Saturday morning, November 22. Jay awakes (and refers to himself in the third person) in his tiny apartment in an inner Southeast Portland neighborhood. Showers, dresses…tries to leave but gets sucked into 30 minutes of college football pregame shows on ESPN…breaks free eventually and throws on a jacket and a hat.
Let’s take a walk to the Portland Farmers Market at PSU, shall we?
First though, we need coffee. Stumptown of course, mmmm!
Crossposted from La Vida Locavore, journey below the fold…
Alright! The coffee’s awakened me and I’m on my way.
Cutting through Ladd’s, we reach a quandary. The sidewalk narrows, and looks scary!
What shall we do, Courageous Cat?
“Stop whimpering, and forge ahead Jay!”
Okay…
Whew! We made it out after all, and now we’re almost Downtown –
Let’s take the Hawthorne Bridge, shall we?
Back on dry land, and now on the Westside…
Hey, Gov. Palin – In Alaska, you eat moose. But in Portland, big ass moose eat you!
And if the deer don’t get ya, Portlandia will!
Do not tempt her trident.
Hey, who’s that incredibly handsome guy reflecting himself into the window?
Ah, okay…we’re at the market –
Mmmm. I will eat it all –
What we need is some music. Ah, here we go!
The most perfect nut in the world. You really haven’t lived until you’ve had real Oregon hazelnuts direct from the source, roasted and salted at home the same night –
SouperNatural! I had the best soup of my life from their stand last year – blue cheese and broccoli –
Nonna’s Noodles is back at PSU! Best damned pasta you can find anywhere outside of the northeast, and now I don’t have to head all the way out to the Hillsdale market for it for the next month –
My new favorite apple, yum!
Unbelievably great artisan bread, just don’t mess with the guy (heh…) –
This guy’s Smoked Blue Cheese Dressing is the closest non-crack thing to crack. Addictive!
Mmmm. Piles of chard –
Damned right –
Four tables full of mushrooms! Yeeeeaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhh!!!
Well, the market’s closing for the week. Time to head home. Let’s take the Portland Streetcar!
Unfortunately, Abe was upset that he couldn’t make it to the market before closing time –
We’ll get ’em next time, man…
Before we go home, though…let’s head up Broadway –
And make a quick (okay, an hours-long) stop at the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world –
I picked up John Hodgman’s new one…
Okay, back on the East Side –
And stopping for a late lunch at one of my favorite brewpubs –
A Hawthorne’s Best Bitter, a Veggie Deluxe sandwich and the New yorker’s Food Issue. Perfect end to a perfect day…
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’cause for 20 years I lived in the best foodie city around: NYC: if you can’t find it there, you can’t find it. Plus there are lots of greenmarkets where local farmers bring produce.
Where I am now…well, on the good side, it is now possible to buy fresh hot peppers, usually jalapenos, but others are also available.
Um…that’s about the only good thing about local food. The locals can take the best ingredients and render them inedible. It’s one thing I’ve always hated about my home town: their lack of taste.
And you can apply that across the board: food, art, literature, clothing: whatever. This place literally makes the case for the old saw, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.”
Visited the market this past Summer. Guess what? One of the vendors was selling salicornia. How great is that?
& just for you……..
Broccoli and Stilton Soup
Ingredients:-
Olive oil, salt, pepper.
Bacon, 8 rashers(slices) chopped.
Onions, 2 large, chopped.
Garlic, 8 cloves or equivalent, crushed.
Celery, 4 sticks, “de-stringed” and diced.
Chicken stock, 1 pint.
Broccoli, 2 large bunches; heads chopped roughly, stems diced.
Stilton cheese or equivalent, to taste.
Method:-
Fry bacon in olive oil together with salt and pepper for about 10 minutes.
Add onions, garlic and celery and further cook for about 5 minutes.
Add chicken stock and broccoli and cook for 10-15 minutes.
Allow to cool slightly then smooth with hand blender.
Prior to serving, reheat and mix in blue cheese. Garnish with retained blue cheese crumbs.
Note:-
for vegetarians- leave off the bacon & use vegetable stock in place of chicken stock.
Additional green vegetables can be added during cooking if required.
• pumpkin soup that was so easy and delicious….
recipe:
Quart of Chicken (or vegetable)broth
1 c. cream
2 cups cooked pumpkin
3 Tbsp dark br sugar
1 tsp. grnd cumin
.5 tsp. chili powder
.5 tsp. grnd coriander
1/8 tsp. grnd nutmeg
3/4 c. grated cheddar cheese or asiago
**optional-fresh chopped cilantro (i use fresh parsley/chives)
Heat broth and cream, whisk other ingredients in, reduce heat, simmer 15 mins.
OMG – very good!
i have made this with pumpkin, sweet tater, butternut & acorn squash. ALL are delish!
live off Hawthorne, work in Sellwood, so occasionally come home by turning up Gladstone from 28th before turning left at 39th.
For those of you who don’t know, check out the photo of Powell’s. See little Powell’s in the middle with two large buildings behind it? That’s actually one big building and it’s all Powell’s. So big you need a map to get around it.
Anyway, now I’m inspired to finish off what I’m doing (some work-y work interrupted by an occasional look around the net) to go take a big walk around town on this beautiful day!!
a nice surprise to see my neighbor hood and city right here on Docudharma. Looks like were neighbors. I Live right off Hawthorne, and walk for great food regularly. My farmers market of choice is Peoples Coop, because I hardly ever cross the bridge to the west Side. Stumptown is the best, I’m right near the Division St. coffee shop and often buy their beans from there. Great pictures.
By the way the Lucky Lab figured greatly in our local Democratic political scene as it was often used for Dean’s early meet ups. Love the Moose Park. I read that when it was built the two sides were divided one side for women to congregate the other for men. I think as it’s a beautiful day I will join Shahyar on a walk, well take your route through Ladds Addition, don’t know about crossing the Hawthorne bridge as I’m a prejudiced Eastsider LOL. Thanks what fun. I canvased your street in the primaries and have a good friend who frequents the pub on Gladstone.