Event: Sushi 101

Rachael's amazing sushi rice.  I have to admit the Zojirushi rice came out spectacularly - there was no burn or browned spots that I normally get from my rice cooker.  The Induction Heating rice cooker did everything but dry my hair!!   I may actually breakdown & buy one...but please don't tell Rachael, or I'll have to hear her telling me that she told me so.

I was a spoiled brat.  When I was growing up, there was a period of several years where we had sushi Every. Single. Sunday.  Most people would be jealous of that fact. Being the Contrarian that I am, I would roll my eyes and sigh, "Sushi?? AGAIN??" 

How times have changed.  I actually PAY for sushi - something I never thought I would do!  I was so excited when Rachael first told me about Sushi 101.  I saved the date even before I was actually invited.  I love that Rachael brings Japanese cuisine to the people in a non-threatening/non-overwhelming way.  I was all in for her party.

Greg offered up his beautiful house for this event.  I wish I had taken a photo of his kitchen.  It's drool worthy, almost larger than my house.  Such a generous host, when I asked him for his sink & spare dishwasher, he just said, "yes."  Unfortunately, neither item fit into my small coupe.

Rachael, madwoman at large, had so many items on her menu - artisan tofu, sunomono [cucumber salad], shoga [marinated ginger], marinated daikon, temaki, makisushi, and miso soup.  Rachael's homemade tofu is actually how we became friends.  Her recipe is easy and amazing.  No store bought tofu can come close to it.  

I have found over the course of the year of our friendship, that I learn something new from her all the time.  As she presented each course, her confidence in her knowledge [along with random tidbits of information that I never knew] shined through!  Everyone had a blast and enjoyed each course of the meal. 

Discussion about seafood sustainability

I Love Blue Sea drove down from San Fran to bring down the sustainable seafood for the event.  The fish was so amazing - yellowtail tuna, albacore [the belly tasted like Avocados], Alaskan King Salmon [so sweet], and Dungeness Crab [my favorite!!!]. As Martin cut the fish, I was like a puppy dog waiting for scraps.  It was that good.  To top if off, they were so incredibly helpful offering up any assistance large or small, I just thought how proud their mommas must be of them.  I haven't informed my family yet but I've decided that we're ordering our New Year's Day seafood from these guys.  I can't sing enough of their praises - check them out when you get a chance.

Josie put together an amazing dessert bar.  A Fuji Apple ice cream, a matcha ice cream, and a Yuzu Plum Wine granita filled the wine glasses [yes, I had all three.  I was taste testing and acting as a Quality Control Officer.  It's my job] along with two types of macarons, one of my favorites being a spearmint and white chocolate macaron.

Everyone left stuffed and full...and the question, "when's the next party?"  I can't wait for the next one, either!

Chocolate Chip Rice Crispy Cookie

I worked in a bakery in high school, with occasional appearances in college.  I never baked anything [I would've burned that place down] but worked the counters selling stuff. Even though I have the worst sweet tooth, I have a hard time going into any bakery because of its cloyingly sweet smell.  Oh, the dilemma - The need for sweet vs the smell of a bakery.  That's probably why I started baking so much more on my own.

There was one cookie that I loved above all the cookies they had that would still cause me to return to the bakery every so often.  The Chocolate Chip Rice Crispy Cookie.  Throughout the years, I'd try to re-create the cookie using recipes that I found or basic chocolate chip cookie recipes - none of it was quite right.  It was always a little too fluffy, too sweet, too bland.  I don't know why it took me so long to figure out what I was doing wrong [brown sugar...less flour, etc] but finally it hit me like a ton of bricks.  The perfect Chocolate Chip Rice Crispy Cookie.  It's not exact but with the Sucanat sugar, it's got this whole new dimension of rich flavor...I think I like it even more!

Chocolate Chip Rice Crispy Cookie
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cups sucanat sugar [or brown sugar]
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

2 cups puffed rice cereal [or cocoa crispies]
6 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla extract until well combined.  Add flour to mixture.  Fold in puffed rice cereal gently so as not to break up the puffs.  Incorporate chocolate chips.

Bake for 10 - 15 minutes.

Portland: Food, Drinks, and more Food!

I know I must have mentioned that I'm a kuishinbo a dozen times.  I love to eat.  I had a list of places where I wanted to eat that was a mile long.  I only had at most 12 meals that I could play around with and that's if I was able to keep my game face on.  I'm good, but I'm a gal who needs some recovery time in between - some longer than others.

I broke it down into several categories: Off the Beaten Path, Drinks, and Lovely Meals.

OFF THE BEATEN PATH:

During my trip around Mount Hood, I was on a quest for Huckleberry Pie.  Unfortunately, I was a day too early and missed the Huckleberry Festival at Apple Valley Country Store, the only one of its kind in the area. 

As I walked into the store, the smell of barbecue nearly overwhelmed me and caused me to pass out.  It was at least 3 hours since my last meal and I was hungry.  First thing first, though.  Huckleberry Pie.

I nearly started to cry when I was told that there were no more Huckleberry pies as they were all being saved for the following day.  The did tell us that we could purchase fresh huckleberries. But since I was still on the road and didn't have a cooler, all I could do was stare, take photos and sigh over these beautiful berries.  On a positive note, I was able to purchase some huckleberry jam made at this store.  The choices were numerous but I decided to be a purist and buy the plain ol' huckleberry.

Ravenous from the smell of the barbecue [which was for the festival the following day] I desperately asked this nice young lady behind the register if she had any suggestions for lunch in the area. 

She recommended Michoacan in Odell. As I was getting directions for the Mexican Restaurant that she claimed had award winning carnitas and homemade tortillas [I swear she smacked her lips when she mentioned the tortillas], I saw this bumper sticker just over her shoulder.  I almost gave in to some primal urge to hurt someone as the sticker mocked me.

The only thing that saved this young girl was her lunch referral...and the fact that I had no desire to spend my vacation in jail.  

Her vague directions of "head towards Odell, it's right on the main street" had us circling around for just a bit until we realized she said "Main St." Michoacan was located on a long street that only had a few shops which included a grocery store, an auto repair shop, and another Mexican restaurant.

I ordered the carnitas, one of my favorite dishes that I repeatedly order when I go to Mexican restaurants.  Before I committed, I made sure it was deep fried, just the way I liked it.  It was.

I realized as I bit into the tortillas that the girl behind the counter at Apple Valley Country Store did, in fact, smack her lips when she talked about the homemade tortillas.  They were to die for.  Just slightly sweet and flavorful corn, thick enough to hold my food, I continued to eat them even though I couldn't eat another bite of carnitas.  They were that good. 

I read this plaque below and asked our server about the ingredients, was it REALLY all made from scratch?? He told me that the tortilla chips weren't but everything else they made on their own.  The guacamole was excellent.  Nice rich and creamy. 

Another favorite meal was in Lafayatte in the Willamette Valley, Martha's Tacos.  Very unassuming, we were referred to this location from a couple of ladies at the Oregon Wine Bar in Portland.  If not for the Garmin GPS system, we would've driven right by it.

I walked up to the counter and asked her what kinds of tacos they had.  Beef, Chicken, and Pork was the bored automatic response.  Yawn.  I asked her if they had any Cabeza [head] or Lengua [tongue].  She perked up and said that while they didn't have Cabeza, they did have Lengua.  I smiled and ordered 3 tacos, even though Carrie and I had decided to eat light because we didn't want to ruin our appetite for dinner.

Three juicy, tender tacos, one tastier than the next.  My favorite is still the lengua but the carnitas and carne wasn't bad at all!  I couldn't stop eating the chips and she did say that they made their own chips as well as their carrots onion jalapeno pickles, which I ate by the handful.

Pine State Biscuits was at the top of of the list for breakfasts which had a booth at the Saturday Farmer's Market at PSU.  I didn't actually see the sign until AFTER we paid for our breakfast but all I had to do to find the booth was to look for the longest line.  I was told by a kind lady in back of us that this line wasn't long at all.

I looked with some confusion at the menu.  Once again, the kind lady in back of us said that she normally just ordered a buttered and jammed biscuit but her husband ordered this monster of a sandwich called The Reggie.  Fried chicken, bacon, cheese, smothered with gravy, with an fried egg to top it off.  Hmmmm...that is MUCH more my speed.  Although I don't like gravy, so I ordered it sans gravy, eggs...and cheese because it doesn't like me.

I saw the first sandwich being snugly wrapped up to go.  I hoped that one would be enough.  I had a big day ahead of me and I didn't want to go hungry...

I felt better once I saw my sandwich of deliciousness.The fried chicken was moist on the inside with a crisp battered shell.  I love that my bacon was a thick cut so had some nice chew on it.  The biscuit...was perfect.  not light and flaky really but more dense, sweet and thick. 

Another great breakfast was at Kenny and Zuke's. I had tweeted in hesitation whether or not one could have pastrami for breakfast in all good conscience. I still don't know the answer to that but I really didn't feel too bad/guilty after having consumed it for breakfast at Kenny and Zuke's.  I don't even like rye bread but some how it tasted magical with this sandwich.  I loved the thick cuts of pastrami with gooey cheese [that still hated me].

Pambiche is a Cuban restaurant located across the river on the way back to the airport.  I lost interest when I saw where it was located until the 2 for 1 breakfast from 7:00am - 8:00am was pointed out to me.  I'm a sucker for food, but even more so for a good deal.

Delicious pastry basket filled with tastiness like this made the early morning wake up totally worth it. 

I had a big day ahead of me with a walk up to Multnomah Falls so I knew I had to fuel up. This plate was so full that they had to bring my scrambled eggs on a separate plate.  I love black beans and rice but this was too much even for me.  The Plantanos with sweet onions were just too much of a sweet mash for me.

DRINKS:

I arrived a little early for one of my tours so I decided to grab a drink from the bar.  Generally speaking, I usually wait until evening to get my drink on.  But I was thirsty and it couldn't be helped. Especially when the bartender at the Heathman Hotel told me about the wondrous vodka based pear and sage concoction that he made.  I had to have it.  I was glad I did.  

Best alcoholic beverages by far was served at Yakuza by this bartender in the background.  I'm pretty adventurous when it comes to eating and drinking.  So long as it doesn't kill me, I'll try almost anything once.  Having said that, I think Gin is my least favorite alcohol.  I want to like it, I try to like it.  Every time my friend orders her Gin and Tonic, I always take a sip to see if its grown on me.  It never has...

Back to the drink of choice...I told this bartender to surprise me, but I don't like Gin.  He served me his Gin specialty.  Much to my shock, I loved it.  I asked him to continue.  He made me a carrot drink, vodka based. He made Carrie a fantastic beet drink because he had just run out of his Sugar Snap Pea drink.  

Stumptown Coffee.  The Legend.  I've heard so much about it and even had a chance to taste it at White on Rice Couple's party.  [It was excellent but I'm convinced that everything tastes better when you're at their house.]  I had to see for myself if Stumptown was all that it was cracked up to be.  I ordered a regular Americano style, made the same way I get it in France, espresso added to hot water.  I love my French espresso so I had doubts that it would be as good.  I don't normally have my coffee black [I need cream and sugar to cover the bitter/burnt taste of the coffee I drink] but I had to see if it was really that good.

It was.  I mean, not Paris good [what really is??], but it was good.  If they had the roasters here in LA, I'd pick it up on a semi regular basis. 

LOVELY MEALS

I was fortunate enough not to have a bad meal the entire trip.

One of the most memorable meals was Beast.  Unfortunately, I had just come from Yakuza next door where I partook in many, many delicious bevvies.  It made me very, very sleepy.

Beast runs as a pre-fixe dinner with 2 seatings in the evenings.  We secured the 8:30pm seating since we were running around Mount Hood River area that day [and partook in the very large portions of Michoacan's carnitas].  I love pre-fixe since I don't have to make a decision.  Sweet and savory mouthfuls of deliciousness is just presented to me - the best from the kitchen.  Oddly enough, my favorite part of the dinner was the green salad. It was the organic corn from Groundworks that had me digging through my salad to make sure I ate every tasty morsel.  If I didn't think that Carrie would stab me with her fork, I'd have gone through hers as well.

Pok Pok was recommended to us repeatedly and we didn't think it'd be wise of us to miss it.  When we finally arrived we were told that we would have to wait about 45 minutes, but that there was a bar across the street, Whiskey Soda Lounge, a sister restaurant where we could grab a drink.

When we were finally seated, we discovered that Pok Pok was very different from our other culinary feasts. Ethnic, extremely flavorful...and spicy.  I should've known when our waiter brought us mustard leaves buried in ice and said, "this is to help cut the spiciness. you're going to need it."

We really did need that, along with the ice and the Thai iced tea.  The mango sticky rice really rounded up the meal for me.  Did you note that each of us had a dessert and we didn't share??  Yeah, we don't share. 

After all that eating and drinking, I'm good for the next few weeks until my next trip somewhere to explore and enjoy its culinary delights.  Unfortunately, I suspect it won't be as delicious as Portland...
 

Apple Valley Country Store
2363 Tucker Rd
Hood River, OR  97031
(541)386-1971

Beast

5425 NE 30th Ave, 
Portland, Oregon 97211
(503)841-6968


Heathman Hotel
1001 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97205
(503)790-7752

Kenny and Zuke's
1038 Southwest Stark Street
Portland, OR 97205-2610
(503) 222-3354

Martha's Tacos & More
440 3RD St
Lafayette, OR 97127
(503) 864-3304

Michoacan
3405 Odell HWY
Hood River, OR 97031
(541) 354-2900
 
Pambiche 2811 Northeast Glisan Street
Portland, OR 97232-2433
(503) 233-0511

Pine State Biscuits [or at PSU Farmer's Markets on Saturdays]
3640 SE Belmont St
Portland, OR 97214  
(503) 236-3346

PokPok
3226 SE Division St,
Portland, OR 97202
(503)232-1387

Yakuza Japanese Pub
5411 NE 30th Avenue
Portland, OR  97211
(503)450-0893 

Portland: Places to eat, People to see, and Things to Do

Who knew that Portland offered such a wealth of activities? Probably everyone BUT me.  Oh, and most of the people I talked to about my mini vacation.  

"Where are you going?" they'd ask.

"Portland! I'm so excited!!" I'd gush.

"...For...work??" they'd respond slowly, completely mystified.

"No! for VACATION!"

Silence............

"Why?" was their only response.

Ok, so maybe Portland doesn't make most people's "Top 5 Places to Visit Before I Die" list, but oddly enough, I've been toying with this idea for the past 5 years when I first tried to talk my folks into going up there to meet up with their Seattle friends.  I wanted to send them first to get their impressions to decide if I should go, but they wouldn't play into my ploy.  So I was left wondering what attracted visitors to that city. 

I had some vague ideas of things I wanted to see and do. More importantly, I had a long list of food places that were recommended to me as "not to miss" Portland Culinary Experiences.  This trip, as with most of my trips, had food and drink as the central draw.  The highlights were Breakfasts, Lunches, and Dinners; everything else was the fluff that filled the time while we waited to digest in between the meals.

First Impressions:

The people.  I know I talk about the people every where I go and how nice everyone is.  I'm not kidding, THIS place was ridiculous in how nice they were.  Major props to Bill Wyatt, Port  Executive Director and his team for making the first point of entry for most travelers a friendly and helpful one.  As I got off the plane, there was someone there to tell me where my baggage was and at baggage claim, someone to tell me how to use the TriMet train to get to Pioneer Square, just a few blocks from The Benson hotel. 

As I was snapping away at a photo of this statue:

This man [a master jeweler] came up to me to give the background on the beautiful statue of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Rider, by Alexander Phimister Proctor:

But the best part of the people portion of the trip was that I was able to meet up with one of my most favoritest former colleagues who moved up to Portland.  A few things that I miss most about working with Matt is that he's sarcastic as crap, could easily extrapolate the lean facts out of my blithering nonsense, and  was a darn good basketball player.  One thing that I don't miss about working with Matt is that he's pretty darn predictable.  If it were up to Matt, we would've met up at some brewery [not a bad choice, mind you] or burger joint.  Luck for me, his lovely wife, Shannon, kindly suggested Papa Haydn so that I could go shopping up in Northwest Portland area after lunch. It's been years since I've seen Matt and while time has been kind to him, it has left me older and WIDER.  Hence the tweaked photo and why we look like we're 10 feet tall:

The City. My first thoughts as I was riding the TriMet into the city was, "Wow. These city planners did an EXCELLENT job." Downtown is spotlessly clean, tons of solar trash cans, beautiful Bubbling Benson water fountains that run 24 hours a day, squares/parks that are modeled after European town squares for community gathering spots, free transportation within the downtown city limits, but better than that - a totally walkable city.  You can walk to nearly everywhere you need to go. 

Tax Free Shopping.  Ok, I don't have anything to add to that.  Tax Free.  Easy for me to do the math on the stuff I'm buying.  Love it.

Culinary Experiences. In order to get my feet wet, I decided to contact Portland Walking Tours for help.  They offered a great 3 hour walking tour with promises of visiting unique shops within Portland. My travel friend, Carrie, and I were all over this.  Unfortunately, Carrie's flight was canceled so she wouldn't make it in to town in time for this.  Please note that these tickets are treated like concert tickets - no refunds or exchanges.  One lesson that I [re]learned is not to book a tour the same day I fly in.  

Carrie sent me an email saying, "Go on without me..." so, after a few hiccups with our tour start time, we headed off to a great Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar shop that allowed you to taste from every barrel.  If I had more time, I would have sampled each and every one.  

Other stops included: cocoa, spice store, tea store, TWO food carts, and a cupcake store for dessert.  The one comment that I can make regarding future tours [so take note, PWT], need more alcohol stops!! 

I have to give a big congratulations to PWT and their staff [and this is as a meeting planner, not as a tourist] : When running a business, it's not only about whether or not you did everything right. It's not about the mix ups or the mess ups that happen during the course of operating your business because those things just happen.  The important thing is how you respond to those mix ups/mess ups.  I have to hand it to Portland Walking Tours - although their tour guide for that day was a no-show, they quickly turned it around and had a back up plan in place that they executed with near flawlessness.  I appreciated that about the tour and this company.  Because of that, I would have no qualms about recommending this company for any group events/activities.  **This was an unsolicited, unpaid props to PWT - I paid for my tour**

Food Carts. Holy cow.  Thanks to Gaby's list that she kindly sent to me, I headed off to Nong's Khao Man Gai.  Little did I know that she wasn't exaggerating when she called it Life Changing.  It was really awesome.  I went there twice.  For this:

During the course of our tour, we hit up two other food carts.

Ziba's Pita:

Ziba's Pita.  These pitas were crispy on the outside, tender and flavorful on the inside.  She left war torn Bosnia and set up shop here in 2006. 

Saied of Aybla Grill:

Aybla Grill, Saied makes the most tender and amazing falafels.  I'm used to having them deep fried to the point of toughness.  Not these.  I still think about it.

Surrounding Areas. Wine Country and the Falls.

Wine Country was lovely.  It was interesting to see the Pines interspersed with the grapevines.  While the Willamette Valley wines is a bit too subtle for my dull palate, there was some beautiful wineries that I enjoyed.  The Sokol Blosser Winery is one of those places.  

Lovely setting...

lovely wines...

Bella Vida wines offered some stunning vistas:

The Falls in Mount Hood was gorgeous! I learned there that I'm far more out of shape than I realized.  Luckily, I was once informed by my dear friend, Miles, that Round is still a shape.

Trees along the path, dappled with sunlight.

Bridal Veil Falls. Breath taking...and easy to hike to...

Sorry for the long post, I've got so much more to share with you about this amazing town!!  In the meantime, I hope that you will consider this place, if not in your Top 10, but maybe in your Top 25!

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