The whole pink cookie thing got me thinking about perfect foods. To me, the pink cookie is pretty close to ideal, but Peter? He won’t even touch one. He is so grossed out by the pink cookie that he will not even TASTE one. His loss!
I have a long list of perfect foods. Here are just a couple:
And I guess this is an obvious one:
Other perfect foods? I think soft ice cream would have to be on the list, green tea ice cream, certain coffees and teas, pickled eggplant, maple bars and cream-filled donuts from the now defunct Hillsdale Pastry Shop, pulled pork, oh, I don’t know. It’s such a long list! So what are some of your perfect foods?
oh YUM. You have no idea how nice this list is to me: all are soft enough for me to eat right now. Of course now I want them all, now. (for the same reason, I’m not going to try to think of my own perfect foods until later.)
I just started reading your blog a few weeks ago. Perfect foods to me encompass so many things: foods I grew up with, foods I have encountered through traveling, and foods that are that perfect symphony of simplicity and creativity. I think for something to be a “perfect food” it has to envoke a memory when you smell it or taste it, or talk about it. I love almond and yoghurt gelati because the first time I tried it I was in Florence on a hot, sunny day with my mom. Really good hot dogs remind me of the cold winter I spent in Chicago, my Mom’s bell pepper cubed steak and mashed potatoes remind me of my childhood. Just thinking about pulled pork takes me back to the sticky booth in the Chuck Wagon BBQ joint where I first experienced true BBQ. My perfect food isn’t really something physical, it is that intangible experience when your senses trigger a memory that sends you back in time.
do you know what they call musubi in korean? fist-rice because theyre as big as your fist!
cupcakes and rice balls… a good start!
i love ice cream and baguettes.
melonpan isnt so bad either
I love musubi’s so much! It’s embarrassing how many I can eat in one sitting. And of course mochi would be on my list as well.
Oh, I do enjoy musubi very much, and I wish they were as easy to find here as in Japan; I keep thinking I’m going to make some, but never do. My grandmother’s homemade pasta was simply amazing: it was so light, you could eat a whole bowl of it and not feel weighted-down. A really nice Italian submarine sandwich (can’t be found in my part of the country). A pate baguette sandwich from a certain bakery. Fresh popcorn. A nice, but not necessarily expensive piece of chocolate.
Oh mm.. perfect foods.. mine would have to be real ramen (not that packaged junk!), Philly cheese steaks, Mexican hot chocolate mocha coffee at a certain shop in LA, soondobu (Korean tofu hot pot), and spicy raw crab. mm.. now I’m hungry!
Love your blog 🙂
for me it’s breakfast-y foods such as Danish pastry, strawberry waffles, hash browns, maple sausage, and eggs over easy. But if we’re talking chocolate, I’d have to say that brownies are it for me. BTW–I just tried the brownie recipe on the back of the Tillamook butter package. Awesome. I would have taken a pic but I’m afraid it’s too late now, guess I’ll have to make another batch 🙂
The shredded meat sandwich that I had in a greek place in Paris. Oh god, if I could just know what was in it…
Kraft mac & cheese, dry green beans curry, lemon sorbet or gelato on a hot day, imam baildi (eggplant and tomatoes and cheesy goodness), bbq ribs, caramel popcorn, Greek tomatoes… Christina’s right, the memories are a big part of it – but so is the taste!
My grandmother’s chicken and dumplings, warm blackberry cobbler, some creamy brie & crusty bread, and chili dogs with all the works!
(I don’t eat meat anymore, but they actually still sound pretty perfect)
Jambalaya. You can put literally anything in there with the basic components, and it will taste good.
Macaroni and cheese. When I need comfort food. I can put meat in the mix for my husband (who can’t have a meal without some kind of meat product).
In-N-Out Burgers. I love these hamburgers (which you can only get in CA and other areas of the Southwest US). I order mine animal style, with this grilled onion mixture. I will sorely miss this when we move to Beaverton in 3 weeks.
Figs are perfect, and so are lemon bars.
Butter chicken. Not perfect in that it’ll turn you into a blimp if you eat it too often, but so delicious. And hot dogs with saurkraut. And cupcakes. And organic dark chocolate. And rotis. I could go on.
How about Mashed Potatoes with lots of butter. That’s my all time favorite comfort food. Leave off the gravy…just put on a glob of butter. Oh…and samosas. And I agree with you on the rice. Love rice. Hmm….so many carbs…so little time :o)
My favorites are Kraft mac and cheese and Rice crispie treats! I’m apparently a child.
Do you have a recipe for rice balls? I could really get into that.
Onigiri (rice ball) is also one of my fave perfect foods. I got my boyfriend hooked on them now. He bought some at a local Asian market here in Seattle and was amazed how they’re packaged so that the seaweed is separated by the rice in the plastic wrap until ready to be consumed so that it retains its crispyness.
Cupcakes are also there on my perfect foods list, but really, I think any baked goods tops my list. Gotta love my carbs (although my butt and thighs are completely disagreeing :/ )
Oh well 🙂
My perfect food is bibimbap…it’s a Korean dish that has rice with veggies, beef, and egg all mixed up with red pepper paste. Yummmm! I especially like it when it’s served up in a hot clay pot [dolsot bibimbap].
Did you make the rice balls? Do you have a recipie?
My fav food is fresh corn on the cob with real butter and salt!
You have no idea how hungry you al are making me right now and that’s saying alot because my mom has been living with us the past month and cooking non-stop…
Hummus, Chicago style pizza, homemade chocolate brownies with vanilla ice cream.
SUSHI
Kettle chips
Any kind of sushi, the perfect fudgey brownie, steak fries, and almost any type of chicken strip or nugget (but not chicken fries).
My all time favorite food is sticky rice in lotus leaves. The best. I love lots of other things too, but I could live on sticky rice steamed in lotus leaves………… Would like to learn to make rice balls, though! They look like something I’d love! Trouble is the fact that I love food! samm
My mam-maw’s chicken and dumplings (I’m the 2nd vegetarian to leave a comment that names this the perfect food… I think that proves the power of a grandmother’s chicken and dumplings is mighty). Homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Biscuits (good at breakfast with jam, good at dinner with butter, good cold at lunch as a mini sandwhich – gotta love ’em). Burritos!!!!
Wow. If I ate *any* of your favorites on a regular basis I’d be in a diabetic coma. So funny how two peoples’ metabolisms can be so different 🙂
Mine, guilt-free: roast chicken, grilled salmon, broccoli, avocados.
Mine, but don’t tell my endocrinologist: macaroni and cheese, enchiladas, and biscuits and gravy.
Hee, Bakery Bar, right down the street from where I work.
Perfect foods? Strawberries, pineapple (grilled), fresh homemade challah toasted, my homemade cupcakes with buttercream forsting, Dragonfly green chai, ethiopian yergajaheffe and avacados. yum…
i’m so glad there are people out there who share the same love for “pink frosted” cookies. other perfect foods for me include funfetti cupcakes (can’t mess those under any condition) and pi dan congee. yum.
oh so many… mashed potatoes, roast chicken, braised short ribs, salsa fresca, mint lemonade, jasmine rice with lime pickle and yogurt, blood orange sorbet, freshly baked bread… i could just go on and on… 🙂
Mariko, I was sad to hear about your dad. That picture of him and the doggie is just priceless, though. Take care, and eat up. 🙂
Jon’s scones and pizza, turkey and stuffing, lemon bars, sugar cookies with cream cheese frosting, banana bread and don’t forget the perfect beverage…tea.
Does a bento box count as a food item? If not, then I say it’s my perfect meal. Some pickled veggies, barbecue meat and sweet potato tempura– all on a bed of rice. (Well, that’s a bento Hawaii-style, anyway). I also like a simple pasta dish — like angel hair pasta with marinara sauce.
My perfect food is the vegan peanut butter cup. Golden Smackers. I’m fairly certain I could survive on just those and vanilla coke.
My list – artichokes, tziki (can’t spell it – but it’s the Greek yogurt & cucumber sauce), dark chocolate, lychee gelato, passion fruit, my husband’s fried chicken, and coffee ice cream.
Oh wow, you just got a whole lot of my cravings going. My list: real homemade red velvet cake with cream cheese icing, really good carrot carrot (again, with cream cheese icing), super-dark chocolate, perfectly ripe pears, crisp red grapes, french onion soup, my mother’s shepard’s pie…yeah, as you said, there are too many perfect foods.
Wow. Perfect foods. Well, my mom was a horrible cook, so my perfect foods tend to be things that I make that my kids seem to ask for all the time: apple crisp (breakfast of champions at my house), chicken enchiladas, tunafish-potato cakes (poor man’s salmon patties), chili and home made pizza.
Well- thanks for the rice ball idea–I’m going to fire up my rice cooker and steam some asparagus and make rice balls! It’s a great idea to bring to work for lunch too.
I love onigiri and all the yummy fillings. I have also been enjoying soft serve green tea ice cream. So good!
mmmm green tea anything is wonderful! And fried calamari makes my toes curl with glee!!!
I’m usually on a quest for salt and vinegar chips. One of my favorite foods since I was little – Tobiko. I will eat it from the container in spoonfulls.
How I miss the choco-cro.
I love musubi too! Especially with ume inside. I’ve been addicted to furikake ever since I was a kid–my favorite is the wakame chazuke with the rice ball pellets. Of course, I’d have to follow it with kurimanju.
I’m originally from Portland. Is Friar Tuck’s chicken still around? It was so good.
Ripe Mangoes, buttery shortbread cookies, a perfectly roasted chicken – hey! that’s a complete meal!
Yum, onigiri! I grew up calling them musubi though. Rice burner? Didn’t you have a rice cooker? Where did you live in Japan?