What you see is the precursor to the meal I had tonight with one of my best friends.  This was goulash soup, which was followed up with schnitzel and paprikash sauce for dipping.  Although it wasn’t exactly as my Oma would have prepared it (in the donaushwaben way, it was delicious and well deserved–regardless if I am the only one believing that.

While Tuesday night might not seem like the perfect night to meet a friend, it is the one that fit best into the schedule.  That it happened to include a winning hockey game by the Toronto Maple Leafs is no small bonus.  Like I have always said, whenever you can meet with your friend (real, true, best friends) you should take it.

My friend and I met to hash out our recent life events.  These involve career difficulties, romance, family life and strife–equally applied across the board to all of us, I suppose.  I have always found my friends, true friends, to be perfect sounding boards for what is going on.  They have helped me countless times and today is no exceptions.  They’ve always got my back.  If your friends are not doing this for you….well, the answer is obvious, isn’t it?

After dinner we headed to a local bar to watch the game and continue the discussion about life.  I drank the IPA, which as I get older seems to taste better and better.  Is it me, or have they made it better?

The bar wasn’t particularly crowded, which meant that the wait staff could be rather attentive.  I guess it isn’t difficult when the number of customers is less than ten.  Things seemed to pick up later in the evening–well past the time I think it really mattered.

All I can say is that it was awesome to spend time with my friend.  So, obviously, that is Today’s Perfect Moment.