[eG Foodblog: Genkinaonna (2011) - Carts, Cakes, and Coffee in and arou]

Well, you've certainly hit the good spots so far! Pastaworks is full of incredibly tasty stuff, and I miss it.

New Seasons Market is one of the local area chain supermarkets that is very good - kind of between Whole Foods and Safeway in price, but their deli, bakery, meat, and fish departments are always of excellent quality.

Out Beaverton way, Uwajimaya is great for all of your Asian food needs.

Olympic Provisions is tucked away off of MLK, but well worth the trip.

Penzeys Spices will make you fall in love with cooking all over again.

Townsend Tea has teas made right (including bubble tea). It's great for some quiet time with a book.

Ponderosa Meats in Aloha has great cuts of beef, bison, thick-cut bacon, etc.

If you make it all the way out to Hillsboro, there's a great taco truck usually right near the Baskin Robbins, called Mely's Tacos. SOooo good. Up the street is Pho Viet, which makes a heart-wrenchingly good bowl of pho.

[Test Dishes]

The club sandwich at a sandwich place. If the club isn't right, I just can't trust the place to do the rest of the menu justice.

[Help with a lack of inspiration in the kitchen]

I put all of my cookbooks into an Excel spreadsheet and created a randomizer to select a book to cook out of. It's worked pretty well so far - marinated pork sandwiches with caramelized onions from "Lobel's Meat and Wine Cookbook" to start.

[What to do with boneless skinless chicken thighs...?]

Laylita's Arroz con Pollo - so tasty!

[Freshly ground pepper]

Mashed potatoes! Also quite good on cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, etc. Try combining the peppercorns with brown and yellow mustard seeds.

[Best Beer for Brats]

The last big cookout we had with friends we grilled the brats, then let them soak in a beer-red onion-spice bath. The beer was a Pacific NW brewery brown ale (can't remember which one, there was a lot of beer that evening). We took the juices and reduced it down to make a really tasty sauce.