2.27.2009

Blog for Food Menu

black pepper-buttermilk biscuit

As we mentioned before, we and many other Oregon bloggers are participating in the "Blog for Food" Campaign to help raise funds for the Oregon Food Bank. Under the organization of Tami Parr, several of us have teamed up to help promote the utmost worthy work of this amazing organization. Tomorrow is the official last day for the "Blog for Food" Campaign and to celebrate the occasion and the efforts put forth by many, we've elected to donate 10% of tomorrow's sales to the Oregon Food Bank.

As native Portlanders, we embarrass ourselves at times with our diarrhea of the mouth when it comes to hometown bragging rights. Not only do we love this city and everything in it that we hold dear, but we tend to wear our Oregon hats loud and proud. How wonderful is it that we have people in this state dedicating themselves to feeding the hungry? We are so fortunate for this non-profit that takes on the work that many of us don't have the strength or courage to do.
As small business owners, we fully understand that money is tight right now. Every day we are grateful when we see the door to our cafe open with a friendly face behind it. These faces serve as simple reminders that yes, we are all in this together. And as people in the food industry, well, we cannot think of a nobler cause to support than the Oregon Food Bank.

Without further ado, our Blog for Food menu:

Steak & Egg Biscuit
fried egg, steak, sweet red onion relish, blue cheese butter and horseradish cream on black-pepper buttermilk biscuit

Avocado Salad*
mixed greens, avocado, blood orange, shaved red onion, and chili toasted pepitas with a lime-cumin vinaigrette

*avocado salad, with navel oranges instead of blood oranges

Tuscan Timeshare

prosciutto, greens, artichoke, parmesan, and lemon-rosemary mayonnaise on Fleur de Lis Kaiser Roll
add an egg...

Swiss, Bacon and Artichoke Melt
grilled cheese sandwich with swiss and gouda cheese, applewood smoked bacon, caramelized onions, and artichoke hearts on Italian como bread

We hope to see you tomorrow. If not, know that you can still be a part of the solution. With one simple gesture you can make a difference in the lives of many. When you get to the donation page, please enter “blog for food” in the tribute section so that we can track the effectiveness of our campaign. Rest assured that donations could not be better spent. The Oregon Food Bank touts itself on being effective, efficient, and financially responsible. From their website:

*The Oregon Food Bank Network distributed 792,000 emergency food boxes in Oregon and Clark County, Wash., between July 1, 2007, and June 30, 2008. That's an in increase over last year, when the OFB Network distributed 752,044 emergency food boxes

*During our first year in our new Meyer Memorial Trust Oregon Food Bank Building OFB distributed 34-million pounds of food, an increase of nine-million more pounds than the previous year

*Less than 5 percent of expenditures goes to fundraising and administrative costs (revenue includes the value of donated food and other goods and services)

While this campaign ends tomorrow, help is always needed. The Blog for Food Campaign is just one small deed in a time when many are struggling, and while money is highly effective, donated food is always welcome. For more information, please click here.


Much thanks to Tami for the initiative, the Oregon Food Bank for the courage, the Bloggers for the ability to type, and to you for your heart.

Where did the week go?

Definitely one of those weeks where I felt like I was more of a spectator than an active participant. Case in point: it's already time to taunt you, our loyal reader with our weekend specials...but I am going to put a hold on that, for now. Instead I would like to offer you a glimpse of one of the ways we chose to fill our free time this past week, as well as a hint regarding one of this weekend's forthcoming specials.

First, a look back:


The better part of Monday morning was spent preparing two different waffle recipes...


Pictured above was a recipe that utilized yeast, which resulted in an extremely light (perhaps too light) and crispy waffle.


The second test recipe was a straight forward buttermilk recipe that produced a wonderfully flavored waffle, that might be a bit too soggy with other ingredients piled atop it. The overall consensus: we have some more tough research ahead of us before a waffle is plated at the LRBC.

Next, a hint regarding a special set to debut this weekend: sifted flour is an essential step in one of the recipes used in a special for Saturday...


Any guesses? (No, not waffles)

If you feel like going waffle-crazy yourselves, below are the two recipes we sampled this past week. Try them and let us know what you think, or send us your favorite waffle recipe and we'll try it. Who knows, it could end up being just the recipe we were looking for to use at the cafe.

Light & Crispy Waffles
(from Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1 package dry yeast
  • 2 cups warm milk
  • 1/2 cup melted butter
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Use a rather large mixing bowl — the batter will rise to double its original volume. Put the water in the mixing bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Let stand to dissolve for 5 minutes. Add the milk, butter, salt, sugar, and flour to the yeast mixture and beat until smooth and blended. (I often use a hand rotary beater to get rid of the lumps.) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room temperature. Just before cooking the waffles, beat in the eggs, add the baking soda, and stir until well mixed. The batter will be very thin. Pour about 1/2 to 3/4 cup batter into a very hot waffle iron. Bake the waffles until they are golden and crisp. This batter will keep well for several days in the refrigerator.

Buttermilk Waffles
(from Gourmet)
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup dried powdered buttermilk
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3 cups water
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • vegetable oil

Sift together flour, dried powdered buttermilk, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Refrigerate this "from-scratch mix" in plastic storage bags until you’re hungry for waffles. (It will keep for 1 month.)

Whisk eggs in a large bowl until blended, then whisk in water and melted butter. Whisk dry ingredients into liquid mixture just until smooth. Brush a preheated waffle iron lightly with vegetable oil and spoon batter—about 2 cups for 4 waffles—in iron, spreading quickly. Cook waffles according to manufacturer’s instructions, transferring as cooked to rack of a preheated 250°F oven to keep warm. (If you don’t intend to use the entire mix at once, divide dry-ingredient mixture into thirds and transfer to 3 sealable plastic bags to refrigerate. You will need 1 egg, 1 cup water, and 2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter for each bag.)

2.21.2009

2.22.09: Sunday's Magazine:

Extra! Extra! Read All About it: New menu design, new and old specials, and strawberry-wine jam!

Our personal homage to the schoolhouse era

The Count of Monte Cristo Returns While A New Bread in Town Arrives!


Monte Cristo French Toast

slices of ham and melted white cheddar sandwiched between challah French toast, served with orange-poppyseed butter, maple syrup, and homemade Oregon Strawberry Pinot Noir Jam


Money Maker
cage-free egg salad, sweet Hungarian paprika, red bell pepper, green onion, lettuce, and Tillamook cheddar on Fleur de Lis kaiser roll

With the Monte Cristo making a repeat appearance I had to make some more jam to run the special. As a result, and as promised, we have more Oregon Strawberry Pinot Noir Jam for sale. Get it while it's hot! (Or actually properly processed, thoroughly cooled, and deemed suitable for consumption by the highest of safety standards from our loving kitchen to you.)


2.20.2009

Turning Over a New Leaf

fried basil for grilled cheese

Exciting new things on the horizon:

Ham & Cheese Biscuit

fried egg, applewood smoked ham, and white cheddar on a parmesan-rosemary buttermilk biscuit

Singing in the Rain
grilled cheese sandwich with fried basil, fresh mozzarella and white cheddar, served with homemade tomato soup drizzled with
toasted pine nut oil

LRBC Apple Butter and Black Mission Fig Jams

In addition to specials, we've used this contemplative time to work on some canning, and I just whipped up a new batch of LRBC Apple Butter and do have a batch of Oregon Strawberry-Pinot Noir Jam in the works that should be processed tomorrow, for those of you that have inquired.

Proudly, devotedly, and wholeheartedly serving Courier Coffee

Joel has also been working on a new espresso so make sure to come and check that out. In the meantime, please enjoy this recipe for the Toasted Pine Nut Oil.


Toasted Pine Nut Oil
We're using this oil as a garnish for our homemade tomato soup this weekend but it would be a wonderful base to a salad dressing or paired with chicken or white fish.

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
1 clove garlic, minced
couple of sprigs fresh rosemary
pinch of kosher salt
1 cup extra virgin olive oil

combine ingredients in jar and seal. allow to marinate for at least two hours. (we let ours sit overnight in the fridge.)

strain (optional) and use to your heart's desire.

When Life Gives You Lemons...


In the spirit of recognizing this as our online journal as well as wanting to be perfectly honest, the last few weeks have been extremely challenging for us both personally and professionally for numerous, completely unrelated reasons whose only commonality is that they fall under the title of "Shitty Timing." To alleviate ourselves from some of the chaos we've been busy throwing ourselves into organizing and compartmentalizing the things in our life we do have control over. Namely, my closet:

and the Cafe:

Here's to getting a head start on spring cleaning and to better things around the bend. Stay tuned for this weekend's menu...

2.16.2009

On the Menu...


In honor of Marly's recent chalkboard art we proudly present you with this week's special:


The Hillbilly Cat

peanut butter, applewood smoked bacon, and banana on white bread, grilled in honey-bourbon butter

Talk about a hunk of burning love!

2.15.2009

French Toast Files: The Journey Continues...

The Monte Cristo
slices of ham and melted white cheddar sandwiched between challah French toast, served with orange-poppyseed butter, maple syrup, and homemade Oregon Strawberry Pinot Noir Jam


If you aren't yet privy to what we now regard as "French Toast Sundays," then I will allow you a moment to get caught up.

You ready? Okay...

The ladies were at it again this past Sunday (today). Actually, I should begin with the moment of conception for this week's Sunday special. Ali and I had just finished a special Valentine's Day dinner and we were eager to release ourselves from the evenings final work-related duty, which on this particular night happened to be figuring out what would serve as the cafe's French Toast special. We sat fireside and tossed around various ideas, some new, others potential reruns, but nothing suited us. "Damn you winter!" we collectively muddled. "What little you offer us in the way of seasonal inspiration." We were tired, and had hit a wall.

I believe it was our dog Zeus who offered the first remnant of inspiration. Well, more like Zeus speaking through me, which he often does. You see, sometimes Zeus, though he is a Chinese pug, likes to speak in a French accent. I suppose there are certain elements of French culture which he likes to identify with, or perhaps it is an air of superiority, whatever the case may be, on this particular evening, at this particular moment, Zeus (through me) felt the need to remind Ali (in a French accent) that he is "part French "(whatever that means). I guess that was all it took to get the wheels in motion, because as soon as Zeus spoke Ali's eyes lit up as if to say "That's it!" It was kind of like those old cartoons where a character has an idea and a light bulb appears above their head. Actually, it was exactly like that.

Zeus' comment had had apparently got Ali thinking about the croque-monsieur, which in turn got her thinking about the sandwich's more French Toast-ish half brother, the Monte Cristo. One quick call to Madeline (our go-to French toast slinger), and the night's final work related task was done.

Upon Ray's arrival at work today I couldn't help but taunt him with the magic that awaited him. You see, ever since Ray started working at the cafe on Sundays, he has eaten the French Toast special for his shift meal each day (except one day, which he himself would likely admit was a mistake). "I think today's French Toast special could go down as the most epic French Toast special we have yet accomplished," I taunted him. This coming from a guy (me) who (gasp) doesn't really care for French Toast all that much. That said, this Monte Cristo is one French Toast I can get down on.

Joel, upon delivering our coffee served as our "taste-dummy," and also allowed Madeline to hone her technique for what we could only assume would be a busy day of cooking. With the green light from our coffee roaster, it was off to the races and we didn't look back. I think it was a hit with most who had the good fortune to enjoy it. We realize French Toast + ham and cheese can be a bit much for some people, which is why we were of course more than willing to prepare a more clean cut version of the special for those not so gastronomically adventurous as others. For those, who missed out, not to fret. I'm sure we will run this one, or at least a variation of it, sometime again in the not too distant future.

Ray did concur. His opinion: epic.

2.14.2009

ATTN: Evan Dohrmann

RE: A Valentine For You

"Todo lo ocupas tĂș, todo lo ocupas"- Pablo Neruda

forever is not long enough.
XO
A

2.13.2009

Preparing a Menu for Cupid...

Roasted Beet Hummus

involves admitting you believe in him. So there. We did it. We've prepared a few new specials for this weekend, created with the intention of teasing yours/his senses. Our approach? Homemade. Sweet and Savory. Slightly wicked.

Fleur de Lis Multi-Grain Roll

Specifically a new elixir from the bar:
Horchaté
espresso, organic rice milk, cinnamon, agave, and raw sugar

and a cutesy heart-shaped thing that is so "down-home" and "dang rich!" that not a soul would question your manliness because you ordered such a dish:

Love on a Shingle
Mom’s creamed, slow-braised corned-beef served over potato gratin, and topped with a sunny-side egg. Served with buttered toast and homemade jam

also included are wholesome, lighter delectables like:

The Real McCoy
vegan chive spread, carrot, english cucumber, avocado, sprouts, lettuce, and roasted beet hummus on a multi-grain roll

and sweet things too:

Blue Ribbon Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake
served with fresh whipped cream

and because nobody likes to be picked last:

sausage, chard, and mushroom strata
mini banana bread hearts with chocolate glaze
homemade biscuits with warm apple butter

Fresh Raspberries for my Famous Cheesecake

PDX: Tamp Your Face Off II


It's happening again...

Local Coffee Roaster Tasting and Latte Art Battle to the Death.

In the words of the lovely January:

"flaunt your skills. represent your shop. bask in the glory of Puddletown's finest pours. rub elbows with roasters, packers, and pullers."

PDX: Tamp Your Face Off II
February 26, 2009, 7pm
hosted by Blend Coffee Lounge
2710 North Killingsworth Street
Portland, Oregon 97217

2.12.2009

What's For Dinner...


Winter Pear and Gorgonzola Risotto

aka “Oh! my Mama’s” Risotto

Our beloved Alice has been busy putting together a wonderful collaborative art project:

photo courtesy of echolocations

In her own words,

"the project goes a little something like this:
introductory letter is sent to artists of all sorts and sizes.
artist expresses interest.
artist is sent a cd with musical treats.
tracks inspire.
art is created.
creation is sent to me.
creation is published here."

So far the project has brought together illustrators, photographers, djs, writers, musicians, and chefs just to name a few. Evan and I received the soulful lyrics of Alela Diane and as artists in the food trade, our goal was to develop a recipe. Her words inspired me to create a meal for my mother, the one who first showed me the door to the kitchen. We got some really lovely pears from Washington, a bottle of King Estate's Pinot Gris, and relied on Rogue Creamery for our blue cheese. Enjoy...


Winter Pear and Gorgonzola Risotto
aka “Oh! my Mama’s” Risotto
serves 4

7 cups vegetable stock
2 cups white wine
¾ lb. kale of your choice
¾ cup sliced mushrooms
2 tablespoons tamari
3 tablespoons olive oil (preferably extra-virgin)
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup diced onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups arborio rice or medium-grain white rice
4 tablespoons chopped fresh sage or 4 teaspoons dried rubbed sage
zest of half a lemon
2/3 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (about 4 ounces)
2 unpeeled ripened pears, halved, cored, diced
salt and pepper
fresh Italian parsley, for garnish

Bring vegetable stock and white wine to simmer in heavy saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat to low; keep mixture warm. Meanwhile, cut stems and center ribs from kale and discard. Roughly chop kale.

Heat two tablespoons oil in medium saucepan over heat. Add mushrooms, kale, and tamari. Sauté 3-4 minutes until mushrooms are tender and kale is bright green. Set aside.

Heat remaining tablespoon of oil and butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and rice and sauté until rice is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add all but 1 cup of the broth mixture to rice. Simmer uncovered 15 minutes, stirring often. Mix in sage. Cook until rice is tender but still firm to bite and risotto is creamy, adding remaining broth mixture 1/4 cupful at a time if risotto is dry, about 5 minutes longer. Mix in mushrooms and kale. Add lemon zest, Gorgonzola and pear. Cook until cheese melts and pear is heated through, about 1 minute. Season with salt and generous amount of black pepper. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve warm.

For more information on this cool project, musically inspired art, and info on the other contributing artists stay tuned to the Echolocations webiste. Oh, and here's another heads up. Alela Diane will be playing at Holocene this Sunday for her new album release. Please Go! Go! Go! And then make this risotto for your mother to thank her for giving you breath. Need more encouragement? Watch this.

Alela Diane (Album Release Show with Aaron Ross)
Sunday, February 15th, 8:30pm
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison
Portland, Oregon 97214

2.10.2009

Put it on the Page

"I was starting to wonder if I was ready to be a writer, not someone who won prizes, got published and was given the time and space to work, but someone who wrote as a course of life. Maybe writing wouldn't have any rewards. Maybe the salvation I would gain through work would only be emotional and intellectual. Wouldn't that be enough, to be a waitress who found an hour or two hidden in every day to write?"- Ann Patchett, Truth and Beauty

When I first read these words in a book given to me by my mother-in-law, they shook me to my core. At the time I was holding down two waitressing jobs and barely managing to gather myself for our gig at the Farmers Market on the weekend. I was exhausted, unfulfilled, and until that moment had forgotten what had been missing from my life: my writing. It wasn't too long before I realized how badly I needed to return to "putting it on the page."

Years later, I came across this quote in a book I was reading:

"So I've started being vigilant about watching my thoughts all day, and monitoring them. I repeat this vow about 700 times a day: 'I will not harbor unhealthy thoughts anymore.' ... You may not come here anymore with your hard and abusive thoughts, with your plague ships of thoughts, with your slave ships of thoughts, with your warships of thoughts -- all these will be turned away. Likewise, any thoughts that are filled with angry or starving exiles, with malcontents and pamphleteers, mutineers and violent assassins, desperate prostitutes, pimps and seditious stowaways -- you may not come here anymore, either. Cannibalistic thoughts, for obvious reasons, will no longer be received. Even missionaries will be screened carefully, for sincerity. This is a peaceful harbor, the entryway to a fine and proud island that is only now beginning to cultivate tranquility." -Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Once again I found myself taking a step back, coming to a realization: I will never be able to downplay the power and importance the written word holds in my life. Quite simply, it is the only thing in the entire world that makes absolute sense to me.

Last night I had the opportunity to see these two inspiring women, their legs curled and feet tucked within the cushions of overstuffed armchairs, discussing their lives, their friendship, and the act of writing. Yet another brilliant event brought to us by The Portland Arts & Lectures series, and I cannot help but be filled with gratitude for it. ALL OF IT.


2.09.2009

It's All About the Family...

My grandmother's jar funnel

Recently we've been asked to share some of our recipes. While part of me would love nothing more than to do this, there is another side of me that recognizes that many of the recipes employed at the LRBC our family recipes, and treasured ones at that. To elaborate, please take the jar funnel pictured above. My mom just recently passed down this beloved item from my maternal grandmother who donated it to the LRBC kitchen. During her hay-day, my grandmother was an amazing cook. Hailing from Kansas, my grandmother was known to whip up some really tasty dishes. I dare you to try and find a better pie dough or a better turkey gravy (my mom's is definitely a close second), and it would be a failure on our part not to mention that the Apple Butter we use on our Messenger Sandwich (aka one of 2008's Best Breakfast Sandwiches) was adapted from from my grandmother's time-honored recipe. And have I mentioned Nan's Green Goddess dressing yet?

Basically, to spare you from any more details, there's a whole lotta history behind how we get from this:

homemade granola, an adaptation of my sister's recipe
to this:

LRBC granola, sold by the lb.

Yes, yes, fortunately between Evan and myself, there's a lot of history and talent behind our inspirational cooking arsenal, and we feel blessed and honored to share these recipes with you, our "other family." But that doesn't mean we're quite ready yet to lay it all down on the line--er--I mean blog and divulge the secrets behind the trade. For the stuff we come up by ourselves, hell, I don't have a problem openly publishing into the blogosphere, but for the stuff that we are fortunate to call "Family Recipes," well, those just might have to stay private for now, at least until we feel certain that we are able to do justice to the process, and until we ourselves fully develop the seasoned and weathered hands inherited from our pedigree. Here's a shout-out to Martha Charlesworth and Leah Durkheimer. Thank you for paving our path.

G-Ma's funnel, LRBC homemade Black Mission Fig Jam

2.08.2009

"French Toast Sundays" Explained:


It always causes me to smile when people scan through our menu and upon not discovering their favorite breakfast carb look at me with pleading eyes and ask, "You guys don't do pancakes or French Toast or anything do you?" Or when people burst through the Cafe's door and grab the menu and before reading it and ask, "Do you have the French Toast today?"

This is when I get to say my line, the same line I say every time: "We do a seasonal French Toast special every Sunday." Emphasis on e-v-e-r-y. And I mean it. Every single Sunday for the last year the Cafe has had a French Toast Special. As though the consistency of this event isn't enough, the response I often get when I say my line is a pouty look, as though I've stolen their favorite candy bar right from their hands.

Evan's Buttermilk Pancakes
with brandy maple syrup

So how can I best explain this? The kitchen of our cafe was originally set up as the kitchen to a coffeeshop. Let's keep in mind that the Cafe's capacity is 15 seats. Despite several different arrangements and rearrangements this simple fact remains: the Little Red Bike kitchen is a coffeeshop kitchen, originally and albeit best set up for bagels and pastry rewarming. The very fact that we do produce and expedite as much food as we do is nothing short of a miracle. It took quite some time for us to figure out a menu that would work for our neighborhood, the city's and fire marshal's regulations, and lastly and most importantly for the best utilization and layout of our kitchen space.

Whenever someone informs me they just don't do eggs for breakfast, especially fried egg sandwiches and that they would really prefer a more "traditional breakfast", or when someone begs us to add fries to the menu because they would be a perfect match for our tuna melt, I try my best to quell their complaints. Trust me, I get it. I love fries and blueberry pancakes just as much as the anyone. But it's not that simple. It never is and frankly there is just no way we could pull it off; whether because it's completely illegal given the status of our hood, or the kitchen is just not set up for it.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes
with caramelized bananas

Allow me to explain better. Every Sunday when we do our French Toast and on the occasional rare Saturday when we do a pancake special, my mom is responsible for setting up a special station on the counter near the prep sink just for the electric griddle. During the week this counter houses our milkshake mixer and our soup kettles and the griddle is up on the shelf, away from any vacant counter space (which actually doesn't exist in our kitchen.) Every Sunday we clear the counter, with the exception of the milkshake mixer and she sets up shop, placing a cutting board over the prep sink just to have space to slice the challah. The execution of French Toast is a space killer and logistical nightmare, especially when someone orders a milkshake on a Sunday and we are forced to bump elbows, hips, and at times egos when we're fighting for our rightful position. But we make it work. We always do.

Chocolate-Orange French Toast
with Nutella, orange marmalade butter, and Dominica Noir dark chocolate shavings

So the quickest and easiest way I can answer the question is yes, we do have pancakes and French Toast... but only on the weekends, when there is a strong enough demand, when we have enough people working and enough space to pull it off. I can promise you this: our specials will never be boring and waiting a week in between them is worth your while. Look at it this way, almost every place that does French Toast or pancakes rarely changes their formula. Oftentimes I find the selections and options in the carb department to be very "same-same." My menu-reading self is rarely inspired. That is just one reason why I like to take a week in-between our French Toast specials to give them and you the thought and attention you deserve. During that time my brain is spinning and swimming in thought-process, trying to think of the next best possible way that I can wow your taste buds. I shutter at the thought of anyone blindly eating our French Toast special and thinking to themselves, "ehh, tastes just like Denny's..." I never want you to eat our offering and think you've eaten basically the exact same thing someplace else. Even if I haven't altered the batter, I always try to infuse a syrup or whip up a special butter. In short, I want you to know that we don't just throw around that word "Special." I firmly believe that there is something special about our French Toast and our pancakes. To hell with "same-same."

As for today's French Toast special, I got a little help from Evan who had a hankering for sausage. Without further ado, we proudly present:

Log Cabin French Toast
challah French toast with your choice of pork or veggie sausage links, served with whipped maple butter and fried sage leaves

2.07.2009

On Sunny Days in Portland...

impromptu beach trips are fun...

arch cape, oregon

people down iced drinks like they're going out of style...

mint iced tea

and buttermilk biscuits are made even better with butter & honey...

my afternoon treat

On the Menu...

The American Dream
buttermilk biscuit, egg, American cheese, bacon, and homemade tomato ketchup

2.05.2009

Blog for Food


Alright readers...we need your help. Well, not us really, but thousands of hungry Oregonians. And we are asking you to help them. Throughout the month of February we, along with 37 other bloggers, will be participating in a "blog for food" campaign to help benefit the Oregon Food Bank. Click on the above image to learn more information, or to make a donation. The fight against hunger is a very worthy cause, and we hope you can help us make a difference. We understand that this is a difficult time financially for many Americans, which is all the more reason to help by making a donation right now.

Thank you.

2.03.2009

Just One More Month...

What do:

pigs in a blanket,

southern banana pudding,

and "dirty" diapers have in common?

Well, baby showers of course!!!

Huge thanks must go out to Memry and Co. for putting on a fantastic baby shower at the Cafe for our friends Gavin and Delane. Included in the fun was a nest theme complete with handmade truffle "eggs," a Bring Your Favorite Dish From Childhood Potluck, a baby portrait drawing class, and Memry's and my personal favorite, the "Sweet Mess" game, where players had the opportunity to smell, taste, and touch three diapers which have been "soiled" with melted chocolate bars in an effort to guess which diaper contains which chocolate bar. Needless to say it was hilariously entertaining, but much more so when the youngsters at the party, a couple of whom are still in their diapers, caught the adults holding the familiar objects, and sniffing and licking their fingers whilst playing in the mess. Needless to say, the little ones were horrified.

Rachel testing diaper #1, the Reeses peanut butter cups

Unsurprisingly, I was really thrilled with the notion of a Bring Your Favorite Dish From Childhood Potluck. The food was eclectically fantastic and really transported all of us "home". It was great seeing what people remembered from their childhoods: fresh baked homemade bread, chicken cattitore, blts, cupcakes, tater tots, ants on a log, deviled eggs, spaghetti and meatballs, mini meatloaf sandwiches, cheese tortellini, and chocolate pie amongst other things.

slice featured is not quite cornmeal deep dish, but hey, A+ for trying

Someone even fashioned this pizza onesie, pretty perfect for the owners of one of the greatest pizza places of all time. Congratulations, Gavin and Delane! We're so excited for you and we can hardly wait to meet the new addition! Hopefully she won't actually end up looking like one of these guys:

baby portraits
XO to infinity and beyond...