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

[Pierogi]

OHHHHHHH ! You have "Three Ancient Cuisines" by The Frugal Gourmet ! Ohhhhhh, you're my kindred spirit ! I so love that book....

[Genkinaonna]

Alrighty, baking done. Will post pics in the morning...must...sleep...zzz...

[Darienne]

FauxPas-Gardening is unfortunately NOT a strong suit of mine. As a matter of fact, I have the dubious honor of saying I killed mint, and everyone knows that's damn near impossible.

...

I did plant some chives this year, that's the one thing I can't seem to kill, and I use them quite a bit when I cook.

I think we must have been related in some former life. I haven't tried to kill mint, but I bet I could. And I do have chives by the carload and use them all the time.

The photos of your Hispanic ingredient type stores brought tears of sorrow to my eyes. In our small nearby city, we have nothing more esoteric than Jalapenos and El Paso boxed 'stuff'. Oh, now one chain carries Poblanos and I keep wondering when the manager will tell me...so sorry...

[mkayahara]

I agree with Darienne: Those pics of the chile aisle are what jealousy is made of. Even our Latin market in Toronto doesn't have that many types of chiles!

For mashed potatoes, have you ever tried the retrograde starch method? I think it produces a superior result, though I don't always have the time to do it.

Do you ever cook from the Iuzzini book? I've thought about picking that one up, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. It didn't help that my partner didn't much enjoy his dessert at Jean-Georges in December.

[JTravel]

OHHHHHHH ! You have "Three Ancient Cuisines" by The Frugal Gourmet ! Ohhhhhh, you're my kindred spirit ! I so love that book....

I have that one too....and Jeff Smith was an introduction to international cooking in the "early days". He was from the West Coast I think? Portland?

[Genkinaonna]

I figured I might give people chile envy with that one ...I'm very blessed to live in a really diverse area. Right in that same strip mall is a great little Filipino bakery/import shop, and there used to be an Ethiopian import store there as well, although they've since gone out of business. There are about 10 little tiendas within 5 minutes of my house, one specialises in meat, that's where I get my lard for refried beans and pie crust. Another one is a little bigger, and has a lot of kitchen stuff, but I go there for the tacos el pastor cart outside their front door, and their guava empanadas.

Darienne-Let me know if there's anything that you would like, I'd gladly drop some in the mail

Pierogi-The Frugal Gourmet was one of the shows I grew up watching...my mom got me the cookbook when someone donated it to the library she worked at (some people get rid of the silliest things...)

Mkayahara-I've made components of some of the dishes, but not any whole desserts. He did introduce me to the combo of strawberry and basil though, so even if he wasn't super studly, I'd love him forever for that I have unsuccessfully tried the retrograde starch method, but I know the it was operator error on my part...I'll try it again at some point.

JTravel-I'm pretty sure that Jeff Smith was from the West Coast somewhere, but I don't think it was Portland...I'd have to check on that. I know James Beard is from here though.

I have my business class today, so I'll be stopping by an amazing German butcher shop for lunch a little later. Breakfast this morning was:

The custard empanada from Espiga Dorada and coffee. Not necessarily the breakfast of champions, but I'll have a big lunch, so I want to be hungry later.

Edited May 24, 2011 by Genkinaonna (log)

[pastameshugana]

...Reminding them to stop messing with the books lest they be Craigslisted...

This wins the "Quotable Quote of the Day" Award, and gives me some ideas for 'encouraging' my 4 (soon to be 5) short people.

[catdaddy]

I agree with Darienne: Those pics of the chile aisle are what jealousy is made of. Even our Latin market in Toronto doesn't have that many types of chiles!

For mashed potatoes, have you ever tried the retrograde starch method? I think it produces a superior result, though I don't always have the time to do it.

Do you ever cook from the Iuzzini book? I've thought about picking that one up, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. It didn't help that my partner didn't much enjoy his dessert at Jean-Georges in December.

Do tell....What is the retrograde starch method?

[mkayahara]

I agree with Darienne: Those pics of the chile aisle are what jealousy is made of. Even our Latin market in Toronto doesn't have that many types of chiles!

For mashed potatoes, have you ever tried the retrograde starch method? I think it produces a superior result, though I don't always have the time to do it.

Do you ever cook from the Iuzzini book? I've thought about picking that one up, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. It didn't help that my partner didn't much enjoy his dessert at Jean-Georges in December.

Do tell....What is the retrograde starch method?

In short, you cook the potatoes at a low temperature (say, 66C) to gelatinize all the starch without letting the granules burst, chill them down to fix the starch, then boil them to break down the cell walls. Then you can puree the potatoes for days in a food processor without them getting gummy. More information here.

Edit: Punctuation.

Edited May 24, 2011 by mkayahara (log)

[Genkinaonna]

So last night I baked some almond blueberry and lemon mini cakes (in my world cupcakes have to have frosting) for everyone in my business class. The recipe is dead easy, it's based on the Almond Cake recipe from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich.

Here's the mise:

Flour, baking powder, almonds, lemon, limoncello, almond extract, sugar, and blueberries. The lemon gets zested, and the zest put in the food processor bowl with the almonds and sugar, then finely ground , like this:

Then in goes the butter, eggs, sugar, limoncello and almond extract, and buzz it again.

Flour, salt, and baking powder are last in the pool...

Once the batter is in the molds, you drop in the frozen blueberries, then bake. Here's the result:

They were a hit with the class.

Edited May 24, 2011 by Genkinaonna (log)

[TongoRad]

I'm really enjoying the blog so far. Portland used to be a summer stomping grounds of mine (from '92 to '96) and I absolutely loved the days I spent there. I'm sure that a lot of it is very different these days, but I still find myself trying to catch a glimpse of something familiar.

I do remember enjoying a bunch of great German food, both from awesome delis and restaurants, the most memorable being the Westpahlian Ham that we used to get. Whether you go to the same places still, well, I couldn't fathom a guess (I was merely a tagalong to my guides at the time), but I did get the sense that there was a pretty nice German community in town.

In regards to the mini cakes- did you add the blueberries in their frozen state? That sounds like a neat trick, along the lines of 'why didn't I think of that?', if you did. I'm going to have to try it one of these days.

And, FWIW- the city that Jeff Smith used to reference all of the time was Takoma, WA (close, but no cigar...)

[Genkinaonna]

Lunch today was at Eidelwiess Deli just across the river in Southeast Portland. I was actually planning on going to the place next door, the Berlin Inn, but they were closed, and since Berlin Inn gets their sausages from Eidelwiess anyways, I wasn't too disappointed. When you walk in the door, the smell of smoked meat hits you like a wall, which is not good when you're ravenous anyways. I only barely managed not to chew the arm off the person in front of me while I was waiting in line. They have a small seating area and you order your food at the register, then they bring it out. The rest of the store is dedicated to all kinds of German Imports: Cheese, chocolates, wines, baking and cooking mixes, saurkraut, etc...They also have some bakery, but I restrained myself since I wanted to visit a bakery when I was done with lunch. Here's the lunch menu:

And what I ordered (a smoked bratwurst, a polish sausage, a roll, and a cup of the roasted garlic and tomato soup.

Everything was great, as usual. You can also get beer and wine, but since I was dining alone and didn't have a DD, I stuck with the traditional German standby, Orange Fanta. I liked that there were two kinds of house made mustard on the table plus yellow mustard, ketchup, and horseradish. I'm a multi-condiment kinda girl. I like to have options...

After I was full unto bursting with lunch, I snapped some shots of the meat case (insert nice sausage joke here) and did some closeups so you all can see what a great variety they have. Here's the wide shot:

And some closeups:

Mmmm..cured meaty goodness. I went home with 4 more brats, since it's kind of a trek to get there from my house, I'll stash them in the freezer for later...and those I WON'T let languish, forgotten, they will get eaten!

[FauxPas]

For dinner tonight, my Dad requested roast chicken and potatoes.

[....]

I think next time I'll tweak the seasoning on the chicken a little, but other than that, a satisfactory meal all around.

So did your Dad enjoy the meal? Was his roasted corn in the pics?

FauxPas-Gardening is unfortunately NOT a strong suit of mine.

When I asked about gardening, I forgot that you have a few young children and you are baking as a business and taking courses, so you probably just don't have time for anything else right now!

You mentioned your home is close to neighbours - is that why the kitchen window is so high? I would want a lower window I could see directly out, but if the neighbouring house is very close, better to just see the sky!

You mentioned U-Pick farms for berries and making jams - I am on Vancouver Island for most of this summer and the El Nino system seems to be delaying the warm weather and I am sure the berries here will be later than normal. Are you seeing similar delays in OR?

You mentioned your use of liqueurs in baking, do you also use them in your jam-making? And do you incorporate fresh fruit or home-made jams or preserves in your baking?

Forgive me if I am asking too many questions or getting off-topic!!!

[Genkinaonna]

Faux Pas-Dad did enjoy the chicken. His corn wasn't in the picture, but only because it was a little late getting to the table, and I wanted to take the picture before I started eating...I assure you it was tasty though!

I'd love to blame my lack of gardening ability on my busy life, but I actually have always been a terrible gardener...I like the concept of growing things, but my execution is just poor. I always forget to water them. It's a good thing I'm better with my kids!

The proximity to my neighbor's house is the reason the window in the kitchen is so high. And if it was lower, I'd be looking into their downstairs bathroom every time I washed the dishes, which would put me off dinner, to say the least.

I guess there might be some delays with berries this year, the farmer's markets have only been open for a couple of weeks and berry season is just getting started, but I haven't noticed anything major yet. I've never put any liqueurs in my jams, my primary consumers are my kids, so although the potential for early bedtime due to intoxication is tempting, I should probably refrain until they're a little older

Although, maybe that has some Chooseyourownwinterholiday gifting potential...any ideas or combos you've found to be particularly good?

Not too many questions at all, keep 'em coming!

TongoRad-yes, I do add the berries to the batter frozen, but I have also done this recipe very successfully with fresh fruit, raspberries and tart cherries in particular, as well. I just would recommend leaving the fruit frozen if you use frozen fruit, if that's not a totally unclear way of saying it...

Coming from an upbringing in Wisconsin, I'm kind of spoiled with good German food, but Edelweiss and Berlin Inn are pretty tasty.

[David Ross]

I'm so happy, (and proud), to take this tour with you this week. I was born and raised in Portland, then spent most of my life growing up in Salem. I come from the generation when Portland was a sleepy city in the Northwest, the stepchild to Seattle and Vancouver in terms of fame for restaurants. It would be years later that Portland would find a recognizable place in today's food world. But as James Beard so proudly proclaimed decades ago, we always knew that Portland had access to a bounty of wonderful ingredients and the food and cooking in Portland was and has been at the forefront of the "farm to table"

movement for years-it just wasn't apparent to the rest of the country.

I live in Washington now, but I still travel to Oregon and when I do, I always make a stop at Uwajimaya. It's easy to stock two full coolers of their wonderful fresh seafood and Asian specialties. They have the most wonderful Asian "deli" I've ever seen.

[FauxPas]

Coming from an upbringing in Wisconsin, I'm kind of spoiled with good German food, but Edelweiss and Berlin Inn are pretty tasty.

Also wondering what you think about Wisconsin cheese vs Oregon cheese? I still remember the first time I drove through Tillamook, OR. Heh. I emailed a pic of a single cow to a friend, told her to multiply it by 10,000 or so and she would have the sense of Tillamook. Yes, much of it is is kinda mass-produced but wondering if you find any specialty stuff or smaller local producers?

I really like small-batch jams, I have an all-purpose recipe which is probably pretty basic, but that discussion is probably better suited to another thread. Actually, it's probably already been said on some other thread - I'm not sure that my approach is that original!

[Genkinaonna]

David-I went to Uwajimaya today. Even managed to take some pictures before they told me to knock it off ...I'll post them in a little bit, once we decide what's for dinner! I agree that Portland has access to some wonderful ingredients, it's easy to have a good meal if you don't mess with them too much.

FauxPas- I don't know if I'm the best person to ask about the comparison between WI and OR cheese. I didn't really get into artisan cheeses until I moved out here. I know that there are lots of little local producers, and some that are not so little, and we've got some amazing cheese shops, one of which I hope to visit tomorrow. However, I know there are also lots of little local producers in WI, so I don't want to give anyone the short shrift...I'm happy to sample and comment on any cheese anyone wants to send me, though!

[Genkinaonna]

So as I'd promised, here are the pics from Uwajimaya. It's an asian food and housewares store the size of a large supermarket. There's also a Japanese bookstore on premises. Here's the outside:

And what you see when you walk in the door:

I love their housewares dept. They always have lots of neat bowls and interesting kitchen gadgets. Here's a nori punch for decorating rice:

And a spiffy little sandwich maker I considered buying, until I saw the $25 price tag.

Here's the wall o'bowls:

And the accompanying wall o'tea pots:

I got pics of the miso case, which is where I got busted for using my camera. I should have started at the other end of the store, they have an amazing seafood section.

[Genkinaonna]

For dinner tonight, after much hemming and hawing, we opted to go to deCarli. There are lots of fine dining places in downtown Portland, but fine dining within 20 minutes of our house in the 'burbs is another thing altogether, especially later in the evening, like past 9 pm or so. We've recently discovered a couple of great late night cheap places, including Kimsatgot which I mentioned earlier, but for fine dining, we are kind of limited. I'm just lucky that my dad lives with us, so my husband and I are able to go out and eat after the kids are in bed for the night. We had driven past deCarli many times before we tried it, but now we go there on a pretty regular basis. The menu is Italian-influenced Northwest Seasonal, and it changes every week, although there are some items that stay on pretty much year-round. I contemplated boycotting them when they took the carpaccio off the menu, but I couldn't stay away, the food's just too good. Tonight I started with an Antiquity:

Which is gin, cardamaro, simple syrup, soda, and lime. It was super refreshing and light, not too sweet and very easy to drink. I was joking with the waitress that I could see making a pitcher up and sitting on the porch with it this summer. I generally get a glass of wine, but they do have a very nice mixed drink list, and for all you mixology buffs out there I took one for the team tonight Here's what the rest of the drink menu looked like:

We had an arugula, taleggio, prosciutto, and grana padano pizzette for our appetizer, and it was so good it was hard to leave enough room for our entree.

I got chicken under a brick with polenta, speck, english peas, and early morels. Even though I was getting full pretty quick, I couldn't stop eating it until it was totally gone. The flavors were really balanced, and it was very well seasoned. Every component really added to the dish. Other than the peas. Can't stand 'em. Gave them to my husband. He said they were good though. I'm not buying it...

For dessert we split a piece of Boca Negra, which is a flourless chocolate cake. My recipe for Boca Negra is a little more custardy, this was more like a brownie, but it was good. Not too sweet, which is my main complaint with most chocolate desserts at restaurants. I can understand why, sugar is cheaper than chocolate, but I'd much rather have a less sweet, more intensely chocolatey dessert. My husband always laughs when I take a bite of some 5 layer chocolate extravaganza and the first words out of my mouth are,"too sweet...not chocolatey enough..." Anyways, this dessert was a success in my book.

I'm turning in for the night. Tomorrow might go one of several ways, depending on the weather and what the kiddos are up for...see ya in the morning!

[haresfur]

So one of the more well known landmarks in P-town (as all the cool kids refer to it) is Powell's City of Books, which is a ginormous bookstore downtown. Powell's also has several smaller stores throughout the city specialising in specific types of books, like technical books, and, my favorite, cookbooks. That store was the one I visited today.

Is the Powell's cookbook store the one on Hawthorne? Bread and Ink Cafe was a favorite brunch spot of mine when visiting Portland.

Uwajimaya looks amazing. I didn't know about it. How's the asparagus this year? I'm guessing it's too early for cherries. Do you ever get over to the dry side?

Looking forward to more baking tips.

[Zeemanb]

Oh my, that chicken under a brick looks amazing. Really enjoying reading the blog!

[Genkinaonna]

Haresfur-If I liked asparagus, I'd be excited about the beautiful thin little spears that are in bunches everywhere. My dad has been eating them with eggs in the morning. I feel exactly the same way about asparagus that I do about peas, though. No thank you! Sorry if that makes me a terrible foodie! No cherries yet, although strawberries are coming along, cherries are a little bit later in June, and then they're everywhere for about a month, which is nice. I have been over the mountains to the dry side of the state, I have a friend who has quite a bit of family in Bend, and we went to dig for Oregon sunstones here for our anniversary last year. Bend used to be a town full of great restaurants, but quite a few of them have closed because of the economy. It's pretty sad.

Zeemanb-Thanks for the kind words! The chicken was, in fact, amazing.

Today I will bake something else...not sure what yet, but I have a lovely container of ricotta cheese that will figure into it prominently. The children have requested going to an ice cream shop, so I'll see what I can scare up that's interesting for people in the over 5 set...

More to come!

[Genkinaonna]

Okay, so baking is completed. Well, at least the part before the oven works it's mojo, anyways. I opted to go with the "Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake" from Baking From My Home to Yours, partially because Dorie never lets me down, and partially because it's another recipe I can check off as I try to bake through the whole book. The only issue that I have with BFMHTY (as those in the know call it ) is that Dorie seems to be inordinately fond of dried fruit, while I myself am not. However, I've had excellent luck swapping out figs, raisins, etc. for the more acceptable (in the Heather world) dried apples, pears, or even just throwing in nuts instead. When I saw dried white peaches at Trader Joes, I was intrigued, and grabbed a pack, thinking they might be useful in some recipe remixing down the road.

When I started thinking about using the ricotta to bake with today, I immediately thought of the Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake, if only because I've looked through that book so many times I know all the recipes in it. After reading her anecdote at the top of the page about how this recipe was inspired by another recipe that she found and drastically altered, I knew she'd have my blessing to mess around with it some more! It was supposed to have figs, but I broke out the aforementioned dried peaches instead, and I subbed 2/3 cup stone ground and 1/3 cup fine ground cornmeal for the one cup medium grind cornmeal. I also left out the lemon zest, wasn't sure how it would go with the peaches, and besides, unbeknownst to me, the sole lemon in the house had gotten all squishy and gross at the bottom.

Here's the mise:

Cornmeal, flour, baking powder, eggs, butter, peaches, ricotta cheese, honey, sugar, and salt.

First you mix together the ricotta and water in the mixer until smooth, then you add the honey and sugar and beat until light. Looking at my batter, it didn't seem like the type that would EVER get light, it had way too much moisture. Chalk it up to the fact that my ricotta was pretty milky. Here's what it looked like, note the total lack of light'n'fluffiness...

You then add the butter. In this recipe it's melted, which is FABULOUS since I never remember to take it out of the fridge to soften, and when I try to soften it in the microwave I invariably end up with melted butter anyways...after the butter, you add the eggs, and beat it until everything is nice and smooth. Then the dry ingredients go in and get mixed to combine. A third of the batter goes in the pan (note that I used a springform instead of the fluted tart pan the recipe called for, more of that remixing I mentioned) and then the figs, or in this case, peaches, get sprinkled on top. Here's how it looked at that point:

Finally cover with the remaining batter, and sprinkle with bits of butter. I had a brief moment of doubt when contemplating just exactly what the dimensions of a "bit" of butter should be (does nathanm mention that in MC? ) but I figured about 1/4 inch cube-ish type pieces would fit the bill. Here it is:

Then into the oven, until it's done, probably around an hour for this thickness of batter. I'll post the results when it's out.

This morning (well, probably afternoon by the time I chase the kids out the door) we're going to mosey on over to Bob's Red Mill, and then hit one of the food cart pods I haven't been to before. And yes, there's ice cream there!

[toolprincess]

Really enjoying your blog. I love bubble teas! Unfortunately the place I go regularly that has bubble tea is also where I go to eat pho so I am usually stuffed and sloshing when I leave!

[patti]

Fantastic blog, thank you so much for showing us your world.