Parilla Grill - Bend, OR

last weekend was a ski weekend in Bend, OR, also land of the highest # of craft breweries per capita in OR. while i initially envisioned a hearty all-American pub meal on our trip, it quickly faded into a fish tacos mission as i received a fish-taco tip from a friend. proclaimed to be better than San Diego - iggity. 

we headed to Parilla Grill - a cute, small, unassuming joint. while i'm not really a corn salsa girl, i ordered these as they are normally served, and i'm so glad i did. the fish sauce on them (no idea what's in it) was spicy and amazing, and cut the sweet corn salsa perfectly. the fish was fried perfectly and ridiculously fresh. all tipped off with a snappy crunch of slaw. they were perfect. the margarita i had with it was perfect. i just wish i had more of them up in my face right now... gaaaaah! 

Smokehouse 21 - Portland, OR

i've walked passed Smokehouse 21 a few times, and every time i do

i become instantly hungry from the AMAZINGLY delicious smokey bbq smell that is pouring out of it. it's cruel. what was supposed to be a double workout night this passed Tuesday night turned into a quadruple meat night as we had an impromptu dinner with friends. 

the hubby & i split two entrees - one being the brisket sandwich, the other being a platter of 3 meats + 2 sides (pork cheeks, lamb ribs, roast chicken, roasted brussel sprouts, bacon mac & cheese). holy high hell it was all so good. brisket is my usual go-to BBQ order, and this could have easily been the best i've ever had. so tender, smokey, seasoned, and juicy (the juicy part being where most places usually fall off). we've never had pork cheeks (or any cheek for that matter) - they just fell apart on my fork, and tasted like little patties of delish fall apart rib. aaaaah i can't say enough great things about this place, can't wait to go back. and now i'm super hungry from even thinking about it aaaaaaaaaaagh. 

misc PDX burgers: Joe's Burgers & Carl's Jr.

marketing 101: there's nothing like a really good sign to get your place noticed. we had passed by Joe's Burgers lot in downtown PDX, and always felt compelled to try them just for the solid, compelling, classic, stand-up sign outside the place. based on the striking signage alone, we expected a large, formal-ish burger spot, but when we finally popped in for a taste we found a small counter-service fast-food style joint. the menu is simple but features all the classics (just a few varieties of burger, hand-spun milkshakes, dogs), all seeming to be focused on stand up ingredients.

the burgers look just like a quintessential simple burger... no fuss. and the lil guys delivered - they had a lot of flavor. and killer sauce. and really good fries. what looked like plain old fast-food style burger was actually delightful... and good enough to get the "i'd totally go back" rating. 
****
Carl's Jr., at the other end of the spectrum. Carl's Jr. ads are all over town, declaring the wonder of their fresh-baked buns. we had to try em. the bun was... just a bun (honestly i think they probably just heat them up on site vs. bake them from scratch...they didn't seem like homemade buns. but anyway). i ordered the Western X-tra Bacon Thickburger.  the toppings had a lot of flavor... the 4 strips of bacon, the onion rings, the super-strong tasting slightly offensive BBQ sauce. which was good. because the burger patty itself had NO flavor at all. it was kinda in there just as filler, a small plate to hold the toppings. the hubby was equally unimpressed with his (and mind you, we're not fast food snobs... and not comparing this to a $15 fancy pants gourmet burger. it just sucked for fast food standards). i'd go back, but only to see  if the chicken nuggets are any good. meeeeep. 

recipe: Easter sugar cookies with ice cream sundae malted milk balls

i needed a recipe for an impromptu iron chef event that, in keeping with Easter season, had "eggs" as the secret ingredient. they could be blended in, or the star of the dish - anything went as long as they were in there. since i had zero time to think of a creative recipe and/or cook it, i decided to go the route of buying malted milk ball eggs, smashing them up, and throwing them in a sugar cookie which naturally has eggs in them. boom.

after baking the cookies, i taste-tested one and realized it was orange ice cream flavored...and actually tasted berserk. super fake sugar sweet. i didn't even know ice cream malted milk candies existed (isn't "malted milk" the flavor??? how can you add ice cream freak show to that party?) clearly you can't trust the insanity of the new-aged holiday candy aisle, but it was too late after i made them and i forged on ahead anyway.  

the sugar cookie recipe here was good (i used the Easy Sugar Cookies recipe from allrecipes.com), super easy, and something i would make again, but honestly i hated the candy - BUY ROBINS EGGS if you make these. if you love ice cream flavored malted milk balls tho, you will love these. quite a few people did, much to my shock. different strokes for different folks. 

ingredients list: 

- 2 & 3/4 cups flour

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1 cup butter, softened

- 1 & 1/2 cups white sugar

- 1 egg

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 1 cup crushed malted milk candies, or any other candy you'd like

recipe: Italian wedding soup

this is another recipe i've made a bunch of times but somehow never made its way onto this blog. it's not necessarily "traditional" wedding soup since i like mine with shredded chicken and the teeny tiny meatballs, and pastina... so it becomes a very thick, heavy soup. the more the merrier in the soup pot... and it is SO good! definitely a great winter recipe, or to make as a lead in to a big Italian meal. perfection.

i've always used Giada De Laurentiis' recipe from foodnetwork.com as my base recipe, adding in all the little extras i like and a few substitutions here and there. it makes a pretty large pot of soup which is great because it's freezes well (just make sure you freeze it WITHOUT the pastina and egg in it - these are always to better to add in at the time you're heating the soup to eat).

ingredients list: (makes about 6-8 large servings)
- 1 recipe for Italian meatballs, scaled down to 1/2 inch diameter meatballs (*about 30-40 mini meatballs. i used this recipe while making a larger batch of meatballs)
- 12 cups low-sodium chicken broth (i used homemade broth from a rotisserie chicken)
- 1 large chicken breast
- 2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan, plus extra for garnish
- 1 lb spinach, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup carrots, sliced into small matchsticks 
- 1 small onion, diced
- 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1-1&1/2 cups pastina pasta
- 2 large eggs

recipe: fried rice

we had a hunk of leftover roasted pork shoulder and a few green onions in the freeze, so i decided to throw together some pork fried rice for dinner. i've cooked a lot of Asian food before, but somehow never ever made fried rice. i skipped using a recipe, relying on my hibachi-watching experience as the inspiration. while i'm sure it's not technically correct (and no, yuck it does not have peas), it still turned out pretty damn good, so i'm perfectly fine with that. i served it with Trader Joe's chicken and cilantro wontons... for a Monday night i was not quite ambitious enough to scratch-make wontons :)

ingredients list:

- 1 cup uncooked jasmin rice (or whatever kind of rice you prefer)

- 1 cup cooked pork, diced into small pieces (about 1/4 inch cubes. i used leftover shoulder, a pork roast would also work well. or chicken, or shrimp, or all of that)

- 1/2 cup onion, finely diced

- 1/2 cup carrots, finely diced

- 1 egg

- 1/4 cup green onions, diced

- 3 tbps (roughly) chives, diced

- 2 tbsp sesame oil

- 1/2 tsp ground ginger

- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

- 1 tsp garlic powder

- 4-6 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

recipe: cheddar bay biscuits

a belated bean post from Valentine's Day. we cooked up a nice lil seafood feast - king crab (god bless the west coast crab scene), sauteed asparagus, and cheddar bay biscuits. the biscuits i've made on one or two occasions before, and damn they are always good. not exactly like Red Lobster, but a really good substitution. and crazy easy. the recipe is from allrecipes.com, adapted a bit based on the site reviews. 

ingredients list: (makes about 10 biscuits)
- 2 cups Bisquick baking (pancake) mix
- 1 & 1/2 oz shredded cheddar cheese
- 2/3 cup milk
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1 tsp garlic powder, divided
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp onion powder, divided
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley, divided
- 1/4 & 1/8 tsp Old Bay seasoning, divided