Bok Choy Dish

I don't remember how I made this. It's been over a month now since I'm writing this. However, I wanted to make a note that it was delicious! A great way to eat dark greens and a bunch of veggies.

The basics I remember were to cut apart the stems and leaves because the stems take longer to cook. Then cut everything up. There was some sauteing of garlic and then simmering in chicken broth. I added an egg in at the very last. Wonderful dish!

....if only I could remember how I made it. Oh wells, I guess I'll have to buy more and figure it out! :D

Biscuits and Gravy

The best start to a day that's greatest goal is to not get dressed? Make a nummy breakfast! 

I figured that if we went out to eat, I'd get biscuits and gravy. I remembered I had some Italian sausage and I could make it myself! So this is what happened. 

First, the biscuits! I mixed all the dry ingredients--3 cups of flour, 3 tsp of baking powder, 1 tsp of salt, 1 tbsp of sugar, 3/4 tbsp(?) of cream of tarter--then cut in 3/4 cup of butter, which takes forever. xp I folded in a cup of milk, until just moist. Kneaded it until it stuck together, then used my cup measure to cut them out. In a 400 degree oven for 10-14 minutes and they're ready to eat!

Kitchen Boy was making the gravy while I dealt with the dough. He cooked the sausage, adding in a little bacon grease so we had something to make the gravy with. Added about 1/4 cup flour and mixed it in before adding, slowly a bunch of milk. Then voila!

Vegetable Gratin

So.....here goes! I was reading about winter vegetables and learned of the term "gratin" which is from a French word that means "to scrape/grate." Basically, it's some vegetable casserole-type dish with thinly sliced veggies. So I tried one! But.....I think I made a mistake. I liked the garlic potatoes gratin recipe, but I was trying to make this other one.....that I think is supposed to be sweet, but I made some distinctly spiceful changes....so we'll see how it turns out.

First, I cut up one of everything. Just kidding. But, it was a lot.....1/2 a butternut squash, 2 russet potatoes, a celery root (called celeriac), a orange-skinned sweet potato, and 1 parsnip. I layered those into a 9x13 pan. Then, on the stove, I sauteed a clove of garlic and 1/4 of an onion in butter. Before they were done, I added 1/3 lb of italian pork sausage to brown. When those were done cooking, I added a half cup of milk, 2 cups of water and 2 chicken bouillon cubes. Then the spices: A dash of paprika, three shakes of nutmeg, a 1/2 tsp of thyme, a bunch of black pepper, and two shakes of garlic salt. (See what I mean about the sweet veggies and the salt/spice?) I brought that to a boil, then poured it over the veggies. I baked it for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, then 40 more at 350 degrees F.

So I pulled it out of the oven, sprinkled mozzarella on it and let it sit for a bit. Definitely not the creamy sauce I'd imagined, and I wonder if I can use the liquid as a base for some kind of soup. The dish itself is not...unpleasant. Pretty exotic tasting, actually. I like the spice/sweet play and the sausage definitely helps with that! I will probably try making this again sometime! :D

Update: After a night and more in the fridge, the flavors had a chance to meld together. It is a lot mellower, but still nomnom.

Portland Adventure

So Jason and Jeff were in town and we took a weekend and made a little adventure out of it....we tried out some bars....

The Tube
A pretty cool bar. They have bands, and DJs and the like. And the inside is curved and crowded, like a subway station. Or "tube," silly people being clever with the words....

 

The Yes & No

Sketch as anything to look at from the outside. We weren't sure what it was or if we should go in. But then a real-life Greaser was kicking out some idiots and we had to see. This was an odd sort of bar. Like the Yes & No and the Tube were once a big room that someone decided to put a wall down the middle of. We didn't stay too long, but Jeff got several looks (of the seemingly interested kind). Apparently the coolest part of the place was the bathrooms. 

The Yamhill
Jeff's favorite downtown bar, so of course we went here. Though, I have to admit that I like it as well because  I always meet friendly/interesting people there. And mini corndogs!

There were also a total of two stripclubs.....

Spice
Officially the first strip club I've ever been in. The guys thought was no good. There was a girl in dark lace they wouldn't let me watch. :/

Safari Showclub

This place was highly approved of. I.....kind of remember it. Was pretty far gone by this point. A stripper stole my earrings! The guys went back a second night for....rock night or something (when they play better music). And had a blast. I heard tales of arm wrestling strippers and a hot tub out back.

Where else did we take our exploring? Well.....

Bubble Bubble
We had to make Jason try bubble tea!

Uwajimaya

Well, we had to complete his experience with a trip to the Asian SUPER food and bookstore. Yay weird selection of beers, as well. ^^

Sky High

Giant warehouse full of trampoline courts! It was pretty awesome, but it killed Jeff's back. Jason was sore forever.

The Montage

Nomnom macaroni. Our leftovers kept fighting though....

It was a pretty full weekend, but fun. :)

Fruits and Veggies!

So, I decided to buy first and then make second. I spent $21.70 on all these fruits and veggies! (To contrast, I bought some bread, milk, cheese and meat to spread through and that was WAY more. >.<;) So lets see what I come up with!

First! I have another mystery fruit! It came up on the receipt as a "lemon plum".....Wikipedia tells me that it is a rare fruit from Chili typically only available in the US in February. It changes from bright yellow to sunset orange as it ripens, so I should leave it with my potatoes for a while....