My Most Memorable Meal

     Page Forty-Two.
     What was the most memorable meal you've ever had in your life? Was it with a favorite relative or friend? Was it extraordinary food? Location?  Circumstances?
     I live in the Coventry neighborhood of Cleveland Heights. Coventry is very well known, almost famous, in Northeast Ohio as being a destination for young, hip kids. It's also the western edge of Case Western Reserve University's campus. I'm here 'cause I've lived in Cleveland Heights my entire life. So I didn't move here due to it's destination factor. I've also had roommates since about '99 or so. Some of my roommates have been Case students because of it's close proximity.
     In May of  '06, I received a phone call in response to an add I'd placed at CWRU's off-campus housing bureau. This call was from a fellow named Lutz. He was from Germany and would be in town for 11 months doing chemistry research at Case. Could he come by and see the room? He moved in two weeks later.
     Lutz wasn't completely comfortable with English and was a bit introverted. But he was quite pleasant and intelligent. He was also VERY German. Rules and regiment were rather important to him... how quaint.
     Within a few weeks of moving in, I realized how atrocious his cooking skills were. Clearly, his mother had taught him how to make five or six things and he made those things over and over again. When he made those things, it wasn't with panache and finesse either. His cooking style could be described as "with enough ketchup, anything is edible". I took great pity and started making him a nice dinner every Sunday. We'd sit, chat and eat together. Occasionally, during the eleven months, I'd inform him that he was taking me out to eat the following Sunday, He always aquiesced.
     Over time we developed a nice friendship and enjoyed spending time together. I took him to Cedar Point, Niagara Falls, many parties, museums, the orchestra and so forth. I showed him many of Cleveland's sites. When he moved back home in April of '07, we just KNEW we'd stay in touch.
     I quit my job at Fancy-Shmancy Nursing Home in the autumn of '06 and went to work at another nursing home for what I thought was the job opportunity of a lifetime. The new job lasted eight weeks. I would go on to be gainfully unemployed for a while. (Some might argue that I'm STILL gainfully unemployed. But that's another blog.)
     In the summer of '07, I was visiting some of my favorite residents at Fancy-Shmancy and began talking with a Jamaican nurse's aid whom I'd been quite friendly with. (I'm notorious for staying in touch with former jobs with NO intention on ever going back. It confuses people to no end but I do it more than just about anybody you've ever met.) Gloria asked me what I was doing with all my time off. I told her that I did a LOT of creative writing and general hanging out. Also, Lorna and Dune hired me to do some part-time nannying to their two teenaged girls (see page three of this blog). "Jeremy, you're the type of person who I could see backpacking around. To have this much free time, you should be off traveling and seeing distant lands. That's who you are." So, I decided to go to Europe and visit Lutz. I made the decision that fast, in spite of the fact that I'm really not a spontaneous person.
     Now, I was mostly broke and futureless. But I figured that I'd rather be mostly broke and futureless while standing at the top of the Eiffel Tower than having coffee on Coventry Road in Cleveland Heights. That logic works in my universe.
     So I contacted Lutz and made arrangements to meet him in Deutchland in November for a week. (I'd then do Paris and Barcelona by myself for another week.) His responsive e-mails were very welcoming. I landed in Berlin and promptly got lost twice prior to actually seeing his overly-tall, Aryan figure. I won't tell you all my adventures in Europe, of which there were many, but instead, my most memorable meal.
    Lutz told me that the German national dish is a type of sausage, cut into pieces, served with fries. That was their hamburger or hot dog. He asked all his friends and associates where in the WHOLE country he could give me the best. One day when we were back in Berlin, after being elsewhere for a few days, we went out for the day. It was cold, gray, rainy, gloomy and gross. We took seventy-five different buses and walked another eighty miles that day, all in the cold rain. We saw tons of sights and thousands of things. (He still hasn't forgiven me for stealing part of a sidewalk. Separate story.)
     So we're walking and walking and eventually come to a bridge. Built under this bridge, is a walk up food stand. There was one window, where you placed your order, then next to the window was a ledge with ketchup, mustard and napkins. The ledge was protected by an overhang about one foot deep. So you could also eat off the ledge, but you were truly open to the elements.We ended up at the bridge because, again. one of his co-workers told him this was THE BEST in the country. So we're standing there, outside, in the rain, in the cold, eating sausage and fries. Honestly, I thought the sausage was good. It reminded me of a slightly bland kosher hot dog, without the bun, of course; but the fries, those fries were the best I've ever had in my life. they were extraordianary.
     In retrospect, I'll bet you anything that those fries were fried up in lard, but who cares. Sometimes you have to live. And, when you're eating french fries outside in the cold and rain it's perfectly okay if they're the best fries in the world. And, they were.
     That was my lifetime's most memorable meal. I hope to get back to Germany to visit again. Perhaps soon. We'll see. But when I go back, I don't want to eat outside in the cold and rain again. But I may steal more of their sidewalks. (Their paving material was sooooo cool.)