Broccoli!

We just harvested the first broccoli head from the garden tonight, and Sean is whipping up something Asian-inspired that smells incredible. We weren't really sure if it could grow more than this, but I thought we should just pick it before it was too late. We'll see how the second head goes, and all the little side-shoots.

I should go, since Sean just announced that our shredded dried squid snacks and papaya salad are ready for me. Mmmmmm....!

Special Day

Not only was yesterday Valentine's Day, but it was also the one-year anniversary of our arrival in Portland! We left Massachusetts on Feb. 5th of last year, and it took us 9 days to drive across the country in our Uhaul.

We decided to celebrate by cooking a big, impromptu meal, since we're not really the restaurant reservation types. I made spinach and sausage calzones, which turned out great, thanks to our pizza stone! Sean put together a key lime pie (with regular limes, not key limes), which was also fantastic. He should make those more often! We also watched Sweeney Todd, which was really fun.

I think our first few weeks in Portland were a total blur, since I can't remember anything specific about this time last year. I remember going to by first Tea Time, and being thrilled that I could bike there (even though I was unexpectedly sweaty when I got to Lea's house). I remember being prepared for spring snow which never came. I remember flowers blooming almost immediately, and not knowing quite what to make of it.

There are already flowers poking through the ground in our garden. They look like tulips, but it seems really early for them, right? Maybe not. I thought I'd see crocuses, but I haven't seen any yet. I'm getting ready though.

It's strange to look back on the past year. So much has happened! Sean and I are in a different place than I expected, but we're also sort of in exactly the place I'd hoped for. It's a little hard to reflect on the past when you're looking ahead so brightly, but I can tell that we've had a good year here, and we made a good decision to come.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

The turkey was fantastic! It was the juiciest turkey I've ever had. When I removed the thermometer from measuring the breast, a stream of juice shot out of the hole about a foot in the air! Kinda gross-sounding, but it proves how moist it was.

I only had to flip the bird 3 times, and it only cooked for 2 hours. It was tricky to get it to stay thigh-side-up both times, but I leaned it against the side of the rack inside the pan. I learned that I absolutely hate my roasting pan though, since the handles are on hinges, and they lay completely flat against the pan so it's impossible to grab them with potholders. If the handles were easier to grab, this would have been a really low-stress recipe.

Another thing to note is the giblet gravy I made (also a recipe from the 1,000 Best Recipes cookbook). You're supposed to start it the night before, while the turkey is brining, but I forgot and did it all at once. It took all day to make! I started it as soon as I got up in the morning (which, admittedly was around 11), and finished it just as the turkey came out. I threw away the turkey's tale the night before, since it was hanging by some loose skin to the bird, but apparently that was supposed to go in the gravy. Whoops! I'll know for next time. The gravy was good anyway, though pretty thin until it was leftover.

Here's the recipe I used, so ya'll can brine your turkeys next time. You should really just buy the Best Recipes cookbooks though (at least some of them). :) Then you can have the gravy recipe too.

Classic Roast Turkey

2 cups table salt

1 turkey (12-14 lbs. - larger birds don't cook as evenly), rinsed thoroughly; giblets, neck and tailpiece removed and reserved for gravy

3 medium onions, chopped coarse

1 1/2 medium carrots, chopped coarse

1 1/2 celery ribs, chopped coarse

6 sprigs fresh thyme

3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1. Dissolve the salt in 2 gallons cold water in a large stockpot or clean bucket. [I used a 7 gallon stock pot and needed more water and salt to cover the turkey. Adjust accordingly, and make sure in advance that you have a large enough pot.] Add the turkey and refrigerate for 4 hours.

2. Remove turkey, rinse thoroughly, and pat dry inside and out with paper towels. Put on a flat rack over a rimmed baking sheet, uncovered, in the fridge for at least 8 hours to air-dry.

3. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat to 400 degrees. Toss 1/3 of the veggies and thyme with 1 Tbsp of the melted butter and place inside the body cavity. Bring the legs together and perform a simple truss (wrapping twine around the legs to close them, and bringing it around to the front, under the wings, and tying over the flap of skin covering the neck hole).

4. Scatter the remaining veggies and thyme over a shallow roasting pan. Pour 1 Cup water over the veggies. Set V-rack in the pan. Brush the entire breast side of the turkey with half the remaining butter, then place in breast-side down on the V-rack. Brush the entire back-side with the remaining butter.

5. Roast for 45 minutes. Remove pan from the oven (close the oven door); baste; with a wad of paper towels in each hand, turn the turkey leg/thigh side up (not wing up). If the liquid in the pan has totally evaporated, add another 1/2 cup water. Return to the oven and roast 15 minutes. Remove again, baste, and rotate the other thigh side up. Roast for another 15 minutes. Remove one last time, baste, and turn it breast side up; roast until the breast registers about 165 and the thigh registers 170 to 175 on an instant-read thermometer, 30-45 minutes. Remove turkey from the pan to a carving board and let rest until ready to carve, at least 20 minutes.

Thankful

I'm thankful for all my amazing friends and family who have encouraged me to take risks and stick to it when things were tough.

I'm thankful for Tea Time with the PDX Etsy crew, since nothing is better than getting out of the house once in a while to chat and snack with friends. Tea Time has helped keep me sane when life was really stressful!

I'm thankful for my cat, Rupert, who is such an awesome guy to have around. Even when he's knocking things on the floor or head-butting me at 3am because he felt like snuggling. I love spending time with him, and letting him distract me from work once in a while.

I'm thankful to anyone who's ever shared food with us, whether it was dinner at our house or theirs. What is life without good people to eat with?

I'm thankful for my husband, Sean, who not only puts up with my crazy ideas and lofty goals, but he also helps me achieve them.

I'm thankful for our great home and friendly neighbors.

I'm thankful for all the opportunities we've had in the past year, business-wise and personally.

I'm thankful for Cooks Illustrated for putting out amazing cookbooks that have taught me how to cook better food. And for our 7-gallon stock pot that we use for brewing beer and brining turkeys.

Buffalo Roast

This weekend, Pat (one of Sean's friends from high school in Germany) came to visit! Pat flies planes for the Navy, and he was lucky enough to schedule a day off in Portland between flights.

We took him to the Farmer's Market where we picked up a buffalo roast and some veggies to grill, plus some venison pate and a baguette. Unfortunately, no one told us that a roast shouldn't be cooked on a grill (even though we asked the meat guy what he'd recommend for grilling). We spent the afternoon hanging in the backyard, drinking beer and eating fancy snacks. The buffalo was a bit tough, but tasty overall. The grilled potatoes and zucchini were awesome, and the pate was excellent. I could get used to all this amazing food...

Our yard has a stray cat and her three kittens as frequent visitors, and the smell of our cooking enticed them over. All the cats seem to be very frightened of us, but that didn't keep them from licking our olive oil-covered plate and meaty tongs.
* * *
I got to hear my first Emergency Broadcast Signal today while in the car! There was a severe weather advisory for the county south of us. While it was hot and sticky for me, they were having a dangerous lightning storm with damaging hail and 60 mph winds! The announcement warned that "lightning is still one of the top killers in the U.S." and "if you can hear thunder, then you're close enough to get struck by lightning". Luckily, it seems to be breaking the hot spell we've had, so I might actually be able to cook some dinner indoors tonight!

My Friends

A couple weeks ago, my friend Eling (from the amazing Traveling Rhinos) came up to Portland after vending at the Renegade Craft Fair in San Fransisco. I had the pleasure of going out for Thai food at Pok Pok with Eling, her husband Dane, and their friend Shots (sorry if I'm spelling her name wrong! Could it be "Schotts"?).

Oh my god. The food was amazing! We were so eager to eat, I forgot to take pictures until we'd already dug in. The food was so light and crisp and refreshing! I even tried the crispy pork over rice and beefy Boat Noodles that Eling had. Plus, I got to try a mulberry drinking-vinegar soda and young coconut juice. Just check out their lunch menu, and I'll take you there when you come visit. ;)

It looks like we actually have a series of visitors on their way to PDX! Sean's friend Pat, Dan Weill, and my parents are all planning trips out here in the next two months. We can't wait to see all you guys!! Hopefully the ants will be gone by then.

If you're not on that list of visitors, you should be. We have outdoor cafes where you can drink alcohol. And there's bound to be a beer festival/parade/giant neighborhood event when you come. If you get here before the rainy season (which allegedly starts in November or so), it's unlikely to rain at all. In fact, it has only drizzled here twice in the past month as far as I can remember.

After lunch, we went out to the Japanese Gardens, which I hadn't been to before. It was relaxing, and beautiful. Maybe not the best place for actually meditating though, since it was packed full of people (on a weekday, no less) and we could hear the train whistle from the zoo train every few minutes. You'll have to check out my Flickr page for more photos from the garden, since I've run out of room in this post.

Email me to plan your trip now--you won't regret it!

Sauvie Island

Today I went berry picking with Leah, Judy and Poe for tea time! Leah drove us out to Kruger's Farm on Sauvie Island to pick blueberries and raspberries, then we went to another farm along the road for cherries. I've never in my life seen such large and beautiful u-pick farms!! Not to mention that Kruger's is a no-spray organic farm.

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera, so you'll have to check out Poe's blog and Leah's blog for photos. They went last week, so there are already some posts with pics from then. I think they might add more soon as well, since it was a beautiful day with only minimal haze. I still don't know how some people here can complain about the humidity! It's barely perceptible.

That big jar of dark, gorgeous honey is going to become my next batch of mead! I can't believe it was only $32 for 12 lbs, since I've spent about $50 for 15 lbs of bulk honey at Whole Foods! I was tempted to buy another jar, but I thought I'd give this a try first. There is so much local honey here, and I can get really picky about the flavors. This jar is carrot and madras, which I guess is a type of onion. It smells and tastes divine (not very floral at all, unlike the clover honey I got last year for about $6/lb.) and I can't wait to use it. I almost bought a small jar of a lighter type of honey (don't remember the pollen type) to round it out to 15 lbs, but I didn't want to mix them. There could be quite a bit of mead in out future if I can keep getting honey at this price!

In other news, I may be doing three craft fairs this month, which is some kind of record for me! Sean is about done with helping me at events, so I might be doing the next two solo (with my booth-buddies). I'm not making loads of money, but it's a lot better than not selling anything all weekend! And these events are super fun. It's like hanging out with all my best friends outside for a day, plus making some cash. :)

In other, other news, Rupert is doing great. He's settling down a little into adult cat mode, so he's sleeping a lot more during the day and is a little less needy. He still talks and chatters like crazy! He's also learning how to purr and rub when he's happy.

Our crafty cooperative is officially legal, and I'm doing a ton of work to get it running! I'm helping design logos and images for the website, and I'm in charge of the Marketing Committee. So far, the "Marketing Committee" (which is just me) is collecting ideas to implement in the future. There will probably not be an official committee which has meetings, since we just need to brainstorm ideas and then carry them out. I'll be the go-to person for organizing ad campaigns and things, making sure it gets done. Very exciting! We're planning to launch or site next month and do a bunch of advertising for the fall. This is keeping me really busy.

Food heals all wounds

Yesterday was a bit of a rough day. We started out the day with Rupert attacking Sean's face while he was still sleeping, and it came to a close with Rupert charging around the house and leaping until his head hit a solid object, most notably my printer. It was a long day.

We were craving yummy hot subs for dinner, and decided to find a sub shop to fill our bellies. We tried Michael's on SE Sandy and 11th, since it got great online reviews for it's cheap eats and greasy goodness.

Unfortuntately, Michael's is some sort of "Chicago style" place, and they didn't have a grilled veggie sub on the menu (which is all I wanted in the world at that moment). I will warn you all now, if you go into a sub shop that doesn't have a grilled veggie sub on the menu, just turn around. I asked if they could make me one anyway, since I just wanted onions, peppers and mushrooms, with some melted cheese, but they said no. They didn't have any mushrooms. I should have known it would be bad news since they didn't serve pizza, but they kept mentioning their "pizza style" subs, or some such nonsense.

I ended up getting a sub that involved cold bread, with hot marinara sauce (which was actually good), half an inch of cold American and Provolone cheese, grilled tomatoes and one slice of grilled pepper. Too bad I don't like tomatoes.

They didn't even have eggplant parm available! This is the first time I've been really homesick for something in Massachusetts. If anyone reading this has an Italian sub/pizza shop near them, please go out there and eat a good hot sub for me. I'll be thinking of you...

Tonight, Sean was craving fruits and veggies, and we just happened to inherit a couple freezer bags full of frozen strawberries that Suzie had picked last year. They were a little freezer burned, but if you add enough juice and vodka, that isn't a problem at all.

We decided to make grilled veggie burritos, a la Anna's Taqueria from back east, since it was a gorgeously warm day, and the smell of freshly-mowed lawn made us itch to bust out the grill.

We picked up all the ingredients we needed at Trader Joe's and Limbo's (the organic market) up the block. It wasn't a cheap meal, but I'm still impressed at the amazingly cheap prices on produce at Limbo's.

We made guacamole and salsa, fired up our little grill out front and grilled up everything else you see in the photo. We added black beans, cheddar cheese and sour cream.

Let me tell you, if you've had a bad food experience, the only thing to do is massively out-cook that disappointment away. And a couple strawberry daiquiris certainly don't hurt, either.

Cooking is the new Crafting

Yeah, yeah. I know I said it didn't actually rain here, but I had to be wrong sometime. One similarity between the weather here and in New England is that it can change dramatically over the course of the day. Even when the forecast predicts rain for 24 hrs. straight, we usually see some blue sky. I need to bike down to the hardware store to get Sean some "s" rings (to hang the light fixtures for his fish tanks at home, which are coming along nicely!) but I'm not going to go out in the rain.

There's something about the rain though...

People here say it's depressing, or that it inspires them to read more or do crafts. Me, I just want to bake. I went grocery shopping yesterday and came home with two bags of chocolate chips, a box of bakers semi-sweet squares and a chocolate cake mix. I never buy cake mix. I know I was taken in by all the sales on baking items, but seriously. I'm thinking I'll make the cake today to celebrate our sixth week of living in Portland. That's worth celebrating!

I made apple fritters a few days ago (Obl Puffers, for those folks down with their Pennsylvania Dutch lingo) since it was the only dessert I could make with the ingredients we had on hand. Sean had just had the Worst Day Ever working on the fish tank lighting fixtures, and we haven't had any sweet stuff in the house for weeks. I got to use my new apple corer/slicer gadget (thanks, Mom!) which worked perfectly for this recipe.

I cut this recipe in half since it was just the two of us eating the fritters, and fried stuff doesn't keep. Even in half, this recipe was kind of a lot for just two people. It's super easy to make though.

Apple Ring Fritters
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
4 apples (very tart!)

Combine dry ingredients. Add milk and egg. Beat well. Peel, core and slice apples into 1/4 inch rings (wedges are fine too). Dip rings into batter and drop into a skillet with 1/2 inch of hot oil. [My recipe says "melted shortening", but I didn't have any. It sounds like this would use a lot of shortening, but it might be worth trying.] Fry until golden brown on both sides, then drain on paper towels. Mix cinnamon and sugar together and sprinkle over fritters. Serve immediately.

In case anyone wants to try this who hasn't had a lot of experience frying in hot oil, here are a few pointers:
1) Make sure the pan you are frying in is dry before pouring in the oil. If you're using a freshly washed pan this is still damp, the water will explode out of the pan as the oil heats up. This is very dangerous.
2) Don't dip plastic utensils into the hot oil. They will melt. If you don't have a fancy mesh frying spoon (you can get them at Asian supermarkets wicked cheap), you can use a metal slotted spoon, pasta spoon, tongs, or a small metal strainer.
3) Reuse your oil for frying by straining it into a plastic container once it has cooled. If you don't strain it, you'll get little bits of food debris that will spoil the flavor of the oil.

Okay, anyone who has read this far deserves a piece of cake. I have to say, the cooking inspiration has been sort of slow in coming. Sean and I loved to cook at home in Framingham, and we loved our dinner parties with Jon and Erin. Since we've moved, we've only been out to dinner once (a burrito joint on Alberta), and we had Thai food for lunch two weeks ago (at Appethaizing, which tasted like a home-cooked meal). That doesn't mean we've been excited about cooking though.

We've been overwhelmed with the amount of changes to our daily schedules, and it's hard to develop of cooking pattern in there -- it's even harder to get excited about it. Sean's schedule is a bit tighter with his new job, since he goes to work a bit later than when he was roofing, and he comes home around 6 or 7 instead of early afternoon. This is great for my business, since I get a lot more work done at home when there isn't someone there to talk to and distract me. Unfortunately, it also turns me into Little Suzie Homemaker, cooking all the meals, doing the dishes (we still don't use the dishwasher) and cleaning the house. Since Sean is away all day long, 5 days a week, this doesn't seem unreasonable. I even like cooking and cleaning! It's just king of a big adjustment from our previous habit of taking turns with the chores and alternating the cooking duties.

It's tough too, since I don't have my own car. I'm certainly not confined to the house, and I'm getting a lot of great exercise from walking and biking almost every day, but I still can't buy a week's worth of groceries during the day. Sean is also the more adventurous cook between the two of us, so we're sort of stuck eating the predictably simple meals that I like to cook. I'm glad I'm getting the baking bug though, because that means I'm enjoying being in the kitchen! It's also weird going to the grocery store and not knowing where anything is. I used to be able to do my shopping without a list, since I'd know everything I needed when I walked down the aisles. Now, I'm still figuring out the Safeway organization system, and it's really easy to miss the key ingredients to all our meals (taco seasoning is in a different aisle from the taco shells?). Shopping at 2-4 different grocery stores doesn't help much either.

Okay, enough complaining. We have been eating really well, and I've discovered some great new foods at Trader Joe's that I swear our old TJ's didn't have. I'll save that for another day...

Now I'm off to write an interview for DIY Alert and PDX crafting celebrity, Diane Gilleland. Woot!

Finding a "system" that works for you

Thanks for all the comments! Now I feel better about all my talking. :) I added a picture of the back of my haircut, as per the request. You can't really see how well Becky blended in the weight-line (that's an industry term) with the clipped portion, but you can trust me that she really knew what she was doing.

I had a little adventure today, walking around downtown. Our car needs to pass this thing called DEQ in order to get our Oregon license plates. DEQ is an emissions test thing. Our "check engine" light has been on for a while, and they won't even look at your car if that's on. We know. We tried. So Sean's been working on the car on the weekends to try to figure out what the problem was, but we got to the point where he'd run out of home-remedies.

Today we brought the car to an autobody shop that was recommended to us downtown. Sean and I got coffee together at a cool place (really, it was chilly since they had the door wide open) called the Backroom that had a pool table, wi-fi, and french pressed coffee. Then Sean took the bus to work while I wandered over to the shops on NW 23rd Ave.

Scenery of note: I passed a toupee on the sidewalk while crossing a bridge over the highway; I also passed a sausage and smoked meat factory that at first smelled like burning rubber, then like a pleasantly smoky woodstove.

I passed a florist where I got to poke through the plants on the sidewalk and find out what some of the local flora is that I've been photographing. The pink and white dangly guy up top is an Andromeda plant. I gotta say, they're kinda ugly when the whole bush is blooming. The colors look like they've faded in the sun when there's too many of them.

The yellow bell-like thing to the left is a Euphorbia. This plant is on our block, and I pass it on the way to TJ's and the library.

The pink flowering tree from the top of the last post is a Quince tree. It's really pretty. I think I'll replace that pic with the original hi-res one so you can click on it and see the flowers close-up. Sean's mom was kind enough to send us a link to a website that encourages Portland residents to pick the fruit from public trees. There's a catalog of fruit-bearing trees (that you can add to), harvest times, and organized fruit gathering get-togethers. I've never had a quince before, but maybe I'll check back when they're ripe.

I don't know what this tree is, but it's funky. This picture does not do it justice, either. This guy is some kind of pine tree, but it's got a whole bunch of spread-out branches, each totally covered in thick spikes. There are a couple really tall ones of these in the neighborhood.

So, back to the story of today's outing. I tried really hard to shop for birthday presents, since there are now 3 people on our list whose birthdays have gone by. For some reason, I just couldn't find anything! It's pathetic, I know. There were a lot of cool shops in the NW, but I couldn't find anything just right for any of these people that didn't cost $80. [Teresa, if I ever have a spare $80, there's an awesome ceramic Day of the Dead lady with your name on it. Val, if you want a giant red teapot from Italy, I know where to get it. Amy, if you want an inflatable moose head for your wall or a bobblehead gnome, I know where to get them. Seriously, just let me know...]

I did discover a new store called Cannibals where I met a very excentric Artiste lady who wants me to sell my work with her. She told me all kinds of success stories about the homeless artists she's discovered who've become stars. I'm enchanted by her store and encouraged by her enthusiasm for my work. She wants me to work on more expensive, creative art pieces, which is really the direction I'd like to head anyway. I'm going to try to meet with her again soon, but I'm trying not to cut off the crafty market just yet. Her store's focus is also on recycled materials, so I'm going to check out a new store tomorrow that sells scrap glass pieces that I can get creative with. I'm really happy that I'm finding some of those job opportunities that I knew existed out there for someone like me!

So that's pretty much how my day went. I walked past the Thai restaurant that Sean and I had a fantastic lunch at two years ago (Beau Thai, which does in fact use a bowtie as its logo). I ate a not-so-great burrito at Santa Fe Taqueria. And we ended up paying $723 for a new throttle body... yikes. But our car idles very smoothly now, and we should pass the DEQ test. Yay. It's about time I sold some real art, methinks. I'ma get on that now...

Fubonn

Today Sean and I went grocery shopping. (We also finally installed our papertowel holder and magnetic knife rack. Now our kitchen is complete!) Normally, a grocery trip involves shopping at 2-3 different stores, since we can only get certain things at Safeway (the "normal" supermarket), then we get some organic produce at Limbo, and round out the trip with some not-crap cheese and other fun stuff at Trader Joe's. Limbo is next-door to TJ's, so this works well for us.

Today, we broke with our three week tradition and went to Fubonn Supermarket first. This Asian market is a bit out of our way, (47 blocks to be exact) but it was worth the trip. We never got to visit Boston's Asian market (Super88) much, since it was in Allston, and not at all convenient from the suburbs. Fubonn is straight east, so we might even get to shop there regularly!

We were blown away by the amount of ingredients they had there. We even found vegetarian fish sauce, which I didn't even know existed outside of mashing your own fermented tofu! I'm really excited about this. Now we can make better Thai food. Which is our plan for tonight, actually. Sean is cooking up some green curry as I type this.

We found long beans for the curry (which I've never seen before) and some incredibly fresh Thai basil and kaffir lime leaves in perfect portions. If we were adventurous meat-eaters (I'm not, anyway) we could have had pigs feet, a pound of chicken skin, jars of fish in various states of preservation, or cross-sections of snake heads.

There's no giant cafeteria here like Super88, but there was a bakery where we tried a pineapple custard bun, curry beef bun and orange mini pound cake. What an awesome lunch for two people for just over $3! I'm starving now and can't wait for curry. Mmmm...

After a quick trip to Safeway, we decided to skip the other two markets until later in the week. I can walk up to TJ's and Limbo to pick up those few items since they're only four blocks away. It may sound like a lot of work to shop at all these different places, but it's actually pretty fun.

Fubonn Supermarket

2850 SE 82nd Ave
Portland, OR 97266
Phone: (503) 517-8899