EaT Oyster Bar: Mardi Gras Mayhem and King Cake Babies

Several years ago a baby was born. A little pink plastic king cake baby.

I can't remember how I got the baby but I'm guessing from my friend Loly who's from Lafayette, Louisiana. I'd never heard of king cakes until I met Loly. I kept the baby on my windowsill for a year or so with all the other knick knacks that reside there -- figurines, shot glasses, a corn cob pipe, a couple shells. It fit right in until one day I kidnapped the baby from its comfortable home.

I was making postickers for New Year's Eve and decided to put the king cake baby in one. Whoever bit into the potsticker with him in it (or her -- it's hard to tell) would be on track for a very fortunate year. Don't worry, I warned everyone not to bite too hard. My friend Chris got the baby that year. One of the only times when it is ok -- in fact your encouraged -- to bite a baby.

Shrimp, cabbage and mushroom potstickers.

So I've done this a few times since. It's a great tradition -- an every couple of years tradition.

This all leads me to Mardi Gras. King cakes and Mardi Gras...

One of my favorite North Portland restaurants has some fantastic Mardi Gras action this year that you might want to check out. Here's the scoop straight from the source: EaT Oyster Bar is hosting a big Mardi Gras party as well as lots of events during the entire week leading up to Fat Tuesday.

Bon Ton Roulet is playing live on February 13th for EaT's Crawfish Boil, which starts at 1:30pm and goes until they run out. There will be king cakes, traditional beads and doubloons along with a Grand Mardi Gras Dress-up Ball on Fat Tuesday February 16th. Festivities start at 11:30am and go all night with live music, cajun specialties and the crowning of the Mardi Gras King and Queen of Portland. Check out the website for a schedule closer to the day of the event.

EaT Oyster Bar www.eatoysterbar.com

Smoked Salmon Alfredo -- Siletz Tribal Smokehouse

Even though this isn't a recipe-based blog every once in awhile something happens in my kitchen that I have to share. A few days ago, armed with a quarter pound of smoked salmon and a handful of brussels sprouts I decided to make smoked salmon alfredo. With brussels sprouts. It was delicious and I'm going to give you a recipe in a minute.

First I want to tell you that the smoked salmon I used was a nice surprise. I often get shelf stable smoked salmon (rather than refrigerated, often vacuum-packed smoked salmon) for various far away folks during the holidays and walking down the aisle where I normally find it at New Seasons I noticed a new package of smoked salmon on the shelf -- this one from Oregon. I grabbed a box.

You can't miss the packaging

I'd like to give you some info. beyond the fact that it was yummy, and moist and made my stomach happy but for some reason the website attached to the product -- Oregon Smoked Foods, Inc. -- is acting funny. I'll revisit it soon and get you some more information. I'm curious. The only info. I can give you about the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians is that I gathered and included some very interesting old recipes from the tribe for a story I did about lamprey in 2006 for the Portland Tribune.

For now, let me tell you about the tasty smoked salmon alfredo I made.

First I sauteed several thinly sliced brussels sprouts over medium heat with half a diced yellow onion and two minced fresh cayenne chiles in a couple teaspoons of bacon fat and tablespoon of butter. After a few minutes I added the broken into hunks smoked salmon and took the pan off the heat. I preheated the oven to 400 degrees.

Next I put a salted pot of water to boil and once boiling I added a pound of spaghetti and let it cook till done.

While the pasta boiled I put a small oven-safe dish in the oven once it was preheated to 400 degrees and left it in there for a few minutes to warm up. I removed the pot once it was hot and cracked a couple eggs into it with a cup or so of finely grated asiago, a half cup or so of half-and-half and I whisked that together.

Then I mixed this heated egg/cheese slurry with the right out of the pot and still piping hot cooked pasta and the hot brussels/onion/chili/salmon mix. I ground some fresh pepper over the lot, added a few shakes of sea salt, and topped the spaghetti with some minced parsley. It was delicious and I highly recommend it.

This smoked salmon salad from Tria Cafe in Philadelphia that a hungry blogger recently wrote about sounds pretty yummy too if you're looking for other smoked salmon ideas.

Farmer-Chef Connection -- Hosted by Portland Chefs Collaborative and Ecotrust

Yes, I took a photo of my nametag. It equated me to my book and since it was the first time I got to "wear" my book I was pretty excited.

And what was the nametag for you might ask? This past March was my first time attending the Farmer-Chef Connection -- a Portland Chefs Collaborative and Ecotrust hosted event. It was held at Clackamas Community College -- a half hour south of Portland.

I love farmers. In fact I considered becoming one right after high school when I worked on a small herb farm in the Extremadura region of Spain. In recent years, one of my favorite long-term assignments was visiting and interviewing local farmers for the Portland Tribune. I still interview farmers from time-to-time but not regularly.

The Farmer-Chef Connection is put on annually as a way to bring producers and food buyers together to chew the fat, break bread, share advice, and most importantly speed date. The latter is just another way to say make connections. Mid-day farmers and producers gathered on one side of the conference room and took turns giving microphoned introductions and quick run-downs of their farms and crops. After that restaurateurs, chefs and other food service folks buzzed around talking with them about their needs.

Lunch was a big potluck with foods prepared by participating farmers and chefs. On the long buffet table were delicious Picklopolis Pickles from David Barber of Three Square Grill, a Cattail Creek Lamb roast from Nostrana, New Seasons Market spicy Thai lamb ribs, a kale salad from Organically Grown Company, Sweetbriar Farms pulled pork, Hot Lips Soda and much more.

I sat at a table with a friend who's enrolled in the Clackamas Horticulture Program and broke bread with Cathy Whims chef/owner of Nostrana, her sous chef and other culinary and farm folks. Toward the end of lunch John Witte of Tenino Farm in Southeast Portland stopped by and handed Whims a small container of his farm-grown, salt cured black olives. It was a charming gesture and Whims seemed touched as we passed the dish around the table. I heart farmers. I heart chefs.

Tasting table madness. David Barber of Picklopolis samples his briny goods at the Farmer-Chef Connection.

Farmer-Chef Connection www.farmerchef.org

It's Getting Chile: Homegrown Spice

I've never had huge success growing chiles. And although the Pacific Northwest isn't exactly the best place to grow them I often see friends and neighbors' chile plants often grow two, three and four times the size of mine. I know that our yard isn't the best spot in Portland to grow chiles since the arc of the summer sun is so often interrupted but I keep trying anyway. Heat is a big factor and some people in cooler climes surround their chiles with heat holding stones or cover the surrounding soil in black landscape plastic to keep the soil temperature up. I've thought of doing both but never have.

Our friends Anthony and his girlfriend Deborah grow incredible chiles. Lucky for us they process a lot of them and often give us everything from pineapple juice and bourbon soaked, dehydrated and toasted habaneros to sundried tomato and chile powder blends...

Just like bay leaves -- don't forget to remove the habaneros before serving like I did.

Anthony and Deb's habanero, cayenne and tomato powder.

This year Anthony even gave me a bunch of rare chile seeds and starts -- most of which he got here. I did my best with them and although none took off like theirs I've been making all kinds of tasty hot sauces and salsas with them as they ripen. And if I hadn't lost my copy of The Spicy Food Lover's Bible I'd be tapping into that for hot recipes too. At least I finally found my lost recipe satchel (recipes from old restaurants I've worked at, family recipes, old neighbors' recipes) which is much more important than a still in print book.

Left to right: white bullet habanero hot sauce, jamaican hot chocolate habanero salsa and kung pao chile hot sauce.

Here are some shots that I took today of my front and backyard chiles. It's amazing how many colors some of them go through as they ripen.

These Jamaican hot chocolate habaneros are going into hot sauce this weekend.

According to my friend Anthony the best thing he ever did with Jamaican hot chocolate habeneros was sautee orange marmalade with some dried pieces of them and a little brandy for about 15 minutes. He said it was an amazing cooking glaze.

From pale yellow, to purple to orange to red...

Twilight chile peppers

Wrinkled old man chiles are sweet and flavorful.

And finally one that's really good pickled...

Just beginning to ripen hot cherry peppers.

How are your chiles growing? Any great recipes? I can never have too much hot sauce or salsa but some new fiery recipes would be great.

Travel Oregon's Cuisineternships -- applications due Friday

There's no time to lose if you feel like free schooling with some of Oregon's finest food folks including Full Sail Brewery's brewmaster Jamie Emerson, salmon and rockfish fisherman Lars Robinson, Bendistillery distiller/owner Jim Bendis and others. Travel Oregon's Oregon BountyCuisineternship applications are due this Friday. What do you get if you win? One of seven all-expense-paid trips (including airfare, lodging and a $1,000 meal stipend) in Oregon which includes a five-day, six-night apprenticeship as a chef, cheesemaker/chocolatier, craft brewer, distiller, rancher, fisherman or winemaker.

The biggest component of the application is putting together a two minute digital video of yourself. Check out already submitted videos here. Keep in mind that you can apply for as many of the seven cuisineternships as you want. Go here for answers to some contest FAQ.

Winners will be announced after September 28th on Travel Oregon's website.

David Gremmels of Rogue Creamery is waiting for you in his cave.

The chef -- Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon The cheesemaker and chocolatier -- David Gremmels of Rogue Creamery and Jeff Shepherd of Lillie Belle Farms The craft brewer -- Jamie Emmerson of Full Sail Brewing Co. The distiller -- Jim Bendis of Bendistillery The ranchers -- the Pickard and Boyer families of Oregon's Country Natural Beef The fisherman -- Lars Robison of Dockside Charters The winemaker -- Lynn Penner-Ash of Penner-Ash Wine Cellars

Lars Robison looks fine but did Gabriel Rucker take his Dramamine?

Travel Oregon www.traveloregon.com Oregon Bounty www.bounty.traveloregon.com

Moving Right Along

At 7pm on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 a book was born. It's got some baby fat (10,000 words longer than contractually agreed) and it needs help with, well, everything but I did it and I feel great. To celebrate on Tuesday I went to EaT Oyster Bar with friends.

I'd heard that every Tuesday night EaT offers one or more types of raw oysters at $1 a piece but I hadn't been by for that although I've been to EaT a fair few times. I started with a sazerac and six oysters on the half shell -- petites from Oregon and Washington. 18 delicious raw oysters and a couple glasses of muscadet later I was on top of the world.

Yesterday I slept in and after I had a cup of strong coffee in my not-typing hands I stepped outside to see what was going on in the garden. The past couple weeks I only watered a couple times since my focus was elsewhere. Lucky for me we've had some heavy rain recently so rather than meeting a bunch of withered and neglected plants I got this...

My garden loves me

And if that's not good enough last night my boyfriend came home with a 5-gallon carboy of freshly pressed cider, a bottle of homemade hard cider and a bottle of fresh apple juice all from a fellow who's a client at my boyfriend's tattoo shop. We talked with this man at the Portland Fermentation Festival and it turns out he has a pretty awesome home set up for juicing apples that involves a big stainless sink and a garbage disposal just for that purpose. Anyway he just got done with his fall pressing and generously gifted us 5 gallons of the sweet, golden stuff to ferment into hard cider. All he asks is that we save him a bottle or two of the bubbly in the spring. What a guy. We cracked open the hard cider last night and the celebration continued.

Up next on the blog -- DIY cheese in Portland...

EaT Oyster Bar 3808 N Williams 503.281.1222 www.eatoysterbar.com

Uwajimaya + Portland Chinatown = Happy

The only time I ever went to Disney World was with my grandma and her friend when I was in elementary school. I rode some rides and they were ok but I wasn't all that impressed. I grew up in Cincinnati and was somewhat of an amusement park connoisseur. I had a season's pass to King's Island for years and one of my first jobs was at the Ohio River hugging Coney Island. Yes, that's the right name. Anyway, I wasn't wide eyed over the rides at Disney World due to my longest-wooden-rollercoaster background. What I was impressed with, however, was Epcot. Why? Food. Food from around the world. Particularly Chinese and Japanese food.

I had never seen a lot of the teas, nori, rice crackers, wasabi peas and more that lined the shelves at Epcot's Chinese and Japanese "markets" and I used my allowance to buy as much of it as I could. I remember my grandma and her friend waiting under a tree outside as I sniffed jasmine tea from beautiful tin canisters and checked out lychee, plum and rice candies for a very long time. When I finally emerged arms filled mostly with spicy, salty treats I was worried that they'd be upset with me for taking so long but they weren't at all. They were just happy to be seated in the shade and free of me for a bit so they could talk.

All of that brings me -- in a strange consumer culture way -- to my deep seated love of Asian markets and of course Uwajimaya. I don't get to this Asian mega-market often because it's in Beaverton but when I do I always spend a lot of time walking the amazingly diverse aisles and winking at the fish case. There are always beautiful specimens to wink at at this 10-plus year old market that got its start in Seattle.

A while back there was talk of an Uwajimaya opening in Portland's Chinatown. I hadn't heard anything about it for months but I'm very happy to say that I heard last week through the tattoo grapevine -- my boyfriend is a tattoist here -- that it's happening. Chinatown Uwajimaya is on!

Here are some of the reasons why I love Uwajimaya. This is a bit of what you'll find at the Beaverton location...

Exotic fruits...

A large cooler of housemade sashimi...

Live geoduck, oysters and clams...

Live Dungeness crab...

Asian beer...

Lots of sake...

Uwajimaya Beaverton 10500 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway 503.643.4512 www.uwajimaya.com

Fish Friday -- Newman's Fish Co. Wholesale

I was surprised when I asked John Cleary -- owner of Newman's Fish Company in Portland -- how many local chefs stop by the 10,000 square foot North Portland warehouse to check out daily fish deliveries, cold smoking, live tanks and fish cleaning stations. For the most part Cleary says that the only chefs who stop by are ones that don't make the minimum delivery order of $100. Well, those are the lucky ones because there's a lot to see and learn especially if you're at the warehouse in the early morning.

A few weeks ago I wrote about Newman's Fish Company in City Market in Northwest Portland -- the retail arm of Newman's Portland that gets its pick of the lot in terms daily fresh and frozen deliveries. I met with Cleary at the Newman's warehouse on an early June morning when halibut was on the verge of becoming cost prohibitive. Cleary was on the horn back and forth with processors across the country trying to bring them down in price but not sacrifice quality. Halibut is a big deal since the company goes through 3-4,000 pounds of it a week.

Newman's isn't Pacific Seafood or Ocean Beauty -- it's a small 20-plus-years-in-Portland independent business with very high standards when it comes to sourcing but not as much leverage as the bigger guys. Cleary orders a lot of Newman's seafood air cargo as opposed to barged because he wants his fish hook to table as quickly as possible.

Newman's Fish Co. John Cleary holding a Southeast Alaska chinook just after arrival from PDX airport

That same air cargo of chinook from 100 pound gel iced and lined boxes about to be headed and gutted

Newman's gets its rockfish, in this case rougheye (a bycatch of the halibut industry) whole. They head, gut, dress and fillet it

One of the prettiest fish Cleary's seen all year -- the latest delivery of Kona yellowfin tuna

Newman's Fish Company www.newmansfish.com 503.286.5950

To read about Newman's Fish Company retail in City Market go here.

Roux's crawfish feed and Bites For Rights

This Sunday June 21st -- Father's Day -- Roux is hosting their annual crawfish feed party from 11am to 7pm. I went last year -- late September -- and vowed that I'll never let another year pass without. Last year's all-you-can-eat menu included crawfish hush puppies, crawfish beignets!!!, spiced pick and peel crawfish with boiled potatoes and quartered corn, deep fried crawfish, crawfish etoufee and much much more.

It's $25 per person and you need to call ahead to make a reservation.The tables are lined with newspaper and servers bring out as much as you can eat for up to two hours -- then you get the boot. There's an abridged drink menu with rocks cocktails served in Mason jars but you can also order from the full bar. Unlimited soft drinks are included. Roux doesn't advertise this event because it's sells out faster than a crawfish can pinch every year.

So sad to say -- Roux is RIP as of mid-July 2009Roux 1700 North Killingsworth St. www.rouxrestaurant.us 503.285.1200

And next on the agenda...

This Thursday -- June 18th -- 60-plus Oregon (many Portland area) restaurants are participating in the 10th annual Bites for Rights fund raising event to benefit Basic Rights Oregon. You don't have to by an expensive ticket for a mediocre dinner, you don't have to sit through long winded introductions and speeches in an uncomfortable chair. All you have to do is eat. Well, go out to eat at one of many tasty restaurants around town dontating 15% of their sales on the 18th to Basic Rights Oregon. Go here for a full list of participating businesses.

Some of the many Bites for Rights restaurants, cafes and bakeries that I like: Pizza FinoDi Prima DolciHaven CoffeeLittle T American Baker Zell's Cafe Roux

Seafood: Newman's Fish Co. in City Market

And gets daily deliveries

Even though the Portland area is woven by rivers, studded with lakes and not far from the Pacific we're not known for our seafood. I recently had coffee with the editor of a local magazine and she was bemoaning the fact that our fair city has such slim pickings in terms of fish markets.

It's true but with a little effort and a little more gas or peddling you can source some super fresh, delicious seafood here. When most people think about seasonal food they think of produce but everything is connected to the seasons including seafood.

Right now Newman's Fish Company in Northwest Portland should be rolling in Copper River salmon but prices are way too high this year -- so high that they'd have to charge $40 a pound to make any kind of a profit. Newman's manager Angela Stewart isn't shedding any tears -- she'd much rather eat ocean caught wild, fresh salmon any day. Yes, she's a little biased -- her family runs a chinook and coho salmon fishing boat out of Southeast Alaska -- but she claims that river caught salmon doesn't have the fresh flavor and great texture that Pacific salmon is known for.

Newman's smokes all sorts of seafood at their North Portland warehouse

Other fresh and seasonal Newman's seafood -- halibut started in March, crawdads open the first of June, and Oregon albacore is up in July. Pretty much year-round you'll find all the tasty farmed shellfish -- clams, oysters, mussels -- as well as crab, lobster, squid, shrimp, scallops, herring and more.

There's always a great selection of locally farmed oysters, clams and mussels

Dungeness and Maine lobster are usually in the Newman's tank

A vast majority of what's in the case is fresh and line caught and almost everything else is frozen at sea.

Newman's Fish Company 735 NW 21st Ave. 503.227.2700 www.newmansfish.com

Read about the wholesale side of Newman's Fish Co. here.