Hungry Times Two

I think I found my happy place. A spot with miles of green cow pastures, cool coastal winds, tasty seafood, and spectacular hikes along the shoreline. And CHEESE. Man, there's a lot of dairy goodness there. I'd been to Tillamook County once before, but a longer return visit this month - a spur of the moment weekend trip (aren't those the best kind?) - secured the place as one of my top getaways ever. Named after the native tribe who occupied the areas around the Tillamook and Nehalem Bays, Tillamook County's tagline on its website,  " The land of Cheese, Trees and Ocean Breeze ," s ays it all. Located 70 miles west of Portland in northwest Oregon, its 75 miles of coastline, four bays, nine rivers, verdant valleys and Coast Range mountain spurs make for gorgeous views. Plenty of rain during most of the year results in the greenest of grass, which turns out to be tasty eating for all the cows in Tillamook County. Outnumbering the locals, the cows are th...

One of the trickiest but also most rewarding things about moving to a new place is adapting to the food scene and culture. A common response Scott and I heard when we announced our Oregon move to friends and family was " OMG. The beer. The wine. The FOOD. " While we're very excited to try out many of the notable restaurants, plentiful food carts/pods, and the crazy explosion of breweries and wineries, I'm most thrilled about having access to the fresh local produce and seafood of Oregon. Not only do I enjoy home cooking but let's face it -- it's often cheaper to make food than to dine out. Despite the sales tax-free shopping, Oregon food can be expensive, and with one of us (me) being on a brief "job break" at the moment, meal planning and sticking to grocery lists is an important budget focus.

Are you aware it 'tis this season to be jolly? Are your jingle bells sufficiently ringing or are they shakin' a little lacklusterly (I just invented that word) so far this December?  I'm not quite prepared in the sense that gifts are so low on my radar this year, and Scott and I decided to skip the Xmas tree purchasing and use the $40-ish dollars on our mountain trip this weekend. It feels a little weird to not have a tree in the house, with all the ornaments that bring back so much nostalgia and cheer. On the other hand, I heard weird rustling noises above my home office ceiling the other day. I'll be damned if I have to climb up our rickety fold-down attic stairs from 1951 and do battle with some mystery critter. No thanks, we'll just settle for the holly branches I foraged in the backyard, red candles on the mantle, last year's Amaryllis that could make a comeback if I can keep from overwatering it, and this Santa art from Scott's family that I just love...

Last month we trekked with some friends to the Asheville area for some much needed R&R.  "R&R" = cheese, y'all.  We rented a cute cottage in Swannanoa via Airbnb  and planned a fun Saturday out on the Western North Carolina Cheese Trail.  Our trip planner extraordinaire friend J nailed down a few to try out -- we didn't want to overdo the cheese (I know, hard to believe, but that could get ugly ) and we also wanted to save a little time to check out downtown Asheville.  Our first stop: Hickory Nut Gap Farm in Fairview. Currently in expansion/renovation mode, the farm is the perfect spot to say hello to some horses, gape at the goats, and peruse a wide variety of area products in their store. I bought some local honey for our pet sitter, some Lusty Monk mustard,  the farm's salami, and a brisket.  Next we took a short drive over to Looking Glass Creamery , also in Fairview. It's a small adorable cottage with an adjacent...

It's a sign the Four Horsemen are clip-clopping our way: Breast Milk Ice Cream. I have no words for this. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Confession time: I'm having a love affair. It just can't be denied any longer. Sorry, Scott. Oatmeal is usually my breakfast of choice but sometimes I want immediate gratification in the mornings, thus I have turned to you, my sweet:

Recently two boxes of Giant-brand (generic) organic Mac & Cheese made it into our pantry somehow - methinks I know who squeezed them into a fully loaded shopping cart not too long ago. And then this week my grocery store trip went awry and I somehow figured we'd get by on random produce, rice, a cut or two of meat, and....magic? Let's just say the cupboard was pretty bare and we did the dreaded yet handy "Breakfast for Dinner" approach one night this week. Yep, grits, egg and veggie scramble, and a commendable approach at potato pancakes from one Scott Adams. So...those two boxes of mac and cheese - one Wisconsin cheddar and another white cheddar - came in pretty freakin' handy. Problem is, they fully brought the mac, yet not so much the cheese. Both boxes were dry, dry, dry. I had to poke around my bowl just to find any semblance of sauce. Here's my stance: if you're going to go the boxed mac and cheese route, do yourself a favor and forget "orga...

Thanks to Grist.com for the "World's First Organic Dairy Rap Video" featuring cute fresh-faced, young Brits trying their best in hip-hop style to promote organic milk products. I'd buy them. And ignore the discussion in the Grist post where they get into the whole "real environmentalists" wouldn't eat dairy. Or the raw/pasteurized debate. I don't know about you, but nothing's going to come between me and my dairy. Word. TGIF!

This should really a postscript to my post from September 14, the day o' my good husband's 32 nd year of birth, but sometimes it's hard to post photos as events are occurring and then time flies by, and any who ..... Behold the cake I baked for that special day: Those pellet/poop-like things forming the numbers are Ocean Spray Craisins . How resourceful/ scatological am I?!? The recipe comes from my new- ish cookbook The Healthy Hedonist - the Naked Carrot Cake. It contains the oh-so-nutritious oat flour plus four cups of grated carrots ( Oy . That was a lot of tedious grating, let me tell you), and other stuff that makes cake so awesome - vanilla, brown sugar, eggs, spices of nutmeg, cinnamon , all spice, etc. Only I didn't want it to be so nekkid , cause frosting, when done well and not all grocery-store lard- ish , is marvelous, mmmkay ? SO, I doctored it up with The Joy of Cooking' s Cream Cheese Frosting , and substituted the lower-in-fat and hard-to-pron...

I have some BAD groceries in my house. Know the culprit who bought them? I'll give you one clue - he's the dude with the penchant for pinching pennies! Sometimes I myself will shop in a thrifty/frugal/cheap-ass mood, and wind up reaching for the generic brands, examining the cost per unit prices, and even scouring that back table where they put the expired cat food, dented soup cans, old condiments and whatnot. BUT I never buy food that I know is probably crappy just to save a couple nickels and dimes. I cherish my dear sweet mate and love that my husband grocery shops, but some of the things he comes home with are troubling. Allow me to give several examples. 1) The generic brand "Fruit On The Bottom" individual yogurts. This kills me. First off, buy the big cartons of yogurt and spoon them into containers if you want to save money - the individual ones are more expensive and wasteful. Also, that "fruit" on the bottom is less fresh and more funky. It's ...

I'm eating string cheese and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. What am I, a fourth grader???? Just thought I'd share.

Just because I want to know this has happened to someone else before... Ever made a disastrous food run? Around 1pm today, I started craving something sweet and icy. Frozen yogurt came to mind, but there's not a place nearby. Ice cream? Too heavy. The Safeway store up the street seemed to be safe bet to find something in their freezer section, so I headed out, making a stop at the restroom beforehand. I exited my office building, hanging a left out of the door, when I felt...a soft breeze. Puzzled, I looked down to see my dress hiked up on the left side and TUCKED in my underwear. Cursing, I quickly whipped the offending dress back into its proper place and, head cast down, moseyed on to my destination. I'm pretty confident both people manning the front counter at work saw my backside sans coverage, as did some smokers who hang out near the front doors. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah . What did I buy once I commenced the Walk of Shame? A $2.50 carton of Safeway brand fat free Lemon Sorbet,...

Perfect timing! Just as I lamented recently the price hike of the big-ass plastic tub of Stoneyfield yogurt we buy each week, along comes this genius article. They make it look so easy, this yogurt making. I think if I can handle preserving and canning, turning dairy and cultures into creamy goodness should be a cinch. I love the idea of making my own yogurt because a) it's cheap, b) I can say/brag I made it, which is always nice, and c) how cute will my homemade yogurt look in little glass jam jars? It's on, y'all.

Presenting my new favorite kitchen item - a North Carolina-shaped cookie/biscuit/ carb cutter gifted to me by my dear pal Shelby. Shelby found this at a shop in D.C.'s Eastern Market called Hill's Kitchen. Isn't it awesome? To commemorate its total awesomeness, I used it to make Cheese Bannocks, a Scottish recipe I found on the back of an Arrowhead Mills oat flour package given to us by a friend who cleaned out their pantry while moving out of their DC apartment. (Yes, what a random explaination that was.) Cheese bannocks are like a heartier version of the ubiquitous Southern wedding/funeral/church refreshments known as Cheese Straws. They are yummy. Want to make them? Here's how. Bannocks de Fromage 1 cup oats 1 cup oat flour 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp mustard powder 1/4 cup softened butter 1 cup of grated sharp cheddar cheese 1/2 c...

I have to give a shout-out to this amazing and oh-so-easy recipe that has saved my ass so many times when I've had basil, some pasta, and not much time or effort to devote to meal making. After time got away from me and I realized it was 7:30 and both of the Hungry Times Two peeps had grumbly tummies, I whipped up this green goodness that features tons of spinach and wonderful fresh basil leaves, garlic, and a creamy base that isn't fatty at all - it's cottage cheese made smooth by a whirl in the blender. I used a teensy bit of pine nuts instead of walnuts and didn't have broccoli - I served it with a salad instead. You can use this as a pasta topper, dip, sandwich spread, or just all around amazing condiment. Good lord, it's so good it feels sinful, but it's not. I know, another ridiculous Moosewood recipe from Erin but damn if they don't know what they are doing up there in Ithaca, N.Y. I'd love to visit sometime, though a friend and former newspap...

Well, I'll be damned. I didn't freeze my toes off this morning when I rolled out the door in my Chaco sandals. In fact, the weather outside was downright delightful - sunny, low-humidity, and just about perfect. Know what that means? Smoothie time! Scott's the real smoothie lover in this relationship. During the warmer months when we grocery shop, he'll go for frozen berries, a huge container of Stoneyfield French Vanilla yogurt, and a bundle of bananas faster than you can say "Blend It." We're holding right now: all the essentials are in the fridge. We just need to drag out the blender from its cramped spot in our itsy-bitsy kitchen, scrounge up some counter space, and whip up a frosty and fruity treat. My personal fave: strawberry - banana - blueberry- yogurt - orange juice (sometimes mango nectar if I'm feeling frisky). Ooohweeee! I wish I had one now. Oh my, I just typed Ooohweeee. You know I've got it bad when I use expressions like that. Happ...

The sun is coming out and spreading its delightful warmth all around. The days are getting longer. Sunglasses and sandals are making their debut. For those in D.C. who want to put the Snowpocalypse blizzards and the frigid winter waaaaaaay on back behind them, this is most excellent news. It's spring, and with the sunny days come a need for cold and sweet treats. Sweetgreen is the place in D.C. to get them. With several locations in the Metro area and some mobile trucks dishing out the goodies, this place is a haven for those of us who hold a special place in our hearts for frozen yogurt. Forget the ghetto Dairy Queen blizzard or the played-out Starbucks Frappuccino - my cool treat of choice is Sweetgreen's yogurt topped with granola, blueberries and coconut. Chopped mango fits in well, too. Their deal is that they offer one kind of yogurt only - a kind of tangy vanilla-esque white and creamy goodness. Then you pile on the tasty stuff - all kinds of fruit and healthy toppings....

Sigh. Mangoes aren't local. Double sigh. But I couldn't help myself last night. Besieged by a "sale" of $1 very ripe mangoes at Kroger, who was I to resist ? I purchased two and took them home and chopped them, eager to enjoy a sliver or two over a small bowl of vanilla bean ice cream. Note to those who co-habitate: check your rations first before you get too excited at the grocery store. My SO turned into the SOB who ate all the ice cream in the freezer. Thus, no yummy dessert. I could have eaten the mango with other dairy, such as cottage cheese or Greek yogurt, but it wouldn't compare to luscious, juicy mango over creamy and cool vanilla. One drawback to the mango: its fortitude of reluctance to free its tasty flesh from its pesky pit. I usually wind up scoring the mango skin about five times and then peeling it back in sections but then when I get to the skin-free fruit, it becomes one wet, pulpy mess. I recall seeing a method for inside-out mangoes once upon ...

Based on last night's dinner table conversation about the merits of the digestive-aid yogurt trend... I don't know if anyone else saw the SNL parody of Jamie Lee Curtis' recent Activa yogurt commercials, but it's great. Here's a link also to a Slate article about Activa and other digestive yogurt products and the marketing behind them. I like that they get Jean Kilbourne involved in the discussion, as she's always good for a sound byte about how marketing/ads/our culture messes with the psychology and well-being of women. If you haven't checked out her work Killing Us Softly, you should. Even if you happen to be of the male persuasion. I think that it's strange how additives in food or just the marketing twists of regular products we use daily have added nutritional benefits or "now with added Omega 3" and other supplements. Yesterday I picked up some Horizon organic milk and noticed a version with added Omega-3. It's milk - not ...

Scott and I and our friends B.A. and S.M. raced to Ben & Jerry's last night around 8:25 p.m. after the Team Green mixer at The Big Bang Piano Bar, as B&J's had its free cone day yesterday. Free and ice cream...two words that are pretty much irresistible when you match them up. Sadly, we made it 25 minutes too late. The scoopers and mixers wrapped up their shifts and were tossing out the last remnants of Cherry Garcia and Phish Food as we woefully gazed into the store's glass front. A pity. Luckily, we went to Publix after our amazingly stressless H&R Block session yesterday (tax mishaps, gotta love 'em!!!) and picked up pints of Whole Fruit Sorbet in Strawberry and Mango flavors, as well as some Purity (a Nashville brand) Vanilla Bean. If you like fruity and cold, Whole Fruit is what you need! It wasn't Cherry Garcia, but it helped ease the pain. More later!