Genkinaonna

Hello from the Portland, Oregon 'burbs, my fellow eGulleteers! I'm super excited to share my week with you! First a little bio: I'm a mother of three little people, Aria (5), Mina (3), and Gio (10 months). My husband and I relocated to Portland from outside of Milwaukee, WI, in 2002 after the snow plows knocked over our mailbox one too many times ...I highly recommend a corporate relocation package if you can swing it. Anyways, we had a couple of options, but when we came out to see Portland, we fell in love. It's really a beautiful city, lots of green space, with an amazing food culture. I went to culinary school and got my certificate in Patisserie and Baking in 2004, although before and after culinary school I actually worked at a preschool. I bake quite a bit in my spare time, and I got into the habit of baking birthday treats for the other teachers and staff at the center I worked at. At the end of April, I decided to leave my job at the preschool (by then I was Center Director) to start a home-based baking business. I'm still working through the challenges that starting your own (legitimate) business entails, but in the meantime, I make custom cakes and cupcakes for birthdays and casual get-togethers. I'd love to hear any of your experiences with getting into the food business! It's a little challenging to bake with the offspring underfoot, but I love staying home with them. I've always loved to cook and bake, my parents were so-so cooks, and I started cooking the family meals at about age 10. I learned most of what I know from a combination of reading cookbooks, experimenting in the kitchen, and watching cooking shows on PBS, and later, Food Network (back when it wasn't all Next Food Network Stars wandering around the country, marveling at giant pizzas) so I'm still developing my "style." I basically started with a clean slate, no major food traditions to uphold, although my Grandma was an amazing baker. I do have some of her recipes as well. I've got quite a bit planned for this week, but I'm completely open to suggestions if you have things you'd like to see around the city. Let's get this food party started! -Heather (Genkinaonna)

There's a frozen custard place outside of Portland (oregon, not maine...) that I've been meaning to try. But we're going back to WI at the end of July for a family reunion so I might just wait and get my fix then! Kopps, here I come! And what kind of custard place doesn't have butter burgers?!? If you can't clog your arteries beginning of the meal to the end, it's just not authentic WI fare!

I too made the cashew chicken. It was fabulous! I think it'd be great on chicken skewers grilled for a party app...I'm not a big fan of cilantro but it worked so well in that sauce. I guess a bunch of cashews can hide a multitude of sins!

Deep fried cheese curds dipped in ranch dressing...my Wisconsin roots are showing!

I brewed the Ichiban Hojicha tonight. It was my favorite of the three. I used about .75 grams tea per oz of water, temp of about 185 degrees for 2 minutes. It was roasty, but with some of the same notes I pick up in green tea, like the grassiness. It made me instantly think of being in a Japanese restaurant, in a good way. I think it would be a great tea to pair with food, versus just sipping on it's own. There was just the smallest amount of astringency, and it had a really nice mouth-filling quality to it. I can't wait to see what comes from successive brewings. I'm thinking I may order some to keep in the house. The Sunpu Boucha was unsuccessful for me. I'm pretty sure it was user error, but it was really unappealingly bitter, I can't decide if it steeped too long or the water was too hot. Either way, I'm going to retry it and hope for a different outcome. Richard, thanks for the book recommendation, I'll have to check that out.

Actually, wouldn't you eat the dogs off of petware? In that vein my 11 mo would be eating off of "anytime he comes across something interesting on the floor-ware" which seems needlessly cumbersome. So let's just go with dishes, shall we? Okay then.

I was hoping one of my fellow eGulleteers might share a traditional beef carpaccio recipe with me...what is the sauce? It's generally described as an aioli, but is there anything different about it? And if I were to put an arugula salad on top, what would I dress it with? Tenderloin is just too damn expensive to mess this one up, so can anyone give me a fail-safe recipe to try? The restaurant I usually get it from took it off the menu for the summer, necessitating some do-it-yourself-itude...

After a heavy meal, I usually do supremes of oranges (mix of blood, cara cara, and navel if you can get them) with simple syrup (equal parts water and sugar) with triple sec or grand marnier added. I serve them in clear glasses or on dessert plates with softly whipped cream (really softly whipped, like still pourable) and sprinkle over finely chopped dark chocolate and slivers of toasted almonds. The cream and chocolate add just enough substance to make it a dessert, but it's still really light. And if you've got one of those pesky people who are dieting, you can leave off the whipped cream and the dessert is actually pretty healthy. Let us know what you end up making!

Anything sour and gummy, like sour patch kids. Make my mouth hurt for DAYS. And I have to argue with the tic tac hate...I could happily eat an entire box of orange tic tacs in one sitting. And I have. The only issue is that the noise clues the offspring in to the fact that I have some, and so then I have to share

I would imagine you could cook a sugar syrup to a higher temp, so it was more like candy and then drizzle it over, that should make it good and crispy! Almost like the shell on a candy apple...

As a (not yet) purchaser of MC, I think it's great that Nathan and the rest of his crew are being so diligent about following up with errata. There's nothing more frustrating than having a recipe flop because of a typo! I opted to buy a SVS and vacuum sealer instead of MC, it was, unfortunately, an either/or deal, I didn't have the finances for both. However, I WILL get a copy for my birthday, come November. By then we'll be well into the third printing, there will be no errors, and I'll be able to order it on Amazon and get it the next day !

Would those Fluff jars fit one of the standard sized Ball lid replacements? It's a shame to lose an otherwise serviceable jar for lack of a lid... And I've been known to eat Fluff now and again myself

Sorry, only child here! But I feel your pain!

Nope, sorry...everything Mom makes is terrible, bless her garlic-fearing soul...

We went out. I'm the mommy and I milked it for all it was worth! We did the chef's tasting menu at Clarklewis on Saturday night, which was amazing. We had: Duck confit with gnocchi and pickled strawberries (my favorite course, hands down) Asparagus and prosciutto with parmigiano Gem lettuce with oregon blue cheese and lamb bacon Rigati pasta with pork meatballs and chili flakes Pappardelle with Lamb Ragu Spagetti with Black Sheep Creamery ricotta, asparagus, and lemon zest Cornmeal dusted halibut cheeks with black quinoa Roasted Lamb with broccoli rabe Chocolate profiteroles with salted toffee ice cream Rice Pudding with Strawberry rhubarb compote I was still full when I woke up Sunday morning!

Candied lime peel, macadamia nut and chili flakes...I make a truffle with those flavors that's quite popular. Fleur de sel and cocoa nib is pretty tasty...I also do a s'mores bark with mini marshmallows and caramelized graham cracker pieces on top that kids really get a kick out of. I'm sure any of us would be more than willing to taste and give you feedback ...

Mmmm...strawberry shortcake! Just had my first local strawberry of the year from the farmers market yesterday. I didn't realize how much I missed them until I had it! We're having shortcake sometime very soon as well...sometimes the simplest things are the best.

I try to keep within ethnicities if possible, so if I'm using (for example) turkish spices in my main, I'll accompany it with something seasoned appropriately, or with something also relatively turkish. If I have a pretty rich or heavy main, I will try to make the accompaniments lighter, and/or acidic to cut through the richness. Ham needs mashed potatoes. No exceptions. And I almost always serve braised chard with steak. But other than that, it it tastes good, it's fair game.

In Oregon, kids are allowed in with parents until they are 12 years old. After that, they're not permitted. I think that's a relatively new thing but I'm pretty sure it has more to do with the fact that they sell cigarettes there rather than the actual liquor. I remember fondly when I lived in WI and we could just buy booze at the grocery store! But at least the wine selection here is way better... If anyone needs to visit a liquor store, it's someone with kids! Nothing makes me appreciate a good drink more than bedtime. But then again, whenever we go to a restaurant the kids ask, "Mommy, are you going to get a Mojito today?" so maybe I'm not the best person to ask about it...

My French Fridays with Dorie assignment: Torteau de Chevre. A chevre cheesecake, but not a creamy cake, more spongy...I don't like goat cheese at all so I assumed this would be one I'd bring to my daughter's school to let the teachers demolish. I was pleasantly suprised though, it was actually pretty tasty. I should've known Dorie wouldn't let me down...the teachers can bake their own damn cakes!

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who thinks pretty much any recipe can be improved by throwing in a big honkin' handful of pecans!

The vanilla thread has me thinking that I guess I buy vanilla beans in bulk. There's a seller on Ebay that sells them super cheap and I use them both "as is" and to make extract. It costs the same for a 1/4 lb of beans there as three would cost in a store.

It takes quite a while to get to that color, mine is pretty dark and it's been sitting since the end of september. I used 15 vanilla beans and 325 mL of vodka (stoli in case you're curious) and I'll never go back to store bought. I'm thinking I'm going to try with rum next time. And everyone is getting vanilla for christmas. For those who don't bake, I'm sending a few easy recipes too. I have a ton of vanilla beans left (I bought a half pound and got a 1/4 pound free) so I'm actually using beans in a lot of recipes that call for extract. I know the longer the extract sits, the better it'll get but the beans themselves will dry out so I'm using them first.

Well I think they're exciting! I made the cake yesterday, and I must say, I think you and your friends showed remarkable self restraint when you ate ALMOST all of it...my husband and I ate half all by ourselves in the first hour it was out of the oven! After making it, I would say that I would think muffins from the same recipe would benefit from some sort of streusel topping, maybe with almonds. It seems like the crunch would work well with the softness of the muffin. Also, I think that next time I might add some lemon juice as well to bump up the tartness, my oranges were really sweet. I will have pics up on my blog at some point but they're not there yet!

Fried rice with egg and a little napa cabbage I had hanging around in the fridge, with some potstickers. I made the filling (pork, ginger, sesame oil, xiau xing wine, cabbage, green onion, soy sauce, cornstarch) but bought the wrappers. I got all the prep done last night so it went together pretty quickly. I love fried rice but it does require quite a bit of chopping...