You Are What You Eat: the meme

Ruth, at Once Upon a Feast, began the "You Are What You Eat Meme", a top ten list of one's favourite foods. Culinary Bookworm of Weekly Dish tagged me, and here I am, still trying to compose the ten. Decisions, decisions...

What a damnably difficult meme to wrap my head around. Ten favourites? They seem to change with the season, the circles I run in, and my expanding taste buds. Still, I'll do my best.

Number One: I will agree wholeheartedly with my tagger that PIZZA, glorious pizza, may be my number one food of all time! If you're not so hungry, you can make it paper thin, gently dress it in the lightest of tomato sauces, and kiss it with thin slivers of fresh mozarella.
If you're ravenous, make the crust thicker, and load it up: zucchinis, squash, tomatoes, onions, black olives, roasted red peppers.
Whatever method I choose, it almost always ends sprinkled with a chiffonade of basil. I heart pizza!



Number Two: This entry would have to constitute CHEESE. You see, when I first met DucCat, I was still learning to expand my palate. The first time I came over to his house for dinner, he'd set out a lovely little cheese plate to nibble upon as he cooked the meal.
I smiled politely, trying to simply snack on the crackers.
After many proffered pieces, I finally demurred, "I really don't care for cheese."
I'm lucky he didn't send me packing out the door then and there. Happily, he felt that I was worth the chase, and asked me again to just try it. I did, and had my first piece of meltingly soft brie. Amazed at the new flavours in my mouth, I laughed out loud.
"Cheese isn't so bad, now, is it?", he asked with a laugh.
No, it really isn't. And since then, I've grown to shamelessly love even the stinkiest of cheeses. Why did I wait so long?


Number Three: LIVERWURST. Another recently acquired taste, thanks to
George at the Warwick Cheese Shoppe. I'm very partial to Usinger's peppery style of smoked liverwurst. When serving to a guest who may cringe at the name, we just call it 'pate'.




Number Four: PORK. Again, when I was just getting to know DucCat, I was practically a... a... *swallows*
A vegetarian. I can remember going out to a fairly nice restaurant together, and basically ordering a plate of steamed vegetables. Bit by bit, he worked on getting me through that time.
It all started with that gateway piece of pork, bacon.
He grilled juicy pork tenderloins; meaty, tender ribs; and sultry, fat little sausages. Before I knew it, that wonderful, multi-faceted meat was showing up at all times, in all meals. And I was hooked, baby.

Number Five: GARLIC. Oh, the sweet, stinking bulb! I put it in almost everything, and DucCat will unabashedly tell you that I sometimes even overdo it.
A recipe calls for 2 cloves of garlic? Four would be so much. better. Well, five isn't bad either. You get the idea.


Number Six: APPLES. As classically recommended, I have an apple every day. The crunchy sweetness, the crisp snap of the skin, it's one of my favourite fruits.
Raw- dig it. I have an apple with peanut butter every weekday for lunch.
Baked? Check. Slip it into a pie, chop it up and add to quick bread batter, cook it down with a little butter n' cinnamon- I'm all about it, baby.

Number Seven: Speaking of sweets, that reminds me of one in particular: CHOCOLATE. Once upon a time, my infatuation was for thick bars of milk chocolate, a la Cadbury's. As I grew, so did my tastes, and I began to understand the allure of bittersweet and darker chocolates. Someday, I too hope to be lucky enough to taste Michael Cluizel's 99% cocoa chocolate.

Number Eight: The staff of life, BREAD. Yes, I rolled my eyes heavenwards upon seeing people foresake the sacred grain for the late Dr. Atkins. Silly sheeple.
When DucCat has pasta with sauce, I'll take the sauce and drizzle it over wilted spinach, with a toasted slice of bread close at hand for dunking purposes. My number one favourite food, you'll notice, is mainly composed of bread.



Number Nine: SEAFOOD.
I absolutely adore seafood, but DucCat doesn't have quite the same passion as I- unless it's fried. It must be a Southern thing.
Thusly, seafood has become mostly a restaurant treat for me, with a few notable exceptions.

From time to time, his Grandparents give us a small bucket of fresh lump crabmeat, which we waste no time into turning into fat, juicy crabcakes. Scallops have been known to come our way, fresh from the sea, and smelling like little briny pearls. These are definately not to DucCat's taste, but that's okay- more for me to enjoy.

Luckily, we both seeem to agree upon sushi.

Number Ten: Last, but certainly not least, we have TOMATOES.
I have a love affair wtih tomatoes. Their sweet, sultry, summer-hot vibe keeps me coming back for more every year.

Layer e'm with basil, stack 'em on cucumbers, drizzle 'em with balsamic and a bit of oil- can you get any closer to summery heaven?
Of course, the year moves on, and you too move on to canned tomatoes, packed away at their prime. So easy to slip into sauces, stews, any slow-bubbling cauldron on on the stovetop.

In those tough winter months, I've found that Costco actually does a fairly decent job of keeping me in good-tasting tomatoes, with their vine-ripened beautys. Not quite the same as straight-from-the-backyard, of course, but good nonetheless.

And there you have it, a not-quite-in-order list of my ten favourite foods.

Heh-heh... for now, chumps!

I've got to tag five more, and I'm not even sure who has participated in it, so here we go:
Vicki, of the Moveable Feast;
MeBeth, of Hold The Raisins;
Clare, of Eat Stuff;
The Dining Dica, Deetsa's Diningroom;
and last but not least,
'Tanvi', from the pantry.

Good luck, all, trust me, it's a difficult choice to make!