Best meal I ever ate:
the halibut at little fish was one of the best things i have eaten in recent history. **update june 2010** same chef's new resto, fish, is equally spectacular. get the peekytoe crab + avocado appetizer and a sweet cucumber-vodka martini and enjoy summer. ahhh.
My current drink of choice:
it's summer, y'all! chop up some watermelon - freeze - add to blender - top with ketel one - whip up some whipped cream - blend. ooooooooooh.
I really wish I could:
take a chow tour of india. UPDATE may 2008: done!! next on the wish list... thailand! UPDATE oct 2009: done - thailand + india again, and then some (pakistan, burma, bangladesh, china, nepal!), and seriously missing it!!! workin on funding for the 2010 chow tour which might end up being the 2011 chow tour, and hopefully including several countries in africa. spicy!!!! i wanna learn how to make a bangin shiro wot.
My "Go-to" dinner party dish:
baked samosas, baby!! (when i have 5 hours to prep)... or "winter bruschetta" - in a saucepan, reduce dried pears and dates (chopped) with white wine and cinnamon sticks and a bit o salt... slice and toast baguette then butter slices, top with goat cheese (with pine nuts mixed in, and a lil black pepper), top with the fruit+wine mix, top with a sage leaf, then a few drops of balsamic glaze and you're set... beautiful and tasty! got to thank my friend john for that one - executive chef at adelle's outside of chicago. he's a master! spinach and artichoke dip, that's always an easy one. summer favorites are gazpacho and guacamole. and lately, strawberry rhubarb pie, or any pie! give me fresh fruit and butter, and i can turn it into a bangin pie! my almond pate brisee is a force to be reckoned with. often times i get so caught up in the kitchen, the party will migrate to me!!!
My favorite comfort food:
3-meal tie: oats "al dente" with brown sugar and cream + english breakfast tea / drunken noodles with tofu + corn cakes / paneer tikka masala + vegetable biryani + any chaat... bonus points to any place i find with real sugar cane juice. YUM
My top 5 favorite restaurants:
5 favorite restos in general is too hard. what i'm craving lately is really great pizza. and i'm about torn between the margherita at dock st brewery and the seed pizza at earth bread + brewery. the deep fried green beans at prohibition taproom make it an easy favorite. and lately, i've been all about the shiro wot at gojjo. hrm, a fifth... i'll have to bust the mold and go with the piazza farmers market. between the big sky bakery bread, the coffee roaster (name escapes me), the multi-colored eggs, fat cat cheese and seasonal produce, i'm developing a fast tradition of shopping at the market and spending the weekend hunkered down in my kitchen, deciding what to make of it all!
My most tattered cookbooks:
i'm not so great with cookbooks. i always think i know better, tho in practice i usually don't... unless i'm making pie. my sixth sense is pie.
