Almond Butter

Now, I will be modifying the point of this blog a little, since I am getting a new apartment that will be sucking my monthly money away like an industrial vacuum might -- it will now be more like PDX Glutton On a Budget.

However, while I am still living for free with a wonderful woman who shops at New Seasons. We bought this great stuff the other day -- almond butter!! It's delish. It's near the "grind your own" peanut butter, and it comes out the same way. You grind it fresh yourself. It has a great almond flavor, just a little more bitter than peanut butter, and definitely sweeter. It is super spendy, though, so make sure you really want it, or have a special occasion for it!

New Seasons Almond Butter: $8.99/lb

Pizzicato

As you get off the bus on the corner of NE Fremont and 42nd Ave, you are often haunted by the warm, baked pizza scent - it wafts across the parking lot, seeking people out, I swear!

I finally gave in to the aroma, and decided to check out the source: Pizzicato Pizza.

I had a delicious slice of a daily special: pesto Parmesan! It had a pesto sauce, with mozzarella cheese, strips of spinach, and jalapenos, I believe. It was mildly spicy, and very crispy.

Pizzicato, in addition to having great pizza, gives back to the neighborhood! They have a "Dough for Dollars" program, which gives 20% of a day's sales to participating Portland-area schools! Last year they gave over $46,000!

They also have bio-degradable cups (like the one in the photo) which are made out of recycled plant material, and they can be composted/recycled again! In my cup you see fresh strawberry lemonade!


Pizza: 3 (approx, /slice)
Lemonade: 2.5

Sweet Basil

My housemate and I were obliged to eat Thai food the other night, when a friend stopped by on his way to a recording session in Salem, and suggested we visit over dinner. I'm kidding about the "obliged" part, of course -- I have to "oblige" people by NOT eating Thai food for dinner every night of the week!

Sweet Basil is a renowned restaurant in Portland, winning pick of the week several times, and making the Top 100 under several Portland restaurant lists. Located on NE Broadway, Sweet Basil boasts "The elegant side of Thai food."

However sorely tempted I was to get the Pad See Ew -- I think I'm addicted to it! -- I decided on something much more photo- and blog-worthy. Pineapple Fried Rice. What arrived on the table in front of me was an entire pineapple jack-o-lantern, stuffed with a pungent, pineapple-laden rice. Whole cherry tomatoes, shrimp, chicken, cashews, raisins and cilantro graced the dish with their presence. It was a great adventure through salty, sweet, and exotic grainland. There is also an item on the menu called "Hawaiian Fried Rice," which mentions the same ingredients, but not the pineapple jack-o-lantern.

For a drink, I ordered a Gewurtztraminer wine, from Montinore, OR. Sweet Basil describes it with "intense floral aromas with pink grapefruit and orange on the palate. Dry finish." Floral grapefruit is right! This is the best wine I've had anywhere so far. It was really mild, and sweet, and really smooth on the taste buds. I have a taste for really mild wine, however. So if you like your wine dry and tangy, I would suggest something else for you!

Pineapple Fried Rice: 15
Gewurtztraminer: 6

Moonstruck: Pt. 2

After a dinner at Marrakesh, it's time for some chocolatey delights! And since Moonstruck is right there...

This, my friends, is a Razzleberry Cream Cone. It's filled with a French butter cream, and just the right hint of raspberry, making for a delicately pink, light, fluffy cream. It was hard to choose between all the chocolates! Moonstruck has all of their adorable chocolate animals out for Easter, and since I didn't know whether I wanted a mouse, or a bunny, or a ladybug; I chose a cream cone! Classic, right? Can't go wrong.

Razzleberry Cream Cone: 2.5

Marrakesh

The extent of my experience with Moroccan food has been Moroccan Chicken Wraps at the Valsetz dining hall at Western Oregon University. They were ok. Lots of curry and raisins.

But this! Oh, I shall never eat Valsetz' Moroccan Chicken Wraps again!

My dad, my aunt, and I waited around for the restaurant Marrakesh to open. When it did, we entered a very, very dimly lit place. We were greeted by a short, friendly man wearing a tall red cap, and asked whether we would like to sit on the floor, or on the couch. We chose the floor. There were only short, beautifully inlaid tables, surrounded by colorful little mushroom seats stitched of leather, with the option of loud paisley couches against the walls. It's not a good idea to wear a short skirt, if you so wish to sit on a mushroom seat!

The walls were all carpeted, with beautiful patterns of red and blue, which contrasted magnificently with the couches. Looking up, draperies billowed from the ceiling. The only things I'm pretty sure have nothing to do with Morocco were the strings of miniature Christmas lights that scrambled along the walls.He brought us menus, and three white terrycloth towels. There's only one price for everything (unless you have 4+ people in your party). You choose a unique entree, and the rest is up to Marrakesh. I chose Tagine of Chicken Honey and Prunes.
Our waiter took our orders, then brought out a large, ornate copper pot and pitcher. He instructed us to hold our hands over the kettle, to wash them, as he poured warm water from the pitcher. Aha! That, my friends, are what the towels are for!
Our first course was lentil soup, which was brought in small blue bowls, without spoons. It was delectably spicy.

Our second course, which came with fresh squares of bread, was the salad. It was a diced cucumber, tomato, cilantro and spices, surrounding a scoop of beans. The bread was our silverware.The third course was by far the most interesting bit of the meal. Called B'stilla Royale, it was a round pastry of phyllo dough, stuffed with chicken, scrambled eggs, raisins, dates, and myriad Eastern spices. The top was dusted with powdered sugar, and criss-crossed with cinnamon. It was hard to decide to mess it up, just to eat it! But I'm glad we did. The way the phyllo dough crackles under your fingers is of the utmost satisfaction a person can have. Seeing your dad make a complete slobby mess of his side of the table with powdered sugar is also pretty satisfying.


Finally, our entrees arrived. Still no silverware, people! Isn't it great? I could eat an entire vat of Tagine of Chicken Honey and Prunes. The chicken was slathered with a mass of sticky, sweet prune sauce, and peppered with almonds. All manners in La La Land with the silverware, I dipped and double dipped and slurped as much prune sauce on my chicken as I could. I also had some of my aunt's lamb, and took a photo of Dad's Tagine Chicken Apricot.
The waiter brought out the pitcher again, and we rinsed our hands a second time. Then he brought out the final course: milk pudding with almonds on top. As amusing as it would be to tell you that we ate this, too, with our hands, I cannot. We did indeed have spoons for this last portion!
Marrakesh is a great restaurant. Completely different from anywhere I have been before, and well-worth the time and money!

3 people or less: 18.5 (your choice of entree, 5 course meal with soup, salad, b'stilla royale, and dessert))
4+ people: 20 (with daily specials)
8+ people: 30 (with a huge hunk of lamb - call three days in advance!)

Starbucks: Caramel Apple Spice

This blog has been really good for me, in that it makes me write, every day, and in that it makes me try new things when maybe, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't.

So, today, I really branched out, went out on a limb, tried something new: at Starbucks. I know! How crazy would I have to be? I just looked at the menu, and did the mental equivalent of putting my finger on a random number. What I came up with was the Caramel Apple Spice drink.


It made me gasp -- no, I didn't burn myself (not THIS time!)-- but this was the most delicious drink ever to pass my lips! I think Willy Wonka has come to life, and made apple pie into a drink at Starbucks. Who knew? It was a perfect blend of apple cider, cinnamon, and caramel. I drank it in about two seconds flat. Let me tell you now, 12oz will NOT be enough!

Peet's Coffee & Tea

In the land of coffee, it is hard NOT to run into a great coffee shop on every corner. Each coffee shop has its own unique flavor to bring to the table, something that sets it apart from the others.

Peet's has a new Raspberry Mocha. It is beautiful. It is delicious. It is a little sip of heaven in a mostly-recycled paper cup. It is chock-full of coffee (you call the shots), laden with chocolate, and hinted with raspberry. You better get whipped cream on top, because they drizzle this bright, yummy berry sauce all over it, and you cannot live without this drizzle!



Another of Peet's unique must-haves is their salted caramel. It's a dark chocolate truffle, filled with a lightly salted caramel filling. Rock salt sprinkles the top - make sure to savor the rock salt, it makes ALL the difference!

Their raspberry preserve scones are worth a try - the scone is crisp, and the preserves are sweet!

Raspberry mocha: 3 (approx)
Salted caramel: 2 (approx)
Raspberry preserve scone: 2.9