BO2009 Challenge - Day 12

December 12 New food. (You’re now in love with Lebanese food and you didn’t even know what it was in January of this year.)

While I am not in love with Lebanese food, I did have some fairly sublime food experiences this year.

-Spit-roasted lamb at the Church of Lamb in Athens, Greece. Who ever knew that an open air restaurant situated on the side of a hill in a church courtyard would produce some of the most succulent, gut busting, tender, flavorful lamb ever? Delicious.

-The goat cheese stuffed beignets at Cafe Brioche in Palo Alto. More for the company than the actual fritters - they were still absolutely delicious and came out hot and runny in the middle. Yum.

-Greek salad; I became obsessed with a hearty, fresh salad of chunks of cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions and salty olives. Dressed with a little balsamic, parsley and olive oil, nothing made more a satisfying lunch. Especially with Berkeley Bowl sourced Lebanese cucumbers, heirloom tomatoes and kalamata olives.

-The horchata cupcake at El Metate. At a $1.00 for a mini they are just the right ratio of unctous cream cheese frosting with sweet cinnamon cake. The perfect little bite. Every time we are there, whether we are going for the superb Mexicana pressed torta or the chile verder burrito (yes), the cupcakes remain the constant. We have yet to try the alfajores (caramel sandwich cookies), but I can only imagine they will not be able to match the outstanding cupcakes.