comfort food

I’d like to come clean about something. We don’t always eat organic, healthy meals. Once in a while we like to eat in what some may actually call a greasy spoon. Okay, M and I have breakfast there on most Friday mornings. This neighborhood diner we frequent is aptly named, Fat City. It’s in the heart of Multnomah Village in Portland, Oregon. There is something so warm and welcoming about this little place. Like a favorite pair of jeans. A comfy pair of socks. It’s a place where everybody knows our names, and usually what we’ll be ordering. What’s not to love?

Our lovely waitress, Ruby, zips around the cafe at the speed of light. She never lets our tea get cold.



yummy!



When you enter this old fashioned cafe, you’re transformed into another time and place. You could be in any small town USA. License plates and quirky signs cover most of the wall space. A long shelf lined with old beer cans sits above remnants of an old soda fountain, which unfortunately, is no longer in service. The local history here is as thick and rich as the homemade cinnamon rolls they dish out in droves on a daily basis.

A couple key events helped put Fat City on the map in Portland. In 1973, a Fat City customer known only as Bob, shot his lover Vivian in the restaurant when his love was not reciprocated. The bullet holes are still in the basement wall as proof of this event. In 1987, Portland’s Mayor, Bud Clark, met his Police Chief, Jim Davis, at the restaurant. Over breakfast, the mayor fired the police chief, saying, “Read my lips. You’re fired.” Signs next to this booth designate the positions of its prior occupants.

On a typical Friday morning, we can be found occupying one of the comfy booths at Fat City, sipping a cuppa hot tea and enjoying french toast, blueberry pancakes, or eggs and hash browns, maybe even a slice or two of crisp bacon. Fat City momentary brings our busy lives to a slower pace and takes us back to a simplier time. Isn’t that what comfort food is all about?



These people cannot possibly go in here...





Also a great place to plan your next vacation across Oregon.


...

knit fit

This post was suppose to be about my beautiful new blue felted hat, but instead it’s about my beautiful ball of blue yarn... that was almost my beautiful new blue felted hat.



Each project teaches me many new things. Usually I unknit (aka tink) several times, often knit pick, occasionally rip back several rows. These are all activities that help keep your knitting skills sharp.



Well this project sharpened none of my knitting skills. It was a breeze to knit. I could talk and knit. Watch a movie and knit. Drive and knit. Well, maybe not that last one, but you get the idea. While binding off the second to the last stitch, I decided to take it into my local knitting group to make sure they thought it was the right size for felting. Would it shrink too much to fit my head? Here comes that lesson part of the project. The hat would turn out to be at least three inches too small and that I am a tight knitter. Note to self: always knit a gauge swatch, even if you’re following a pattern down to the same yarn, same gauge, same needle size.

I ditched the size 10.5 needles and purchased size 13 double pointed and circular needles to compensate for my tight knitting issue. I left the shop $19 poorer and a bit frustrated, but glad to have the advice at this point instead of finding out too late. Oh, did I mention the yarn is Capricorn mohair that I ordered from the U.K.? There are actually two strands knit together. The other is Reynold’s Lopi. The good news, I don’t have to purchase more of it... yet.

Now on to getting that hat knit and felted before snow falls.

sweet surprises...

My daughter wrote this beautiful poem and I just had to share...

MORNING

A streak of light peeks over the ocean
Hits the water and makes it glisten

The wet rocks glow like a fire's light
Waiting to glow again after night

The sun is low in the pale blue sky
Busting in flame and never shy

Barefoot people walk on the sand
Watching it all, there I stand

In the cool water I am waiting
Waiting for the sights of morning

let us eat cake

Happy Birthday Portland Peeps!!! One year old today!



This blog began as a way to tell the world about raising chickens on a small city lot. How to grow a bit of your own food in a small space. How to make the best use of what we have and enjoy being a little more self-sufficient. This blog has also become a vehicle for expressing myself, an outlet for things creative and otherwise. A reason to write. A reason to photograph what I see and what I do. It inspires me to try new things. I am grateful for those who read what I have to say. And I am especially grateful to those of you who leave comments and share a piece of your lives with me. Thank you!

seeing green

This year is all about food producing plants. Green is the color of 2009.





I'm really excited about these columnar apple trees... the Northpole variety I bought came with a few tiny apples already on it. If you're not familiar with these, they are the perfect way to grow apples in a small space. Vertical with almost no branching. Disease resistant. Plants grow to 8-12 feet tall. Can be grown in a pot or directly in the ground. I also bought the Scarlet Sentinel variety. Like blueberries, they do need two different varieties to pollinate (these can be within a block of each other).

As you may recall, I planted several kinds of vegetable seeds inside a couple months ago, to get a jump start on spring. The seeds sprouted, turned into seedlings, and have now been planted outside. It’s amazing what a bit of sunshine and a torrential rain or two can do! I learned a thing or two in the process. First of all, some things do not benefit much from being started inside. Others just aren’t worth all the trouble that’s involved in this process of protecting from cold, protecting from too much heat, and watering, watering, watering, then moving the small starts to larger pots until the outside soil temperatures rises, then watering some more. Truth is, I just don’t have time for so much nurturing in my life!

Butterhead lettuce. Started inside 11 weeks ago...



Mesclun mix lettuce. Started outside two weeks ago...



sure do love basil...



the lone bean seed that sprouted. Pretty sure some chickens gobbled up all the others...



Kermit the Frog said it best... "It's not easy being green!"
Happy spring!

hurray, hurray! the first of May...

...outside sowing begins today! Vegetables that is. What did you think I was talking about? Beans, potatoes, garlic, carrots, tomatoes, blueberries, onions. Oh my! Maybe it's just because I'm a little bit older than the last time I put in a garden, but this is a WHOLE LOT of work! Still to sow... squash, peas, basil, cilantro and more tomatoes. I'll post some pictures as everything begins to grow. Right now I'm too exhausted, and my hands are too dirty, to operate my camera.



This lovely, refreshing looking drink would be tasty about now. Actually this was something my hubby and I enjoyed last week while we found ourselves without the responsibility of a child for the entire week. Our daughter was away at outdoor school, so we spent some time transporting large amounts of soil amendments into our backyard to prepare the raised beds for the planting that finally happened today. Do we know how to have fun or what?

Iz looked so sad when the bus drove away. This is the first time she'd been away from home without one of us for more than a night. I think her acting classes are paying off. She failed to even open those letters marked M-F I so carefully wrote and packed into her suitcase. Claimed there wasn't time. She had that much fun! What happened to that little girl who would cling to my leg sobbing when I left her in the kindergarten classroom?



The first time I saw one of our chickens with it's legs splayed out like this, I thought a terrible illness had taken over her body. Then I realized this is how chickens keep themselves cool on a warm day. Here's Nelly enjoying the soft, fluffy soil in one of the raised beds.



Oprah Winfrey's Pomegranate Martini
1 1/2 cups pomegranate juice (I also like blueberry or grape... just make sure it's 100% juice if you want to consume a few antioxidants... this helps me justify drinking a cocktail)
2 oz. Absolute Citron Vodka
1 oz. Cointreau
Cup of crushed ice
Splash of sparkling water
Squeeze of lemon (or orange)
Shake ingredients in a cocktail shaker and pour into chilled martini glasses. I like to run a piece of orange around the rim of the chilled glasses and then dip their rims in sugar. Garnish with an orange slice or pomegranate slice. Serves 2.

ups and downs

I've been a bit down lately. Nothing serious, just general life stuff... taxes and rainy, cold weather are not helping the situation.

An impromptu trip to Central Oregon proved an immense help. Just over the mountains, sunshine and warm air greeted us last weekend. A peaceful hike through the Painted Hills at sunset definitely cleared my head. Nothing like a road trip to put things in perspective and give one a sense of calm.







We made it back in time for Easter, but ran out of time to paint eggs. I did manage to find time to bake a fresh blueberry pie...



A pity party took over my world today after writing checks with very large numbers on them. So after dropping off all those envelopes filled with tax papers and checks at the post office, I decided what we really needed was some healthy food and maybe a libation to make life a bit more palatable. A celebration of the fact that we can actually pay the large tax bill that came our way this year. After all, isn't the reason we're paying more in taxes because we made the money in the first place? Too many are unable to pay their monthly bills right now. The unemployment rate in Oregon is up to 12.1%. We need to count our blessings and stop whining!

Susan Boyle also disrupted my negative thought processing. She put a smile on my face and a lift in my step. If you haven't seen the video of this amazing woman on the reality show, 'Britains Got Talent' (the British version of American Idol), by all means watch it... with a kleenex handy. Unfortunately, YouTube would not allow me to post it here, so you'll need to google her to find it.

So with that lightened heart and a hungry family to feed, I'm cooking up some yummy dishes using fresh ingredients. Here's what we'll be feasting on tonight: corn chips and mango avocado salsa; basil pesto pasta (made with locally grown basil); green salad; fresh baguette; and homemade strawberry ice cream (made with local berries still in the freezer from last season)... oh, and a cold Oregon microbrew. The mango avocado salsa is my new favorite salsa. Delicious scooped up with corn chips, atop shredded beef and cheese on a corn tortilla. It's also capable of turning a boring sandwich into a sensation. Get ready to chop, chop and chop...



Mango Salsa
Printable Recipe

2-3 peeled mangos diced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red onion, diced small
1 ripe avocado, diced
1-2 jalapeños, minced
Juice of 1 lime
Salt to taste
Combine all ingredients and season with salt to taste.