Bacon for each year of marriage

We had a lovely anniversary. We got to sit at the bar and were less than three feet from the chef preparing our food. It was dinner and a show. Totally amazing.

For appetizers, we shared:
Truffle gnocchi with sweet corn, leeks and crawfish
Tongue bacon with pickled egg salad

Ken was more excited for the tongue, I was excited for the gnocchi. Both were excellent, but Ken preferred the delicate creaminess of the gnocchi where I ended up loving the sweet-salty-vinegar combo of the tongue bacon and eggs.

For dinner:
Ken got the duck breast that was perfectly cooked and sitting on a bed of pureed (butternut?) squash and topped with wild mushrooms and a brown butter/pancetta vinaigrette that was nutty and bacon-y in flavor. Delicious. Everything paired very well and they had parsley and a squeeze of fresh lemon to lift the wild mushrooms and give everything some life.

I got the monkfish, its first day on the menu. I watched him make it.... two big hunks of monkfish that he seasoned and placed in a very, very hot pan with a touch of oil. Then he put a giant mound of butter in the pan and used a serving spoon to ladle the "foaming hot butter over the cold protein" for 30 seconds to a minute. A lot of continuous work. Braising it in butter for flavor. Excellent. Then he finished it off in the oven and served it over a seared pork belly and roasted cipollini onions. Wow. Both dinners were excellent, perfectly seasoned and executed.

And for drinks:
We ate our dinners with a 1/2 liter of wine. They have an extensive wine list and serve around 10 by the glass, 1/2 liter, full bottle (0.75 liter) or full liter. We had them pick one that paired well with our dinners. I don't know what it was, but it was excellent. Lots of tannin, full-bodied and with legs like a rockette.

Not that we needed more food, but my bacon trilogy was not yet complete. It was time for dessert.
Ken got a Polish porter (a beer) along with the grape cheesecake served with house-made graham crackers, its first day on the menu. Ken loved the beer, the graham crackers were killer but the cheesecake was ok. Flavor was right but the texture was too soft. They said they're going to work on making it more dense. Both chefs asked Ken what he thought of it. You could tell they were still working out the kinks with the dish.

I got their honey, bacon and apricot cornbread served with maple ice cream. It was delicious. Sweet honey and salty bacon. Warm sauce and cold ice cream. Smooth cream and crunchy cornbread. An explosion of contrasts.

And so our anniversary dinner came to an end, but it won as my favorite anniversary dinner (food-wise). Le Pigeon now ranks with Park Kitchen as my favorite restaurant in Portland. Apparently others think so too, because LP was featured in a New York Times article this morning about Portland food and drink (another mentioned was Pok Pok, where we went for thai food when Chuck and Dana came to visit).

Here's the article and an exerpt on the restaurant:
DINING & WINE September 26, 2007
In Portland, a Golden Age of Dining and Drinking
By ERIC ASIMOV
Chefs flock to a city where food is the star, produce is stellar and real estate is cheap.

exerpt on LP:

Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon, a kind of new-wave bistro, learned the basics of making stocks and working the grill during two years at Paley’s after he arrived here from his hometown, Napa, Calif. He passed through a few other kitchens, then last year he was given an opportunity to take over one of his own. He transformed a little storefront restaurant into Le Pigeon, an informal, slightly manic spot with seasonally changing, nonconformist dishes like braised pork belly with creamed corn and butter-poached prawns, sweetbreads with pickled watermelon, and just about anything that can possibly involve tongue. His signature dessert is apricot cornbread with bacon, topped with maple ice cream.

“I used to think of Portland as a stepping stone, but I fell in love with the city,” said Mr. Rucker, who’s all of 26. “Rather than going somewhere with a really established food scene, I felt as a young chef that I could really have a lot of possibilities.” Like many of Portland’s top chefs, he has established firm relationships with the local farmers. “I can call and have loads of chanterelles or huckleberries delivered right to my door,” he said. “When you have people as passionate about growing a watermelon as I am to use it, it’s great.”

They even published the recipe for the cornbread dessert:
Recipe: Cornbread Cake Published: September 26, 2007
Adapted from Gabriel Rucker, Le Pigeon, Portland, Ore.
Time: 1 hour

Butter for greasing pan
3/4 cup all-purpose flour, more for dusting pan
3 slices bacon, diced small
1 1/4 cups cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon molasses
1/2 cup (about 2 ounces) thinly sliced dried apricots
Maple ice cream (see recipe).

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour an 8-inch-square baking pan; set aside. In a large skillet, fry bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towels; reserve.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Whisk to blend, then mound and make a well in the center. Pour in eggs, buttermilk and milk; stir with a fork until lightly combined.
3. Add honey, molasses, apricots and bacon bits. Mix again until evenly combined. Pour into pan and bake until it has risen and center is firm and dry when a toothpick is inserted, about 35 minutes. Allow to cool, then cut into small squares and serve with a dollop of maple ice cream on top. Yield: One 8-inch square cake (12 servings).

Maple Ice Cream
2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 vanilla bean, cut lengthwise and scraped
5 large egg yolks, lightly beaten.

1. Fill a large bowl with ice water; set aside. In small saucepan, bring cream to a boil. Add sugar, remove from heat and stir in syrup, vanilla bean and scrapings. Whisk about 1/4 cup cream mixture into egg yolks, then whisk yolks back into remainder of cream. Strain into clean pan.
2. Return pan to medium-low heat and stir until custard is thick enough to coat back of a wooden spoon. Pour into a heatproof bowl and set in ice water until completely cooled. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Yield: 2 cups.

Third Time's the Charm

It keeps getting better. Every year. And today starts our third.

We're going here for dinner tonight and will eat whatever they serve us. I am excited; I've heard excellent things.

Happy anniversary, wuz! May we have ibuprofen at the bottom of our champagne tonight!

By the Numbers

1,120: Pounds of tree debris I loaded into Ken's truck on Friday night.
11,125: Pounds of retaining wall stones (60 lb each) that Ken and I laid on Saturday morning.
1,120: Pounds that Ken unloaded at the yard debris recycling center on Saturday afternoon.
7: Varieties of garlic (n=5) and shallots (n=2) that Lisa bought on Saturday and planted on Sunday
2: Gallons of primer Lisa bought to paint the garage Saturday afternoon
5: Hours it took to prime the garage -- just the first coat
480: Pounds of extra tree debris that Ken loaded on Sunday morning because it didn't fit in the first load
1: Number of pizzas ordered
480: Pounds of tree debris that Ken unloaded on Sunday afternoon
3: Windows that Lisa stained on Sunday
5: Number of days until they set the fence posts in concrete
14: Number of days until the fence is complete
9: Number of ibuprofen consumed by Lisa since Saturday

Total pounds moved this weekend: 14, 325. Just over 7 tons. I'm so sore in my forearms that I can barely make a fist. Typing hurts, so I'm extra glad I submitted my paper today. Fingers crossed for a speedy acceptance.

Ibuprofen for Dinner

This weekend was spent digging.

Lots and lots of digging.

We're building a retaining wall in the back of our property so we can install a fence. There's a 3' dropoff down to the neighbor's yard, so just putting a fence wouldn't cut it. A block retaining wall is easy in theory, but digging a level 50' length can be tough. Especially when a giant mangled weed tree (Ailanthus altissima) is in your way. There is a giant o ne in the neighbor's yard that has produced lots of small trees from the underground roots and the seed pods. We had a widowmaker growing in our yard -- 18 inch diameter tree growing sideways at a 30 -40 degree angle. It had to go. It was unhealthy and dangerous. So Ken rented a chainsaw and I had a rope -- Ken would cut as I'd pull the branches so they wouldn't crash down on the neighbor's new fence. It took us about an hour to get it all down. Perfect -- except for the massive rootball that was still in the way of the fence. We tried pulling it out with Ken's truck, but it wasn't budging and Ken's tires were spinning. So we went for reinforcements and rented a stump grinder. A massive, massive machine with thumb-sized giant nubs on its rotating front blade. Ken removed the stump in about 20 minutes. The nasty clay dirt became incorporated with the new "mulch". Bonus. But we weren't quite finished -- there were still plenty of roots in the way of the retaining wall thanks to smaller tree shoots that had popped up over the years. In total, we tackled 4 of the neighbor's stumps (all shoots from that same tree). We worked all day Saturday and ate ibuprofen for dinner.


Yesterday I woke up to Ken already digging. He took a break and then I started digging. Then he came back out and we both continued digging. Ugh. We were about 90% finished when we left for his flag football game at 3. Then we couldn't bear the thought of digging more, so we went out with some friends for beer and wings instead. We stayed at the bar until it would be too dark to dig when we got home. It was a good choice. More ibuprofen. And sleep. We're exhausted and I can feel everything in my back muscles today. But we're almost there. I am so thankful for that stump grinder. And Ken. We made a great team.

Kinley's Frenemy

After the Hog Roast, Kinley wasn't quite himself. It could have been the massive pork bone(s) that he ate, the algae-filled side pond that he and the other dogs liked to traipse through or perhaps it was a few of those oyster shells he carried around in his mouth.

Whatever it was, the resulting "runny-ness" (not the good kind) and a couple of accidents (again, not the good kind) confirmed that something was most definitely wrong. Ken took Kinley to the vet yesterday along with a stool sample to find that poor pup has giardia. He's now on metronidasole, which should clear things up pretty quickly. Amazing that such "happy face" looking bugs can wreak so much havoc.

Home Work

It was our first weekend home in about two months. Not coincidentally, it is the first weekend where I've actually felt caught up and accomplished going into a monday.

Thursday night
We held a neighborhood barbecue at our house. There are four sets of new neighbors on our block, so it seemed like a good time to have a party. A week earlier, I dropped off postcard-like invitations in bright blue and light green to all the houses on our block, inviting people to come join us for a drink to meet the new neighbors. Everyone brought a dish to share. We had it at 6:30 and 20 people or so showed up; it went well, the neighborhood is really friendly and people got to know each other better, etc. I especially love our new neighbors who recently bought the duplex closest to us. They are very sweet and nice. I just heard that the other side sold; they close in October. Don't know who bought it yet.

Friday night
After work, Ken went to dodgeball pickup and I cleaned the brush from the backyard where we'll be putting in the fence. After the party the night before, working all day and then yardwork in the evening, I was cooked. I went to sleep at 9:40 and slept for 12 hours.

Saturday
I woke up at 9:40 to Ken and Kinley gone (the note said they were at the park and running some errands). I took it as a good sign to make my coffee and drink it at Portland Nursery while looking at plants and meandering around. It was a beautiful morning to do it. And since I also had to return some stakes that I didn't use, that meant a store credit which means I could bring home a new "friend" for "free". I went directly to the shade vines since I've been trying to liven up the walkway on the west side of the house. I found this beautiful variegated climbing hydrangea
on sale (Schizophragma hydrangeoides 'Moonlight') and purchased him. He's now one of five climbers I've planted over there this season (others include a jasmine, an early spring-blooming clematis, a passion flower and an evergreen climbing hydrangea that has red stems). They make me happy. As I was walking about, I found a sweet little obedient plant (a perennial) that had already bloomed and was therefore marked down 50%. In my cart, it went. And as I was walked through the citrus room, I finally saw him after two years of searching... a beautiful, healthy, inexpensive Meyer lemon tree. I have been waiting, not so patiently, for a long time. Meyer lemons are sweeter than normal lemons (almost like a lemon mixed with an orange). They are prized by cooks for their flavor but they are very expensive since their thin skin makes packaging/travel difficult. But now I have a sweet little one for my very own. I am excited. While I was at the nursery, I also got some fava beans and red clover seeds for my cover crops this winter. All total, I got out of there for around $22. A record.

Ken had rented a belt sander and was sanding down the garage doors when I got home. I put my new friends down and helped him. We made a good team. I had the heat gun and a scraper to remove the old, chipping paint while Ken sanded down the wood. It took us 5 hours, but it is finished. They are ready to be hung again.

I went to bed at 10 pm again.

Sunday
It's football season which means Ken was in the bar by 10 to watch his beloved Vikings. I slept another 12 hours and talked to my folks for a while before tackling the windows for the garage. We bought three reclaimed windows at the Rebuilding Center for a total of $27. I had already removed the old cracked glass and putty, stripped the old paint and sanded the wood window frames. Now they needed glass and to be re-puttied before we could hang them. I had never done either but the internet is a wonderful thing and the process seemed easy enough. I was going to make stained glass panels for the windows but since I have enough projects on my plate right now (thanks mom for talking some sense into me), we decided to use some beautiful old glass instead. I went down to the stained glass store to find some old-style ripply glass. They had a lot. I finally settled on "Old Reamy" which has an irregular wavy look to it. As the guy was cutting it for me (thanks again mom), he told me this story:

"In the movie Stardust, Michelle Pfieffer plays a witch who is trying to catch Claire Danes. In one scene, Pfieffer turns her carriage into an beautiful old English Inn to lure in Danes. Turns out the windows in the inn are 'Old Reamy'. There aren't too many glass manufacturers in the world, so I knew it immediately."

So there you go, Julie. Since you're probably the only one who will/has seen this movie, there's a bit of Hollywood in our old reclaimed windows. After he cut the glass, I went to the store to pick up my putty and glazing points. It is not very hard. I finished the windows in about 2 hours. They have to cure for 7-14 days before painting. I was very proud of myself.

The last bit of Sunday involved ordering the retaining wall blocks for the backyard fence (to be delivered Wednesday) and returning the neighbors' dishes from the barbecue along with some tomatoes from our garden.

And then more sleep.

Congratulations Kristen and Dave!

They got engaged this weekend in Mexico!

Hog Roast 2007

We had a blast and it was like nothing we've ever done before. 50+ people, 8-10 dogs, a keg of cold beer and a 170 lb pig. Chris' family does it every year and they were kind enough to invite his friends from Portland.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon to see Tent City in the front yard.


When we walked around back, they had a side yard where the pig would be going. They dug out a 3x5 foot pit about 2-3 feet deep. They put a metal grate level with the ground so the spent ashes could filter through. Then they used cinder blocks to pile around the pit and hold the coals. Everyone was to bring a bag of charcoal. An uncle had made the rotisserie using an old refrigerator motor and some chain. They've used it for years, but apparently this year was too much for it and the whole thing was destroyed. More on that later. Here are the coals just getting started:


From the side yard, you go down a small path to a large backyard and the Alsea river. Here's a view from the river looking back towards the house. The pig sideyard would be on the right. We played lots of games in the backyard and spent most of our time back there:


One of the games people played all weekend is Cornhole. It's from the midwest and one of our friends made it -- he's from Arkansas; I can't believe I actually know someone from Arkansas. Anyway, it's basically "get the beanbags in the hole/on the board" mixed with a bit of shuffleboard. People played it nonstop all weekend. Including a certain husband of mine.


A group of people had gone crabbing that morning, so there were lots of fresh crabs to eat. Just like back east but without the old bay. I was in heaven.




They also had a giant bowl of crawdads they caught from the river out back. I've never seen so many crawdads in my entire life. Here's me eating them. I liked the claws best. Most people saw them as too much work -- some would only the tails, leaving me with lots and lots of claws. Note, the giant bowl on the left was full; the bowl on the right are all of our leftover shells.:


Meanwhile, there were 8-10 dogs running around. It was a dog and water park combined! Plus food! It was Kinley's own little version of heaven. Here he is running down to the river to see some other dogs. Our tent is behind him on the left.


One of the dogs had been taught to "smile" to get treats. Here she is smiling:



So where is this pig, you ask? Right here. 18 hours of roasting compressed into a few pictures. Chris had done 100 lbs of pig in the past but upped it to 150 given the number of people. When the pig arrived, it was 170 lbs.

170 lbs of pig all dressed up:


Putting the pig on the spit. Pretty gnarly. You go through the skull and out the back end. Steel pole plus hammer equals good eats?


Here's the pig just after it went on the spit. Apparently 170 lbs of pig can immediately bend a steel pole. But it does not rip a cigarette from the pig's mouth. That's addiction for you.


At first the skin just starts to char. Very unappetizing. Since the motor broke and the pole bent, we had to hand-turn it every 40 minutes.


Plus, we had to keep basting the pig to keep it juicy. We used a watered down barbecue sauce and beer. Here's James basting the pig:


But all that basting and rotating eventually pay off. Here's the front of the pig before it got a lemon in its mouth:


And the backside of it around midnight.



I went to bed around 4 am. I couldn't make it up all night. Luckily 2 persevered until being relieved at 5:30. The pig was finished cooking around noon (as determined by thermometer in the ham) and was pulled to a picnic table. They covered it and allowed it to rest for about an hour. Even after all that time, it was still hot to the touch. Dogs started circling. They knew. Apparently some juice started dripping. Kinley started licking the ground while other dogs were licking his head onto which more juice was dripping.

When it was time, we started carving and picking the meat to be served. I have never pulled pork in a bikini before. Now I can say that I have.



Once the meat was pulled and the bones mostly cleaned, each dog got one. They were so happy. The meat was delicious and there was quite a bit left over. I think it's partly due to it being so hot on Sunday. Hot temperatures do not make a person want to eat hot pork. I slept most of the day on Sunday and we moved our tent to Tent City before crashing at 10 pm. I've never slept so well in a tent in my entire life.

Many thanks to Chris and his family for hosting us.