The pandemic has meant we have to get creative for Thanksgiving this year. We’ll still meet up, but outside, and just to exchange food. Matt is prepping chicken enchiladas for his contribution.
And here is his final product.
I made rolls and they are done, but I also made a German Chocolate Roll for the feast at the Orange Door.
I bought a salad-in-a-jar book. It was not much money, because that trend was a few years ago. I’ve been having fun making extra meals for Matt and me.
My salads are on the right. You can tell, because they have cherry tomatoes in them. Matt, not a fan of raw tomatoes, got beets instead.
This one was a winner! Celebrating my birthday without my family means making a cake with coconut. (I’m the only one who is a fan.)
While my placement of the coconut ring was a little off, it didn’t affect the flavor: delicious!
The eggs got hard boiled, but not before one burst out of its shell.
Our Independence Day celebration this year included no gathering with family for Challenge Croquet. Instead, I made hotdog buns (which were delicious) and we ate hot dogs, some delicious sides, and faaaaaaancy chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting that I also made.
Not pictured: the potato salad my mom brought over. She makes great potato salad, which is even more amazing because she’s doesn’t eat potato salad.
Matt and I took advantage of the fact I’m unemployed and we headed out to the u-pick farm to get some strawberries.
It was too early to go. We got the car stuck (and had a hard time getting it out) and the berries weren’t really ripe yet. There’s been a lot of cool rain and so we will have to wait for strawberries.
When I started high school band there were so many fundraisers. One of them was Crazy Bread.
“What’s crazy bread?” I remember asking, when it was announced we would be selling it at lunch next Friday.
I soon found out. And found out how good it was. I haven’t had any in years, but it’s a pandemic and I got a hankering and the internet provided me with a recipe.
It was pretty easy to make, though not a true reflection because I can never bring myself at home to add enough butter and cheese as they do at the store.
It’s not the first time I’ve made pickled eggs, but it’s great to get back into the swing of egg pickling. They are so very delicious!
Byways has been a classic cafe for the entire time I’ve lived in Portland. It provides solid, delicious food and a fun, kitschy setting.
The owners made the decision to close because they were unable to negotiate a new lease with their landlords. I’m guessing from this for-sale sign, the building owners would rather market a mostly empty building to potential buyers. It’s easier to tear down and put up something bigger.
There were a lot of feelings about this loss in the local newspapers (the daily and weeklies) and on social media.
I will miss this Portland institution.
The Pearl Bakery has closed.
My heart is sad. For nine years it provided me with sandwiches when I had no lunch, rolls with pats of butter when I had the hankering, and cookies when I needed a pick-me-up.
When I switched jobs and the Pearl Bakery was no longer in the same block, I still would wander down from time to time for a treat.
I loved their chocolate chip cookies, which had chunks of chocolate, bits of pecan (I usually don’t like nuts in my chocolate chip cookies) and orange flavor (I’m usually anti-fruit flavor in cookies) and were chewy and divine.
I have a current quest to make a chocolate shortbread as good as the Pearl Bakery’s. How can I complete this quest if I can’t continue to purchase a chocolate shortbread as a test case?
They had a black pepper and walnut bread that was amazing. I loved their multigrain rolls. Their roast beef and horseradish sandwich was delicious.
I will never eat any of those things again.
Their service was, well, not outstanding. I never felt like they wanted me to buy what they were selling. But what they were selling was so good, I didn’t mind.
One time, a parent gave a teacher a $200 gift certificate to the Pearl Bakery as a gift. (This was before we clamped down on that kind of giving.) I got a few free sandwiches when she treated me.
The Pearl Bakery was always a treat. I will miss them.
