I was sitting here planning my dinner, trying to figure out what I would have, and I thought to myself: “Spaghetti sounds great.”
And it does, and then I realized I have had spaghetti the last three nights in a row, and I am not even close to tired of it. I don’t do anything fancy, just some ground meat, mushrooms, sauce, and cheese, but I love it.
Then I thought- “If I could only eat one food every day for the rest of my life, what would it be?” Or, alternately, “what foods could I eat every day for the rest of my life?” Below is a partial list (which clearly includes spaghetti, so I will not list it again):
chicken cordon blue
grilled reubens
pasta salad
oroes and ice cold milk
tacos
macaroni and cheese with stewed tomatoes
homemade turkey sandwiches with Hellman’s and fresh tomatoes
tomato sandwiches
Kind of a white trash smorgasbord, I guess. I am sure there are others I could list.
Nikki
Mmmmmm, tomato sandwiches! Your list would surprisingly look very much like mine (except roast chicken and rosemary instead of the cordon bleu and no stew tomatoes on my mac and cheese). But spaghetti tops the list. In fact, just about any type of pasta tops my list.
Krista
Jesus Christ, John. Are you drunk? Your spelling and grammar have gone right out the window.
Anyway, it’s Friday, so I won’t tease you too much. Here’s my list of “I could eat it every day” food.
Sushi
Tacos
My lasagna
Warm baguettes with real butter
Clementines
Smoked oysters
Black Pepper Jack Doritos
Fresh plum tomatoes sliced up and topped with fresh basil and goat cheese.
Z
What, no pizza??
Krista
Oh, right! Pizza! Yes, thin-crust pizza with roasted garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and goat cheese from Salvatore’s in Halifax.
Marcus Wellby
Fresh, warm bread, crusty and cold, real butter. With a side of hot coffee. Yes!
tacos on soft corn tortillas
my pasta and sauce (made with 3 kinds of meat!)
my late great-grandmother’s Italian Easter pie. God I miss her and her amazing — AMAZING — cooking.
dark meat turkey smothered in gravy with a side of buttery mashed potatoes.
roast lamb
my beaf stew
my wife’s chicken ziti and brocolli
tempura!
John Cole
Not drunk. Just distracted. And my spelling always sucks.
Marcus Wellby
Forgot to add Korean food! If you haven’t tried it, and there is a good Korean restaurant in your area, it will blow your mind.
Nikki
Oh damn, Krista and Marcus have reminded of other foods I wouldn’t want to do without:
Pho
Bulgogi
Sushi
Roast turkey
Baby Jane
Fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil, garlic, olive oil & a roll of bread.
And, Chips Ahoy.
dreggas
before going into my list one question John…Corned Beef or Pastrami on that Reuben?
As for my list (in no particular order)
Sushi
Prime Rib
Chili Dogs (either fancy ones or ones made with hormel chili (the no beans kind)
Reuben (with corned beef, if it’s pastrami it’s pastrami not a reuben)
Hot Pastrami (swiss cheese, mayo, mustard, extra pickles)
Manicotti
Italian Sausage
Mimi’s Pasta Jambalaya
Shrimp Creole
Calamari
Any shellfish (preferably steamed with drawn butter)
Puerto Nuevo style Lobster tails.
Maine Lobster (steamed with new red potatoes, a biscuit and honey butter with corn on the cob).
Also pretty much anything I can cook since, well, I am a damn good cook.
Venison
Fresh caught wild Brook Trout
Haddock
Cod (deep fried in a beer batter)
ok let’s face it I could eat damn near anything daily at this point since I will sit at dinner and discuss food that I have cooked or want to cook in the future.
jenniebee
white meat chicken salad with fresh, ripe tomatoes and slices of sharp cheddar
sweet corn, no more than 15 minutes from garden to plate
chili and cornbread
red bell peppers and cucumbers with onion dip
cinnamon ice cream
prailenes
bread pudding
pancakes with molasses (Grandma’s Unsulfured!)
steak
Tsulagi
Shit, now I’m really getting hungry and distracted.
Of course, there is nothing quite like a prime grade 20oz Porterhouse properly barbequed with a little garlic and mushrooms sauteed in butter on top along with a healthy side of Caesar salad and thick crusty garlic bread washed down with a good Cab. Heaven.
Those other stupid fuckers can have just their 72 virgins in Paradise, I’d take a good steak and one previously driven hot woman any day.
If I can’t have steak, then…
Pizza, thin crust, plenty of garlic in the sauce loaded with pepperoni, real Italian sausage, and mushrooms.
Paella, also with plenty of garlic.
Gumbo with good bread to sop it up.
King crab, lobster, oysters…it’s all good.
King Salmon
Bulgogi
This could go on and on.
Rome Again
Crepes
Strawberries
Raisin Bread
Oysters
Crabs
Crab and/or Lobster Stuffed Mushrooms
Prime Rib
Flank Steak cooked in sherry sauce
Turkey
German Bologna
Tuna Casserole
Muenster Cheese
Smashed Potatos
Spaghetti
Corn-on-the-Cob
and the one thing in my mouth constantly: Sunflower Seeds
Ted
Chocolate covered strawberries
Zifnab
Oh sweet, succulant fish. From the sea, you leap unto my plate, like a finned angel who lives only to bless my tastebuds with your delicate touch.
That I could hold you between my lips forever.
That I could savor your soft flavor, nipple your smooth and gentle texture, and hold your delicious aroma in my mouth until the end of time.
Sushi, sweet sushi, from lands far to the east where the cherry blossoms fall and the blue mountains lay languid amid the perfumed air, I think of you always and every moment, for in you I find true happiness.
Sushi, I love you.
Pb
There’s just way too much food out there I like, but if I had to pick one, I think pizza would be at the top of my list too. Also, I’m surprised that no one’s mentioned any Indian food, at least that I’ve seen. I love a good chicken biryani.
Bubblegum Tate
Pasta is pretty much the main staple of my diet. It’s dinner probably 3-4 nights a week, and if I make too much and have leftovers, it’s also lunch the following day. Other things I could eat nonstop:
Double-doubles from In-n-Out
pizza
cheesesteaks
scrambled eggs (with cheese, garlic, white pepper, cumin, paprika) and bacon
Brownies from the bakery across the street from my apartment
Honey-roasted turkey, light rye, provolone, spicy brown mustard
Maryland blue crab and/or shrimp boiled in Old Bay
Keith
Sushi (specifically, toro, uni, unagi, tai)
Chicken fried steak w/ mashed potatoes (dar gravy) and fried okra
Pho
The Other Steve
I’m hooked on Indian Food.
Curry, Biryani, you name it. Just this past week, we ordered take out Matar Paneer, Mughlai Biryani, Mughlai Curry and some Garlic Naan… enough for two meals between the two of us.
Each week I try something different. Next week I’m going with the Aloo Paneer, and Tandoori chicken.
I’m not normally one to eat my vegetables, but you mix them in with some curry and man are they tasty. :-)
Rome Again
OMG, I’m hooked! Gimme some NOW!
Rome Again
The ONLY kind of crab, and the ONLY way to eat it.
The Other Steve
Ok, I looked at your biryani link. I forgot… the Mughlai stuff our local restaurant makes uses Lamb. I’m also hooked on Lamb. Yum yum.
Another of my favorites is thai masaman curry. It’s has potatoes, peanuts in a coconut based curry. It’s good with chicken, but absolutely to die for with lamb.
Meatball55
Roast Beef and swiss with gauc on 7 grain bread
Popeyes chicken and mashed potatoes
Eggs Benedict
Greasy sausage pizza
Fruit Loops and cold milk
SOS
Abalone Parmesan
Left over Thanksgiving turkey with cranberry and dressing on sourdough
John Cole
OMG, how could I forget steamed crabs with old bay. I must be insane.
dreggas
Animal style, you forgot to say animal style!!!! BLASPHEMER!!!!
Rome Again
I dunno John, how could you? Shame on you! ::just kidding::
dreggas
I haven’t done the Old Bay recipe but anyone who has ever been down to Puerto Nuevo can testify to the fact that the seasonings they steam the lobster and crab with just can’t be beat. I remember going to Cabo for thanksgiving one year and ordered the seafood platter (was supposed to be for two) they brought out a huge tray placed on a warmer that contained:
Fish
Clams
Mussels
Octopus
Lobster
Shrimp
Crab
scallops
and all were steamed/cooked in a blend of seasonings that made your mouth water just inhaling the scent. There was also a place that did nothing but shrimp and you just picked out how much shrimp you wanted. Again steamed with the right spices and served peel and eat.
Phenomenal.
Re: sushi
Ever since having salmon sushi and tuna sushi I am convinced it is sacrelige to cook either one.
brendan
stop abusing those apostrophes! No apostrophe on plural reubens!
Rome Again
dreggas, that sounds heavenly!
Rome Again
tuna sushi is the best, raw, of course.
dreggas
Oh and I’ll take fresh Rock Crab steamed and served with drawn butter, buttered corn, steamed red potatoes and biscuit with honey butter any day, especially when the crab was caught that day just off the Rhode Island coast and the ones catching it were the owners of the restaurant serving it.
Fond memories of a vacation in Rhode Island :).
dreggas
heavenly is an understatement. Mexican seafood is beyond divine when done well and between Puerto Nuevo and Cabo the seafood caught in the sea of cortez is just phenomenal.
The lobster tails are from slipper lobster so they’re not nearly as big as the cold water lobster such as those from Maine (some of the best IMO) but they serve em by the dozen not just one or two and are seasoned to perfection.
Australian Lobster Tails (another cold water Lobster) is absolutely fantastic as well even though one tail can cost you 30 dollars.
I am definitely a connoiseur of food, one thing I do miss here in California is perhaps the piece-de-resistance of fine shellfish and that is a 100 ct of Maine littlenecks steamed and served with a nice big steak.
Even the seafood places out here that do a lot of East Coast style sea-food (one locally called The Crab Cooker has fantastic blue crab cakes) tend to use cherrystone clams since Littlenecks are scarce.
Incidentally, it looks like it was a good season for Alaskan King Crab as local markets here in Cal are selling it for as low as 8 bucks a lb.
Rome Again
Hell, I used to catch my own off the Maryland coast, ain’t nothing like eating crab you caught and watched your brother torture with his comb.
Rome Again
I’m glad to hear it since I am no longer in the eastern half of the country ::whistles::
dreggas
Ok all this food talk has me in Homer Simpson drool mode and not getting much else what are ya implying? LOL.
Jimmmm
Blueberries
Blackberries
Lobster, served Maine style
Shellfish, in general
Catfish
Real (English) fish and chips
Chicken breast marinated in sesame oil and soy, butterflyed and grilled, served on fresh italian bread
Age Tofu (no, really)
Vegetable Chow Fun
Tomato, fresh mozzarella, basil sandwich
My wife’s crabcakes (5th generation family recipe)
Basil chicken or tofu (thai)
KFC’s mashed potatoes and gravy
Rice Krispie squares
Petty’s Farm butter-sugar (white and yellow) corn-on-the-cob, from the Scranton, PA farmer’s market
The fish tacos at Martel’s Tiki Bar on Manahawkin Bay, NJ
Frozen margaritas/tortilla chips/fresh-made salsa
Bahamian conch salad
The Jerk Chicken from Paddys in the Bronx
Stroopwaffeln and coffee
Most American breakfast cereals
Wasabi peanuts
Jimmmm
(ps: great thread, John.)
Rome Again
That I can’t get east coast seafood anymore, but it might be easier for me to try out what you’re suggesting?
dreggas
Rome Again Says:
That I can’t get east coast seafood anymore, but it might be easier for me to try out what you’re suggesting?
Oh yeah definitely, where ya located?
Rome Again
Southwest ::whistles::
Sal
Sushi (most kinds)
Shrimp Scampi
White Castles
Veal
Lamb
Homemade Italian sausage
Rice
Flounder
Wild trout (except usually let mine go, damn liberal c&r)
Venison
Chicken wings from Joe’s in Boise
Pork tenderloin on the grill
Pheasant under glass (only had it once, but oh man, was it good)
Reminds me of a story Lee Iacocca told about Henry Ford. Henry would always order a hamburger in the executive dining room at Ford HQ, and rave about how no one, no one, could make a hamburger like his chef. After a while of hearing this, Lee went into the kitchen to find out how the chef did it. “Like this” said the chef, who then put a couple filet mignons through the meat grinder and made Henry’s burger.
grumpy realist
Jimmmmm: age dofu or age dashi dofu? (Yum, I love the latter.)
My list:
Suan La Chow Show (Mary Chung’s in Cambridge forever!)
grape leaves stuffed with rice, lamb, and pistachios and done in lemon-garlic
yeah, sushi. Especially Hokkaido-style chirashi-zushi.
Sapporo-style ramen
moo-shu anything (with LOTSA plum sauce)
A good port and a good Stilton
yakitori anything
my cream cheese pie
a good saurkraut + sausage fry-up
the Buta-kaku-ni they had in the little restaurant across from where I worked
a good Thai green curry
raspberries, Laphroig
Bubblegum Tate
Oh yes, I have very fond memories of the same (except for the part about a sibling torturing crabs with a comb…I don’t know what that’s about). It was a summertime ritual in our family: Go to Maryland to visit my grandparents (or, sometimes, Bethany Beach in Delaware…same general idea), go catch a shitload of blue crab, boil ’em up in Old Bay, cover the table with newspaper, and start picking those bad boys. So very, very good.
Now I live out in California where they have dungeness crab instead of blue crab. And you know what? Dungeness crab is so far from what crab is supposed to be, it barely even qualifies as “crab.” Ridiculous.
I really do miss east coast seafood a lot. Those were the days….
Bubblegum Tate
Sliders? Eeewwwwww!
dreggas
Well If you mean down around So-Cal area you can find decent mexican seafood practically anywhere. Puerto Nuevo is south of the border, down in baja probably an hour or two after crossing from San Diego.
If you’re down near San Diego there’s a great place in Old town which I was just at but can’t for the life of me remember the name. Had an excellent “bucket” of snow crab, marinated chicken and carne asada.
Now if you are in the OC area there’s a nice little place in downtown Santa Ana called Mariscos Tampico that has an awesome ceviche tostada and an excellent Octopus Cocktail (picture shrimp cocktail only made with octopus and the octopus is marinating in a very liquid “cocktail” sauce flavored with chili’s and citrus juices). there are also a lot of good places along the coast and some more “american” seafood joints down in Newport Beach, places like Joes Crab Shack and the Crab Cooker.
Pb
The Other Steve,
Mmm, me too!
That’s very tasty as well–although I might have to ask the nearby thai restaurant if they can spice it up sometime–I think it’d be even better, hotter.
dreggas
Lamb makes me think of persian and indian and both are on my must have lists especially Tandoori anything and lamb kebab.
Evilbeard
your lists are too long. essentials people!
Cheese
Chocolate
Tim F.
Split peas with chorizo sausage.
My wife’s bouchee a la reine (Alsatian specialty, you’ll have to look it up…)
My wife’s rabbit stew.
My wife’s beef bourgignon.
My wife’s pasta bolognaise.
Yep, I’m a pretty happy guy.
Oh yeah, I might finish off the meal with a couple OREOS.
Louise
I started out the thread wondering if I could be John’s roomie, because, YUM! (Especially the turkey sandwiches)
Then about four posts in, I had to stop reading because (a) HUNGRY! and (b) BROKE!
I could afford some mac and cheese, but I’d have to drive to the store to get it and I’m not sure I can afford the gas.
Or, as my grandmother used to say, “If I had some ham, I’d have some eggs and ham, if I had some eggs.”
HyperIon
braised lamb shanks
grilled sockeye
mussels
gruyere/jarlsburg mac & cheese
WA state local strawberries
demimondian
Lamb in almost any form
Smoked salmon
Well-aged gruyere
West Indian Rotis
Squid, preferably cooked
Sushi
RSA
Speaking of which, I’m helping babysit a two-year-old tonight. In lieu of a real dinner, I fried up some sweet Italian sausage with slices of yellow onion, and made a sourdough bread sandwich with mayonnaise. The kid had oatmeal. Low end comfort food for both of us.
Nick
Man, it’s funny. I live in South Louisiana. We may have some of the worst education, incomes, or just plain common sense in the Union, but we do have food…
Now I’m hungry for some chicken and andouille gumbo or some boudin.
Though I’d also take sushi or curry…
*drool*
dreggas
Nick,
Louisiana has some damn fine food and nothing like some andouille sausage to spice things up, absolutely love eating it as much as I love cooking it, in some good old fashioned cast iron no less.
Sal
Oh yeah…
Jambalaya
Lisa’s Special (no cheese) at Cormack’s deli in Petoskey.
Miso soup. I like it.
Most of my wife’s soups – turkey, chicken, yellow pea. Sometimes the spices are off, but we don’t use actual recipes.
Chicken or Turkey crispies. Sort of a home made croquette (sp?)
Pasties. Gotta get a good one, but when you do…
Shrimp toast (at least the kind in Windsor’s Chinatown)
White Castle sliders? Oh yeah. Not the frozen ones. A bag of a dozen fresh ones. The perfect junk food. Whenever we go downstate, my son & I stop and get big bags. The girls say the smell nauseates them and won’t stay in the car, but Brian & I are in heaven, eating gut bombs and cruising the strip.
Then we pick the girls up at the mall. Wife & daughters, that is.
AnonE.Mouse
If I can eat just one food every day for the rest of my life,it has to be a large mocha,with 3 shots of espresso,a shot of Baily’s,and a generous helping of dark chocolate shavings.If I can eat just one food.
Baby Jane
Stale Peeps.
And this:
Yummy!
Duane
I have a hard time not ordering the reuben if it’s on the menu. I’m always looking for the best one.
John, I have a pasta salad recipe if yer interested. It’s olive oil and feta cheese based, not one of those hideous mayo and crunchy creatures we grew up eating at every church picnic.
Randolph Fritz
Real Japanese noodles
Real bread
Miso soup (do we detect a pattern here?)
Salmon
Chicken
Rice
Roasted veggies
Green salad (no iceberg lettuce, please)
…a lot of these are actually my everyday foods…
On the other hand, what about foods that one sometimes really craves, but only occasionally:
Mexican chocolate
Some French pastries (I don’t even remember the names)
Biyalis
Jimmm
Stale Peeps, Baby Jane?
Marry me?
Dreggas
Little place here in Santa Ana called Benjie’s has the best I have found in Cal. Good Jewish deli with tons of great food and the reubens are to die for especially on their own homemade rye.
Krista
The man REALLY likes his sushi.