1:45 a.m. Boy oh boy oh boy, but I had one of the best meals I've ever had in my life tonight. Yup. The best. Certainly one of the top meals since I landed here in Los Angeles nearly ten years ago. Unbelievably, mouthwateringly fab-u-lous.

This little restaurant, Aunt Kizzy's Back Porch, is oddly stuck into the corner of a strip mall in Marina Del Ray that is so trendy and yuppie and faux foodie fandangled that I'd always assumed the "southern" food there must be as fluff-dried and franchised as its neighbors -- a Jamba juice joint, a Pappa's pizza palace, a Cuppa coffee cafe.

But, hello.

From the minute you finally stop walking by and actually step through the doors, you are in food heaven. Let's say you have a dream image of the perfect corn muffins. You know: sweet, moist, a little crispy at the edges. Boom! There they are -- warm, in a bowl, on your table -- while you look at the menu.

Everything they put in front of us -- and we ordered a lot of food -- everything was good. The chicken-fried steak had that perfectly speckled peppery thick white gravy, slathered on top of the exactly just right light brown crusty coating.

I'm drooling again ... just remembering.

Now it's a scientific fact that salivating makes you put on weight -- did you know that? It's true. Many digestive whatevers are released and your poor body is a tad too receptive to the food and you actually pack on more calories. You can even gain weight by salivating and *not* eating. I read that somewhere. There's some kind of chemical reason for this -- I don't make up these facts; I merely report them.

So now I've gained a pound of remembering.

We also had fried catfish and hush puppies and loads of veggies, steamed and seasoned as if someone cared for you and wanted you to eat every last one. Including okra, which I never liked before tonight. And then yams, oh my. And sweet-potato pie and peach cobbler.

Here comes another pound: plump, plump.

Now, you might be wondering -- whatever happened to that all-mighty diet that I've been known to abide by occasionally? You might also wonder if this food is good for you -- for your arteries and your heart. And what do they mean by "soul" food, anyway?

Well, I was thinking about that when they put on the happy birthday music and most of the staff converged on a table and then the whole restaurant sang and applauded another lucky person who has completed a year on this planet. Tonight has been a birthday kind of night.

Before we went to the restaurant we went shopping for birthday cards and presents. I think I've finally found the perfect birthday card for my mother. This time, she's going to like me ... I can just feel it. This time is going to be the charm. And why? Because this time I found a card that has a huge flowered ribbon on it -- lots of embossing and scrolls and shiny purple ink ... my card is sure to be big enough, expensive enough ... $4.75 just for a card ...

... and if only it weren't right this minute still sitting on my kitchen table with its double load of postage, it might even have gotten there on time, but alas, again this year I am doomed ...

... so I was thinking about the state of my heart and my diet when the music began in the restaurant and the people started clapping. Food that is very, very carefully prepared feels like love. The heart thrives on love. People who smile when they eat do not gain weight. A hug keeps your arteries healthy.

These are scientific facts. I don't make the news -- I merely report it.

It's that simple. If you don't believe in miracles, how do you explain birthdays? If you don't believe in immortality, how do you explain knowing ... without a shred of doubt ... exactly which food is soul food is when it passes your lips?