17 May 2013

FEAST Portland-- It's Coming.

This whole week is a constant reminder of how lucky I am to have moved to Portland. It's almost brought me to tears a couple of times actually. It's only since I've moved here and began working with fabulous organizations like Portland Bloggers and Portland Food Bloggers (site coming soon, yay!) and met some very savvy companies like Little Green Pickle and Broussard Communications that I finally feel in my element. Don't get me wrong, I have always searched for a job that fulfills me to some degree--and I've had that in many cases, but nothing's filled me like being in the Portland food scene has (both literally and figuratively). I don't think it was until I was hugging Mama Doris of Andina last night that the realization hit me like a bus. What an enormous opportunity--SO many enormous opportunities have come my way since being here in Portland. It causes me to shake my head in amazement. Ok, that's enough personal moosh for today. On to some real news...

Image via Eater.com



I heard from a birdie last night that FEAST Portland was going to be announcing its chef lineup today--lo and behold!

FEAST your eyes on this amazing list!


I am especially excited at the chance to breathe the same air as Dustin Clark, Jami Curl, Stephanie Izard, Tyler Malek, Thomas McNaughton, Rick Ortiz, Christina Tosi, and Jin Soo Yang.

For those new to the idea of FEAST Portland (as I technically am)--FEAST is a four day celebration of amazing culinary creations. Events during the festival take place all over downtown Portland, feature nationally acclaimed chefs, and dishes are made up of local Oregon ingredients. Proceeds of the long weekend go to Share Our Strength | No Kid Hungry and Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon. This year FEAST will be held September 19th-22nd, and tickets go on sale this Monday. If you plan on attending make sure to check out the Events Schedule. The weekend will be made up of classes and tasting panels as well as brunch and dinner series; main events and speakers series will also be attracting the crowds!

Will you be at the FEAST?

14 May 2013

Cheese & Bacon Stuffed Jalapeños

What a crazy week ahead of me! I expected Ktams to be out of town all week so I made all of these plans to keep busy, and then his trip was rescheduled. Now I'm backpedaling so I can spend more time around home with him. I can tell you I've got a fun happy hour at Andina coming up, and then the Portland Bloggers Event this Saturday!!

I've got to keep my readers' bellies full though! Today I bring you what is becoming a go-to appetizer for grill season: Cheese and Bacon Stuffed Jalapeños. Y-U-M. What could be better than cream cheese, Colby Jack, bacon, and peppers!?



Ingredients


  • 1 package jalapeños (if you shop at Trader Joe's) otherwise approximately 6-8 large, straight jalapeño peppers
  • 2-3 slices of Colby Jack or sharp cheddar cheese (depends on the size of the jalapeños), cut into strips
  • 3-4 slices bacon, cooked
  • 2-4 oz cream cheese (again, depending on your pepper size)
  • Toothpicks (optional)
  • Jalapeño stand

Method

Wash and core your peppers. Many stands come with a corer, but it is only helpful if you've picked large enough peppers! This can prove challenging depending on the season. If you can't use the corer, I suggest a paring knife and a careful set of hands to cut out the insides (it's really easier than it sounds). Rinse out the inside of the pepper and (using a knife) spread in a healthy dollop of cream cheese. Follow that up with as much bacon as you deem necessary (I like 1/2-3/4 a piece per pepper), then finish it off with your sliced cheese. Repeat until all of your peppers are brimming with cheese and bacon. If you do end up with peppers that aren't quite the right size for your stand there's an easy little cheat that Ktams came up with--simply stick a toothpick through about a half inch from the tops! See the picture below for a visual. Grill the peppers for 20-25 minutes or until they darken slightly and the cheese is fully melted. This recipe serves 2-4 people depending on their affinity toward grilled jalapeños, cheese, and bacon.



Surprisingly enough this recipe could range in heat from a 2 up to a 3 based on the freshness of the peppers. Approach with some caution if you're looking for a very mild heat!

What would you stuff a jalapeño with?

10 May 2013

Foodie Idols

Every foodie has to start their cookbook collection somewhere. I realize now that for me it started at the IUB my last year in college, as I painstakingly searched for something so that I could cash in a gift card. I ended up going home with one of my very first cookbooks that day, The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life, by Ellie Krieger of Food Netwook. Over time, my collection has grown, and at present state my collection of cookbooks sits at about 30--many gifted, some purchased. It's gotten to the point where we need to make an Ikea trip for a taller standing bookcase (waiting for the rain to come back to Portland before I drag Ktams to an Ikea for hours!).

If you're an emerging foodie--or you are just looking to branch out a bit from what you are normally cooking, a great place to start (especially if you don't want to just jump in and buy a cookbook) is at your library; Most have a pretty good collection of cookbooks. No library access? Try the internet--I did a post last October of great food sites to start from. While you are figuring out who your Cooking Gods are--I'll share mine!

My shortlist of people I dream about cooking for me:


Alton Brown

via Dash Recipes

Ahh were to start with my love for Dear AB. I think my crush on him started waaaaaay back when I was a kid watching some of his first episodes of Good Eats. I had never had an affinity towards the sciences, but it just made SO MUCH SENSE when the things I was learning in chem were applied to the art of cooking good food. To this day, when it comes to searching for something that requires a lot of prep and work on the cook’s part, Ktams and I run straight to the computer to see whether Alton’s done it first (which, by the way, he usually has!). I’m talking everything from pizza dough to home-brewed beer! He really has a way of making everything precise and easy to follow, and his cookbooks are quite good reads.

Some Books by Alton:

Ellie Krieger

via NY Sun

Ellie and I found one another at the perfect time. I had just started coming around to the healthier side of life (no thanks to Ktams—without him who knows where I’d be—likely sustaining myself on cupcakes alone), and her cookbooks really have helped me gain a nice comfort level cooking more diverse meals on the weeknights. The key with cooking healthier food you see ::moves in closer and drops down to a whisper:: is TO SIMPLIFY--But that’s likely a topic for another post. Ellie’s books basically take things that have few ingredients to them and put them together, which sounds easy—but you've got to come up with good combinations first! That’s where I have grown to love her stuff. She gives me a lot of good “Duh” moments—like “Why didn't I think of that? It’s delicious!”

Some Books by Ellie

Rick Bayless

via Grub Street: San Francisco

I only found Rick about the time he won Top Chef Masters back in August of 2009. At that point I didn't know he was actively doing his Mexico: One Plate at a Time series. Soon after, I had the opportunity of dining at his restaurant Frontera in downtown Chicago with Ktams and his family, and I was immediately in love with everything that came out of that kitchen. I then came into ownership of Mexican Everyday, as well as Fiesta at Rick’s: Fabulous Food for Great Times with Friends. I've grown in so many ways looking back on that food chapter of my life. An example: I used to not eat spicy food at all, and anything that I couldn’t pronounce scared me, and today I can’t go a week without cooking something from Rick’s recipe archives—and the more spice the happier I am! Chipotle Chilis in Adobo are a household staple, and we've gotten so frustrated with store bought corn tortillas we are halfway to making our own from scratch. Yes—we have come a long way, and much if not all of it is thanks to Mr. Bayless.

Some Books by Rick:

Do you have any Foodie Idols or Cooking Gods you worship?

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