Fried Apples

Apples taste fantastic and I want to eat lots of them because I live in the Northwest. But I have sensitive teeth in the winter and when I eat apples it feels like I am biting into a popsicle wrapped in sand paper. Then the other day I was like, I wonder what will happen if I fry them in butter. Not cold. Not sandpapery. Caramelized and juicy. My new fall obsession.

Salad Days

Two discoveries:

1. Fresh, local, prewashed greens (because when it comes to salad I am lazy) from some farm in the Dalles.  $5 at New Seasons for a big old bag that lasts me all week. Summer is the only time I like salad so I'm eating it every day. "Salad" in this case equals greens, a few baby carrots and blue cheese dressing.

2. Paintbrush, a free Mac application that simulates my favorite ever program, Mac Paint, or rather, the Text Edit equivalent of Mac Paint. When I used to make zines in high school pretty much all of the illustrations that weren't done in ballpoint pen were done in Mac Paint on my family's Mac Plus. Creative Suite has always been kinda confusing for me to figure out, so this is right about my speed. Fun times!

Greens w/ baby carrots

Chicken Stew!

Betty Crocker, patron saint of crockpots

I cooked something tonight I've always wanted to, and it was awesome! I made creamy chicken stew from this Betty Crocker recipe. It turned out exactly how I wanted it to. Saucy and herby with hella tender chicken and creamy Yukon gold potato chunks. I used fresh rosemary from some random neighbor (if it's growing over the sidewalk it's public domain, right?), which convinced me to start using fresh herbs for everything I can, even though it is inconvenient and expensive, because it is SO worth it. Such fantastic flavor.

I'm always intimidated by anything that involves thickening sauce, but it was surprisingly easy. For this recipe you make a paste with flour and cream, then mix it with the liquid from the stew, and it cooks and thickens up and then you pour it oozingly all over the meat and veggies. I can't wait to take this to work with me tomorrow for lunch! Wooo!

Root

Root is an artisanal root beer flavored spirit. It is American. It has good ingredients. It's not too sweet; boys and girls like it. It has an interesting backstory involving an eccentric ad man and Amish heritage, but even without that, it makes people want to talk. So it's good to serve after dinner. I like it on its own and will probably put it in toddies when the weather turns cool.

Oxley Gin

Oxley is a classic English dry gin that distinguishes itself by being cold-distilled. That means that instead of the botanicals being cooked into the mix they're infused cold, so they keep their true, raw flavors. It's subtle, with flavors of lemon peel and meadowsweet. I think it would be best in simple drinks that let the gin's notes shine, like a really dry martini with a twist. It's so citrusy and crisp that I think it would be fun to mess around with lemons and herbs too, but that could also overwhelm it unless you used a very light hand. Oxley Gin is being rolled out in the States slowly. Portland is one of its first markets. I like that it is a clean gin and not too loud.

Spaghetti

Sometimes you need comfort food. Yummy, cheap, predictable.

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

1 onion
2 carrots
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 to 1 lb bulk sausage or ground beef
parmesan or other cheese
spaghetti or other noodles

1. Chop onion and carrots.
2. Sautee veggies and meat (either in the same pan or two pans). Meanwhile, boil water and cook noodles.
3. Add sauce to veggies and meat and cook until hot.
4. Top noodles with sauce and cheese.

This makes a lot of sauce. You can freeze some of it.

Blatant Self-Promotion

I have a piece up on Culinate! I'm so excited to be featured on this tasty and thought-provoking site, in the company of some fantastic writers and cooks. I wrote about the "Asian slaw" I bring to potlucks that people seem to like a lot. I also have a (totally non-food-related) story in the March issue of Portland Monthly. It involves the mysterious inner workings of Swan Island. You can pick up the magazine currently on the stands, or view the story online.