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Recipes
Escarole with Red Wine Vinaigrette
Escarole is one of those greens you don't give much thought to until it turns up at the farmers market or in your CSA box. We're so used to the dark leafy greens -- kale, chard, collards, mustard greens -- I couldn't tell you when I last had escarole. And then it showed up in our CSA box last week -- in June! Related to endive, the season usually runs December through April-ish, and with its broader leafy leaves and just a hint of bitterness, it's perfect for a simple salad with red wine vinaigrette.
July 4, 2011Share Post
Recipes
Super Simple Sugar Snap Pea Soup
Snap Pea Soup just before Fourth of July weekend? I know, but don't you feel like that's how everything seems to be this year? Just a little behind. There were such beautiful sugar snaps at the farmers market, I'd figured on doing a little salad, simply blanching them and dressing them with a little bit of rice wine vinegar and sesame oil and a sprinkle of black sesame seeds. But then this Mark Bittman recipe popped up, equally simple, if not more so.
June 29, 2011Share Post
Restaurants
Seattle: Aloha Ramen in Greenwood
If there's a Starbucks on every corner in Seattle, right next to it is a teriyaki shop. We have more teriyaki joints (most of them unmemorable) around here than any other place I've ever lived. In fact, there's one right next door to Aloha Ramen, which just seems crazy to me. But there's no contest -- you want to go to Aloha Ramen. You think you want chicken teriyaki? No, no, you want karaage, Japanese fried chicken, right next door.
June 28, 2011Share Post
Book Reviews Recipes
A16 Chocolate Budino with Sea Salt
I have a love/hate relationship with restaurant cookbooks. On the one hand, I'm thrilled that one of my favorite restaurants is sharing its recipes, but on the other, the dishes don't always seem to measure up to the versions I've had when dining out. We loved A16 in San Francisco under Nate Appleman (who's since moved on to consult for Chipotle) and had a number of wonderful dishes there -- from the burrata to the housemade salsiccia pizza w/ spicy chile oil to the chocolate budino. The A16: Food and Wine cookbook delivers on those dishes and more. It was the A16 cookbook that introduced me to "00" flour and the overnight rise for pizza dough. The ricotta gnocchi is good, and even better in brodo with spicy pork meatballs, and the chocolate budino...well, what can you say about that other than "Mmmmm."
June 26, 2011Share Post
Recipes Wine
Dried Fig and Port Jam
  Every summer I say, this is the summer I'm really going to make some amazing raspberry or blackberry jam. But something about sterilizing the jars and waiting for that suctioning pop just still seems complicated to me. So I've been sticking with refrigerator jam. And today, since the summer heat is taking its own sweet time to arrive (and I discovered my Maggie Beer is way past its expiration), I made dried fig and port jam with black mission figs.
June 22, 2011Share Post
Main Course Recipes
Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos & Pineapple Salsa
  Sometimes the standout in a meal surprises you. I expected the main topic of this post to be the chicken tacos we made using this recipe from the Flying Pig food truck, but what I want to talk about first is pineapple salsa. I don't know if it's because this Spring has been very un-sunny and I'm jonesin' for a Hawaiian vacation, but this pineapple salsa really struck a chord. You'd think I never had a fruit salsa before. It was the perfect complement to the tacos.
June 21, 2011Share Post
Main Course Pizza Recipes
Bent Snowboard Pizza with Seeds
Pizza is the #1 food in America, according to the results of a recently released Oxfam survey of more than 16,000 people globally, followed by steak, chicken, Mexican food and pasta. Pizza is #2 in Germany and #5 in Brazil. I can't say I'm surprised about the US result (although I thought #1 would be burgers). Pizza night - whether homemade or take-out - is almost a weekly occurrence for us. That being the case, you'd think I'd be a lot better at rolling the dough into a circle. But when it comes to pizza, I'm geometrically-challenged. Not unlike my experience in 10th grade geometry, I understand the technique, but there's a disconnect between my brain and the rolling pin. It does make for interesting shapes -- oblongs, rectangles, squares. I'd say this one is between bent snowboard and Christmas stocking.
June 19, 2011Share Post
Restaurants Travel
Portland (PDX) – Part 3: Clyde Common
A little before 6 pm on a Friday night, Clyde Common is packed with people enjoying happy hour. It's connected to the Ace Hotel, one of the modern boutique hotels in Portland (parodied on Portlandia as the Deuce Hotel. BTW - a show worth checking out on Hulu). The dinner menu starts at 6 and I nabbed a seat against the windows, ordered a glass of the Crowley Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley and waited. By the time I was ready for my second glass, a spot had opened up at the bar. I was flying solo as my husband had come down with something and wasn't in the mood to go out. I have no problem eating by myself, but knew it might be a challenge on a Friday night at a place with a hoppin' happy hour.
June 18, 2011Share Post
Carnitas taco from Taqueria El Rodeo - Portland
Restaurants Travel
Portland (PDX) – Part 2: Taqueria El Rodeo Food Cart
Portland has an amazing food cart culture offering a broad mix of international cuisines, including Cuban, Ethiopian and Czech, as well as American favorites -- cheese steaks, sausages and fries. And while taco trucks might be a dime a dozen in other parts of the country, they may not be the first thing you think of when someone mentions Portland. We've walked by the food carts in downtown Portland a few times, always on a weekend, because we just don't seem to plan trips on weekdays when most of them are open. This time we got smart, planned a trip arriving on Friday and got there in time for lunch. I've been bookmarking food carts to try for ages -- Kim Jong Grillin, Solar Waffle Works, Chili Pie Palace, but for this quick trip, we were centered downtown, which focused our options.
June 15, 2011Share Post
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