Cholesterol Equilibrium

I have a theory that if you eat oatmeal and bacon during the same meal, such as breakfast, the oatmeal will absorb/remove the fat derived from the bacon, thus rendering it a cholesterol neutral meal. Scientists, any thoughts?

Püffertjes and Cevapci: Best of Europe 2010 Trip

Amsterdam

Food-wise, we got off to a good start in Amsterdam: herring sandwiches, believe it or not.
I thought they would be slimy, sour, and disgusting, but they weren't. Really. I'm not joking.
They were fresh like the sea, and a wee bit salty, but not at all like the pucker-inducing specimens known as pickled herring. They're sold at little kiosks around town, are super cheap, and super tasty. I highly recommend them as a light lunch or afternoon snack.











The next Dutch delicacy we partook of was Püffertjes. They're little round puffy pancakes, sort of like unfilled Aebelskivers, topped with butter and powdered sugar. Simple. Super wonderful. Even more wonderful that I ate them at a cozy braun cafe. Mmm.








Another Amsterdam favorite is Jenever, which I bought a couple little bottles of to drink at home. I still haven't tried it yet, but Jenever is an ancestor to gin, and the method of imbibing is to fill a tiny little glass to the absolute brim with ice-cold Jenever, and then slurp it so it won't spill. I'm looking forward to trying it, but waiting for the right moment.

Now for the Balkans

Rick Steves didn't have the greatest opinion of Balkan cuisine, nor did Sanela, my Bosnian friend. We figured that maybe they were both just being overly critical. We were wrong.
Now don't get me wrong, there were definitely some tasty things there, it's just that the food you see in cookbooks is cooked mainly at home; restaurants that serve the more interesting fare are few and far between. If you aren't persistent, you'll end up eating mostly mediocre, overpriced pizza and pasta (I might as well quote our friend Rick directly here). So I'll only discuss the hits.

Food in Bosnia was inexpensive. Food in Croatia and Montenegro is expensive, although I suspect less so in big cities such as Split.
In Bosnia and Croatia, we drank beer and ate ice cream cones every day as a little refreshment. I liked that routine. Beer was cheaper than sparkling water, and an ice cream cone was only 75 cents in Bosnia, and a little more in Croatia. Everyone, locals and tourists alike, had a daily ice cream cone. The ice cream was lighter and fluffier, like gelato, but not quite as sweet.





The first place we went in Sarajevo was the Sarajevo Brewery. It's huge, yet cozy with dark wood paneling and brass fixtures, and has been around since 1864. We both ordered dark beers and shared the Bosnian plate, which showcased Bosnian cured meats and cheeses.
























































Later that night, Derek wanted a snack, and we discovered the wonder that is cevapcici. It's finger-sized skinless sausages stuffed in a focaccia-like bread (many people compare it to pita bread, but it's crustier and chewier than that), served with chopped onions and kajmak, a fermented clotted cream to smear on it. Oh. My. Gosh. It was so good! (After eating it on four other occasions, we didn't find it so revelatory any more.)









Bosnian bread comes in many varieties, and all were remarkably good, such as the ornate knot pictured at left. I used it to scoop up a cucumber and yogurt salad, which was just like my dad makes. Apparently cucumber yogurt salad is cross-cultural.












In Mostar, we had a light lunch of burek, a snake-shape of filo dough filled with either meat, cheese, or spinach and cheese, and coiled up into a knot. Highly recommended.










In Dubrovnik, we started encountering the overpriced pizza/pasta routine, but our first night there we had a very nice dinner at a place Rick Steves recommended. Octopus salad, I discovered, is delicious and not at all rubbery. We also had Mussels Buzzara (a garlicky breadcrumb sauce), a seafood risotto, all accompanied by a well-chilled local white wine called Posip, whose grapes are grown on Korcula, an island we visited on our trip.













We took a day-trip to Montenegro, and while driving up up UP into the mountains, we encountered a few of these little huts selling locally-produced products: cheese, prsut (Balkan proscuitto), honey, and grappa. We bought a little of each, and I even smuggled the cheese and prsut back into the U.S. Derek bought two different kinds of grappa, one, supposedly good for digestion, and the other good for your heart and cardiovascular system.


Another food highlight was the pastry in Korcula. Fancy cakes galore in beautiful bakeries! I ate a perfect slice of what appeared to be a common cake combo: creamy, ever-so-slightly chocolately filling sprinkled with walnuts. Apple strudel was also very common, and good, although both times I ate it, I noticed that they chopped the entire apple, including the seeds, into the filling, instead of coring it. Sorry, no photos of either.

So those were the food highlights of my trip to Amsterdam and the Balkans. Next post will feature a guest writer, the famous DEREK, narrating a tale of of a terrible, yet hilarious dinner in Dubrovnik. Think Balkan Basil Fawlty.

Waffles--Throwback Edition

A couple of years ago, I posted a recipe for oatmeal waffles, which I quite enjoyed and thought was an unusual (and healthy-ish!) version of the this homey breakfast treat. I made them again last weekend, but added a little vanilla to the batter, and topped them with stewed peaches and Brown Cow Maple Cream Top yogurt (my favorite). We gobbled them down before I thought of taking a photo, but here's a recipe for the stewed peaches, courtesy of The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook:

Stewed Peaches
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
4 whole cloves (I didn't have any, so I just sprinkled in a little ground cloves)
1 1/2 pounds peaches, chopped into chunks

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, heat sugar, water, and cloves to boiling.
2. Add peaches; return to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 10 minutes or until tender.

Best waffle combination I had in ages!

Drink Like a Caribeño

I recently finished reading a great example of travel writing, called An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A Caribbean Interlude by Ann Vanderhoof. In it, the author and her husband give up their high pressure Toronto publishing jobs for two years of travel through the Caribbean on a sail boat. At the end of each chapter, Vanderhoof throws in a few recipes that she concocted or learned during that period of her travels. Being in the Caribbean, those naturally included a few rum-based cocktail recipes. Let me tell you, the week we had 90+ degree temperatures here in Portland, I made those cocktails with alacrity and frequency. They were just perfect!

Here are her recipes:

Rum and Coconut Water à la Receta (the name of Vanderhoof's sailboat)

2 ounces white rum
4 ounces (approx.) coconut water
1 tablespoon (approx.) sweetened condensed milk (or to taste)
Whole nutmeg

Shake or stir the rum, coconut water, and milk with ice. Taste, and add more milk if you want the drink a bit sweeter. Liberally grate nutmeg on top.

Makes 1 drink.


Port of Spain "Stress Cooler"
Served at the Afterwork Stress Cooler (a.k.a big outdoor party with live music and lots to drink) in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

6 ounces white rum
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 ounce golden syrup
6 ounces evaporated milk
1-2 ounces sweetened condensed milk (approx.)
Freshly grated nutmeg

1. Combine a couple of tablespoons of the rum with the espresso and cocoa powders and stir until smooth.
2. Add the rest of the rum, the syrup, and the evaporated milk. Sweeten to taste with condensed milk.
3. Serve over ice, with freshly grated nutmeg on top.

Makes 3 drinks.

My notes:
1. I substituted spiced dark rum for the white rum in these recipes because it's what I had, and I really like spiced rum. I thought it worked beautifully. I recommend Sailor Jerry's or The Kraken Black Rum.
2. For "golden syrup" in the Stress Cooler recipe, I used agave syrup. I find that it works great in place of ordinary simple syrup in mixed drinks.

ENJOY!

Grenadine and Joel Palmer House (aka Mushroompalooza)

Yikes! I haven't posted since May. Maybe not much cooking going on, but that's probably not true. Well, here's the latest: tomorrow night I'm going to The Joel Palmer House in Dayton, Oregon (wine country), a very expensive, mushroom-centered restaurant. Apparently, it's Derek's parents' favorite place to go each time they visit Oregon for the annual International Pinot Festival, and they invited us to join them this year. To quote the website, it has an "internationally-inspired menu of wild mushroom dishes paired with fine wine in a...historic Oregon wine country home." Sounds good to me.
I'm also thinking about making my own grenadine a la Jeffrey Morgenthaler. But now I realize that pomegranate season is actually in winter, so it might be best to wait until then. But we'll see.

Finally, my garden is slow. Three tomato bushes, but only one tomato among them, and it's tiny and green. Blossoms on the pumpkin vine, and plenty of basil, but that's pretty much it. Patience, Laura, patience.

Tarte Aux Fraises

This is the first recipe I've attempted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, and it is a definite success!
Sugar cookie-like crust, layer of red-currant glaze, cognac-spiked creme patisserie, and fresh strawberries--for my mom's birthday. I hope she likes it (but I'm not worried :))!

Ethiopian Food

I tried out Ethiopian food for the first time Friday, and it was good! We went to Dalo's Kitchen on N. Vancouver, which has been around for several years. The outside looks kind of strange: only one window on a huge building that's sort of in need of fresh paint. But the inside is nicely decorated, and the food is wonderful.
We ordered a lamb stew in berbere sauce, sauteed spinach, and a cabbage salad with fried potatoes in it. No silverware, just injere bread to scoop everything up with. The lamb stew was super great, and seemed similar to Indian food [in my opinion]. I've heard many reviewers complain about injere bread, saying it's like Styrofoam, but I don't understand why. It's like a huge pancake with a faintly sour flavor. Soft and tender, and not at all like Styrofoam. Really good, actually. The food was spicy, but not running-nose hot. The price was very inexpensive too: one entree, two sides, and three beverages (they brew two different kinds of beer there--one dark and chocolaty, and the other from honey like Meade with some spice in it I couldn't quite place) all for $30.00. I want to go back there, and I want to get the leftovers next time :). Derek got them this time. I didn't really know what to expect from Ethiopian food, but it definitely exceeded what expectations I did have.

Dalo's Kithchen
4134 N Vancouver Avenue
Portland, OR 97217-2900
Phone: (503) 808-9604

Let's Talk About Belgian Food

I wish Portland had a good Belgian restaurant. Did I say Belgian? Yes. No, not Belgian waffles, although those are good too. I mean Belgian, generally. When I was in Toronto a couple of years ago, my friend Joel and I happened upon a great Belgian restaurant as we were considering lunch. It was called: La Petit Dejeuner, and I strongly recommend it if you're ever in Toronto. I discovered at that restaurant that I actually can enjoy beer. I mean, I like beer, and Portland has a huge beer culture, but I realized recently why Portland beer just isn't my style: way too hoppy (Thank you Derek's friend Joel (different Joel) for articulating this). There's Potato Champion, one of the 12th and Hawthorne food carts, but honestly, it sucks. On NW 21st and Glisan, there's 45 North, whose specialty is beers of the world and mussels, which I heartily endorse. Great place. But that's it. I'm not sure what, exactly, I'm looking for, but it doesn't seem to exist here anymore. There used to be an awesome place called Apotheke, but that was generally Nordic, not Belgian. Still, it was an interesting concept. Über-modern, all white, no mixed drinks, just straight up or on the rocks, but a drink menu like a novel. It was amazing. Good food too. I really miss Apotheke.

Señor Cutie Cooks!

Derek recently discovered the fun of cooking! I am very excited about this, since I love cooking.
When we were in Mexico, he bought a huge cookbook [in Spanish] full of a million taco recipes. And thus began his cooking adventure.

His first foray was last weekend, when he made two different kinds of pork tacos: carnitas, and one in an orange juice-based sauce. Both were quite good, so he gained confidence, and said he wanted to make dinner again. Fine with me!

Last night, our dinner ventured into German territory, with Derek deciding on a menu of sauerkraut and pork stew and German potato salad. Holy moly! Both turned out super good, but the potato salad was amazing. It was so much fun: we watched the Blazer game, listened to a little Falco (due to the menu), cooked, and drank German and Czech beer. Or rather, I did a little food prep, and Derek cooked. He described the evening as "Fun and Relaxing." He looked happy; I was happy too. Dinner was delicious, we had fun, and I'm looking forward to his next dinner. Maybe I'll even remember to photograph the results.

An Avocado A Day Keeps the Doctor Away

Food in Mexico is good. Really good. Especially if you eat from street vendors. It's pretty darn cheap too. And don't be afraid of the street vendors: they really aren't dirty, and if anything, the food is MUCH fresher than at many restaurants because they only bring out what they know they can sell in a certain time period. No malingering pork or cucumbers. And they're BUSY too. When in Mexico City, choose the busiest taco cart you can find, and buy some tacos, at least two, heck, maybe four. They're only 30 cents each, and probably the best tacos of your life. I'm not joking. Sadly, I don't have any taco photos, a terrible oversight.
Also, assume you will avocado in some form every single day. Either just sliced, or mashed into guacamole, we ended up eating avocado every single day, sometimes more than once a day. Mexico loves avocados and limes.
But on to the photos below. This was our first meal in Mexico City, and probably the fanciest one of the entire trip. Fortunately it was delicious. It was a restaurant called La Fonda Refugio, and we sure had a hard time finding it. Lonely Planet's map was wrong, but Derek didn't give up, and it was worth it. It was fairly elegant, and seemed to have a lot of foreigners eating there, but it wasn't a tourist restaurant. We started off with guacamole, freshly made chips, and Bohemia beer. Next, we split a nopalitos salad. Notice how brightly green they are. So fresh! I've eaten it in Portland a few times, but it's always been a dull army green. Canned, probably. But this wasn't. Nopalitos, onion, cheese, tomato, and probably a squeeze of lime. Wonderful!
My dinner: pork, arroz verde, fried plaintain, and refried black beans.
Derek's dinner: chicken in a green mole, I think.

The next night, we ventured to the "infamous" Garibaldi Plaza (not sure why it has such a reputation, it seemed fine), to try the equally infamous beverage called pulche. Pulche is a cactus-based beer-like beverage, that supposedly has a very strong alcohol content. I think that the pulcheria we visited only served pulche-lite, because we went through quite a bit of the stuff, and didn't feel even the slightest buzz. But whatever. I had a strawberry version first, which honestly, wasn't very good, and Derek tried mango. Mango was much better. Then we moved on to coconut, which was actually really good.
There are beautiful bakeries all over, windows flaunting all their enticing pastries. I had three dreams during the trip about pastry. The closest I came, however, was a doughnut on the last morning. A very good, very large, Mexican doughnut. But I vow to come back, and taste these elegant treats. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
Here we are at La Opera Bar, a very historic (read: touristy) place. Supposedly, Pancho Villa left a bullet hole in the ceiling when he galloped in long ago. It was very pretty, but they stuck us in a booth in a back corner, so we couldn't really see/interact much. We had some nice margaritas, and decent food, but nothing very special. Really, we could have just come in, looked around, and then gone somewhere else to eat. C'est la vie.



Next photo is a market cafe in Valladolid. I had some sort of pineappley-pork thing and a banana agua fresca, which tasted just like the banana "milkshakes" my mom would make when I was little.
Now we're in Campeche. Derek was hoping for a big, beachside seafood dinner. That didn't exactly happen, due to a combination of digestive issues and poor weather. So we settled for a nice seafood merienda. Me below with a little crab cocktail.
Derek with his giant mixed-seafood cocktail.
The variety plates they bring out automatically as soon as you're seated.

Now we're back in Mexico City, this time in the Coyoacan neighborhood, which I LOVED. We walk to a food court/market type situation, and, since it's unseasonably cold and rainy, I decided a hot, steaming bowl of pozole would be the perfect dinner. It was. Possibly one of the best meals of the trip. (Feeling inspired, I made some here in Portland on Friday. It turned out really good, although Derek ate too much of it and felt ill afterward.)After that, we wandered down the street and had tequila and sangrita at Cantina La Guadalupana, which is historic, but not at all touristy. Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera used to drink there. We saw two very drunk men there, but instead of just getting kicked out, the staff sort of teased them. To prevent damage, a waiter switched out one guy's glass with a plastic cup. Every once in a while, the guy would let out a loud whoop or yell. Everyone would laugh.
We tried two different kinds of tequila there, one of which was 100 years old. It was really good, and tasted quite different from any tequila I've ever had before. It was smoky, like scotch, and they served it to us in brandy snifters.
That's one of the drunk guys below.
Another bakery window.
La Bipolar bar, owned by super hot Mexican actor Diego Luna. It was pretty cool. It was like a Portland bar, very hip, but no annoying hipsters. Lots of college students. The drinks were good and fairly creative, and we ordered some mean taquitos Colorado.

The next morning, we went back to the square, and had coffee and doughnuts from Cafe El Jarocho at the plaza, like all the locals were doing. Every time we walked by there, the line was long. No wonder. Real, decent coffee seemed hard to come by in Mexico; often even "nice" places served Nescafe, or Olla, as it's called there. Yuck. The coffee was good, and the doughnut was great: fresh, huge, and ribboned with cinnamon. Mmm.
Obviously, there were a couple disasters, such as a disgusting tourist place in Merida with rude waiters. But overall, Mexico is tops on my list of countries to eat in. Tasty, fresh, and cheap, especially in Mexico City.

Mexican Food Odyssey: Coming Soon!

I'm back from Mexico, but tired, blah, blah, you know, but I will post a roundup of my dining experiences there soon, maybe this weekend. I have to say, Mexico has been one of my best travel food experiences! Man oh man, the tacos....