New Mexican Chili Harvest

Late summer and early fall is when New Mexico's annual chili harvest occurs. Imagine the smell that is in the air right now across New Mexico. We live in the Pacific Northwest, but in our hearts we can imagine what it must smell and look like right now. You see New Mexican chilies are very different from the Asian and Caribbean chilies we cook with. And yes, they are handled completely differently.

We heard a rumor from friends who once lived in Albuquerque that our local grocery store Fred Meyers gets a bunch of Hatch chili peppers in late summer/early fall and they go fast. So when we spotted the New Mexican green chilies in a basket off to the side at the end of a miscellaneous aisle we spent the next 5 minutes picking through the basket for the firmest, greenest chili in the bunch.

New Mexico has an incredible variety of chilies, Hatch chilies are the most common and look similar to Anaheim chilies, other varieties are the Sandias, Big Jims and New Mexican Reds. We immediately went home and roasted our chilies.

We patiently watched as the chili skins bubbled, boiled and charred. The smell was intoxicating. The heat allows the skins to become hard and turn into casings, while the chili meat steams in the robust earthy flavors and turns supple.

We picked up this tip. After roasting the chilies, placed them whole, laying flat, into a zip lock freezer bag, usually about 8-10 chilies to a bag. Then they can be stored in the freezer flat and taking up little room.

Then when you want some chilies later in the year, take one perfectly portioned bag (for typical recipes) and you simply defrost in 1/4 cup of water. The skins, tops and seed veins peel easily. No need to even chop, mash the peeled chilies in the 1/4 cup water with a fork or potato masher, rendering the chilies stringy compared to chunky.

Since we were lucky enough to get some fresh New Mexican chilies we decided to make a green chili quiche to be eaten with tortillas or an avocado salad later in the week. We also wanted to make a crust-less quiche, so the green chilies and eggs could be the star of the dish. Why a quiche verses simply scrambling some eggs with the chilies, which would be delicious as well. Fewer eggs, same green chili flavor and enough for several meals! We started with peeled roasted chilies.

We chopped the green chilies, sauteed an onion and combined them in a bowl.

Whisked together 4 eggs and 1/2 cup of milk. Combine with green chilies and onions. Add about 1 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

Pour into a buttered/sprayed high sided cake pan. We use ceramic souffle pans and bake at 350 degrees for about an hour until the quiche is set and top browns.

Green chilies have a lot of water in them so the quiche came out a little runny, but nothing too tragic. It tasted fantastic in a tortilla for a quick breakfast burrito.

I see green chili burgers, savory green chili bread, green chili enchiladas and pork green chili stew in our future!

Oregon Coast Tourist

To no surprise the number one request from our guests is to visit the Oregon Coast. Now the Oregon Coast is definitely not the tropical surf/sand/sun playground one might think of when the words beach, ocean or coast are said, but it is beautiful nonetheless.

So when Dret decided to pass up an opportunity to check out another disc golf paradise in order to see the some of the Pacific Ocean we decided to go to a part of the Oregon Coast we have yet to visit - the northern coast and visit the cities of Astoria and Warrenton, home of The Goonies.
The drive up north is typical NW Oregon scenery - lush canopy of Douglas Fir tree forests, windy two-land roads and stunning vistas. We made our way to Oregon/Washington border town of Astoria and crossed over Young's Bay bridge towards Fort Steven's State Park.

If we had more time we would crossed the crazy-long-almost-bay-level bridge into Washington state, but we wanted to see the Pacific Ocean.

Fort Stevens is a beautiful park nestled on a peninsula with a large bay where the Columbia River dumps into the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other side. The large rock jetty created to provide a calmer entrance into the bay is a very impressive structure.

We drove further into the park and found a nice area to walk on the beach and watch the boats come in and out of the bay.

We decided to check out the beach town Astoria, after hearing the new pier area had been revitalized to attract cruise ships heading to the San Juan Islands, Vancouver BC and hopefully soon to Alaska. We walked around the funky area lined with cafes, bars, second hand stores and random skate, surf and music shops. We soon decided a nice beer was in order before heading back to town.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day out to the northern Oregon coast. The drive was beautiful, the jetty was very interesting and the beach areas around Astoria and Warrenton, Oregon are definitely worth a visit.

Good Old Fashion Summer Fun

It's that time again. Travel & Leisure Magazine is conducting their annual internet survey for America's Favorite Cities. We'll have to wait and see how Portland ranks, but last year our lovely City of Roses ranked #1 for summer vacation. It's no surprise really, Portland is a great place to spend your summer vacation. There are so many great things to do in and around the city and the best part, most of it is free!

Portland has great city parks. Green spaces are everywhere, within every neighborhood and varying in sizes and facilities. During our friends Dret's visit a request for a nice disc golf course was made and we happily obliged.

A quick google search provided the link to an enthusiastic disc golfer's guide to disc golf throughout Oregon, which led us to Pier Park in North Portland with the following description: "Pier park has everything you ever dreamed of in a disc golf park. Downhill elevation, uphill elevation, tight technical gaps and breathtaking scenic beauty. Long holes, short holes, oh, I almost forgot, lots and lots of big Doug Fir trees to break in your bag and breakdown your score." With a description like that we had to check out the park for a hot sunny day of disc golf.

A few days later we were back in another Portland park, but this time for the annual Portland Soap Box Derby, an event we look forward to every year.

Every summer 42 homemade engineless racers hurl themselves down Mt. Tabor Park, an ancient volcanic cinder cone in SE Portland with beautiful views of the city.

It was wonderfully blistering hot that day, which didn't seem to keep the crowds away. We found a spot in the shade on a hilly slope that gave us a great view of the action.

This year seem to have more "serious" soap box racers who were gunning for the best time, but we still enjoy the creative ones.

The afternoon was filled with races, an intermission marching band and picnicing in the park. After a few hours we were ready to escape the heat and decided to trek up to the top of the park and check out the view. Once we got to the top we were pleasantly surprised to find a fascinating Native American ceremony happening.

We watched utterly mesmerized by the rhythmic dancing, colorful costumes and drumming.

The dancers seem to fall into a trance as the drum rhythms changed beats, slowing down and gradually picking up to a feverish momentum.

We were also lulled by the ceremony and lazily made our way down the park in a daze from the day's events.

Summer Birthday Celebrations

We are a firm believer that birthdays are occasions when the lucky birthday person gets to decide where we will be breaking bread to celebrate another year to come! Summer birthdays are tough in that we could just as easily whip together a bbq and feed a large group of people to celebrate. But that's no excuse not to go out for a birthday celebration either.

Fortunate and unfortunate for us we don't know too many people with summer birthdays so when there is a birthday to celebrate we say take your pick of any place you would like to go. And for our good friend's birthday she decided a group meal at tapas extraordinaireToro Bravo was in order. The big brother to little brother restaurant Tasty n Sons we have already blogged about here, is no stranger to our praises. We've have numerous celebratory meals here and a summer birthday celebration is the perfect reason to hop on the bikes for a short ride down to one of our favorite restaurants in the city.

Tapas really are the best way to share a birthday meal and Toro Bravo's extremely extensive menu is made for sharing and group dinners.

From top to bottom: beef empanada; grilled flatbread with black truffled cheese and arugula; manchego & paprika fritters with salsa roja; traditional seasonal paella; bacon wrapped dates

Between the 6 of us we kept ordering and ordering so the pictures above are just a sampling of what we had that evening. The stand outs that went down fast without even an opportunity for a photo was the French "kisses" Brandy Soaked Prunes Stuffed with Foie Gras, the House Bacon & Manchego Burger, and the Fideo with rabbit sausage, creamed corn and tomatoes.

Toro Bravo's burger quickly shot to our list of best burgers. And the fresh lemon in the fideo was memorable, it's amazing what a small shot of citrus can do to a pasta dish. We also ordered a creamed chard dish not once, but twice and this is the only shot we got of either one.

Maybe it was the summer night or the soul lifting food, but the beers seem to flow that evening and celebrate we did!

Birthday celebrations are also an opportunity to try something new. When we tasted the signature raman dish at new to the neighborhood Taiyou Japanese restaurant, we knew instantly whose birthday we'll be celebrating here.

On our first visit to Taiyou we didn't have any of the sushi, which ironically was the original reason we decided to try the cute little neighborhood Japanese restaurant. We made sure to try the sushi this time and we were not disappointed. We couldn't believe the size of the sushi. Yes, this dragon roll tasted as good as it looks. The sushi rice had the right balance of sweet and tart with the perfect consistency of warm and soft. The whole roll just smelted into our mouths. It was well worth the return to try the sushi.

The whole table shared a few appetizers including this gorgeous looking and tasty Spicy Maguro Salad.

And these creamy baked green mussels.

We also shared a Sunomono Salad with Tako (Cucumber salad with octopus). The mussels and octopus slices were huge!

The star of the night, besides the birthday boy, was the "Get Well Soon" Raman. After visiting Japan we have been dreaming of having a go-to raman shop and I think we may have found it. "Fresh Japanese noodles in porky soup with pork loin, wasame and spicy ground pork"

This is a whole lot of porky soup and can be easily shared, but not tonight. Tonight is special. This bowl was meant for only the birthday boy. We each tried the broth and it tasted as delicious as the first time we eaten it. This raman will be competing with pho for our attention on the next cold rainy Sunday.

We love birthday dinners, summertime ones just seem more carefree and casual. Maybe it's the outdoor dining or sunshine before and after the meal. Maybe it's the loose clothing. Either way, we love them.

Toro Bravo

120 NE Russell

503.281.4464

Sunday to Thursday: 5pm-10pm; Friday and Saturday: 5pm - 11pm

TaiYou

4057 N. Mississippi

5503.493.3888

Monday to Sunday: 12pm - 9:30pm