Walk, Drink, Eat Portland, Oregon

Portland Walks- Each day of vacation we started from our quaint little guest house in Woodstock, with the chickens and the homemade granola and coffee from Trader Joe's.  We walked through the neighborhood to our bus stop to admire the lush landscaping in the neighboring yards.  For us, Portland consisted of a lot of walking.  A lot.  I like to take in a new city by walking it.   The Clarks booties that I wear to sling hair for hours on end are not conducive to pounding pavement for any length of time.  Who knew? The first day, we walked 3 miles down Belmont, from a coffee shop to a cafe, admiring all of the beautiful old Victorian style houses that the "rich hippies" must live in.  By the time we arrived at a.n.d cafe my feet were destroyed, and for the rest of the vacation, it was all flip flops all the time for me. I always worry that I have packed too many shoes when I travel. This time I packed four too many pairs. 

Portland Drinks- One of my favorite things about Portland is Urban Wineries.  Grapes from Washington and California are delivered to these winery warehouses/tasting rooms in urban areas.  They make the wine, serve the wine, drink the wine, often alongside cheese plates and snacks, sometimes dinner.  We started off Sunday morning at Hip Chicks Do Wine for a little tasting.  When we told the owner what we were up to, she insisted on driving us over to Alchemy in her giant truck with the HIP CHICKS vanity plate on the front.  By then, it was 11:30 am, we were drunk and were pretty certain that the guy at Alchemy was too.  He drank with us as we tasted, served us a taste of the new wine that he was to bottle the next day, and entertained us until our cab arrived with stories of how he came to make wine, meet his wife, move to Portland and build his business.  All of these winemakers are so inspiring to us because they strike a chord.  They are doing something new with the urban winery.  They are bringing something to the community that the community didn't know that they needed.  They are making something amazing and lucrative and they "love doing what they do".  It is this spirit that has led me to work for myself, do the job that I do and live the life that I live, and what drives Kayla and I in our endeavors together, to tap into that creativity and turn it into livelihood.  And.  Drink. Wine.

Portland Eats-  Oregon's foodie culture is what inspired us to visit.  We gathered recommendations from friends and the Internet and set out to eat at the very best places.  Portland has a big food truck culture, but we skipped the trucks (and Mexican food) all together.  We have enough of that in Texas.  We sprang for the Asian food, the french inspired, the foodie food, and the local food. Two of my favorites were  Pok Pok and Clyde Commons.  They both left me craving more as soon as we finished our last bites.   Other notables were Besaw's, Toast, The Delta, and A.N.D. cafe.  I followed A.N.D. on Facebook for a couple of weeks, so I got to see photos of the daily specials and everything looked so amazing.  It is a vegan cafe that also serves a lot of gluten free options.  I am not vegan.  In fact, I love meat and I adore cheese.  So, I ordered the sandwich with fake meat, buffalo sauce and fake bleu cheese, because I will always order the thing on the menu that has buffalo sauce and bleu cheese.  It was impressive!  Afterwards, I was able to walk around without cramping!  I felt full and satisfied, but still light and energetic.  I am not jumping on the vegan bandwagon, but I did appreciate this food.  We ate plenty of pork the rest of the vacation to satisfy my carnivorous desires.  Last but certainly not least, my all time favorite was Bai Mint.  I can not stop thinking about the beef and pumpkin curry dish that we ordered.  It tasted like grandmas pot roast on thai crack.  We ate it two nights in a row and I dream of it daily.  I will study this dish and will not rest until I have it mastered.  So. Delicious.



Lavender Infused Gin cocktail at Besaw's

 

Coffee/Woodworking Warehouse

Besaw's Brunch



Vegan Bbq and Bleu Cheese.



Bai Mint Take Out

Vegan and Gluten Free Biscuits and Bacon and Eggs at a.n.d. Cafe

All Vegan at a.n.d.  I am surprisingly impressed.



Last Breakfast in Portland.  Toast in Woodstock.



Toast

 

Fancy sugar cubes at Clyde Commons, served with our coffee and brandy.



This is not a FOOD BLOG

This is not a food blog.  This is a blog about our first year of marriage.  But in this marriage, we love food.  We watch a lot of Food Network TV, so we often pretend that we are on a cooking show, Chopped or something, and we have to come up with a recipe using the random ingredients we have on hand.  So, I made this... and it was epic so I must share.  I didn't measure anything (because I was using leftovers) , so, if you decide to make this masterpiece yourself,  use your own judgement regarding the rationing of ingredients.  We found that this dish pairs famously with Chardonnay.  Un-Oaked Chard is my preference, and we try to drink organic or local wine, so I served this with Messina Hof (Texas grown and crafted) Un-Oaked Chardonnay.  Delicious. 

1.  Mix together!

Ground Turkey
1 egg
Crushed Walnuts
BBQ sauce
Grated Parmesan Cheese
3 cloves of minced garlic
salt and pepper

2. Sauce!

Melt some butter
Add crushed garlic
Cook for a minute or so
Add Heavy Cream
Add some blue cheese
Cook over low heat, melting the cheese, stirring and cooking to desired consistency.  Ours was kind of thick and creamy.

3.  Grill the burger, toast the bun, slather BBQ sauce and gorgonzola cheese sauce onto bun, add burger, a slice of avocado, and serve.

P.S.  We grew this tomato, and it was good.

Remember the Alamo

We often make pizzas at home.  Last night we were wanting to top off our lazy weekend with a pizza and wine night, but instead of the usual Mediterranean style that we go for, I wanted to try something new.  I have an obsession with The Alamo Drafthouse's Spicy Bleu Burger.  I crave it weekly and am often convinced  when I am feeling especially lethargic, blue or just simply ravenous, that the spicy bleu burger will cure what ails me.  So, when we were wandering aimlessly around the grocery store last night collecting mushrooms, pizza sauce, mozzerella... I felt bored by our selection and with very little convincing, got Kayla on board to make a pizza inspired by my favorite Alamo menu item.  It was a huge hit!  The act of putting the pizza together even inspired a new dinner party idea.  It will be a series of  parties where one or two other couples bring the ingredients to make their favorite menu item or dish into a pizza!  Kayla brilliantly termed the title of the series "Make it into a Pizza!"  And so it was.

First, I browned my hormone free, grass fed hamburger meat in some canola oil.  I seasoned the beef with some cayenne pepper, lemon pepper, ginger, turmeric and some fresh herbs from the garden (thyme and winter savory).  When it was almost browned, I put in large chunks of fresh garlic, about 3 cloves.  We like garlic around here.

Next I prepare my crust.  We eat gluten free around  so we used Udi's pre made pizza crust.  It comes in a package of two small crusts.  Udi's has a sweeter taste than average pizza crust, which pairs perfectly with the rich and spicy flavors we are about to throw down. 

Organic Barbeque Sauce!  No preservatives!

Next I drizzle extra virgin olive oil on the crusts before putting on the BBQ sauce.  After I took this photo of my pretty BBQ sauce design, I added more sauce and spread it pretty thick over the crust.

After the sauce, I sprinkle a little mozerella cheese, followed by a healthy sprinkle of the browned hamburger.  For this garlic loving household I added two more cloves of freshed minced garlic.  Top it off with BLUE CHEESE and you are ready to put it in the oven! I follow Udi's directions to bake for 7 minutes in a preheated 375 oven.  Afterwards, we slid the pizzas off the baking sheet and baked an additional 3 minutes to get a preferred crispy crust. 

We enjoyed it with a fresh garden salad that my honey made and a glass of Cab.

Ugly Ducklings

We have entered into the days of consecutive upper 90's and 100 degree days in Austin...which means we haven't finished our gravel patio. We will finish it soon, but I suppose we needed a break (and I need the use of my shoulder for work).

Meanwhile,we have been watching A LOT of HGTV, DIY and Food Network shows. Kayla is drawing a lot of inspiration from the food shows, so we have been snacking on some major deliciousness. How about a grilled peach dessert with greek yogurt,fresh mint,and crushed pistachios?









On the DIY furniture front, we acquired two new pieces of furniture that have become new projects (our ugly ducklings). About two weeks ago I found an old dresser on Craigslist that needed some love. We have had on our radar a piece that would complement the big 70s dresser that we refinished and purposed for our entertainment center in our living room. This one was a perfect match in size and style to the one that we already have. It will serve as a buffet for the dining room.

Here she is before (with the drawers pulled out).



Here she is after! The middle cabinet will eventually open up to hold a wine rack and wine glasses. Above the buffet, Kayla will build a hutch to display our white wedding pottery. More on that later.






A few days into the buffet refinishing project, a friend on Facebook posted this charmer and we had to pick it up, even though we don't have a real use for it! We don't want to mess with it's beauty too much, but my vision for it is kind of French/Old Hollywood. Replacing the legs with some heavy ornate brass ones,add new hardware, touch up the stain, fix and lid, and voila! It will be a modern piece without sacrificing it's integrity. I will post more when we get around to working on this baby.