Meatballs, apparently worth the hassle...

Happy Sunday Darlings, its the end of the weekend and I was strangely inspired.
I am not a big fan of periodicals (unless my YouTube subscriptions count?) but there is one such publication that I will read cover to cover multiple times. Cook's Illustrated by America's Test Kitchen.

The latest edition.

I adore the way they break down the whys and hows of a recipe, including documentation of their less than successful outcomes. (Remember folks, the difference between science and goofing around is writing stuff down!) Each issue teaches me new techniques and inspires thought. The latest issue included two page spread titled Sausage Meatballs and Spaghetti. It details all about how to use the flavorful sausage in your meatballs without having them become overly dense and/or dry.

It should be available in your local periodical retailer so for the full article go there. I really do recommend it. I personally own several years of their compilations and truly enjoy them.

I read that article a few days ago, then today while browsing Serious Eats (I am a food blogger for a reason ya'll) I stumbled across this gem. How to Make Quick and Easy Italian-American Red Sauce That Tastes Slow Cooked. Hello sexy! Serious Eats is one of my favorite time wasters, especially the Food Lab archives, because I'm not truly wasting time. I'm learning. So there.

These two recipes so close together felt like kismet to me so I braved the Winco weekend crowds and grabbed the ingredients I didn't have on hand.

I won't transcribe the Cook's Illustrated recipe as that smacks of plagiarism to me, but I will post a recipe for what I made as I had to make several adjustments based on volume and the palates of my diners.

Sleepy Ginger's Meatball variation

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

8 teaspoons water

16 oz ground pork

32 oz ground beef 

4 slices of hearty white sandwich bread, crusts removed, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese plus extra for serving

3 large egg yolks

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tablespoon italian seasoning (rosemary, oregano, thyme)

Bread, cream, yolks, cheese, and seasonings before pulsing...

• Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees. Set wire rack in lined baking sheet and spray with vegetable oil.
• Dissolve salt and baking soda in water in large bowl. Add pork and beef, fold gently to combine and let stand for 10 minutes.
• Pulse bread, cream, cheese, yolks, garlic, and seasoning in foot processor until smooth paste forms, about 10 pulses, scraping down the sides of bowl as needed. Add meat mixture (do not wash out bowl) and pulse until mixture is well combined, about 5 pulses. Transfer meat mixture back to empty bowl.
• With your wet hands (or gloved hands if you loathe having dirty hands like me), lightly shape mixture into 1 3/4inch round meatballs (about 1 oz each); this is made easier with a #30 scoop. I got 42 meatballs from this recipe. Arrange meatballs, evenly spaced, on prepared wire rack and bake until browned. About 15 minutes, rotating the pan half way through baking.



Gloved up for protection, I loathe getting my hands dirty.

• Remove tray from oven and bask in the glory of MEATBALLS!  Let rest for 5-10 minutes before either simmering into your sauce or packing away for later. I packed half of these meatballs away in the freezer for later meals, they should be good for 3 months but I highly doubt they will be in there that long. 

42 meatballs awaiting their trip to the sauna.

And after their 15 minutes in the oven, golden brown and delicious. And over exposed because I didn't turn on the rammit frackin' light before taking a picture. Patience pays.

Sauce, simmering away. The green is a sprig of fresh basil giving its brightness in the name of my dinner.

Tossed with pasta, plated, and Parmesan-ed. Not as thick as I wanted it, but still fairly good.

I must admit that I made a mistake tonight. I should have started the sauce before I started the meatballs to ensure it would have enough time to cook down. But I was relying too much on the word "Quick" in the recipe title. Quick for me means that I can have dinner completely done and ready to serve in 30-45 minutes. And perhaps I could have with this recipe but I didn't plan things out well. With a new recipe I should have left myself time for adjusting and I didn't. Sad, sad SleepyGinger.

But it was still good and the sauce that I didn't splash thinly over my pasta cooked down beautifully in another 20 minutes. So live and learn. 

Tasty trails my Darlings!

Cartlandia...

First, I only had one goal for this day…. Known in my brain as that Saturday we all went out to shop and ended up eating out of street carts.  It is a widely known fact, I absolutely dislike food carts. I had a bad experience… (BTW do not eat Tacos de Ojos. They pop when you bite into them and if you are the friend sitting next to the guy eating them, you can hear them pop…) in Mexico.  So, my goal was to see “Snow White and the Huntsman”. I had been attempting to make time to see that movie since opening weekend. (And yes, I finally saw it… Last weekend… at home.) So, when we drove past the Cartlandia and we all agreed to stop, I was already not caring… so long as we got to the movie on time… I was good.

Second, It isn’t really that food carts turn my stomach, or that I think they are unclean or anything like that. It is very simply that my food tastes run rather simple and most of the time, in my experience, food carts screw up the whole burgers and fries thing. After all, there is a reason that I am named the REDNECK widow… So, all of that being said… I really enjoyed my lunch there.

I followed the girls through most of the area until my body just wouldn’t do it any longer. It wasn’t too long though as my arthritis got the better of me and I needed shade and seating. Which lead me to the seating area. It was nicely shaded with a pop-up… ten by twenty if I’m not mistaken. Under it was a lovely set of table chairs and a picnic tables already taken by a nice family.

I decided that the all-beef hotdogs and fries sounded right up my alley, so I headed over to Relish Gourmet Hotdogs. So for around five dollars, I purchased a giant (and delicious) hotdog with as many of the fixings as possible. With it came a huge basket of fries, so much so that I couldn’t finish them alone. In fact, even with the help of BellaBabe, PainterLady and SleepyGinger, we still couldn’t finish them.  We ended up donating them to Kanegermin.

So, all in all I loved Cartlandia (Don’t tell SleepyGinger… I’ll never hear the end of it.) And I actually look forward to going there again. I sincerely wish the lovely couple at Relish Gourmet Hotdogs the best of best wishes in their upcoming nuptials and suggest everyone I know go to Cartlandia and tip them well. Weddings are expensive! 

King's Omelet

Another lazy weekend morning + some errands that needed to be done + bloggy breakfast. Also known as find a new breakfast spot and try something new. Usually I would Google it (isn't it fun how that is a verb now?) but the sign for King's Omelet has been taunting my morning commute for weeks now. Time for some tasty payback.

Remembering the wait I had at the Gateway Breakfast House I scurried out the door as soon as I was dressed. And a good thing as there was a line, but only a 10 minute wait for a single.

Walking in the door one is greeted by a an Asian style altar/ shrine in a display case covered with family pictures and at least a dozen military photos of young men and women in uniform. On inquiry I learned that the owner/ head cook's son is a Marine. Clearly there is a lot of Marine pride in this establishment. I'll have to take RedneckWidow with me next time.

King;s is a family run establishment with a clear crowd of regulars from the retirement village down the street. One gentleman opted not to take his leftovers home and was swiftly surrounded by the patriarch/ head cook and his older sons all demanding to know what was wrong with it. It was all in jovial good fun and quite amusing to watch. Sometimes people watching is better than the food.

Gladly this was not the case here.

My coffee cup was always full by the very attentive wait staff and my meal was quick in coming. I wanted something sweet so ordered the strawberry crepes with a ham steak on the side. The crepes were light, oh so fluffy and simply packed with sweet fresh strawberries. The ham steak was nicely grilled and slightly browned on the outside. Excellent.

I loved this place and am looking forward to going back again.

Gateway Breakfast House

Woke up Saturday morning with a day to myself… Or it would have been if I have any ability to stay away from thrift stores. (Explanation: Roomies = Extended Family Sisters, Brother in Law and niece/nephews were going back to school shopping. I couldn’t resist! But I did try. I have no spawn of my own so must resort to playing “parent” to the children of others.)

I had a once in a blue moon hankering (Dear Gods, I think the Redneck Widow is infecting my vernacular!) for some breakfast starch namely pancakes. The Parental Units can attest that this is a rarity for me. So in an attempt to further my cause of trying new places I opted for the Gateway Breakfast House. About a 5 minute drive from home, sounded perfect.

Upon arrival I discovered that I was gravely underestimating the appeal of breakfast out to Portlanders. The place was PACKED! I was third in line for a table when I got there, and before I was seated there was another 10 people behind me. Had I done any research at all I would have learned that President Obama made an unscheduled stop here when he was in town. Lots of publicity, lots of hullabaloo and yet quite a few regulars as well. Waitresses were greeting customers by name and exchanging news about each other’s families and friends.

The menu was extensive and offered quite a selection, but I’m a sucker for a good deal so I opted for the 1,2,3,4 Country Special marked at $8.25 with coffee. My total came to $9.75 before tip and let me show you what I got for that.

[Check our Facebook Album for photo]

That is two pancakes, a ham steak at least 7” across and ½” thick, two eggs scrambled with cheese, and a slab of hashbrowns. It was so big I was quite intimidated. I settled for dicing the ham steak and mixing it with the hashbrowns and eggs before setting that aside and tackling the pancakes. I managed about 3/4ths of the pancakes before I just couldn’t stand it anymore. Got the rest in a to go container and made my way out the door. There was still a line out the door, people just didn’t stop coming!

I knew that if I went immediately home after that carb load I would end up back in bed despite my best laid plans so I met up with the shopping expedition and did my best to be helpful.

Still, what a way to kick off the weekend.

Gateway Breakfast House, friendly staff, great value, wonderful food. I highly recommend, but make sure you have some time to wait for that table. Very popular destination.

Fubonn Marketplace OR A Threeway Foray into the Unknown

Yeah, yeah, yeah I like to think my post titles are clever. I'm sure I'm not really as funny as I think I am, but then I reduce some people into asthmatic laughing attacks which makes me think... Maybe I am... Any who...

Last night Apocalypse.Mom, RedneckWidow, and I headed out for Fubonn and I found myself filled with excited energy. Like a hyper puppy. Really... I'm embarrassed for my friends as there was dancing in the aisles, skipping up and down aisles in search of the ever important soy free "red sauce" and other general obnoxiousness. Good thing I drove as the others may have been tempted to otherwise abandon me.

Of course I'm sure it will happen again. As most of my friends can attest I am easily excited, soon babbling away at such high speeds as to be nearly unintelligible. But I can't help it...

My food geek flag just flies to high it takes me off with it to new heights of embarrassment. Of course in the moment of ultimate geekery when I am practically vibrating with excitement; wanting to see, touch, smell everything all at once I am prone to attacks of utter gooberism. The high point of my night was that I was NOT the first one to offend the locals. That was RedneckWidow, and I'll leave the explanations to her.

We started by packing in the rear lot (shady spot) which is surprisingly large and you'd never notice it from the front of the building. Passed through the large circular archway over the doors and wandered through the complex, a little sadly empty, but still interesting with the variety of businesses housed inside. Lawyers, Realtors, Loan offices, Bubble Tea, Salons, Jewelers, Video shops, Seamstresses, and of course the Massive grocery outlet itself.

Apocalypse.Mom spoke up with the wisdom of eating something before diving into the grocery store as an attempt to prevent massive over spending. RedneckWidow and I agreed and we discussed food options. There is of course a deli within the market, as well as both a Korean BBQ and Pho shop located on the outside of the building.

 We opted to try the SokongDong Tofu & BBQ first, one with a grill on your table and where you order an assortment of meats and grill yourself. While things smelled wonderful, a peek at the menu revealed that this is not a "quick bite and run" establishment. For these prices it was a linger and enjoy the company type of place. Not in our budgets for the evening.

Unit #11
SokongDong Tofu & BBQ

Tel: 503-808-9990
Hour: 11am - 10pm

So we tried the Pho Ngon Vietnamese Restaurant

Unit #2
Pho Ngon Vietnamese Restaurant

Tel: 503-775-1373
Hour: 9am - 9pm

Much more in line with what we were looking for. Like an idiot I failed to take pics of our food when it arrived, but it was pretty and very tasty. I believe that Apocalypse.Mom ordered the #44 (none of us remember what it was called just that there was lots of fried fish over a metric TON of vermicelli noodles. And that it was good.). Redneck Widow attempted the Chicken Teriyaki, always a gamble given her allergy to soy. But it worked out. No adverse reaction and she cleaned her plate. Well... Almost.

I opted for the "SUPERBOWL" which was Pho (beef of course) with flank steak, well done brisket, honeycomb tripe, tendon, AND meatballs. Mmmm tasty. Point of note, the main difference between Asian meatballs and the more familiar Western variety is texture. Western meatballs are primarily a coarser grind of meat with a little binding agent to keep them together, while Asian meatballs are more of a hot dog consistency. Which can sometimes lend the sensation of chewing on a bouncy ball if over cooked. But these were quite good!

I failed to take before pics of our meals. I promise I'll get back into practice. I'll also have to improve my plan for getting a camera... Apparently wishing doesn't make it come true. Lamesauce. Any good (and reasonably priced) camera suggestions from the crowd?

The only down side to the dinner was the service. It was a bit... I don't know, very pushy at the beginning. The waitress seemed very exasperated with us when we asked for a minute to figure out our order. I get the impression that this place is used to people ordering before they even sit down. And at the end of the meal we had to get our own to go containers for leftovers and track down someone so we could pay. Very strange. Not a determent from returning, but very strange.

After dinner there was shopping! I gleefully plunged into the market, doing my best to not physically DRAG Apocalypse.Mom and Redneck Widow behind me. I may not have been as successful at this as I hoped. I happily grabbed raisin bread off the shelves, giggled and cooed over the bright snack packages while Apocalypse.Mom got to the serious business of grocery shopping and Redneck Widow plunged on in her quest for the soy-free.

I poked and prodded fresh Lychee for a project of BellaBabe, found some drinks. Some snacks, babbled incessantly about foreign produce.. Thinking back I start to wonder if maybe I was drugged, I was just... everywhere. Like those bouncy balls with all the knobs on the outside? Bouncing erratically from habeneros to duck eggs, from lemon grass to rabbit saddles, snapping random pictures and occasionally tossing things into the cart Redneck Widow was pushing for me.

I clearly recall dancing down an aisle using a shaker of dashi and another of "Umami seasoning" (straight MSG) as maracas to emphasize the beat in my head. It was like a fever and a frenzy of delight. We never found the red sauce. Does anyone know what it's called? The red sauce you get in Chinese restaurants for the dipping? NOT sweet and sour, there was at least a 10 foot long section of aisle dedicated to that.

I took pictures of things I found interesting, odd, or just... I don't even know why I took a photo of the live clams, and one of frozen fish? But I took them and here they are for your... Amusement?

Those are my highlights of the trip, other than that Apocalypse.Mom and I both bought 3 bags worth of items and she spent less than half of what I did. Clearly I have things to learn. Teach me oh wise one!

Please feel free to comment on my insanity. Talk to you all later!

Ritz Diner (or Breakfast with Fuzzy)

A weekend in Salem was wonderful. Made cinnamon rolls with the parental units (tasty tasty rolled pastries... Mmmm). Attended my Aunt's beautiful wedding to a delightful Irishman. Got a hefty dose of sarcasm from my blood relations. Happy sarcasm, we're a snippy and clever bunch of folks. Refreshingly irreverant.

This morning I kidnapped my good friend Fuzzy and took him to breakfast.

A smidgeon of back story. Fuzzy and I both reside in Portland, but our parental units dwell in Salem. About 6 blocks apart from each other. And usually when we're in town we eat at buffets, well known Chinese restaurants, or *gulp* Shari's. In light of the renewed blog efforts I opted for a tiny little diner at the corner of Lancaster Dr. and State St. We've both passed it a million times, but never stopped in.

So we took one of the 8 tables in the place and gave our orders. The German sausage special for him and the corned beef hash for myself. Both came with eggs and a choice of bread products.

I will admit that when my meal came I was hungry and tucked into it before I took a picture. But I did take a pic...

You see how I mixed my eggs into and all was one. Up in the corner is the unused jam, not a fan of strawberry. Blackberry is where its at. But more importantly... Do you see the large shreds of homemade corned beef? This stuff NEVER saw a can and tasted glorious!

Fuzzy was jealous. His German sausage was good... But couldn't compare to the homemade corned beef. Soo good.

Now I am stuffed on homemade tacos ala UnderMom. Talking about food is hurting just now. So hot. Going to go find somewhere cool to digest and prepare for the onslaught of the week. Fun times.

Siam Grill *Or* The Power of Cravings

Got off work today and knew that I didn't want the corndogs and tatertots that Redneck Widow had planned for dinner. (This is by no means disparraging her dinner plans, I just don't care for corndogs without... An herbal appetizer.) Spent the max ride home plotting on where I would hunt my own dinner.

There has been a taunt of green curry chicken for nearly a week now. Costco had a premade package and I bought it for Apocalypse.Mom, Vicious, and myself to enjoy a spicy thai dinner. Due to allergies we've been trying to wait for an evening when Redneck Widow isn't here... But she NEVER leaves!

As a result I found myself driving down Halsey chanting "Thai, Thai, Thai, Thai..." When I saw the sign for Siam Grill I whipped into the parking lot. Right behind this...

Four moon roofs! FOUR! And you can't really see the black on black flames on the fenders. Isn't it nifty? I thought so.

Anyway. Siam Grill.

Tiny little hole in the wall restaurant that smelled absolutely wonderful. So I went with it. My general thai restaurant order is the green curry with chicken, leaving out the bell peppers. Because I despise the texture of cooked bell pepper, slimy nastiness. And they were okay with it. My to go order was ready in under 10 minutes. So home I went.

And the verdict? Tasty. Not burn your face off spicy, actual flavor. Just the way I like it. And they deliver to my house with a $20 minimum order + a $3 delivery fee. There's hope for me yet.

Got Pho

So, last night I finally agreed to go to this little Vietnamese restaurant that Sleep Ginger has been talking about for the last year.  She had promised friends of ours a night of Pho. (I have no idea what that means, still) So, we went out to this little hole in the wall in SE called Got Pho where we met up with said friends. I brought my youngest kidlet along so that my household could do whatever they had planned without us.  It was a cute place, with some obvious regulars.

Now, I have some pretty rare food allergies, nothing like Apocalypse Mom but enough that it has been known to cause me some issues.  For instance, peppers, onions, or anything else with capcasin in it causes the typical running nose, watery eyes, sneezing fits etc. So, walking into Got Pho was an adventure all by itself. Luckily the smell was only enough tickle the sinuses and leave me a little blurry eyed.  My adventurous young son ordered a golden garlic stir-fry with beef, which he loved. My companions ordered what they assured me was this infamous pho, but I’m pretty sure it was just a vegetable soup. I ordered the one safe thing for me on the menu, Fried rice with peas, carrots, and beef.

Now, Here I was hoping that I wouldn’t encounter any onions, peppers or soy of any kind. Although I was expecting the fried rice to have soy sauce, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this rice didn’t have any at all. So, while everyone else enjoyed their meals immensely, and the company of our dining experience was great, my meal was bland and generic. But that is the problem I run into with Asian foods and my allergies. So, I have a problem developing an actual opinion about this particular restaurant as I was unable to enjoy the actual specialty food.

All that being said, the portions were great, their menu had a great variety and the price was pretty good for the size of the meal we were given.  The staff was courteous and attentive. All in all it was a good place, but I am not sure I will be joining Sleepy Ginger on her next trip there. 

Lunch can be a Poetic Thing

Even if its from *gasp* a chain establishment. Today's lunch hour included a hike SE to the Koin 6 building for an exchange of awesome crafted thing for dirty green paper (what is that all about anyway?) The building happened to hold a Quiznos with signs advertising their Lobster and Seafood Salad sandwiches. Or salads, but lets get real here... Lobster salad vs Lobster ROLL. Who wins?

And it was a thing of beauty and poetry. Especially dipped in their creamy "punch to the sinuses" horseradish sauce. That quick bite cut through the sweet briny flavor of the LARGE lobster chunks just beautifully. It was so good I can't regret anything about it.

So not all chains are bad. Some are, this is by no means a resounding reccomendation for everything from a chain, but this experience was beautiful.