Toshi Sushi Birthday Dinner

We have a family tradition that the birthday person can select any restaurant or meal they want for their birthday dinner celebration. By now It shouldn't be a surprise that Mike selected a Japanese Restaurant for his family birthday dinner. So, on a rainy Halloween night we braved Hwy 26 to find Mike's selected Japanese Pub closed. But not to worry, we were in the land of Portland's Japanese community and we quickly remembered another Japanese restaurant mentioned to us earlier in the week. A few iPhone clicks and we were off to Toshi Sushi. 

Located in a typical suburban stripmall, Toshi Sushi was cozy, friendly and full of Japanese diners! The massive Japanese menu was mesmerizing, but we attempted to order dishes we haven't eaten or seen on other Japanese restaurants. Needless to say, we left stuffed to the brim.

After ordering we each got a started salad was looked basic with bagged lettuce, but boy was it far from average. The sauce studded with tobiko was additive.

Then the appetizers came flying at us. First up was the terrific Ika Tempura (Fried Octopus). These little suckers were gone in mere seconds. But not before Mike got to make an salute to Simpsons Character Kang & Kodos.

We also ordered buttery potato croquettes and two starters we've never had before, both were a huge hits - Takowasabi (pickled raw octopus with wasabi) and Kanitama (crab omelett with kanitama sauce).

Then came our dinners. Dad ordered a platter of sushi with the largest and yummiest looking rainbow roll we've ever seen. The rice was terrific. We were also seated facing the sushi bar and there was only one person making sushi and he cranked out the orders with ease, it was mesmerizing and by this time the restaurant had filled up with several people waiting.

One of the main reasons we decided on Toshi Sushi was we heard they had amazing ramen and it did not disappoint. We ordered a Tonkotsu (pork milk bone broth) and a Negi-Miso (miso broth with green onions and barbecued pork). The broths were wonderful, but the noodles were the stars, chewy, flavorful and just all around terrific.

Toshi Sushi also had terrific Soba Noodles and an order for Soba Tempura was placed. Below the dish of shredded daikon, ginger, wasabi and green onions was the broth for the cold soba noodles. Yummy!

We nearly forgot we placed an order for the Yaki-Onigiri (Grilled Rice) which went really well with the crab omelette.

We planned to meet up with some friends for an after dinner celebratory drink, but we were so full we couldn't even imagine sitting still for the ride home, so we cancelled plans and immediately changed into our sweats. Now that's a birthday dinner!

Basa Basa Chicken

We really liked a lot things about Basa Basa Chicken. The Micro-Restaurant Row design, the decor, the colors, the food, the prices and the location. What more could you ask for? We were on our way to lunch at Basa Basa when we got detoured to the Lone Fir Cemetery, so by the time we arrived we were ravaging and ready for some spicy Korean chicken wings!

Asian style chicken has landed in Portland in a big way and all we can say is about time! Asians seriously know how to fry some delicious chicken, evident by how Asian fried chicken usually means wings and dark meat. Andy Ricker over at Pok Pok founded his empire of restaurants through his infamous chicken wings and the secret is the dark meat chicken and the flavorful sauces. Basa Basa's Korean-style fried chicken came Hawaiian plate lunch style with a scoop of macaroni salad and a scoop of rice. We shared a 10-piece plate lunch ($14) and accompanied with two refreshing Asahi beers. Apparently we didn't have enough grease in our system and also ordered some of Basa Basa's ramen fries.

Basa Basa Chicken comes dressed with three sauces - Korean, Thai and Japanese teriyaki. The earthy Thai was my favorite and the tangy teriyaki was Mike's. You could tell they pre-fry their chicken because the coating pulled away from the meat, but the sauce made up for the shortcut that left the meat bland if eaten alone, which was common since it was pre-fried. 

We weren't sure what the ramen fries were until we got our order and they looked like fries seasoned with the powdered packet you get in a packet of ramen and in a way it was just that, but their own special blend that contained lots of anise and fennel. 

We really enjoyed our lunch and will be back for more chicken wings on their patio when the weather gets better. Also this meal was a steal! 

This is how you spend a Halloween Birthday

Halloween is Mike's birthday and we spent the afternoon in a cemetery of course!

Actually, we're not that goth or morbid, we were actually headed to lunch and accidentally overshot the street and had to turn around when we noticed how peaceful and colorful the Lone Fir Cemetery looked and on a spur-of-moment decision we parked the car and went for a stroll in the rain. 

Last year Travel and Leisure named the Lone Fir Cemetery one of the top cemeteries in the country and as we walked through the nearly empty city cemetery we could see why, it's just absolutely gorgeous.

Also an arboretum with an impressive collection of trees, the Lone Fir is the oldest cemetery in Portland. And for Portlanders you can see where Dr. Hawthorne, the Tibbetts, and many familiar names we see as "streets" have impressive headstones. Situated smack dab in the middle of a NE neighborhood, you could barely hear the street noise; it was just us, the rain and the current residents of the cemetery. It was a peaceful and a really nice detour on Mike's birthday.

Halloween Birthday

Wishing my love a warm and wonderful birthday. You have no idea how lucky I feel you are my husband, partner-in-crime and my family. Hope you have a terrific day and even better year.

Chennai Masala Indian Restaurant

When we returned home from our SE Asia trip the one cuisine that stuck out in our minds was the terrific Southern Indian food we had in Malaysia and Singapore. The banana leaf lunches eaten with our hands was definitely a memory our taste buds wouldn't let us forget. Upon our return I soon found myself googling Southern Indian cuisine, Portland and the search yielded review after review for a restaurant called Chennai Masala on the far west side off of Hwy-26. I quickly book marked it and waited for an opportunity to head out west to try their much raved about dosas. Over the weekend that opportunity came and we braved the pouring rain and windy Hwy-26 to get our hands on some Southern Indian cuisine.

When we arrived we were immediately seated and we noticed two big things. First, we were 1 of only 3 tables that was not Indian, and we weren't provided any menus. After asking the wait staff we were informed that the dosas were only available for dinner and lunch only consisted of a buffet. We have had our share of Indian buffets so we weren't disappointed especially when we notice most of the patrons were eating with their hands, so we had a feeling we were in for a treat.

The buffet had your typical offerings of curries (including fish curry!) and an assortment of saucy vegetables dishes, including my favorite okra and spicy potato dishes. What was untypical was the carbs, which consisted of more than just your standard basmati rice and nan. There was Indian (South Asian style) noodles, a delicious cous cous, and IDLI! Idli is a terrific sponge cake made from ground semolina floor (same flour used for cous cous) and it was kind of sour and spongy to soak up all that wonderful Indian curry and sauced vegetables. We had to try really hard not to eat with our left hands, which was surprisingly more difficult than we remembered. 

When we left I asked Mike would he drive all the way out here with no other agenda than to eat at Chennai Masala and he said yes, especially since we need to try the dosas!

Autumn Wine Tasting

We had a terrific weekend. Hope everyone's was great as well. The rainh as set in, but Portland's early fall means heavy rain, then sun and gorgeous light, then light rain possibly turning to heavy rain and the cycle goes on and on.Saturday night we were invited to a special dinner with friends who live on the west side so we decided to make a day of it and head out early to catch some fall crush at one of the many wineries in the area. I've been happily learning about wine for awhile now and recently attended a lecture on Oregon's growing wine culture, in particular, Pinot Noirs. Prior to starting the lecture series I had picked up some books from the library and was shocked to learn how few areas in the world are good for growing wine. In the U.S.A. good wine growing regions only include California, Oregon and Washington; and only in particular valleys and regions in those states. Sure other states may grow wine, but the Pacific West Coast states have the ocean air, volcanic soils and sweeping hillsides that wine grapes grows best in.

We decided to stick to wineries close to our friends' house and didn't venture further south into Yamhill County were a majority of the vineyards are. It was raining pretty hard when we left the house, but after nervously circling a few blocks before getting on the freeway, the skies cleared and we took it as a sign that we should head out. First up was Oak Knoll.

Oak Knoll was started in 1970 by Ronald and Marjorie Vuylsteke. Marojorie started our tasting before a schedule tour group arrived and she was off to show them the vineyard. We learned the Vuylsteke family has a rich history of wine making with 4 out of the 6 sons all working as wine makers for other vineyards and one son is the CEO/Presidents of Sake One. Oak Knoll is the oldest winery in Washington County and it's vineyards are situated in a cooler area of the Willamette Valley and therefor are more successful with northern European grapes so we had to try their Gewertztraminer, which was sweet and delicious. It was no surprise the family started off making blackberry wine when the family's land had a bumper crop of blackberries in 1960, because we ended up taking home a bottle of their Raspberry Frambrosia. Made with a full pound of raspberries per bottle, it was tart and we immediately thought of things we could mix and drink the Frambrosia with. Out of all the wineries we visited Oak Knoll had the largest tasting list and we each got a 6 tasting flight. 

Next up was Cooper Mountain Winery just a few miles away.

Many years ago a bunch of friends & I visited Cooper Mountain where the tasting room was in the aging hall. I remember it was cold and I was happy to try their Pinot Gris and quickly get back in the car. This time however the tasting room was in a cozy building next to the grape vines.

We decided to split a tasting flight and tried their Pinot Gris and some yummy Pinot Noirs. By this time the clouds had returned and it started to rain so we stayed indoors, tasted some wine and waited for the rain to pass. Cooper Mountain would be a great winery to visit in the summer with an area to sit and enjoy the Cooper Mountain's view/vineyard and possibly enjoy a snack. Instead we opted to eat terrific pastries we bought earlier in the day in the car.

After brushing the crumbs off our jackets we were off to our final winery - Ponzi. We meandered through the country roads down Cooper Mountain. It was really pretty.

Ponzi was just down the hill from Cooper Mountain and it was the nicest and the most packed of all the wineries we visited. We decided to share a tasting of their reds, which included two Pinot Noirs and a Northern Italian grape called the Dolcetto. We really liked the Dolcetto and purchased a bottle for later.

Ponzi's vineyards was beautiful and they had tables and a terrace where where visitors could enjoy wines seated among the grape vines.

We really enjoyed the day wine tasting. We unfortunately didn't get to witness any of the fall wine crushes and tasted mainly the local staple of Pinot Noir, which grows best in our climate. We did learn that 2009 was a stellar year and we tasted wines mainly in this year. Why? Because 2009 was a particularly hot summer and it looks like 2012 will be a great year for local wines too, so do yourself a favor and pick up a bottle or two!