April 13th, 2010
Recently we signed up for Organics to You, a local organization that delivers organic produce (mostly local, farm-grown) straight to your doorstep. Part of the reason we wanted to sign up for this service is also a bit of a challenge: we have no idea how to cook many of the contents they deliver.
This recipe, after just one try, has already become a new favorite. While we had had collard greens before, we didn’t know a good recipe to cook them at home. Also, neither of us could even recall eating radishes, let alone cooking them!
After some searching in recipe books and blogs, we tried a make-shift recipe trying out some suggestions that sounded good from various sources. The result was an amazingly delicious, interesting recipe combining the bitterness of the greens (any greens could be used here, not just collards) and the semi-sweet tinge of radishes. The … Read more…
Tags: collard greens, garlic, greens, mustard, organic, organics to you, radishes, side dish, vegetarian
Posted in Recipes
April 4th, 2010
Last weekend we had beautiful weather (in March in PDX, no less!) and so took advantage by driving out to a few of the many fantastic vineyards within an hour of our abode. As always, included in our visits was a favorite: Cliff Creek Vineyards tasting room in Carlton, OR.
Just over a year ago Cliff Creek wowed us with their Claret, (pronounced “clarette” not “claray”), which continues to be one of our favorite wines. In fact, it wasn’t on their flight list this time and we had to request a special taste, after which we of course bought a supply for home. It was surprisingly less expensive than we remembered at $22.50/bottle (club price). And well worth it!
A new surprise from Cliff Creek in this recent flight were their Syrahs. They featured a 2005 and 2004, and while the 2005 was tasty, the 2004 blew it (and our taste … Read more…
Tags: Carlton, claret, Cliff Creek, red wine, syrah, table wine, Willamette Valley, wine tasting
Posted in Wine
April 4th, 2010
A pleasant surprise during our trip to the Willamette Valley was Troon’s tasting room in Carlton, Oregon.
The highlight of the wines we tasted was the “Kubli Bench Cabernet Sauvingnon” (2006). This wine was superb, light yet full bodied, all in all a very well-rounded cab. Yes, we know, that’s not very descriptive–you’ll just have to trust us, it was awesome! We definitely brought some home.
In general, while last year their “high-end” wines seemed overpriced and didn’t quite deliver, this year they were excellent and you could tell they had put lots of care into developing them.
One disappointment, however, was that one of the best $10 table wines we’ve ever tasted, Druid’s Fluid, really went down hill with this year’s release. The 2007, which we tasted last year, was delicious and full-bodied like a nice, dark cab. However, this year our Troon ‘guide’ told us that they had changed the … Read more…
Tags: cabernet sauvignon, Carlton, table wine, Troon, Willamette Valley, wine tasting
Posted in Wine
March 29th, 2010
We’ve made this curry a couple of times and it’s quickly becoming one of our staples. Really, the whole reason that this dish is amazing is the red curry paste from Thai Kitchen. Prior to using this, we relied on a hacky recipe involving squash soup and way too much curry powder. Much better now that we’re using the real deal.
Now excellent curry just means mixing a spoonful of this red curry paste with a can of coconut milk, then throwing in our favorite in-season veggies. We really love the versatility of this recipe.
Additionally, we have been able to make it much healthier by using lite coconut milk. Now don’t get me wrong, normally we’ll opt for the most fatty, artery-clogging option out there. But this curry is actually better with lite coconut milk. In a way, the heavier stuff actually masks the … Read more…
Tags: asian, basil, coconut milk, curry, green beans, red pepper, sugar snap peas, thai, tofu, vegan, vegetarian
Posted in Recipes
December 11th, 2009
Although I have been going to Montage since high school, I have a continued appreciation for the tastiness of their food as well as the set-apart atmosphere that they offer.
Montage is best known for their out-of-this-world mac and cheese menu–that’s right, not one, but many kinds of mac! Traditional “old” mac and cheese, spicy mac (with a cajun gravy), or “spold” (half traditional, half spicy; my favorite option) as well as some more adventurous ones, such as pesto. Not only is this mac delicious (my favorite in Portland, now that Velour has closed), but it is also very affordable–around $6-$8.
This last time I ventured to try some other items, and found that they have some tasty vegetarian gumbo and jumbalaya options, and Jon swears by the “mad good” chicken fried steak.
Of course, my favorite part is the creative tin-foil structures they construct for your leftovers (see our most recent takeaways, … Read more…
Tags: comfort food, going out, mac n cheese, southern
Posted in Restaurants
December 11th, 2009
Bamboo Sushi is by far our favorite sushi place in Portland. But it’s bigger than Portland: in my NYC days I got used to going to fancy sushi, and generally spending around $100 a person. But the quality of Bamboo’s sushi exceeds my favorite spots in New York, and at about half the price.
Best of all, Bamboo does a bitchin’ happy hour, where the prices on sushi are downright insane. You can get the four piece nigiri set (pictured here) for $5. That’s right $1.25 a piece – for some of the highest end sushi I’ve ever had. And take a look at the salmon piece – that shit is neon (sorry for the lousy iPhone pic).
Additionally, Bamboo provides a ton of vegetarian options. I’ve always made fun of Kate for liking sushi and being vegetarian, to me sushi is all about the high … Read more…
Tags: cheap eats, cocktails, fish, happy hour, sushi, sustainable, vegetarian
Posted in Restaurants
November 13th, 2009
We picked up this gem a few months ago in the Troon Vineyards tasting room in Carlton. Although the majority of their wines were fairly standard in my opinion, Druid’s Fluid really stood out. It’s a wonderfully full-bodied red table wine.
A lot of Troon’s wines were on the pricier side ($30-$50 a bottle) but Druid’s Fluid was under $20. Each time we open a bottle, we are glad that we brought some home.
Tags: red wine, table wine, Troon, under $20
Posted in Wine
November 13th, 2009
Celebration Ale is a pretty good winter beer that I like to have around the holidays (yes the cheesy “celebration” in the name is probably 75% of why). Like a lot of winter ales, Celebration Ale is very full bodied and hoppy but it goes the extra mile of being nicely balanced with some sweeter nodes.
And finally this beer has a special place in my heart because it was my sister’s favorite when she came to visit me in Portland :).
Tags: ales, drinks, holidays, Sierra Nevada, winter, winter ales
Posted in Beer
October 23rd, 2009
The other night we were lucky enough to have our good friend Felicity invite us over to dinner to show off her mad cooking skills. The theme of the meal was Indian—a cuisine that we love and is somewhat hard to find in Portland. Best of all, whenever we cook with Felicity she teaches us a lot of her cooking knowhow, and we come away able to better prepare our own meals. So we jumped at this opportunity to pick up some pointers.
One thing we learned is to use lots of garlic (don’t have to tell me twice :)). Felicity also taught us about a few Indian spices that we don’t ever really use: coriander and turmeric. Besides these new additions to our spice rack, Felicity also showed us why she uses grape seed oil for Indian frying: … Read more…
Tags: comfort food, coriander, curry, garlic, gluten free, Indian, peas, spices, spicy, sweet potatoes, turmeric, vegetarian
Posted in Group meals
October 18th, 2009
The other day at Fred Meyer we saw acorn squash on sale for 50 cents. Although neither of us had ever tried acorn squash, I had just read an article in Edible Portland about various types of squash, and we have also been wanting to cook more seasonally: which means lots of root vegetables for fall / winter.
After browsing a few acorn squash recipes online, we decided on Moroccan-style stuffed acorn squash. In this simple recipe, the acorn squash is stuffed with a mix of couscous for sustenance, garbanzo beans for protein, carrots and celery for crunch, and finally raisins for a little bit of sweetness. This sweet and salty stuffing combines wonderfully with the flavorful creaminess of the acorn squash.
Since the ribbing on acorn squash makes it difficult to cut, pretty much everywhere recommends cutting the squash into halves and roasting. … Read more…
Tags: acorn squash, baked, carrots, celery, couscous, fall, Fred Meyer, garbanzo beans, raisins, root vegetables, squash, vegan, vegetable broth, vegetarian
Posted in Fall favorites