Sophie's Visit

This past week one of my oldest friends came to visit me. We had been telling her for years that she would love Portland and finally she came! She was here from Saturday to super early Thursday morning - this was probably the longest time that either of us had been in the same state since I graduated from high school. Well we didn't waste any time together and we packed in all of the food, laughing, and exploring that we could in to her visit. Here of are some of the highlights:

Left: At the chinese gardens in Portland // Right: Beer tasting at Deschutes brewery (It was her 21st birthday the day before she came!

// Treasures from the mandatory Voodoo doughnut visit //

// Mexican hot chocolate //

// Old dirty bastard //

// We made butternut squash ravioli (I'll be posting the recipe soon! //

// Birthday dinner at Pok Pok //

// Pok pok's famous fish sauce wings //

// Food cart crepes for dessert //

// Portland Zoo //

I think this past week has been one of the best in a while, I can't remember the last time I laughed this hard!

Hope you all are having great weekends!

xx -C

DIY: Radiator Shelves

Happy friday!

This week seems to have flown by especially since one of my friends from home was visiting until yesterday! I will be posting a few photos from her visit tomorrow! A few weeks ago Matt and I made these shelves, they were super easy to make and didn't take all that long either!


Since moving into my house I have realized that 1) there isn't actually that much room and 2) there isn't very much horizontal storage room either. To solve this problem I have been trying to figure out a way to add shelves and utilize space. I have also been wanting to get a few larger house plants that would add some green to my home, especially since we are entering the cold, rainy season in Portland. My house is heated using radiators and they are placed right in front of the two windows in the living and dining rooms. These windows would be the perfect place to put the plants that I have been dreaming of. Unfortunately the window sills aren't wide enough to hold plant pots and since the radiators are right in front of the windows I can't put a shelf or a table in front of the windows either. After a lot of pinteresting I found a picture of a home that had built a shelf above the radiator, in the picture it looked like a pretty simple project so Matt and I decided to give it a try!

You will need:
2 brackets per shelf (I made two shelves so I needed four)
4 3/4 inch screws per shelf
4 screws that will anchor it into the wall (since I have plaster walls I had to use special screws; usually at home improvement places that have a display that will tell you which type of screw to get for each type of wall depending on how much weight you think the screw will need to hold. I think I got screws that can hold up to 80 pounds)
Polyurethane
Foam brushes (one for each coat of polyurethane you are planning on using)
Sand paper
1 wooden board (I got one that still had some bark on the outside and it was 10 inches wide and ~50 inches long)

How to make:

1: We sanded down the boards because they were pretty rough.

2: Once they were smooth we applied our first layer of polyurethane. Then let it dry for 4 hours.

3: We then sanded the board and applied a second coat and let that dry for 4 hours. (We did a total of 3 coats.)

4: We attached the brackets to the boards first since we though it might be difficult to attach the board to the brackets after screwing the brackets to the wall by the radiators.

5: Then we brought them inside and pre drilled the holes in the walls for the brackets.

6: Finally we attached the shelves to the wall. Ta-da!

Over all the project took a few days since we had to let the polyurethane dry between each coat, but the actual hands-on time was minimal. I am super happy with the results and now I want to make a few more of these shelves for the other radiators in my house! Also now that I have my shelves its time to go plant shopping (another one of my favorite hobbies).

xx-C

Confessions of a Blogger

Ella of Paper Umbrella Blog tagged me in this so I thought I would give it a go. 

1. When did you first start blogging and why?

I first started blogging at the end of September of this year. For the past few years I have followed a few blogs and a few of my friends had started them to document their lives and their travels. I have always thought that keep a journal would be cool, in fact I have been successful for a few short bouts of time but nothing longer than a few months. I thought starting a blog might let me have a place that I could document my travels, recipes, projects, and adventures. After I decided to start a blog it took me a few months to actually start one (I am the queen of putting things off...) but I decided that the start of culinary school would be the perfect time to start...so here we are. 

2. Have you had any past online presence?Not really. I have had things such a facebook and pinterest but nothing so personal as a blog.

3. When did you become serious about your blog?I'm not sure what the exact definition of "serious" is...I try to post here a few times a week...I think knowing that my friends and family back in New Hampshire can easily keep up my life out here in Portland has kept me posting as often as I do. 

4. What was your first blog post?My first real blog post was homemade pasta with alfredo sauce and apple crisp. I think that pretty much sums up my favorite type of meal warm, creamy, and comforting.

5. What have been your biggest challenges blogging?
Keeping up with posting...I have all of these posts that I keep meaning to do but I always put them off again and again..beating this type of procrastination is one of my current goals.

6. What is the most rewarding thing about blogging?
Having people tell me that they tried one of my recipes or projects. It makes me feel like I'm not wasting my time writing recipe after recipe on here. 

7. What is the most discouraging thing about blogging?

I am definitely no wiz at programming, although I am starting to learn a little bit about coding through trying to change simple things in my blogs layout. Even though this can be really discouraging sometimes it also feels really great when I do figure something out. 

8. What is your lasting inspiration or motivation?
Knowing that I will have this collection of recipes and projects for many years into the future, and also that I can always access this collection as long as I have internet or my computer. It is nice to know that there is one place that holds all of different recipes, and projects, and memories from many different places. 

9. What is your blogging dirty little secret?
I probably spend wayyyyy too much time on pinterest brainstorming different things for this blog. Especially since I also put off doing projects or writing posts too.

10. What is your current goal as a blogger?My current goal is to stick with this blog for at least an entire year. I want to be able to look back next September and feel accomplished that I was able to stick with some form of writing for an entire year. As I mentioned before, I'm terrible at keeping with journals. Normally, I will start one and last about three days and then forget about it for a long time. 

11. Have you learned or become passionate about anything through blogging that caught you by surprise?
I have become more passionate about trying to figure out ways that I can make something instead of just going out a buying something. Also trying new recipes! I am always looking for new, exciting recipes to try and share!

Plating: Finals for T1!

Hello there-

Sorry about the lack of posting in the past couple of weeks, I hate to make excuses but they have been very busy and stressful. Last week was finals for my first term of my culinary diploma program that I am taking this year at Oregon Culinary Institute. It's crazy how fast this first term went by, in total it was 40 week days but it seemed more like a week to me. So far this week has been filled with adjusting to learning in a new kitchen (my second term started Monday), planning my christmas break (finding cheap tickets around the holidays is impossible), and taking poor, sick Willow to multiple vets. She has been sick since Saturday and they are still trying to figure out what exactly is wrong with her! It seems that every vet we see has a different diagnosis. Hopefully we figure it out soon and she gets better quickly!

Back to last week, for our finals we had to produce two FULL entrees. This means that we needed to make a total of two proteins, two starches, two veggies, and two sauces in less than two hours. We worked in groups of four and I think that our group finally hit our stride during this week. It seemed that each day had it's own challenges but we managed to finish everything on time, every day. It was both relieving and sad as we finished our last kitchen clean up on Thursday because we would never be a class again but we also never had to stress over making recipe cards, schedules, equipment lists, or ingredient lists for the next few days! Here are some of the dishes that my group made, unfortunately I didn't take photos every day (I was pretty tired and scattered brained by the end)

Pan-fried chicken breast // fresh pasta with lemony-alfredo sauce // steamed asparagus

Sage brined pork tenderloin // creamy mushroom risotto // spiced roasted butternut squash //
robert sauce

Grilled pork-chop with apple stuffing // creamy polenta cakes // grilled mushrooms, onions, and
peppers // modern demi-glace (Check out those grill marks!)

Mushroom and prosciutto stuffed chicken cordon bleu // braised collards // creamy polenta //
mornay sauce

Roasted chicken leg and thigh // bacon butter // sautéed brussels sprouts // mashed potatoes
// gravy

Thai red curry // braised pork shoulder // stewed cauliflower // basmati rice pilaf

Again, sorry for my complete lack of photo quality (especially on the blurry pork tenderloin) we can't bring cameras into the kitchen (as far as I know of) so cell phone photos will have to do!

Check back here tomorrow, I am hoping to post about a fun diy that Matt and I have been working on for the past few weeks and I'm excited to show you!

Have a good night!

xx -c

Sunday Muffins: VEGAN Pumpkin Muffins

Happy Sunday!

Matt had to wake up at some ungodly hour today (7:45 am) to go to a history conference downtown meaning that I have also been up since then. I don't know why I woke up this early - it was probably a mixture of waking up at 6:30 for school everyday, the multiple snoozes on his alarm clock, and Willow deciding that my chest/face was the best place to sleep - but I was up bright and early. I actually really like waking up early - I often find that I am way more productive if I wake up super early than if I wake up later, like this morning. I have already cleaned my house, started laundry, washed all the dishes, and made muffins. In fact, I made some of my favorite muffins.

This recipe was introduced to me by my good friend Ella during of sophomore year of college. We were roommates and I have memories of making these muffins multiple times on the floor of our room since that was the only horizontal place that we could find. I was surprised by how much I loved these muffins (since they are vegan...and pumpkin) but they really are fantastic. In fact, last year we made these muffins for one of our old housemates who refused to eat anything "vegan" (Ella didn't mention they were vegan until after he ate about 3...) it seems that no matter who these muffins are made for they are a hit!

Last thanksgiving I made these muffins with my little cousin Zuma, her family tries to follow a grain-free-high-fat diet so we made a few changes to the recipe - I think we used butter instead of oil and maybe whole wheat flour? Either way, the muffins pretty much exploded (they still tasted alright, but they weren't the prettiest) so from then on I have followed the recipe in all of it's vegan-glory.

This recipe is super easy to make, hardly takes any time, and maybe makes a total of 5 dirty dishes. The only con is that you are left with a weird amount of pumpkin at the end (if you use a can) but it's pretty easy to find a way to use it.

Here's the recipe:

The Best Pumpkin Muffins (makes 12)
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1 cup pureed pumpkin (I use from a can but make sure you get pumpkin NOT pumpkin pie mix)
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tbs. molasses

Preheat oven to 400˚F.

Combine all of the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and spices) in a large bowl and mix them together.

In a separate, smaller bowl mix all of the wet ingredients (pumpkin, soy milk, canola oil, and molasses) together.

Combine these with the dry ingredients in the larger bowl. Mix until combined and then spoon into 12 paper lined muffin tins.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the muffins comes out clean. Enjoy while they are hot or cold, with the left overs (if there are any) store in an air-tight container.

 This recipe is from the cookbook Vegan with a Vengeance, which is an awesome cookbook (all vegan) but all of the recipes I have tried have been great. It is definitely going on my cookbook wish list.

Also I the spirit of veganness I made a soy cappuccino this morning...who knew soy-milk made such great foam!

xx-C

Plating Week 2: Pork

Today marked the first day of our T1 finals at school. During the two hour time we had to make one chicken dish, one pork dish, two starches, two vegetables, and two sauces. At the end of the 2 hour time limit we also had to plate our food. I was impressed at how well our team did today since it was our first time ever cooking that much food in a single kitchen time slot. At the end of this week I will post pictures of most of the dishes we make in the following few days.

Last week our focus was pork. As I previously wrote, pork is not my favorite protein although I am starting to enjoy it more. Especially as I am becoming more comfortable cooking it. I think my highlight of last week was the time I butchered, brined, and cooked an entire pork tenderloin [pretty perfectly I might add] all by myself. It was the first time I had ever cooked a big hunk of pork before and I was happy with the results.

Last week we also learned how to make gnocchi which I am super excited about! I have been wanting to try to make these little potato dumplings for a while now and, as it turns out, they are super easy to make. I will post the recipe in the near future.

Now onto the photos, please excuse the iphone quality - they are the only cameras allowed in the kitchen.

Sage-brined Pork tenderloin with Robert sauce, apple-cheddar risotto, roasted butternut
squash and fried sage leaves

Stuffed and grilled pork chop with a modern demi-glace, creamy polenta cakes and
maple glazed carrots topped with fried shallot rings

Fig stuffed roasted pork loin with a creamy pan reduction sauce, roasted brussels
sprouts, and sautéed gnocchi with apple poached figs

I hope you all have a good night!
-c

Eggplant Parmesan

I made this a while ago but haven't gotten around to posting the recipe. This is a pretty easy vegetarian option that is easy to make you own by altering the spices that you put into the breading.  In class, we added some cayenne pepper for a spicier flavor and everyone loved it!

Here is one of the favorite dishes from my first class (I told you I made it a while ago).

Pan-fried Eggplant (serves 2-3)
1 medium eggplant (sliced in 1/4-1/2 inch slices)
1.5 c. Panko bread crumbs
4 eggs
1 c. flour
salt and pepper
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
canola oil

Once the eggplant is peeled and sliced ( I would recommend peeling it because the breading won't stick to the skin) you need to bread it. First, dip the eggplant in seasoned flour, then the egg mixture, then the panko crumbs and parmesan (mixed). Pour the oil into a cast iron frying pan until it will reach 1/2 way up the slices of eggplant. Heat the oil over medium heat to the point that the panko will sizzle if a few crumbs are dropped in. However, you don't want the oil to reach the smoke point. Place the breaded slices of eggplant into the oil until they are golden brown, flip and brown on the other side. Once both sides have been browned they can be placed into a 200 degree oven to keep warm until you are ready to eat them. (These are best eaten within 20 minutes of frying)

Tomato Sauce (serves 2-3)
1 medium onion, small dice (if you aren't going to blend the sauce you might want to only use half)
3 cloves garlic
1/4 c. olive oil
1 can diced tomato
2 Tbs. tomato paste (optional)
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
10 leaves fresh basil, sliced
salt and pepper

Saute onion and garlic in the olive oil. You can cook these as much as caramelizing them or just quickly sweat them, its up to you! (If you do caramelize them then you could add a little red/white wine to deglaze the pan which is super yummy!) Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and the red pepper flakes. Let this cook [covered] until you are ready to blend it (up to 1 hour). Blend until smooth, stir in basil and season with salt and pepper.

We ate these with some pasta, tomato sauce, and parmesan cheese.

xx -c

sorry about the lack of photos for this dish most of them mysteriously got deleted off my camera...