less is more

It's a busy, busy summer. I have been eating, cooking, traveling, reading food blogs and cookbooks, and sampling friend's specialties at backyard barbecues. But, I haven't been so thorough on blogging about it. So, I am taking the pressure off of myself to craft a post with wonderful photos, thought provoking, descriptive entries full of discoveries, research, successes and failures. Instead, I'm saying it's A-OK to blurt out a little something, one line perhaps and throw in a so-so picture if that's all I have, or not. Always keeping the focus on good food and its pursuit, just not stressing out about the documentation. Less is more. Right?
Now that I got that off of my chest, here's a long blurb about the gumbo I made last weekend...

Though the photos don't show the final product, they show the preparation, and frankly, the roux is THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING! And most time-consuming. The last photo shows the clock at nearly 85 minutes. I learned that my clock stops at 99 minutes. In the end, I stirred this roux for approximately two hours. And it still wasn't chocolate brown! I was tired, hot and ready to be done with it and go on to phase 2: the rest of the gumbo cookin'! The final result was pretty good, not great. I brought it to a southern friend's bbq, and I heard someone comment that it tasted like gravy. I think that was a good thing (?) Everyone seemed to really like it, and it was tasty the next day too. I just know I've made better, and I know that it starts with the roux.
Last time I made it so successfully, I definitely achieved that dark brown color, and it was thin, liquid-y. This time, I gave up too soon because I couldn't stand it - and the result was much thicker, and not as tasty. Two things to try next time: 1) slightly higher heat, especially if I have a fan on in the kitchen. And 2) BUY a proper stool- geez! I sat for two hours on two phonebooks on a kitchen chair (low rent). I love gumbo, thus I need the proper tool to make it- a stool. Will post pictures when I find the perfect one!

Making roux, listening to WTF with Marc Maron

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Portland

I love this photo.. and Stumptown Coffee!

We went to Portland to attend our friends' 10-Year Wedding Anniversary Party. We have many friends who relocated to Portland- it was fun to see everyone at the party. It was held at McMenamins Edgefield, which is also a hotel, so we stayed there. Edgefield is like summer camp. Gorgeous grounds, several bars and restaurants, rock venue, distillery, winery, gardens, soaking pool, pitch and putt golf course, movie theater, glass blowing studio, etc. With all of this at our fingertips, we spent most of our time at Edgefield- it almost didn't feel like a trip to Portland. The last day, we did get in to downtown, to hit up some food carts. The trip was (as usual) too short - so many places to eat were missed... Anyway, here are some photos.

the vineyard at Edgefield

A couple of other shots of the grounds, I took while wandering around.

Some pipe-work coming down from the ceiling at the first bar we went to, adjacent to the distillery.

One day we drove up to the Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood. The outside of the lodge was shown in the movie the Shining. They had this axe for tourist types like me who asked about it. Pretty sure this is not THE axe, but still, it was kinda funny. My husband had his good camera and was taking lots of pictures, so I really didn't try too hard with my phone pictures, and that is fairly evident by these very average photos. See his blog for better pics..

The last day, we hung out a little in downtown Portland. The most important goals: get coffee, eat from food carts, and go to the Pendleton Store. We accomplished all.

The Ace Hotel.. I WILL stay here one day

The River!

Every year we head to Bishop, California for Independence Day to camp with 50-150 of our old friends. It's a tradition I look forward to every year, a perfect way to kick off the summer, and a great way to stay in touch with our friends back home . We float down the Owens River at noon on Saturday of the holiday weekend, and we've done it for the last 15 years! We had a great time, mellower than past years.. Hotter, it seemed than past years. And didn't take many pictures at all. Regarding food: we cooked breakfast and dinner at camp both days, nothing terribly groundbreaking: hotdogs, tacos, eggs and bacon. But there is something so nice about making do with your tools and surroundings, and preparing and eating a meal entirely out of doors. It just makes things taste better.
Another tradition within the tradition, is to say a last goodbye to the river, for another year. After packing up and leaving camp, before hitting the road, we go to the place along the Owens where we usually put in for the float. We open up a final, very cold mexican beer, squeeze a lime into it, and stare at the river, appreciative for a float well done, that icy water, that cold beverage in hand. This is the only picture I have from our trip this year, saying goodbye.

Portland Bound

We are going to Portland in a few days to visit some friends and celebrate their 10-Year Wedding Anniversary. Last time we were there, we ate, and drank, and ate some more.... I took up jogging just to force myself to process the last meal, and work up a hunger for the next. This time, due to a foot injury, it won't be that easy. I guess I'll have to exercise restraint. Or use the hotel pool for exercise instead of just lazing about.
We have few plans beside the party, just relaxing, going to the Pendleton store, and most important: hitting up the food trucks!! I always have my trusty iphone, so will be taking lots of pictures and posting soon.

More juice!

Last weekend I pulled out every fruit and vegetable I had in the house. I washed, peeled, chopped, prepped, bagged, juiced or just plain chomped! It was quite a production. Because my husband was waiting for me to finish up so we could go somewhere, I semi-timed myself. I thought that cleaning up after juicing was the time-consuming part. It turns out that cleaning and prepping the veggies is the long part. Followed by the tasting, critiquing, then adjusting, etc. The cleaning part is just messy. Anyway- this time instead of letting the juicing evolve as I went, I cleaned everything at the very beginning. It really was much easier. Just like making a recipe, I had my juice mise en place!

I should mention I'm thinking about doing a juice cleanse. We just watched a great documentary over the weekend called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, and it was very interesting. I got on the web site, and found that there are several different commitment levels, such as merely a 5-day cleanse, or one that you can still eat vegetables and fruits during the juice cleanse. I am looking more into that. In the mean time, I need to find more palatable ways to juice with vegetables. I love beets and carrots, but I seem to strike out when it comes to celery, kale, spinach, etc.

Making saffron scented potato gratin, listening to Lars Frederikson and the bastards

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1!

It's been a year! My blog turned one over the weekend. To celebrate (and feed my sweet tooth) I made Carrot Cake. 

It's an old family recipe, and although I have made it several times, it definitely had been awhile. I forgot a couple of things. Such as- what size to grate the carrots! The largest, or smallest?? I just couldn't figure it out for some reason. My memory is shaky, perhaps from all the sugar I usually consume from licking the bowl. The other issue is that the amount of icing is just barely enough to cover the cake. I made a note on the recipe that I might want to make extra next time. Or modify the steps. For example, because this is a three layer cake, with icing with chopped walnuts, I might want to spread the icing in the center layers first, before adding the walnuts. Only adding them for the outside layer of icing. It would make it easier to spread inside and theoretically there would be more icing left to spread on the outside. Or else, make it just two layers. Anyway- did some other food stuff over the weekend, will post more soon..

Making Carrot Cake, listening to Bonnie Raitt

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Veggies and burgers

I prepared 3 new veggie dishes and regular ol' beef burgers on the grill this weekend. Not a ton of cooking for me over the fantastic 3-day Memorial Day weekend. It was great to get a little yard work done, eat out, have bbq/drink/friend time, take in a walk here and there, watch some movies, take naps, etc. All in all a balanced, yet still full weekend!

The new dishes were:
Grilled Corn on the Cob with Spicy Chili Butter
Grilled romaine with guacamole dressing (from this month's Sunset magazine)
Grilled Cauliflower with Parmesan Butter
I will be making all of them again! All summer long. AND that spicy Chili Butter was super easy and tasted great on the cauliflower as well.