A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a Kickstarter campaign for a ‘community supported cheese club’ from Cyril’s at Clay Pigeon (a new Portland urban winery). Cheese? Intriguing. So I bought the $10 “I want to attend the party only” option, and then after tasting the amazing blue cheese – from Point Reyes – I upgraded to the “I’m taking a pound of this magic home” option. Point Reyes is a family farm on the Northern California coast. And of course, they have the most adorable story… Italian immigrant farmers, three generations later they were dairy farmers, raising four Read more…

Predictable? Accurate. Me: You know what would be really good right now? Him: A veggie burger with blue cheese and caramelized onions? My favorite burger is:  blue cheese, caramelized onions, smokey BBQ sauce, lettuce, tomato, on a whole wheat bun, with a veggie burger (Morningstar Farms griller patty is my favorite). And quite often, when I get it in my head that I need to make this vs wandering about town looking for the perfect veggie burger, I misplace my “perfect caramelized onions” recipe and search the Interwebz in despair, before finally finding my trusty recipe that I got from a Read more…

I was commenting a few days ago on the difference in how you feel just after eating some thing good vs something good [for you]. Post-cheese plate, I feel like “mmmmmmm… that was good, I feel satisfied and full and now I want some more wine and a nap” vs post-’hippie bowl’, I feel like “mmmmmmm… that was good, I’m so good, I make good choices and I’m healthy. I should go running in a bit and then in the morning I’ll make green drink.” OK, maybe slightly exaggerated, sometimes I have a drink after eating healthy. Balance! My point Read more…

Hawaii has amazing food. While my brain typically goes straight to the beach or sunshine when I have Hawaii on the mind — this last trip has me missing the food. I was lucky to have a recent transplant & avid foodie as my host. While we spent most of our time on the Windward side, there were some great finds on North Shore and the Honolulu area as well. What to Eat on Oahu – 15 Tasty Things: 1. Lilikoi everything Liliko’i is Hawaiian for passion fruit. After a while, it starts to feel like you could find something Read more…

Ramen. Macarons. Cheese. French 75. Paneer Roll. Cheese. Thai. IPAs. Cheese. It’s been a lovely winter of eating. It’s also been a few months since I did a ’52 new restaurants’ post. Thanks to our Cook at Home challenge, new restaurant-ing was at a minimum in January, but throw in a few new cities and finally here are all the new lovely places I’ve ventured to eat since Thanksgiving. 60 New Restaurants: The Mermaid Tavern, Tampa Florida – very Portlandly. Nice beer selection, and apparently it had just opened that week. Agave, St Pete Beach, Florida Ricky T’s, Treasure Island, Read more…