The Unexpected Harvest

What a week!  The day after I got back from Mexico, I committed to house/dog sitting in Sellwood for 10 days.  Being back in Portland gave me a chance to catch up with some great friends and connect with some new ones.

My new-ish friend Lisa and I decided to meet for Happy Hour at Soluna Grill on NE 44th and Fremont before our Home Community on Wednesday.  We were NOT disappointed.

Of course, we had some cocktails to start.  I can’t exactly remember what was in mine, something pink, maybe raspberry?  The best and obviously most memorable part was the sage (I LOVE herbaceous cocktails) and whipped egg whites on top.  It was like the latte of cocktails.

We had an array of items for the happy hour menu but these two stood out the most: chickpea crusted green beans with tomato-ginger ketsup (above)
maple smoke pork belly with a tempura poached egg, sweet onion, frisee, mustard vin. A deep friend poached egg??  Yes PUH-LEASE!  This was amazing.

Our pocketbooks were happy and our bellies were sat-is-fied with Soluna Grill.

The next morning, my old roommates from the Thompson House, or Team Thomp, Tiffani, Crystal, and Rachel met for breakfast at Helser’s on NE Alberta and 16th.  It kinda feels like Miranda, Carrie, Charlotte, and Samantha are getting together at their usual breakfast spot, save for the topic of conversation.  We’re not quite as, cough cough, “city” as those ladies.  Breakfast with these girls is easily one of my favorite times of the month.   Helser’s has a FABULOUS $4.95 early bird menu from 7-9am everyday which is not something to miss out on.  I had the grilled polenta and black bean cakes with 2 poached eggs in creole sauce. The portion size was just right and tied me over well into the lunch hour.

Then came the meal that I had been waiting on for over a month: Gruner.  (Well, we had originally planned on going to Little Bird, but we couldn’t get a reservation for 3 until 8:30 and since we all had to work on Friday and usually spend 3+ hours talking, eating, and drinking together, we decided to reschedule LB for May and try Gruner.  Both are newish to Portland and have chefs who are nominated for the James Beard Award).   One of the only perks of having type 1 diabetes is that the 2 ladies who work locally for the company who makes my insulin pump have a nice expense account and are encouraged to “entertain” their patients.  It’s a major bonus that I happen to click with both of them very well and we have a ball together.  They are the reason I have been to several of Portland’s best restaurants.  Having diabetes is almost worth it.

Take a moment to look at Gruner’s menu.  It’s very German/Swiss inspired which I was a little shy about at first.  But once our first “snacks” came out, I knew we wouldn’t have anything to worry about.

Round one:   Beet-pickled hard boiled eggs. Perfection in a deviled egg.  (Julie and Shannon had the crisp polenta croquettes stuffed with  bleu cheese but I had to pass unfortunately.)

Round two: Belgian endive, gala apples, fourme d’ambert, toasted hazelnuts, with a hazelnut oil vinaigrette. Too bad I had to 86 the bleu cheese.  Still a mouthful of delight though.

Round 3: Sauteed calves livers, sauteed onions, house cured bacon, cider reduction, “himmel und erde–potato and apple puree. I stepped out of my culinary comfort zone for this, but OH MY it was good.  Good, as in, “God saw what He had made and said it was good.”  Like, godly perfection on a plate.

We asked our Christian Bale look-a-like server, Jeff for a wine recommendation for our meal.  The menu is heavy with Germany and European wines that I am completely unfamiliar with.  There are a few Oregon wines on the menu, which I will lean towards 95% of the time, but even those were unfamiliar to me.  He suggested the ’09 Schöne Schlucht Oregon Pinot Meunier, which is an Alsatian red varietal is that seldom seen in Oregon (Adelsheim makes one).  I wish Oregon produced more of this varietal because it was wonderful!  Bright cherry and black pepper.  Perfect with our meal.

Dessert is always fun for us whenever we go out.  We usually get a chocolate dessert and a non-chocolate dessert and dessert wines to match.  Unfortunately, none of the desserts we ordered impressed us enough to take note of or even take a picture of.  But here’s our array of dessert wines (from the back): An Auslese Riesling from the Mosel region in Germany where I visited this summer, an Italian Vino Santo, and a Tawny Port.

Now, it’s back to home cooked meals and leftovers for lunch.  I had a fun culinary week out, but I’m ready to use my new red dutch oven and start cooking my own food again.