A Wannabe Food Blogger’s Unplugged Edition

25. January 2012 · 3 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , , , ,

Cheers to cyber friendships and Twit-pals!  2011 marked the year of becoming great friends with intangible people all across the country (and perhaps world!).  Although my blog sometimes falls by the wayside and lacks some visual interest (forgive me, but I’m not very good at html or formatting. oh well!) I’ve been more than affirmed and encouraged by some wonderful ladies with some serious blog caliber.  (thankyouthankyouthankyou!)

It all started when I joined the Vintage Recipe Swap with Christianna from Burwell General Store and my bona fide friend Lindsay from Rosemarried.  From there, I was introduced to dozens of amazing bloggers and straight-up awesome people that I would fly across the country to have a meal and a glass or 3 of wine with.  Oh how glorious it will be one day when we get to enjoy each other’s company.

A couple of my favorite blogger ladies have revealed themselves a bit on their blogs recently and have invited their wannabe dinner guests to do the same.  So, I guess it’s my turn to spill the beans about me, and invite my favorites to gather around the virtual dinner table and do the same.

What or who inspired you to start your blog?
This blog actually started as an outlet for the lessons I was learning in life after my dear friend Anthony died in a mountain climbing accident on Mt. Hood just over two years ago.  Losing him was unexpected, but in the grief, sadness, tears, and pain, it was like there was this rapid growth in my heart and my faith that needed to be harvested and written down.  Grief is a lost art but I was determined to walk through it and do it well and share it with others.  Slowly but surely (still not really sure how), I started posting recipes and The Unexpected Harvest turned into a food blog.

Who is your foodie inspiration?
Truth be told, Mrs. Rosemarried herself, Lindsay Strannigan.  It might seem cliche since we’re practically besties in real life, but this woman is amazing.  She has a full time job, a full time husband, is on the board of her local farmers market, contributes to several different blogs, volunteers her time to do local PR and wedding planning, keeps up with our boys; the Portland Trail Blazers, AND has time to come up with and make delicious seasonal recipes.  She’s the queen of balancing everything in her life and producing really good products.

Your greasiest most batter splattered cook book is?
Cookbook?  Who uses those archaic brick-like things anymore?  Food blogs FTW!  Juuuuust kidding.  Ironically, my “greasiest, most batter-splattered” cook book is Farmers John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables. He runs a CSA in Illinois and his cookbook is chock-full of seasonal recipes with every vegetable you can imagine.  Not much grease or batter in his recipes.  The second most dog-eared cookbook I have is the Cook’s Illustrated New Best Recipe.

The best thing you have ever eaten in another country, where was it and what was it?
It’s truly nothing fancy.  When I was in Germany in 2010, I hopped on a train and took a solo day trip up to the town of Trier.  This historic town is nestled into the Mosel wine region of western Germany and has a glorious fruit stand in the center square of town.  I bought a couple pieces of fruit while I was there, but the best by far was a simple peach.  It was August and this peach was perfectly ripe, juicy, and tasted exactly like a peachie-o gummy candy.  I’ve never tasted anything so perfect in my life.

Another Food Blogger’s table you would like to eat at?
So many!  For food alone, I would pick Coco from Roost.  Her recipes are mostly grain, dairy, and sugar free but so creative, DELICIOUS, and beautifully photographed.  For conversation and food, just you wait…

What one kitchen gadget would you like Santa to bring you? (if money were no object)
I want a set of Le Crueset dishes: dutch over, skillet, morter and pestle, you name it.  I want it all.

Who taught you how to cook?
My love of cooking started with my old roommate, Amy Boles.  She’s brilliant in the kitchen.  When I lived with her, she would always come up with something amazing to make for dinner and we would always host dinner parties.  She taught me that I actually could cook.  Then I just started following recipes and food blogs and teaching myself.

I’m coming to you for dinner, what is your signature dish?
Id’ say that my signature isn’t actually a dish, it’s a bottle–of Oregon Pinot Noir!

What is your guilty food pleasure?
Truth be told, the only thing I need for dessert is a spoonful of nut butter topped with dark chocolate chips.  That’s the most decedent and satisfying end of any meal. And lately, chocolate almond milk.

Reveal something about yourself that others would be surprised to learn?
I ate my fair share of Lil’ Debbie snack cakes growing up.  Not saying I was a chubby kid, because I wasn’t.  I’m just saying that times have changed and I would never dream of eating one of those now or letting my future kids eat them.

My ideal dinner party (please ladies, let’s all rendezvous in real life soon!):

Toni Dash of the Boulder Locavore: Toni is the cocktail queen.  I met her through the vintage recipe swap and have the biggest blog crush on her.  She’s so classy, creative, NICE, and always makes me drool over her cocktail creations.  The party would get started way before the meal if this woman was shaking up some drinks.

Jacqueline Raposo of The Dusty Baker: Another recipe swapper.  My crush on Jacqueline started when she commented on my about me section and said she wanted to jump through the computer and give me a hug.  She’s another gluten free gal who has mastered the art of baking just 6 cookies, as to not go overboard and eat all the cookie dough.  She’ll be the dessert queen at our dinner party.

Sabrina Modelle of The Tomato Tart: Oh Sabrina.  Where do I start?  Although not entirely vegan, she whips up meat-free recipes that would make me forget that I wasn’t even eating meat.  She’s the queen of the SF Bay area and we were thiiiiiis close to meeting up for a cocktail when I was down there in October, but to our dismays, I didn’t plan the trip very well and we missed each other.  Someday, Sabrina!

Christianna Reinhardt of Burwell General Store: Safe to say, I owe many of my cyber-friendship to CM.  She started the recipe swap which essentially gave birth to all these connections.  She’s our small-town girl turned LA foodie queen and is always on some new adventure.  I’m hoping to take her wine tasting in Oregon one of these days.

And last but certainly not least: Lindsay Strannigan of Rosemarried: Although we’re not cyber-friends, but real-life friends, I don’t ever want to be at a dinner party without Linds.  She’ll never buy a piece of produce from Mexico or Chile, or a chicken breast from Iowa.  I just love this lady to pieces.  We can eat eggs in a nest and drink bubbles while watching a Blazers game, or take 4 hours to eat a 5 course meal with some of our closest friends.


 

Crispy Polenta with Garlic Scapes and Sauteed Kale

03. July 2011 · 1 comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

I am loving having a CSA box!  There are so many fresh veggies in there each week, and some that I’ve never even had before!  My friend Toni from Boulder Locavore posted this recipe last week and I got really excited.  I adapted it a little bit to use more of my CSA box, but it turned out wonderfully.  I was so blessed to make this for my best friend Zoe and our great friend Angie.  I even opened a couple great bottles of wine and we laughed, cried, and thoroughly enjoyed our day and evening together.  Hopefully this meal will bring about as much greatness in your day as it did to mine.  I added a bit of protein to this recipe by buying couple good sausages from the meat case at Whole Foods you can eat this as is and be sat-is-fied!

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

For the polenta:
1 cup polenta, or corn grits
1/2 cup milk (I used hazelnut milk)
2 cups water
Salt/pepper to taste
1 tbsp of butter (have any of that herbed butter left?  I used some of that!)

For the sauteed kale:
6 cups or more kale or any braising green, rinsed, dried, and torn into bit size pieces
1 cup baby fennel, chopped, separating fronds and bulbs
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
All of your garlic scapes, cut into 1 inch pieces
Salt/pepper
Olive oil
Optional: Red pepper flakes for a little kick

Method:

Make the polenta first since it takes some time to set.  Spread butter in a loaf pan and set aside.  In a medium sauce pan, bring water, milk, and pinch of salt to an almost boil.  Slowly stir in polenta and bring heat to low.  Stir constantly for 10 minutes or so until polenta is thick like oatmeal.  Stir in butter, a pinch more salt, and fresh pepper.  Transfer to loaf pan and stick in fridge for 30 minutes to cool and firm up.  You’ll want it firm enough to slice into patties and grill them.

When loaf is firm, slice into 1/2 inch-ish slices.  Heat butter and/or olive oil in heavy skillet over medium high heat.  Add polenta patties to pan and brown them on each side until they are crispy and heated through.    Transfer one patty per plate and get ready for those sauteed greens.

While patties and getting crispy, start the saute.  You’ll need to multi-task on this one so be prepared.  In a large skillet, heat oil over medium.  Add fennel bulb, red bell pepper, garlic scapes, and pinch of salt/pepper and saute for about a minute.  Add fennel fronds and red pepper flakes if you want and continue to saute for a couple minutes until fennel is translucent and garlic scapes starts to give off an aroma. In batches, add kale and saute down until they begin to wilt.  Do this is 3 or 4 batches so you don’t overload the pan.  Once the kale is wilted and deep green, plate up on top of grilled polenta.

If you wanted to brown up some sausage, add that to the plate too.  You can either add the sausage crumbles or bits into the saute and plate it up as one, or grill it up separately and serve on the side like I did.

Bon appétit!

Warm Winter Vegan Meal

15. February 2011 · 2 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

Vegan challenge: Owned it!

(Sorry for the shady picture…bad lighting in my kitchen.  Bad camera too for that matter.)

I have some friends here in Newberg.  Lovely friends.  Friends that love to come over for dinner.  3 that came over on Sunday night:  two of which are vegan and one that has never eaten a meal void of meat or animal products in his entire life (“I’m from Alaska!  So sue me!”).  In fact, he considers the meat-free lifestyle paganism and have dubbed all who adhere to it as “vagans” (lovingly, of course).  When these friends all come for dinner together, it’s game on for me in the kitchen.  What can I make that is animal free yet hearty, satisfying, and makes the carnivores forget that they just went vegan…ahem, vagan?

Well, I have to say that I think I nailed this one.  I pulled together some of my favorite winter ingredients and had this simple yet delicious meal on the table in less than an hour.  The vegans were happy campers, and the carnivore was (not at all) speechless with how tasty the meal was!  His comment might be one of the greatest compliments any foodista could receive.  As he ate, he spoke like a sassy, well-please food critic.  And I quote…

*VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED: The following content may not be suitable for readers until 12 years old.  Food porn up ahead…

“It’s like the kale and the quinoa are headed to a cheap motel room to get it on, and the butternut squash is the “sweet, innocent” cleaning lady who comes to “clean the room” but ends up in the middle of it all! Menage a trois, anyone? And the chickpeas get called in to break it all up, then end up joining it! The ‘icing on the cake,’ if you will, is the avocado, who ends up video-taping it all.  STEAMY!!”  -Robert Hall, ladies and gentlemen.

We all agreed that the tang of the raw kale was beautifully offset by the sweetness of the butternut squash.  The nuttiness of the of the quinoa, tahini, and chickpeas rounded it all out nicely.  And the avocado on top?  Well, that was just to continue the green from the bed of kale, but was like putting a pad of butter on a baked potato…simply perfect.  Bon appetit!

Roasted Butternut Squash and Chickpea Salad (adapted from Smitten Kitchen) on a bed of Raw Kale and Quinoa.

For the salad:
1 large butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2″ pieces
2 medium garlic cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice
drizzle of olive oil (enough to coat the squash)
s/p
1 15oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 medium red onion, minced
1 handful fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
1/2 ripe avocado, cut into long slices

For the dressing:
1-2 medium cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 c lemon juice
4 heaping tbsp well-stirred tahini
2 tsp water
2 tbsp olive oil (more to taste)

For the quinoa:
1 cup quinoa (rinsed)
2 cups veggie broth

For the kale:
1 bunch curly kale, washed, stems removed, and torn into bit size pieces
pinch of salt
drizzle of tahini dressing
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Method:

Preheat oven to 425°F
In a large bowl, combine squash, oil, garlic, allspice, and pinch of s/p until squash is coated.  Transfer to rimmed baking sheet and roast for 25 minutes, stirring once, or until soft and golden brown.  Remove from oven and cool.

Meanwhile, make the dressing: in a bowl, whisk together lemon juice and garlic.  Add in tahini and whisk away.  Add in the water and olive oil and season to taste.  You may need to add a bit more oil or water to thin it out.

While the squash is cooling, make the quinoa.  In a medium sauce pan, bring quinoa and broth to a boil.  Cover and simmer on medium-low for 15 minutes or until water is absorbed and quinoa can be fluffed with a fork.

Place kale in a large bowl.  Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and start massaging the leaves to sweat them.  They should look shiny and soft.  Toss with apple cider vinegar and a good drizzle of tahini dressing.  Set aside.

Once squash has cooled a bit, combine with chickpeas, cilantro (save a tbsp or so for garnish), red onions, and dressing.  Start with just a spoonful of dressing and add more until squash is coating to your liking.  (If you have leftovers, adding the rest of the dressing the next day is the best).

Plating:

In wide shallow bowls (if you have them.  Plates work fine too) make a bed with the kale, and place one serving of quinoa on top.  With a large spoon, pile a heap of squash salad on top of quinoa.  Garnish with slices of avocado, a small dollop of tahini, and a sprinkle of cilantro.  Serve to your guest and let the compliments start coming.

*Suggested wine pairing: Oregon Chardonnay or Pinot Blanc.

Plain and Simple

04. January 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , , ,

I’ve never been a huge fan of New Years Eve.  Dressing up in something flashy and bejeweled and staying up really late has never been my cup of tea and actually makes me anxious and uncomfortable just thinking about it.  My only plan this year was to have dinner with my favorite old roommates at Toro Bravo which I was pretty dang excited about.  I mean, these girls are suurrriously my favorite.

But on Thursday, LaDonna called.

“Hi sweetie whatcha doing this weekend?”

“Well, not a whole lot actually.  What’s up?”

I thought she might be planning on coming to Portland to visit Adam and Corbin or something, but no.  She called to invite me up to Plain (just 10 miles from Leavenworth) to visit her and Jon and Teri for the weekend.  She had already looked into train tickets and I was set to go.  How could I resist such an invitation?  I had to bail on my roommates for dinner but they all sent me off with blessings and told me to go and have a good time.  And a good time I had indeed.  Usually, after a busy weekend, I’m pretty beat by Sunday night and by no means ready for a long week to start again.  But after I got home from the drive on Sunday, I felt relaxed, rested, and refreshed.

Long walks in the snow with LaDonna, cross country skiing with Jon, Snow mobile-ing with Teri, eating deer meat sausage for breakfast, sitting by the “fire” (a DVD of a fire burning…it was so real!) drinking red wine, chillin’ watching a movie.  It was near perfect.  The only thing that would have been better would be having Anthony there with us.

Thanks Jon and LaDonna for having me up for a visit!  And thanks Aunt Teri for the great ride home.  Love you guys!

\

Thompson House Tribute

19. November 2010 · 3 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , ,

Tomorrow marks the end of an era: Team Thomp will disband (even though we will still have our dinners and breakfast dates like we did this morning at the Cadillac Cafe) and the Thompson house will get turned back over to the hands of the owner who is moving back from Vegas. This house has been my home for 3 years, but tomorrow I will start to build a new home.  I’m excited to move forward and a bit closer to my dream and aspiration (moving to Newberg to pursue the wine industry), but my heart is still filled with sadness and nostalgia over all the memories from the past 3+ years.   Here are a couple pictures to commemorate…

Remember Snow-pacoplypse?  Despite the single paned windows, it was super fun being snowed in here.

Cloudy 4th of July backyard BBQ.

In the summertime, I could put up sheers  and sleep with the windows wide open and have such great sunlight early in the morning.  It was wonderful.

…I made a ton of good food in this kitchen.

…this beautiful, bright, sunny kitchen.

Team Thomp’s first Christmas!  We went out to Laurel Hedge Farm in Estacada to get the tree and we had a blast.

Although I missed all the slip ‘n’ slides, they were epic!Too many great memories in this living room to list ‘em all.  Thursday morning prayer, laughing our faces off to Modern Family, Family Dinner chats…

Don’t ask ;)

I will definitely  miss eating amazing meals outside in the back yard during the summer.  Getting that big patio set was the best!

Many of my roommates got engaged and married while living here.  I was almost asleep this night when I heard girlish shrieks and stomping feet up to my room to tell me that Noah proprosed to Katie (second on L) and she said YES!  Michelle and Rachel both got hitched since then. 

Making some delish breakfast.  If you haven’t tried my sweet potato home fries, you’re missing out!

More great sunlight coming through the kitchen door in the afternoon.

Wine party :)

Sangria on the 4th of July!

Once we strung up lights in the backyard, that table was never empty during the summer.

And the cops knew where we lived and stopped by often to keep us safe.

I LOVED hosting big brunches like these.

And last but not least–Team Thomp: Mari, Crystal, Rachel and Tiffani. I will miss these ladies the most.  They were the best to come home to after any kind of day.  I’ll miss that when I live alone.  All our inside jokes (totes____!), our Madonna/Glee dance parties, our Daily dates, Thursday morning prayer, constant laughter, baking, cooking, hanging out in the kitchen, brushing our teeth at the same time, the list goes on.  The Lord sharpened me through these ladies and gave me an idea of what I want my home to be like.  I will take a lot with me as I move on from the Thompson House and into a place of my own.

It’s Gonna Feel Like Heaven When We’re Home

03. January 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , ,

Up on a mountain, closer to Heaven.

Anthony was made for Heaven. That has become more and more clear as the days and weeks pass and the more reflection and discovery we all walk through. I stopped at Chris and Mel’s in Longview on my way back to Portland this afternoon to see Jon and LaDonna before they head back to Montana. As LaDonna, Mel and I visited in the kitchen, she told me that they had spent some time going through Anthony’s room as a family. I’ve been thinking about what that would look like and how hard that would be, so I’m glad they all did it together. They found a couple things that, combined with many of the stories we’ve heard and many of the memories we have of Anthony, show us that his days were clearly numbered (Psalm 139:16) and perhaps he knew that.

Not only did his love and passion for the Lord show us that he was excited about living with Him eternally, but the fact that he loved the mountains so much means that maybe he went to those high places because he felt nearer to God and closer to Heaven. After all, Jesus went to the high places when we wanted to pray (Luke 6:12), so why wouldn’t we do the same? And why wouldn’t Anthony? My mom could easily see that perhaps Anthony wasn’t made for here. She send me a text saying, “Anthony always seemed to have one foot on earth and another pulling him toward Heaven. I think that’s why he was so drawn to climbing.” Beautifully said, Mom. Anthony even told some of his youth group kids that if he could choose the way he left this earth, he would want to die on a mountain. The more I think about it, the more that brings me such a divine peace.

Today, when LaDonna, Mel, and I were talking in the kitchen, LaDonna asked me if I had ever seen the photo of Anthony at the beach. I shook my head and said that I hadn’t so she described the picture to me. The lens was angled down at Anthony’s feet (which resembled those of a hobbit: small and hairy) and in the sand surrounding his feet, he had written “Heaven” and drawn a circle around it. She said that the photo was inspired by a song about heaven encircling us or something like that (I’ve never heard the song so I don’t know the lyrics verbatim). She found that picture in his room along with a ring of Anthony’s that Jon is going to wear from now on in honor of his son. The ring was a class ring Anthony got in high school and on one side of it, it said “John 13:34″ which says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” On the other side, it simply said, “Heaven” and had a ray of sun underneath it. It’s no wonder where Anthony’s home was.

Though we miss him so and want him home with us to hug and to hold and to laugh with and to eat delicious (or not so delicious) food with, we are all the more comforted knowing that he is at Home. His life was lived in such an abundance that he didn’t miss the moments or the experiences or the relationships. Those who grieve as the world grieves would say that at the young age of nearly 26, his life didn’t come full circle. But I truly believe that his life has come around more fully than any of ours have…yet.

As I sat up at Timberline lodge on one of the latter days of the search, I listened to a song called “Arise and Be Comforted” by one of my favorite bands called Watermark. The song was inspired by Isaiah 40, but the part that stuck out to me was the part based on verses 29-31. The song goes, “Lift your eyes to spacious skies, let Him chart your way to fly, spread your wings and fly, for the Lord, He is good.” I closed my eyes, and as the tears pushed out through my lids and down my cheeks, I had this image of Anthony looking upward and flying off that mountain toward the Heaven which he always talked about and longed for.

Like our good friend Dave said in an interview with the reporter at Anth’t memorial, “it’s a relief knowing that he loved Jesus.” Though there are more tears to fall, and more grief to walk through, we find our peace in knowing that Anthony is home and that the Lord’s grace is sufficient no matter what may come our way. May it all put our thought towards Heaven, the way Anthony’s were.

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