spot prawns and their roe

Nothing is quite as exciting as fresh spot prawns full of tiny reddish-orange pearls of roe. Live spot prawns in good condition are hard to come by now that the ultra-local spot prawn season is over, but Alaska's season is still in full swing with fresh gems available at shops like Mutual Fish.

Sauteed or salt roasted at high heat, count these among the things that make L's eyes sparkle at first sight.

short rib sandwich

I love leftovers. Short rib ragu from the prior evening--not enough to dress another serving of pasta, but just the perfect amount for a glorious sandwich on toasted sourdough with melted manchengo. It never made it to the plate from the cutting board.

guilty pleasure

I'm not usually a big fan of the "put bacon on everything" movement, but this was actually one of the tastier s'mores I've had. Go figure.

Top ten tastes of 2010

On New Year's day, I always enjoy looking back at the past 12 months and thinking of the eating experiences that really stood apart from the others. These memories tend to also be a great reference point to other important moments over the course of the year (time with friends and family, special events, quiet times with each other) connecting us back the thoughts, experiences and emotions from these cross-sections in our lives.

Our opportunities for unique eating experiences were limited by a few things this year, including a good chunk of time where I was eating mostly super healthy energy food for training, as well as the intense busyness of work over the past couple of months. Even still, we were blessed with some really extraordinary food moments in 2011.

Here are my ten favorites, as they occurred over the course of the year: