A plate of nostalgia: baked potato croquette, roasted asparagus with lemon and Cajun-rubbed beyond meat

I have these floating, yet clear, memories of my late mother sauteing broccoli raab or asparagus with olive oil and garlic lemon and all things super Italian on a regular basis. I didn’t eat much meat before I started going vegetarian –  it was a texture thing that became a depressing, gross out thing –  and most of those vegetables she cooked with care made it to my plate, too; but they take premier residence on hers. This mental picture of extended family gatherings and ravioli or manicotti being passed around, and only the minority of diners passing on the lemony raab  just sits in my mind. It first struck when I first started buying my own raab and rapinis in 2005, the year of her passing and my first Spring in Portland, to see what the farmers market rage was all about.

Broccoli Raab, Portland Farmers Market

These old memories – the new realizations, hit just a couple of months ago, out of the blue. My mom had three children and often worked two jobs, on top of visiting my grandparents and great aunts several times a week, and two dramatic marriages (oh, and that cancer), and yet, as the saying goes, she nearly always had dinner on the table, often quite reminiscent of the plate above.

Perhaps the memory was waiting for the day I didn’t tear up when thinking like this, years after her passing. It’s wild to know I’ve lived this new life in Portland so long without her. Though, it’s not thinking about dinner appearing that surprised me, it was quiet realization that she truly enjoyed setting that time aside to create it.

Bit by bit, her favorite cookbooks and well worn recipes from newspapers (Sweet Potato Pie Casserole, I’m talking to you), impressive family holiday spreads, baking peanut butter fudge cookies, frosting cupcakes for class, using a food processor to puree the filling for her well-loved stuffed mushrooms (which she kept making, despite developing a severe fungus allergy – and I remember bits and pieces of that fateful ravioli at a restaurant on Long Island well), savoring good wine and balsamic, aged Parmesan and visits to gourmet Italian markets, the early days of the Food Network, forming those croquettes out of leftovers mashed potatoes, and even her go-to fried potatoes & scrambled comfort food – it all starts to reappear: and I try to savor them, one by one. You never want those visions to go.

Making Angelfood vegan marshmallows in my mom’s old mixer, 2009

I found myself writing this while waiting for pizza dough I made in her old Kitchen Aid mixer, that my sister shipped me in 2006, to rise.

Anyway. This remains related…I used to think that I was fairly productive home cook once I realized I wanted to learn…and when I started casually documenting it. I balanced my interests on top of a full-time day job and projects (and real life), but gosh, things are even more intent these days.

Craziest yet – I started finding myself developing my own recipes out of my own projects and cravings (and new budget!), like the day I got fed up with restaurant stock and decided to make my own pho chay from scratch. I’ve never been a recipe blogger – it happens, and I’ve done it for specific calls and Heartichoke menus, but it’s not something I usually set out to do. I’m not often one to write things down! The very first time I can remember making my own recipe from scratch was for an old issue of Herbivore, Red Wine & Hazelnut stuffed mushrooms inspired those my mom made (which I think had crab, but I digress), and went to my kitchen and started tasting, mixing, stuffing and developing from there.

My first from-scratch recipe: Hazelnut and Red Wine Stuffed Mushrooms

The window of the past near-year, and the much-welcome time on my hands to…exist, create, and think, gave me more of that time to create, think and contemplate meals and flavors. I remember a conversation with a friend soon after my layoff, with my remarking that I had more time to actually cook meals, and her replying that wasn’t anything new, and my own surmising that my cooking now had more “thought into it”….and truthfully, more enjoyment in the end.

With that (and several digital cameras and years later), here’s what I’ve been attending to, and creating:

The beginnings of cacao nib cold brew

The photos above and below are examples of  existing recipe that you find yourself inspired by, and adapting, again and again, til it’s something that seems new. My go-to cacao nib cold brew steps for your own little French Press are right here.

Smoked jalapeño‎, chipotle & tomato bisque with noochy garlic toast

I recently received some Beyond Meat samples, as two photos from this post showcase, and have also been making my way through Wholegrain Vegan Baking for this month’s blogtour. I’ll be sharing what I’ve made so far this upcoming Monday, May 20…mere days before VVC II takes place.

Greek Pizza with tofu feta from Artisan Vegan Cheese, green and kalamata olives, fresh tomatoes, parsley-pesto rubbed beyond meat, whole wheat/spelt crust, etc.

Another project complete:

DIY chocolate liqueur

Division Street Pho Chay: The Cari (Curry) Edition

Gong Bao Tofu & Japanese Eggplant, take 2

Once the noochy wind storm that is Vida Vegan Con II passes, I’ll have more to say and more to share. I know my mom would have loved it all.She would have been been tickled by my little website adventures and adored Portland.

My mom and I in 1985, in the bottom right-hand corner

I wish I could have cooked for her once I actually learned how to.

Cold brew has become one of the savings graces of warmer days in my life, and it’s ridiculously easy to make at home. You’re essentially extracting the coffee into more of a concentrate (which is why you’ll typically see cold brew priced higher than a cup of coffee). The method I use comes from Cook’s illustrated’s Dan Souza, and is available on the website of America’s Test Kitchen. As if you could have any doubts now.  I’ve combined a couple of steps (or maybe, I just can’t count), based on how I’ve been making at home the past two summers, and throw in the addition of rich cacao nibs, ripped off from my dear from Tom (who rules!)

Get ready.

DIY Cacao Nib Cold Brew, credited to Dan Souza

Step 1: Get your French Press, coffee and cacao nibs ready. Dan recommends a medium roast for the best flavor. I’m currently using the 34 ounce (just over 4 cups’ worth) Upphetta press from IKEA (well, until it breaks).

My not-so-secret about cold brew is that I will use nearly any beans floating around. I like to think of it as roasters playing nice.

Step 2: Why, it’s time to grind. Take very, very slightly less beans than you’d normally use for your French Press, as per the directions, plus 1 tablespoon of cacao nibs, grind, and add to your coffeemaker.

Note: Use common sense – if your French Press is twice the size of mine, you may want to double the nibs, etc. If you can’t find cacao nibs, just make cold brew! The cacao nibs add a nice, very sligh,t cocoa-noted depth to the finished product (my coffee snob alert is in full effect now).

Break out the french press.

Step 3: Simply add the typical amount of water for your French Press, and let the mix sit for 10 whole minutes.

10 minutes later.

Step 4: After 10 minutes, as per Dan, stir it just once. Have I thanked Dan yet? Thanks, man!

Patience.

It should look like this by now.

More patience. And cacti.

Step 5: Cover your press with plastic wrap, and let sit at room temperature for 24+ hours. As per Dan’s advice, and as so many of my coffee-obsessed Portland friends will tell you, 24 hours really is totally fine. And maybe I’m missing something, but I haven’t detected any eyerolls.

24 hours later.

You’re doing it!

Time to press.

Step 6: You’re so almost there! Just strain your concoction – I simply use the actual French Press, but you could do a second strain with a coffee filter over something sturdy – but if you own a French Press like me, there’s a great chance you don’t  have coffee filters around. Makes sense.

Ah.

I guess summer isn’t that horrible.

Jess in the present is now thanking Jess from the past.

Step 7: Dilute! Drink!

Personally, I keep the concentrate as-is in a jar in the fridge until I want a glass. Dan recommends a 1:1 ratio of concentrate to water. Now, I quite enjoy coconut creamer and often skip the water altogether, depending on how dark the particular roast I’m using is.

Dark agave is my sweetener of choice here, though I’ve yet to try Dan’s suggestion of a pinch of kosher salt. I’m down.

Repeat, repeat.

Do keep this in mind: Cold brew also goes fantastically into chilled cocktails, cake batters, chocolate truffles and frosting, etc.

And coconut creamer + vanilla + cold brew (which replaces the coffee liqueur) is that much closer to a non-alcoholic White Russian, anyhow. 

If you’re looking for some stellar, locally roasted coffee from the Portland area, I recommend Coava, Happy Cup, Heart, Water Ave., and of course, Stumptown. When on a tighter budget, I opt for Trader Joe’s Fair Trader-certified coffees (though I think it’s disappointing for such a powerful company, they aren’t exclusively fair or direct trade, but I digress). 

Enjoy!

Do you want a full vegan menu? Are there omnis in tow?  Is anyone gluten-free?

Are you looking for breakfast cocktails or a great local roaster (or both!)? Sweet or savoury?

How long are you in town for? Wait, what’s open? Did that one place close?

What do you need to try next? Seriously, can you all handle waiting in line (which means I’m required to mention this) if need be ?

And so on.

As it was, I had two dear friends who used to live in Portland return to town this past weekend, and there was a must-brunch on at least one of their lists: A.N.D. Cafe.  I admit, I wasn’t exactly stoked; I was grumbly and tired and woke up thinking about scrambled tofu, and due to the nuts in A.N.D.’s mainstay pesto-scrambled tofu (which was all their tofu), my options were limited, so there would be no tofu for this gal. But wait – it gets better.

Of course, grumblings be damned and friends to see, being polite and all that, brunch happened, and to my surprise, as it was a few days into a new menu at A.N.D., we learned they had just introduced an herbed, scrambled tofu. Phew.  Sorry to all the pesto lovers, but I’m selfish and stoked to have the option! To top that off, I went for something way new for me, and a little outside my realm of typical ordering.

Brunching at A.N.D. Cafe: The Hot Nest rapidly disappeared after this photo was taken.

 Most importantly, it was about time I tried one of their adored and creatively adorned, gluten-free waffles.

In the end, after a pleasant meal with my sights set on J. Legume’s Hot Nest order for a future visit (the Secret Aardvark got to know my own waffle quite well), the highlight of  our dining experience – which I certainly don’t intend as an insult to our dishes – has to be the pickled Bloody Mary. 

Our visit to Chelsea’s Portland vegan brunch-must follows…

Spicy Bloody Mary, A.N.D. Cafe

My heat tolerance has both its good days and its fierce ones, and this breakfast cocktail was evidently in the middle, because again, I couldn’t resist a little Secret Aardvark to bring it quite where I wanted. But the salted, delightfully house-pickled garnishes were totally where it’s at. So much so, that we couldn’t resist ordering their charming pickle jar, pictured below.

Don’t like Bloody Marys but love pickles? They’ve got your back.

Veggie sausage-stuffed Feast waffle, A.N.D. Cafe

This doesn’t seem like something I’d normally order – I was torn between the Espresso BBQ wrap (okay, which again, is so not me, but that sauce sounded bomb and I like to try new things). All in all, I totally appreciate the savoury waffle components, but I’d like to revisit and try something more on the classical side to really get acquainted with their crispy waffles: I couldn’t help wanting my plate to bring a little more sweet & salty in each bite, but I’m glad I gave it a go. I can see folks going gaga for this!

Berries & Cream: Chelsea’s Marionberry special

Shockingly, I didn’t grab a bite of this, as I was quite full from my own dish at that point, but my friend insisted I break my camera out to capture this glorious waffle. I gladly obliged. What a beauty.

My friend’s brunch #2, The Full Nest

Two breakfasts: the out-of-town objective, passed on. 

Portlanding! originated as a weekly feature during VeganMoFo, October 2012, on Get Sconed! These posts are not official reviews, they are simply experiences and locales I’m enthusiastically sharing and documenting.

Behold, Zebra (cup) cakes

A combination of baketivism and plastic-wrapped nostalgia at its finest.  

These were for last weekend’s Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale in Portland, inspired by a big ole vganized Zebra cake that J. Legume and I made a few months ago. I vaguely remember our conversation on what type of cake to make for a gathering, and the vegan ode to the Little Debbie ‘classic’ arose.

Inside these cupcakes is truly vanilla cake, a marshmallow buttercream filling (thanks to a delicately melted Dandies buttercream), and both white and dark chocolate ganache coating. Our original bake sale idea was for mini zebra cakes, but dude, I am not a patient froster and didn’t want to sit there cutting away edges of cupcakes.

As it was, we carried a mere dozen, having run out of flour during the late night baking scene. There was a big call for bakers, and as someone with public-baking anxiety, I’m relieved they were cute enough to mosy their way onto the spread with all the gorgeous pastries and savoury items from generous vegans and legit vegan bakeries.

Portland’s bake sale benefited the Cat Adoption Team and Green Acres Farm Sanctuary’s S.O.S. Project

Plus, I got to see lots of friends and since the event was at Mississippi Marketplace, grab a Mississippi bowl from Native Bowl while J. Legume opted for mac & cheese a la HoGroSmo, which sadly, doesn’t happen very often being such Southeast-ers, or whatever.

Soy latte date, Coava

Soy lattes have become more rare as I budget and budget some more. Perhaps I’ll dig out my old Ikea frother to stay afloat.

On another day, these flowers said so much.

In project-land, I’m nearly a full week into cooking lupini beans from scratch.

Lupine poisoning be damned.

I’m following this guideline - it’s quite the Mediterranean endeavor, and the notion of salted lupini beans and cold beer makes me want to head into the realm of global bar bites. Of course.

As I’m a bit nutty already with just over a month til the second Vida Vegan Con arrives, odds are, I’ll be in an ever-increasing state of ecstatic anticipation and round-the-clock contemplation and planning, trying to squeeze just one more discussion group onto the agenda and hitting Los Gorditos and the New Seasons hot wok for take out, well, all the time. Let cooking be my down-time.

 Geng Taepo (Red Curry) with Tofu and Mushrooms

Curries are on my mind even more than usual lately, with future Heartichoke concepts floating left and right. I’ve started wandering region by region, starting with Thailand  (of course) and Vietnam, in two cookbooks I picked up from the library: Curry Cuisine, a striking, global cookbook with different authors sharing regional expertise on all things curry, and Curry: Fire and Spice, which I’m digging into next.  The dish above included two firsts:  one being a recipe Curry Cuisine, which was also my first time making a red curry paste from scratch. It was a knock out with fresh and fried tofu, local vegetables, jasmine rice, incredible, rich flavors and my little addition, sesame sautéed Maitake mushrooms, to top it all off.

With every curry paste and powder I make from scratch, the likelihood of purchasing store-bought jars  fades and fades.

Fresh produce longings have taken me up to a Springtime average of two markets per week. The year-round People’s Co-op farmers market is a quick walk from my apartment, and always sends me home with mushrooms. Bonus points for the signs on Division street, which reroute me when I’ve forgotten.

This time, it was the morels – especially this beauty, that called to me. To be continued.

Maitake Mushroom Tamale, smothered in spicy red sauce; in honor of last week’s maitake mushroom pick and access to these dang tamales.

Last week, I dove into the world of bagel-making (and as I type that out, this is so in my head).

There were sesame, jalapeño, garlic, noochy garlic and coarse sea-salt-topped. For all my relenting about the lack of great bagels in town, I remained mildly uninterested in making my own for…ever. I would never say these are reminiscent of legit New York bagels, but they were remarkably easy, really fun to top and make, and a few miles better than a few other options I’ve tried in the Northwest. Just saying.

The recipe, go figure, comes from Serious Eats’ Homemade Bagels, a la Jo Goldenberg.

Let’s throw a bunch of words and some candy together for a cookie: Peanut Butter – Peanut Chew – Chocolate Chip

These are what happens when you realize you have some company coming over in 30 minutes, there’s half a candy bar in the fridge, and there’s just enough time to make cookies.

Take your favorite go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe (mine’s in Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar), go a little short on the oil, throw in a big spoonful of creamy or chunky peanut butter, and top each cookie with a slice of peanut chew. Go there.

This basil-béchamel topped lasagna was inspired by a car ride in Canada, where two friends discussed the pros and cons of pre-cooking pasta noodles.

For the record, I’m firmly in the traditional boil-the-noodles camp (Italian heritage and all). This was, however, the first time I’ve cooked them and then placed on a lined baking sheet with a wee dab of olive oil while I layered, and that worked some little wonders. The base was a spicy homemade marinara, along with tofu miso ricotta, wilted baby spinach and sautéed chickpeas tossed with some fancypants Italian balsamic, in between the noodled layers.

The latest in my Artisan Vegan Cheese endeavors: Tofu Feta

This tofu was immersed in a thick sauce of miso and mirin for a week, rinsed, and then once again spent a night in the fridge with olive oil and sea salt. Another one to be continued.

Mac & Cheese with Smokey Chickpeas

I’ve become mildly obsessed with using the rotating Artisan Vegan Cheese creations in my fridge as the basis of stove top macs.

My basic ratio follows: take cooked and drained hot pasta, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup vegan cheese, pinch of sea salt, 2-3 tablespoons of nondairy milk or water, pinch of cayenne or hot sauce, sprinkle of nooch, maybe some smoked paprika, and tah dah.

Juniors remains my go to favorite brunch spot in town.

Local cider purchase from Bushwackers Cider on SE Powell

Note to self: Make it here way more often.

Pesto & white miso roasted cauliflower, crispy kale and jalapeno-cheese grits

Grits have become a semi-regular notion for our dinner happenings, and that’s alright with me. I use the recipe from The Inspired Vegan as a guide.

Blueberry and Meyer Lemon-glazed Scone

Despite fulfilling my sconey obligation, I remain a broken record, as this is a tester for Isa’s latest cookbook-in-progress, so I certainly will be sharing from the super fun (and tasty) experiences of tasting for this fall’s release, Isa Does It soon, soon, soon.

Even with a pancake preference, I can appreciate the sentiment…

I’m also awed to share that you can now find select posts from Get Sconed! on Oregonlive – check out what’s up so far. Originally, the Oregonlive’s News Network/BlogPartner program (phew, what a mouthful) was pulling posts now and then, but I’m now doing it myself, so bear with me, and let me know if you have any suggestions for recipes or stories.

Towards Boylston, from across the Common

Boston, from across the Charles River in Cambridge

I spent my final year in the Boston area residing right around the corner from the Garment District (which phew, still exists) in awfully amazing brownstone. As in, super cheap rent, the constant smell of Frito pie from one floor and intriguing curries from another, cockroaches in the wall and sometimes in the fridge, garbage thrown out the window, a no one knows who’s-actually-on-the-lease type of apartment, but someone-left-an-AC-that-kinda-works but the bay windows are great, amazing.

Portland St. a few steps away from that old apartment on Harvard St.  in Cambridge

This final apartment was a short walk between two stops on the Red line, Kendall and Central, and I was pretty obsessed with spending my free time in the latter. I felt so almost grown up and purposeful on my brisk or humid walks to the T. It was the place I first lived with my then kitten, Zelda, and I hold those memories dear, cockroaches and all (plus, the little darling scared most of them off).

Walking down Tremont St. to the Little Building.

This takes me back to all those dining hall lunches, where watching the hot wok cooks actually taught me a thing or two about spices and cooking, and somehow, spending  just over a year saving up for my move Northwest, at the then-new Loews Theater on the Common when it first opened. Unlike my other college memories, I regret every minute of that soul-sucking gig.

Chinatown, Boston

The former site of Buddha’s Delight, the first vegetarian restaurant I ever visited, my freshman year of college. It’s now home to My Thai, and back upstairs again. I simply didn’t comprehend the concept of a vegetarian restaurant on my first visit (despite being vegetarian for years), and held each dish with suspicious. Fast forward two years, and I was stopping in for a lunch special at least once a week.

Beantown falafel love

And this, which I knew as Jerusalem and later turned into Olive Tree Cafe’s cart, and seems to have since closed again, was my first foray into regular food cart dining, outside of the roadside knishes with my grandfather, of course. Gosh, I remember grabbing $3 (was it even $2.75?!) falafel wraps, and again, hardly believing they could be vegan or even vegetarian – and that freaking delicious. I found myself devouring them on a near daily basis to and fro classes and annoying jobs.

Boston Common

After a few years of staying put on the West Coast, I longed for snow and much to my friends’ disbelief, booked this pictured trip for February.

Alas, this little bit was the only snowfall I remember seeing.

Ice skating on the Common

Something I’ve never done, but I can recall a few wild winter scampers across the frozen Duck Pond. Good times, good times.

Historic Back Bay

With parents from Brooklyn, and growing up just outside of New York City, I thought it was too much of the obvious choice to attend college in, but Boston….it just felt right. I visited for the very first time with my late mother when I was 17, and was hooked on Back Bay. It was big city, historic, and yet, felt so inviting and conquerable. My alma mater, Emerson, has since given up most (and perhaps, all) of its Back Bay real estate for the other side of the Common, but how sweet it was to be a part of this neighborhood for three special years.

I spent my final two collegiate years (after, well, a precious summer in Davis Square, Mission Hill of all places, a semester in the Netherlands, and finally, Cambridge) loathing the humidity but looking forward to the summertime – when one could take the B or E lines without hundreds of college students cramming into every ride, grab tofu soft serve around Kenmore Square, and wander the Harvard Square neighborhood in a bit more peace. I knew it was fleeting, and that I was set on the ‘other’ Portland, but it was swell to experience.

The vegan strip in Allston, currently home to Peace O’Pie and the classic Grasshopper (which despite many run-ins with roaches on my table, I continued to return), for the No Name, #46, tasty hot & sour soup and PPK meet-ups, among other things.

See you again, my old friend.