Portland: The Almost-Forgotten Trip

Hello, my name is Mary Rose and I am a procrastinator.  The only reason that I am currently blogging is because I drank too much caffeine today and feel too stimulated to sleep.  I have failed to record an important moment in time this year and I would be remiss if I didn't get this rectified before 2013 draws to a close.

Thad and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on 8/30/13, and in April I got us two tickets to Portland for a pretty good deal and told him we were visiting our friends Jen and Rick (who had both been present at our wedding, as we had been at theirs in Vegas years later).  I love Jen, and she just happens to live in a place that I would probably move to if I had any inclination to put my belongings into a box and move anywhere.  

Portland is such an amazing place, vibrant and diverse with a melting pot of cultures in plain sight to all who enter.  The food is amazing, the various things to see and do are staggering, and the idea of just running around town with no kids in tow was too appealing to pass up.  

This was the ADORABLE haircut I got prior to leaving for our trip

This is a big bowl of chicken pho (Vietnamese chicken noodle soup, and it is AMAZEBALLS)

Have you ever just needed a big plate of mint and Thai basil?  If so, Vietnamese is the way to go.

Strawberry mojito, courtesy of The Alibi

Dark & Stormy, courtesy of The Alibi

Good times and karaoke, courtesy of The Alibi

Check out the cool ceiling at.... The Alibi (it's a tiki room, and one of the coolest places in town)

I love this lampshade.  This is Jen's.  That is all.

The Flavourspot is one of the places I tell people about whenever I gush about my love for Portland.  That's smoked gouda, ham, and maple butter all up in that waffle.  I'm moaning while typing this.

Thad and I posing on the steps at Multnomah Falls.

The Multnomah Falls

Look at my hair!  This is one of the reasons I adore the humidity in Portand, instant finger waves!

This is a mossy tree.

Another pose from the happily married couple

After the falls we lunched at McMenamin's Edgefield, a sprawling local eatery/winery/distillery/brewery/concert venue/hotel with amazing artwork and the coolest gift shop I may have ever encountered.... this is the distillery

Thad, enjoying a $9 rum and Coke (the rum was made at the Edgefield distillery)

Edgefield blossom

This thing was as big as my head

This is just a door to an electrical room, but this is the type of artwork you find all over the grounds

Edgefield wines (we immediately had to take cover from the rain after this picture was taken)

I love this guy

Stopping for a slice downtown

Breakfast at the Mock Crest Tavern... I'm seriously in love with the local dive bar scene, they serve the best breakfasts I've ever wrapped my face around

The Baowry

Spy style

The sun was so bright

Pbbbbbbbbbbbt.

Baowry cocktails

Baowry Bahn-Mi

A variety of baozi

I have no idea where this bar was, but they had a variety of liqueurs infused with flavors (like anaheim chilis)

The Mac&Cheesery, this was Thad's "build your own mac" creation

Good old fashioned tuna casserole

I didn't take pictures in the Shanghai Tunnels, but we did take an underground tour that was pretty intense.  

Farewell Bloody Mary's at the Mousetrap (best bacon I've ever eaten in my life, at the diviest dive bar of them all)

Parting shot, right before I rubbed myself down with fresh rosemary from a bush and jumped on a plane

The optical illusion in the Portland airport

In summation, we had a really fun trip, got to do some fun things, eat some amazing food, and spend time with good friends....... until next time, Portland!

I'm Baaaaaaaaaa-aaaack (Baked Pumpkin Pancakes with Nutella Blossoms)

It has been far too long, my darlings, since I posted last.  I have no excuse, I have been remiss in so many things lately.  If I have been absent from friendships or get-togethers it is only because I have a bit of a dilemma sucking my life source dry (and no, I do not mean my children).  More on that dilemma later, hopefully by my next post it will have been resolved.

So baked pancakes.... sigh.  I believe I saw a post on Pinterest with a recipe, and I was intrigued by the freezability of the finished product.  Pancakes you can make with no griddle? Pancakes you can't burn accidentally well you prepare your children's breakfast while cooking your own? What sorcery is this?!  The bones of the recipe are here and I have been having a great time trying out different variations.  So far, to date, I have made the following:

-Fresh blueberries with cooked, crumbled turkey breakfast sausage
-Gingerbread (delicious with a little whipped cream and syrup)
-Pumpkin

The pumpkin pancakes turned out fantastically, I just add about a cup of canned pumpkin, extra cinnamon, and some pumpkin pie spice.  I added some stripes of Nutella before baking one and then made the pretty pattern you see below (my kids go apes$#& for Nutella).  The gingerbread required 1/4 cup of molasses and a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger (plus some cinnnamon). 

Once baked the pancakes can be sliced into squares are rectangles and put into little plastic bags and frozen. I like it taken out of the plastic to reheat in the morning, then pop the warm pancake back into the bag and add syrup and a plastic spoon for a portable kids breakfast when we need to leave the house in a hurry.

These pancakes have also become my secret weapon when it comes to getting kids up on a cold winter morning. I wake the kids up by telling them I have pancakes downstairs for them and neither one of them makes any argument for not getting up, they just wrap themselves in their blankies and head down. I love having a secret power!

My next generation will include mini chocolate chips, and I have this feeling that they will be a triumphant success!

Try making a batch of your own and share your variation with me!

Domestic Goddess (Beautiful Breakfast Casserole)

l hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!  Here at Casa de la Swan we were busy with getting a fence built around our back yard, which was my husband and father-in-laws responsibility since they have a Y chromosome.

As the more delicate sex my mother-in-law and I made sure they stayed fed and hydrated.  I also have to use up a giant bag of spinach I bought at Costco so I made a big batch of spinach and feta turkey burgers on Friday night, and yesterday I gently adapted THIS recipe for a breakfast casserole that my FiL and I aggressively polished off.

Beautiful Breakfast Bake

I preheated my oven to 425º.  Start with about 3 cups of thawed frozen hash browns.  Get as much moisture off them as you can.  Mix the browns with 1/4 cup (half a stick) melted butter and a little s&p (ahhh, Push It) and press into a greased baking dish.  Bake for 20-25 until golden brown and "crusty".

While the crust bakes gather the rest of your ingredients... six large eggs, 2 cups of fresh spinach, 6 slices of cooked bacon, and sone chopped green onions.  If you are partial to things like mushrooms, peppers or any other veggies feel free to prep them.  I also skipped the heavy cream in the recipe, and instead combined 1/2 cup milk (1%) and 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt for a tangier substitute.  It was great.  Beat your eggs with your "cream" and add a dash of s&p (Push It Real Good) and maybe a sprinkle of garlic powder it it tickles your fancy.

Once your crust is baked remove it from the oven and drop heat to 350º.  I started my layer of toppings with the spinach, then dropped the bacon and green onions on top.  Pour your egg & "cream" mixture over top and sprinkle a couple handfuls of shredded mozzarella over the top.  Bake another 20-25 minutes until set.  I broiled mine on low for about 5 minutes to get a lovely brown crust on top.  Let the casserole cool slightly before serving.

Elora looooooves spinach, so she loved this casserole and ended up eating her brothers.  I love that she will eat something because she knows it's healthy, rather than turning her nose up at it.

I also ended up crafting some skirt dresses this weekend, which are super cute.  Elora is wearing hers as a dress in the photo below, and the matching dress/skirt I made for myself is long and hides my (hopefully shrinking) gut a bit.

Aaaaaaaaand, the fence got finished yesterday, so it was a successful crafting weekend all around!!

Breakfast is Dead (Homemade Instant Oatmeal)

I don't really believe that breakfast is dead, but when the weather gets warmer it becomes harder and harder for me to force some breakfast into me in the morning.  Yogurt is an iffy choice, I have to have something a little crunchy with my yogurt, otherwise the texture is a total turn off.  I'm partial to oatmeal, but having to remember to buy the boxes at the store regularly isn't my strong suit so I decided to find a recipe to make my own packets of instant oatmeal.  I found several on the interwebs, but kind of fudged my own and was happy with the results.

Homemade Instant Oatmeal

6 cups quick oats (3 cups pulsed in the food processor until broken down)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dry milk powder
2-3 tsp ground cinnamon (I prefer a lot, but add/subtract to your taste)
1 tsp salt
optional: dried fruit (cranberries are great) or sliced nuts

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix to combine, put in 1/2 cup measurements into snack bags.  Mix with about 1/4 - 1/2 cup boiling water to serve.

I had my little kitchen testers try it out this morning, and they both heartily approved of the results!!!  Look at those faces, eating a healthy bowl of homemade oatmeal with no unknown fillers and the perfect amount of salt/sugar..... I have 18 bags to take to work, too, so I'm set for at least 3 weeks of breakfast!

Last Minute Dinners (Spinach Feta Turkey Burgers)

I am the queen of last minute dinner plans.  I love to entertain on the fly, give me less than 48 hours notice and I will come up with something good, which is kind of the opposite of what happens when we plan ahead.  With too much time to think I typically find myself slightly riddled with anxiety about whether what I plan to make will be just right for my guests.  With less than 24 hours it's a make-or-break decision that rarely disappoints.

Saturday nights in Casa de la Swan can end up one of two ways: cereal for dinner due to sheer laziness, or something scrumptious if the moons have aligned just right and given me guests to cook for, which was the case last night.  The kids and I joined Morgan and her nieces Nadia and Nina for swimming at the YMCA, then decided to get together for dinner later in the afternoon.  I had seen these amazing looking burgers on Foodie with Family, and as soon as I mentioned them to Morgan she was instantly in agreement that these would be the perfect Saturday night dinner for our crowd.  If you want the full recipe click on over to FWF, and try anything you see because I can guarantee everything she makes is fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I mixed up all the ingredients (minus the roasted garlic, mine had all started sprouting when I went to roast it so I used an awesome homemade garlic powder my mom gave me), I slightly froze the patties after forming them, and I followed her explicit instructions on slapping them on the grill and not touching them for several minutes, and they turned out BOMB DIGGITY.  Like, seriously bomb diggity.  Juicy, flavorful, the spinach and feta adding just the right flavors to a typically dry burger experience.  I didn't get pictures of us devouring them, but please rest assured that many moans were made over the flavor explosion in our mouths.

Life (and Laziness) Got In the Way

So March has been quite an interesting and busy month in Casa de la Swan.  We started the month with a trip to Chico Hot Springs, with our wonderful friends Joel and Morgan, and have a wonderful kid free weekend of soaking, eating, laughing, and drinking.  I truly cannot say enough good things about Chico Hot Springs in the winter time!

We came home from Chico and immediately had to pack and prepare for a 6 day trip to Austin, Texas that Thad won through a software vendor he beta tested some software for!  The trip included airfare, a place to stay during South by Southwest Interactive, passes to SXSW Interactive (SXSW is the initialism for this huge event, Austin is packed to the gills with hipsters for over a week), and some spending cash!  Thadias is one lucky bad-assius!

So this post is an Austin recap, with pictures.  Mostly food pictures,  of course, but not ALL food pictures, so I can demonstrate how awesome it was.

 

Magnolia Cafe South...... I loved their sign

  

More Magnolia Cafe.... they had amazing rhinestoned art all over the place

 

 Cranberry Mimosa, the best way to start a day

 

 Thad had breakfast tacos, I had gingerbread pancakes and a giant omelette wth three different kinds of sauce (a red salsa, a green salsa, and a lemon sour cream)

 

South Congress Cafe's famous Carrot Cake French toast..... this stuff was super rich, with a side of some type of pecan, German chocolate cake stuff for dippling.... ultra rich

  

Thad had an eggs benedict with steak & migas (which is something you will find almost exclusively in Tex-Mex cooking)

 

Giant spicy Bloody Mary's, the 2nd best way to start a day

 

Aloe Bewara!  These things were huge!  Too bad we didn't get a sunburn!

 

One of Austin's "skyscrapers"

 

The Driskill Hotel in Downtown Austin.... super posh and no, we did not stay here (just had beers the last night we were there)

 

I was a little in love with the Hotel San Jose's courtyard... we passed it several times and I finally had to snap a picture

 

Austin loves their bats,so if you haven't heard about the bats at the Congress Street Bridge google it, we sat and watched them fly out at dusk, and there are MILLIONS!!

 

Home Slice..... delicious pizza!

The same skyscraper from the earlier pic, just all lit up for the night sky

 

Thank you to Adrienne, for introducing me to the glory of the Bahn Mi.... we sought out this Vietnamese delight at the loveliest little place, the Elizabeth Street Cafe, and it was one of my best decisions of the trip!

Thad's Drunken Noodles.... these were amazing, I will admit I suffered a little entree envy.

 The same Vietnamese cafe has a huge amount of French influence (as did Vietnam) and offered some GORGEOUS punches, this one was called the Shady Blonde (in honor of my lunch companion) and was garnished with fresh thyme.... it was the BALLS.

The table service at Elizabeth Street Cafe.... gorgeous silver.... the folks at the next table were nearly overflowing with the amount of dishes they ordered.

This little band played at the Speakeasy and they were great, all 60s soul with horns and everything.... I looked at our friend Ethan while we were watching them play and said "If they play "Proud Mary" I can't be held responsible for my dancing".... 2 songs later we left a good job in the city.

Shiner Bock.... Texas beer at it's best!

 

A rather neat sculpture on our walk

 

The courtyard outside our apartment

Austin Hotel.... a historical landmark, fo shizzle.

BBQ Chicken at Stubb's

 

Beef brisket at Stubb's, melt in your mouth good, with a side of spicy creamed spinach

Stubb's and Shiner........ I HEART TEXAS!

 

Nuff said.

Japanese at Lucky Robot.... with my giant carafe of peach sake punch!

Spider rolls!

Amy's Ice Cream has alcohol-ice cream in the form of Shiner Bock beer ice cream, and The Dude, a White Russian in delicious ice cream form

 

My tiny Dude

This is the end of the Austin picture show, Fred Armisen and I in a momentary fit of drunken awesomeness....

New food blogs to come..... I promise!