, I couldn't help but wonder how the way we eat might be affected if more people could eat this way--at least occasionally. I think we would eat more seasonally, more healthfully, more slowly, and with more appreciation. At least, these meals always have that affect on me--and make it worth the cash. They also always make me want to share the experience. So let me know when you want to join me next.

I hate to interrupt your missive to SU, but I get fed better at home than I would at most restaurants.

And I can feed myself very well at home (but don't have a proficient chef otherwise). The attitude I would expect to get from this kind of post speaks to the problem: fine dining should be embraced instead of scoffed at instead of treated like the elitist activity that it is. I don't want it to be elitist. . . I want to share it.

I better stop now. I'm starting to sound like Marie Antoinette.

It's just as well. Most Mormons enjoy cake more than fine food anyway...