A Jersey Girl in Portland

Carne Asada en mi Nueva Casa (Carne Asada in my new house)

After agonizing, organizing, fretting and packing, I have finally moved. My cozy little NW Portland apartment is swept clean and empty, my new place is freshly painted and filled with the accumulated possessions of two 50-year-old women. I'm glad I moved but I'll miss walking to work and having so many restaurants and stores at hand.

But, the SE Portland home I share with @radiantlisa is beautiful and has a FABULOUS kitchen.

I celebrated New House by having a friend over for dinner two nights ago.

He wanted tacos, so I made tacos. Carne Asada tacos topped with onion, cilantro and lime with refried beans, guacamole and salsa cruda. I made everything from scratch.

I'm really pleased with the beef marinade.  It was tart, sweet and boozy.

Leftovers!

Carne Asada

2 - 4 pounds flank steak

1 ea small onion, finely chopped

1 ea large jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped

1 ea plum tomato, roughly chopped

4 ea garlic cloves, finely minced

1/4 bunch cilantro (about 2 tablespoons roughly chopped)

Juice of 2-4 limes (depending on the size -- I used three)

Juice of 1 lemon

1 heaping tablespoon of orange juice concentrate

1/2 cup beer -- any lager or hefeweisen will do. I used Modelo Especial -- and drank the remainder of the bottle with a slice of lime as I cooked refried beans.

1 Tbsp cumin

1-1/2 tspns coriander seed, ground with a mortar and pestle

1 Tbsp salt

Combine all ingredients in a gallon-sized plastic bag or other vessel. Marinate for a minimum of four hours. Preferably overnight.

Sear on a grill or saute pan and cook to desired degree of doneness.

I also made a really killer batch of refried beans. Wanna know how? OK.

Refried beans

1/2 cup lard or bacon fat. Only use olive oil if you must.

2 cans organic pinto beans -- drained (use only the unseasoned kind, with 5% sodium or less) OR soak dried beans overnight and cook for 1 - 2 hours -- using roughly three cups of cooked beans.

1 onion small dice

1 jalapeno seeded and finely chopped

2 cloves garlic

2 tspns cumin

1/2 tspn cayenne

1/2 cup Queso Fresco (white Mexican crumbly cheese)

cilantro leaves

Salt TT

Melt lard in a medium, straight sided saute pan. Cook onion and jalapeno until translucent. Add garlic, cook until fragrent. Add drained beans. Cook the beans for 5 minutes or so then begin mashing them with a potato masher. Add water as needed to correct the consistency. The beans should have body, but not be paste-like. Nor should they be runny -- unless you like runny frijoles refritos. I sure don't.

Serve topped with crumbled Queso Fresco and cilantro leaves.

The meal was a great success. The date -- well... It's a good thing the food was really tasty as the Universe saw fit to bestow upon me 1) zits 2) my period and 3) gas.<sheesh>

Love Big,

xoxo

Nancy

Kindness, moving, and cinnamon schnapps cocktails

Moving:

I'm getting ready to move. Movers are hired and packing as slowly begun. I

Dining room overhead lamp.

should say 'packing has s-l-o-w-l-y begun.'

 

By "packing" I mean that I've moved some jars and shoes, packed a box of books and  thought long and hard about things. Why just the other day I threw away a stained thermal shirt and an ugly sweater.

It's not exactly packing, but it's a step closer. 

While thinking about packing (see above, thinking of things), I had this crazy notion that I needed to empty my liquor cabinet of some odd bits of hooch. You know, lighten the load. So I spent part of the weekend making kooky cocktails. This is one of my favorites.

Cinnamon Schnapps Cocktails:

Firecracker

1 oz Cinnamon schnapps

3 squirts Tabasco Sauce *

3 squirts cherry bitters OR 1/2 oz cherry schnapps

Shake with ice and drink straight up.

*In a drink like this, I like the flavor of Tabasco. The vinegary, salty flavor and the subtle-to-aggressively finish. Use what you will, but my recommendation is Tabasco.

Kindness:

My friend Jay Lake (much published author) has cancer. In order to better understand (and combat) the insidious tumorous-bastard-cancer, he needs a very expensive ($20,000) genetic test. The kind of test that isn't covered by his insurance.

A couple of his writer friends began a kickstarter fundraiser to raise cash for the test. The fundraiser is called Acts of Whimsy. It's raised double the amount needed for the test. Check it out, some of the Whimsy's are quite hysterical.

Jay is a wonderful writer and giving of his time and talent. His battle with cancer has been loud and public. Thousands of people follow his blog. And, he is much loved. By more people than just me. This is probably not a battle he will win in the traditional sense. But win he has, for with every post he writes about this terrible fucking disease, he helps another person cope.

Speaking of love...

Love Big,

xoxo

Nancy

Yak ribs and a mushroom tart recipe

I'm making dinner for a feller (I'll call him T-Bird) tomorrow. Oysters on the half-shell, yak ribs braised in tomato and fennel, butter poached golden beets (I think I'll add thyme and garlic), sauteed swiss chard, and an apple tart made with Newton Pippin green apples.

As George Takai would say, "Oh Myyyyyy."*

Doesn't the meal sound delicious? I like yak meat quite a bit. It's beefier tasting than beef and less stringy than goat.

But, what I'm really excited about (aside from an evening with a sweet guy) is using/discovering a different pie apple. Newton Pippin apples. I really like the name. Newton Pippin. Lovely name.The apples come from Kiyokawa Family Orchards. I picked them up at the Portland Farmers Market winter market that opened today.

In order to make said apple pie, I made a large batch of pie dough. I had some extra so I threw together a mushroom tart for dinner.

If only you could smell it. So divine.

You want the recipe, don't you?

Mushroom tart

1 ea pie crust

1-1/2 pounds mushrooms mixed -- I used mostly crimini -- medium dice

1 medium onion finely chopped

1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar

1/4 cup shredded romano, parmesan, grana -- any hard, aged cheese

2 eggs, beaten with...

1 Tbsp white wine... and...

3 Tbsp heavy cream

1/2 tspn thyme

salt to taste -- be sure to use less salt if you're using a salty cheese like romano.

Toss all ingredients together.

Spoon into a prepared crust, bake according to package directions, or bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees, then cut the heat to 350 and bake for 30 minutes more.

Eat well &

Love big,

xoxo

Nancy

 

 

* I 'effin love George Takai for his activism, his humor, and moral honesty. Love the guy.

Want luck in the New Year? Eat this.....

For as long as I can remember, I've eaten Pork and Sauerkraut on January 1. It's a Pennsylvania Dutch (German) tradition. It's a family tradition, etched it stone.

The only year I didn't eat Pork and Sauerkraut on New Years Day, I broke my foot on January 3rd. I'm not one to mess with the Universe so today I'll be eating Pork and Sauerkraut.

Over the years, as I've moved about the country, new New Year's 'good luck' traditions share a table with the old stand-by.

In Washington DC, which is the South, Black Eyed Peas were consumed for luck.

In Texas, it was tamales. And black eyed peas.

For most of the time I lived in Tejas, our January 1 meal was Pork and Sauerkraut, Black Eyed Peas and Tamales.

I'm in Portland now, so I'm making just pork and sauerkraut. And this is how...

Pork and Sauerkraut

Pork roast, 2 - 4 pounds

2 - 4 cups sauerkraut *

1 - 2 yellow onions

1 - 2 red onions

1/4 cup white wine or beer -- lager or anything transparent (no porter or stout)

Liberally salt and brown pork roast on all sides. Julienne onions. Surround the browned roast with onions and add beer or wine.

Roast at 350 for 20 minutes per pound.

When the timer goes off, remove roast and cut into medium sized chunks. It will probably still be bloody and medium rare. Top the pork chunks with sauerkraut and return to the oven for 20 minutes.

Serve it with mashed potatoes or whole, buttered new potatoes.

 

My new year begins and with it a journey of sorts. I found a house to rent with a fantastic roommate, Lisa, in south east Portland. I'll vacate my little NW love nest as of Feb 1, the same day -- five years ago -- that I moved in.

My resolutions this year are simple. To better love my loved ones. Floss my teeth daily, eat more bran and...

 

Love big,

xoxo

Nancy

 

* This is my recipe for home made sauerkraut.