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Nicoise were the first to make me realize that I actually like olives, just not crappy canned ones.

The first book I remember using was the Mrs. Fields Cookie Book, when I was still in elementary school. It had some great recipes, although I remember it was quite a revelation when I realized that most of the drop cookie recipes were pretty much the same (not counting whatever add-ins there were.)

While I am a pretty good baker, the best stories are always the catastrophes. I'll always remember the time in high school when my friends and I were baking a chocolate bombe that used both bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate. Both chocolates had been chopped into chunks, but someone had accidentally mixed the two together, and we resorted to tasting each one to sort them out. Of course, none of us had very developed tastes for bitterness at the time, so all you heard was, "Sweetened. Sweetened. Aghh, unsweetened!"

Man, that mystery sauce at Caracas is good! Every time we go to the location in the East Village, we'll finish about half of the squeeze bottle by the time we're done.

We used to have them up in New Hampshire in our college convenience store. I spent quite a bit of dining hall money on these maple goodies.

My mother's trifle. Nothing better than a mound of fruit, whipped cream, lady's fingers and creme anglais.

The kabocha squash pie with a gingersnap crust that I made for the first Thanksgiving at my girlfriend's parent's house. It was delicious, the first time I had (successfully) made a sqash/pumpkin pie from the actual vegetable as opposed to from a can, and it made a good impression to boot.

Not to be a pedant, but thirty slices at $3 each is $90. Now, if they were all Di Fara slices...

dark, although I often do have a weakness for white

Extra sharp Cabot for me, for sentimental reasons if nothing else.

aged cheddar

A good sharp cheddar. Cabot, for loyalty reasons.