1.   An evening meal began promisingly with a bruschetta topped with chopped spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, pesto and feta cheese.

2.   Meals begin with a tall loaf of crusty sourdough bread.

3.   A meal can begin with a choice of excellent appetizers, from tuna marinated in teriyaki to eggplant mixed with feta cheese.

4.   A meal might begin with nopal polanco, prickly pear cactus topped with Mexican cheese and sausage.

5.   Meals begin when the waitress sets before you a great swoop of heavy glass punctuated with three tiny compartments, each holding a gourmet doodad.

6.   Meals often begin with a hearty vegetable soup, followed by a main course of roasted meat with potatoes, noodles or dumplings.

7.   Meals often begin with strips of bacalao, or dried cod, and the lengthy variety of local radish, rolled in olive oil and eaten with the fingers.

8.   Meanwhile, another family friend and her son arrived to share Shabbos, and the celebration meal began.

9.   My meal began with a plateful of paper-thin discs the size of poker chips.

10.   One meal began with an Andalusian consomme with meatballs, egg and mint.