Top Tens

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Top Tens is a new (and hopefully, monthly) event that gives you the chance to share your top tens in a new category each month. I love talking about food, thinking about food, and reminiscing about food, and I'm willing to bet most of you do to.

The first Top Tens will be "Top Ten Food-Related Memories". .
Each month the event will have a new theme, so stay tuned!
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I can't wait to hear your memories. To get you started, here are mine, in no particular order:

1. In pre-school, standing on tippie toes on a footstool so I could help my grandma make cornbread.

2. Being taught how to "spit cherry pits like a lady" by my friend's mom on a family vacation to Florence, Italy.

3. Taping fake cooking shows with my friend Christina Harris in elementary school.

4. Getting back at my pesky little brother by tricking him into eating super-spicy trick gum and then feeling really, really bad about it when he cried.

5. Eating my first oyster at a street stand on Arthur Ave in the Bronx and getting cheered on by fellow oyster eaters (oh man do I love New York).

6. In college, going on a date with a new guy, both getting food poisoning, and then laughing about it adjacent bathroom stalls while getting sick. Gross, I know, but hilarious in hindsight.

7. Going completely overboard and cooking way way way too much with my mom every Thanksgiving.

8. Testing every gelato spot in Florence (you know, for research purposes)

9. In my college apartment, trying to "crisp up" the top of an apple crisp in the broiler and then, smelling smoke, opening the broiler drawer to find that the apple crisp was completely in flames, and then, in a panic, closing it back up. (My boyfriend came to the rescue and doused the whole thing with a bucket of water).

10. In Italy, being taught to make gnocchi by my nonna.
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Here's how it works:

1. Create your list of top ten food-related memories. All you need is the list, but if you've got a picture that, in any way, corresponds, all the better. Post about it on your blog from now till Sunday May 24, 2009.

2. You must provide a link to the Top Tens post on my blog.

3. Once you’ve posted your list, please email me with your entry. All posts must be emailed to caitlin[dot]larussa[at]gmail[dot]com by midnight (eastern standard time) on Wednesday, May 27.

In your email, please:
-Write "Top Tens" in your subject line
-Include your name and where you are from
-Provide your blog's URL and a link to your entry on your blog

4. Shortly after the 24th, I will post a round-up and a winner will be selected randomly from all the entries. The winner will receive a small surprise, picked out by me!
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