CHOW LISTS

maria lorraine

Best meal I ever ate:

A tribal celebration lit entirely by torches in a remote village in the jungle in Indonesia. An elaborate wedding feast in Kerala, India -- our plates were huge banana leaves. One momentus day of tapas-hopping through the great food town of San Sebastian, Spain. A great Italian seafood meal in a cave high in the cliffs overlooking the Adriatic Sea.One particularly meaningful Thanksgiving (a friend was dying) that of all the meals I've ever cooked came the closest to Babette's Feast.

My current drink of choice:

Wine, more wine.

I really wish I could:

hop on a plane at a moment's notice to dine at some far-flung location in the world. Or better yet, "beam" in.

My "Go-to" dinner party dish:

porcini potato gratin

My favorite comfort food:

Creamy polenta with mascarpone, a braised meat stew, great burgers, ice cream, a big bowl of wonderful pasta and sauce...

My top 5 favorite restaurants:

The local favorites:Terra, Martini House, Rutherford Grill. In the SF Bay Area: any Thai or Sichuan resto. Best of all is not a resto: home.

My most tattered cookbooks:

My maternal grandmother's cookbook from the 1920s, so old and dry that its yellowed pages actually flake. This book is the only tangible thing left of her life. Her handwritten notes and pasted recipes give me a great idea of the life of this spirited bohemienne.