Three weeks of great food

[tamiam]

Thanks for the posts about thready bread. Now I want to try some.

And Klary, it is really nice to know that the PNW and Vancouver forums are so inspiring to people from somewhere else too. We have always liked sharing experiences, and cooking and eating together.

[tejon]

Welcome back, Klary! We really enjoyed our dinner at Andina with you and your husband. The food was delicious, but the conversation made it a really special evening. I'm so glad you drove down to Portland .

[Chufi]

Before looking through this thread your love for sweets just never registered fully somehow.  Many of these posts strike me as entries that could have been written by Ling!

Did you ever make it to Salumi in Seattle?

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I do really love sweets - it's just that in my 'normal' life, I only eat them for special occasions. Whereas on holiday, I let go of all inhibitions and what I want, whenever I want.

we never made it to Salumi. We should have had another day in Seattle.. I also missed a couple of really good bakeries.. and I would have happily had another dinner at Monsoon! next time..

[Chufi]

hang in there, it's almost over..

it's still day 18, and we leave Seattle on the ferry to beautiful Bainbridge Island where we are going to stay with Abra for a couple of days.

And it's an eGullet party.. Ling, hhlodesign, and rockdoggydog are coming for dinner and cooking a Chinese feast! Abra made some Thai dishes as well..

Before you know it, I'm in the kitchen chopping shallots.. I can't tell you how good it felt to hold a knife again after almost 3 weeks of eating out..

Abra made this Thai steamed chicken in bananaleaf, they were delicious (and beautiful!)

She also made Thai ribs, they had a wonderful deep flavor that reminded me a bit of Indonesian Beef Rendang

and noodles, I don't know exactly what went in them, I think she is sprinkling some pickled cabbage on top here.. Abra?

rockdoggydog brought his own gasburner and wok and was out on the deck stirfrying..

waterspinach with garlic:

tofu with celery, I loved this tofu! I think it had blackbeansauce? very good, salty and slightly spicy

Ling and hhlodesign brought pork, duck and chicken, and their famous braised pork belly The belly was served in buns and was so delicious.. I ate much more of that than was good for me I'm afraid.. But it was so good, in it's sticky sweet syrupy sauce.. definitely on my list of 'favorite things I ate this vacation'!

here's everything on the plate, together with the pig's ear salad rockdoggydog brought that I did not get a good separate picture of. I had never eaten pig's ear before, the texture is, yes, crunchy it does not have a very distinctive flavor by itself I think, but it was very good in the salad with a spicy dressing with (I think) sesameoil.

And, I got to taste one of Ling's desserts! Months ago I told her I was dying to eat her Cabrales icecream.. and she remembered and that's what she brought .. together with this gorgeous fig & frangipane tart. Abra served a wonderful sweet Malaga wine with dessert.

it was a wonderful evening with great company. Thanks guys for cooking for us!

Edited September 30, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[Chufi]

Pray tell, what is on this delectable looking plate?

It strikes me as a mole with guacamole. Was it as good as it looked?

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it wasn't mole.. these were quesadilla's, with guacamole and black bean puree and cream drizzled on top. And yes they were really good!

[Chufi]

Day 19 - Bainbridge Island

we had a quiet day.. took Abra and Shel's dog for a swim on the beach, had Chinese & Thai leftovers for lunch, sat on the deck in the sunshine..

then we started preparing for the big party. Well, I didn't do much! Abra had everything prepared.. the brisket was smoked.. the ribs were being brined in their bourbon-bath..

a bunch of Egulletters and their partners were coming over and treat us to an all-American feast.. I think there were about 20 of us at the table.. and enough food for at least twice as many people..

Abra makes walnut mayonaise

to go into the prettiest potatosalad:

Ribs smoking:

grilling some of Abra's homemade hotdogs:

Guests start to arrive and there's a flurry of hectic prepwork going on in the kitchen. I still do nothing except taking pics!

tamiams salad

little ms foodies devilled eggs

somone brought this beer.. never seen it in The Netherlands!

della's multi-layered dip (7, 8, 9 layers?)

[Chufi]

della's pulled pork

this is just the appetizertable !

brisket

Abra's ribs, kayswv's beans, and charcoops truffled macaroni cheese

chefpeon's homemade buns

as the sun set over Seattle..

we sat down to this wonderful feast!

and then there was dessert...

chefpeon's napoleons

little ms. foodie's brownies, Eden's partner Bill's strawberry icecream, Eden's apple- and cherrypie.

I'm full again just by remembering it...

the next day, we had leftovers for lunch and leftovers for dinner. Monday, when we were on the plane, we could skip the horrible plane-lunch (spinachlasagna!!) and have Abra's brisket, on chefpeon's buns, with Wendy's brownies for dessert. Even the flight attendants were jealous

thank you everybody for making us feel so welcome! It was a truly memorable evening and I'm so glad we could end our holiday in a real home, with real food!

oh and please correct me if I've attributed some dish to the wrong eGulleter. And I apoligize for the bad pictures.. both on Friday and Saturday, I'm afraid I was much to busy talking, eating and drinking to remember the right camera settings...

Edited September 30, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[Swisskaese]

Wow Klary! What a trip.

I have got to find a way to get back to the west coast. David has never been to the PNW and neither one of us has been to the west side of Canada.

[Chufi]

This really was an eGullet vacation. Many of the places we ate, were places I read about on eGullet, and meeting all the eGulletmembers made this trip extra special.

So thanks everybody for making this one of my most enjoyable holidays ever... and a very special thankyou to Abra and Shel, our generous hosts. One of the few things I regret about the trip is that we did not have an extra day on Bainbridge, I would have loved to spend the day in the kitchen with Abra and cook together. That would have been a lot of fun!

And I could have had one more of these -

cafe bonbon, made by Shel the coffeemaestro:

I guess that means we'll have to come back.

[Pam R]

What a fantastic trip!! All of the food looked amazing - but most of all the meals at Abra's.

Is Dennis 'into' food as well? Or does he just defer to you?

[Chufi]

Is Dennis 'into' food as well?  Or does he just defer to you?

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well, good food makes him happy and bad food makes him unhappy.. .he has a very good palate and is a really good taster.. and he can have pretty strong opinions about food! On the trip, I would sometimes give him the choice between several restaurants on my eGullet recommendations list.. "would you like Vietnamese or French tonight?"

he's just not very analytical about it, and he did think that seeing so many people together who couldn't stop talking about "where did you buy this and how did you make this and I need that recipe" was kind of funny then again, I often have to listen to him and his friends talking about music that very same way, so I guess it's a good balance...

[Chufi]

So many of my friends from Europe dislike peanut butter in any form!  Can you get chocolate-peanut butter candies in Amsterdam?  Do you think you are unique among your friends in liking it?

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that's strange.. most of my friends love peanutbutter! I can't buy many chocolate-peanutbutter candy here though. My ethnic store (they sell foodstuff from all over the world) has reese's cups and I sometimes get them as a guilty treat..

What did you guys think, in general, of the microbreweries in PNW and how they compared with those in the Netherlands or other parts of Europe?

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We liked the beer, but we both felt that some of them lacked a bit in depth and complexity.. which is what we do find in our favorite Belgian beers.. But I should say we did not get to as many breweries as we had planned, so this is not a very well-researched opinion.

[Lori in PA]

That was a wonderful, wonderful report. It sounds like you had an oomphed-up version of many of America's great ingredients/foods, which is just what a holiday should have, I think. Once again, I am struck with how lovely it is to be able to travel and experience new tastes, customs, and so on, BUT also how lovely it is to come home and appreciate the unique blessings found there, which are often only made apparent by the contrast. That's what I wish you would post here -- a kind of Chufi's List of What I Love Most about American Food and What I'm Glad Exists in Amsterdam. Can you compile such a list for us?

[Chufi]

Once again, I am struck with how lovely it is to be able to travel and experience new tastes, customs, and so on, BUT also how lovely it is to come home and appreciate the unique blessings found there, which are often only made apparent by the contrast. That's what I wish you would post here -- a kind of Chufi's List of What I Love Most about American Food and What I'm Glad Exists in Amsterdam. Can you compile such a list for us?

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that is food for thought, Lori, and a challenge. It will have to wait a bit so I can arrange my thoughts a bit better... the first day when we got back I almost cried when I went to the supermarket and saw the sad display of vegetables, but I am almost ready to appreciate Amsterdam's blessings again

Edited September 30, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[Lori in PA]

Once again, I am struck with how lovely it is to be able to travel and experience new tastes, customs, and so on, BUT also how lovely it is to come home and appreciate the unique blessings found there, which are often only made apparent by the contrast. That's what I wish you would post here -- a kind of Chufi's List of What I Love Most about American Food and What I'm Glad Exists in Amsterdam. Can you compile such a list for us?

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that is food for thought, Lori, and a challenge. It will have to wait a bit so I can arrange my thoughts a bit better... the first day when we got back I almost cried when I went to the supermarket and saw the sad display of vegetables, but I am almost ready to appreciate Amsterdam's blessings again

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I understand. It's funny, though, how often I've read your posts on the dinner thread or the the Dutch cooking thread and longed to go to Amsterdam, a city I've not met in person. Your food photos and loving descriptions are the reason, of course, and it's never occurred to me that maybe Amsterdam has not such nice veggies! Instead, I've stood at my grocery store cheese case and thought, "Why can't we have more choices? Stupid US FDA import rules!!!" I'll be looking forward to your list, and my apologies to the Canadians -- it should be titled "Chufi's List of What I Love Most about American and CANADIAN Food..."

[Jaymes]

I'll be looking forward to your list, and my apologies to the Canadians -- it should be titled "Chufi's List of What I Love Most about American and CANADIAN Food..." 

Actually, since Canada is also in America (as most Canadians will be happy to point out ), you didn't do so badly as you think. Although perhaps you could have said "What I Love Most About North American Food," which would have covered it, too.

[BCinBC]

Chufi,

Great photos and write-ups. You obviously had an amazing food adventure - I hope you also had a memorable experience outside of the food too! It was great to meet you and Dennis, glad you made it home safely and I hope we can cross paths again soon. Cheers!

PS - wrt the Golden Szechuan group photo, I say post away. After all, how bad could it be?

[Abra]

Wow, that's a glorious tribute to our PNW parties. What a fun bunch of great cooks we have here, and having you and Dennis with us was such a treat. Come back any time and we'll try to outdo ourselves!

[Cadbury]

Klary, I have thoroughly enjoyed my vicarious holiday. What a treat.

The internet (and especially eGullet) is such a wonderful resource. Ten years ago I could not have imagined that researching and planning a holiday in such a manner was possible. Suddenly the rest of the world doesn't seem so far away.

[rockdoggydog]

Klary, it was wonderful to meet you and Dennis and I hope you come back soon. The tofu did have black bean sauce as well as red pepper sauce. It was wonderful seeing the region through your eyes, and I'll have a cinnamon twisp for you when i go by Twisp in a few weeks.

Rocky

[CaliPoutine]

I met my spouse 5yrs ago on a diary writing website( I lived in Cali, she's Canadian), so it really warms my heart when ppl from two different sides of the world meet in person. It's just so heartwarming that Abra opened her home to Klary and her husband and threw them the " American themed" party. Love it.

Oh and someone asked if the capegooseberry is related to the Tomatillo. The answer is yes, they come from the same family.

Edited October 5, 2006 by CaliPoutine (log)

[Abra]

Well, I have to say that Klary and Dennis are heartwarmers and homeopeners all in themselves. It was a wonderful time, and if I could figure out how to convince them to move here so Klary and I could cook together all the time, I'd be right on it.

[Daniel]

Holy egullet... What a wonderful trip you had.. It was amazing how much you guys fit into your trip. Nice to see you had some BBQ too! You took such wonderful photos of everything..

I think this might be my favorite one:

Talk about your head in the clouds.. Looks like such peaceful moment..