Found: World's Best Yogurt

I love yogurt. My mom likes to say I would have starved as a child without Dannon strawberry yogurt. As I've gotten older, my yogurt preferences have changed. Spending 18 months on Europe will do that to you. Also, I have tried to cut out high fructose corn syrup as much as possible. And since I eat yogurt almost everyday, it was a big culprit. My search has led to this:

Rachel's Wickedly Delicious All Natural, Low Fat Yogurt. That's quite the name to give yourself but I have to say, it lives up to it. The yogurt is smooth, creamy, not too sweet, and comes in amazing flavors. Right now I'm eating the Orange Strawberry Mango. Yesterday it was Mango, Pineapple Passion Fruit, and tomorrow it will be the Cherry Black Currant. Looking forward to trying to others. Here's a list of all the flavors:

Orange Strawberry Mango
Pomegranate Blueberry
Mango Pineapple Passion Fruit
Kiwi Passion Fruit Lime
Cherry Black Currant
Marionberry Guava
Pomegranate Açai
Peach Green Tea
Berry Jasmine
Vanilla Chai
Plum Honey Lavender
Pink Grapefruit Lychee

Cauliflower and Goat Cheese Gratin

I was just emailing this recipe to a friend and thought, since I'd already typed it out, I would share it here too.

Cauliflower and Goat Cheese Gratin

Large cauliflower, broken into florets and stems discarded
1 large garlic clove, peeled
1/2 pound (1 cup) nonfat cottage cheese
3 oz (1/4 cup) goat cheese
1/4 cup skim milk or plain nonfat yogurt
2 tsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/3 cup fresh or dry bread crumbs
1 Tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Oil a baking or gratin dish.

Bring 1 inch of water to boil in a saucepan fitted with a steamer. Add cauliflower, cover and steam until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and spread out in an even layer in the dish.

Turn on a food processor and drop in the garlic. Add the cottage cheese and goat cheese, blend till smooth. Add the milk or yogurt, thyme, pepper and blend.

Spread the goat cheese mixture over the cauliflower. Sprinkle on the bread crumbs. Drizzle with olive oil.

Place in the oven and bake until bread crumbs are browned and bubbling, 15-20 minutes.

This is from The Light Basics Cookbook, which is nice enough to tell us that one serving (it makes 6) has 132 calories and 5.8 grams of fat.

Found: Furniture on Craigslist

I just found a few things I really like on Craigslist:

Lately, as I've been planning my future living room in my head, I have been trying to figure out what color sofa I want. I really like pale turquoise, brown, and orange together. I would love a turquoise sofa but that isn't very practical for such a big investment. Turquoise throw pillows are one thing but the biggest piece in the room is another. So, right now, I'm leaning towards a dark brown sofa. This one is old but kind of fun.

This desk is so unique. Some of the mid-century stuff gets too plain and linear but this is beautiful.

I really like both of these lamps, I would probably update the yellowed shades but they definitely have potential, especially for only $29.

And the best find of all was this chair. Almost exactly like the one I just bought for $30, but this one is $225!

No More Naked Walls, Part 4

Bliss, a fantastic blog  I've mentioned before, posted about Charmingwall, which led me to Devon Kelley-Yurdin's site.  Crazy, intertwining maze, this Internet. But I'm glad I found my way through it to find these.

No More Naked Walls, Part 3

Binth has really sweet cards, prints, and pillows.  This is one of my favorites.  See, I was a chemistry nerd in college, I had a crush on my lab partner my freshman year, I always wish I wore glasses, and love boys in them.  So this really is the perfect little card for me.  Plus I love the yellow and brown.

No More Naked Walls, Part 2

Etsy is dangerous! I could spend hours on there dreaming about things I want to buy or create myself. Ann Whim Tseng has a website and an Etsy shop where you can buy her prints. Also, if you are lucky enough to live in Portland, you can buy them at Powell's at Cedar Hills Crossing.

Laundry Day

Maude - for Maude's yellow umbrella in Harold and Maude

Unfinished Road

Red Book Tree

No More Naked Walls, Part 1

I finished unpacking and organizing last week and tomorrow I'm finally going to hang some art on the walls. I always dream of having groupings of prints like you see in Domino. Prints and other things I've collected in travels. And while I do have some art, I need more so I think the next few posts will be about some fun prints I've found recently.

My Little Underground has some great prints that play with the command key on Macs. I'm a Mac nerd so I love them.


Originally seen on emmas designblogg

Over the Hill

Not me, my car... Look what happened on the way to work last night.

Pambiche = Muy Delicioso

Pambiche may be my favorite restaurant in Portland. It might not be the "fanciest", or "gourmet-est" restaurant but it IS the one I missed the most while I was away from Portland. Last night I finally made it back. At most restaurants, from visit to visit I try new things. At Pambiche, I always get the same thing, a maiz con pollo empanada. It's a crispy, flaky crescent filled with corn and chicken (duh). It's served with tostones (fried green plantains) with limes to squeeze on top and banana ketchup for dipping. It also comes with ensalada caribeña - the best version of slaw ever, cabbage, carrots, citrus, herbs, no mayo in sight. It is filling but best of all, it leaves room for sharing a dessert. Last night, Laura and I split the Alemán - coconut chocolate cake laced with saoco syrup and sandwiched with a caramel peanut filling. Glazed with Oaxacan chocolate ganache and topped off with typical Cuban peanut candy. Served with crema chantilly. All of the desserts are made in-house and all the ones I have tried are delicious.

Laura, a friend who fondly calls Pambiche "our place", does try different things and has loved them all. Last night she had the Camarones al Ajillo - jumbo gulf prawns in creole garlic sauce. Served with pan frito, and arroz blanco. She said it was delicious and judging by the bite I tried, she's right. I saw at least 5 other tables order this too.

This restaurant is small, no I mean SMALL! And they don't take reservations. But they have made the wait shorter by having outside tables. Thanks to overhead heaters, I have sat outside in December and been comfortable enough that I enjoyed the food. That probably says more about the food than my actual warmth. But should be a testament to you, this place is delicious.

It's on Glisan and NE 28th. It's a delight for the senses. Look for the bright turquoise, hot pink, purple, and yellow building with the neon Cuban flag. Listen for Cuban music. Feel the warmth from the heaters. Smell the delicious scents from your neighbor's table. Taste some of the best food you've ever eaten.

Do You Like American Music?

Lizzy's birthday was a few weeks ago but she just had her party. The longest I've ever drawn out the celebration was a week so I'm very impressed by her skills. She didn't want any gifts so I made her a mix CD. Here it is for the rest of you.

1. 7 Stars - The Apples in Stereo
2. Mona Lisa - Blair
3. Every Day is Like Sunday - Colin Meloy
4. Under the Texas Sky - Ferraby Lionheart
5. Teardrop - Jose Gonzalez
6. Second Chance - Liam Finn
7. Mr. Pitiful - Matt Costa
8. Dashboard - Modest Mouse
9. Five on the Five - The Raconteurs
10. Killing the Blues - Robert Plant & Alison Kraus
11. Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters - Ryan Adams & Elton John
12. Sentimental Heart - She & Him
13. Oregon Girl - Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
14. Let My Love Open the Door - Sondre Lerche
15. Danger! - The Sound of Arrows
16. Shut Up and Let Me Go! - The Ting Tings
17. A-Punk - Vampire Weekend
18. Hideaway - The Weepies
19. New Soul - Yael Naim

I'm All Lost in the Supermarket

But this site, Supermarket, makes it easy to still shop happily. (Want a copy of Lost in the Supermarket? You're welcome).

I think it's a sad commentary about me that when a site is too small I want it to be bigger, have more stuff, but then when it gets bigger, it's to hard to sift through everything.  I'm struggling with craigslist right now.  

Well, Supermarket is a lot like etsy but smaller.  Right now it seems to be just the right size.  I found so much that I want but didn't feel that I was probably only seeing 10% of the site.  Here are a few things I found:

12fifteen - Has letterpress coasters, notecards, placemats, and prints.

three sheets 2 the wind - pillows and prints

typography photography - the name really says it all.

Nina Dinoff Jewelry - Not only do I love the name Nina, I love pretty jewelry

Sean Tubridy - clear, crisp, colorful prints. I really want this "Home Economics" series.

Elly Nelly - I'm not always a fan of wall decals but some of these are really cute. And I love this one, it looks like it's been placed on a shiny red fridge.

blue ant studio - prints about modern furniture design. I couldn't decide which I liked more so I had to include 2 images.

Cooking Up A Storm

I love to cook and learned most of it from my dad.  He's a great cook, dreams of opening a restaurant and, since retiring, gets it out of his system by volunteering everyday at a local soup kitchen.  Since I've been moving so much recently and didn't want to restock the pantry every 3 months, cooking got put on the back burner (get it?).  Now that I'm getting a little more settled, I've been cooking again and looking for new recipes.  Here are some of my favorite cooking sites.

French Feast - A great resource for hard to find French food.  Since I lived there for a while, I get cravings sometimes.

AllRecipes - All sorts of possibilities, just search to your heart's content.  Plus people can rate the recipes and write comments or changes they made so you can find the best, 5-star rated lasagna.

Smitten Kitchen - I just found this site and everything looks so good but not at all what I need to be eating, Dulce de Leche Ice Cream, Rich Mac and Cheese, Oatmeal Cookies. OK the green bean and tomato salad seems fairly healthy and perfect for summer.

101 Cookbooks - Another beautiful site.  This one is usually healthier and I think it's also vegetarian.

Epicurious - Search for recipes from Bon Appetite and Gourmet magazines.

Cook's Illustrated - Looking for the "Best" of something?  This is the place.  They test and retest till they find the perfect way to make something.  They also rate kitchen equipment.  Some of the features require a subscription but lots are free.

Chocolate & Zucchini - Not just recipes but fun posts on food.

Local Harvest - A great resource to find locally grown food in your area.  farmer's markets, restaurants who use local  ingredients, and community supported agriculture.

Chow - Recipes and so much more, tips on etiquette, new food items, tips and Q&A

Lizzy Dishes Portland - Reviews of restaurants in Portland, such a great town for food.  And lots of links to other food sites.  And best of all, I know her and occasionally get to go eat with her.

I'm Settling In

As a travel nurse I live in a furnished apartment but since I'm thinking of staying in Portland, I will eventually need furniture. So today I bought my first piece, a "new" chair. I'm pretty excited about it. I did keep one chair I loved when I sold all the rest of my stuff last year. That chair is at my mom's and the new one is fairly similar. As pictured, it doesn't have cushions but that's so much easier than a full reupholstering job. The hardest part of the whole thing was fitting it in my car. I'll post more photos when it's done.

Lilac Festival

On Saturday, Chelsea, Sara, and I went to the Hulda Klager Lilac Festival in Woodland, WA. The grounds are so lovely. There are many varieties of lilacs, some of which we created there, and they all smell delicious. Every shade of purple, burgundy, pink, and white and cute tour guide ladies dressed in the same colors. Plus there were lots of other flowers - magnolias, azaleas, camellias, and my just-discovered favorite, a yellow japanese rose. It was so sunny and bright it just drew me over to it.
After the festival, we stopped at Target for a few things and, of course, ended up wandering around. As we each picked out things we liked, Chelsea kept saying, "That looks very Sara" or "Definitely Ansley." I often feel like I don't know my own style or it's too undefined so I loved having someone with as much style as Chelsea tell me I was wrong.

BodyVox

I came back to Portland at the best time, right before a BodyVox performance. They are a dance company that does everything from traditional ballet to modern dance to exploring movement by sliding across the floor in ways you never thought possible. Every time I see them, I am amazed by how they can move, so much of it seems contrary to the laws of physics. They are a perfect mix of grace, beauty, romance, energy, and fun. One moment I am awestruck and the next moment I am laughing. If you have the chance this weekend, go see them at the Newmark. If you can't, be sure to mark your calendar for their next show, according to the program, it's October 22-25, 2008.

For now, you can check them out on youtube.

They also frequently show short films by Mitchell Rose. If you need a pick me up, go look at his films too.

April Showers Bring May Showers?

April might be over but I don't think it's the end of the showers. In Portland, we usually only have misting and sprinkles so no one carries an umbrella. But with umbrellas this pretty, I might carry one and put up with the ridicule.