If you could eat anything right now …

Lisa asks: “If you could eat anything you wanted right now, what would it be?”

I ponder.

I think.

I pause.

I consider.

“What’s taking so long?”

“I’m thinking.”

“Of things to eat?”

“Yes.”

“What are you thinking?”

“Well, first I was going to answer pizza, but we just had pizza. Then I was going to say a burger, but that didn’t seem exotic enough. Maybe a steak, but I’m not sure I’m in the mood for a steak. But a Mon Ami steak, with those good fries and the herb butter … that would be good. Maybe a steak with chimichurri like at Las Tablas in Chicago.

“Or blue cheese. I’d love some blue cheese. When was the last time we had that?

“Or tacos. Good tacos, like the ones in California. Or falafel or a hot dog. A hot dog would be wonderful. Or Indian food — I’d love some lamb Vindaloo.

“I may have go with fried chicken … or chicken wings … or lobster. Yes, lobster! Lobster poached in buttery chicken wing sauce. Spicey, spiney lobster. Yum!

“God … or oysters … like at Indian Pass Raw Bar. Or maybe just something simple like French bread and butter. That’d be wonderful to have right now. And a donut. And maybe a plate of Thanksgiving dinner with Mark and Kathi’s potatoes and something with morels — that’d be a treat because the season’s over. Or maybe we could make duck and carrots like that one time with Sarah and Justin.

“Or ribs and barbecue like in Kansas City. Or braised rabbit like we made the last time we saw Ben and Gina. Or a Bo Burger like back at Cornell, mashed potatoes and gravy too, of course.

“Well,” I consider the options again. “Champagne, baguette, lobsters, morels. Easy answer. What’s yours?”

“Animal-style fries,” Lisa says. “Or mozzarella sticks.” She’s craving cheese. I’m craving everything. We need to find a grocery store.

Note: this was a real conversation that we actually had.