PM Style Blog - Food, Glorious, Food!

by - edited

This week, I'm hungry.

How great is food??!?!! It just makes everything better. Every joy sweeter, every hurt, softer. Ugh, I'm lying in bed right now unable to sleep (bc I'm typing on my iPhone) dreaming of at least ten different things I would love to devour right now, w/ zero guilt.

Food is full of memories. I grew up eating saraLee frozen coffee cake on Christmas morning, and I can still taste the flavors and textures in my mouth just to close my eyes. I'm a hot mess at cooking and I wish dearly I had a passion for it bc in my dreams, I cook. It would be so gratifying to be able to create things that are insanely delicious, in my kitchen. Unfortunately I have to rely on other people's kitchens.

This week I'm flashing back with a top ten list of my most memorable favorite foods over the years. And some take me wayyyyyyy back.

#10 Pizza at the train station in Rome

We had just arrived on an overnight flight. It was 9am. Unbearably hot outside. I was so tired and jet lagged and loathing the lack of air conditioning, soooo...pizza for breakfast was the perfect antidote.

(Ps: pizza in Italy is sublime, but here in the US my fav is Giordano's out of Chicago. I order it all the time and I even turned sue Clifton from dooney onto it. Bam!!)

#9 olive oil in Italy

It's so aromatic, so decadent, so "the real deal", in Italy, that it's actually green...and smells like a rich leafy earthy garden. Olive oil on a plate, some salt and fresh parm on the olive oil, and bread that's crusty and piping hot for dipping. It's an obscene, carb, X rated food movie. (And a drizzle on your pizza is delish) thank you Italy for being so awesome. We are not worthy.

#8 - 40th birthday cake

My first birthday I celebrated with Joe he baked me a bday cake. I love birthday cake. Chocolate w vanilla frosting is my favorite. Moist, and gobs, I mean glutinous gobs of frosting, is the key. There's nothing cuter to me than when men shed their burly facade and show their softer sides for the ladies they swoon over. A dude baking is just too cute.

#7 - Hot Honey Peanuts

There's a fab British pub near our house and they have carafes of peanuts on the bar. Hello "Captain creative", duh bar nuts? Cmon. No, I'm telling u, these aren't average bar nuts. You are powerless in the face of their kryptonite. I loved them so much that we served them in flower pots on the tables at our wedding reception. Their called honey hots. They are sweet with a kick, and they have this crusty coating that gives them added crunch n texture. I'm not joking, there needs to be a chaperone when you get in range of these things bc you will easily polish off the equivalent of a weeks worth of fat and calories while waiting for your main meal, eating them.

#6 - Pasta pesto in Portofino Italy

Sitting on a cliff overlooking a bay, this arrived at our table and it was one of those dishes Joe and I played fork hockey eating, each fighting for the next bite. It was our honeymoon and an old charming wooden Italian motorboat w a captain who looked like sea chic tanned leather, brought us to a secret little inlet w a cliff side restaurant that seated barely ten people. You know those dishes you order, that when they're done, you could eat a second helping? This was that. We were wearing bathing suits and listening to kids cliff diving and carrying on in Italian. It was the perfect meal ever.

#5 - Henri LeRoux caramels in Paris

On that same honeymoon we stopped in Paris, took a foodie walking tour, and arrived at a caramel boutique on a quiet cobblestone street. The caramels were unlike anything I have ever tasted. Now anytime anyone goes to Paris, I beg them to come back w some.

#4 - Our wedding cake

It was red velvet w cream cheese frosting. It was sublime. (If you're in philly check out the Saucey Little Redhead cake maker) And in proper wedding tradition we saved this huge hunk to eat on our first anniversary. (I used to live in Florida and I remember a diehard Southern friend of mine schooling me in authentic red velvet cake: "real southern red velvet cake should leave a grease print on a napkin, it has so much butter in it".

#3 Franklin cider Mill donuts in Birmingham Michigan

I grew up on these. Been going here since I was a tiny tot. It's a Fall tradition. You go to the FCM just when the leaves are turning and there's a breeze in the air. You stand in line for the homemade donuts that are so decadent they leave grease marks on the paper bags. And fresh cider, hot. If you have any donut scraps you feed the ducks. And the smell of those cider n donuts you remember for your entire life.

#2 - Breakfast with syrup

My favorite thing to eat for breaky comes with syrup. French toast (well done) pancakes (w chocolate chips) waffles (w whipped cream). And growing up my mom heated our syrup so hot syrup is my mantra. And log cabin brand is my breakfast battle cry. I think I could dip just about anything into hot syrup. French fries? Yes even FF. In recent years I've also come to love real maple syrup not the packaged sugary

kind. (Ps syrup is great in Asian salmon marinade)

#1 - Green juice

This one may surprise you but lately I'm crazy for green juice. Joe n I first had it on a trip to Napa. The hotel called it green monster juice and it was my first time trying it. Most packaged versions have way too much sugar. I call this my new candy bc it's actually sweet and I'm drinking it like it's going out of style. I bought a QVC juicer and it's oddly easy and fun. It also requires no skill no measuring and no strategy. You just chop it up, put it in, and watch the earthy green leafy juice of life come out the spout. My current cocktail:

Cucumber

Green apple

Lemons

Celery

Spinach

Colored bell peppers

Blueberries

Grape tomatoes

Coconut water