In May, I took took a ten-day trip to France and Spain with my husband Daniel. We ate way too much camembert and pain au chocolat in Paris, lingered over lavish, four-course dinners at La Fargo, a lovely country inn, and sampled grilled sardines and Catalan cuisine in Collioure, a colorful seaside town.

And in the spirit of saving the best for last, we ended our trip in Roses, Spain with dinner at El Bulli.

For years I'd longed to visit what many call the best restaurant in the world, a food lover's mecca of sorts. But as hard as this might be to believe considering my place of employment, I could never figure out how to get a reservation. In fact, it was the blog Chocolate & Zucchini that taught me how to snag one! You can read the full story -- and I think it's a fairly funny one -- here.

All guests at El Bulli get a quick tour of the kitchen, and here I am with Ferran Adria himself. Daniel made me pose for a picture and as embarrassed as I was at the time, now I'm happy he did.

The review of our dinner is on my personal blog, but I will say that the meal exceeded my expectations, and it was by far my most memorable dining experience ever.

There's the stunning setting and the mysterious mountain road you take to get there. And the meal itself is a mind-blowing, dizzying 30-course event that's delivered over five hours by a flawless, multi-lingual staff. Never in my life have I had such impeccable service. Just Google "Dinner at El Bulli" and you'll see that everyone else who has eaten there feels the same way.

But now that I've been, I need a new restaurant for the top of my must-try list. A place to tuck away and dream about until the next time I'm able to plan such a spontaneous and kind of extravagant trip.

Any recommendations?