We have many wonderful food memories -- but three of the most vivid concern not the food that we ate, but the manner that it was served to us. At a B&B in the French Basque country we had kiwis for breakfast. Our hostess had sliced a kiwi in half, and then placed each half in an egg cup. It's now how we serve kiwis at home. During another French trip our son ordered lamb at small hotel in Provence. It was served with rosemary, but what made the dish spectacular was that the rosemary was on fire. It was truly a sensual delight. We haven't replicated that at home.

Finally, one more vivid memory is of dark chocolate we purchased at a tiny bakery in an out of the way Spanish town in the Pyrenees. Susie Kaplan had written about this bakery on TheTravelzine a couple of years ago, and we made a special trip to find it. The chocolate bar was just that -- an unwrapped bar. But the woman behind the counter took each bar we bought (and we bought ten), and wrapped each bar in brown paper. She then placed a wax seal on the paper, and handed the bar to us for inspection. We savored the entire experience.

Looking forward to reading about more food finds...

Dot Allen Silicon Valley