It’s first thing in the morning (well, more like 14th thing, because I’VE BEEN UP FOREVER ALREADY), and I’m feeling a bit peckish (hee hee hee.) Sometimes, when I’m peckish (hee hee hee) I like to think about food, rather than eat it. And if that seems kind of self-flagellating, well… YEAH, AND WHAT OF IT?

Seriously, though. I like thinking about food sometimes more than I like eating it because in your head, it always looks and tastes EXACTLY like you want it to. Not like when you go out for dinner with friends and you think you’re choosing the best thing on the menu, but when you get it, it’s just not as good as what everyone else ordered.

If your meal never came, it would STILL be the best thing on the menu. In your heart.

Or when you go to McDonalds with a dire once-every-couple-months craving for really hot french fries. Just some fries, you know? And maybe a milkshake.

Then when you get your fries, they’re all squooshy and limp and chilly, like a rat-shaped pile of leaves.

If you never GOT the fries, they would still exist in your heart in pure crispy, hot form.

It’s the same reason why I’m always scared to meet celebrities (always scared? Really, Meg? Because you meet them all the time, do you?)

What if they lack the spark you expect them to have, or they’re… ugh!… rude? I mean, yes, they’re just normal people and YES, okay, maybe I WOULD be staring in a stalkeresque way, but… wait.

What the hell was I talking about?

Oh, yeah. Food.

Today’s Love List is based on the love of food and cooking: everything from ingredients to the best dishes to the best tools to the best restaurants. I KNOW you people have foods you love. This is why you must all make this list in the comments or at your own blogs. I want to hear your passions and recommendations. I want you to think about food, too. Huzzah!

Okay?

GO!

FOOD-RELATED THINGS I LOVE

Curtis Stone (ohhhh my)
Salsa fresca (my own recipe)
Sour keys
Fish and chips wrapped in newspaper
Sourdough bread
My chicken marinade (available upon request)
Pasta e Fagioli
Dubliner cheese
Caramel apples (MUST be Granny Smith apples)
French onion soup
This exact mixer in “Brushed Nickel”
Rhubarb sorbet
BBQ ribs
Yam bisque
Hodad’s in Ocean Beach
The rack of lamb at Aqua Riva
Mashed potatoes with roasted garlic
Banana bread (NO chocolate chips)
Kraft Dinner (I know, I know…)
Godiva bulk chocolate at Whole Foods
Julia Child, forever and always
Hot wings
Olives… like, ALL olives
Mache leaves
Fresh tarragon
Slashfood
Lemon zest
Granville Island Winter Ale
Oysters on the half shell
Edamame
My mom’s garlic-studded roast beef
Bacon, bacon, bacon
Watermelon
Caesar salad from scratch… nothing less will do
Pomegranates
Champagne
Poached eggs
Rose’s Lime Cordial
Tonic water
My green apple/potato soup (legendary)
The Barefoot Contessa
Plain cheesecake with strawberries
Bernaise sauce
Turnips
McDonald’s fries (I don’t even want the lecture. They’re too good to cause guilt.)
Squash baked with brown sugar and nutmeg
Tomato sandwiches with fresh tomatoes from the garden and a little bit of mayo, salt, and pepper (on a white farmer’s loaf, please)
Super-cold, fresh salmon sashimi from Kamei Royale, Vancouver
Stainless whippers
Concord grapes
Eggplant parmigiana
Stemless wineglasses
Sun tea cut with fresh lemonade and put in a chilled glass
Crabcakes
Limonata gelato
Steaks right off the grill, seasoned only with pepper and Lea and Perrin’s
Vera’s burgers on Denman

AND YOU?!?