Each passing year is more jam-packed with work, family, chores, adventures and, well, life, and because I’m not so good about taking notes, a lot gets forgotten. I figure anything I ate or drank in the last year that I can still remember must have been really good. Here are the highlights from the memory bank.

Dishes: Sure, you know about the sea-salt caramels at Little Flower Candy Co., but have you tried their quiche? Please do. Other tastes that have stayed with me include the pig candy from Lou on Vine; a saffrony seafood soup that my caterer friend Jennie Cook made for my husband’s birthday party; a moussaka at Fatty’s, the vegetarian restaurant in Eagle Rock adored by many a carnivore; the Pizza Rustica at Caioti, the most perfect blend of spinach, pancetta, pecorino and crust you can imagine; the eggplant salad and the honey ribs at Daisy Mint in Pasadena; and the Brown Bread ice cream at Scoops, the wildly creative shop on the border of Hollywood and Los Feliz.

Places: A restaurant works for all sorts of reasons, chief among them food, but service, setting, welcome, price and that indescribable vibe thing all have a big impact. Plus the people you’re with. And how much you drink. Among my most memorable meals out in L.A. in 2008 were:
— Lunch at Pizzeria Mozza with a couple of good eaters; we ordered with gusto and even had some wine, and what was most memorable were not the pizzas but the bruschetta, the salads and the roasted brussels sprouts with prosciutto breadcrumbs — and I hate brussels sprouts
— A fun and fabulous Peking duck dinner with a gang of friends at Lu Din Gee in San Gabriel
— A romantic Italian seafood dinner at Amarone, a tiny place that brings civilized dining to the Sunset Strip
— A couple of bar meals at the York, the Highland Park gastropub where the people are cool, the playlist is perfect, the food is delicious and fun to share, and the wines and beers are terrific and moderately priced
— A few pork-intensive meals at Palate in Glendale; I’ve had friends complain about some of the dishes here, notably the risotti, but I’ve stuck with the pork and have never been sorry
— The EAT: Los Angeles publication party at Farmers Market, where we wallowed in the market’s finest, from the Huntington’s sausages and Mr. Marcel’s truffle fries to Loteria Grill’s taquitos and Littlejohn’s English toffee

Out of town: 2008 took me to, among other places, San Francisco (twice), Portland (twice) and Santa Barbara (many times). The gustatory highlights:
— Lunch at Pok Pok, an incredible Thai restaurant in Portland with cookbook author and former Angeleno Teri Gelber— Breakfast at St. Honoré, a most wonderful bakery in NW Portland
— Lunch on a sunny Saturday afternoon at the Slanted Door in San Francisco’s Ferry Building with my mother and sisters, sharing elegant spring rolls and caramelized tiger prawns with chili sauce and drinking a crisp Sonoma sauvignon blanc
— A big family dinner at Higgins in downtown Portland, where we had fantastic salmon and a delicious wine that turned out to have been made by the waiter (he confessed after he recommended it and we loved it)
— Driving through gorgeous country to taste lovely Pinot Noirs and a superb Chardonnay at Alma Rosa, the new organic and sustainable winery near Buellton created by Richard and Thekla Sanford, formerly of, you guessed it, Sanford Winery.
— Meeting friends from Santa Barbara for dinner at Brooks in Ventura and loving the seafood, salads and shredded short ribs