Day 26: Favorite Foods

NOTE: I'm sorry for the abrupt disappearance. Several things have conspired to take my focus away from my online world this last week or more. I'll talk about some of them in a bit, but for now, I'd like to complete the challenge I started.

Gour•mand [gʊərˈmɑnd, ˈgʊərmənd] noun A person who is fond of good eating.

I would categorize myself as a person who likes good food--food that is made well, that tastes good and that fosters a love of life and people. It doesn't have to be complicated food, although surely gourmet cuisine has a place in my world. No, any dish, however simple or humble, that evokes a long, contented sigh is what I think a gourmand values most.

I honesstly couldn't write a post long enough to list every food that fits the definition of good that I hold true when I sit down at table, but here are a few examples to give you a sense of what I mean.

By category:

Breakfast: Corn Beef Hash, Biscuits and Gravy, Buttermilk Pancakes

Beverage: Coffee, Selzer, Good Merlot

Dessert: Pie (not citrus or with meringue), Crème Brûlée, Wifeness' Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Soup: Seafood Chowder, Squash Bisque, Homemade Chicken Noodle

Sandwich: A Thick Burger with Lettuce, Tomato, Pickle (and just a touch of ketchup and spicy mustard), A Bean Patty (done like the burger), turkey and swiss on toasted white

Pasta Sauce: Carbonara, Alle Vongole (white clam sauce), Garlic and Olive Oil

Pizza: Hawaiian; Sausage, Mushroom & Olive; Siciliano

Grillage: Salmon, Sausage, Perfectly Medium Rare Steak

Take-out: Boneless spare ribs, Kung Pao Chicken, Fried Rice

Context-Specific:

Spaghetti alla carbonara from the basement restaurant in the city of Civitavecchia (I've long since forgotten the name of the restaurant).  This was my first experience with proper Italian cuisine, ordered in Italian and enjoyed with a tableful of globetrekkers, including Mutti and Vati.

Rotisserie chicken and strawberries on the steps of Sacré Coeur at sunset with my French students on their first evening in France. I'll always remember the guy who came up to chat with us and the hilarious moment when the gendarmerie took to chasing the street vendors all around the churchyard.

Rice, beans, bread, eggs, tomato and ketchup--all mixed together. This rather unique concoction was the first food of any kind I'd eaten in 5 full days after having been completely incapacitated by the flu immediately after arriving in Brazil. I'd been holed up in a hotel for four of those days, but was running out of money and so I forced myself to get up, even though I was feverish and weak, and find an apartment. Fortunately, the guy who ran the desk at the hotel had a brother who managed an apartment building nearby and I was able to work the details out with a minimum of fuss and a little bit of black market exchange of American dollars. I secured my apartment, got the keys and moved my few things over from the hotel. Then I crashed and slept. When I woke up, the fever had broken, but I had only enough money and energy to go to the local grocers and buy those six things I listed. I was amazed to feel my mouth practically exploding with saliva as I put the rice on the stove. By the time I sat to eat I was shaking so badly that I actually had trouble getting the fork to my face. It ranks to this day as the best meal I've ever eaten.