I am always looking for new food adventures, and I had many great ones throughout the year.  Here is a list of my top 10 food or food-related discoveries of 2009 (in no particular order):

(1) the red pepper velvet cake at Dirt Candy in NYC
(2) the skillet bacon jam from Skillet Street Food in Seattle
(3) the pechiole al tartufo (truffled wild peaches) from Conti Foods in Florence, Italy
(4) the professional cheese knife from Claudine Vigier of La Fromagerie du Comtat in Provence
(5) the amazing tasting menu and setting at La Petraia, a restored working organic farm and agriturismo in Tuscany
(6) the chilaquiles from Primavera at the Saturday morning SF Ferry Plaza Farmers Market
(7) Cibreo Restaurant in Florence, Italy
(8) The Nibble Bar from Askinosie chocolate, made in Springfield, Missouri using cacao beans from Ecuador
(9) the brussels sprout salad at Bottega Restaurant in Napa Valley
(10) three crushed dried chili peppers from Whole Spice in Oxbow Market in Napa – chili aleppo, chili marash and chili urfa