Ecstasy at MOMA of the Non-Art Variety

When I think back over the past few months, the holidays included, there's one meal that keeps haunting my memory. I co-hosted a group of people in New York on an art tour in October, and we ate well. Very well. But it's always the surprise-and-delight factor when I'm traveling that ingrains a food experience in my memory. The one on this trip happened to occur in the Museum of Modern Art's Cafe 2, where our group of 25 was served a dozen or so small-plate items.

The one among them that I'm still swooning over was a simple cranberry, brie, and walnut panini. How could this be so good? The cranberry was in the form of a sweetened sauce. The walnuts were chopped coarsely and there weren't too many to overpower it. The brie, was melted. Gooey. Oh God. The bread was pressed and toasty, with the whole shebang sliced and served in long, elegant slices - each roughly the size of a large biscotti. How good were they? I skipped dessert to have more.

I. Skipped. Dessert.

That's serious.

I've been resisting urge to buy a panini press after coming to terms with the limited space in my cupboards. But like I said. You don't argue with the food gods.