Genkinaonna

Kim-Those shrimp look great! Recipe? And my girls would love the alarmingly pink cotton candy flavored cookies! As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure that's their idea of heaven! David-how do you make your crispy shallots? Mine never turn out just right. Although that knowledge might be a dangerous thing, I'd be eating them constantly...

Atelier de Joel Robuchon in the MGM grand has a bar-type setup. The food is amazing and the service is great. I'd highly recommend it.

Cupcakes, it's the blackout cake from BFMHTY with vanilla italian meringue buttercream, soaked with vanilla syrup. The best reason for using this particular recipe is that it makes 2 doz perfect cupcakes with just enough batter left over for a 4 inch cake, which is, coincidentally the perfect vehicle for the leftover buttercream! So I can eat while I sit back and admire my handiwork. These were for a little girl's birthday, mom specified girlie, but I heard about it third hand and don't know the child personally. Hopefully pink papers, pink and purple luster dusted fondant butterflies and flowers with pearl dragees counts as girlie enough!

Those scallops look great! Mine never turn out that well, I think I'm just too impatient and I don't let them sit long enough... Tonight it was chicken pot pie with chicken I did in the pressure cooker (which coincidentally I'm LOVING) and the standard herbage, carrots, potatoes, etc, with a crust that was halfway between a pie crust and a biscuit. It was well received, but I thought it was a little underseasoned. I'm pondering what to do with the rest of the beautiful chicken stock that resulted from the cooking of said chicken, I'm thinking maybe a risotto might be in the works for tomorrow...

So is there going to be any egullet group-type activity going on here? Because I see a shameless Mother's Day gift ploy in the works...

The max is great, you can get pretty much anywhere downtown or somewhat out to the burbs...for example if you take the blue line max towards hillsboro Mingo is right on the max line, I think it's the Beaverton central stop...

I just discovered the "flavor locator" on the Ben and Jerry's Website. I will have this today!

<hangs head in shame> I actually had McDonald's for breakfast this morning. I'm not a fast food person, we don't go out to fast food restaurants, other than Burgerville (a local chain with non-dirty beef) at all. But damned if the hashbrowns and breakfast sandwiches aren't pretty delicious first thing in the morning...my kids actually call McDonald's "the hashbrown place with the play area" since their hashbrowns are all they've ever eaten there! But I do bring my own coffee. I spent about $4.00 on a caramel iced latte, took one sip, and threw it in the garbage! I'd rather have Charbucks any day.

Come to my house! I feel like I know you from all the posts It wouldn't be anything mindblowing, but I'm a great baker! If you like Korean noodles, Duh Kuh Bee in Beaverton is super good, little tiny hole in the wall place, open until 1:30 in the morning, which is a rarity for PDX... Paley's Place, Wildwood, Mingo (the one in Beaverton is better than the one on 21st) the food carts on Hawthorne, Nedd Ludd is supposed be great, although I haven't personally been there, Cocotte is supposed to be great for breakfast and brunch, the guy who owns Le Pigeon just opened a place called Little Bird that's getting pretty good buzz... If you're here over a weekend, try to hit the Portland Farmers Market, the strawberries should be here soon. Hood strawberries are pretty much the best in the world!

I wasn't super blown away by El Gaucho when I was there, it's your typical standard steakhouse, and pretty expensive. If you're looking for Steak, and aren't worried about staying on a budget, Urban Farmer is supposed to be amazing. Let me know where you went (and what you had!) when your trip's over! It's always interesting to get another impression of restaurants I've eaten at...

Wow, Clark...you must have the snake-like ability to unhinge your jaw to get that in your mouth. Kudos to you!

I finally got up the courage to use the pressure cooker I just bought. Lentil soup with ham in 20 min! I'm so excited to start experimenting. This bowl had chili oil and greek yogurt as a garnish, the soup is flavored with tomato and pepper paste and cumin along with the ham and some carrots and chicken stock. It's kind of a riff on a turkish lentil soup, with the decidedly non-turkish addition of lots of pork!

It's like sticking your tongue to a frozen pole times a million! I have a numb spot on my finger from cutting it down to the bone while chopping carrots at age 10 with my parents super crappy knives, I asked for a decent chef's knife for my 11th birthday!

I'll third Penzeys...their catalogue is great browsing too, and I've yet to be disappointed with the freshness and flavor of their spices.

PM Shelby, her husband is a hunter and she did goose during her Foodblog...I'm sure she'd share some recipes with you!

I would think it would solve the problem of parchment wrappers staying closed, without having the foil in direct contact with whatever you're wrapping. Foil tends to stay closed on it's own, while parchment slithers open leaving your delicious baked goods open to predation by roving children or significant others... And generally I find Martha's products (and recipes) to be pretty nice, even though she's not...

Don't have it. But I WANT it! Where should I get it? And how fast will it be here?

Those chocolates are lovely! And the colors definitely add to the tropical feel. And that chocolate cake looks amazing, I love cakes that are so rich on their own that frosting would be overkill...

Thanks so much for all your hard work and pictures this week. And I LOVED the crawfish hole picture, I learned something new, and it wasn't even (directly) food related. That's why these blogs are so great! : )

As the former director of a preschool, I can tell you that vegetable oil works the best for getting gum (or silly putty) out of hair. We were a peanut free facility so I can't speak to the peanut butter. I'll get back to you when my own kids are old enough to chew gum, I'm reasonably sure it will come up.

He seems like an Australian Tyler Florence to me. I have the impression he was engineered in a factory to appeal to a certain demographic. I have not had any of his food, but I can't say anything he's made really makes me want it...

For Portland, Beast is amazing, I also really like Paley's Place, great seasonal, local food. Also the food carts downtown are a must if you're there during the work week. On the west side of the city (Beaverton) I really like DeCarli and Mingo. Wildwood is really good as well, as is Fenouil for french bistro-type food. In the Pearl District, Andina is good (peruvian) although kind of expensive. On a different note, we moved here from Franklin...I miss all the Greek Restaurants! And they just don't have the same appreciation for deep fried cheese here that they have back home! I haven't had a lot of luck on the oregon coast at all, I think that there isn't the same motivation to have quality food when you know that you'll have a whole new group of people coming into the restaurant each weekend...although the restaurant at the Stephanie Inn at Cannon Beach is supposed to be really good. PM me if you have any other questions about foodie stuff in PDX, it's kind of my hobby! Cheers! Heather

That looks amazing! I haven't done any curing, but that picture tempts me to start. Also, I have those bowls for pasta too!

Dejah- Don't feel bad, I'm still at the camera phone stage of photography! ScottyBoy- Your meat makes me want to bite the bullet and just buy a SVS already! And if you've got any more of that foie mousse hanging around, I'd be more than willing to take it off your hands... dcarch-Everything you make is gorgeous, I just ate and I'm hungry again looking at your food! My husband requested soup tonight, so I made Passato di Ceci (pureed chickpea soup) with garlic croutons and rosemary infused olive oil. I got the recipe from the Food Network site, it's one of Anne Burrell's. Her stuff is usually pretty good, and this didn't disappoint. I don't even like chickpeas but it was delicious. To go along with it, I made the Pizza Rustica from Baking with Julia. I even had them timed well to come out simultaneously, but then I read the last part of the recipe for the Pizza. "Let cool completely before serving. " Dammit...oh well it should make a good breakfast...

I forget that not everyone here is my age...how do your children feel about food? I mean, the ones that are old enough to be on their own and doing their own cooking...