Yeah, just make sure you drink at least one cup of milk, as soon as possible after you eat the spicy food. I don't think the type of milk really matters much, but maybe whole milk might be a little better.
If you're in a restaurant and you feel weird about ordering milk, you could eat ice cream instead. It works almost as well. In your case, since you haven't had spicy food in years, I might even try both at the same time. Drink a glass of milk and then eat some ice cream, right after the spicy food. You want to make sure the milk mixes with all the other food in your stomach, before any of it has had a chance to leave your stomach.
I think it works pretty well, but it's not always perfect. Sometimes I take the prelief at the same time with the milk, for added assurance, even though prelief is really meant for acidic foods, not the spicy stuff, so much.