(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

I ate very, very well this year.   So well, in fact, that it is impossible to compile a single list of my dining highlights…even if I disregard the restaurants where I didn’t take pictures of my food!   As a result, I’ve decided to assemble two food lists and intersperse them with my other “best of” lists.  Here’s the first list of food highlights!

1.  On-mountain dining in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

Who says you can’t eat well while skiing?  I’ve always enjoyed European ski food, as the mountain restaurants have a demanding clientele and also need to justify their existence outside of the ski season.  The photo at the top of this post shows one of the best on-mountain places at Rumerlo:  everybody in our group raved about their food.

2.  The Schnitzels of the former Yugoslavia

I was so taken with the schnitzels in Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina that I ate them almost every day.  I forgot to take pictures of most of them but the quality was generally excellent and the portions were huge.  Typically, I had already eaten a bunch of the fries before taking the above photo.

3.  Perogies in Vienna

I had plenty of Wienerschnitzel before arriving in Austria, so I was more than happy to try something else for my only dinner in Vienna.  I found an unassuming café just outside of the downtown core and was served the best perogies I’ve ever had:  the filling was not mere filler!  Expectations were low but sometimes that creates the best food experiences.

4.  Lemon Chicken in Ireland

I rarely eat Chinese food in Canada but I tried it a couple of times in the British Isles.  I found the Irish take to be the best:  I ordered lemon chicken in both Cashel and Dun Laoghaire and each time it blew away any version I had in Canada.  Hardly any batter, lots of chicken and a very tart sauce…not high cuisine, perhaps, but very tasty.

5.  Andean Feast in Huchuy Qosqo (Peru)

This was my first Peruvian feast and it featured a remarkable assortment of dishes.  These peppers were an appetizer but the other courses were extremely tasty and colourful too.  As with the pachamanca meal below, I was completely stuffed but still wanted more.

6.  Pachamanca in Urubamba, Peru

This was so good that I’m posting two pictures, one of the “spread” and one of my (first) main course.

A pachamanca meal is prepared in large pots that are (ideally) cooked underground for hours and hours.  Everything is cooked together in layers:  potatoes, vegetables, chicken, plantains…it is extremely filling but it is almost impossible to stop eating because of the wonderfully intermingling flavours.

7.  Blueberry Alpaca in Aguas Calientes, Peru

I rarely eat red meat but I was convinced to try alpaca in Peru.  I always ordered it well-done and it suited me perfectly:  the taste of well-done steak but much leaner and healthier.  I also had alpaca with a spicy “criolla” sauce in Aguas Calientes and it was almost as good as the blueberry version (but didn’t have the same supersized fries).

8.  Lomo Saltado, from Cusco Culinary Tour (Peru)

I wrote a long post about my culinary tour of Cusco back in July.  After the tour, we made our own lunch and prepared our own drinks in a real restaurant kitchen.  I ate lomo saltado (an Asian-influenced stir fry) on several occasions but I’d have to say that my own version was the best.   I didn’t create the recipe, of course, but I did tone down the garlic a little bit and took a few other liberties to customize the flavour for my palate.

Peruvian food was likely the culinary highlight of the year…but there is still lots of interesting food to come in the second part of this list!