Blooming Trees

There's something about Spring in Portland. It's different than Fall, when the leaves on the trees turn different colors and inevitably fall to the earth. In the Spring, the trees literally bloom. The colors are vibrant and the idea that all of these trees are growing flowers in gorgeous shades of pinks instead of leaves - is a bit magical. Just walking through a neighborhood can make you feel alive.

Of course, the petals fall to the ground like the leaves, but looking down on a walk around town isn't so bad either. There are so many flowers blooming in a bounty of colors it's just outstanding. It's all a person can do to keep from picking some, bringing them home and putting it in a vase to admire for a few more days.

Here are a few snapshots that will last longer and it might even be a lovely little escape to revisit on dark winter moments when the days short and the skies are gray.

Soup-Off: The Trophy Has Been Passed

There's been a bit of a tradition started among our friends here in Portland that happens every January. It's called Soup-Off. The holidays are over, the weather is cold and sometimes there is even snow, though it rarely sticks. We are all in the mood for some soup and solid competition. Last year, my soup potato leek soup took second place. The only good thing about coming in second is that I wouldn't be responsible for making the Soup-Off trophy.

That's right this event has taken on its own magic and last year it was decided that a trophy should be made. The right person for the job won last year. In his quest to make a Soup Trophy in the form of a heavyweight belt with a bowl in the middle and a spoon, he ended up with quite a creation. For that, we'll excuse the fact that last year he didn't actually make the winning soup. I digress. Back to the trophy. In his search for the right size spoon (the three bears story, anyone?) at Goodwill he ended up finding one of the larger spoons I've seen and a real trophy was born.

Soup's On

This year there were only four competitors and each soup had it's own style. One soup was an African inspired creation from a Top Chef recipe and it was good, but it didn't take the prize. Another soup was essentially dinner in a bowl. While you would definitely want a bowl of it on a cold winter night, it too lacked that special something to take home the trophy. Our soup, well, we made a hot and sour soup that in the end was too spicy and more of a thai-inspired soup than a true hot and sour soup. Perhaps it was the marketing, or that the other soups were just better - we also did not win.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Which of the four soups one? Well the one that took up half the table, of course. It was a chicken posole with so many sides that it resembled a bit of a make-your-own soup bar. The creator had spent at least 10 hours cooking it and found all the authentic ingredients needed to pull it off triumphantly. The soup was phenomenal and in the end many of us ended up making nachos out of all the sides.

The trophy has found a home until next year. The only question is how will the winner leave her mark on the trophy?

Re-Surfacing

It's been a busy few months, I spent the early months of fall writing my first book, Microsoft Surface: Visual QuickStart Guide. It was quite the adventure and extremely time-consuming. Writing the book was a task in itself and at one point, I locked myself in a hotel room to get some chapters finished. Of course, half of the first night in the hotel the WiFi was down. Since so much of the tablet experience requires an Internet connection to make the most out of it, that put a little damper on things and forced me to take a much needed break - at least for the night. 

In my professional opinion, Microsoft's tablet is a huge step forward for the market. I think it will help push the boundaries of what a tablet can be and do. The advances in technology and the processing power available are making tablets a viable option for people to take on the road to get some work done and still have some fun. I think as a result we'll see more interesting options available from its competitors and that is something that is greatly needed to move the experience forward. 

Overall, Microsoft's design is innovative, but not perfect. That is expected and could also be said of the other tablets on the market when they first debuted. As a long-time reviewer of mobile technology, there has been one certainty: the third version of anything typically hits the sweet spot of how the product should work. Still, the Microsoft Surface is a huge departure from what people typically expect of a Microsoft product and for that I applaud them. 

Since it is so different, people will likely need a manual to make the most of the device. Performing all tasks isn't immediately evident and there are actually quite a few ways to accomplish one goal. Once you master a few UI basics, using the Surface tablet becomes more intuitive. I kept all this in mind while writing the book and set-up the chapters so that you could quickly learn how to use the tablet and then skip to other chapters to learn more about a specific feature. If you're in the market for an easy-to-read, picture-friendly book on the Surface tablet I encourage you to check it out.  

Although, I rarely surfaced during much of the time spent writing the book I was still busy making observations about living in Portland. Stay tuned.

Got Goat?

As a long-time city dweller there hasn't been a lot of need for a lawn mower in my life. That's because there aren't a lot of lawns in a city. Of course there are lawns in a park, but the city takes care of that. Still, if you find yourself with an insanely overgrown lawn forget the lawn mower - go goat. 

Yep, apparently you can rent goats in Portland to take care of an entire field. The goats graze the land and slowly - over a couple of weeks - the overgrown field becomes manageable. Let me be clear this isn't out in the cuts, it's just blocks from downtown.  It seems odd to me to rent a goat, but goats have been grazing fields for years. Maybe the goats are the bomb. I'm just glad I don't have an overgrown lawn or really much of a lawn at all. 

CSA Challenge: Kohlrabi Who Knew You Were So Tasty

Not the typical veggie salad

I managed to finish using all the veggies from the CSA box. There were a few salads made, so nothing interesting to report. By Sunday I had left the challenging kohlrabi, fennel, and beets. I roasted the beets. Super easy, just long cooking time and used a trick I had learned somewhere to get the skins off easily. Trick: Once the beets come out of the oven throw them in a bowl and cover it. Let the steam do the rest. After a few minutes take them out of the bowl and use a paper towel to remove the skin - it slides right off. I had thought about sauteing the fennel and serving it over pork chops. Unfortunately, the pork chops turned out to be not so fresh - suffering from some horrible freezer burn. What to do?

Well, I had the beets roasted, fennel shredded, and a still unused kohlrabi. Our friends who gave us their share of the box said the kohlrabi tastes good raw, just use a mandolin to slice it. Mandolin's scare the buh-gee-bus out of me. So many horror stories of people accidentally slicing the top of a finger off while using one. That's not for me. A broken foot last year was plenty. Turns out my food processor has a mandolin setting. I give it a try and out comes super thin ribbon-like slices of kohlrabi. Fantastic!

At that point, with the pork chop lost I had to go to plan B: Puttanesca pasta (I fondly refer to it as slutty pasta) and cool refreshing veggie salad. I layered the plates with kohlrabi and fennel, topped it off with beets and a sprinkle of the fronds from the fennel, drizzled it with olive oil and sprinkled a little salt and pepper. Presto change-o the ingredients from the CSA box were gone. Oh, and the salad turned out to be quite delicious - a mix of radish and black licorice complimenting the beets.

The moral of the story: Challenge yourself - you never know what you might learn and create. I never heard of kohlrabi before the CSA box and now I know I like it. Better yet, we'll be sharing a CSA box in fall with some friends. Can't wait to see what I learn then.

Oh, and of course, special thanks to our friends that gave us their share of a CSA box while they were away.

CSA Box: Day 2

Yesterday was day 2 of my self-imposed CSA Challenge and I managed to make some progress. I did a little research and found a few recipes that would help polish off a few of the items. That made me elated and cooking something new is always interesting. It's the same kind of feeling I get when I'm lost. Finding my way out is the best part and when it comes to new recipes I particularly get excited at the thought that I might end up with something new to put into rotation.

Napa Cabbage Salad

First up was that napa cabbage. That thing is big. Seriously it's bigger than my head. I found a recipe for Napa Cabbage Salad at Food & Wine that would take care of the entire cabbage. Seemed easy enough. Only problem was I didn't have all the ingredients, so I got how do we say "a little creative." It called for Rice Wine Vinegar, which I didn't have. A little Internet research later and it turns out Red Wine Vinegar works in a pinch. Not bad, but I do think the Rice Wine Vinegar would have made it a bit lighter. It also called for slivered almonds. Another item I didn't have, but I did have radishes from the CSA box. I cut those bad boys into slivers and got a salad with crunch, but not so crunchy it might break my teeth. Bonus! I was a bit surprised by the amount of bugs in the cabbage and cleaning it was a bit more work than I expected. Overall salad tasty and fairly quick to make. Is it a keeper? Maybe in a pinch.

The salad made a dent in the scallions and radishes and completely polished off the Napa Cabbage. 

Next Up: Dinner

Fava Beans: Bigger Than Expected

Dinner rolls around and after salad for lunch I needed something a bit meatier. Next ingredient to conquer: Fava Beans. I've seen fava beans at markets before, but never really knew what they were. They look a bit like green beans on steroids. 


At first I had thought about making a hummus-like dip from the beans - seemed logical, but boring. Again, Food & Wine came to the rescue with a recipe for Mike Lata's Fava Bean Pasta e Fagioli. Since I've never made anything with fava beans and really had no idea how they taste I totally followed the recipe, which meant getting a few ingredients: 2 slices of bacon, an onion, and a sprig of rosemary. Not so bad. The bacon did wonders for the taste of the broth - making it a bit more meat-y than bacon-y. Plus when you're eating the soup getting a bit of bacon in the bite is kind of like the lovely surprise you get when you get a tiny shaped marshmallow in a bowl of Lucky Charms - Pure Joy!

Soup's On!

As for the fava beans, it took me a bit to get the hang of removing the beans from the pods but after a couple pounds of pods I got it all worked out. Once they were blanched - shelling the beans were a bit of a slippery affair and if I was being graded on presentation - I might not get an 'A.' The soup turned out delicious and it will definitely be a "keeper" that I plan to revisit often.

The soup took care of all the beans, some gnarly carrots, and a bit of mint. I'm glad it used some of the mint, but I have big plans for the rest of it. Stay tuned....

I'm still wrestling with the Kohlrabi. Seriously, what is that thing and what's the best way to use it? If you have any ideas for it, please help a sister out!

CSA Box: Challenge Accepted

Produce and vegetables are big in Portland. We're super close to lots of local farms so it's pretty easy to get fresh greens. I particularly appreciate this aspect of Portland after living in New York. Who are we kidding? New York is an island and getting locally grown food there is a bit of a task. Often by the time you get to the vegetables they've travelled a bit so the shelf life tends to be not so long.

In Portland you can get a CSA box (Portland Area Community Supported Agriculture). Basically it's vegetables from the farm. You get the box once a week and you don't always know what you'll get. (Kind of like a vegetable wheel of fortune) The boxes are pretty big so it's not unheard of for people to split a box. Our friends who split a box are out of town and offered it to us this week.

Deeply intrigued by the idea of a CSA box I jumped at the chance to experience it. I picked up their share of the vegetables last night. Quite a bounty: 

Sweet Bounty!

Fennel

Large bunch of scallions

Kale

Lettuce

Napa cabbage

Mint

Radishes

Beets

Gnarly (literally) carrots

Fava beans

Kohlrabi (At least, I think that's what it's called)

While most people probably see a grocery list of healthy food, I see a challenge. I'm going to do my best to use everything in the CSA box by the end of the week. I'm not a great cook or a natural cook. I would rather bake any day of the week. 

Sauteed Kale with Garlic & Olive Oil

When I lived in New York I couldn't really cook at all (beyond making the occasional late night quesadilla). I took cooking classes at Peter Kump's Institute of Culinary Education. After quite a few classes I can pretty much follow just about any recipe and have a mild idea about flavor profiles. That's it. Don't start thinking I can create recipes. I still call my mom to find out how to boil an egg. 

This challenge is going to take me out of my comfort zone. I've already found a few recipes online for some of the ingredients, but if anyone has ideas about what to do with Kohlrabi or Fennel, please help a sista' out and send them my way.

Tonight I started off simple: Salad and sauteed kale. Oh and just because it all sounded so healthy I made some salted fudge brownies for dessert. 

Seriously, any ideas for some of these ingredients are great welcomed! Just leave a comment below.