So go and eat your food now and enjoy it. Drink your wine and be happy. It is all right with God if you do these things. Wear nice clothes and make yourself look good. Enjoy life with the wife you love. Enjoy every day of your short life. 

Ecclesiastes 9:7-9

Here we are, 12 days into 2023, and this is my first time sharing any food photos. Maybe it’s an unconscious reaction to the fact that grocery shopping has become the most volatile item in the family budget over the past year!

Regardless, good food remains an important element of this beautiful life Rebekah and I enjoy. Preparing meals, cooking creative recipes, serving my family, eating out together. My definition of the best possible evening always comes back to great food and great conversation; with friends or – as we did the other day – just the two of us dining at a favorite restaurant.

Over The Falls:

Here in Wake Forest, Over The Falls is a constant favorite. It’s one of those places where everything is always consistently good, the staff are friendly, and I’m never afraid to try something new.

I would describe the cuisine as classic American, with a focus on sandwiches, salads, burgers, pizza, and wings. But there are more choices, including daily specials, so check out the Menu if you’re interested.

Over The Falls has, hands down, the best wings in Wake Forest. But this time we tried a new appetizer, the She Crab Dip. It was really good, loaded with crab and heavy cream. This is a good moment to note, btw, this is not necessarily a low fat, low carb, or low cholesterol destination!

For our entrées, Rebekah chose The Tony burger, along with their so-good-they-could-be-English fries.

I went with The Big Kahuna pizza. The plan – now we’re, you know, north of retirement age – was to take half the pizza home. However, and this is as good a plug as I can offer, the dang thing was just too good! So The Big Kahuna came home, yes, but already in my very satisfied stomach!

Rebekah and I don’t often do dessert, but our excuse for this outing was an accounting issue! Naomi and Craig gave us a gift card, and the total tab was just a couple of dollars shy. Two dollars is not enough for a tip, and neither of us had any cash. So we HAD TO purchase a dessert in order to generate a credit card transaction where I could write in the tip!

I know, “obligated to take home a hefty piece of Banana Foster Pound Cake with ice cream” doesn’t really sound right compared to our “keep a lid on the calories” ideal. But, hey, you do what you have to do.

It was a good evening. But then every evening is beyond good when I have the opportunity to enjoy a long, relaxed, delicious meal with Rebekah.

As The Teacher wrote in Ecclesiastes: “So go and eat your food now and enjoy it. Drink your wine and be happy. It is all right with God if you do these things. Wear nice clothes and make yourself look good. Enjoy life with the wife you love. Enjoy every day of your short life.”

Amen to that! – DEREK