Comfort Food

On long car rides, a good conversation starter is to ask the other people you're driving with what they'd have as their last meal.

I usually begin the conversation, "If you were on Death Row..," which wakes them up a little.

You can find out a lot about a person by the foods that bring comfort. For the most part, people long for the simple comfort foods of their childhood, or a special recipe that family member or friend used to make, or something they had once, in some far off place, that they're hoping to recreate once before they die.

My menu has changed over the years, but there are a few constants. For instance, Kraft Dinner always makes it to the table. I don't know what it is about this big bowl of gummy goodness that I love so much, but there's nothing on earth that makes me harken back to a simpler time more than this. I'd also like a Lobster Roll -- stuffed to brimming, like the one I had at the Ogunquit Lobster Pound on a driving holiday in Maine. We did that trip on $40 a day, including the camp site rental, so we counted our pennies and splurged on lunch. How many forgettable meals have I had since then?

How about some fresh fruits and vegetables, too? How much would you savour fresh-picked asparagus, perfectly formed cherries and vine-ripened cherry tomatoes if you knew that this would be the last time you tasted them?

Two desserts -- because who needs to worry about calories, since it's your last meal and all -- date squares and the $100 cake my Mom makes. Once, back in the 50s when $100 really meant something, an ingenious housewife won $100 for coming up with this chocolate cake recipe that lists Miracle Whip as one of its main ingredients.

And maybe a steaming hot cup of coffee -- made from perfectly roasted, organically grown coffee beans -- or a Manhattan, made with two cherries.

What would you have? And what's stopping you from having it tonight?