Can you identify your most favorite photo of all time – one that you’ve taken? I can. And it’s this one.

I must take thousands of photos every year. But never one quite like this.

Pictures are worth 1,000 words. Here are a few of mine about this particular moment.

The subjects include family, friends, events and lots of food – meals and desserts that I’ve made, or fancy dishes from restaurants.

Sarah and I were celebrating New Year’s Eve with friends in McKinney at a place back then called Café Málaga. To my knowledge, it’s no longer open. We’d just come from Landon Winery, one of the first wineries where I ever had an actual wine club membership. 

The reservations to the restaurant may have been spur of the moment, or they may have been planned in advance. I recall having such a good time at the winery that I really didn’t want to leave. But, we did, and I’m so glad.

There’s a good chance it was 2007 or 2008. I barely knew what Spanish tapas were, but I soon discovered all of the tiny plates of shareable food were so very good. Olives, meatballs and the bite-sized snacks flowed all evening, along with the drinks, laughs and conversation. Once dinner was over, just before the plates were whisked away by the staff, I snapped this quick and thoughtless photo. I didn’t know what I was trying to capture. All I knew was it was worth taking real quick in the middle of the moment that I’m sure was bookended by more drinks and more laughs.

Later, after the plates long had been washed and put away… after returning back to the regular rhythm of life… after settling into the new year… I must have looked back and this one photo and scoffed at everything about it. First it just didn’t look very appealing. The glow of the restaurant turned my plate portrait into a discolored orange memory.

But the more I looked at it, the more I focused on the smaller elements.

The fork…

Knife…

Olive pits…

Toothpicks…

The dirty plates…

Napkin…

Tablecloth…

And what might be a bottle of oil…

The more I really started to enjoy what to me was pure satisfaction. Pure enjoyment. The most absolute fun.

Today I look back on this particular evening with faded memories of the precise moments of that night. I’m not sure what all we said or exactly what we ate. I’m not sure what time we got there or what time we left. I just remember that, because of this all-time favorite photo of mine, we had a very good time.