A very green frittata

ON THE MENU: breakfast frittata with asparagus, shelled sugar snap peas, chevre goat cheese, wild rocket arugula, chives, parsley, basil, and onion

LOGISTICS: Ashley and Ali had an amazing frittata at Tasty & Sons, while Ashley attempting to talk to the owner and get a summer job. Chef owner John Gorham of Toro Bravo recently opened up Tasty & Sons, which is a brunch restaurant on N. Williams Ave.

Since Maddie is still in NJ, Ashley and Ali attempted to replicate the frittata with one less helping hand. The breakfast was relatively simple to make; the arugula, chives, and parsley were from Ali's garden, the basil from Ashley's, and the rest of the ingredients were gathered from our local grocery store, New Seasons.

First we chopped up all the veggies and herbs: 4 asparagus spears, 1/4 of a yellow onion, as much arugula and herbs as you want (we used a handful of arugula, the total chopped herbs were about a 1/4 cup). We used 4 eggs plus 2 egg whites. Multiply the recipe depending on how many people you want to serve - ours served 2 VERY hungry people, but easily could have worked for 3 or 4.

We sauteed the onions first, then mixed in the asparagus and peas to sauté as well. Next we stirred up the eggs and poured them into the skillet with the sauteed veggies. After scrambling the eggs slightly (but still with them pretty runny), we threw in the fresh arugula and herbs. Right before we put it into the oven, set to "broil" at 375 degrees, we added some goat cheese crumbles. The frittata was cooked for 4 minutes in the oven, browning slightly on top.

After eating all the frittata, we came to a few conclusions:

- We liked having a high veggie to egg ratio. We were worried it wouldn't hold together but it did perfectly!

- We could have added more herbs and a bit more goat cheese. The bites with parsley and chevre we so good!

- The pie-slice presentation was pretty :)

TABLE TALK:

- Road-trip to San Francisco. We finally think we have it all worked out!!!! Yayy!

- Zumba with Elle and Lindsey. They're both first-timers hehe

- Our hike up Dog Mountain yesterday, resulting in sore legs and one sick puppy. Luckily there were no rattlesnake sitings, or poison oak infections (that we know of yet...)!

- How much we miss Maddie and that we hope her trip is going well!

Ali's Hawaiian Souvenir

ON THE MENU: Pineapple upside down cake with a dark rum sauce, which was inspired by a dessert that Ali had while with her family in Maui. The dessert comes from the Pineapple Grill at the Kapalua Resort, where her family ate dinner for her brother's birthday. P.S. This dessert won the Maui Gold Pineapple Dessert Contest Award.

LOGISTICS:
After searching online, Ali found the recipe for the award-winning dessert. We're not sure if it is the exact recipe used at the resort restaurant, because the recipe was a little vague and the rum sauce tasted different. The recipe is traditionally made with locally-made macadamia nut ice cream, however here in Portland we substituted this ice cream for vanilla. The recipe can be found here: http://archives.starbulletin.com/2008/07/30/features/story03.html

We learned a lot from making this recipe:
a) how difficult and scary it is to burn off the alcohol (from the rum in the sauce). Once it seemed all burned off, the sauce still had a strong taste of rum. Even pro chef JoAnne (Ali's mom) wasn't sure why. We figured there was some discrepancy in the sauce recipe when compared to the real thing from the resort.
b) cutting the pineapple in perfect circles was hard - you either had to cut it into pieces and form it at the bottom of the cup, or be very careful to cut out the inedible middle part.
c) although the recipe warned the batter oozes over while cooking (and you get to break it off and eat it hehe), we underestimated how much it was spill over. But we got to eat a lot! Maybe we filled the cups too much, which was about two-thirds.

d) we used paper cups instead of metal ones because they were really expensive; this definitely affected cooking time. We had to leave the cakes in the oven for over twice as long as the recipe said. This could've also related to us filling the cups too much?

Despite our learning curve, the cakes were AMAZING. We could barely stop ourselves from eating all eight of them. Good thing so much batter spilled over :). The sauce wasn't too great... We only ate it with the display cake. We're thinking that the recipe was different than that of the restaurant's - maybe less rum and more brown sugar? Other than that, Ali said everything tasted up to par, and similar to the dessert she had in Maui. Overall we deemed it a success!!!!

We definitely recommend this recipe with these variations: make one large cake instead of little ones, forget the rum sauce, and maybe serve it as a breakfast cake! Yum! Also, Ali highly recommends the Pineapple Grill if you ever find yourself near Napili Bay; she says although the meal was very pricey, it was one of the best meals (and desserts!) of her life.

KITCHEN TALK:
- Stella!! Ali is dog-sitting for a neighbor this week, and they have the cutest king charles cavalier named Stella. Ash and Ali are walking her every day.
- How Maddie is doing with Ben in New Jersey. WE MISS HER!! Come home soon :).
- Shout out to Zumba!! Ash has started taking the class with Ali. Now we just gotta get all three of us together for it! So fun!
- Lots of other things but we forget...

Por Que No inspired creation - Tacos!

ON THE MENU: Chipotle pesto shrimp tacos on a bed of spring greens, topped with orange peppers, mango salsa, yogurt dill (sub for sour cream), and cotija cheese (mexican), all wrapped up in corn tortillas. For refreshments - homemade bubbly water and cranberry juice.

LOGISTICS:

Por Que No = our favorite taqueria in town and our first food stop when we return to PDX! Known for its long lines, funky decor, and tiny tacos bursting with flavor. Ali can often be found there scarfing down their discounted tacos for happy hour on Tuesday nights! An all-around favorite dish is their shrimp tacos which are sprinkled with a pineapple salsa and cilantro. Since Ali is off in Hawaii, Ashley and Maddie were stuck fending for themselves on this mission.

We were trapped indoors, comparing rainy portland to Ali's sunny island weather :(

(at least one of us found some sun!)

yummy!

Tacos:

- frozen shrimp : steamed on stove top

- chipotle pesto purchased at farmers market from (Pesto Outside the Box) used to marinate chopped shrimp

- thinly sliced orange peppers

- mango salsa: one large mango chopped, handfull of diced scallions, and lemon and lime juice to taste ( we tried it with grapefruit juice which was yummy but we concluded that the simpler the better)

- Nancy's nonfat plain yogurt swirled with a pinch of dried dill and salt & pepper (a healthy alternative to sour cream)

- mixed spring greens from the farmer's market (including ashley's favorite ARUGULA!!)

- crumbled cotija cheese (mexican)

Refreshments:

- soda water

- cranberry juice

- lemon slice to look pretty

FLOOR TALK:

- Maddie's spontaneous early departure to new jersey to see her boyfriend BEN for 3 weeks :( we'll miss you!

- We resorted to the kitchen floor for our lunch because the table was covered with clothes soon to be packed for her trip.

- Evening plans: evolution class and yoga at the MAC followed by the steam room!

A berry birthday surprise!

    

ON THE MENU: lemon-ginger angel food and strawberry sorbet layer cake from "A Passion For Ice Cream" by Emily Luchetti.

Tonight our friend Kayla from high school is having her 19th birthday party. We decided that it would be fun to incorporate the strawberries we picked yesterday to make her a birthday surprise.

Yesterday, after a near-death experience attempting to load the bikes on top of the car, Ashley and Ali finally made it to Sauvies islandfor a bike ride, pre-strawberry picking. We had a few interruptions by mother nature, but we still managed a 6 mile bike ride out of 13. We arrived at Kruger's Farmer's Market, where we joined Maddie and her mother, Nancy, in the field, who had already picked a flat (and who knows how many they had already scarfed down). This was one of the best weekends for strawberry picking - early enough that the crowds hadn't yet picked over everything but late enough that the berries were bursting with color and flavor (except the ones that Maddie picked).

note ash sneaking a nibble of the strawberries in the middle...

FIELD/CAR TALK:

- strawberry preferences: Ashley like overripe (and hairy and dirty), Maddie likes hers orange with white spots (ew), and Ali is normal... (hehe)

- comparing strawberries to men

- guilt and tummy aches from eating too many strawberries

- Kayla's party and the masses of U of O kids we have yet to meet

- the rooster

- Ashley and Ali's dislike for meringues: "I mean I only eat them when I'm in a situation where nothing else is available. Example: when I'm at a house-warming party and that's the only dessert they offer. Yes I've been in that situation; it was horrible." - Ali

  

  

 

On to the cake: YUMMMMM. Yes, the name of the cake is very long. But it looks delicious. We stumbled upon the cake recipe when we were looking through one of Ashley's cookbooks, "A Passion for Ice Cream", while sipping cappuccinos on Ashley's couch, talking about making strawberry ice cream. The combo ofthe fresh strawberries and Kayla's upcoming birthday made this a perfect recipe.

 

We ran into some issues with having all the ingredients but Ali came to the rescue. The cake required a lot of appliances: the Kitchen Aid Mixer, a lemon squeezer, a grater to make lemon zest, an ice cream maker, a strainer to separate out the strawberry seeds (we decided against this because according to Maddie all the nutrition is in the seeds. Please note: she really has no idea), cuisinart, and then a lot of measuring tools.

We had some issues with the cake being cooked all the way through. After putting it in the oven for longer, we think it is ok. We'll only truly know when we cut it up to eat :)

  

 

TABLE TALK:

- Maddie is growing out her armpit hair.... (??????)

- possible video blog to capture how hyper Maddie is

Our first supper

ON THE MENU: Orzo and Veggie Soup, Apple and Avocado Salad, Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

LOGISTICS: Tonight was the first official meeting - we had some things to establish with the blog. Over our meal, we decided to focus on themes for each posting; for example next time we're gonna utilize Oregon strawberries. Also, if we choose to make a full meal, we will highlight one particular item.

Tonight was a little scattered with no theme in mind. While looking at vegetables at the farmer's marker, Maddie and Ashley thought up an idea for soup. We cleaned out the veggies in the fridge with a couple of market additions, including:

- potatoes

- carrots

- celery

- broccoli

- mushrooms

- red bell peppers

- onions

Vegetable broth, orzo pasta, and thyme were added to the veggies. The soup was served with parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste. The pasta was tricky - the orzo ended up being a little overcooked. Any suggestions?

Chocolate chip zucchini muffins: very good - we added more cinnamon but thought they could be more zucchini-y. Still yummy!

Salad was very simple: a granny smith apple, one avocado, romaine lettuce, pinch of chopped cilantro, and whatever italian dressing you have in the fridge.

TABLE TALK:

- fine print of the blog (logisitics of cooking)

- daily gossip (Kayla's upcoming birthday party)

- preferences for serving lettuce - Ash likes it chopped, Ali and Maddie like the long romaine leaves as is, for a nice presentation.

- tomorrow's bike ride and berry picking

- illegal downloading of "I Love You, Man"

- Ali's upcoming trip to Hawaii

- Nancy's (quarter full) donated wine: The Show, a 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley)

- the "None" situation

Welcome! Let us introduce ourselves...

ASHLEY

Age: 20

School: University of Denver

Major(s)/minor(s): Hotel Restaurant and Tourism Management, Sustainability

Hobbies/Interests: Hiking, cycling, cooking, hanging out with friends and family, traveling, watching Glee and Modern Family

Life goal(s): Wine connoisseur, own a sustainable restaurant in Northeast Portland with my own farm to support it.

Diet type: Pescatarian, with the occasional bite of bacon

Favorite food: Arugula and avocado

Favorite chef/cookbook: Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa)

Favorite meal on campus: Tacos from Salsa Rico

Favorite restaurant in Portland: Higgins

Favorite kitchen tool/appliance: Lemon Squeezer

If you could eat one thing right NOW: Mushrooms

MADDIE

Age: 19

School: Lewis and Clark (transferred from Chapman University)

Major(s)/minor(s): Psychology and Dance

Hobbies/Interests: Dance, cooking, running, working out, watching movies (illegally) online, hiking, family, notebooks (planning and organizing)

Life goal(s): create my own non-secular values and morals and raise outspoken children through these ideals

Diet type: yummy fooood = cannibal (aka carnivore)

Favorite food: brussel sprouts and whipped cream

Favorite chef/cookbook: Giada - she's hot

Favorite meal on campus: Chapman food was not up to par...

Favorite restaurant in Portland: Kinara and Laughing Planet :P

Favorite kitchen tool/appliance: Kitchen Aid Mixer

If you could eat one thing right NOW: tacos from Taqueria del Playground (not the actual name) in Orange County

ALI

Age: 19

School: Boston College

Major(s)/minor(s): Environmental Geosciences, Studio Art, Spanish

Hobbies/Interests: soccer, backpacking, traveling, working out, being the "west coast hippie" at BC, Portland Trail Blazers, spreading and practicing environmental consciousness, being 5 minutes late to everything

Life goal(s): Living life, possibly environmental law dealing with public policy and/or America's food system

Diet type: Vegetarian at BC. I eat meat if I feel like it, and know where it comes from/how it was treated

Favorite food: chips and guacamole, gourmet pizzas

Favorite chef/cookbook: my mommy :)

Favorite meal on campus: Anything and everything from Addie's Loft

Favorite restaurant in Portland: Por Que No

Favorite kitchen tool/appliance: blender (for smoothies)

If you could eat one thing right NOW: make your own flatbread pizza from Addie's