ExpatChef

Real Name:

ExpatChef

Location:

Midwest

Blog:

http://www.expatriateskitchen.blogspot.com and http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com

Best meal I ever ate:

The first time I ever had sashimi. An open-air bar on a beach in Saipan. This guy walks in with a tuna fresh off the boat. Flops it on the bar and we cut into it. That simple, that fresh. I probably still harbor parasites. But, damn, was it good!

My current drink of choice:

Water. Black coffee. Organic milk. Red wine.

I really wish I could:

Quit my job. Pack up my kid and I and go cook in Italy. Trite, yeah. But true.

My "Go-to" dinner party dish:

Kalamata olive tapenade, always requested. But then, our friends are spoiled rotten and request their favorites. Shameless bastards. I love them.

My favorite comfort food:

Pasta. Tapioca. Starch, baby. Gimme carbs.

My top 5 favorite restaurants:

Lidia's, Le Fou Frog, da Umberto, Gladstone's in Malibu, Reuben's Burritos in Ojai, CA

My most tattered cookbooks:

Labensky's On Cooking, Sugareef Carribean Cooking (out of print), and my own tattered notes and pages from creating recipes. Plus over 200 cookbooks, some never used. It's a disease.