recipes: seafood risotto & crab stock

after cooking up a bunch of crab (one of the perks of living in PNW), i took advantage of the giant bowl of crab shells and took my first spin at making crab stock. i thought it would be as easy as chicken stock - throw some bones in, add some veggies, but it was like a full recipe in and of itself. it only seemed like the right thing to do to make a baller seafood risotto with all the delish broth we had. 

i pulled the stock recipe from Simply Recipes, and the risotto recipe from Epicurious.

ingredients list - seafood risotto: 
- 4-5 cups seafood stock (recipe below)
- 1/3  cup olive oil
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 small onion, minced (1/2 cup)
- 1 & 1/3 cups arborrio rice
- 1/2 cup dry white wine (i used Savignon Blanc)
- 8-10 mussels, scrubbed and debearded 
- 6 medium sea scallops
- 1/2 cup peeled, crushed, and seeded plum tomatoes
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1/2 tsp chopped garlic
- 1 tbsp brandy
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- salt & fresh group pepper

PDX Burgers: Dick's Kitchen & All-Way Burgers

belated burger postings -- Dick's Kitchen i had walked past a bazillion times, not knowing that it was one of the better-recommended burger joints in our hood. they have a fair amount of burgers on the menu, with a weekly rotation of guest specialty or game burgers. we split a classic bacon cheese burger and a french onion cheese burger - thinly slicked onions smashed into the patty and topped with melted swiss. juicy, well seasoned, good toppings, great fries, all in all a will-go-back review.

All-Way Burgers i hadn't heard of until my hubby surprised me with a random burger night out. it's resembles an old-timely diner, tucked in an upstairs space, and sticks to most of the classics - burgers, fries, onion rings, shakes. i ordered a classic bacon  cheeseburger as my first test... and damn. the burgers are fast-food style thin, but somehow offer a ton of flavor, with super-creamy american cheese, thick bacon, and a superbly-soft bun. many reviews are comparing All-Way to  In-N-Out, but outside of the premise of sticking to fresh, stand-out quality ingredients on fast-food style burgers, the overall character and flavor stands out a hell of a lot more with the All-Way burgers IMO.