There are enumerable reasons why living in Portland is paradise to a foodie. Especially in the summer. Because this is so perfect, I thought I'd repost Simpatica Catering's wonderful newsletter for this week, which pretty much says it all:

Simpatica Catering & Simpatica Dining Hall
Week of July 21, 2009

"Man, it's weeks like these that make it all worth it. Sure, it's darn hot out there, and humid, and it makes you sweat. However, that's just the impetus many of us need to head to the river, where the water is still cool most of the day, dunking our heads whenever the broiling sun becomes a bit too much. And the time is now for really enjoying a lot of the bounty that Oregon has to offer, besides the beautiful weather, the cool mountain streams, the beaches...

Like picking blackberries off of our neighbor's bush this morning, or picking plums off the tree in our front yard to make a sauce for tonight's dessert. The dessert of course is what follows dinner, which was some truly incredible albacore caught yesterday by my wife's brother who is a crab fisherman right here on the Oregon coast (and who catches albacore and black cod in the off-season). The time is right and the time is now to enjoy what Oregon has to offer. I just hope this email is maybe a little reminder to those of you who get caught up in the everyday to stop for a second to enjoy what's around you. Sure, it's gratifying to complain about, well, everything (it's too hot, it's too cold, it's too sunny, it's too cloudy, etc.). But isn't it much more pleasant to instead enjoy what those times bring? The fruit is awesome right now, and so are the vegetables. The land around you is bursting with opportunity, like hiking, swimming, fishing, camping, etc. And when the clouds come back - and they will - who cares? So it's raining - what better time than stay in the house with the family and undertake a cooking project, or a baking project?

Before my overwhelming (and all too fleeting) sense of optimism and enthusiasm wane, I should share with all of you the menu for this weekend at Simpatica Dining Hall. Unfortunately, Friday night is sold out. But, hey!, there's still Saturday night, right? That's right! And check out the menu - Albacore! Beans! Cherry tomatoes! Peaches! Yes!"
-Benjamin Dyer
www.simpaticacatering.com

The beauty of the high quality of the food in the Bay Area might just be its effortlessness. I might just walk into all the right places, but it seems that everything just seems so fresh, so creative, so delicious, from the corner bakeries to the smallest cafes. Not to mention the herbs, fruit, and vegetables that people have growing practically wild, in their yards and gardens. I think that the meals that I had on my trip best exemplify what I mean, with no further description:

Day 1:

Breakfast: Coffee from Peets (for a chain, even in Portland, I must admit, they make impeccable espresso drinks), and pastries from La Farine in Albany. Back on the gluten train, I was completely overwhelmed by the choices here - sweet or savory? Pastry or roll? Classic or creative? My uncle got the "Swiss Twinkie," a croissant stuffed with ground almond paste (really good, and not too sweet unlike most almond filling), while I got a tasty ham and cheese puff pastry wedge and split a buttery, cinnamon-y morning bun with my mom.

Lunch: A leisurely 2 hour lunch overlooking San Francisco's marina at Greens. This meal deserves its own post, which it will get. My mom, uncle and I shared numerous dishes (all vegetarian), including their vegetable tacos. Let's just say that my uncle, who has lived in California his whole life, proclaimed "these are the best tacos I've ever had, meat or no."

Dinner: Still savoring our lunch at Greens, in the late afternoon we thought that the best idea would be to create a meal from the vegetable garden in my uncle's backyard. So, we stopped at the Berkeley Bowl (a wonderful, beautiful market with an incredible produce department) to pick up some lamb chops, then on to the house to pull up some vegetables. From what we foraged and bought, we all cooked a lovely summer dinner of the lamb chops, fresh tzaziki, roasted beets/potatoes/carrots from the garden, and some sauteed beet tops. And, of course, great bread, this time it was a firm Odessa Rye.

Day 2:

Breakfast: Ripe blueberries, boysenberries (so juicy and fragrant!), and sheep's milk yogurt. This was a first try on the yogurt - with it's earthy taste, I think the sheeps's milk works better with savory, such as in a creamy dressing or sauce, not sweet.

Lunch: At the Ferry Building. I've probably written here numerous times that this is one of my favorite places in the world, and on this sunny day, I was so happy that we had chosen it for lunch outside. I resisted one of my favorites, Delica rf-1 Japanese deli, and instead tried Mijita, the Mexican restaurant that I'd had my eye on the past few times I visited. My lunch did not dissappoint, in fact, it was much more food than I expected, and delicious. I started with a cantaloupe agua fresca. There is something so exotic to me about melon juice. It was so thick and refreshing. I reluctantly passed up the daily special, a squash blossom quesadilla, in favor of a carne asada taco (yum), jicama salad (tossed with grapefruit and topped with cilantro, roasted pumpkin seeds, avocado and jalapeno), and pinto beans with queso fresco. Delicious!

Dinner: It was the 4th of July, and some friends invited us up to their backyard bbq in Berkeley. After that lunch, I didn't have much of an appetite, but greatly enjoyed a barbequed pork rib and potato salad. The icing on the cake was a strawberry crisp with vanilla icecream that one of the young guests just decided to make last minute, because her sister's CSA had an overflow of strawberries. One man's trash is another man's treasure: I couldn't think of something more decadent at that moment than a pan of sugared, bubbling strawberry goodness.

Kale

I love kale because it's so good for you, and it lasts so long in the fridge. Besides frozen vegetables (which I rarely use), kale is the only green thing that I can rely on to have in the house at all times (the organic stuff lasts about a week). Thus, I've been forced to get creative with what I do with it, usually in a hurry. Here are a few of my recent favorite quick kale meals:

1. The soup that I'm enjoying right now:
Sauté one whole sliced onion and about 3 sliced garlic cloves until clear. Add a few cubed red potatoes, and a can of chickpeas. Throw in some sea salt & fresh cracked pepper, a few dashes of smoked paprika, and about a teaspoon of fennel seeds. When that sizzles, throw in a bunch of sliced curly kale. Cover all of this with broth - this is the key: you want to use homemade chicken or beef stock, which is such a good thing to have in the freezer. Let it all simmer for about ten minutes, and serve. (Serves 2)

2. Kale/black bean bowl:
-Brown 2 cloves of crushed garlic in olive oil. Before it gets too cooked, shake a bunch of ground cumin into the oil so that you can smell the aroma. Before it burns (this can happen quickly), add one can of rinsed canned black beans. Set aside.
-Sauté a piece of sliced garlic in olive oil, add rinsed kale (you may need to add a bit more water)and stir to cook/wilt it. Season with salt and pepper, and a bit of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice.
-Put the kale in a bowl, top with the beans, and sprinkle a generous amount of chevre over the top. (Serves 2)

3. Summer Kale salad*:
De-stem kale and chiffonade. Chop some hard salami into tiny cubes, and do the same with a good hunk of aged, salty cheese like pecorino, parmesan or manchego. Mix up a dresssing with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and a bit of dijon mustard. Toss all together. You can add a little something sweet, like dried cranberries or golden raisins, to balance out all the saltiness. This salad keeps in the fridge and gets even better when it gets a little soggy.

*I adapted this one from Michelle's soon-to-be-famous recipe

Checking in on my Facebook account this morning, I saw that a friend posted a link to the website for the new documentary film, "What's On Your Plate?" The trailer briefly swept me away to New York City, where kids were exploring where their meals comes from, and what goes into the foods they eat. It reminded me of my own trip to "the city" last month, and my short exploration of Brooklyn. That trip took me to Fort Greene, and Brooklyn Flea - a market full of stylish vintage, crafts, and food. There were fresh, gooey pizzas coming out of an oven on a trailer, homemade granola, pickles, fruit, gourmet snacks - many things that I passed by because I see similar things at the Portland Farmers Market. What I had to try were the Pupusas. Salvadoran women stuff little balls of masa with beans, meat, and cheese, creating a little flying-saucer shaped treat. They are cooked to golden perfection on a flat top, and to my pleasant surprised, topped with tart pickled cabbage salad, jalapenos, salsa and crema. Oh so good.

Wow, it's been over a month since I've written here -- which reminds me, I have a whole article to write based on my trip to Kauai for a wedding in late May. I've been in a bit of a daze since. Restless. Watching the produce in the market change from mostly green and white to rainbow. It was really colorful in the produce department yesterday - a mix of spring (sugar snap peas, late asparagus) and early summer (cherries, Walla Walla sweet onions). It kind of baffled me. I skipped the farmers market this week and instead went to my co-op (People's in Southeast), and was excited to find that they are carrying interesting "live" foods - particularly a local company that's making coconut milk yogurt. My favorite food cart, Sip (parked right out front in an old aluminum trailer)is serving it up in a parfait with fresh local strawberries, blueberries and granola. It was really good. I love their green smoothies too, which are full of kale, spinach and yummy tropical additions like pineapple. It's my favorite way to start a morning -- I just wish they opened a little earlier.

Am I on a tropical kick or what? The sun comes back, and there my tastebuds go, back to my Hawaii roots. When I was in New York, I definitely enjoyed the diversity of food choices, in everything from restaurants to corner delis. One thing that I noticed was an abundance of tropical fruit, mostly sold by Latin-American street vendors. I know - it's not local, or sustainable - but these flavors definitely called out to me. While there, I picked up a cup of cubed papaya from a deli one morning for breakfast, topped frozen yogurt with mango one afternoon, bought a cup of watermelon at a street fair, and finally - saw this amazing display at a flea market in Brooklyn. It was so beautiful, and perfect for a hot day. What I was most fascinated by were the mangoes that you can barely see in the back - peeled, sliced in a feather pattern, and sold on sticks. How beautiful, no?

TANUKI
Deciding between dishes last night at Tanuki, the server stepped in with a suggestion and description for something I was debating: "Delicious - it's like a kim chee snow cone - with clams!" She was serious, and so was this dish, a neat pile of super-fresh clams, boiled and chilled, topped with a shaving of this intensely flavored shaved ice. And thus began an unbelievable meal in a tiny Portland saké bar that, if replated and presented in a fine-dining room, I have no doubt would recieve rave reviews and critical acclaim.

But the chef here loves her drinks, loves her bar, and, I think, loves calling the shots. She is adamant about her "no kids allowed" policy, and sends out daily irreverent messages to her Twitter followers like this recent one about her Monday night pork belly special, "if a pig was willing to give his life for me to boil his belly in booze the least ya'll can do is come & eat him." Her style is pretty brash, but the flavors in her food are exceptionally elegant, like another dish we shared of warm, tender, barely poached scallops in a chili-lime broth, adorned with fresh mint and cilantro leaves. Her stuff is so innovative an experimental at the same time - soft scrambled eggs topped with toasted coconut and whole dried anchovies, fried in something tasty plus palm sugar. None of her seafood is fishy, it's just hands down delicious. And so well balanced. We also had the night's $3 special rib bowl - short ribs cooked till tender in a tamarind sauce, over rice with an asian pear and radish salad on top. The kim chee itself was full of ginger and citrus rind...I could go on, but I'd rather just go back - as soon as possible!

Yet another delicacy brought to me by Tin, my gelatin-genius coworker. She mixes the water from a young coconut with gelatin, then pours it back into the coconut and places it in the refrigerator to solidify. The result is one of the most refreshing (hardly sweet)snacks for a hot day - her kids love this. When you eat it with a spoon, you get part ice-cold gelatin, part tender spoon-meat. I really can't believe I never saw something like this in Hawaii, it seems like the perfect compliment to a shave-ice or smoothie stand. Just one more thing that makes me want to travel to Southeast Asia...

So I’m on my lunch break, walking through the Galleria in downtown Portland, when I can’t help peering over the shoulders of this well-dressed couple, sitting on the stairs and huddled over some type of food wrapped in a large sheet of crumpled butcher paper. They were too engaged in their chewing and moaning to notice that I eyed their lunch for a few moments before I asked “where’d you get that?”

It looked a lot like “chicken rice” the ever-popular Singaporean street food that I loved when I was in Asia – steamed chicken breast over rice, both flavored equally with this gingery chicken infusion. They told me that this was Thai, and amazing, procured from a food cart recently opened by a former cook from Pok Pok. The plan to eat leftover quinoa salad for lunch was quickly dismissed as I raced up Alder street to get my own.

Nong’s chicken is moist and flavorful, and lays over a bed of rice – tasting somewhere between Jasmine and sticky (my favorite). There is a dipping sauce that she serves it with – made from soybeans (fermented?), ginger, garlic and chilis. I was overjoyed, even before I tried the food, to see that the meal comes wrapped simply in a piece of butcher paper, instead of a large single-use plastic takeaway container. And, they give you a little cup of piquant and savory chicken broth to cleanse the palate afterward. I’m sure that this is what she does with the chicken bones, and I love every bit of this minimal waste-super efficient, delicious entrepreneurial venture.

Nong only serves this one dish, called Khao Man Gai, along with various add-ons (chicken liver, extra rice, etc.), and a few Thai beverages, like a creamy coffee drink.

Nong’s Khao Man Gai – 10th and Alder, across the street from Jake’s Grill - Portland, Ore.

I was always a fan of rainbow JELL-O. When we were kids, two of my best friends' moms would make it for birthday parties, held down by the beach. Cold, sweet, and layered in jewel tones, it was one of my favorite things - only to be had once, or twice a year. Making this treat is a bit of a laborious process - waiting for each layer to harden,then alternating that with the creamy layer.

A coworker of mine took this to a whole new level this weekend, and could not have given a piece to a more appreciative person. I could not believe how beautiful this little creation was. Her family is from Vietnam, where these are a party tradition. Her sister brought these plastic molds back from Asia. I think this is incredible. The gelatin is made with agar agar, so it's firm, and flavored with coconut juice. The colors were brilliant. And, she made 50 of them, in multiple designs and color combinations for a birthday party attended by her whole family!

When in New York a couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of enjoying food and drink at:
The Rusty Knot
Minetta Tavern
Hearth
Pure Food & Wine
Baoguette
Boqueria
Chelsea Market
Brooklyn Flea
And, of course, as many of you know, my new love, Pinkberry (with mango on top).

After my (delicious) raw vegan dinner next door, I stood outside Bar Jamon for about ten minutes, staring at their hunk of Jamon Iberico, and the tiny glowing space. I skipped the Spotted Pig, because it looked like food and vibe that I could experience in Portland. Had such fun just walking around and reading daily menus posted outside doors. So wished I had tried The Fatty Crab. One friend wouldn't go because it was just, "too fatty." Hrmph.

Pool party! Taking a break from Noble Rot's 7 year anniversary party up on the rooftop (garden). That's where their salads come from.

COLORFUL QUINOA SALAD

Salad:
1/2 small head of red cabbage, shredded
1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
2 scallions, whites only, chopped
1 large or 2 small carrots, peeled and grated
3/4 cup quinoa
salt
fresh ground pepper

Dressing:
1 clove garlic, minced
juice of 1 lime
1 T. orange juice (or you can just substitute more lime or lemon, and a bit of sugar, agave, or honey)
2 T apple cider vinegar
1 T good olive oil
dash chili powder
1/2 tsp. cumin
dash smoked paprika


1. Cook the quinoa with salt, pepper, and a dash of turmeric for color.
2. Fluff with a fork, then cool.
3. Mix the dressing ingredients together in a bowl with a whisk.
4. Mix the vegetables and quinoa together in a large bowl with your hands, to separate the cabbages and as not to mush the quinoa.
5. Dress the salad a bit at a time, to coat, but not to let dressing pool in the bowl.
6. Add more salt and pepper, and/or olive oil, to taste.
7. Let salad sit for an hour in the fridge, or even over night, to absorb the flavor of the dressing and to allow the garlic to settle.

5-9-09

I woke up bright-eyed this morning at ten after seven, though my alarm was set for eight. It was one of the first sunny Saturday mornings for the farmers market, and I could barely contain my excitement. It was like Christmas morning (in Hawaii), for Portland cooks. I immediately questioned which would get me there faster, walking or the bus. I took the bus and arrived only minutes after the market opened. All of the choices lay before me, before anything could be sold out. Piles of radish varieties, asparagus, and greens of every type. I could actually choose who I wanted to buy my eggs from, instead of just trying to find a vendor with a dozen left. It is indeed a treat to to have the first pick of everything. I felt further justified for both my excitement and my early automatic wake up call when I noticed Scott Dolich, head chef at Park Kitchen (whose cooking I have posted numerous blogs about)picking through the same basket of pink fingerling potatoes. "Wow, these are beautiful potatoes," he commented. A little later, I spotted Naomi Pomeroy of Beast shopping at the market as well. I can't help but admire chefs who cook all night in their restaurants, and wake up early the next day so that they can peruse the freshest of seasonal produce. For a second I contemplated going to Park Kitchen that night to see what would be done with the potatoes, but quickly realized that I'd bought enough produce for a week's worth of cooking at home.


So, what did I end up bringing home? As usual, I brought more money than I expected to use, and spent all but the last dollar.

My shopping list:
1. Favorite breads from New Cascadia Traditional Bakery ("the gluten free artisans") to bring home to slice and freeze: Seeded loaf, Portland Sourdough baguette, and a slice of surprisingly delicious coffee cake. This baker is amazingly skilled - his pastries are delicate and delicious, not only by gf standards.
2. Free range farm eggs (brown and green and white)
3. A small grass-fed lamb sirloin roast, from SuDan farms to prepare in a version of Paula Wolfert's Lamb Tagine, using some of the preserved lemons I canned this winter.
4. Flat leaf parsley, for the above recipe and quinoa salad. I also like to use parsley as a green in side salads, because it keeps well in the fridge and I love it's strong flavor (as a kid I used to eat the parsley garnish off the rest of my family's plates in restaurants).
5. Basil, so happy to see it, finally! I have been craving pesto, and am so excited to make some, to spread on bread with goat cheese and radishes.
6. Radishes - just learned that you can saute the greens too - delicious!
7. A cucumber.
8. Kale for a new simple salad recipe that a friend gave to me.
9, Green garlic - so delicious to saute with greens. It's fun to see the bulbs at the market grow bigger each week as the season progresses.
10. Dry pinto beans - grown locally! How cool! I've really been into making a pot of beans to snack on and keep in the fridge - SO much tastier than canned.
11. Finally, I had $7 left in my pocket. I debated between a slice of rustic pate from Chop, and a tub of pickles from Picklopolis. With summer coming and bikini time in mind, I opted for the pickles. And, they let me select a mix: spicy carrots, red onions and green beans.

I couldn't leave the market without a treat from one of my favorite vendors - Northwest Heritage Pork - purveyors of pigs-in-a-blanket, and carnitas tacos (for breakfast, love it). I had already had that coffee cake, so I asked to buy just one of their breakfast sausages, and the sweet lady handed it to me with a smile and a "don't worry about it." What a perfect day!

I thought Portland was a healthy food city, but was so impressed to walk off the jetway from my flight to New York to see Synergy Kombucha drinks in the concession kiosks in the JFK airport. At least we've got coffee*. How I used to drink that horribly acidic hazelnut flavored stuff from the delis, I have no idea. The first Stumptown is opening up inside the ACE hotel in New York soon, and in retaliation, nine NY roasters took on Stumptown in a taste test. I think it's funny how threatened the city's coffee culture got when one tiny shop serving Portland coffee plans to open in Manhattan. Then again, they've got a roaster out there now to ensure freshness. Watch out - it could be a Northwest takeover, changing the very culture of the city. Next thing you know, coffee shops there might even have places to sit, and, dare I suggest...free Wi-fi!

*My favorite coffee in Portland is the Brazilian one from Blue Gardenia on Mississippi, that they roast right there in the shop, and the espresso and drip roasts from Portland Roasting Company.

So I figured I'd better post this before the snow melts everywhere, and the sun finally comes out, and we're all ready to forget wintry images. I feel that way right now. Tomorrow is April, it's still dumping snow up on Mt. Hood, and my sister and I got hailed on two days ago. I'm ready for warmth.

But, prior to my feelings of "enough is enough" about the cold, I did have myself some snowy fun, up in Whistler B.C. with my college buddies. Of course, we're all foodies - which we discovered early on our freshman year, and explored by introducing our mainland friend to sushi, and making salmon dinners in her dorm room. Those were the days when wild salmon could be bought in our Seattle grocery store for under $10/lb.

Anyway, we definitely shared many delicious meals during our few days on the mountain. The most plump, succulent, yet dainty oysters I've ever had - Kushi, from the deep waters of the northern Pacific, with freshly grated wasabi root and a tiny minced tsunomono-like topping (red onion, cucumber, sugar, cubed only millimeters thick). The reddest wild Alaskan salmon, cooked on a cedar plank. Then feasts that we cooked together- prime rib roasted over rosemary, with vegetables cooked in the pan juices, pork tenderloin marinated in molasses, bourbon and spices, then grilled. Amazing salads, Audra's specialty, that added the perfect balance of crisp acidity to cut through all of that sumptuous meat. Ahh, it was so wonderfully decadent. Perfect after skiing all day.

Our rental had the most breathtaking view of the snowy mountains. The one day that I stayed in to read and do yoga by myself, I had to take my lovely leftover salad to the freezing deck to lunch and take in the view (pictured above).

Oh, and one of my favorite things was the seafood salad at Sushi-Ya, a small, very authentic quality sushi restaurant in Whistler Village. I couldn't BELIEVE how affordable the sushi was there for the quality and freshness. A bed of lettuce was topped with FRESH dark green seaweed, poached salmon, and bay shrimp with a ginger dressing. So clean, so good. I could eat that everyday. That dish might be up there in my top 10 favorite of all time.

I've been making my own lunch now, most days, for the past 3 months. Sometimes it's boring, sometimes I stink up the lunchroom with my curry concoctions (I have to consciously make an effort not to bring in leftovers with too much garlic, or salmon). A few times though, I impressed myself with the perfect balance of a little boxed lunch. Though mine are rustic, I imagine that this might be similar to the satisfaction felt by those moms who make their kids precisely prepared bento lunches, such as those on Adventures in Bento Making.

This was one of my better ones:
Roasted butternut squash, tossed in olive oil and sprinkled with curry powder, smoked paprika, and salt.
Roasted parsnips.
Sauteed kale with garlic.
Leftover steak stir-fried with onions.

The perfect mix of savory and sweet, with plenty of veggies. Look ma - no carbs!

So, Bunk Sandwiches was everything I hoped it would be, and a little bit more. The sandwich itself was ridiculously good—succulent milk braised pork, shredded and scented with fennel seeds, on a soft, buttered hoagie roll, grilled to greasy perfection on the flat top and spread with stone ground mustard, mayo and topped with shredded lettuce and pickled green tomatoes.

Though my months of healthy eating, I’ve fantasized about nothing more frequently than sauce-soaked bread, like a greasy burger bun or a baguette dipped in pan drippings or mussel broth. This satisfied that desire excellently. I devoured every bit of it, and when I had one tiny inch of bun left, I dragged it across the grease soaked paper to savor that last bite. A feeling of genuine sadness swept over me when that moment was over. Honestly.

Tommy Habetz, the chef behind the counter, looks like he has a lot of fun back there, doing whatever the hell he wants to, working with his buddies in his own smoky little kitchen. Quite a change from cooking in some of New York’s most famous kitchens, he now hands over his food to diners personally. In a place that seems like the type to make you take a number to claim your order, at this place they call out your name.

And that is one of the small details that reminded me that I was in Portland, because in every other way, this place feels like New York: unapologetically unhealthy food (grease, on meat, on mayo), a tiny cramped space packed with patrons (and boxes stacked up toward the back), and a line out the door. The crowd in there was visibly in the know – chefs and other food industry people, Habetz fans, and neighborhood hipsters. The menu's written on a chalkboard that changes daily with sandwiches to please tastes simple and gourmet - like a meatball sub or chorizo and bacalao. The homemade pies of the day just sit there on the counter in their enticing golden glory. I don’t even know what they offer in terms of beverages, but I’m pretty sure it’s limited to soda and coffee. That’s what we got anyway. They don’t mess around.

There’s even a framed photo of Woody Allen propped against the cash register. What can I say - I love this place.

3-17-09 Green Things

I was home sick yesterday with one of the worst colds I can remember. But after almost an entire day in bed, I needed to get out of the apartment – that and I had a well justified craving for a smoothie from Sip. Sip is a silver trailer parked in front of my neighborhood health food store that serves a short list of things that I would if I had a juice bar – interesting smoothies and juices combining fruits AND vegetables, as well as tea lattes, made with things like exotic spices and almond milk. What I always get there is one of their green smoothies with kale, apples, ginger, pineapple, orange juice and coconut oil. Mmm...

I went into the store happily sipping my health elixir and was please to find edible evidence of spring inside – organic asparagus (not from Mexico) for an affordable (finally $3.99/lb.).

I went home and blanched some of it for breakfast today, topped with a fried egg. If I were feeling more indulgent, or if this were a Sunday, I might drizzle the whole thing with truffle oil, or hollandaise sauce. Of course serving it on top of a thick slice of toast made from fresh artisanal bread would be heaven, but that addition will have to be left for my dreams.

I also impressed myself with the delicious simplicity of the soup pictured here. It is a variation on a "minestrone" recipe found in Heidi Swanson's cookbook, Super Natural Cooking. Her blog is one of my favorites - 101 Cookbooks. The soup consisted of homemade chicken broth (this is key), fresh spring peas, still holding a crunch, spinach and nori seaweed. So clean and soothing.

3-15-09

“Gourmandism is an impassioned, considered, and habitual preference for whatever pleases the taste. It is an enemy of overindulgence; any man who eats too much or grows too drunk risks being expelled from its army of disciples.”
-Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, from The Physiology of Taste

It’s been some time since I’ve last posted to this blog. The reason for this is that the thoughts and experiences that I’ve had on food recently follow a very different theme then what’s preceded. I think that in order to transition, I should offer up an explanation.

With gluttony as a current culinary trend, and my own hunger to taste and try every artisanal pastry and locally produced pork product that I can get my hands on (not to mention grower champagnes and hand crafted cocktails) - my body, more than my appetite really, decided that now would be a good time for a break. So I offer these new taste experiences and intellectual discoveries up in this blog as a “palate cleanser,” if you will. My own cleansing has taken various forms, eventually (I hope) evolving into a way of eating that is more creative, exciting and healthy than it was before.

First of all, let me say that years ago, after travels throughout the U.S., Europe and South America, I began to think about how homogenous the western diet is. This culture primarily subsists on meat, cheese and bread (“Meat Cheese Bread” happens to be the name of the latest gourmet deli here in Portland), often loaded (polluted, in my opinion) with some form of sugar. You only have to walk into a roadside mini-mart, neighborhood deli, or attempt to find a restaurant with entrees missing these components to see this.

You may have noticed that food intolerances (gluten, milk, etc.) and allergies (wheat, peanuts, soy, bananas, etc., etc.) are becoming increasingly common, and it seems, prevalent. I have many friends myself who struggle with these things. I find this all incredibly intriguing (piqued by what I’ve read in recent years about industrial farming and agriculture). And apparently, so do many physicians, as a study in 2003 of over 13,000 Americans found 1 in 133 gluten-intolerant. I myself have experienced digestive “issues” shall we say, which prompted me to try out life without gluten (this means no wheat, rye, spelt or oats, unless they’re certified gluten free). Not easy. I could go into my own personal findings but let’s just say I feel and look much better.

Whether you have food allergies or not, think for everyone, it is important to your health and vitality to diversify your diet. Mix it up, cook something you never have before; buy one of those really exotic looking vegetables that you can’t identify at the farmer’s market. That’s been a mission of mine for a while—fascinated by those beautiful, odd vegetables like kohlrabi, sunchokes, kabocha squash and romanesco.

I find it so interesting how many quick diet books are still being written, products and drugs for weight loss are on the market. I believe that food is medicine and when you’re feeding your body what it needs, you look slimmer and more attractive for it. And, this usually centers around the avoidance of sugar, alchohol and gluten grains. One can reflect on their own diet and feelings after eating these things to realize that. It is baffling to me that we are all still searching for easier fixes, considering that Brillat-Savarin came to this conclusion almost two hundred years ago. He noted this all the way back in 1825, in the Physiology of Taste, after conversations at the table with many overweight acquaintances who only wanted more bread, potatoes and rice than they had on their plates. “And it is from such dialogues that I made clear to myself a theory which I had formed quite apart from its human connections, that the principal cause of any fatty corpulence is always a diet overloaded with starchy and farinaceous elements...”

Most of this probably comes from my own struggle - if it were healthy for me, there’s a good chance I would just live on pastries (a variety of sweet and savory, of course). Unfortunately, this has proved to be the opposite of what feels good for my body, so I began searching for alternatives. This has been difficult, yet at the same time, fulfilling. It has required A LOT of cooking. The challenge of this, for those of you who are “epicurious” like myself, is really exciting. Without these foods in easy reach (or recipes for that matter), I’ve had to create many of my own, and have come with some surprisingly delicious dishes and flavor combinations. Some would call all of this work, but it’s actually been a lot of fun. So, to follow will be some of my new taste discoveries and recipes for healthier living. Don’t worry, I still go out to eat a lot, and enjoy my fair share of pork belly and sausage, so I’ll still write about that too...