Sunday Curmudgeonly What's Your Memorial Meal?

My brother loved himself a great steak

Every year on Nov 15th, my family orders Chinese-American take-out. Nothing particularly authentic, just yummy egg rolls, spare ribs, pork fried rice, General Gau’s Chicken, you get the idea. We do it in honor of my nephew, Lance Corporal Nickolas Schiavone, who was killed on that day in Iraq. It was Nicky’s favorite treat, Chinese take out.

I’ve been thinking about favorite dinners since losing my brother, Christopher Swartz, a few days ago. He loved to eat. It was a total bonus for him that his beloved wife, Sylvia, is a Cordon Bleu trained chef. Chris was the happy recipient of her test recipes for catering jobs, creating some amazing dinners for him over the years. He also loved going out to dinner. One of his very last Facebook posts was from a dinner celebrating their anniversary. They chose a local Cape Coral restaurant, Slate’s, known for their New Orleans cuisine. Chris loved the food in New Orleans. At this dinner, although he started with Oysters Rockefeller, and he ordered Gumbo to take home, his entrée was a Ribeye. A great steak - thick cut, cooked to a perfect rare temperature - was likely his favorite meal. We had many conversations about the correct ranking of major steakhouses throughout the country.

Sometime in the next week or so, I will prepare a nice thick steak, cook it properly rare (as steak should be), uncork a beautiful red wine, and toast my little brother.