"Where's the turkey, Chuck? Don't you know anything about Thanksgiving dinners?"

It's hard to get excited about Thanksgiving when you can't eat mashed potatoes or gravy.  Just sayin'.

Regardless, we were headed a few hours south for dinner Thursday so I wanted a couple of simple recipes we could make the night before or that morning, that would travel well and not require precious oven space upon arrival. 

I found two from my new hero, The Wannabe Chef, whose motto ("love the ingredients, not the food") and totally simple, mostly gluten-free, handful-of-ingredients recipes won me over a few months ago. 

First came the maple roasted brussel sprouts.  Apparently this maple-syrup-brussel-sprouts business is really common, but it was news to me earlier this week.  Good news, it turns out.  They were a bit overdone but still delicious, and they traveled well. 

not pictured: the brussel sprouts we actually used to make the dish

Next up: maple almond butter sandwich cookies.  I am all for homemade nut butter but I bought pre-made almond butter just for convenience this time.  We used the whole jar for a double batch of the cookies (which took about 3 seconds to whip up, by the way) so I had to improvise for the filling.  After a 10 minute showdown between my As Seen On TV Faboo Quad Pro food processor and the filling ingredients, I decided to settle for chunky almond creme, and I actually think it made for a more interesting texture and tastier filling.  And I'm not just saying that because I'm lazy.

The kids tore into the cookies as soon as we put them out after dinner, probably because they looked like peanut butter cookies and tasted like gingersnaps and had creamy sugary buttery mapley goodness in the middle.  The adults got a few as well.  We set aside a few cookies while packing food that morning (which will go fast) and a few spoonfuls of filling (which will go wonderfully on... something yet to be determined...  pancakes, perhaps?  who am I kidding?  I suspect it will go wonderfully on a spoon on the way to my mouth).

no spoon necessary

Finally we threw together a quinoa pecan salad with parsley, mint and lemon.  I overcooked the quinoa just a bit the night before but in the end it didn't really matter.  So easy, so tasty, so protein-packed! 

 note to self: make more

Couple all of this with turkey, ham, fresh veggies and homemade wine (and maybe some ill-advised cheesecake sans crust too close to the quinoa salad, but only mildly ill-advised) and I'd call my first healthy Thanksgiving a success.

I think that calls for some sausage.

Friday five!

How totally cliche - five things I'm thankful for, in no particular order... except for maybe the first and last ones:

• that my basic needs of food, clothing and shelter are met every day
• being able to run 3 or 9 or 13.2 miles in a row
• peanut butter
• winter sunrises and sunsets
• my small but powerful support network (here, near and far) who keep me grounded, open their homes and hearts to me, teach me something almost every time we talk, and make me laugh

_______________
What?  You're thankful for peanut butter too.  I know that you are.

Plans!

three emails this week:
"portland!"  "portland?"  "in portland"
love when friends visit

Pins and needles...

good job, florida
lookin' good, my maryland
virginia... deep sigh

ears versus forehead
this is how some people vote
sadly not kidding

i'll give YOU four years
and a crapload of issues...
let's see what you do

organic farming
not seventeen billion kids
sends the right message

varied results from
fox vs huffington post
quite interesting

really, fox?

however it ends
democracy in action
is pretty damn cool

 

to democracy!

Belated Friday five.

Five movies we have seen recently(ish), in one sentence and no particular order:

• The Hunger Games - everything about this movie bothered me and yet I liked it a lot.
• Moonrise Kingdom - I'm really not sure how Wes Anderson keeps topping himself, but he has now officially set the bar impossibly high.
• Beasts of the Southern Wild - could've done without the prehistoric monsters, but otherwise a really interesting and moving film.
• Samsara - the aliens must think we are ABSOLUTELY INSANE.
• The Dark Knight Rises - I had so many questions afterward, the main two being "why the hell does anyone still live in Gotham City?" and "why the hell are they still making Batman movies?"

Holy cow, it's almost November.

A little late on the recap.  Hmm... a lot late.  Patience patience patience. 

• practice patience - check... mostly
• get healthy - check... mostly (I looked back through food pictures and many of them prominently feature bacon or sausage, and I'm not doing nearly as much yoga as I'd like, but the gluten-free potato-free diet continues rather successfully and I did start training for a half marathon)
• be crafty - this in June, not so much during 3Q, but 4Q is shaping up nicely (thank you, holiday cards!)
• anything on The List - nothing done but numerous things are in progress (hey 6, 12, 20, 24, 29 - I'm talking to you)

I struggled with the patience goal.  I'm just not a very patient person, especially when it comes to myself and the very high bar I set for everything I do...  Or the lack of time in the day...  Or people in general...  Or work.  Especially not work.  I found that smiling helped a lot at work.  I smiled extra big during a meeting a few weeks ago when I explained that 3Q was up and my patience goal had officially expired.  However, I would like to informally continue this goal.  To help with that, in late September I started a volunteer gig in which I teach English once a week.  I've found this to be a good patience test with the added bonus of it being in a positive and constructive environment. And it's also just terribly fun!

So now the next 3 months:

• find free fun - other than teaching English once a week
• branch out on gluten free baking - it's winter, which means rainy Sundays, which means lots of time in the kitchen with a warm oven and recipes like these
• finish Wildwood
• anything on The List

Why free fun, you ask?  Why not?  Spending money does not guarantee fun or enjoyment, and I'm tired of watching my hard earned cash slip away for an experience I don't remember fondly.  Last weekend we went to the apple tasting festival at the local nursery - a few hours, a full belly of apples, and zero dollars.  (Well, except for the $6 we spent on apples.)  Last night we spent $40 on happy hour and entertainment, and it was alright but not worth $40.

(I just re-read that last paragraph and I think it's safe to say that I'm officially old.  Now ask me about my senior discount, and then get off my lawn!)

The tricky part about the baking goal is that I can't eat dairy and grain together, which eliminates 95% of the recipes I find online.  A while back I said I would still bake with real flour and just not eat the result...  Well, after making apple brownies last weekend and having to see them in the refrigerator every day, that resolution has been thrown out the window.  Perhaps a side effect of this goal will be to find a website actually dedicated to people with my exact food intolerance?  (Or to start one?)

And about Wildwood.  I bought it a year ago.  I even went to the reading and got a signed copy.  I was very excited about it.  Since then I've started it about six times and just can't get into it.  I get tripped up on the expected audience.  Twelve year olds won't know a lot of the words he uses, and 37 year olds don't have patience to look them up.  This makes me sad (faithful readers will know how much I celebrate Mr. Maloy's entire collection) so I will keep trying, and maybe by New Year's Eve I can label it as "read" and move on with my life.

And here... we...  go!

Ode to Frank Turner.

wrote you an email
you actually replied
indebted fans for life

Maryland, my Maryland.

maryland blue crab
one bushel plus four hours
nowhere close to full

before

after

splitting half and half
annapolis, baltimore
really good idea

Annapolis

Baltimore

mentally taxing
and physically exhausting
but still a good trip

(hotel in Baltimore, also really good idea)

OMMMMMM and some junk.

practicing patience
and "you can DO IT" mantra...
only six more months

Haiku to TriMet.

i did not expect
a huge decrease in service
with the last fare hike

(Thursday's HOTD.  Not funny, but true.)

Oh, THAT'S why you were yelling at me.

thank you, shirtless man
for pointing out the bee swarm
though you were just weird

(Wednesday's HOTD.  I can't figure out how to retroactively post under blogger's new format.)

Fun with camping/road trip food. (Really!)

The eight-day road trip was pretty successful, food-wise and overall.  Who knew that gluten, potato, and grain/cheese intolerance on the road could be so easy?  (Of course, it helped that we packed two full grocery bags and a cooler before heading out.)  Here's a quick summary of how we did it...

We started and ended with coffee, bacon and eggs at local diners.  The starting breakfast was much more satisfying than the end.

Cricket Cafe - Day One

Drift Inn (Yachats) - Day Eight

(Although my four-cheese omelette was disappointing, with just a clump of cheese slapped between an egg tortilla of sorts, and the service there is absolutely terrible, I will give it to the Drift Inn - Patrick's spinach/feta frittata was pretty good, dinner the night before was delicious, their food is fresh, and I got to choose polenta over toast/biscuits at breakfast.  This reminder has inspired several polenta dishes recently and I can't wait to explore more of this wonderful food-I-can-eat.  Polenta croutons are next on the list.  As with any breakfast I handed those potatoes over as soon as she set the plate down though.)

And OH MY GOD if you are ever in Yachats go to the Green Salmon and get a cup of their Melitta filtered house coffee.  I don't care if you don't like coffee - just do it. 

Otherwise, camp breakfast was coffee, oatmeal, and whatever additions we felt like that morning: dried cranberries, honey, peanut butter, dried bananas, fresh peaches, slivered almonds, flax and chia seeds were all viable options.  Honey and peanut butter were always chosen.  Good to know that a container of quick cook steel cut oats from Trader Joe's and a bag of Peet's were just the right amount for the week.  Note to self: next time bring cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice!

about 3 minutes before I spilled my coffee the last morning

Road snacks and lunch consisted mostly of rice cakes/peanut butter, Whole Foods Spanish mix, Trader Joe's plantain chips/cheese, and lots of dried and fresh fruit.  However! One simple peanut and safflower oil treat Patrick found in Crescent City inspired me to check Fritos (my road trip weakness) to see if they were safe - AND THEY ARE!  And Trader Joe's has a Frito imitation chip that's way less greasy than the name brand!  All of this information made me very happy.  These peanut poofs made me happy too.

 thank you, Israel!

Dinner was just delicious.  Every single bite, every single night.  And so easy (thanks in part to heavy duty aluminum foil - sorry environment, I make up for it every other day of the year).  The night before we left I made a big batch of quinoa for me and couscous for Patrick, with just a little olive oil and salt and pepper, and this lasted us four days in the cooler and served as the base for the first several dinners.

I also brought along a freezer bag full of spice jars (the basics like rosemary, parsley, oregano, red pepper flakes, plus a few surprises), and we tried to vary the produce with each meal (except for corn, which we ate at every opportunity).  Protein at each meal included either salami, soy curls or fresh fish we picked up that day. 

corn, brussel sprouts, salami, quinoa/couscous

corn, asparagus, snapper, quinoa/couscous

zucchini, carrots, snapper/cod

 fresh oysters - four each gave us a week's worth of iron!
or something ridiculous like that

 precooked brown rice, canned black beans, farmer's market tomatoes, salami

 eggplant, mushrooms, bean threads, soy curls, garam masala

We only ate out a few times...  Once in Brookings when we were really craving a burger but the "best burger joint on the coast" was closed, so we agreed to hit Dick's Kitchen when we were back in Portland and settled on the DoLittle Cafe for a Cobb salad w/oil and vinegar for me, BLAT for him.

Once in Bandon to try the infamous Tony's Crab Shack fish tacos...

pretty good, but not *the best* I've ever had

And dinner and the aforementioned breakfast at the Drift Inn in Yachats.

dungeness crab salad for me

dungeness crab and artichoke bake for him

Dessert was usually peanut butter with dark chocolate (Trader Joe's to the rescue again, with their dark chocolate peanut butter cups).  Except when it was peanut butter fudge, dark chocolate fudge, or some combination of the two.

And yes, there was wine and whiskey involved.  Back in the day Franzia {shudder barf} used to be the only wine-in-a-box option.  Recently I've definitely seen an upswing in the variety of boxed wine at the grocery stores, and since we got back we've leaned toward that because they do seem more eco-friendly.  (And we're not super picky about wine.)  (And we are cheap... er, frugal.)

Bandit and Bota Box wines are surprisingly good.  Black Box, on the other hand, not so good.  And the box is shiny so we couldn't burn it in the campfire.  I didn't stoop to Columbia Crest or any of the other crap I wouldn't buy bottled either, so I have no opinion on those.

You do have to be careful with these boxes though.  There's no way to monitor how much you're drinking unless you count refills, and after a few refills who counts refills?  Not that I learned this from experience or anything.  Really, I didn't.  I'm just supposing.

neither Bandit nor Bota Box -

I had two glasses

So...  After all this, I had only one minor issue, and I think that was the cole slaw from Tony's Crab Shack.  (Not that it was bad - but I think there was some vegetable gum in the dressing or something.)  And even that was fairly painless.  Pretty amazing, and a really good reinforcement of what fresh food can do for you.

Well, fresh food charred with carcinogens and paired with wine in a box, I suppose.

Let's just keep going.

wrapping up road trip
with whiskey and Long Way Down
not a good idea

File under: owwwww.

oh stomach issues
how i have soooo not missed you
let me count the ways

Belated Friday five.

 

I think we're gonna need a bigger grill

Five things I have recently done with an abundance of suburban house-sitting zucchini, in no particular order:

• Buckwheat zucchini bread.  (I subbed sorghum flour - my new favorite flour! - for AP flour.)  Due to the aforementioned abundance of zucchini, we've tried numerous variations on this recipe, including muffins instead of loaf bread, subbing mashed banana for applesauce, adding currants, adding dark chocolate chips and walnuts.  It's BREAD THAT I CAN EAT (!) and I can't complain about any of it, although I lean less toward the currants and more toward the dark chocolate chips and walnuts.  But it's really alllll good and I will happily eat the currant muffins tomorrow morning.
• Zucchini bread with chocolate chips.  As much as I wanted to love this recipe, it was only good when compared to the above recipe.  To be fair, it could be that I used sorghum flour for the almond flour.  But we are still enjoying the leftovers of this too.
• Zucchini cakes.  At first I thought this was actual cake and I got very excited.  Upon reading the recipe one evening I realized it was a breakfast thing, so we tried it... twice... and it was good, but not something I would make if I didn't have an abundance of zucchini on hand.  Don't skimp on the dill and salt the zucchini for a good half hour before embarking upon this one.
  
  
  
• Stuffed zucchini with tomatoes and mozzarella.  O. M. G.  So tasty.  So. Tasty.
• Grilled zucchini. I can't believe there are actual recipes for this.  I mean, you just slice it, throw it on the grill and enjoy.  Who really needs a recipe for that?

I miss that Weber

I ate bread, and it was OK. And then it wasn't OK.

It's been about eight weeks since I started my potato-free, wheat-free, no-dairy-plus-grains adventure.  Other than occasional memory lapses, I've committed wholeheartedly to the diet.  I just feel so great, why wouldn't I?  (Although I still have zero energy where running is concerned... frustrating.)

Wednesday night we cashed in our 2-for-1 Chinook Book coupon for the Oregon Culinary Institute.  Their motto is "Training Kitchen Ninjas"; more fitting might be "Training Tattooed Hipsters"... but whatevs.  I'd been once before and had a great experience, so I checked the menu last week, verified that it seemed mostly safe, and reserved a table for their fixed price 4-course dinner.

And then the night came.  We were celebrating. I was weak.  (I miss bread.)  I was also experimenting a bit - maybe now that my system is happy, a little indulgence would be OK? 

It was a good lesson.  And a fantastic meal as well.

All I have to say about the starter is this:  whoever decided that speck ham and peaches were a perfect pair should be the next president. 

grilled speck ham wrapped peach, 

 flageolet bean fritters with calabrian chili aioli

Well, maybe that's not all I have to say about the starter.  The peaches melted in your mouth, and the salty/sweet combo was wonderful.  The bean fritters (what I should not have eaten, exhibit A) were quite tasty too, although the aioli was a bit too creamy or oily - we couldn't decide which.  For the record, I only had a tiny taste of the fritters.

Next up: salads.  And what I should not have eaten, exhibit B.

salads of arugula and fennel, summer greens with figs
... and that darned bread

 
in addition to learning that I need to stick to this diet, 

I also learned that I need more figs in my life

The tender figs in the salad were bursting with flavor and paired deliciously with the olives and other vegetables.  My arugula and fennel salad was bright and spicy.

In total I probably ate about a piece of that bread, breaking off little chunks at a time and eating lots of "me-friendly" food in between.  It was good, but it wasn't that good.  Not good enough to scrap eight weeks of progress.

sauteed salmon with sweet corn, chanterelles and bacon

grilled carleton farms pork chop with speck ham and roasted veggies

The salmon was pretty basic, but the pork chop was possibly the highlight of the evening.  Sorry, pigs, but it was a ham, bacon and pork chop kind of meal.  (Notice the lack of reference to "what I should not have eaten" here.  Ha!)

Maybe this is common in fancier restaurants or with fixed price meals, but I loved that there was no rice, no grains, no pasta - just meat and vegetables.  Simple, healthy, how food should be.

creme brulee and caramel nut tart

And for dessert, I planned to just try the caramel nut part of the tart and ended up eating half of the tart shell too (what I should not have eaten, exhibit C).  It was tasty, the whole cream ice cream was tasty, the creme brulee was tasty...  And I should not have eaten any of it in that combination.  Just the creme brulee or ice cream would've been fine, I think.

This was the point where I resigned myself to the forthcoming pain.  Oddly, it hit me about 16 hours later, instead of the usual four.  But it hit me hard, and lasted quite a while.

Which is not to say that I won't eat bread again. 

But it's going to have to be some pretty damn good bread.

Belated Saturday HOTD.

backyard picnic
followed by hammock nap...
suburbs could be worse

Eau d'suburbia.

lawns and dogs and flags
soccer moms and cul de sacs
and miles of long roads

hour plus commute
coupled with 9-9 work week
is quite exhausting

yes the bus ride sucks
but reading two whole chapters
almost compensates

after a week here
arcade fire's album now
makes a lot more sense

“Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”

So yeah, I watched Julie and Julia a few weeks ago.  Mostly for Meryl - god bless that woman, she is amazing - but also because of all this homemade DIY cooking I've been doing lately, and also because I've been on a "books about writing" kick so I thought I would change it up a little and watch a movie about writing (among other things)... And also because it just happened to be at the library one day a few weeks ago.  God bless the Multnomah County Library too, while I'm at it.

As expected, Amy Adams got on my nerves (I can never tell, is it her, her characters or a little of both?) but like Julia, "Julie" had some gusto.  Some real drive.  Over 500 recipes in just one year?  That trumps my 90-haikus-in-a-quarter project by a long shot.  (But who's counting?)  I was happy when she finished her last recipe.  And I wondered if, after that endeavor, she went back to life as usual - or did she embark upon a whole new crazy adventure?

I'm sure Wikipedia would have an answer but I honestly don't like her enough to look it up.  I do, however, associate with the soul-killing office job and the need to create and achieve and feel fulfilled outside of office hours.

I'm not sure how to best manifest this in my own personal life right now.  DIY food, cardmaking, reading, writing are all fun but time-consuming (and sometimes expensive).  By the time I get home, do some sort of exercise and eat, it's 9pm.  My spring chicken days of staying up past midnight and getting up at 6am are long gone.  And right now we are housesitting in suburbia, which means a much longer commute and housesitting duties like watering the beautiful garden that provides our dinner each night and spending hours and hours petting the adorable kitteh.

 

beautiful garden that provides our dinner each night

 

adorable kitteh

Rough life, I know, but I have even less time for time-consuming activities.  So for now, I bide my cubeland hours and work on Plan B.

And while I'm doing that, I watch the sunset.

Can you see the sunset real good on the West side?
You can see it on the East side too.

Thank you, lady who blocked the intersection as the light turned red and I started to cross the street.

really amazing
how your heartfelt "i'm sorry"
turned ire into calm

(File under: and I'm not being sarcastic.)