five things to eat before you die (yikes!)

I was tagged by Linda of Kayak Soup for the food meme that's been making the blog rounds: 5 things to eat before you die. Melissa at the Traveller's Lunchbox notes that the five items "should definitely be things you know and love and couldn't imagine not having tasted". Just five things?! Well, it was a tough job, but I think I've come up with a few good things. Read on.

1. Chicken & Waffles from Roscoe's House of Chicken & Waffles in Long Beach, CA. I had this for breakfast last year on our honeymoon and somehow the combination of awesomely delicious waffles with syrup meld so nicely with the salty crispy fried chicken. Seriously good.

2. Biscuits and Gravy at the Dish Cafe in Seattle. Mmmmm, I do love a good breakfast and the first time I had biscuits and gravy was at the Dish Cafe in the lovely Ballard 'hood of Seattle. Light biscuits and tasty gravy definitely make for a wonderful breakfast treat. And a treat it is since I've never seen biscuits and gravy at a menu in Vancouver (or all of Canada, really).

3. Lamb Popsicles at Vij's in Vancouver. Last year's birthday dinner was at Vij's and it's where I had these incredible flavourful lamb "popsicles" that sat in a lovely fenugreek cream curry sauce. Mmmmmm. Apparently, the recipe is here.

4. The Hedge House Salad served at the Hedge House Pub in Portland, OR. This salad with beets, hazelnuts, blue cheese, greens, and a balsamic dressing that I can't seem to replicate is hands-down my most favourite salad. True, I do make grandiose claims from time to time, but really, the combo of salty-sweet, creamy and crunchy is just too damn dreamy. This salad is a nice accompaniment to the seriously strong IPA they brew there and I MUST have this again. Note: if you follow it up with a fleur de sel caramel from next door's Pix Patisserie, well, then you can die right then and there with a smile on your face.

5. A tart, crisp, fresh, bright green Granny Smith apple. Really, there is nothing more delightful and refreshing than the perfect Granny Smith apple. My favourite fruit, hands down.

And although I hate tagging others, here I go! Please feel free to ignore or go right ahead! I'd love to know what you all think (plus anyone else who feels like doing it):
poco-cocoa
the urban repast
messy cucina
lobstersquad
tales from a veggie kitchen

meme

I was tagged by Tanvi for the "name your 10 favorite foods" meme. I remember asking Cornelius before we dated what his favorite food was and he replied "flour". I can't believe I married this boy.

my favorite foods:

1. Pickles. Not any off the rack pickle will do...they have to be either very sour or sweet and like most things, homemade is usually best. Every autumn, the Ukranian Hall in my neighbourhood would have a bazaar and I'd buy enough jars of some grandmother's bread & butter pickles to last me though the year. This year, grandma became greedy and started charging $10 per pickle jar. I was outraged and didn't buy a single pickle on principle. This makes me sad.

2. Cheese. What goes great with pickles? Cheese. As a lunchtime treat, I'd sometimes make a grilled cheese sandwich stuffed with pickles and onions. MMMMM! A grilled cheese sandwich stuffed with mango chutney is pretty tasty, too. You can't go wrong with cheese.

3. Pineapple. The fresh from the market kind is my idea of heaven. Sweet, tart and juicy as hell. But I'm picky with pineapple. I hate pineapple in desserts, tho I do enjoy it as a dipper in chocolate fondue. Pineapple kicks ass in savory dishes but maybe that's because sweet n' sour is my ultimate flavour combination (well, tied with salty/sweet!). Yum.

4. Coconut. I love it in curries, in cookies, in ice-cream, in cookies and in cakes. There's a burger chain in New Mexico where the slogan is "If you are what you eat then you are awesome". I believe this truely about coconut. Totally awesome.

5. Bread. Rustic, crusty and chewy and smeared with cold butter. Not the kind suffocating in plastic wrap, but the kind from the local artisinal baker. There is really nothing better in the whole wide world.

6. Agedashi tofu. It's a perfect combination of the virtuous (tofu) and the sinful (deep fried batter). Eaten hot with fresh ginger and teriyaki sauce makes a great snack. Plus you get to eat it with chopsticks which increases the fun.

7. Coffee. I'll take an americano or a latte, please. I like my coffee strong and freshly roasted and I add enough cream so that my brew is the colour of cardboard. No sugar, but I'll add a sprinkle of cinnamon to keep things interesting. I used to always buy my coffee beans from the same roaster on Commercial Drive (Continental Coffee), but now that I'm not so close, I just pick some up from our local Italian market. Every Monday night, before I step into my bowling shoes, I get an Americano from JJ Bean, a fantastic local chain and I swear it is the driving force behind my bowling skillz.

8. Baked potatoes. I could eat these every day. It's really just a vehicle for butter (as is bread, I suppose) because I could not bear the thought of adding sour cream to a baked potato. I had one last night and this is my baked potato ritual:
• take the potato from the oven and slit it length-wise with a knife
• add salted butter and mash about the flesh to get everything all mixey.
• eat the buttery innards first
• when the flesh has been eaten, then, savour the best part of all: the skin. Add more butter if you are feeling extra special and munch away until it is all gone.
(you also may want to trade your 2nd peice of chicken for another baked potato...luckily, Cornelius likes chicken).

9. Gingerbread. I love the spicy flavours involved here: ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves. It goes amazingly well with chocolate and can be used not only as cake, but for cookies, pancakes and muffins! It reminds me of winter and the holidays and it makes me feel all cozy inside and makes our house smell great.

10. Beets. I love this bright red vegetable with the bad rap. It's great grated into salads, it's even better pickled or served warm with butter. Not only can you eat the root, but you can steam the bitter greens for a lovely side dish.

This was a difficult list to create. I feel like I've left out some good friends: cauliflower, cabbage, brussle sprouts, potato chips, almonds, dark chocolate, salmon...but I'll save those for another time. One day I'll need to create a list of 10 foods that I hate. Would that be easy? I think so.