Well, I suppose it is a rather inaccurate title seeing as how I won't actually be home for either of the holidays this season. But I'm home now, and I think it is technically still "the holidays".
I spent Christmas this year in St. Louis with Jonathan and his family. It was the first time I've ever spent Christmas away from my family, which was a little strange for me, but it was a very nice trip. It was good to get to know his family better and of course to not spend Christmas apart. There was even snow for Christmas! I'm not used to much snow, especially not on Christmas, so I was really excited about that. The snow just makes everything more beautiful.
I was hoping that I could share some about the vegetarian restaurants in St. Louis (they exist! www.happycow.net is a life saver for traveling) however all three of them were closed while I was there. Some luck. Maybe next time I guess! Traveling sure does make me appreciate how easy it is for me to eat at home. It is a very rare occurrence to find myself at a restaurant here without vegetarian and vegan options - and more often than not there are numerous options!
My most exciting St. Louis discovery was company called Match (www.matchmeats.com). They are a St. Louis based faux-meat producer selling everything from vegan crab cakes to vegan meatballs. Jonathan's family does a seafood feast for their Christmas Eve dinner, so I got some of the crab cakes for myself. I've never actually had real crab, and I doubt these taste anything like the real thing, but they were quite good! I don't think they sell them out here, but if you live anywhere in the Midwest I would definitely check them out!
I am happy to be home now, and I think Pixel feels the same. He meowed for about two hours straight once we got home and then slept on top of me instead of at our feet. I love to travel, but I think the older I get the more I realize that I'm really kind of a homebody - I enjoy just spending time here working on this and that and hanging out with the cat. It's really a pretty nice life. :)
Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and has a happy New Year! We are very excited to get to celebrate it with our good friends up in Portland!
-C
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Food Adventures in Portland
Somehow I ended up with some extra vacation time that I needed to take this year, so my friend Allison came down from Seattle to visit and I took an extended weekend. This is us - not from this weekend (thankfully!) but from the summer that we lived together when we accidentally dyed our hair (or part of it anyway) orange out of boredom. I think it took about 4 bottles of hair dye to correct for this adventure, and this is the only photo that survives of the accidental-orange.
Do you have any idea how much I love Portland? Because it is a lot. A lot, a lot, a lot. I never thought any city would beat out Seattle for me - but Portland managed to do that. I was especially excited to be there on a weekday because I really enjoy (ok, am obsessed with) the food cart scene and a lot of them are closed on the weekends or aren't open at convenient times. In case you didn't know, Portland has about a million food carts all around the city. You can read about them here: http://www.foodcartsportland.com/ In the end we didn't really end up going to too many of the carts, but more about that in a bit.
We took the Street Car up to Bridgeport Brewery for dinner. I'm not really a big beer drinker, but I'm starting to explore the world of beer a little and actually finding a few that I like. We split a sampler so that we could try a bunch of different ones. I didn't care for most of them, which I expected, but there were actually three different ones that I liked pretty well! Two of them were the seasonal beers - Nightcap and the Ebenezer, and the third was their ESB but I liked that the least of the three. The Nightcap was actually good enough to order a pint of but I wasn't able to finish it due to all of the delicious food I had consumed prior to its arrival.
Bridgeport is my favorite Portland brewery not because of the beer (which I obviously don't know much about) but beacuse I think they have the best food. I had the Vegan Bowl (the name does not do it justice, it is way more exciting than it sounds I promise). It's a bowl of quinoa with kale, red peppers, sweet potatoes, black beans, tofu, grated carrots, and probably some other things I am forgetting - but the very best part is the spicy cashew sauce they put on it. I have to figure out how to make something like that - it's amazing!
We were out late and ended up unintentionally eating at food cart - Adam's Falafel or Gyros or something. The biggest downside to Portland? I can't seem to find anywhere the does late-night pizza delivery! But anyway, the Falafel Sandwich I had was pretty good, it had fresh cut french fries in it which I found a little strange but tasty. There was definitely too much garlic sauce on it though, so take note - if you ever find yourself at Adam's Something or Another on SW 3rd and SW Pine make sure to ask for less of the sauce.
My food highlight of the trip was Flavour Spot. I have been wanting to go there forever and ever but never seem to make it. I'm not sure why, because they have 3 locations so you'd think it would have been easy at some point. It's probably because my favorite Portland breakfast restaurant is a half block away and I end up in a tug of war in which Bijou Cafe always wins. But not this time! Flavour Spot is a waffle cart, but this particular waffle cart also makes vegan waffles, and they also serve them wrapped around vegan sausage! For those of you who could care less about vegan friendly option, they mostly serve regular old waffles with regular old meat choices. But that's not nearly as exciting. I was slightly concerned because a hand-held waffle sandwich just sounds messy - but they really pull it off. Instead of maple syrup they have a maple spread so it doesn't drip everywhere. I think it was one of the best vegan waffles I have had - my only complaint is that if you don't eat it fast enough the bottom gets a little soggy sitting in the foil. But that's not really much of a complaint.
I suppose we could have visited the food carts near PSU for lunch, but I decided that someone can't come visit Oregon and not try Cafe Yumm (there is one in Portland now, also near PSU), so we ended up there for lunch so that Allison could experince the joy that is Yumm Sauce. I don't really know what to say about this one except that it is delicious. I find it appalling that I brought my mom and sister here and neither of them ordered the bowls - that's just wrong.
Well, enough rambling about food - more about Christmas time soon!
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| Summer 2006 |
Anyway, she is moving to Astoria in a few months, so we took a mini road trip up through Tillamook (mmm, cheese!) and stopped in Astoria so I could see her future home city! I hadn't ever been that far up on the Oregon coast - it's so beautiful there! We then looped around and headed over to Portland for the night.
Do you have any idea how much I love Portland? Because it is a lot. A lot, a lot, a lot. I never thought any city would beat out Seattle for me - but Portland managed to do that. I was especially excited to be there on a weekday because I really enjoy (ok, am obsessed with) the food cart scene and a lot of them are closed on the weekends or aren't open at convenient times. In case you didn't know, Portland has about a million food carts all around the city. You can read about them here: http://www.foodcartsportland.com/ In the end we didn't really end up going to too many of the carts, but more about that in a bit.
We took the Street Car up to Bridgeport Brewery for dinner. I'm not really a big beer drinker, but I'm starting to explore the world of beer a little and actually finding a few that I like. We split a sampler so that we could try a bunch of different ones. I didn't care for most of them, which I expected, but there were actually three different ones that I liked pretty well! Two of them were the seasonal beers - Nightcap and the Ebenezer, and the third was their ESB but I liked that the least of the three. The Nightcap was actually good enough to order a pint of but I wasn't able to finish it due to all of the delicious food I had consumed prior to its arrival.
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| Bridgeport Sampler |
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| Bridgeport Vegan Bowl |
We were out late and ended up unintentionally eating at food cart - Adam's Falafel or Gyros or something. The biggest downside to Portland? I can't seem to find anywhere the does late-night pizza delivery! But anyway, the Falafel Sandwich I had was pretty good, it had fresh cut french fries in it which I found a little strange but tasty. There was definitely too much garlic sauce on it though, so take note - if you ever find yourself at Adam's Something or Another on SW 3rd and SW Pine make sure to ask for less of the sauce.
My food highlight of the trip was Flavour Spot. I have been wanting to go there forever and ever but never seem to make it. I'm not sure why, because they have 3 locations so you'd think it would have been easy at some point. It's probably because my favorite Portland breakfast restaurant is a half block away and I end up in a tug of war in which Bijou Cafe always wins. But not this time! Flavour Spot is a waffle cart, but this particular waffle cart also makes vegan waffles, and they also serve them wrapped around vegan sausage! For those of you who could care less about vegan friendly option, they mostly serve regular old waffles with regular old meat choices. But that's not nearly as exciting. I was slightly concerned because a hand-held waffle sandwich just sounds messy - but they really pull it off. Instead of maple syrup they have a maple spread so it doesn't drip everywhere. I think it was one of the best vegan waffles I have had - my only complaint is that if you don't eat it fast enough the bottom gets a little soggy sitting in the foil. But that's not really much of a complaint.
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| Flavour Spot Vegan Waffle and Sausage Sandwich |
I suppose we could have visited the food carts near PSU for lunch, but I decided that someone can't come visit Oregon and not try Cafe Yumm (there is one in Portland now, also near PSU), so we ended up there for lunch so that Allison could experince the joy that is Yumm Sauce. I don't really know what to say about this one except that it is delicious. I find it appalling that I brought my mom and sister here and neither of them ordered the bowls - that's just wrong.
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| Original Yumm Bowl |
-C
Monday, December 13, 2010
Cookies & Cocktails
This weekend marked another successful party! I love Christmas parties, and I especially love Christmas parties where everyone participates in the theme! We had around 25 people come (that's a lot for little Corvallis!), and just about everyone dressed up and brought cookies or some sort of treat to share!
I even managed to not stress out too much about the party. Usually I want to do so much - make lots of different cocktails, bake a ton of different cookies, and make lots of food. Then I usually end up spending way too much time and money on all of it. This time I limited myself - one easy cocktail (Cider with Spiced Rum) and one relatively easy cookie (those Rosemary Pecan Shortbread ones).
Ok, ok - I also made Chex Mix, toffee, and stuffed mushrooms and attempted to make fudge again (which did not go well, I'm lucky I was able to save the pan). But still, I think I held back my urge to over-do at least a little!
I really didn't get as many photos of the party as I would have liked. I'm not very good at remembering to take pictures anymore - sometimes I look back and realize the only things I have pictures of for the past several months are food and our garden. I do have a few that I will share though!
Here are just some of the delicious things that people brought! We ran out of room on the table so there were a lot more scattered around the kitchen. I like having the little place cards for people to write what they brought - I kind of have a phobia of eating unknown things and I like to think that maybe other people do as well.
And best of all - Pixel wore his bow tie so nicely! I know it may look like he is a little unhappy in this photo, but that's just because he doesn't like to be held. It had nothing to do with the bow tie, I swear. I'm going to have to refrain from making him wear it all the time because I think it is just the cutest thing ever. I am reserving it for special occasions though - really.
I even managed to not stress out too much about the party. Usually I want to do so much - make lots of different cocktails, bake a ton of different cookies, and make lots of food. Then I usually end up spending way too much time and money on all of it. This time I limited myself - one easy cocktail (Cider with Spiced Rum) and one relatively easy cookie (those Rosemary Pecan Shortbread ones).
Ok, ok - I also made Chex Mix, toffee, and stuffed mushrooms and attempted to make fudge again (which did not go well, I'm lucky I was able to save the pan). But still, I think I held back my urge to over-do at least a little!
I really didn't get as many photos of the party as I would have liked. I'm not very good at remembering to take pictures anymore - sometimes I look back and realize the only things I have pictures of for the past several months are food and our garden. I do have a few that I will share though!
Here are just some of the delicious things that people brought! We ran out of room on the table so there were a lot more scattered around the kitchen. I like having the little place cards for people to write what they brought - I kind of have a phobia of eating unknown things and I like to think that maybe other people do as well.
And best of all - Pixel wore his bow tie so nicely! I know it may look like he is a little unhappy in this photo, but that's just because he doesn't like to be held. It had nothing to do with the bow tie, I swear. I'm going to have to refrain from making him wear it all the time because I think it is just the cutest thing ever. I am reserving it for special occasions though - really.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Lingering Harvest Box
I haven't been cooking very much lately. I mean, I have been baking and making candies, but I haven't been doing as much cooking cooking. I think partially because we don't have a new box full of produce each week to use up now, and partially because the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is just so chaotic.
We do still have some Harvest Box items hanging around... mostly squash though which should keep for some time so I haven't been rushing to use it. I had been eyeing this recipe in Vegetarian Times for a stew served in an Acorn squash for awhile, but earlier this week I stumbled on a recipe for a sausage and apple stuff squash. Tonight I decided to take that idea and run with it - I combined crimini mushrooms, apple-sage field roast, onions, apples, and hazelnuts with some bread crumbs and filled each half of an acorn squash that had been roasted with a garlic sage butter with the mixture. So, so good.
I also made some caramel last night - I'm really into the candy making right now. I had also never made caramel before, really my experience in candy making prior to this has been making english toffee. I didn't have enough corn syrup for the recipe I was following, but I decided to give it a try anyway (I reeeaally like caramel).
The caramel making was easier than the fudge making from the other day, but it still took quite a bit of time. I also had to switch pots once it started boiling because it nearly boiled over... oops!
It turned out pretty good - or at least my coworkers didn't mind eating it all. It's a good thing stuff like this disappears at work so I don't have to keep it at home (otherwise I would definitely eat it all).
One last thing worth mentioning - Pixel's bow tie arrived today. Most.Adorable.Thing.Ever. He will be by far the fanciest dressed at the party this weekend.
We do still have some Harvest Box items hanging around... mostly squash though which should keep for some time so I haven't been rushing to use it. I had been eyeing this recipe in Vegetarian Times for a stew served in an Acorn squash for awhile, but earlier this week I stumbled on a recipe for a sausage and apple stuff squash. Tonight I decided to take that idea and run with it - I combined crimini mushrooms, apple-sage field roast, onions, apples, and hazelnuts with some bread crumbs and filled each half of an acorn squash that had been roasted with a garlic sage butter with the mixture. So, so good.
I also made some caramel last night - I'm really into the candy making right now. I had also never made caramel before, really my experience in candy making prior to this has been making english toffee. I didn't have enough corn syrup for the recipe I was following, but I decided to give it a try anyway (I reeeaally like caramel).
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| Boiling delicousness |
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| Caramel! |
One last thing worth mentioning - Pixel's bow tie arrived today. Most.Adorable.Thing.Ever. He will be by far the fanciest dressed at the party this weekend.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Practice Round
I always like to test out recipes before I plan on serving them to a crowd of people. I hate trying something new the day of an event and finding out that the recipe is awful (or maybe I'm just awful at making it). This weekend I had some success and some failure, about what I would have expected.
First I made these Rosemary Pecan Shortbread cookies:
They were supposed to have walnuts, but I was out of those - I thought the pecans worked great and I actually like pecans a bit better than walnuts anyway. I got the recipe for these from Louisa - the cooking instructor for the 6-week series I took at In Good Taste up in Lake Oswego. I also got the recipe for the Lemon Sandwich Cookies that I'll show you in a bit from her!
I tried to make the Brandy Snaps from The Pioneer Woman's website - this was my biggest failure. I'm not sure if I just didn't get good brandy, or if I flat out don't like brandy, or if my terrible oven was to blame. The oven can't seem to keep an even temperature and I kept burning the cookies. They are supposed to look like this:
but mine ended up like this:
Needless to say, these were thrown away. I may attempt this recipe one more time using vanilla extract instead of brandy to see if it was just the brandy that I didn't like, but I don't have high hopes.
I also made some fudge - I'm not sure if I have ever made fudge before, but if I have it was probably when I was little and it was probably that marshmallow fluff kind that I wouldn't be able to eat now anyway. I was nervous because the recipe reviews were really mixed - a lot of people said it was awful or that the recipe just didn't work for them and I certainly didn't want to stay up (all the way until 11:30!) making a fudge that would be terrible.I had forgotten how tedious candy making can be - it seemed like forever before the fudge reached the right temperature, and then I'm pretty sure it was actually forever before it cooled back down to the temperature at which I was allowed to start stirring it. As you can see, fudge and coffee were on the menu for breakfast this morning:
It turned out quite well! If anything I would say it was a little too soft, so next time I will make sure to bring it up a few degrees higher when it is cooking.
The final recipe I tried out this weekend were these Lemon Sandwich Cookies. Jonathan loves anything lemon, so I figured I had to try them for him. I'm not very good at judging measurements though and I think the cookies are probably about twice as thick as they really should be. Oh well - they still taste pretty good if I do say so. Thanks again to Louisa for this recipe as well! Here is the final result:
Oh! I almost forgot the most important part of the weekend - getting the Christmas tree! I love Christmas trees so much, and I haven't been able to get one for the past two years so this year I was very excited to be able to put one up! We went to a tree farm just up the road with our friends Sara and Brian. The place had three or four different kinds of trees so we spent a little time wandering trying to find which type we liked best. I preferred the Noble Firs and there weren't many big ones of those around which made it a little difficult. I think we ended up finding a very nice one though!
Personally I think it could use a few more lights still, but Jonathan keeps insisting that it's good. I think it's because we'd have to go out a buy more lights since I have already used all the ones I have! The one down side of having the tree? Bugs. At least it gives Pixel something to play with I suppose.
Hope everyone had a good weekend!
First I made these Rosemary Pecan Shortbread cookies:
I tried to make the Brandy Snaps from The Pioneer Woman's website - this was my biggest failure. I'm not sure if I just didn't get good brandy, or if I flat out don't like brandy, or if my terrible oven was to blame. The oven can't seem to keep an even temperature and I kept burning the cookies. They are supposed to look like this:
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| Brandy Snaps - http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/ |
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| Burnt and oddly shaped things (I don't think you can call them cookies) |
I also made some fudge - I'm not sure if I have ever made fudge before, but if I have it was probably when I was little and it was probably that marshmallow fluff kind that I wouldn't be able to eat now anyway. I was nervous because the recipe reviews were really mixed - a lot of people said it was awful or that the recipe just didn't work for them and I certainly didn't want to stay up (all the way until 11:30!) making a fudge that would be terrible.I had forgotten how tedious candy making can be - it seemed like forever before the fudge reached the right temperature, and then I'm pretty sure it was actually forever before it cooled back down to the temperature at which I was allowed to start stirring it. As you can see, fudge and coffee were on the menu for breakfast this morning:
It turned out quite well! If anything I would say it was a little too soft, so next time I will make sure to bring it up a few degrees higher when it is cooking.
The final recipe I tried out this weekend were these Lemon Sandwich Cookies. Jonathan loves anything lemon, so I figured I had to try them for him. I'm not very good at judging measurements though and I think the cookies are probably about twice as thick as they really should be. Oh well - they still taste pretty good if I do say so. Thanks again to Louisa for this recipe as well! Here is the final result:
Oh! I almost forgot the most important part of the weekend - getting the Christmas tree! I love Christmas trees so much, and I haven't been able to get one for the past two years so this year I was very excited to be able to put one up! We went to a tree farm just up the road with our friends Sara and Brian. The place had three or four different kinds of trees so we spent a little time wandering trying to find which type we liked best. I preferred the Noble Firs and there weren't many big ones of those around which made it a little difficult. I think we ended up finding a very nice one though!
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| Finding the tree |
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| Cutting the tree |
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| Decorated! |
Hope everyone had a good weekend!
Friday, December 3, 2010
Christmas Time = Cookies
Next weekend we are hosting the second annual Cookies & Cocktails Christmas Party. Last year most of our Corvallis friends weren't able to make it as I was living in Portland at that time and it happened to be a very cold and icy weekend. This year I'm excited that they will be able to make it, and I am excited that there are plenty of new hires at work who will join us!
I think that means that this weekend will be spent testing out a few new cookie recipes (fun!). There are several that I would like to try, but I think the highest on my list are: Rosemary Walnut Shortbread, Chocolate Caramel Sea Salt Cookies, and Brandy Snaps from The Pioneer Woman's website (love - check it out).
Updates on the cookie progress later this weekend - after we finish getting the house decorated for Christmas, of course!
I think that means that this weekend will be spent testing out a few new cookie recipes (fun!). There are several that I would like to try, but I think the highest on my list are: Rosemary Walnut Shortbread, Chocolate Caramel Sea Salt Cookies, and Brandy Snaps from The Pioneer Woman's website (love - check it out).
Updates on the cookie progress later this weekend - after we finish getting the house decorated for Christmas, of course!
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