5 Things to Eat Before You Die

I saw this meme on Lotus Reads, and she did such a beautiful job with it, I thought that I would try it out, even though she didn’t tag me. I loved the thought she put into her answers, and the pictures.

I’ve done several memes where one of the questions is “5 favorite foods” or something like that. For a question like that, my answer is generally something along the lines of ‘Rib Eye, Heirloom tomatoes, cheetos…”, that kind of thing. Things I love and eat often.

This meme, however, is titled “5 things you should eat before you die”, which implies that these should be special things, things that you would recommend to people wholeheartedly. So, here I am, wholeheartedly recommending my list of 5 things you should eat, at least once, before you die.

(this picture is from Napa Style.com, since the picture I found long ago of an actual Thanh Long crab is no longer online)

1. Thanh Long Roasted Crab.

Thanh Long is a restaurant way out in the Sunset District, in San Francisco. Ted’s Aunt has been going there for years, since the crab was $7. Nowadays, it’s probably closer to $35. It’s worth it. They roast a whole dungeness crab in butter, garlic, oil, pepper, and secret things. It’s incredibly yummy. They also have other crabs on the menu. Drunken Crab, cooked in white wine, good for those watching their cholesterol; and Sweet and Sour Crab. My advice? Get your veggies in at lunchtime, go to Thanh Long and order the roast crab and a plate of garlic noodles, and follow it up with fried bananas and ice cream. Yum. A warning: it’s REALLY messy. Ted’s cousin, Michelle, can eat it and only get two fingers on each hand messy. She’s the only person on earth with this skill. So don’t dress too fancy. A suggestion: they have crab all year, but it’s best in mid to late fall. Mmmm.

They have a few sister restaurants. Crustacean in San Francisco (At the corner of Polk and California streets, at the cable car turnaround), another Crustacean in Beverly Hills, and it looks from their website like they’re opening another restaurant on Sutter Street, in San Francisco, on Nob Hill. I assume that from the name of the restaurant, 536 Sutter. It could be a Sutter Street somewhere else.

2. Dinner at Laperouse in Paris.

We went there on our honeymoon in 1993. I wrote about it once before, but it bears reminding you, because every single bite was AMAZING. We’ve eaten at some pretty amazing restaurants, most notably in San Francisco and Philly, but nothing compares to Laperouse. Nothing even comes close. So yeah, go to Paris. Eat there. Thank me later.

3. Raspberries that never make it into the pail.

You’re out in the woods, it’s a warm summer day, dragonflies are buzzing around, and that sweet/tart taste is perfect. If you can manage to get a few home, eat them over good vanilla ice cream. (If you’re not a big fan of the raspberry, substitute blueberries, blackberries, marionberries, whichever you like best. For me, it’s raspberries.)

4. Salmon that you caught that day, brought home and grilled, along with fresh broccoli from your own garden.

It doesn’t hurt if you’re in Alaska, by the way. Good stuff. Amazingly good. When I caught my salmon, there were ‘chum salmon’ running, which means they were traveling from the ocean to their home rivers to spawn. The spot at the mouth of the river looked like it was boiling with fish. There were bald eagles circling around, and ravens looking for a meal. It was the only time I’ve ever killed my own food, and I’m thinking I would do it again, in a heartbeat.

5. A really good glass of wine or champagne.

Veuve Cliquot will do nicely. Especially if you pair it with the right meal, it can be sublime. The right cabernet with steak or duck, the right chardonnay with your pasta, can be a revelation. But really, I’ve had Veuve Cliquot with Taco Bell. (Only once, at a bridal shower, because that’s the kind of girl she was!) And you know what? Best Taco Bell I had ever eaten. VC goes with almost anything.

So there’s my list. I’ll tag a few folks as well, and see what comes up. 🙂
1. La Luna
2. Cherry
3. ML
4. Emily
5. Jay

If anyone else wants to do this one, let me know. I’d love to read it!

This meme was started by Melissa at Travelers Lunchbox. Let her know if you participate. If you want to see other people’s suggestions, check out her original post. There are hundreds. 🙂