Welcome to Kitchen Kat!

I love writing. I love food. Those are two interests that have stayed constant throughout my life. So why not combine the two? Perfect! Trying out different food is like almost like traveling; you get to experience different smells, tastes, and atmospheres. It brings a bit of the culture to you, even if you didn't leave your home. This blog explores Portland restaurants (plus any notable ones I encounter on vacation), recipes that worked out exceptionally for me, plus any other epicurean delights that come my way. Put any reservations aside, now it's time to chow down on some food for thought....

Thursday, July 22, 2010

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.