Portland

We just got back from a trip to Portland, OR. I was excited because the latest "Every Day" Rachael magazine featured the city, plus the "Tasty Travels" episode had just been on TV. To be honest there wasn’t really any place I was enticed to go to, except for Moonstruck Chocolate Café. One restaurant sounded OK but when Rachael said the meal was under $30, that was more than I would want to spend.

In the end, I didn’t eat anywhere Rachael went, but I was able to stop by a few places. I went to the Chocolate Café on NW 23rd, supposedly it is popular also because of Oprah and the Academy Awards puts their truffles in their gift bags. I am a bonafide chocoholic but I could not bring myself to pay $3 for one piece of candy. There wasn’t anybody in the shop either.

On the way back to the hotel from dinner at a diner type restaurant (shrimp dinner for less than $9 - nothing fancy but it was rather more that you got what you paid for, I think it was called "Joe’s"), I saw "Anna Bananna’s" and vaguely remembered it from the show. The next day I checked it out, it looks like a coffee house, very comfortable inside, with places to sit and all kinds of newspapers. Our hotel had coffee and I’d had my quota already.

We stayed at the Inn at Northrup Station. It's a funky place in the Nob Hill section, the kind of place that seems like it would have been featured on the show. It's very clean, has a good continental breakfast, and has jars of taffy on the tables in the lobby. "Not Yo Mama's hotel" comes to mind, as far as the furniture goes. Definitely not your typical hotel decor.

While in Portland, there was a letter to the editor about a recent article in the Oregonian, about Rachael’s Portland "Tasty Travels" episode. Apparently people were disappointed that she did not go to what they thought were the primo places, they thought she went to the second-place spots. I found the original article online. It mentioned that one featured place, Valentine’s, was given an assignment of making a sandwich and a latte for the camera…except they didn’t have an espresso machine and couldn’t afford one and didn’t want one. Yet in the episode, the article goes on to say, "Valentine's did make the final cut billed in Ray voice-over as a place for lunch and . . . a latte. Yes, right after seeing the restaurant's signature brie and sauteed greens sandwich sizzle in a panini press (rating a "Yum-O!"), the camera magically transitioned to milk steaming in an espresso machine. ‘It's surreal,’ Bokros says of the virtual latte. This sleight-of-hand was only part of the strangest Portland restaurant piece ever, as mostly second- and third-tier places were hyped as stand-outs. (You wonder if all cities are this poorly chosen.) Ripe had closed, as producers knew, but the Ripe segment went on anyway, though the food looked terrific."

The "Hollywood magic" aspect of Rachael’s show was interesting to me, that what was on TV was not what reality is. So far I haven’t eaten at any place she has recommended, has anyone else? I did go to a restaurant in Austin that was shown (but not mentioned specifically) during the "Tasty Travel’s" for that city. I liked the food there, unfortunately can’t remember the name of it, it was very "California-ish" with healthy sandwiches on wheat bread, in an outdoor setting.

Anyway, we stopped by the Farmer’s Market, and they had all kinds of good-looking produce there. At the time it seemed expensive, but it turned out to be reasonable. Peaches were something like $1.99 a pound, and at Whole Foods around the corner, organic peaches were $4.99 a pound. I saw the Indian food cart around PSU that was shown in the magazine, and people were lined up for gyros and sausage sandwiches.

Great city! No trash on the roads. Businesses even are pet-friendly and have water bowls out on the sidewalk. Public transportation worked like a charm. I miss the West Coast soooo much.

Oven-Baked Corn Dogs

This was on TV not too long ago, from Rachael’s "365" cookbook. I’m all for anything that is a non-fried alternative to my favorite junk foods. I only made half the recipe, since the package of hotdogs I had came in two resealable packages. Rachael’s recipe (for the whole batch) calls for 2 boxes of Jiffy corn muffin mix and 1 ¼ to 1 1/3 cups of milk, plus oil and eggs, so for half the recipe (1 box) the milk required would be just over ½ a cup. The recipe for the muffins on the box calls for 1/3 cup of liquid, which is less. Unfortunately I threw everything into the bowl before I started mixing it up, I should have added the liquid gradually. The batter was a lot thinner than what was on TV, in fact, almost like pancake batter. I didn’t have another box of Jiffy mix to thicken the mess up so I added a small amount of cornmeal and flour. I didn’t want to mess with it too much for fear of throwing off the leavening. The batter still slid off the hotdogs into a puddle. I noticed that the remaining batter (incidentally there was enough for the whole package of hotdogs, even with the recipe halved) that had been sitting in the bowl for about 15 minutes, had thickened. If I were to make this again, I’d let it sit a little before dipping the hotdogs.

Anyway, my end result did not look anything like on TV or the photo in the cookbook. It still tasted good, though. I heated up a can of Hormel chili and put some of that on top like a sauce. The breading was tasty, I will have to remember to use the same seasonings for regular cornbread.

The Emeril cookbook I had given to my nephew had a similar oven-baked corn dog recipe, except he used one of those cast-iron muffin pans with the corn-shaped molds. That would have worked with this recipe too, and looked more appetizing.

I didn’t make the O&V slaw since Don doesn’t like cole slaw. Recently I had some broccoli slaw from a local deli, and it was even better than cabbage slaw. So instead I grated up two broccoli "stumps" I had in the refrigerator, and put some homemade cole slaw dressing on it (mayo, vinegar and sugar). I learned that the packaged broccoli slaw you see in the store is a good value! It took forever to peel the stems and grate them, and I only got about half a cup of shreds.

I got my "Every Day" magazine today. It’s so vibrant, it’s fun flipping through it. There’s a jazzed up s’more recipe in there that looks to-die for. I loved seeing what’s in Diane Sawyer’s fridge. I didn’t know she is a southern girl. She seems down-to-earth, even bringing her own lunch to work.

Pecan Pie Bars

My latest obsession is bar cookies, since they are so easy to throw together. This one is from Paula Deen’s "Too" cookbook. The crust is a cake mix mixture (cake mix, butter, egg), and the filling is basic pecan pie (a little of the cake mixture reserved, corn syrup, vanilla, egg, pecans). It looked like a pecan pie when it came out of the oven. The cakey crust gives it more of an ooey-gooey brownie texture. If you like pecan pie, you will like this cookie. I put a squirt of whipped cream on mine! Yum. We watched "The Matador" the other night and in one scene, they are eating pecan pie "naked" - that is, with no whipped cream. I guess it’s a matter of personal preference but for me, I hafta have it. Anyway, this would be a great cookie to take to a pot luck. It’s almost like a pecan pie that you can eat with your hands.

Speaking of Paula, I loved her "Paula’s European Vacation" that was on this past weekend. I’ve only been to Paris once, I’d love to go again. I think it is even more the mystique and glamour of it that appeals to me. When I was there I experienced some of the "snobbery" that you hear about (or to be fair, maybe it is just a difference in cultures). I loved seeing places to eat that weren’t Michelin Star restaurants for the rich and famous. I was crying at the end when her family surprised her. Debbie is so much like that, she is always thinking of her family even when she is away from them.

Crepe Quiche Lorraine

This is an Alton Brown recipe, that I saw on "Good Eats." I don’t watch his show regularly but when I do happen to see it, it’s so engrossing. The scientist in me likes how he has explanations for why things happen or why you add certain ingredients and in what order.
We had crepes last week and I had two leftover. What to do with them. For once I remembered a recipe I had filed away many months ago. Instead of using muffin tins, I used small casserole dishes, and used what vegetables I had on hand, plus some ham.

Don ended up doctoring his up with loads of cheese and salsa. We both liked it, especially the crepe "crust" that was not as heavy as regular pie crust. Unless I’m cooking for a crowd, I don’t think I will make regular quiche again, this was so much easier.

I’m looking forward to his upcoming new show later in the month. It looks like a "road" show where he’ll be in different places. Speaking of new shows, I was kind of disappointed with Guy’s second episode last weekend. The pasta dish looked like it tasted good but it looked like a heart attack on a plate. And everything was "key." Maybe he won’t be as manic once he settles in.

Chicken Sticks

Cooking with Rachael and Food Network Friends Ellie Krieger is my new fav foodnetwork chef. Diane turned me on to her and I bought her book and TIVO her show. She is all about low-fat, healthy eating and cooking. In her most recent episode she demonstrated how to walk into any store, including a convenience store, and come out with a healthy breakfast - granola bar, apple, low-fat milk. Stuff like this is extremely helpful with my dieting. Last night I made her version of chicken sticks. My granddaughter Rachel is visiting and I knew she'd eat these. First I cut up chicken breasts, then marinated the strips in low fat buttermilk. Then I rolled them in crushed up wheat cereal and baked them. Ellie said to bake them for 8 minutes at 400 degrees. That made me a little nervous, so I cooked them for twice as long. I served them with her honey mustard dip and a fruit salad and a southwest salad. Everyone liked them, even Rachel. I thought the buttermilk made them a little gooey and tangy tasting, a weird sensation. I'm not sure I'll make them again.

Vegan Oat Cookie

I got this recipe from the Cookie Madness blog. This is the blog of Anna - the winner of the last Pillsbury Cook-off. You've gotta love a woman who just won a million dollars but writes about trying to buy last minute discount airfares on priceline.com. Anyway, this cookie is a "vegan" cookie, I guess because it doesn't use any eggs. It caught my eye because it uses mashed bananas and I always have ripe bananas lying around. Everyone who commented on the cookie raved about how good it was. So I got up and made it for breakfast and it was incredibly good - not too sweet, moist, chewy, even my granddaughter (who hates when I add nuts) chowed down on them without mentioning the walnuts. Could be she didn't even taste them because of the oats. Here's a link to the recipe.