I have done this a few times before – you can find those posts in my Blog category if you are interested – so I was thinking what more things to tell you did not know yet. Anyway, a while ago, my friend had made a post about her favorite foods and since then, I had been thinking about making a post like that myself (and did not do yet for whatever reason). This, friends, is the chance! So, curtain up for my top seven foods – just in alphabetical order because I cannot say which one I like best, and it also depends on appetite.
And since you already now that I love music, this little piece should go with it. Also, the music video has the most lovely and happy singing and dancing fruit.
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ALMONDS
My absolute favorite nut, and also the most versatile one because almonds are not only yummy on their own, great for baking, and awesome as almond butter, but also make the most delicious nut milk, while milk from other nuts or seeds (I have made and tried hazelnut, walnut, and sesame milk by now) tends to be rather bitter. They also contain a large proportion of healthy monounsaturated fatty acids.
~ freshly made, super creamy almond milk ~
My day usually starts with making fresh almond milk from almonds I have soaked in water overnight, and then I finish off a big pot (half a liter at least) of it with black tea throughout the day.
APPLES
Apples are my favorite fruit, and if I had to pick just one fruit to eat for the rest of my life, it would be apples. I like apples that are juicy and not too sweet, and my favorite variety is Elstar which is very aromatic and does not get mealy.
But I also like other kinds such as Gloster (which is rather non-commercial and quite hard to find), Jonagored, Boskoop, Granny Smith, and Pink Crisp. Just Braeburn is not so much my cup of tea.
CARROTS
Dear carrot, you probably are my favorite vegetable, despite the rivals below. Once, I ate so many of you every day that I turned orange, and people told me that I was finally not looking so pale anymore …
For some variety, I have different cutting techniques for carrots, and which one I use depends on mood and shape of the carrots I have. My favorite is carrot tagliatelle which are a perfect substitute for pasta. For making tagliatelle, long carrots of rather even thickness along their whole length are perfect.
Short and rather thick or knobbly carrots I like to cut into slices lengthwise, like this.
Big, thick carrots are also great for making diagonal slices.
And if you have a little time and nice, not too large steel cookie cutters, it is worth the fun to make flowers or animals from them … For this, you need preferably thick carrots as well to have sufficient cut surface.
Carrots that do not come with a suitable shape for those cutting practices usually end up in smoothies or soups. So you see, we have quite the carrot science on here.
CHICKEN
Surprise, surprise! Well, I just love chicken, and I eat it once at least almost every day. I eat those skinless, boneless chicken breast filets (I do not like the skin, and since I have some washing issues, grabbing a drumstick with my bare hands and having that oily feeling and smell on my fingertips afterwards frightens me a little) that I roast in coconut oil or ghee with spices, or I marinate them to make them more flavorful. Give me chicken, and I am perfectly happy!
My love for chicken has a very old history. When I was small, I sometimes ate at a place with my parents and grandparents where they had a half roasted chicken on the menu, and I always ordered that. I did not care for the fries, I just wanted the chicken with a lot of ketchup. So, apparently I did not have washing issues back then already. Maybe I should just have that again?
RED ONIONS
Red onions are my favorite onions because they have such a wonderful, slightly sweet flavor, and they do not make me cry while cutting them like the white or brown ones do. I love to cut them into slices and roast them in the pan together with some chicken, and then have that with a sliced apple or fresh tomatoes. The best dish is one that is buried under a pile of roasted onions.
And every time I find really big red onions at a store, I am very happy. I think the organic supermarket around the corner has by far the biggest ones.
~ does anybody still believe organic vegetables were small and wrinkly? ~
TOMATOES
When I have an appetite for something fresh and savory, tomatoes are always the first choice. Cooled tomato slices with a little salt or soy sauce are umami heaven! And they are also my favorite ingredient for a quick meal when I do not have time or am in the mood for cooking: Some freshly sliced tomatoes with leftover chicken make up a bowl of yumminess in less than three minutes.
And look what I recently found at the supermarket: smiley tomatoes!
Of course I had to buy those. The package says, “I am red and sweet”, and so they were!
WINTER SQUASH
This vegetable is the one I am looking for to being season throughout the whole year! My favorite one is hokkaido squash (red kuri squash in English) which is a medium-size and very orange squash that is sold at stores over here during autumn and winter. It is very starchy and perfect for baking or in soups and stir-fries.
Thank goodness my favorite Asian food store offers kabocha and butternut squash during the whole year, so I am not squash-less in spring and summer!
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So, there are my seven favorite foods. This was quite a hard task, and many foods I love as well – kale which is so hard to get here, adzuki beans which I have come to love recently, fish and seafood, and all those lovely herbs and spices I use for cooking a lot – remain unmentioned. Maybe I should do a post like this for just herbs and spices if I am tagged again.
So now, please tell me your seven favorite foods! Or make a post yourself and link back here so I can find it. I am excited to learn what you love!
