Food food foods

It's been really hot this week, and I've been staying up really late, enjoying the cool air while possible. Staying up late means more time with the camera, my computer, and of course, this all happens in the kitchen. This is the product of the past couple days...

Carol's Birthday Weekend

Carol's birthday was on July 14, and her family visited for the weekend so Phil and Sophia also came to town. It was the first time I'd met Budge, Mary, Sally and Bob, and I had a great time hanging out with them and eating food. On Friday, before Phil had gotten here, I joined them at Pok Pok for the best dinner I've had in Portland since moving here last summer. On Saturday, Carol made a couple platters of the feast above - one with salmon and one with halibut. Phil and I managed to slip in some rock climbing up at French's Dome before dinner, and on Sunday he went and kayaked the Wind River. All in all, an extremely fun filled weekend with good food, great company, and wonderful Oregon weather.

Mt. Hood from the road to French's Dome, E Lolo Pass.

Raspberry Lemon Pudding Cakes

Josh, Rachel and I went to Grandma's house the other day, and while we were having lunch, I found this recipe in one of her magazines. I thought it would be a nice, afternoon desert, and she had all the ingredients, so I whipped them up.

The North American Organic Beer Festival

Last weekend, Phil was in town, and we made it over to Overlook Park for the North American Organic Beer Festival with my friends Saba, Owen and Kira. While there were a lot of beers (FULL beer list here), and we tried as many as we could, there were a couple that really stood out. The Widmer, Teaser XPA was innnnnnncredibly refreshing and crisp, and had a ton of floral aromas that I normally don't like, but fell in love with. So that was the light - the dark one that I really loved was from Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing. Their People's Porter was delicious, though I don't remember why. I just kept a notepad of all the beers I tried, and rated them on a scale of 1-10, and I gave that particular porter an 8, so I must have really enjoyed it.