magic foods

I was having a conversation with TK about this: the foodstuffs that just make me sit up and say, "YES!"

Conrad is easy: Pinot Noir, raspberries, chocolate (dark, please), salmon, plus cheeses of various sorts. I can build a special date night meal around those frequently. Come to think of it, I do.

;-)

Me? I have to be tricky. Seasonal items (asparagus, pomegranates). Pricier, specialty items (morels). Crap (Old Dutch dill pickle chips - I have them almost EVERY time we go to the UP).
The other problem with me is that I go through phases. For a season, a year, I'll be so into a particular thing. The list of past infatuations includes walnuts, radishes, and a French feta I was getting from Whole Foods. You know, just the things we all shop for, right?

I've figured out the two things for this year. For starters, I've been working through a bottle of white truffle oil and have totally reveled in its fragrance and flavour. Mmmmmm. The other thing? Strawberries.

That's kinda weird.

Usually the strawberries in the store - even Whole Foods - are gorgeous and smell heavenly and have no flavour or are sour as anything and get moldy all too fast. Strawberries are like the online hook up of the food world - they never are as good as their picture suggests. Bastards.

Somehow, though, we've had a good run of berries this season, and I've taken real delight in their perfume in the kitchen, especially when I've got them macerating in a bowl with some sugar and fresh lavender leaves. It's a play on an idea I stole from CG, and I've wheeled it out a few time this spring and summer.

When we were up in the UP for the long weekend, we caught the tail end of the strawberry season at the farmers market in town. A pint came home to Conrad's mother's place with us, and we snacked on them with breakfast while we were there. Sweet with an edge of tang, fragrant, a beautiful deep red. Lustful thoughts were mine: mixing them into a crisp with some rhubarb or turning them into an ice cream concoction. But really, they were best washed and popped into our mouths with no adornment. Just the flavour of real fruit.

I'll miss them now that the season is pretty much over. Happily for me, the cherries have been good lately, and the plum season is almost upon us. Upside down cake! Mmmmm....