You Are What You Eat - Meme

I just was wandering through my favorite blogger sites – it’s a perfect way to start my day. On my journey I dropped by Molly’s fabulous Orangette and this post is really about Christmas gifts, but I’m going to steal (er borrow) her first few lines ….

“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are. So spoke Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, legendary French gastronome. On the surface, it sounds like some sort of cheap parlor game, or maybe a fortune teller’s scam at a traveling circus, but the man had a point. What we eat is an everyday testament to our personal, cultural, and, some would say, political, experience.”

So…..I thought it would be fun to do a meme about our favorite foods and why we chose them. The rules are as easy as 1-2-3:
1. Pick your top ten favorite foods (I was going to go for five, but it was impossible to choose JUST five)
2. Give your rationale (and photos would be nice but are optional).
3. Choose 3 -5 of your favorite food bloggers to invite (don’t forget to let them know you’re dying to know what their favorites are) I ended up with 6 and feel guilty about all the ones I left out.

So without further ado, here are mine.
1. Chicken – I love it in every form but some of my favorites are boneless breasts flattened and rolled around spinach and cheese to create a cool looking roll-up; coated in crushed pecans; southern-fried; roasted with herbs and garlic under the skin and root vegetables all around……I could go on forever, which is funny because my mom used to make chicken three ways (roasted ginger capon for special occasions, southern fried or roasted with a BBQ sauce) and often and I swore that when I got married I would NEVER make chicken. Of course that idea didn’t last long and I make it a gazillion ways;


2. Lamb – I love the flavor and when we go out to a restaurant it’s often my choice. Chops and boneless leg of lamb marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic & rosemary and then grilled. Oh - I hope I don’t short out my laptop as I’m drooling!!! Lamb sausages from Mike’s at the St Lawrence market are particularly flavorful without being greasy. And my daughter Joanna, in Halifax makes a mean stuffed boneless leg of lamb for Passover.


3. Beef – as you can tell, when hungry I usually think first as a carnivore. My late night snacks are cold meat/chicken/lamb leftovers. There is nothing quite as tasty as a rib roast coated in a rub of powdered dried mushrooms and mustard…unless of course you think steaks. I love flank steak marinated any of a million ways and grilled or how about steak au poivre flambéed – it’s actually easy to do and sooooo impressive. Cold meat in a wrap is a great sandwich as is salami or brisket on fresh Challah. I could go on forever, but ….


4. Seafood – if I were on a desert island I would want tons of lobster and shrimp. Okay I would also want scallops, crab and squid. Actually I don’t have to be on a desert island to want them - dripping with butter and garlic would be my first choice. I’ll include fish here with salmon, perch and tilapia being high on the list. I don’t cook it often because my Honey is not a big fish eater.


5. Bread – I LOVE fresh bread – baguettes, Challah, rye with caraway seeds, Montreal bagels, focaccia, rolls. When I was growing up if the bread wasn’t just in from the bakery and still warm, I would tell my mother it was stale. She would just say, wait til you have to buy your own and then we’ll talk. And of course, I now eat bread that’s one or two days old – and even older if it’s toasted.


6. Herbs & Spices – although they’re not what I would eat by themselves, I can’t imagine cooking or baking anything without them. Some favorites: GARLIC (my dad used to say I put it in everything and he’s probably close); basil (it also goes in everything from eggs to mains to dessert (it’s great on fruit salad along with mint); rosemary (I love it on chicken, roasted potatoes and breads especially); my cupboard is never without a blend of Italian herbs to roll cheese in, sprinkle on grilled cheese sandwiches and home made pita chips (oh I forgot to mention pita in the bread section); thyme (it’s wonderful on roasted root vegetables, squash and best of all my Honey’s French toast); a new favorite is lavender (I particularly love it infused in honey syrup over vanilla ice cream or fruit salad) Just in case you think these are the only herbs and spices I love here’s a picture of my spice cupboard.


7. Pasta – what better comfort food is there? (Creamy sauces, tomatoe based, oil garlic and basil, I love them all)


8. Soups – especially this time of year when winter starts in fall and goes into late spring. Chicken soup, hearty lentil or pea soups, French onion soup with fabulous melted gruyere cheese on top, beef based cabbage soup……mmmmmh


9. Pork – how could I forget – particularly ribs, ham and bacon (not necessarily together), other cured salamis, Chorizo sausages – I love it all. Some of my favorites come from Mike's or The Sausage King at St Lawrence Market.


10. Desserts – not what I would think of (or reach for) first, but let’s face it who could turn up their noses at something sweet. I love key lime pie, crème brulee and a good piece of dark chocolate is hard to say no to, especially if it coats some ginger.


But how could I forget my other favorites: eggs, olives, cheese.......

This part was hard for me too. I love so many food bloggers but we’ll start with these five and hope the rest of my faves won’t be hurt.

1. Molly of Orangette because she inspired me to do this and her site is awesome.
2. J of Kuidaore because she always makes the most gorgeous desserts and I’d love to know what else she loves to eat. Her site is a visual delight.
3. Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl because her posts are beautiful and funny and incredibly well written.
4. Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen who I know loves herbs because she does the weekend herb blogging event and I love her recipes
5. Joe of Culinary in the Desert who shares great recipes all the time.
6. I know I said five, but how could I leave out Stephen of Stephen Cooks. Check his site and you’ll understand.
7. Just one more......Sarah Lou at One Whole Clove . Great food, great fun.

I’d love to hear from the rest of you too. If you are what you eat, what are you? And if anyone can figure out what I am from my list (besides a piggy) please let me know.

Related link: meme Food and Drink