Menus? We don't have menus. We have cake.

So, I've been doing some traveling. There are many great things about getting out of one's everyday. Being with the people I love best in a new routine (that included, among other things, cake for breakfast) afforded me the opportunity to spend some time in life's back seat, where the view is always better because you're neither captain or crew. Ahh, vacation.

As much as I love cooking I never miss it. Eating someone else's food each day gave me tons of new ideas. And even if the dish was beyond my skill level (I totally lack the requisite hit points to recreate Marina Piccola's amazing curried scampi penne) it's always a pleasure to try new things.

Here are my top five favorite things I ate on my travels:

1. A giant bowl of steam-sauteed baby clams and mussels under a full moon by the Adriatic. The clams were in the teeniest little white shells marked with a groovy brown snakeskin pattern. La Garzette's garden frito misto, that preceded the steamers, was perfect in every way.

2. Un Caf! This was our whimsical morning rally call to caffeine, conveniently understood cross-culturally. We enjoyed the Euro Caf so much that we're adding on to our family. I'm pregnant with anticipation! Our new arrival is due on our doorstep any day now! Expect to hear lots more about it soon. (Pssst...it's an espresso machine!)

3. La véritable macaron Ladurée. Fave flavor had to be the caramel, tho the pistachio was surprisingly haunting.

4. Peach sorbet. Or caramel gelato. Or the classic raspberry-lemon combo cone. Mmm...gelato.

5. Squid ink linguine with equally well-stained clams. My husband wanted to take my picture after I finished - my entire mouth was black. I imagined I looked a little too much like that freak monk from The Name of the Rose and didn't want that digital image floating around.


Other memorable meals include awesome company and curry at Tandoori Nights, the still scrumptious Wagamama (now in, like, a billion locales), nearly every bite of pizza, pasta or panini, every sip of vin rosso and this one in Paris:


I'm back in my Chicago routine now. Thanks so much to all who wrote that you've missed Pinch.