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.