Favorite Foods in Retirement

We take food very seriously.  We have always enjoyed dining out and look forward to trying new restaurants when we travel.  Our favorite foods in retirement are constantly changing and we make sure to capture all of our experiences in a journal that my wife keeps recording all of our trips and experiences.  Although our top choices in food are always changing based on our most recent experiences, there is one trait that most of our favorites have in common: they are created with care and are unique to the location.  That location might be a country or restaurant but, when we name the food, we are immediately transported to that certain spot.  If we are talking about hot chocolate, for example, we think of Angelina’s in Paris.  That does not mean that another hot chocolate can’t make it into our list of favorites, it means that all hot chocolates are compared to Angelina’s to make it onto the list of favorites.

A location may already be famous for the beverage or food, but it still has to be verified by us to make it onto our official website list of favorite foods in retirement.  For example, Buena Vista in San Francisco in San Francisco is famous for the Irish Coffee that was invented there, but did it live up to our expectation?  It absolutely did.  The pizza in Naples, Italy, however, did not. It was very good, but we’ve had better pizza at a couple of small places in New York.  Watching a woman bake bread in Portugal, however, is still something we talk about because that bread was amazing.

One could make the argument that the experience might be driven by the occasion or the people you’re with and you would be absolutely correct.  I think you’re getting the idea that it’s a bit of a game to compile this list and it’s very subjective.  You would be correct in thinking that but that’s part of the fun.  Compiling our list of favorite foods in retirement has provided endless hours of enjoyment not only in searching out and sampling the foods, but the discussion and evaluation process of whether that food or beverage is “worthy” of making our list.  As you might expect, other people have joined in this process and it’s one of our favorite subjects.  The comparison of experiences is a wonderful conversation to have during dinner with friends and it’s interesting to see how serious it can get.  That’s especially true when you question the worthiness of an iconic location or institution.  I still remember the rather stern rebuke when I offered my opinion that Philadelphia may not be the home to the best cheesesteak in the world.  And then you get into the conversation of what are the specific characteristics of the food in question.  For food lovers, it’s some of the most serious conversations you can ever have but it can also help each side form an understanding of why we have the opinion that we do.  When I said that I prefer my cheesesteak on a fresh baguette, it started to make a little more sense to those Philadelphians with whom I was debating.  I didn’t change their opinion, but I did gain their respect.

Our Favorite Foods in Retirement are the ones made with care

A conversation on your favorite foods in retirement with other like-minded people is sure to generate some varied opinions and wonderful insights into what makes this such a wonderful world.  Talk to anyone about their favorite foods and it will stir memories and recollections of a special time in their lives.  For many people it’s recalling the food their mother or grandmother used to make and for others it’s some ethnic dish they used to have back in the “old country” that’s hard to find anymore.  Our favorite foods in retirement say something about us as well.  It tells people what you value and, many times, the people with the longest lists of favorite foods are the ones who love to travel and be with people.  Quite often, they like to cook as well.  We love to discover new foods or variations on those foods that we can try to make at home.  We’ve noticed many of our favorites are variations of the same idea: stuffed dough.  From ravioli to dumplings, donuts to potstickers and knishes to pierogis, the concept is essentially the same and the results are outstanding.  Each one of these culinary delights make it to our list of favorite foods in retirement and our list of challenges in the kitchen.

You can easily extend the conversation into the kitchen and invite each dining participant to bring their version of their favorite dishes.  It’s always a fun night.  I never get tired of talking about good food and wonderful travel experiences.  I invite you to take me up on the challenge.  Start keeping a list of your favorite retirement foods and, if you’re really adventurous, try duplicating them in the kitchen. It’s time to Enjoy Retired Life!

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