April 20 – “Culinary memories”

That solo drive into the far reaches of Western Houston on Monday gave me much time to ponder the mysteries of past excursions into mysterious places.  For as I traveled into those lands unknown I passed numerous franchises of food that brought back fond remembrances of times past.    Who could forget the chicken fried steak with cream gravy offered at the Black-eyed Pea?  We used to go to one in Pasadena after basketball games with one of our arch-rivals.  They would block off tables right down the center of the restaurant and we would push them all together.  It resulted in one huge family-style meal with the team and their families.    And of course.  There had to be one somewhere.  Denney's.  Also a favorite basketball hangout after games.  At least the one over at Baybrook Mall was.  That one had two key appeals.  First, we could always be sure that it was open.  Sometimes our games would take us far, far away from our home base, which was technically Pearland.  But since all our guys were homeschooled, we hailed from all over the south-of-Houston area.  Denney's at Baybrook was on the way home for virtually all of us.  Secondly, Moons over My Hammy.  That was my favorite dish at Denney's.  Still is, but we rarely go any more.  Chris was kind of burned out.  I think the last time we went to a Denney's was when the team surprised me at a reunion thing awhile back.   I felt a lump rise in my throat at the next one.  Luby's.  What memories we have there.  Actually the memories are all related to the Luby's that used to be in Galveston.  It's Healthy Chinese Buffet now, so all semblance of tasty food has been removed, except maybe on weekends when they serve fried shrimp.  I'm not much on Oriental food of any kind, as you might have surmised.  We used to go to Luby's every Tuesday for lunch.  Guarded that time jealously, too.  Anybody knew where to find me on Tuesday around 11:30, and they often did.  It wasn't at all unusual for us to have guests at our table.  We started the tradition back before my Dad died.  We would meet my Aunt Betty and cousin Tammy there.  The servers knew us well.  In fact when we entered the door, someone would holler out to me, "Do you want your fried shrimp today?"  And the icebox chocolate or key lime pie was the best.  It felt very small-town-sy.  Definitely a sad, sad day when it closed.  Since then we have tried Golden Corral, and we have even seen a few of the old regulars there.  But it's just not Luby's.  I guess no place will ever be.  Time spent with family and friends is irreplaceable.   There was one unusual place, though.  I can honestly say I've never been to one of those, or even seen one before.  I can't reproduce what they had as the name of the place, but the description said Phoenician food.  What?  What in the world is Phoenician food?  I don't begrudge the Phoenicians a specialty brand name, but what, exactly would it be?  Special sauce?  Camel burgers?  Oasis-grown sesame seed bread?  I don't think that's a place I'll be trying out anytime in the near – or far – future.   Matthew 6:31-34 says, "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."   Father, thank you for the Luby's time you gave Chris and me and our boys to spend with my Dad and Mom and Aunt Betty and Tammy.  It was priceless.  Amen.