She got sauce

For no good reason, I got it in my head that I wanted to compile a list of my top 10 most favorite foods. So I did.

It's meaningless. Tomorrow it will certainly change. Whole cuisines that I am passionate about (Mexican and Greek, for example) are omitted here--and now that I think of it, kataifi me crema or guacamole may deserve a place on the list.* But here it is, for better or for worse, in no particular order:

• French bread with Brie - evidence, I think, that my palate still lives in the 1980s.

• Grapefruit halves with granulated sugar - preferably white grapefruit, because the astringency contrasts so beautifully with the sweetness. Pink grapefruit I prefer to eat plain. Either one must be refrigerator-cold.

• Vietnamese noodle salad with mock duck - with a ton of fish-sauce dressing poured on it.

• Meyer lemon curd - alone, on toast, in a tiny tart shell, or swirled with Greek yogurt.

• Rhubarb pie - or cherry, I can't decide. Must be made according to my family recipe.

• Peanut butter and banana sandwich - either on good grainy whole-wheat bread, or (just as appealing) on thick slabs of French or Italian bread. Not fried. Not even toasted. Banana very slightly underripe.

• Vegetable samosas - spicy, redolent of ajwain seeds, with a side of tamarind sauce.

• BBQ pork shoulder sandwich - with pickles, slaw, and a good dribble of hot, vinegary sauce. Not just anybody's, of course; there's a wide gulf between the best and the rest. My favorite is from Cantrell's in Nashville.

• Bratwurst - grilled, on a bun, with sauerkraut and relish and onions, washed down with the first, coldest sips of the s.o.'s beer at a baseball game.

• Lightly sugared fresh strawberries - just enough so that their juice comes out. Excellent over warm buttermilk biscuits and/or with whipped cream, but equally perfect slurped up alone with a spoon.

I think we can conclude a few things from this list: (1) I like fruit, (2) I like bread, and (3) I have an iron stomach. All true. What's on your list?

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* L2 recently called me and asked if I needed anything from the grocery store. "Avocados!" I replied. "I've been craving guacamole for days." She obliged--brought me corn chips, too--and I ate almost the entire batch in one sitting. I really, really love guacamole.