5 favorite things...

I can be pretty indecisive when it comes to giving my number one most favorite thing ever. Usually I end up giving a "top three" in no particular order and that works out pretty well for me until I remember that I have a fourth and five and sixth item to add to that list. Because of this, and because when it comes to food I have a brand new favorite almost every day, I've decided to post my five favorite things of this week.

1. Cauliflower
Don't ask me why, but over the last two weeks I have fallen absolutely in love with this little vegetable. I've grown up eating it steamed with cheese sauce almost exclusively so I never realized its potential as an actual flavor. Flash baked in the oven with salt, pepper, and olive oil, cauliflower can take over the entire meal no matter how perfect or tasty the other elements are. It's a nice and hard vegetable but when cooked, cauliflower has a very rich and creamy taste that can add a needed zing to any white dish (and I really do mean white. Potatoes and quiches and cheeses... delicious!). I recently made a bunch of little potato souffles and sneaked cauliflower to the mix. That little bit of veg in the otherwise even-keel souffle definitely made the dish worth making again.

2. Meringue
When I was little I hated meringue. My mom made it and I always thought it was way too sweet and that it had a weird ethereal type texture to it... there, but not really. Lately though, I have come to really appreciate meringue. Swiss meringue would have to be my favorite--melting the sugar in the egg whites in a double boiler before beating them together to create pristine white shiny peaks in my stainless steel bowl. I am completely in love with the simplicity of meringue. But don't misunderstand me, "simple" never means "easy". Temperamental at heart, the egg whites will remain simply albumen if you get any water (or anything else!) in that bowl. But once you figure out a trick or method with meringue that works for you and treat it with its due respect, it will turn out beautiful every time.

3. ABBA
Seriously. Lately when I'm cooking or baking I'll pop in the Gold CD without even thinking about it or flip on Mama Mia on my computer to listen to in the background. It puts me right into the groove and I don't think about anything other than the particular task at hand, whether it's peeling potatoes, tempering eggs, or cutting pastry. I have no reasoning for this other than... I am a dancing queen...

4. Pistachios
Last weekend I drove to a Mediterranean grocery store in my purple spandex short shorts and bought a kilo of shelled pistachios. It's really difficult to find shelled pistachios in the city and I can't think of a singe reason why that would be. Since I bought them, however, I just want to put them in everything I make. Pistachios have such an interesting taste that changes with whatever you mix it with. And while some people balk at eating food that is green (other than leaves), I adore the rich and vibrant colour that comes about after you mix anything with these nuts. It's so original and makes everything you put it in taste like you've taken that extra little step to making something special.

5. Organic Cotton Spandex Short Shorts
I. Love. THESE. Every time I decide to set a day aside to make something particularly difficult or time consuming or oven heavy, I take out my soft plushy little short shorts and don them with a huge smile. They have got to be the most comfortable things in existence and as an added bonus, whenever I leave the house I have eyes following me (and my deliciously purple bum) wherever I go. Call it vanity if you will, but my excuse is this: working in a kitchen for a long time is hot work and you gotta keep cool, and also, there has got to be some way for me to measure my waistline while I make all this food! When the time comes that I can no longer fit into these little shorts, I will stop cooking. Either that or wear the shorts while running...