2009 in Food

1. Apple pie, 2. Pesto, mozzarella, mushroom pizza, 3. Amazing sundae at Bi-Rite, 4. pad thai, 5. tuna, 6. fruit, 7. Macchiato at Ritual, 8. eel, salad, pickles, 9. soba noodles

2009 was a really stellar year for food, mostly because of my trip to Asia. In no particular order, here are my top twelve meals/foods of 2009 (because I can't narrow it down to ten!):

1. Dinner with my brother at Zuni Cafe in San Francisco. We had the most perfect heirloom tomato soup, shoe string fries (my favorite!), and parmesan risotto. Delicious.
2. The chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, salt, and olive oil sundae I shared with my brother at Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco.
3. My birthday dinner (the tasting menu) at Craigie on Main, in Cambridge.
4. The giant pile of homemade pizza and pie from Pi Day.
5. Pad Thai from a street vendor in Chiang Mai.
6. Sushi at Daiwa Sushi in Tokyo. This might be my single top culinary experience of my life, let alone my year.
7. Khao soi (curry noodles) from a street vendor in Chiang Mai.
8. Coconut ice cream (in a freshly opened coconut, drenched in condensed milk and covered with some sort of sweet crunchy thing) from a street vendor, again in Chiang Mai.
9. Mangosteens. Oh, glorious magosteens, why are you not available in the US?
10. Fresh ramen in Tokyo. Amazing. I'll never eat the packaged stuff again.
11: Fresh bread drenched in butter made by the master chefs/monks at Tassajara.
12. High tea at the Chedi Hotel in Chiang Mai.

There were some not-so-stellar food moments, too, like the hot peppers in Thailand that I think burned an actual hole in my tongue, and the fried toad skin, which I intended to try but couldn't bear to put in my mouth. Overall, however, 2009 was one of the best food years I've ever had! For comparison, here's 2008 and 2007.