31-Day Blog Challenge - Day 7: 10 Favorite Foods

Oh, man, this one is HARD. There are just too many! How to narrow it down?? Well, I suppose if I just stream-of-consciousness it; I might do OK. Filter OFF, and here we go…

1. Chocolate - in so many forms. But let’s stay hardcore here, and talk about actual chocolate; as opposed to chocolate flavored dessert foods (those may come later). My top contenders are M&Ms (plain, peanut, almond, mint, and cherry), and Godiva dark chocolate with raspberry puree bars. And Hershey Kisses, the original. And Reese’s peanut butter cups. And peppermint bark at Christmas time. By the way, white chocolate is not chocolate, so shut up. J OK, I’ll stop now.
2. Steak - Yes… there is almost nothing better than a well-prepared steak. I like my meat lean, so when I go out, I’ll try to find the leanest cuts. They are sometimes not the tenderest, except for Filet Mignon; which I’d order more but it’s so expensive per ounce. Anyway, a well-prepared steak to me is flame broiled to JUST on the rare side of medium, a warm pink center; with pepper seasoning and a butter finish, with Himalayan sea salt ground over it. Sometimes, melted bleu or gorgonzola cheese over the top is nice. And yeah, sorry, I like A1 with my steaks most of the time. If it’s a perfect and tender cut, I’ll forego, but it’s an exciting flavor additive and it really works well with tougher cuts.
3. Ice cream - Dipping (see what I did there?) back into the chocolate well; but yeah, I like lots more flavors too. Ice cream is designed by the gods. Deep chocolates are my favorite, of course, but I also love mint ice cream, fruity sherbets, lots of flavors. And while the creamier, deeper ice creams are best (Haagen-Dazs, Ben & Jerry, Godiva, Publix Premium, etc.). I also like the super-cheap store brands with lots of air whipped into them. A different experience but sometimes just as fun.
4. Spaghetti & Meatballs - Mmmmm, pasta and red sauce. Really, the whole pasta family is great, but nothing tops a nice Bolognese with savory meatballs included in it too. Yeah, meat. The best Bolognese in the Western Hemisphere is at The Fig in Asheville NC by the way. Best Penna Ala Vodka is at Bowled in St. Petersburg. But a good old fashioned spaghetti and meatballs will win me over every time. The sauce needs to be balanced – not too acidic, not too sweet, not too salty. It can explode with spices though, oregano, basil, thyme, and garlic… The meatballs need to be evenly textured, not too much filler, flavorful, and NO GREEN PEPPERS!!!
5. Bread - One of the finest smells in the whole world is freshly baking bread. I like breads of all varieties (EXCEPT RYE, BLEAUGHHHH!). I’d fly to NY to have fresh Italian bread from Columbus Bakery in Syracuse. The bread at Longhorn. Potato rolls. Mmmmmm…. Make sure there’s lots of good butter… Plugra if you can.
6. Cheeseburgers - Oh, now here we go. Again, nice and lean, on a heady brioche bun. Sometimes I’m a purist, American cheese and ketchup only, other times I’ll have the full salad on there; and sometimes, a blackened bacon, egg, and bleu cheese burger is what you need. Nothing beats at home on the grill, but Square One, The Hangar, and The Burg restaurant all do magnificent burgers.
7. Curried chicken - Mmmmm… LOVE me some curried chicken over rice. Especially the milder-spiced but very savory varieties like butter chicken. (There’s a place in Brooklyn that the butter chicken made me cry is was so good…) In this town, my favorite is Clay Oven on 9th St. North. That said, my wife’s curries are just dreamy too…
8. Peanut butter - Simple, elegant. We’re a Peter Pan house. It is the saltiest of the majors, and the most balanced. I can eat straight peanut butter sandwiches with no jelly, or anything. But a Fluffernutter is another great thing. Peanut butter is great on Cheez-It crackers, Ritz, Goldfish, saltines, Town House, what have you.
9. Cereal - I’m a cereal junkie. I love healthy cereals like Raisin Bran and Wheaties, and I love crap cereals too; the Monster cereals, chocolate Lucky Charms, and Kaboom (REMEMBER KABOOM, 70s CHILDREN???), and middle of the road ones like Rice Chex and Special K Red Berries… I can really OD on cereal if I’m not careful.
10. Cheese - Let’s round this out with the delight of the world, CHEEEEEESE! I’m a big Cheddar buff, the sharper the better. Cabot has a 3-year old Cheddar that is sold exclusively at Costco that is mind-bendingly sharp and flavorful. Melty, yummy, creamy cheeeeeese… Even Velveeta is good in the right places… Bleu cheese is to die for too… Melt some over potato chips and sprinkle chives on it… Yes….

OK I should stop. It wasn't hard at all. SO many more things didn’t make the cut, but I can’t write all night. Plus, now I’m hungry again. See you in the kitchen!