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Ohh too hard to decide...

but always on the list: Onion bagels, banana nut bread, and any sort of robust flavorful artisan bread... all of these preferably warm and slathered in butter!!!

There are so many, I couldnt choose! There's the Bariani family that brings their locally made olive oil, the Dewey family that have been growing pistachios in the Sacramento valley for more than 50 years... Spring Hill cheeses from Petaluma, the Bledsoe's pork, duck and lamb, Leinart's honey, Salle orchards with their ever changing variety of fruits and vegetables...

We're pretty lucky here in the Sacramento area to have such a thriving farmers market scene...

I love a simple bowl of buttered noodles & aged cheese. Sometimes I go Old Spaghetti Factory on it and do browned butter and Mizythra, sometimes just a good quality parmesan or asiago.... maybe a touch of cream, bacon or basil if they are floating around the fridge....

MMMMM 1st place goes to a streetside cart in Tijuana.... rolled Al Pastor tacos with onions, cilantro and lime.... and a fruit bowl on the side that we'd picked up from another vendor...

2nd place is probably one of any of about six "Berto's".... taco stands on Convoy in San Diego (ie, Roberto's, Adalberto's, Humberto's....)
I honestly can't remember which one was the best anymore...

Unfortunately every single charcoal based grilling attempt I've ever made has been hilarious.... in retrospect at least. Definitely not as funny while it's actually happening. While I am a pretty decent cook, I am a hapless griller... So take your pick of bacon grease induced flameups and smokeouts, charblackened blood raw-centered beef, veggies stuck to grill, items slipping through grill, burning hands, tipping grills, bamboo skewers on fire, dogs stealing the only edible steaks EVER produced..... sigh.... for the last few years I have settled for my indoor panini/griller while saving for a nice tame gas grill....

Well his whole approach is really fantatstic and non-intimidating. His recommendations are realistic and clearly defined. You dont feel like you're being scolded by a hardcore vegetarian or under fire by PETA. It makes it seem like these are things you can actually accomplish.

Vinho Verde! Lots and lots of Vinho Verde! Crisp, clean tasting refreshing young white wine, goes great with sooo many things...

Caldo Verde - wonderful soup made with linguica, potatoes and kale.. actually anything made with linguica or chourico... mmmmmm

There are some lovely cheeses, especially the ones made with sheep or goat milk...

Also some wonderful little pastries... Pastels d'Belem (aka Pastels d'Nata), queijadas... mmmmmm mmmmm mmmmmm

Well, it's a tossup - I was going to say my first chocolate lava cake... but then reading though the comments thinking... mmm, yes churros con chocolate in Barcelona was pretty fabulous.... and then the Paris chocolate banana crepe, mmm... yep that too....

Sigh, very very hard to decide, but those are probably the top three...

Well there have definitely been a lot of "ohhhh noooo" moments, but one that sticks out in my mind happened right after Thanksgiving one year. I was on a mission to make really creative use out of each and every ounce of leftovers and decided I would use the cranberry orange sauce to make scones.

So I mix up the batter, grab the sauce from the fridge and add it, make the scones, bake the scones.... wait patiently with mouth watering... finally they are done and I bite into one.... and get a mouthful of onions, jalapeno and cilantro amongst other flavors!

Two bowls in the fridge - cranberry orange sauce... and cranberry chutney! Nooooo idea why I didnt notice when I was mixing it up....

Heidi's Pancake House in South Lake Tahoe - great breakfasts....

Hi,

I dont have many recipes of my own to contribute, but you might want to check out a food blog called Tastes Like Home. The author is originally from Guyana, but her recipes seem to cover a pretty broad 'Caribbean' spectrum - Barbados, Trinidad, Dominican etc...

http://www.tasteslikehome.org/

Oooh the corn man! Luvvvved it in Oakland CA's Fruitvale district when he'd be there during different festivals etc. Those little pasta puffs are called Duros, and you can buy them uncooked in latin markets and fry them at home....

We try to do "the works" on our corn here at home sometimes... if you mix a little sour cream with the mayo and then use the parmesan type cheese it comes pretty darn close......

Apple and brie on some nice artisan bread...