Scottsdale, AZ

It occurred to me this evening as I was eating dinner out with my parents that a fun question to ask would be “what was your favorite breakfast, lunch, and dinner last year?”

I was specifically thinking of food you ate at restaurants, but if you cooked your favorite meal at home then more power to you.

Best Dinner – Not surprisingly, most of mine were times we ate out in Vancouver (my only vacation last year). I voted for my best dinner at The Sandbar Restaurant as the best of the year. We had a really great view of the bay and the food was just terrific. I had this seafood bouillabaisse with all kinds of tasty ingredients in a sort of soup with curry. The menu describes it like this: Sandbar Hot Pot seasonal fish, thai curry, coconut milk. Mmmmmm, it was really good.

Best Lunch – Then for best lunch I voted for this one lunch we had about an hour north of Seattle (I can’t remember where exactly). We were waiting to get on the ferry and we had an hour to burn and we were hungry. We were sitting by the window overlooking Puget Sound and we could see cars waiting to load on the ferry. Since we had just flown out from Phoenix we were enjoying the great weather (think 30 degree difference).

My lunch consisted of this shrimp and artichoke sandwich and a tasty bowl of chowder. It doesn’t sound too interesting and maybe it wasn’t but the fact that I was starving, the great view overlooking the bay, and the food was really good made it my favorite lunch of the year.

Best Breakfast – This is easy because I’m a horrible breakfast eater. As a result I’ve eaten less breakfasts, so less to weed out. We ate at this one place in Anacortes, Washington called Calico Cupboard Old Town Cafe. Perhaps the food was good because we had been sailing for a few days prior and we were hungry. But it was really quite good. We later learned that the cafe is actually a chain but you would never guess. I’d call it a cross between a Mimi’s Cafe and The Breakfast Club in Scottsdale — but with much less sophistication. All good stuff.

There were a number of memorable meals at home and especially on holidays. I think the reason meals out are sometimes more interesting is because the ingredients are different from what you would typically have in your own home (who has curry or coconut milk?).

Hmmm, now I need to think about the best cup of coffee. That will be a difficult one.

Predictions for 2006 – I’m betting that I’ll enjoy some great food in Brazil this May. I’ve already enjoyed a few good meals out this year including one good dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse called Rio Sabor Brazil in Scottsdale where we had 11 different kinds of meat and some fish and shrimp all in one sitting.

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