I went to Cheesecake Factory last week. In Northern Virginia, I have never had to wait, even at peak hours, since they have so many tables, and a large bar area as well. I agree that the portions are huge, but I compensate by getting an appetizer (mmm tex mex eggrolls!), a plate of edamame beans, and their awesome passion fruit iced tea. It’s really a delicious portion-controlled meal, and a big treat. If I went more often, I’d have to skip the deep-fried eggrolls, and would probably stop appreciating the flavors, but I have to say that I like Cheesecake Factory! Plus the waiters are a step up from many comparable places like Applebee’s or Chili’s. I give it a thumb’s up.

But I have to report that over time, those peak experiences fade into the background. I haven’t forgotten them – oh, no, not at all. I remember and savor them fondly, and I believe I could easily revert to those lofty standards if I resumed eating that way. But like you I take full pleasure in home cooked meals again. Especially because so many of the ingredients are grown in my own backyard. The satisfaction of growing my own food and assembling it into a wholesome, tasty meal cannot be touched by even the most spectacularly gifted chef in the loveliest restaurant setting. No money can buy that experience.

With your own cooking, you get used to certain levels of salt and fat, a general proportion of fiber, a ratio of starch to vegetables, etc. One or two meals out is a treat, but it’s not how I enjoy eating all the time.

I think the scale concept does work sometimes, but it tends to be where the experience is more easily rated on a single factor. Having gotten used to a better brand of, say, pasta sauce or sneakers or shampoo, it’s hard to go back to the cheap stuff. There are fewer factors playing into the overall experience in those cases.

And I agree with Johanna–European travel doesn’t have to be expensive at all. I traveled for a month and a half last year on an average of 100 Euros a week… which is less than I pay to live in city I work in in the states! (Granted, I had minimal worldly possessions with my feet as my only transportation and occasionally went a few days without hot food–but I was in the best shape of my life and developed a deep and abiding love of marketplaces, And had some of my most memorable food experiences! (Pita and feta in the cave of Apollo, dinner with stranger who became fast friends on a terrance over looking the mediterrian at sunset…). I sure hope not only that I get to go back within the decade, but that it won’t lose all it’s luster and become common place.

As other people point out, it’s all what you value.

i don’t believe you- i really don’t.

“But what happens if I go there twice? And I dine at a few other restaurants on that list? I go to one every few months – and that standard starts to enter my scale. Suddenly, the meal in my own kitchen goes down to a “2″ – I’m no longer nearly as happy with it.”

i am willing to concede you might feel this way for a short while, if you were able and willing to indulge yourself w/ many nights out in posh restaurants.

but then i think you’d find yourself missing the fun and challenge of cooking a delicious meal in your own kitchen, among your family.

you seem to really enjoy doing it. and what keeps coming to my mind is that photo a few recipes back of your ingredients.

i can’t remember the dish off hand, but i remember your dear son put a toy horse in the shot, and you let him. that’s my evidence.

so i’m willing to spot you a few “2’s” for the meals you prepare in your kitchen. but then i think you’d find yourself sitting in some pricey restaurant desperately missing eating at home.

And really – for those of us who LOVE to cook and to eat, good food is good food. Yes, I’ve loved dining at the downstairs restaurant at Chez Panisse – and that ranks up there as one of the biggies – but my favorite eating out also includes the $2.50 banh mi at a hole-in-the-wall-joint in San Francisco.

My grocery bill is very low – I cook everything from scratch and don’t waste food. So – when I have the $ (I don’t right now, times are hard), I eat out sometimes and I enjoy it. And I don’t worry about the “bar.”

As for the memorable food experiences, I have 3:

1. The nuac maam (sp?) clear orange sauce they use with spring rolls at vietnamese restaurants.

2. Went to a Persian restaurant for the first time a while back and I re-live the taste and smell of the Koobideh all the time and can’t wait to go back.

3. We found a Mexican restaurant with the “best” Tortilla soup in town so that’s where we go for our soup “fix”.

So, I go out periodically and get the food I really love, and remember, and do not feel guilty about that money at all!

I also found, when I started tracking my spending, that I spent a lot more money on $5-a-pop slices of pizza or sandwiches when I didn’t pack enough food to get me through my day than I do on fancy meals, which I have less than once a month. That said, I do still think of the fancy meals as special events, so perhaps your point carries :)

I’m also aware in lots of areas of my life of having an upper bound to what I think might be reasonable to pay for something: I can’t imagine buying a $150 sweater, for example. And I’ve experienced how my idea of what’s “reasonable” to pay is influenced by what I’m in the habit of paying, so that’s another way I could see negative consequences from regularly having expensive meals. (On the other hand, shopping at Goodwill has done great things for my clothing budget, because now I’m annoyed by any item of clothing that costs more than $10!)