The Food N00bs

Short Review: Wall Street Pizza

By Sorcha

So, as happens a lot lately, I've got the house to myself for a few days. Mr. Sorcha and Littlest (who is now almost as tall as me, and I SO did not authorize that) are off camping. I do not enjoy camping*, thus, I have elected to stay home.

I didn't feel like cooking tonight, because I am lazy. Not too lazy, however, to walk the couple blocks to Wall Street Pizza for my dinner. Wall Street's been around since before we moved into the neighborhood, but they used to be about a mile away and we rarely went there. (Not because of the distance itself - we're not THAT lazy - we just never thought of it.) Now that they've moved into the old Radio Shack, though, they're less than a five minute walk away and we've been eating there more. Their pizza is quite good - the crust has a nice snap to it and a garlicky flavor, and they're generous with the cheese and the toppings. (Spinach, tomatoes, and Canadian bacon FTW, man.)

Tonight, though, it was just me, and I didn't really feel like pizza. I've had their baked spaghetti in the past and enjoyed it, but I chose the lasagna today. It comes with salad and little rolls. Now, the salad is your standard lettuce-tomato-etc, although they do put lots of cheese on, but I didn't go there for the salad. Their little rolls are very tasty, though, with garlic and cheese in and brushed with olive oil.

My lasagna arrived fresh out of the oven and swimming in sauce, which, yay sauce! It, too, was loaded with cheese, stretchy, gooey, omnomnom cheese, and it was delicious.  DELICIOUS, I tell you. The portion size was enough to satisfy without being too much, which makes me happy. The abundance of sauce meant that there was flavor in every bite and gave me something to dip my rolls into as well.

They deliver not just pizza but their pasta and sandwiches; their delivery area is pretty wide, and their prices are reasonable. Also, they have Coke Zero, which makes me a happy Sorcha as I'm addicted to the stuff. If you're in the area, give them a try. I think you'll be glad you did.

*This is an understatement somewhere along the lines of "The Grand Canyon is a hole in the ground in Arizona."

Even more amnesty + liveblogging!

We'd tell you where we've been the last few months, but then we'd have to kill you. The important thing is: we're back! And we're hungry.

We're also trying out liveblogging, starting tonight! Follow us on Twitter (@foodn00bs, mind the zeroes) to find out where we are and what we're eating.

Much, much more technogeekery to come. Finally, we can blog and eat at the same time! We can barely contain ourselves! Stay tuned...

Amnesty!

You might think from the state of this blog that we haven't had any culinary delights at all for months. On the contrary! We've been enjoying and indulging and exploring...but non-foodie life has intruded, and soon we had a scary amount of backlog. How could we return to the blog without talking about this place, or that meal, or the other ingredient? Soon it seemed as if posting would require a three-day retreat with flowcharts blocked out in Magic Marker on those giant easel pads. We felt guilty. We felt overwhelmed. That wasn't a very tasty mood.

So here it is: we declare FoodN00b amnesty upon ourselves!

Here's a quick run-down (too quick, alas) of some of what we've been up to food-wise since we last spoke. We might get it together to post about some of this stuff in more depth later. And we might not. That's what amnesty's all about.

We received a delightful invitation to check out Salvador Molly's relaunch. It was very exciting for us, partly because it was the first time we were invited to something thanks to our blog, and partly because the food was AMAZING. Molly's is eclectic yet cohesive, and that goes for the decor, the mood, and the food. Everything fits, even as everything is so diverse it seems impossible that it should all mesh so incredibly well. Sorcha warns that the kahlua pork will make you see God, and Kal came here a second time due to a severe craving for their pina colada bread pudding. This place may be out of the way now that it's moved from its downtown locale, but it is completely worth the trip. (Just make sure that if you're driving you take care with their margaritas -- they're knock-you-down strong.) 1523 SW Sunset Boulevard, 503-293-1790; www.salvadormollys.com

We completely accidentally stumbled into Pix's bacon dessert flight night with wine and beer pairings (Division St. location). Though we were told by the chef that it was a one-time-only thing, it certainly highlights Pix's rapidly-rising reputation as a flights champion. (Kal has previously attended a vodka flight night at the N. Williams location, with similar outstanding results.) The bacon desserts were wildly creative, and the pairings -- oh, the pairings. Pairings are sometimes lost on we N00bs, as neither of us are wine snobs and we're both lightweights, but these were so excellent that even our uneducated palates were utterly delighted. (The Schlenkerla smoky beer was incredible - as if you took Lapsang Souchong and fermented it.) We highly recommend signing up for Pix's e-newsletter to keep track of all the wonderful one-time-only events they brew up. And happily, the everyday menu now includes the maple bacon creme brulee (both locations) and Schlenkerla (Division location only). 3402 SE Division, 503-232-4407; 3901 N Williams, 503-282-6539; www.pixpatisserie.com

Kal lucked into Kobe beef on the 4th of July. Hoo mama. Grilled to perfection and served with a robust red wine, it was easy to see what the fuss is all about. To be perfectly honest, Kal felt that she had had beef that good before -- but the difference was in knowing that for most beef to be that good, a great deal of fussing about with it in the pan and extra marinades/tenderizers/etc. must be employed. Seeing the lovely raw hunk of meat come out of the paper, go onto the grill, and arrive on the plate so unctuous with minimal "futzing" was astonishing. (Sorcha is not pleased that Kal did this while she was out of town. Her revenge will be sweet. Oh, yes.)

The N00bs peeked into the Green Fairy's world and had their first tastes of absinthe recently. Out of our tasting party of four, two found it rather icky. Sorcha liked it just fine before it was adulterated with the sugar and water. Sugar, maybe, but not the water. (Sorcha once accidentally drank an entire bottle of Jagermeister, attempting to get other people at a party to taste it. Sorcha is pretty sure she lost the ability to do long division that night. So Sorcha definitely has nothing against liquorice-flavored beverages.) Kal found it very tasty and drank two, but received little more than a mild buzz. Go figure. The N00bs tried Portland's own Trillium absinthe from Integrity Spirits.

At any rate, the N00bs regret our long absence. We'd offer to be sentenced to fifty lashes with a wet noodle, but that wouldn't really be punishment, now, would it? (And don't even think about trying to take away our coffee. Men have died for that.)

Grant Achatz is cancer-free

The Food N00bs were moved to tears tonight to read Grant Achatz's announcement that he is now cancer free -- and has retained his sense of taste as well as all of his tongue, thanks to the innovative and diligent doctors who worked with him to find the solution others thought impossible.

And isn't it just like Chef Achatz to proudly note he only missed 14 dinner services throughout his treatment?  You go, boy -- and one day we'll toast your victory from our table at Alinea.

Stand mixer squee

by Kal

A year and a half ago, while helping my previous roommate's parents downsize their domicile, my roommate's mom offered me her stand mixer.  She warned me that it was old and had a very large footprint but still worked great.  I was exhausted from helping out, so I said "sure" without even looking -- I didn't own a stand mixer, so I knew whatever type it was, I'd be pleased.

And then for a year and a half, the box sat unopened in storage while my living situation, and then my ability to reach my storage unit, fluctuated.  Finally, tonight, I opened that sucker up.

Oh.  My.  God.

I don't know the proper terminology for this, but you know how most mixers have the mixy part in the center of the bowl, and certain snazzy mixers have an arm that actually rotates the mixy part around the bowl?  This is the latter.  It also has some sort of ridiculous capacity I won't even guess at.  And it has a dough hook.  AND it has a timer function.  I am not kidding.  You can set it to mix something for 18 minutes and then stop.  It's a freakin' robot mixer.

I shall call it Gort.

Tis The Season

by Sorcha

One year, long before I'd begun my love affair with food (well, really, it's less like a love affair and more like one of those slightly sordid relationships where you get together sometimes to have really hot sex, and the rest of the time you act like there's nothing special going on), I tried to make eggnog from scratch. It came out tasting pretty good, but not quite as thick as I'd wanted. Mr. Sorcha, bless his heart, said, "Put it in the microwave, that'll thicken it!"

No. No, heart of my heart and light of my eyes, it won't.

Well, I suppose it might have, but as the result reeked of and tasted like rum-soaked scrambled eggs, I couldn't really drink enough of it to figure out if it was the desired thickness. He insisted it tasted fine to him, but we both knew better.

Oh, yes. We knew. And the angels wept.

Making stock!

by Kal

I've been wanting to make stock for a long time now.  I've been saving up bits and bobs of chickens in my freezer, and once Thanksgiving rolled around I was determined to give it a go.  Fortunately, Michael Ruhlman figured a lot of people would be in the first-time-stockmaking boat at Thanksgiving and has written this lovely post about why and how to do it.

My stock is currently in the oven.  I'll be updating this entry as I go, although I imagine there won't be much for me to say until I've actually cooked with it.  Actually, here's what's in my stock:

-Thanksgiving turkey bones, giblets, and drippings
-about two chickens' worth of chicken bones and giblets
When the time comes, I'll add:
-two big carrots, chopped
-three celery ribs, chopped
-one big onion, chopped
-about five big thyme sprigs
Also: 4 cloves of garlic, smashed, and about a tb. of black peppercorns

I've got the bright idea of picking up some cheap ice cube trays to store some of the stock, along with filling up some of those unused jars I've been collecting.  For those, I plan to measure out by the cup and label each jar accordingly -- so that when, say, I need two cups of stock, I can just reach in for the two-cup jar.

I've got this to say thus far: it smells really good in here.

2 hours in: I'm fascinated.  The stock has gone crystal-clear.  I can see all the bones and giblets at the bottom of the pot.  Also of note: the bones and giblets are at the bottom of the pot.  Many were floating early on.  The cats have decided this is some new form of torture I've invented: filling the house with the enticing scent of roast birds when there are none.

5 hours in: I finally threw my oven thermometer in there and found that I'm keeping it closer to 220 than Ruhlman's suggested 180.  But it isn't bubbling, and that's the important part.  Not much has happened visibly in the past three hours.  I'm about to throw all the aromatics in.

Finished: Well, I completely ran away from this post when my stock was done.  Bad Food N00b!  However, I can attest that the stockmaking went very well.  I froze 4 ice cube trays of it and a couple of jars as well, an later on made stuffing with some of the stock and that turned out delightful.  (I had no idea that when my mom used to simmer the turkey giblets on Thanksgiving, then use the "giblet water" to moisten up the Stove Top, she was making a bastardized version of stock herself.  She would cut up the giblets and put them in the stuffing, too, which I'm sure is part of why I have no problem with organ meat today.)

Overall, this process was a lot easier than I had expected, so much so that it was rather anticlimactic.  I do strongly recommend straining the finished product through cloth, however, just as Ruhlman told you.  After straining through a colander and achieving what seemed like a relatively smooth stock, I was stunned by what got caught by the cloth -- a whole lot of nasty dreck you definitely wouldn't want in there.

In conclusion: Make your own stock!  It's easy and fun and tasty!

Hippo Birdie

Happy birthday to Sorcha, the bestest co-N00b I could ever hope for.  Hooray for another year of culinary delights!

Wordstock P.S.

From last weekend at Wordstock, here's Michael Ruhlman signing Sorcha's copy of Reach of a Chef:

Are you a locavore?

by Kal

The New Oxford American Dictionary's Word of the Year for 2007 is locavore: one who eats locally-sourced food.  (No, not "food sourced from the local 7-11" -- that would be lazyvore.)

I found this out via Neatorama's lovely writeup.  The Locavores website seems to be a bit outdated, unless one wants dust off the TARDIS and sign up for their September 2007 challenge.

(By the way, coming soon on this blog from the Kal side of the N00b brain: best. brownies. ever; cooking like a pro when you're short on time/budget/skills/gadgets; where to get cow tongue burritos in Portland and what the pork-obsessed cat thought of it; where to get two-dollar eel and what the adventurous but uncertain Food N00b thought of it...)