A NE Portland mini coffee tour

Man, I am really falling down on the foodblog front this week! But I guess that's what happens when you're essentially learning a new city, working full-time, suddenly increasing your biking from near-zero to 10+ miles per day (with HILLS), hanging out with multiple groups of friends, celebrating multiple birthdays (I am now a power of six! A really small power, but still) and living in a house with two kids under the age of seven. And did I mention I fell down the stairs yesterday? I'm fine, but it's just another thing to tackle--not to mention another dimension to my already existent biking soreness.

So why don't I start by talking about all the coffee I've drunk over the past week or so?

I generally start off my workdays with a trip to the coffeeshop, a regular coffee with milk or cream, and a lot of laptop work. Portland, if you were unaware, has all the coffee everywhere, so I have been having an excellent time trying out all and sundry coffees in the land.

Barista, 1725 NE Alberta

This is the only shop on the list that I've been to before, and the only one at which I ordered anything besides just plain coffee. Although I suppose an Americano could be considered plain coffee...but regardless, it was delicious. My favorite thing about this place is the bar that curves around the back of the barista stations: beautiful wood with plenty of stools for all your coffee-and-work needs.

It can be a little tough to get a seat in the crowded front of the shop, but isn't that the case at all the best coffeeshops? Frequently, yes.

Half Pint Cafe, 537 SE Ash #108

We've been working in the same space as our friends Danny and Bethany, the founders of Beeminder, and this little coffeeshop is just up the street from their office.

We had a marginally hard time finding it because both their site and Maps list them as "Mudd Works Roastery," but everything worked out perfectly once we went inside. There is indeed Mudd Works coffee available approximately one step from the front door, in a totally charming, narrow space. We got our coffees to go, so I can't comment on the working-there situation, but the tasty caffeine experience was all it should be.

Case Study Coffee, 5347 NE Sandy

I really like working here because of the long library table that runs down the room. The smaller tables are copper-topped, which is super appealing as well. The excellent coffee doesn't hurt either.

This is the only place I've gone back to more than once so far, which definitely says something about what a great space it is for work. There's just something about a big library table.

Heart Roasters, 2211 E Burnside

I picked this shop to visit because it's at a good location to take a break on the bike ride to or from the office. Coffee: delicious. Their roaster is right out in the middle of the shop, looming with the delightful promise of more coffee, more, MORE. My shop of choice at home has their roaster out in the shop as well, so this made me feel extra at-home.

This was the most crowded shop I've been to, but it was still totally possible to grab a seat and get some quality work-doing and coffee-drinking done. Hooray!

These shops have a couple things in common.

1. Good coffee. I mean, I am not a connossieur by any means--I will totally mix different blends of self-serve to make a half-caf in my normal shop at home--but I still know what tastes good. These coffees definitely taste good.

2. Communal tables. I'm not sure about the Half Pint, since I didn't go back to the actual seating area, but every single other shop has some kind of communal seating arrangement. This makes it a bit easier to find a seat while also giving you the chance to easily meet people if you so desire. However, nobody was pushy, either, so it's a win-win situation all around.

Obviously we've mostly been in one quadrant of Portland so far, but never fear--there will be more exploring in the future!

Next up: food. Or bars. Maybe both? We'll see.

Potato harvest equals Spanish tortilla

A few days ago, my potato vine died back for the season. If you haven't ever grown potatoes, this is normal for fall--and a clear indicator that the plant is ready for harvest. You know what that means: fresh potatoes!

This was a volunteer potato that came up randomly behind my tomatoes, which meant I didn't have the space to make a real potato mound. Next year maybe I'll find a good spot for an actual devoted potato area. But our one tiny crowded potato vine actually produced quite a few potatoes, considering its competition. Hooray, two big handfuls of tiny tender fingerlings!

Clearly, we needed to cook something super potato-y to take advantage of our beautiful fresh potatoes. That meant Spanish tortilla: a massive and delicious pan-fried cake of potato and egg.

This is one of those dishes that is far more than the sum of its parts, and that's good, because (fantastic homegrown potatoes notwithstanding) the parts are just potatoes, eggs, oil or butter, and salt and pepper, with optional herbs & etc. of your choice. Super simple, super cheap, and super delicious.

We didn't have quite enough potatoes for a full potato-centric dish (although a nice baby potato and green bean vinaigrette salad would have been amazing too), so we ended up combining our harvest with a bag of baby redskin potatoes. No problem!

Spanish tortilla is the greatest

potatoes
butter/oil of your choice
eggs
green onion
salt, pepper

Start by scrubbing all your potatoes and cutting them into thin slices. Ours were about an eighth of an inch thick, but you can go as thin as you like. It's all good, especially if you have a mandoline. You want about enough potatoes to make a layer half an inch thick in your pan of choice.

Warm a generous slug of your oil in a wide frying pan. I used a mix of oil and butter. Toss in your potatoes and stir briefly to coat. Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper and let cook over medium-high heat, tossing occasionally, until the potatoes are tender and turning golden brown on all sides.

While your potatoes are cooking, slice a big handful of green onions. Throw the whites in to cook with the potatoes and save the greens to add later. If you want to add any other green herbs, like parsley, chop those up and set them aside with the onion greens.

Next, crack as many eggs as you want to eat into a mixing bowl. You want roughly the same volume of egg as potato, or a little bit less. We used six eggs, which was not quite enough, but worked out ok anyway. Season with salt and pepper and beat well with a fork. Mix in the onion greens and any other herbs or spices you like. I think some red pepper flake would be pretty great here.

When your potatoes are edible, pour in your egg mixture, turning the pan to get it evenly distributed. Turn the heat down a touch and let the egg cook.

When the bottom layer of the tortilla is done, you have two options for cooking the top. Option one: flip the entire tortilla by topping the pan with a plate, inverting both together, and sliding the flipped tortilla back into the pan to cook on the other side. Option two: put the whole pan under the broiler for a minute or two, until the top layer is cooked. We chose option two, mostly because we were using our biggest pan, which meant that none of the regular plates was big enough for flipping action.

Slide your finished tortilla out of the pan and onto a cutting board or plate. Slice it up and serve with a big green salad or your green vegetable of choice. And yes, a big cake of egg and cheese is definitely rich enough that you're going to want a major amount of greens to go with it.

Now eat it! Hooray, potato harvest!

What lovely new fall vegetables are you eating lately?

Clean-out-the-fridge pasta with super secret cream cheese

It's almost fall! Even here in CA the weather is beginning to actually turn. The high today was only 72F! I know this seems like nothing to those of you who live in, say, Wisconsin, but when it's ALL SUN 79F FOREVER, you get to appreciate even the smallest shifts in temperature. I can wear long sleeves! I can wear long sleeves AND a jacket! Oh man. It's the greatest.

But guess what? We aren't going to be spending October, jewel of fall, in California. We're going to Portland for the month.

You know what that means. ACTUAL WEATHER.

For once it's going to be actually cool and grey enough on my birthday. It's going to rain. I'm going to wear not only a jacket, but a waterproof one with a hood and sleeves. There will be real in-season pumpkin and apples and pears, and I'll go to the coffeeshop with my laptop (I am still working the whole month, of course) and do my writing or marketing or consulting with a cup of hot cider and a furled umbrella on the floor next to me.

But in the meantime, we've been trying to eat everything in the fridge. So the other day I grabbed some tomatoes from the pile still on the kitchen windowsill. A rifle through the crisper revealed some wilting hot red peppers, a scraggly handful of parsley, a lonely carrot, and half a zucchini. There's always pasta in the cabinet. And what did I spy in the drawer? A quarter of a package of cream cheese! Perfect.

Adding cream cheese to a basic tomato and veg pasta sauce is one of my favorite tricks ever for quick creamy goodness. So fast! So easy! No making a roux or hoarding half a pint of heavy cream! It's just a couple big spoonfuls of soft cheese, dissolving beautifully to turn the tomato sauce a glorious salmon pink. NOM.

Clean-out-the-fridge pasta with super secret cream cheese

pasta (we used rigatoni)
olive oil
onion
garlic
hot peppers, red or otherwise
carrot
tomato
zucchini
oregano, basil, marjoram
salt, pepper
cream cheese/neufchatel/sub of choice
parsley to garnish

Put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta and cook it at an appropriate moment.

In a large saute pan, warm a slug of olive oil. Toss in some chopped onion, stir, and cook to soften while you smash and mince your garlic, finely chop as many hot peppers as you like and scrub and shred a carrot. When the onion has started to turn a bit glassy, toss your garlic, peppers, and carrot into the pan. Season with oregano, basil, marjoram if you want some, and a couple good pinches of salt. Then stir the whole shebang together and cook.

If you still have fresh summer tomatoes, now is the time to cook them and eat them. Core them, chop them up, and add them to the pan when your onions are fully softened. You can also use tomato puree or sauce if tomato season is over at your house; it's all good. Stir everything up, add a touch more salt, and cook those tomatoes down.

While you're waiting, slice up some zucchini. When your tomato has reduced sufficiently, add your zucchini. Cook for maybe another five minutes, or until your zucchini is tender and any extraneous juices have evaporated. Correct the seasonings and you're almost done.

Take the pan off the heat and add as much cream cheese or reasonable substitute as you like, cut into chunks. Bury the bits in the hot sauce and leave them for a minute, so they melt, before you stir to mix. If you happen to have some other creamy and easily meltable cheese around--goat cheese, for example--you can use that instead. Or use both! ALL DAIRY ALL THE TIME.

Drain your finished pasta and add it to the sauce. Stir everything together and serve, scattered with bits of parsley.

Eat it all with health and vigor, and a green salad on the side. Hooray! We have delicious food, and the refrigerator is that much closer to cleaned out!

Now the real question is: who wants to meet up in Portland?

Mushroom pelmeny saved my lunch

Here's a thing that can happen when you're feeling tired and down for no good reason, but you know you need to eat lunch. You look through the kitchen for a few minutes. Nothing looks good, even though you have enough food to feed an army consisting of far more than the two adults who actually live in the house. So you decide to go for emergency food and get out the backup package of mushroom pelmeny, exquisite and hand-shaped and local, and also a food only you will eat because you are the only person in the house who likes mushrooms. You drop the frozen pelmeny into a pot of boiling water with some salt.

What are you going to eat with them? Normally you'd have the energy to saute some onions in butter with salt and pepper and paprika, but not today, so you decide the plain yogurt in the fridge will make a good enough sauce. Still, you're really going to regret it if you don't eat some form of vegetable with your bowl of dumplings. There's cabbage in the crisper, so you get out a cutting board and shred a chunk. It can be a bed of raw crispy veg in the bottom of your bowl, and that will be okay. Wait, don't you have a container of shredded golden beet and carrot in the fridge for future salad applications? Why not use some of that? Those go into the bowl too.

By this time your pelmeny are boiling furiously and rising to the surface of the pan. You drain them and scoop a bunch of them into your bowl. A couple good spoonfuls of yogurt go on top. Good so far, but it needs one more thing, or else it'll be bland. So you grind a bunch of black pepper across the top of your bowl of pelmeny and yogurt and cabbage and beet and carrot. Wait, one more thing. You don't have any fresh dill, but you do have parsley. So you snip some parsley and scatter it across the top of your bowl.

By this time you are actually feeling like a human, even before you eat anything. You sit down to eat and discover that everything is totally delicious, and you eat it all, thinking that maybe next time you should add a little bit of spicy brown mustard too, and you go get a second helping of pelmeny and yogurt, at which point you realize that you're really going to need something to mop up all the delicious fragments of mushroom and carrot and beet and cabbage and sour cream and pepper off the side of the bowl. Then you remember that you also have a loaf of sourdough in the fridge, so you throw a piece in the toaster oven to get lovely and fragrant and golden brown and crisp. You mop up the side of the bowl with the bread and eat every last tiny bit, and you still want more.

I'm going to eat this so many times.

Have a nice lunch.

Banana nut & oat bars!

This weekend I took advantage of a new roll of parchment paper and made a batch of soft banana nut bars. Hey, we had bananas dying on top of the fridge and bags of nuts randomly lying around in obscure corners of the freezer--why not combine them into delicious snacky bar form?

These bars are a variation on Clockwork Lemon's soft peanut butter banana oat bars. The main change I made was to switch out the cashews and walnuts--neither of which I could find in the freezer, although they may indeed be hanging out in there somewhere--with almonds and pecans, which I could find. The finished bars were barely sweet, with a subtle nutty crunch hiding under the soft exterior: an ideal breakfast.

I considered adding more fruit, since we had dried cranberries, apricots, and tart cherries hiding in the freezer too, but I decided to try out a batch with no extras to start with. Next time, though, I could totally see myself chopping up a big handful of apricots and chucking them into the batter. The bars could also definitely handle some chocolate chips, especially if you have a taste for the kind of banana bread with huge chunks of chocolate in it.

Banana almond pecan peanut butter oat bars

2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup chopped pecans & almonds, your choice of proportion
1/4 cup sweetened coconut
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup oats

Preheat your oven to 350F. Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.

Mash your bananas in a bowl. Add all the other ingredients and mix well. Press the batter evenly into the pan, smoothing the top with a spatula.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until slightly browned.

The finished bars will be fairly soft, so give them a few minutes to cool & solidify in the pan. Then remove the whole slab from the pan by lifting the parchment paper.

Let cool before slicing into the bar shape of your choice. I cut my batch in half, then cut each half into five pieces. Store wrapped in plastic wrap, or layer with parchment and put in an air-tight container.

These guys are great for a midmorning snack with a big mug of coffee, or as an instant breakfast to grab on your way out the door to the train. Or just bring half the batch to work and leave them in your desk drawer as a balm for the occasional pang of hunger. It's all good.

What do you guys stash away for an emergency snack?