Write about an unforgettable meal.

I'm not necessarily the kind of person who remembers meals over the years. I certainly appreciate delicious food, but most meals don't take on much importance or stick in my mind. We used to joke about my brother and his memory for food. On the long driving vacations we took as a family, he'd remember towns by the restaurants we stopped in and what he had to eat there. "Oh, Mclean, Texas--that's where we went to that cafe with the wagon wheel out front where they put the really good barbecue sauce on their hamburgers," he'd say. I definitely remember going through a fruit stage on those trips. I'd search for fruit plates on the menus--most family restaurants had them back in those days (late 1950s and 1960s). They'd usually give a choice of sherbet or cottage cheese with them, and I'd always take the sherbet.

So I wracked my brain for the answer to this unforgettable meal question, and a clear answer finally came to me. It was a meal that I remember not for being fancy and grandiose, but for being simple and "hitting the spot" at just the right time. We were on a family vacation in New Mexico, and were going on a camping/fishing trip with my grandparents and my Aunt Leora and Uncle Murl. My family had our travel trailer and they had their campers. It had been a long afternoon of traveling and we arrived at the campsite after dark in a driving rain. I was hungry and grumpy after being cooped up in the car all afternoon, and more than a little discouraged at the sloppy mud and chilly rain that greeted us. My Aunt Leora offered to fix us all dinner in their camper. She had prepared a homemade beef stew and cornbread ahead of time, and all she had to do was heat them up. We all crowded into their camper to eat. Leora was always a fantastic cook, and her stew was out-of-this-world delicious. Maybe it was because I was so hungry and uncomfortable to start with, but that hot, tasty meal was really memorable for me and I appreciated it so much, even as a child. Interestingly, it's probably the one meal my brother doesn't seem to recall!

I wish my aunt was still living. I'd tell her about the fond memory I have of the delicious meal she prepared on that rainy night and served in their tiny camper.