You Are What You Eat Meme: My Top Ten Favourite Foods

I was tagged by the fabulous Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen, who's been so wonderfully supportive since I started blogging mere weeks ago. Since she tagged me, I've been racking my brain, trying to limit my number of favourite foods to just 10 (I am greedy indeed). After a while, I figured the best way to do this was to list foods that I simply cannot live without. So, here goes:

1. Chocolate
I know it's cliche, but I can't go one meal without chocolate -- the darker the better. I often say that I have a second compartment for chocolate in my stomach. To wit, I could eat a massive buffet and stuff myself till bursting point and moan about how I am simply unable to put anything else in my mouth. But then place a piece of chocolate under my nose, and I'd inhale it in just one mouthful and ask you for more. I stopped smoking about two years ago and, alas, chocolate is my substitute for cigarettes. The end of every meal is punctuated with a small piece (oh, alright, a whole bar) of chocolate. Hey, there are worse habits a girl could have, no?

2. Chilli Sambal
Like a true Peranakan (Straits-born Chinese), I eat sambal belachan (fresh chilli pounded with toasted fermented prawn paste and a squish of lime) with everything. Not many places serve sambal belachan though, so I've developed a taste for any kind of sambal (chilli jam, for want of a better way to describe it). Asian dishes are just not the same without sambal and I'd rather forgo Asian food than eat it without chilli.

3 and 4. Prawns and Crabs
I love prawns and crabs cooked any way. Even if they are just boiled in hot water.

5. Oysters
Fresh and writhing slightly in their shells when touched, with a spritz of lemon and a dash of hot sauce. I've been known to knock back 35 oysters all by myself in one sitting. The ones pictured above are a platter of Bateman Bay oysters which I had the pleasure of supping on at Sydney's restaurant-of-the-moment Flying Fish. In fact, once that picture was taken, they all slipped down my throat in less than two minutes.

6. Fried Chicken Wings
I don't care for chicken breasts (white meat is just not my thing). But I adore chicken wings, particularly if fried in a light, crispy and spicy batter. My all-time favourite are the Prawn Paste Chicken Wings from the Crystal Jade chain of restaurants available all over Singapore.

7. Foie Gras
This is one of my favourite foods that I prefer to eat outside of home. Cooking it myself just serves to show me how much pure fat I'm consuming in one (very small) sitting. My favourite place to have it is at Saint Pierre, where chef Emmanuel Stroobant serves it pan-fried with caramelised green apples and port sauce.

8. Steamed White Rice
To be honest, I don't really like white rice that much. When I do eat it, I don't consume much of it in terms of portions. Yet, strangely, it is a staple that I cannot live without. Rice is the ultimate comfort food for any Asian, and I guess I'm no different. Though I could go a whole week without eating a meal that consists of rice, it is only a matter of time before something deep inside me starts to gnaw and growl and demand that I feed it with a spoonful or two of steaming white rice -- preferably served with a dollop of sambal belachan and a spicy, braised meat dish on the side

9. Pasta
This is another taste for which I cannot understand. When I'm carbing up during triathlon season, I literally dream of pasta in my sleep. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, craving those damn noodles, drenched in sauce -- any sauce. I crave it more often than I crave rice!

10. Ice Cream
Real Italian gelato, Haagen Daz, Ben & Jerry's, luscious home-made creations -- the richer the better -- need I say more?

Now I have to tag five more people and since I don't have many food blogging friends (yet, I hope), I'm going to tag five blogs that I enjoy reading. They are:

1. Liz from Gastronomy Domine
2. Dagmar from A Cat In The Kitchen
3. Ilva from Lucillian Delights
4. Cupcake Queen from 52 Cupcakes
5. Sam from Becks & Posh

I'd love to see what you guys name as your favourite foods.