10/27/09
Just flew in from Texas with the ladies after ten days around the country, and the Lulubeans fell asleep in my arms while we were talking on my bed around 5pm. If any of you know Lucy (and many of you do), you know this is about as common as an Amur Leopard sighting. That is one girl who does not like to miss anything, and she speaks for us all: we're certainly fascinated, but exhausted.
Thus here's the CODE WORD question... what is your absolute favorite food in the world, and what food makes you want to barf?
ONE favorite food? Kidding, right?
No? OK. Um. Let's go for something very Rhode Island: Fried clams. (with the bellies on of course!) Dipped in good tarter sauce.
Barf food: I was born with a visceral aversion to coconut. Even the smell makes me gag.
Favorite: a petite fillet, medium rare
Wort: Cornish Game Hen- it looks like you're eating Tweety Bird
Fave: Half-pound, angus-beef hamburger prepared medium rare with a fried egg and pepper jack cheese.
Least: Kimchi
Favorite: Mac & Cheese - and not that stuff out of the box either.
Worst: Fennel. Luckily, pretty easy to avoid.
favorite is hot, hot indian or thai curry.
worst is merengue cookies, i guess they are called "forgotten cookies" by folks - and they are so gnarly that you CAN'T forget them!and natto (fermented soybeans) is pretty thouroghly disgusting. like eating mushy coffee beans covered in snot.
It was so easy to think of the worst thing ever, which is those mealy veggie burger patties. Even the thought makes the gorge rise.
But the best? I must choose a homemade boeuf bourguignon.
Bacon and cheesecake are at the top, though not (necessarily) at the same time.
A really tough piece of beef fat or gristle just makes me hork. As do circus peanuts.
Lots of favorites: Candied Niman Ranch Bacon, or any bacon, but one dish, in Anguilla, took me away like I will never forget.
Smoked Grouper with a lemony Creme Fraiche: If you place each bite perfectly, a wedge of fresh smoked grouper at the end of your fork with a nickel of Creme Fraiche on top, it can be magic. Gently slide the grouper off with your tongue, trapping the creme fraiche against the roof of your mouth. Just hold it there, with the smoked grouper on your tongue.
Just as the salty smoke, and lusty low notes, consume your tastebuds, the creme fraiche melts through like a citrus breeze.
It's salty, smokey, dirty jazz cellar sex,
with sun scorched skin, on cool, white, beach house linens.At least I think that's my favorite.
My least favorite, is shocking but true. Mushrooms. It's a huge handicap in the food world. Love the flavor, but I have to push them to the side.
Oh, I can't believe I didn't post a link the the restaurant, Cote Mer in Anguilla.
The owner Michele, is perhaps the most animated restaurateur I have ever met.
Too many favorites to list! I love love LOVE almost all Mexican food.
Except for the one component which is my least favorite/makes-me-wanna-barf food:
BEANS. I hate 'em. Black beans, white beans, baked beans, refried beans, lima beans.... blech! I really like green beans, but that's it. The rest of them make me dry heave just thinking about them.
Katie- We had Cornish game hen once a month, until you were 18. So when I was tearing through that bird with joy in my heart, you were living a scene from Mommy Dearest? Oops.
Faves: grilled rabbit, fall-off-the-bone ribs, cheeseburgers from 5 Guys, Newcastle Brown Ale, cheesecake
Dislikes: artichokes, brussel sprouts, tomatoes.
I also forgot that I love chicken, egg & cheese biscuits from Time-Out.
Fave: Eggplant prepared alla parmigiana. And crab legs, alaskan or snow will do.
Horrid: Tripe
Fave: perfectly prepared scallops
Least fave: until recently I would have said caviar. However, I just had the misfortune of trying Hawaiian Poi. It tastes like I imagine wallpaper paste would taste. YUCK!
Fave: Carvel cake
Favorite: Strawberries and blueberries - I can't get enough!
Stomach churner: Brussel sprouts thanks to the Mom-imposed Scarsdale diet that the whole family had to abide by. I was 14, and the only good thing that came out of the diet was that I was able to have cereal for breakfast (prior to the diet, we had eggs, bacon, and toast every day, no lie).
Salem, you had cornish game hen. Dad always made me something else. Usually I couldn't even sit at the table with you guys, because it made me gag.
Fave: Anything where chocolate and peanut butter collide...
Not-so-fave: Brussel sprouts, hands-down...with chicken and dumplin's running a close second. I am the secret shame of my Southern family...
I love almost every Mexican or Tex-Mex dish. It's also hard to beat a good rhubarb pie -- one not watered down with strawberries.
Puke inducers: goat cheese, bleu cheese, eggplant and lamb.
Real NY style pizza, maybe because it's hard to find in NC
Eggplant and organ meat
chocolate souffle - they make an incredible one at Fearrington House - with both vanilla and chocolate sauce and real whipped cream - Spice Street's is good too.
hate olives and sardines
fave: oysters
least fave: artichokes
Fave: triple-creme french cheese, or aged gouda, with just-out-of-the-oven bread.
Barfalicious: any animal organ, and raw chicken.
I also feel like green peppers do a disservice to most everything.
Fave: Pork Belly
Barf: Sea Urchin
Charlotte- Amen to pork belly.
I'm with you on the Sea Urchin too. I actually had a Sea Urchin on Flan, as a part of a Chef's menu once. It seemed like an exercise in how to make sea urchin more disgusting.
Favorite: Ice cream (almost any flavor)
Barf-inducing: Tripe. Ugh.
I love Middle Eastern food (any and all of it), lamb, oysters, and fresh-off-the-vine tomatoes.
The smell of KFC makes me gag.
I also tried frogs' legs once and that was enough. They were too frog leggy for my liking. All those little bones!
Fave: raspberries. Also, the chocolate cake served at Pizza Express (mysteriously neither) in England, warm and sitting in a little puddle of cream.
Barf-inducing, literally: Durian. Fortunately only rarely encountered.
I had a flatiron steak topped with salsa verde that was so good I actually dreamed about it a couple nights later.
Least favorite foods? I'm not adventurous enough to have tried anything truly disgusting.