Some meals you remember for the flavors. Others you remember for the experience. For this reason, I like reflecting not just on my best meals of the year, but also my most significant.
In 2020, my most significant meals centered around COVID. 2021 was all about Australia. I slacked off in 2022 and 2023, but 2024 was such a momentous year that I wanted to rekindle the tradition. The year was full of travel, new experiences, and a pretty important life event…..
Let’s dive into our 4 most significant meals of 2024!
4. Khao Soi in Koh Tao
Koh Tao is a remote island off the cost of Thailand that covers a mere 8.108 mi². It’s a sliver of paradise with lush forests, beautiful beaches, and the type of people you’d expect to find on a tiny island with bad cell service and hardly any infrastructure.
It also happens to be one of the cheapest places in the world to go scuba diving. Jeremy and I got our scuba certs from Sairee Diving Cottage (read about the experience HERE). For the first meal before beginning the 3 day certification process, we went to the diving school/resort’s restaurant: Sairee Cottage Restaurant.
I got one of my favorite Thai dishes, khao soi. It’s a coconut curry noodle soup that has egg noodles, a protein, as well as crunchy noodles on top. Lime, pickled cabbage, fresh shallots, cilantro, and chili pepper oil are all garnished on top. It’s a unique dish that has a bit of heat, a bit of sweet, along with bitter, salty, and sour flavors, making for a wild flavor journey.
The khao soi itself was delicious, but the moment was spectacular. Jeremy and I slurping soup on small island hundreds of miles away from any big city watching the sunset the night before starting the bucket list experience of getting our diving certifications. It’s a moment I wish I could scoop up and stuff into a bottle
We ended up at Sairee Cottage Restaurant after each day of our training with our fellow diving classmates as we recapped the day. Which is why it gets the #4 spot on my most significant eats of 2024 list.
3. H’Mong Cuisine at Mimis Home in Sapa, Vietnam
At the end of January, Jermey and I spent 5 (or so) days in Sapa, Vietnam. We stayed at a home-stay, and dedicated a day to a 13 km trek through the rice paddies with a local H’Mong woman, Mimi. She stood just shy of 5 feet tall and boasted two silver hoops per ear with a neon green comb in her hair.
She led us up the mountain and to her home. It had two sections: one for sleeping and one for living. Dirt floors, no windows, a fire pit in the ground and a few haphazard light bulbs hanging from dangling wires.
She fired up rice from her field, cabbage from her garden, and eggs from her chickens. After saying we liked spice, she ran to a vine, plucked some chili peppers, and muddled them up.
The food tasted just like you’d expect rice, cabbage, and eggs to taste like. But what was amazing was that each item came from Mimi. She repeatedly said, “I have no job.” Yet, she grows, raises, and sells her own food, weaves hemp, and takes tourists like us on treks. (Sounds like a gig worker, if you ask me…)
And there we were. Two millennials from developed countries who live in New York City, work on cruise ships, and galavant around the world. The guilt of privilege is an ailment that deserves no sympathy. The meal has had a lasting impact on me, which is why it’s #3 on this list.
2. First Meal in Poland
My great grandparents immigrated to the US from Poland, and over the summer I paid homage to my heritage with a 7 day trip through Poland. Stop 1 was Wroclaw. After a 5 hours bus ride from Prague we were ravenous. We headed to Restauracja Kurna Chata and ordered a Polish feast.
We got gołąbki (stuffed cabbage roll) and an order of pierogi. Two classic dishes the Kowalski household frequently enjoyed. And we also tried the potato dumplings (kluski śląskie) that came in a forest mushroom sauce with beets and pickled cucumber. They were like giant gnocchi with an amazing chewy, stick-to-the-ribs type of texture
The restaurant was quaint and cozy. Our waitress was kind and attentive. Everyone around us was laughing with friends having a good time.
At the start of the 1900s, my great grandmother was sold by her parents as an indentured servant in Poland to keep them out of the clutches of starvation. She managed to escape to the US in the hopes of a better life for her family. And she did just that, evident in the fact that I was sitting in a restaurant in Poland as part of a 6 week trip through Europe.
Busia and jaja wouldn’t believe the lives that her decedents have lived. This meal was over 100 years in the making, and evidence that hard work can have an impact that stretches further than you can see.
1. Wedding Dinner at the Bowery Meat Company
Nothing about our lives is traditional. Including how we got married. Rather than having a big (stressful and expensive) wedding, we eloped at a courthouse with my parents, Jeremy’s sister, and my best friend as witnesses. It was perfect. I had a white dress. Jeremy wore a suit. We hired a photographer (and friend), Jordan Eagle, to snap some shots.
Rather than a fancy 3 tiered caked that tastes like cardboard, we got our favorite carrot cake from Billys Bakery. And rather then a buffet dinner with mushy pasty and overcooked salmon, we took everyone out to the Bowery Meat Company. Fancy steak dinners are not something we treat ourselves to, but marriage seemed like the right occasion to do so.
The ambiance was exactly what you’d expect from an old school New York steakhouse. Dim lighting, attentive waiters, plenty of men in suits dinning on the company’s credit card.
To start, we got the duck lasagna for the table which was cheesy, rich, and utterly delicious. The oysters and meatballs were equally as good. Everyone got steak. Jeremy’s ribeye and my filet were perfectly cooked. Cocktails and wine washed everything down. The night was dedicated to celebrating, and I regretfully hardly took any photos or videos apart from the one below.
Coming in at just over $1,000, it was the most expensive tab we’ve ever paid. But hey…. that’s a bargain compared to what the cost of a wedding would have been!
The dinner marked the start of a new chapter of life, and there was no competition for the #1 spot on our most significant meals of 2024 list.
These countdowns remind me of an important lesson.
No matter how chatoic and stressful life can feel, humans have an amazing ability to remember everything for the better.
2024 had more than it’s fair share of low points, stress, and uncertainty. But when I look back on the year, what I’ll remember is eating khao soi in Thailand, climbing through rice paddies in Vietnam, exploring Poland, getting married, and many many many more experiences that my atypical lifestyle has afforded me.
So cheers to our most significant meals of 2024!
Stay tuned for was 2025 has in store. You know it certainly won’t be boring…
