Five foods for which I am thankful this year

In this month’s issue, Cooking Light magazine’s editor asks, “What in the food world are you thankful for?” This got me thinking about how I would answer this question.

I had heard in the past that people’s tastes change as they get older, but I had never believed it. In reflecting on this question, however, I realized that my tastes actually have changed in the past couple of years or so.  Is this true for any of you?

So, here’s my top 5 foods for which I am very thankful this year.

1. Bread. Specifically, the Micucci’s baker Stephen Lanzalotta’s Lunar bread. I have the recipe now and I make it almost every week. It’s a little more labor intensive than the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, but not much.
2. Whoopie Pies. Prior to this year, I didn’t even like whoopie pies that much. I could take them or leave them. Now, however, I find myself happily walking a mile round trip to buy a whoopie pie from the masters at Two Fat Cats Bakery in Portland. I also have the Making Whoopies cookbook and have baked a couple of the recipes from it. And I just discovered that whoopies freeze like a dream!
3. Eggs. Farm fresh eggs: blue, brown, speckled, pink…the eggs from my chickens look like the ones Martha Stewart used to keep in a bowl on her TV show kitchen counter (does she still do this??) but they are so much better. Lately I love to make quick omelets from them, but a breakfast sandwich is also great for any meal.
4. Sausages. I never liked sausages, and now I love them. My new favorite pizza is Italian sausage pizza, but I also love them grilled with peppers and onions, in soup, whatever.
5. Fish. The only fish that I could bring myself to eat was canned tuna and on occasion, fried clam strips. Then I moved to Maine. A Mainer that doesn’t eat fish? Not wanting to be a human oxymoron, I started off slowly, but now I love many kinds of fish, prepared in ways other than fried. (Okay, fried clams are still my favorite, but I’ll eat the whole clam now, instead of picking off the bellies and making my husband eat those).

Okay, so this is my short list. What’s in your top five “grateful” foods this year?