what does it take to have a good time? PIE!

This is a picture off my patio this am. So beautiful!!!

I can't believe it! This upcoming Saturday, there is going to be the Portland Pie-off. What luck?!?! I love pie. I love to make and eat pie. I love sharing. Now the only question becomes what type of pie to enter into this contest. I think I am shaking with excitement, oh, wait, that might be from all the coffee. So many kinds of delicious pie. What kind to make? I wish the plums in my tree were ripe.

Chad and I had a great weekend of eating out and hiking around town. Friday night we walked to the Corbett Fish House. I guess this is where all the Green Bay Packer fans gather to watch the green and gold. Let's just say, they do not have any Wisconsin beers. Surprise, they have a fish fry. Not much for vegetarians. The beers are served in huge (not) pint glasses. I was so full just from my beer. Bonus- they have the Walking Man IPA and I am a fan. The restaurant is OK, but the bar is decorated with all the essential Green Bay Packer memorabilia. It was very homey and made me a touch sad. On a side note, this is not a place that we can walk home. We picked up this Southwest Portland Walking Map last weekend and used it to navigate to the Corbett Fish House. In order to get there we had to walk down about 1000 ft through a park w/ switchbacks and on these trails that go under the highway. I am all for an adventure, but on a Sunday AM going to a Packer bar - I'll just take the bus, thanks.

On Saturday AM, I really wanted to go out of town to hike, but after spending the morning lounging, we decided to again utilize our trusty Southwest Portland Walking Map. I've now learned that just because it is marked on the map as a "walking route" doesn't mean there will be sidewalks, a well groomed path, or that the path will be well marked. We decided to walk from our place to Council Crest Park, the highest point in Portland proper. It was a quite a walk. I knew we were going to go uphill the whole way, but it was still pretty intense. The lack of trail labeling added to the excitement (or irritation when were slightly lost). Luckily, we knew we were going to the highest point in the area so we just kept going up. At one point, a nice lady stopped her mercedes and asked if we were lost and gave us directions. The houses up on the very top of the hills are crazy. A lot of them are on stilts. I guess I don't think I'd feel all that comfortable sleeping in a house on stilts. We saw garages on stilts. It is pretty insane. How do you get homeowners insurance?

mt hood from council crest on a semi clear day

the tower (sort of near our house)


Anyways, we got to the top of Council Crest and the veiw was breath taking. You can see Mount Hood, Mount Rainer, Mount St. Helen's. It is a really cool park. After enjoying the view, Chad and I took the 51 bus downtown for dinner. The 51 is the craziest bus ride I've ever taken. It goes on the hilliest and curviest roads I've ever bussed on. I can't believe the driver didn't take out a porsche or a audi along the way (or at least clipped a mirror). We ended up taking another bus to the NW where we both had tofu crepes at a restaurant called Virgo and Pisces. Yes, I was attracted to their celestial name. It was very good. Strange menu, but I both of us really enjoyed our tofu crepes. I know must learn how to make these crepes. Finally, we bused back to downtown, then back out to our neighborhood. When we were almost there, the bus driver pulled over and told us he could no longer drive the bus because it was unsafe to drive and we all had to get off. He had broke his glasses and could not see. We soon caught another bus and were on our way. What a day.

OK. On to the food.

So, we ate out a bit this weekend, but I have still been busy in my kitchen.
On Sunday, we went to Baker Spice for espressos. Very nice. Then to the Farmer's market. I love the Hillsdale farmer's market! It is awesome. I am so glad that I moved from somewhere I could walk to the farmer's market to another part of the country where I could walk to the farmer's market. That is pretty cool.



Sunday night I made falafel. Used the recipe from Vegan w/a vengeange. Turned out to dry then I added water - that was bad. It was kinda flat, but the flavor was perfect. I'll try again. I served it in a pita w/ tomatoes, lettuce, and homemade goddess dressing. Delish.


Last night, I had a bit of a dilema. I had tempeh that went bad (which I was pissed about because it was before the expiration date on the package). It had a lot of mold on it. I didn't notice cause it was in the package, but I almost tossed my cookies when I opened it and it was green and PINK. Now that is some scary mold. I threw it out, took out the trash, washed hands and wiped out fridge. YUCK. My dilema was that I had already made the marinade for the tempeh and had not had any other back up dish in mind. So, I pressed some tofu and then used the tempeh marinade (for grilled tempeh in Veganomicon) to marinade the tofu. I used my grill pan to fry up some peppers, onions, zucchini, and daikon radish. Then I grilled the tofu. I love my grill pan. It is awesome. I didn't know what I was going to do with the veggies and tofu so I just decided to serve it on top of a toasted pita. It worked out really great. I have to admit I was surprised how good it was. Finally, I looked in the freezer and noticed I had some leftover samosa potato filling so I defrosted that in the micro. Samosas are so good, but such a pain to make that I like to make extra filling so I can have just the potato, pea, onion potatoes if I want the flavor w/o all the work. Here is last nights dinner!


This morning I tried to make fried millet slices. I thought it was good. I mean, it tastes kinda healthy, but I really like the nutty taste of millet. Last night I just cooked the millet in a saucepan. Then added some soy milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, and nutmug. I let it sit till it was like thick oatmeal and then pressed it into a loaf pan. This morning I sliced it and fried it in a pan and served w/ 100% maple syrup (not HFCS). Chad didn't really like it. He thought it was going to be like french toast or pancakes. He kept saying how much he liked the cornmeal pancakes. I know, I know. He loves cornmeal pancakes w/ blueberries- I mean, who doesn't?