This year has been filled with one adventure after another for me including travels, graduations, new beginnings, and full-on good times. As with most things in my life, it only seems fitting to relate a reflection on my past year to food. Yep, it's no secret, I love food. So, here, it is: my best bites of 2009. This is a compilation of foods that have made me intensely happy for one reason or another and is in no particular order.
(the picture above is me with a tuxedo strawberry, dipped in white and dark chocolate, that we made in culinary school)
While on a foodie outing in Atlanta, Jennifer had her heart set on trying some live lobster sushi. Basically, they behead the animal just seconds before you eat it. Upon showing up to the restaurant, we found that this wasn't exactly plausible for us, but what we did find might have been better. Unending appetizers flooded out from the kitchen that kept us happily occupied. Then, this huge platter of some of the freshest sushi I have ever tasted came down to us from the bar. The flavors were clean, fresh, uninhibited...sushi (alongside nigiri and sashimi) the way it should be. It was a wide selection of fish in its purest form, the way God must have intended for it to be tasted.
This same foodie adventure in Atlanta landed us at a restaurant called The Flying Biscuit in a cute little area of town with lots of eclectic shops surrounding. I know the biscuit is supposed to be the big hit here, and yes it was decent and is admittedly very beautiful. It is, however, the dominating character in play that constantly tries to edge out an even more brilliant star, the grits. These grits were, without a doubt, the best that have ever passed my lips. They were creamy and flavorful, yet hearty and melodious. This was one bite that literally made my world halt like a Saved By the Bell episode, as only my tasting and sensorial reactions continued.
When one of your roommates is from Hurricane, West Virgina, you learn an array of facts that you never knew to search for. This list includes muddin', graveyard tag, and one of the best biscuits to ever try to clog your arteries. Tudor's Biscuit World makes sandwiches with names supporting their local universities including the Mountaineer. This particular biscuit has country ham, a hash brown, American cheese, egg, and as much butter as you could churn in a year. While I find it is best to split with a friend, it is good enough for a Jenn Johnson certified song. "Tudor's Biscuit World, Gotta have a biscuit, Wanna have a biscuit, Give me a biscuit now!" Now it is impossible for me to drive by and not stop in for a meal that makes me forget about all of my nutritional goals.
My next adventure took me during spring break to Costa Rica with some of my favorite people. At a little grocery in San Jose, we found these little gems, the amply named 'baby kiwis'. These fruits looked and tasted very much like a kiwi, but were even better because of their lack of the astringent aftertaste, added sweetness, and being encased in an edible shell. These quickly shot their way up my list among my favorite fruits. Who knew they even existed? This is one that keeps me excited because I know that I can never know everything.
Casados: a Costa Rican specialty that will fill you up and leave you smiling. While the ingredients vary wildly, there is a general mixture of meat, rice, beans, yuca mashed potatoes, beets, egg, and fried plantains. It is classic Central American cuisine at its best, heartily waiting to sustain you for your next rock climbing or beach hiking adventure. While not pictured, gallo pinto was also one of my favorites. Translated to 'spotted rooster', this dish combines black beans with a wide array of peppers, tomatoes, and onions, resulting in a surprisingly flavorful dish that will light you up like a firework.
This next meal is contained in my best bites of the year for its sheer simplicity more than anything else. Baguette, avocado, white cheese, tomato, a little bit of sand resulted in one of my favorite sandwiches of the year during a humble picnic on the beach in Montezuma, Costa Rica. (ok maybe minus the sand) The ingredients were all on their best flavor behavior, the location was nothing less than paradise, and I was amid incomparable companions. What more could a lady want?
A trip to Havana Cafe in Knoxville, Tennessee made me aware of one of my now-favorite foods, yuca fries. They are not dissimilar to regular french fries, but have a slight creamy sweetness that makes them all the better. The cilantro-lime-mayonnaise for dipping makes for a perfect compliment, adding acid and herbs to a delicate base. This picture was taken in our attempts in recreation of the original. We found that yucca is a stubborn tuber that doesn't cut easily, but is certainly worth the efforts.
I had the opportunity to pass through London this summer and on my way met up with a long lost friend of mine from English teaching days in China. He took me to a market that sprawled with a huge array of cheeses, meats, bakery items, fruits, vegetables, seafood, and ready-to-eat items. I was in complete awe throughout the entire experience, tasting my first raw oyster with a hint of Tabasco sauce and lemon juice, drinking a cappuccino with steamed milk that was lighter than clouds, and eating this sandwich with chorizo, roasted red pepper, and delicate greens on a rustic roll. It was simple, yet bursting with flavor, and was a perfect compliment to a walk by the Thames.
Pain au chocolat is one of those delights that was love at first bite for me when I tasted it in my younger years. The buttery, flaky crust, the layers of dough that get softer at each circle inward, the treasure chest of dark chocolate that lays hidden in gentle pillows of butter and flour. I was very fortunate to enjoy these as often as my waistline would allow this summer, ecstasy in every nibble. Cue romantic French tunes such as 'La Vie en Rose'.
Meet the illustrious tarte flambee, an Alsacian specialty that I was first introduced to during a visit to Strasbourg. It is a flatbread that I can assure you is unlike any other. While resembling a pizza, the dough is paper-thin and has a playful resistance to each bite. It is crispy, a result of its time in a brick oven, yet it is almost chewy in places. The typical topping includes lardons, onions, and fromage blanc. My preferred version is 'gratinee', adding gruyere cheese to result in a creation that is perfectly balanced between salty, savory, sour, and mouth-watering.
During a visit to Avignon, a little city in Provence, I stopped at a sidewalk cafe for a bite to eat, honing in on moules marnieres frites. These mussels are stewed in a pot with a sauce that includes copious amounts of white wine and butter. It is a dish that warms your heart and mellows your soul. It forces you to savor each bite as you fish each piece of meat from its homely shell, dunking it unforgivably in as much sauce as will fill its pores, and then placing it in the tender loving care of your mouth, a smile of contented satisfaction crossing your lips. Just hope there is enough sauce leftover so that your baguette has something to soak up!
Stumbling into a sleepy little bakery in Avignon, I first discovered the 'gourmand'. It is a sort of French bread that has lardons and rosemary tucked throughout its inner crevices. The raw bacon pieces melt during the baking process, releasing fatty deposits that have a boisterous flavor and leave behind chewy bacon pieces that complement a woodsy rosemary perfectly. I was sitting on a park bench next to a fountain during a sunny morning, watching the town wake up as I was eating this. I took my first bite, stopped, and then just stared at the bread, struck by its audacity to be so delightful.
No food tour of my past year could be complete without this specialty of my summer landing ground, Nantes. It is a buckwheat flour version of a crepe called a 'galette' It may be filled with any variety of savory delights, often including a poached egg. My favorite version included smoked salmon and cream cheese, a fishy and soft complement to its buttery and savory shell.
I owe Audrey a debt of gratitude for being my tour guide through the food markets of Nantes...and also being the inspiration for one of my future projects. I want to take portraits of people while they are reacting to the initial bites of some of their favorite foods. For Audrey, this was a lemon meringue tart. The lemon custard was smooth and dense, with a citrusy ping that sent lightning bolts all over your tongue. This was contrasted by a soft, pillowy meringue that comforted the flavors and was somewhat what I envision living in a cloud might be like. The compilation combined to form the perfect storm of flavor that is destined for a Sunday afternoon.
Langoustine......dear, dear Mr. Langoustine. Choosing between the market's mountains was laborious, but I finally found you and you did not disappoint. A few minutes boiling in water and a quick peeling of shells revealed your inner beauty. A sweetness resembling lobster combined with the unpretentious air of shrimp. The inner workings of your mind being salty and cutting. It was very nice knowing you indeed.
It was is San Sebastian, Spain where Ashley and I first discovered the splendor that is true tapas. Unending rows of medievel-like bars squirrled around, each with its own set of appetizers sprawled out over its bar counters. We walked in and out of a select few, amazed by the opportunity. A glass of cheap Rioja, a bite of mushroom, a cup of Sangria, blue cheese crostini, a hard cider with a long and precision pour, a piece or chorizo. Could I be in love? No worries exist except for how to choose between the endless number of places to go. Complete relaxation.
Jennifer came to Raleigh for a visit and we chose Olde Time Barbecue for our introduction to North Carolina barbecue. After we ordered, we sat at our table with slight apprehension when tasting their sauces. "I mean I knew it was supposed to be vinegary, but is this still barbecue sauce??" I thought. All doubts were pelted to the side with one bit of the meat of that pulled pork sandwich. The word that can best describe its texture is velvet...just think of velvet. Soft and light, with an air of aged refinement. The meat was lean, but showed no sign of weakness. The flavor was meatily abundant, but was true to itself. The sauce really was not worth the effort of contamination. The apple and sweet potato sticks that came alongside were also surprising, delicate cases that held meltingly soft, warm interior. We shook the cook's hand at the end of the meal.
The more I run amuck throughout the world, the more I find myself continually forcing myself to happily come back to my roots. Many people know that my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. The relaxation, the laughing, the football, the wine, the cooking, and of course the eating. The turkey is the centerpiece of this occasion that commands an immediate audience to its every need. This year, my efforts to return home for the holidays were more pressed than ever. However, when I finally got there, the culmination rested with this bird. A sage butter laced its skin and leached its juices into each pore of the turkey, bursting with moisture, and reminding me that all was good and that I had so much to be thankful for.
The past year has been an eventful one for me where I endured trials and finished degrees, laughed a lot, and was unquestionably lucky and blessed.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy 2010.
Cheers.
