Hanging out at a bar with friends. The local has a potluck during Bears games and I’d go every few weeks. I haven’t been to a bar since March.
Fried chicken wings. I’ve grilled them a few times but it doesn’t scratch that same itch.
I used to attend a weeknight poker game (which I also miss) and I’d have to hussle after work to get over to the host’s place. Most times, I’d pop into a little (8 stools at a counter) fast food joint for one of their combos. Hot dog, Polish, or fried fish with fries and drink for $7 even. In & out in 15 minutes. Oh, they always had a stack of The Chicago Reader to page through, too.
A plate of tacos with beans & rice carryout from a local taqueria.
ETA: I haven’t patronized a restaurant since March, either.
When I’m on my own for a work day treat. I miss really good American Chinese food that is fried in a big hot wok and really crispy. You can’t package crispy fried food.
When I think about my wife and I:
I’ve always been a firm believer that a healthy marriage needs together time. date nights, intimacy, sex, whatever it may be for your relationship. My marriage is doing fine, but I can feel it in my gut that we aren’t getting enough time.
Sushi, without a doubt. Yes, I can get it to go, but the experience won’t be the same. Ditto for high quality tempura.
There’s a Vietnamese restaurant in San Jose that specializes in duck. They really know how to steam it so that it’s juicy and tender. I’d go to it about once a month to get sliced duck on salad or in soup. The people there were super nice, too. I’d have to look into it, but I don’t think their dishes would transport easily.
Just grabbing some tasty food for lunch at the bar at a ski area (summer mtn biking). turns out even the cafeteria is closed, and one can just get a pre-wrapped wrap to take outside.
That’s our English Christmas dinner. I’m partial to the roast potatoes with gravy too, but most everybody else is crazy about Yorkshire pudding swimming in gravy. And instead of cabbage, mashed rutabaga, which my Grandma used to call “Swedes”. We’re planning to have a small Christmas get together with my sister and brother-in-law, provided we’re all healthy. My sister and I take turns making and hosting the Christmas meal, and this year it’s my turn.
Really miss meeting up with my siblings for lunch at the tea room once a month. We’ve been going for nearly 20 years and I’ve only missed a handful of months. Just a nice, relaxing break each month. I’m worried they won’t reopen after this. I really miss it.
My biggest loss is my friend’s craft burger bar. My writers group is a tight-knit party of eight. For the last five years, we’ve met every other Tuesday night, and since my friend opened his restaurant it was great food and socialization every other week. He has all sorts of delicious creations but for me, I always ordered a simple Kobe beef burger with Bleu cheese. Oh, and the soft pretzels with homemade beer cheese. I miss his food so much, I have dreams about it.
I miss just plain old going out at all. I don’t care for what. Just looking at four different walls, no dishes, no cooking, no planning.
I miss when my kid would be at school or at my ex’s and I’d just take myself out for take out and sit in my car and be ALONE alone.
I do miss a nice smokey burger with a bit of a char. I made a lot of decent burgers, but I don’t have a nice charcoal/woodburning grill for that super smokey char.
If I could I’d go to my least favorite place with my least favorite people. Oh well. Maybe 2021.
Not really “dining”, but just going to a coffee shop once a month to meet up with my brother-in-law to catch up the goings-on. He has a vulnerable family member, and has barely left their house since March. He retired in March(simultaneously with a layoff) at the same time, and I bet he’s going crazy.
Breakfast. I don’t want to put the time in the morning into some of the more involved food or coffee items that I like to order. Never mind I can’t poach an egg properly to save my life and I don’t have an espresso maker. But beyond that it is the meal I most like to relax to, reading my paper like the older person I am, enjoying my eggs benedict and sipping my cappuccino without having to think about clean-up.
I miss eating out for lunch a little, but a lot less so. I hardly ever eat dinner out anyway and I’m happy with takeout or cooking for either.
I’m sorry to hear about your friend’s burger place. Is it a loss because he had to close, or because you haven’t been able to socialize there? From the way you put things it sounds like the former, but I hope I’m mistaken and he’s been able to hang on with takeout service.
Oh. He has still, against all odds, kept the place open. They are doing mostly takeout but they have the restaurant open at reduced capacity. It will hopefully be there when it’s finally safe to go to restaurants. Two of our members are stuck in Canada, so we couldn’t all get together even if we wanted to take the risk.
I really miss getting together with family (sisters, BILs, grandkids, nieces, nephews, moms, aunts).
We would get together for all of the kids’ (and some of the adults’) birthdays. We’d have dinner and then cake, cookies, ice cream, etc. We would be together almost once a month. We’d also just get together for impromptu BBQs.
All of the girls would get together and go to a craft fair, a movie, state park, etc. and then go out for lunch.
We’d always be together for the holidays. I’m not sure what’s going to happen with that. We’re all a little skittish.
Yeah, now that the holidays are around the corner, this is going to be really tricky to navigate.
I mentioned upthread here that my sister, brother-in-law and our family are tentatively planning on having the traditional Christmas dinner together, depending on our health status. We had a few get-togethers with my sister and her husband this summer that were sensible, outdoor socially distanced BBQs.
My wife’s family on the other hand…she comes from a large, close-knit extended family that typically has a lot of get-togethers throughout the year. Unfortunately many members of the family fully believe the rhetoric that Covid is not that bad, and don’t practice mask-wearing or social distancing at all. We went to one outdoor event her family had that was outdoors, so we thought it would be safer, but the handshaking and close-talking were just as before. One is a hugger who started to lean toward my wife, who backed off, and they were like “what? Do I smell or something?” We’ve always done Thanksgiving with them, but a large group of people crowded indoors with absolutely no safe Covid practices is not an appealing thought.
