Now I'm 5'2"
by shoshanna
I got some big ass boots. They are black Frye harness boots, motorcycle boots. I got them at Portland Outdoor Store - not US Outdoor Store, the snowboarder place, but the Western store over on 3rd. That place is really cool. They sell like 50 kinds of cowboy boots, 100 styles of plaid shirts, 2,000 belt buckles, 15,400 pairs of brand new Levi's 501's, and that's it. Oh, and a million different cowboy hats, and a couple of horse hair belts. The people who work there are old and the store is old, it's been there for 90 years. It's a part of the old, seedy Portland that I love. My feet are totally killing me, because my new boots are really stiff and need to be broken in. But in a good way. Soon they will be a part of my body.
Lizzie and I went to La Buca again last night. It wasn't as good as the other time we went; I think it's the kind of place where it really depends on what you order. We got the al forno thing, it was like a square of baked cheesy ziti in marinara sauce. You can get sauasage in the sauce, or not. The dish was pretty good, basic, and the baked ziti had nice chewy texture, but it kind of reminded me of eating at Sbarro.
Tonight I'm going to attempt a noodle kugel, in honor of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. Shana tova!
Posted on September 23, 2006 | Comments (3)
Andina
by shoshanna
When I was volunteering at Music Fest Northwest, working the door at the teenage punk show at the Hawthorne Theater, the other volunteer was this girl Andra, who gave me pistachios. Now I am really into pistachios, and I especially like them in yogurt with cinnamon and apricot jam. Not only did Andra give me pistachios, but she told me that she worked at Andina and would take me there so we could get her sweet employee discount. It was kind of like being told you'd won the lottery.
Andina is this pretty swanky Peruvian place in the Pearl. There is the restaurant on one side and the more casual bar (which still serves the full menu and is all ages) on the other side and a wine shop underneath. We ate in the bar at a funny little tiny alcove table (which worked because we are both elf-size) and we ordered a salad, fried yuca roll things and this ceviche with mango and prawns and hot peppers that were orange but I can't remember which one, and red onions. It was amazing. They have a whole assortment of different types of ceviches, which I'd never seen before. The heat-sweet-sour combo was really effective. Then we had all these super crazy desserts. They had these Peruvian canoli things with crunchy shells that tasted kind of like cereal and creamy passionfruit flavored filling. And we had three tiny creme brulees flavored like Peruvian things. One was chocolate-clove, which was just really sexy. It was more like pot de creme than creme brulee but hey, who's complaining. One was a tangy passionfruit. And the other was "five spice" and kind of tasted like pumpkin pie. The chocolate clove was the best flavor, but the others were good because they were more like custard. Everyone who worked there was really nice, especially the owner lady, whose name I forget, who came and talked to us. She seemed really sincere and not all fakey-shmoozy. Even without the employee discount, it is still not too expensive to go and order small portions from the tapas menus. I am totally going to go back. Thanks for the good times Andra!
Posted on September 20, 2006 | Comments (0)
What is for dinner
by shoshanna
Tonight's menu:
99 cent vegetarian chili with fake meat, embellished by mushrooms, garlic, pepper, and cheddar
home-grown heirloom and cherry tomatoes with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper
It was really good.
Posted on September 11, 2006 | Comments (0)
Friday was the awesomest day ever
by shoshanna
1. I got Kiehl's moisturizer for free.
2. It was pretty out and I rode my bike in Ladd's Addition.
3. I made insanely good salmon with roasted fennel, onion, and tarragon and ate it with Adrian Chen.
4. I SAW THE ZOMBIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted on September 10, 2006 | Comments (4)
Cavities and how to get them
by shoshanna
I went to the dentist and got drilled today. They gave me two fillings. Then half my face was numb for the rest of the day. It was really weird. Later I took a long, sweaty, slobbery nap. It was great. On my way back to the house I saw the freshly risen moon, which was perfectly round, cream-colored, and enormous, rising over the Alameda ridge.
Oh wait, people like it when this blog is about food. So, OK, I had cold leftover pizza from Rovente Pizza for breakfast and for dinner. Cold pizza is the bomb. Oh yeah, and yesterday I went to Bar Pastiche with Adrian and had, like, ten million tiny things. The best was a tiny marzipan pastry and a churro with goopy Spanish-style hot chocolate. Sorry, but I just have to say it: When I had this in Spain it was better.
Posted on September 7, 2006 | Comments (0)
La Buca!
by shoshanna
For some reason, even though I'm not punk anymore, when I'm on Northeast 28th I still only go to Beuhlaland and the Hungry Tiger. Why? I have no idea. Oh wait, yeah, it's because they have ridiculously cheap drinks. Last night I was at Beuhlaland with some friends and we were hungry and I think it was the first time in history someone has made a good idea while hungry. We said, eating here would be stupid when we are on 28th and could go anywhere. So we went to La Buca. Holy crap, was it good. And about the same price as Beuhlaland. I had this pasta with pancetta, mushrooms, cheese, and I think it was vermouth in the sauce, that did something really crazy and amplified the mushrooms to 11. It tasted incredible. My dining partners got pasta puttanesca, or whatever the one with the capers is, and a stewy pulled pork thing with peas over polenta, which seemed very rustic/comfort foody, simple, stew-like. So refreshing to eat somewhere that doesn't make a big deal but is better than you'd think, instead of vice versa.
Posted on September 2, 2006 | Comments (1)