Ahhh, nothing beats a home-cooked meal.  I take great comfort in a nice meal prepared by myself or Kathleen while relaxing at home.  We don’t cook often, but when we do it’s always enjoyable.  Part of the reason we don’t cook very often is because I’m usually away from home four nights a week while traveling for work.  This means I’m essentially forced to eat out just about every night.  Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy eating out just as much as the next guy.  I really do!  But…as you might imagine, it’s not always the healthiest option.  Especially when you’re consistently hitting nice restaurants.  I don’t know about you, but I almost feel obligated to try the most popular dish when I visit a new place.  Most popular doesn’t always equate to the healthiest.  And of course…My meal is usually accompanied by banter with colleagues and a few drinks.  It can be good times, but it can also get old really quickly.  Not the company, but the rich food!

So when my old buddy Joe said his wife Linda wanted me over to dinner, and she’d be cooking, I was thrilled.  She’s an amazing cook and I view them both as family, so I knew I would have a great time.  I even got to spend some time with their beautiful little boy, Kameel, whom I bonded with over potato chips prior to dinner.  What a cute kid!  I decided to document this evening as it’s a rare instance where I was actually treated to a home-cooked meal on the road.  And in my book, that’s a pretty special occasion.  Thank you both for the great night!

Oh yeah, another reason the evening was so memorable was how it actually came to a close.  Joe was giving me a ride back to my hotel pretty late at night, so there was virtually no traffic.  He zipped his way down the highway without a care in the world.  At one point, he blew past a car and muttered the following  words under his breath: “hmm, I wonder if that was a……oh well, guess not”.  He then proceded to pull away from the car.  2 minutes later, then sirens were flashing and my buddy Joe was pulled over and read the riot act.  The police officer was extremely chatty!  I mean, I can’t express how painful it was listening to him lecture not only about the infraction, but about his department, life story and god knows what else he was ranting about.  It reached a point where I almost wanted to ask him to just ticket us already.  But what will always stand out in my mind’s eye about that night were the first words Joe uttered to the police officer when he came to his window. 

Police Officer:  You know you saw me, so why did you continue to accelerate???

Joe:  Ohhhh, I thought that was a cop.  hehe

Priceless….

Below are a few photos from our special evening: