Wordstock

I've mentioned Wordstock in years past. It's one of my favorite Portland events. And it starts in 3 days! This year, while the focus is firmly centered on books, there is also a part that is dedicated to food. I love the theme: Don't be a picky reader, be a literary omnivore. I love the tie-ins at local grocery stores.

See you there!

Contains Live and Active Cultures*

Today, at a Labor Day BBQ, the conversation turned to honey, that's normal right? Someone then said that true vegans don't eat honey. We started talking about the other things vegans don't eat and I waxed poetic about my love of most things dairy. Here's my new favorite find. Tart Frozen Yogurt. And thanks to Dreyer's, it's available in your grocer's freezer in large containers (although not as large as they used to be, grrr!) So far I've only tried the mango but I have plans to try the others and so should you.


*Doesn't that sound more like a hazmat warning than a selling point?

Rainy Summer Soup

It's been a little cloudy and rainy here lately. I thought Portland and I had an agreement, 9 months of rain is fine as long as July, August, and September are sunny and dry. The cooler temperature and grey skies made me crave warm soup. But since it's summer, I wanted it to be very fresh. Here's what I came up with.

2 sweet red peppers

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

3-4 medium tomatoes

olive oil

1 bag of frozen roasted corn (Trader Joe's)

1 C fat-free cottage cheese

3 C water or chicken stock

2 links of chicken sausage (I used an smoked apple chardonnay flavor from Trader Joe's)

Herbs and spices - I used thyme and cayenne (weird combo but good)

Salt and pepper

Cut peppers in half and remove seeds. Quarter the onion and tomatoes. Place peppers, onion, tomatoes, and garlic on a baking sheet and spray with olive oil. Bake at 450˙ for about 30 minutes, turning at least once. Place in heat-proof container. Add stock, 1/2 bag of corn, and cottage cheese. Use immersion blender to puree it. You can also put it all in a blender/food processor. Dice the sausage and saute until browned. Add sausage and rest of the corn and mix. Enjoy!

I ate a bowl with a salad and a slice of olive bread with cambozola cheese.

C Is for Cookie

When I was young, one of my favorite toys was my Cookie Monster doll. I loved him so much I insisted he was in some of my annual portrait photos. There I was with the fake tree background, sitting on a carpeted lump, holding a googly-eyed fuzzy blue Muppet. I think the doll is in my Dad's attic in South Carolina. My love of cookies is still right here in my heart.

Cookie lovers of the world, unite! It's Girl Scout cookie time! If the girls in green didn't get by your house (do they still sell door-to-door?) don't think, "Oh well, I guess that just how the cookie crumbles." You can find a sale in your area.

Small Triumphs

I just got the last box of regular (not sugar-free) hot chocolate at Fred Meyer! If you need any food staples, I would suggest avoiding the Fred Meyer on Barbur; those cupboards are bare.

Snow Day!

I don't yet know if I get a snow day tomorrow. Don't you think if the schools are closed, work should be too?!

Today Lizzy and I walked up to the corner market for essentials like diet Coke. We live on a steep hill and while it was OK for walking, cars were sliding all over the place. It was good to get out and the short walk was fun if somewhat treacherous. Once I got home, all I wanted to do was get cozy. Don't these look delightful!

Lutz and Patmos throws for West Elm

Handknit bobble top from Lutz & Patmos

Cocoon cardigan from Lutz & Patmos, could anything sound cozier?

Are your feet always cold? Socks to brighten up a dreary day

I don't have a fireplace, I like to pretend a few candles warm up a room

This time of year, I definitely think having the oven on is great but just in case you can't get out from under your blankets, you can still have cookies from Whimsy & Spice. These pumpkin ginger sandwich cookies sound especially good.

Need something to dip those in? How about hot chocolate on a stick...

Stay warm!

Oh My Darlin'

Are you like me this time of year? This is what my grocery budget looks like during clementine season.

Need Another Reason to Vote?

Choosing our next president is absolutely reason enough but just in case you need another reason, here you go.

If you vote in the morning, you could swing by Krispy Kreme for a free star shaped donut with patriotic sprinkles. Run by Ben & Jerry's for an afternoon free scoop. And Starbucks will help you stay up late to find out who won with a free cup of coffee.

And I bet they will give these to anyone who voted, even if you voted for the wrong person.



Looking for more ideas of things to do tonight, after you vote of course? My roommate, Lizzy, has lots of ideas.

Barn House Sale

I finally made it!  For months I have been wanting to go to a Barn House sale.  August was way too hot, I was busy in September.  But Saturday was the last one for the year so nothing could keep me away.  I'm sure it is wonderful in the summer with the green grass and fields.  But it was so beautiful in October.  The barn is in the countryside near Battle Ground, WA.  I love Portland and all the evergreens but when you get a bit outside of town, the leaves are all changing and the colors are amazing!  And since it's almost Halloween, there was a gothic theme.  Lots of people in black clothes, top hats, and eyeliners.  So fun!  Plus I bought a brooch. I had been thinking I would like some sort of pin for my scarf.  I love it!
And before we got there, Elizabeth and I decided to go out for breakfast. We were on our way to grab something quick at Ken's Artisan Bakery when we passed 50 Plates. I've mentioned them before and can now also recommend their breakfasts! Not a huge selection but what they do have is excellent I had the sipping chocolate (steamed milk with a chunk of chocolate on a stick you swirl around to mix plus homemade marshmallows) and french toast skewers. Delish!

Ginger Snap Cookies

A few weeks ago we had people over for dinner. Elizabeth made enchiladas, but not just any enchiladas, they were quite possibly the best enchiladas I have ever had. And even after everyone ate lots of them, they still found room for my ginger snaps, all of the ginger snaps.  I hadn't made these in years, probably since high school, and I had forgotten how yummy they are.  They get crispy on the edges but still a little chewy in the middle. Perfect for fall!

Ginger Snaps

2 C flour
1 T ground ginger
2 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
3/4 C butter
1 C sugar (plus a little extra for later)
1 egg, beaten
1/4 C molasses

Sift together all dry ingredients

Beat butter. Add sugar and mix. Add egg and molasses and mix well.

Add flour mixture and blend well.

Make 1" balls of dough. Roll in sugar. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees.
It's hard to say how long to bake them, the recipe says 12-15 min but in my oven it only takes about 9 min.

See the USA on One Tank of Gas

Monday night we went to 50 Plates, a new restaurant in the Pearl.  The idea is food from all 50 states. The decor is mostly dark brown, one white wall covered in tiny white tiles, and a few splashes of color thanks to memorabilia from across the country.

Back in college, I was on a double date and one of the guys asked what I thought of the food.  I said it was yummy.  They thought it was funny that I didn't give a more detailed description but sometimes, when things are that good, words fail.  That's how I felt about 50 Plates, it's yummy.  
The menu was well-written, fun to read, and, in an age when restaurants just call the dish what it is, it was refreshing to see dishes with names. Like The Lousy Hunter (a small slider with goat cheese, a sweet relish, and a fried green tomato), or Roscoe's (another slider with fried chicken and syrup on a waffle).  The waitstaff was so friendly and our waiter looked a bit like Obama. The end result - I felt like I was in the most upscale diner I could ever imagine.  That's meant as a huge compliment, just in case there is any question.  There were at least 10 things on the menu I wanted to try.  Next time, I'll have to show restraint in the main course so I can get dessert.  The Shake and Bake is warm cookies AND a shake!

And just in case, all of that wasn't enough, twenty feet away was a table of 8 Portland firemen.

Lizzy has a more in-depth review with photos!

Beat the Heat in the Kitchen

A few days ago I saw a link to some beautiful jewelry at Lost Button Studio.  I'm crushing on the square hoops.  Every girl likes to be pretty but it's hard when you are sweating over a hot oven.  So how perfect was it that the jewelry designer had a post on her blog about no-cook recipes.  I can't tell you what to do, but if I could, I would tell you to check out both of her sites. 

Here's another good idea for those summer days when you can barely get off the couch to make some food much less go out to buy the groceries.  Allrecipes.com has 20 recipes that use 20 ingredients.  At first I thought that sounded way too complicated but none of the recipes use all 20, just that if you have these things on hand, you have lots of good options.

Last Knight

Last night I...

• Had one of the best BLTs ever at Gotham Tavern (the bread was a perfect balance of toasty but not mouth-shredding)
  
• Saw lots of previews, the best of which was The Mummy 3 (how sad!)
  
• Spent almost 3 hours watching the new Batman (currently rated #3 of all time at IMDB, perhaps a little too high, but it was really good)
  
• Mourned Heath Ledger (again!)
  
• Apologized to the poor guy next to me when I laughed way too much at the Joker looking for hand sanitizer (not a spoiler, I promise)
  
• Was reminded of how much I like William Fitchner (can't think of anything parenthetical for this one but didn't want to break the trend)
  
• Couldn't decide between Aaron Eckhart and Christian Bale (sadly neither of them was asking me to choose)
  

Vive la France!

Yesterday was Bastille Day. I was lucky enough to live in France about 10 years ago. So I got mes amis together and went to Le Happy. What better way to celebrate the revolution than eating delicious crêpes and enjoying the disco ball. I had the salad crêpe but switched out the gorgonzola for some chèvre. It was, quite possibly, the best crêpe I've ever had. And then I had the strawberry and nutella crêpe too. We all had at least a salé (savory) and a sucré (sweet) crêpe. Afterwards, I was reminded of this saying:
J'ai bien mangé, j'ai bien bu, j'ai la peau du ventre bien tendue (It's better said out loud, it rhymes. Literally: I ate well, I drank well, the skin on my stomach is well-stretched)



Can you tell I'm excited I just learned how to do accents on my keyboard?!

One More Reason I Love Portland

Portland has amazing fireworks shows! I've been to a few in the past, the Fort Vancouver show, the Oak Hills Neighborhood show, but the best, for being uniquely Portland, is the show on the Willamette River. They set up barges in the river and shoot fireworks off of them. The fireworks light up the whole city and reflect in the river. I love that it feels as if the entire city is out, celebrating with you. I met up with friends for a BBQ and then took the streetcar to the waterfront. We found an open area, set up our blanket, and about 5 minutes later, the fireworks started. We had just enough crazy, drunk people around us to make it interesting but they we feeling very patriotic and just kept yelling, "America!" and "Freedom!" We thought about yelling "Beauty" and "Truth" a la Room with a View. Afterwards, we got appetizers and dessert at Lucier. It's a beautiful restaurant, right on the waterfront. Everything we had was delicious or so I was told. I don't like creme brulee so I had to take everyone's word on that one. The outside seating was perfect. The plates and tea service were the prettiest we'd ever seen, an adult tea party. The valet was flirt-worthy. The waitstaff was friendly and knowledgeable, they even gave us a tour of the dining room so we could see the river that flows around the tables, the white wall with white grafitti carvings to represent the urban feel of Portland, and the mirrored, angled, dome to represent Mt Hood. It's a splurge but we're worth it.

Here are some fireworks photos from Sara's flickr.



P.S. If you go to Lucier, be sure to go to the bathrooms, they are gorgeous!

Yes You Can Play with Your Food

I'm such a nerd for themes. I love Halloween for the chance to dress up. Tonight, I'm getting together with friends to watch My Boys and since it's about a girl, who writes about baseball and hangs out with her friends in a bar, I'm bringing Cracker Jack's and bottled root beer. I've had dinner and a movie parties where all the food had to tie in with the movie. I've always thought it would be fun to have a kebab barbeque and figure out dessert that can be made on skewers. So I was excited for this idea. Dessert sushi! I've made my own regular sushi and it's so easy and fun and would be great at a party, and now I have a dessert option. I think there will be a party in the future!

Picky Picky Picky!

I just bought new dinnerware at IKEA. I love it! I'm not too picky about plates but I'm super-picky about bowls. I'm not really a fan of the "low bowl" - that shallow, wide-rimmed bowl that works great for pasta but not at all for cereal or soup, or most importantly, ice cream. So it was the bowls that sold me on this set, the IKEA 365+ set. These bowls sit perfectly in your hand, don't threaten to slosh your milk all over you, and look how pretty they are filled with leftover vietnamese noodles.

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.

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.