Most Memorable Meals & 6 years old
I love blogging.
It keeps me sane.
It's someone to talk to everyday (you), and it forces me to be creative and always on my toes (in the kitchen).
"What is the BEST thing you have ever eaten?", people ask me that question all the time.
I don't know, there are so many delicious things I have eaten over the years, it's hard to choose.
Most of the special, memorable meals I have enjoyed have been while traveling or eaten in my grandmother's home many years ago.
One meal that immediately comes to mind was eaten with my boyfriend (now husband), in my early 20's in Lenox, Massachusetts during a blizzard.
We went on a ski trip to the Berkshires and almost didn't make it because of the weather.
We stopped in a little country inn with candlelit tables and people cross country skiing in the street at night, we had a perfect window view of the dreamlike scenery.
I know I ate a pasta dish and drank some red wine, but the food is not what mattered. The evening was magical, and 27 years later, I still remember it. It was beautiful.
Another time, starving in the old city of Montreal, looking for food, we stumbled into a butcher shop where the sign read Boucherie/Charcuterie.
They had a little back room with red & white checkered tablecloths and French pork products hanging from the ceiling. We ordered at the counter and I had a vegetable and Gruyere sandwich on a gorgeous baguette w/ French mustard wrapped in paper, my husband had a sandwich of duck rillettes and mustard.
It was the best sandwich I have ever eaten to this day.
Another memorable meal was a gorgeous al fresco dinner at my friend Sharon's beautiful home in Normandy, where her husband cooked up a simple meal as if he were a professional chef....the beautiful table setting, the magnums of Bordeaux, the French countryside air (sans bugs) and the company as well as the fantastic food made this a memorable evening.
As for food in restaurants, the most recent was in Philadelphia, where the meal at Zahav, a modern Israeli restaurant was amazing and memorable, and the same goes for that ridiculous roast chicken for 2 at The Nomad in NYC stuffed w/ foie gras and truffles, certainly memorable.
So much food, so little time.
Life is too short to eat bad food.
I try and make every meal count (maybe not memorable!).
This recipe blog started 6 years ago as a way to keep track of my recipes for myself as well as for my friends.
I hope you are creating some memorable meals in your kitchen or during your travels and that this blog helps you to do so.
For my 6th blog anniversary, I am giving away 3 copies of my new favorite cookbook A Change of Appetite by Diana Henry (watch out Ottolenghi).
This book is so gorgeous, it's as if it was written for me personally, I want to make everything in this book.
Just leave a comment telling us your most memorable meal (and your name!) and 3 lucky winners will receive a book!
Thanks for reading me all these years and have a happy, safe 4th of July.
xo

Comments
The book looks wonderful - hope I win!
Thanks,
Beth Tulloch
I started reading your blog this past winter when i was craving for a French far breton(I was born in Paris but raised in Montreal Canada).I was looking for that french taste and texture.I tried your recipe and WOW all my teenage memories came back !Even my 2 children said wow mom its like being in Paris again !
thank you for sharing, and since then i read you every morning(even on vacations) and i tried most of your recipes..and honestly they all turn out so good and healthy, that i share them around me...
have a wonderful day.
PS;Last night i tried your spicy honey chicken tights..delicious..
nathalie B
You are right, it is very difficult to pick a best meal. In fact, I can't. It's just too mind boggling. It's also like someone with ocd - oh, look something new...
Can I still be counted in for the give away?
Thanks for letting us share, Susan
In 2002, my husband and I were celebrating an early 15th wedding anniversary in Paris. It was my 2nd trip to France and we wandered into the Saint Germain Des Prés, which became my favorite Parisian quarter. We found a small little restaurant and my husband asked for the "non-smoking" section (hah!). They must still be laughing about that one, but did seat us in the basement of the restaurant which had one table. I found this incredibly romantic! The cheese and meat fondue were the best we've ever had, paired with a dry white wine. Now when we make fondue at home, we fondly remember that magical evening in Paris!
I certainly enjoy your blog. And I agree that vacations should always be taken in France.
One of my most memorable meals was in Provence at one of Patricia Well's favorite restaurants - Le Bistrot du Paradou. Patricia wrote about the restaurant and the owners in her cookbook "Le Provence Cookbook" and included some of their recipes and photos. I brought a copy of her cookbook to Provence because we had a kitchen at our disposal during our trip, so I took it along to lunch. Jean-Louis Pons, one of the owners, proudly announced the moment he saw the book, "J'adore Patricia Wells.
Jean-Louis was so gracious, took us in the kitchen, introduced us to his wife Mireille, who is the chef, & they both signed their pictures for me. Later during lunch Jean-Louis came over to our table and asked if he could borrow my cookbook. My husband and I watched him take the book to another table and show it to an attractive lady who turned out to be cookbook author Fran Warde, who he introduced us to after lunch. What a special day. People ask me what I took to Provence and I always answer "Patricia Wells." :)
Sam
I am setting thinking what meal do I remember that was the best and it keeps coming back to my mom's Sunday night dinners her Leg of Lamb with mint jelly! her Roast Beef with yorkshire pudding!
Love her stew chicken!! ...but it has to be her Meat Pies!!! they were to die for!!! read you every morning at work!! I have a basket of your recipes love them all! THANKS
My most memorable meal was so simple and rustic that I can still taste it close to 20 years on . My very good Italian friend's mother made "ceci and orechietti" with a touch of Italian olve oil and a broth perfumed with bayleaves .
I know ridiculously simple - nothing Michelin or 5 star here - but just simple rustic, quality ingredients .
Keep up the wonderful writing, rants and MCG postings - and please tell me that you are planning a book in the near future.
take care
gg
Love, love, love your blog!!!
Fabiana
By the way, hope to go to Zahav next month when we are in Philly.
Happy 4th of July!
Lisa Walker
My favorite recipe to make at home (I learned it from you!)is your roasted cauliflower with parley, almonds,and olives. It's wonderful every time.
Congratulations on your anniversary!
They served the most delicious eggplant parmasean I've ever eaten then and since. I can still taste it.
The setting also helped!!!
Aside from an ill-judged multicourse gutbuster on my honeymoon, my most memorable meal is the one I make for my birthday every year: morels, an asparagus fava bean salad, spinachy half-moon pastries (Marcella Hazan) and lemon tart for dessert.
I have made many of the dishes you talk about and look forward to your blog with my morning cup Monday thru Friday!
Happy anniversary!
My most memorable meals seem to center around family members teaching me how to cook as a child. My grandmother taught me to make sunny side up eggs when I was eight, and I always think of her at breakfast. I remember picking vegetables in my uncle's garden, and him letting me watch and help cook them.
I also have great memories of vacation dinners with my husband- a restaurant on a cliff in Cabo, a tucked away place with mind blowing carbonara in Florence, etc. But you're right- the best pat is those you share it with.
One of my most memorable meals was in Normandie, with my parents who asked me to take them and act as translator. We had the most amazing plateau de fruits de mer I've ever had. But best of all was sharing it with my folks. Priceless!
xox
My sister's Lamb Cassulet - takes her days to make and you can taste the love she puts into it.
Perfect roast chicken with that crack and pop the skin has at first bite.
Apple Strudel in custard sauce at a small roadside restaurant my husband and I stopped at on the drive from Germany to Austria.
Miriachis Mexican Restaurant in Toronto - we stopped in while shopping for furniture (just happened to be Cinco de Mayo!) and had the best most authentic Mexican meal with ice cold corona. FAB!
Thanks as always Stacey for your blog, sharing and quick wit! Always a pleasure reading!!
Bisous!
Lisa Faley
I have been following your blog for the last year or so and I truly find it inspiring for those middle of the week dinners. My husband loves being a guinea pig! We have absolutely loved everything we have made suggested by you.
One meal I will remember for a long time is a meal that we hosted for my husband's 50th birthday. There were 10 of us for dinner, each couple knew one other couple but not the rest of the group. The mix turned out to be perfect. The ice was truly broken when one of our guests brought birthday hats and horns and they were laid at each place setting. When everyone sat down the fun began. The wine flowed, the food was catered, there were lots of laughs all around. We didn't want the night to end. It was a great evening spent with friends who also made new friends. Wonderful!
Keep up the good work!
Rose Blamey
We'd then have a simple meal of "noodles & potcheese" while the apple strudel baked - boiled egg noodles topped with a mixture of cottage cheese and sour cream sprinkled with salt and pepper. I think that was where my love of cooking and food was born.
I've had a few remarkably exotic meals of course too -- eating by candlelight in the middle of the bush in Tanzania -- a "green banana soup" that was unbelievable and cooked by a 5 star chef right there in the middle of the Serengeti with the lions roaring off in the distance comes to mind -- but the smell of that strudel baking and my Gu-mama as we called her -- teaching me about dough and how to use leftovers so as not to waste (for instance frying up the leftover bread-crumbs and egg mixture used to bread the pork schnitzel to make something she called "dechtel mechtel" really feel like what "most memorable" means sto me.
Hope you are enjoying summer -- a few more weeks till the first tomato sandwich!
Lisa
One meal that I think of often happened while I was a college student studying abroad in Costa Rica. It came after a full day of adventuring. We had just arrived to an island called Tortuguero. We were tired, refreshed from a well earned shower, and hungry! We sat on a rustic deck overlooking the water, enjoying the sounds of the forest, and were served roast chicken with fresh sliced tomatoes. Simple but divine!
Hilla
I have many food memories of family gatherings,cooking with my children
food from our travels.
I still remember a grilled pork chop I ate in Portugal on our honeymoon 41 years ago from a tiny neighborhood restaurant. It was sublime.
My most memorable meal was a lunch we had at Badia a Coltibuono near Gaiole in Tuscany. We were on a trip to celebrate our anniverary.
The weather was beautiful, the setting lovely, the staff was gracious and the food and wine for each course was perfect. Best of all was my simple dessert of a basil and lemon sorbet. My husband and I were very pleased by this spontaneous detour!
Alison V.
(I thought I sent this very early this morning. Please delete if it is a duplicate.)
He sat us down with apologies that all he had was the last of a pot of bouillabaisse liquor, some vegetables and bread.
Was one of the best lunches we have ever eaten and loved it so much we rented a car and drove back the next day. Turns out he comes to Texas every year to visit friends and he understood our unfamiliarity with French eating schedules and was happy to feed us.
Happy 6th Anniversary! I also have a cookbook that I love as you do yours. Soon as I finish all the recipes in mine I might have to start yours.
Here's to another great year.
Most memorable meal was when I was studying abroad in Paris while I was in college. Our program administrators went through the trouble of making us a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and I just sat there in amazement and thinking, hmm, I never really liked turkey anyway. I was wondering what the rest of Paris was doing on an ordinary Thursday night! So I guess I don't remember the food, just the company and my thoughts.
Michelle in Massachusetts :)
Rebecca L
He and I cooked a lot of "gourmet" meals together and I've since taught my new husband to cook! So many good meals, so little time . . . . Love your site. I cook from it a lot! Thanks
I love everything about food and savor every bite in life with memories of many memorable meals!
A simple though precious memory- visiting my daughter in Ottawa - one Sunday I had joined her for a hike with the outdoor club, following we shopped for a seafood fish stew at the Byward Market and then came back and cooked it together! Her kitchen smelled doubly good as she was also making a ratatouille for her lunches the following week! We opened the bottle of wine we had bought in Montreal together the weekend before and along with crusty bread devoured our memorable feast!
Happy food adventures and writing Stacey... your cookbook looks terrific :)
Margaret from B.C.
Thanks,
Margaret from B.C.