The very first part of the fellowship program which has brought me to sweltering Tucson actually took place one snowy weekend in January in Denver. That was where we first met our sponsoring schools and mentors and discussed program details and plans for the summer. I got the lowdown on my project and after a lot of shop talk about all the details of the fellowship, we moved on to small talk and of course the first thing I asked about was food. I asked the group what only-in-Tucson specialties I should try while there and Leslie excitedly said, “Sonoran hot dogs!”

This was the perfect answer in so many ways. First, I’d never heard of such a thing. Second, it involves hot dogs.

So here’s how you make a Sonoran hot dog: take a hot dog and wrap it in bacon (always a good start). Grill it, then stuff it into a bun. Top with beans, salsa, green chiles, cheese and mayo. Serve with a grilled pepper. All of this preferably occurs street-side from a truck (which probably also serves tacos).

Needless to say, I was sold and for the 5 months that came in between the time I first heard about these local delicacies and the when I got here, I told anyone who’d listen about the Sonoran hot dogs.

So it’s kind of surprising, actually, that I was in town a full 5 days before actually tracking one down.

We decided to start with the place that every Tucsonian seemed to recommend, a place called BK Tacos. They’ve been around forever and started life as a taco and hot dog stand in South Tucson and have moved up the fast food chain to include two indoor restaurants with tables and flat-screen TVs. We ordered the famous dog, plus some other goodies on the menu.

introducing… the Sonoran Hot Dog!

The hot dog arrived and… well, I was a little underwhelmed. I looked at that flaccid bun and the spray of mayo and said, “Is that all there is?” And actually eating the thing didn’t really improve my impression. I mean, it was fine, but it I just thought it would go through the roof, is all, and really it was just a gooey, bland hot dog.

But! there’s much more to recommend BK’s. We got a side order of their fire-roasted chiles in some kind of amazing yum sauce on the recommendation of the server — and holy cow! they were so flippin’ good ! I’d come back just for those.

chiles ahogados

We also got a caramelo (which is basically a quesadilla with carne asada) which was tastier than such a simple thing had the right to be — and was especially good soaked in the pepper juice.

Feeling a bit disappointed and still hungry from our BK hot dog experience, we decided to try the second most recommended place for those indigenous dogs in town, El Guero Canelo. It wasn’t too far so we swung by there and ordered one more dog, plus another caramelo. Oh, and some flan. You know, for balance.

While BK was all dark wood and blasting pop music, El Guero was bright, bright, bright and full of colorful memorabilia. Plus! there’s a huge self-serve condiment bar right in the middle which includes such unusual items as grilled green onions and roasted jalapenos.

the condiment bar at El Guero Canelo

El Guero’s roasted chile

we got a wide array of condiments

Ok, so the hot dog:

Looks familiar now, doesn’t it? So this one was much like its predecessor at BK. Maybe a little more flavorful. Remember how I said the hot dogs were wrapped in bacon before grilling? I didn’t even realize that at BK. Here I could at least taste the smokiness. Aside from that — and the stellar condiment bar — it was pretty much the same meh experience.

We left our mini hot dog crawl declaring that we were done with the Sonoran hot dog. Maybe you had to grow up with them to have such a fondness in your heart for them.

But!

At work the next day the librarians convinced me to try just one more place. This one was not a restaurant, but a street cart in the parking lot of a discount grocery store called Food City. It was already sounding better to me than the other places — that’s a lot of street cred for one little hot dog cart. So that weekend, the Sonoran Hot Dog Brigade set out once again.

After getting a little turned around, we finally found it thanks to Regina who with her eagle eye saw the word “Hot” on the side of a truck in the parking lot and we zeroed in from there.

That’s Chris waiting in line to order while an impatient Tucson native looks on. Note that if you’re short the 2 bucks you need for a dog, there’s a check cashing place next door to Food City

the menu

si, si!

Like BK and El Guero Canelo, this stand had a little condiment bar, but it was much, much smaller than the others. No worries, though, because the salsa was excellent.

a pleasant assortment of condiments even at the truck

But we weren’t here for the salsa, we wanted a hot dog. And may I introduce you to…

the best — but still final — Sonoran hot dog

So this one had great bacony flavor, flavorful beans and had the added benefit of atmosphere. It was definitely the best of the three… and yet… I feel pretty confident in saying it will still be my last. It was good, but still nothing spectacular and I still don’t grok the dog. I’m writing it off as a Tucson thing and will leave it at that.

However!

It will probably not be my last trip to this cart as they had many other tantalizing treats in store for us, like…

birria tacos!

carne asada caramelos!!

both of these kick the ass of the yappy little Sonoran hot dog clear across town. Since visiting here I keep trying to come up with excuses to cruise by and pick up another birria taco.

Chris and Regina, happy from tacos, caramelos and, yes, hot dogs, too.

and to make the place even better, there were tomatoes growing in the cracks of the sidewalk nearby — presumably the seeds got there from over enthusiastic salsa consumption. These guys look like they’ll be ready to get into the family business pretty soon.

feral tomatoes

So I wanna be a librarian, right?

Only I don’t have any experience, see, and those employers are so picky about making sure you know what you’re doing.

And I’m unemployed now, right?, and I’m graduating soon which means I’m about to run out of excuses for being a poor layabout.

All of this is to explain how it is that I find myself in Tucson, Arizona at the height of summer.

So what happened was that back in the winter I saw this announcement for a fellowship opportunity through the Association of Research Libraries which — in case you’re not immersed in librariana like some of us — is a kind of big deal association of big ol’ research libraries. This program assigns students who are members of under-represented groups to a mentor at a large research university and then pays for them to spend a few months in intensive learning, while gaining practical work experience along the way — which, if you’ll recall from a few paragraphs back, is exactly what I need.

Well, I applied and was accepted and was beyond thrilled to have received such an honor. There were eight possible schools to which I could have been assigned — everything from Columbia to University of Kentucky — and I was assigned to the University of Arizona. It’s a highly prestigious post and with a cutting edge library.

But Tucson in the summer? Is this some kind of punishment for claiming Portland gets too hot for me?

And that’s why I’m here now melting in the desert’s 100+ degree days.

I don’t mean to complain though — I’m learning lots and having a good time. But I do thank my lucky stars that I’m in a *library* program and not here on a track scholarship or something.

Anyway, more about Tucson and the program later. Right now I’m going to tell you about the road trip that brought us here.

Chris and I set our from Portland early one morning with the intention of driving as much as we could in one day. We blew through Oregon and I bid my Beaver State a teary farewell. Idaho passed by in a blink (or two) and we stopped in northern Utah — Snowville to be exact — for a bit of dinner before seeing how much further we could go before drifting into a ditch.

Chris was reading reviews of the (limited) food possibilities in northern Utah and found a place called Mollie’s Cafe that more than one person called the best greasy spoon road food around. I was sold especially once I saw their attractive neon signage.

The nightly special was liver and onions which could have been an ill-advised thing to try at the beginning of a long haul road trip, but I was game. I got it and was surprised to find that the liver had been chicken-fried and drowned in brown gravy. Not what I was expecting, but it was actually pretty delicious in its way. Not that I could eat more than a quarter of what was on my plate, but I ordered liver and onions at a truckstop — all things considered, it went as well as one could expect.

disgusting and delicious

We managed to push on only an hour more and stopped off in Ogden, Utah and there’s not much to report there except that the motel had a waffle maker and we availed ourselves of free waffles before shuffling off to Moab.

Moab is a tourist town in Southern Utah that tends to attract outdoor adventurists and Utah’s hippie outcasts. There were more coffee shops — and boutique roasters — here than in the rest of Utah, I think. The main event for us here was Arches National Park, a stunning collection of natural land arches spread out over many acres of scenic Utah landscape. They really are incredible and kind of menacing in their way. I imagined what it must have felt like to be an early western explorer who came upon these things. I would have been terrified enough to turn my wagon right around and go back to Boston or whereever.

C took lots more cool pictures of the arches. Here are some from his visit here last year.

Moab is a fairly touristy town and as such there’s a lot of mediocre food. But one place that gets good reviews from people who care is a place just outside of the park called the Desert Bistro. It’s a pleasant upscale sort of place that’s trying to do a kind of nouveau southwest thing, but it’s not as awful as that sounds. The most successful thing of the night was this charming gelato caprese starter. That’s three scoops of ice cream: tomato, basil and mozzarella.

quail quesadillas

duck breast wrapped in chard and stuffed with asparagus

the resident kitty at the Desert Bistro

And remember how I said that Moab was full of Utah’s misfits? Well, I chose a place for breakfast the next day because it sounded like a serious hippie enclave and after that meal at Mollie’s I was feeling like I needed to do some nutritional penance. The place was called Love Muffins and was just as I’d hoped — a funky, semi-veg place with a real Portland vibe. I got hot toasted quinoa topped with blueberries. It was really, really good and filled me with whole grain self-righteousness. Chris got a breakfast burrito that was so good you can see how sad he was when he realized he’d reached the end of the burrito.

So the curvy rocks of Moab are cool, sure, but the main event was yet to come. We were here to see the big daddy of cool rocks, the Grand Canyon. Just eight hours of curvy driving later we were on the rim of one of the natural wonders of the world and let me tell you, if you have never been, don’t think you’ve seen this place just because you’ve seen pictures. You really need to see it in person to understand the awesomeness of this place.

Now, you should totally go to the Grand Canyon if you can and if you do go to the North Rim because South Rim is for chumpies. But listen here, if you go and you get a mite peckish (as you will) and you find yourself at the deli outside the Grand Canyon Lodge and it’s morning and that breakfast frittata on the menu sounds pretty good — let me tell you: DO. NOT.

Just don’t.

You wanna know why? I’ll tell you why:

Ok?

But the nicer restaurant inside the lodge is perfectly cromulent and while it isn’t really anything to write home about (which you could ’cause there’s a post office right there), it’s serviceable especially after a long day of hiking around one of nature’s greatest works of art.

After two days at the Canyon (which was barely enough to see even a little of it), we finished our journey south, landing in sunny Tucson. The house we’re staying in as charming as all git out. We’ve only been here a few days so there’s much to explore — and eat. More on that later.

bienvenido a mi casa!

Apparently I am experiencing some difficulty in completing what I start so I am just going to power through the rest of the NYC trip with pictures and very few words.

I was very much looking forward to lunch at Sriphiphai, a place often called the best Thai restaurant in the US. Since I’ve been to the other place (Lotus of Siam, Las Vegas) that sometimes claims that title, too, I was eager to compare and contrast. But first…

Vanessa informed me that Sriphiphai tradition dictates that you must have a tamale before your meal from the Oaxacan cart under the elevated subway. Well, I’m not one to buck tradition so we got a chicken one and shared it between the three of us.

Several friends met us at the restaurant and we were 7 people all together which was good because we had a lot of eating to do. The menu at Sriphiphai comes in a thick binder with lots of pictures and explanations and many, many choices.

Vanessa tried to convince us that we should order 2n dishes — which totally flies in the face of the n+1 standard. We talked her down to n + .5n , but I think that somehow in the ordering process we went back up to 2N. How’d that happend?

Mee krob, crispy noodles with shrimp

fried, pickled pork — yes!

crispy catfish salad

crispy watercress salad - gotta love the mad genius who first decided to batter and deep fry watercress

pork knuckle stew — my personal Bangkok food court favorite

a delivery truck outside was dropping off… duck heads?

C taking a picture of the duck heads… and I only just noticed the perplexed delivery man behind him.

After that we took the train to Roosevelt Island, an island in the East River between Manhattan and Queens. It was a lovely day and a great day for a stroll around a scenic island.

There’s an awesome aerial tram that travels between the island and midtown.

The views from the tram are pretty amazing and unlike anything other views in NY.

Standing in the field in front of the former Small Pox (!) hospital, Chris tells Craig about the one that got away.

I think this would make a nice album cover

The only officially recognized ruins in the city of New York — ladies and gentlemen, the Small Pox Hospital!

Noah explains it all to me

more ruins

After lunch at Sriphiphai, but before we came to Roosevelt Island, we walked through an Indian neighborhood in Jackson Heights. In addition to the awesome grocery store Craig took us to (where I finally found all the exotic spices I need to complete my 660 curry journey, like wet kokum, anadarna and kalonji), we also collected a box full of Indian sweets. On the island we hunkered on a bench, snacked on our sweets and gazed out at the Manhattan skyline.

I’m going to fast forward to the next day because the rest of the day consisted of a failed attempt to go to a free concert (turned out to be a semi-interesting lecture instead) adn yet another meal at Franny’s…

But our last day in NYC brought us to…

the Shake Shack!

Luckily the weather was just cool enough that not a ton of people were waiting for burgers and shakes and yet not so cold that it was hard to wait for our turn…

While we were waiting for our Shack Shack shaker to shake, we were approached by a reporter from cnet asking silly questions about facebook. I ducked out of getting caught, but the camera, but here’s Vanessa considering an answer to the question, “Who do you think should play the founder of Facebook in the movie about it?” Well, any thoughts, anyone?

After a little more sightseeing a quick trip back to Brooklyn, we were on our way home, with bellies full of deliciousness and cameras full of memories…

cheese! (this picture turned out way better than the one I was trying to take)

I’ll call Saturday our Day 1 in New York since our train pulled in just after midnight on Saturday morning/Friday night. That evening is best left
forgotten, however: we spent nearly an hour on the subway platform at Penn station waiting for a train to take us to Brooklyn.

We did eventually make it and were welcomed warmly into Vanessa’s house along with enthusiastic greetings from Boo and Stinky.

The next morning was rainy and grey, the perfect weather for ramen. We headed into the East Village to go to Ippudoh, but found that the wait was an hour and a half which would make it nearly dinner time by the time we finished. So we gave that up and headed down St. Marks to Setagaya, which was a most worthy replacement.

the cooks at Setagaya keep track of time with a wall of timers.

pickled bambo shoots, an outrageously delicious boiled egg and wowee-zowee fried pork belly.

and ramen, of course.

C and I muscled our way into the crowded Frick Museum after lunch and spent the afternoon wandering through the stately gallery and gawking at Vermeer paintings. There’s nothing like looking at art to make your tummy grumble so afterwards we strolled through Central Park and looked for a place for a snack and landed on a little chain bakery with the less than appealing name “Hot ‘n’ Crusty.”

But the main event for the day was yet to come: we met Craig and Patricia in their enviable Harlem apartment before heading over to Gemma and Jen’s highrise home a few blocks away. Gemma had whipped up a Spanish feast for us which we all readily gobbled away.

tortilla

chorizo

one of our lovely hosts and a pitcher of sangria

Coming from a city that lacks a real Chinatown, I’m always happy to go to New York’s bustling, overwhelming real thing. That Easter Sunday we made our way to Joe’s Shanghai, a place famous for their soup dumplings. So famous, in fact, that as soon as you sit down they ask you how many orders you want. And so famous, in fact, that we waited about quite a while for a table, though not quite as long as the line out the door had us believe upon arrival.

these are the famous dumplings, filled with crab and pork and a fragrant broth

there’s a technique to opening them… be careful and don’t lose the soup!

we also got an order of razor clams in black bean sauce

and some Shanghai style beans

The food was awesome, as always, but the best part was as we were getting up to leave, I found out that I was sitting next to an old co-worker from Portland. ‘Tis indeed a small world after all.

More museum time, this time the New Museum of Contemporary Art which had a special exhibition of artists under 33 (”Younger than Jesus”, the show was called) — it was interesting, but that those little young ‘uns sure made me feel old.

Off to Franny’s, the Brooklyn restaurant where Vanessa works, for dinner.

We got seats at the bar and the very friendly and efficient bartender served us well all night long.

look at ‘er go!

housemade tonic — my favorite drink and this is easily the best one I’ve ever had.

Sorry, the pictures get worse at the night got darker…

marinated leeks, melt in your mouth deliciousness

blood orange salad. C tried to recreate this the other night and while his was good, it wasn’t nearly as lovely as this one.

bucatini with sardines

pizza!

ah, beautiful canolo. It was perfect in every way.

Word on the street is that one of the best places to get eat on the Mall is at the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian which is housed in a gorgeous buildling at the Capitol end of the Mall. When we arrived we realized that word must have gotten around because there was a line a block long to get into the cafeteria. It seemed to be moving pretty swiftly so we waited and I’m glad we did.

The cafeteria is divided up into different regions of the Americas and they have a few representative dishes from each area. Some of the dishes are clearly cheats (ummm, did the Plains Indians really eat a lot of chicken strips?), but there are a few unique and interesting (and tasty) dishes to be had.

First there’s the classic fry bread taco — this one is served with pulled buffalo. We might be playing mix ‘n’ match with our tribes, but it was tasty.

This pickled turnip and bean salad was one of my favorites.

But the real winner was this barley mushroom salad. Doesn’t sound like much, but boy was it good.

And I don’t think the Indians of Key West really ate key lime pie, but they would have eaten this one, I’m sure.

After a walk around the Reflecting Pool, Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam War Memorial, we were a little famished (sightseeing will do that to you) and splurged on a taxi to take us directly to a diner in Georgetown called The Tacklebox. As the name suggests it focuses on foods of the sea and is the casual sibling of a more upscale seafood restaurant next door. I was perfectly content to order at the counter and sit at communal picnic tables for this inexpensive grub.

Oh man, were these fried oysters good. After eating the first one I almost ran back up to the counter to put in another order.

Grilled fish with grilled asparagus, fries and a side of mac ‘n’ cheese. The mac was the only bad part of the meal. It tasted like microwaved Velveeta.

Later we made up for the crappy side dish, by swinging by Thomas Sweets, an old school ice cream shop and I mowed my way through a pralines and cream cone.

Ben’s Chili Bowl is a DC institution that’s been around pretty much since the swamps were first drained. The nice folks behind the counter let us slip in under the breakfast deadline and we got one breakfast and one lunch dish.

Ben’s famous half-smoke chili dog.

gnam!

When we were making the rounds of the Smithsonian museums, I spied an On The Fly SmartKart, a lunch “truck” I’d read about. They travel in electric, zero emission carts and support sustainable practices. And, more importantly, they make some pretty darn good food. I got a Jamaican beef empanada.

We had a 9:00 PM train to catch to NYC so we figured we had time to cram in one more dinner in the Capitol. Decided to try a well-regarded Malaysian place near DuPont Circle called Malaysia Kopitiam. It was at least as good as my beloved Malay Satay Hut, but perhaps not quite as good as the hawker stalls of Penang. But, really, what is?

spicy mango salad

char kweh teow

chicken rendang

We raced from that meal to Union Station, sadly not getting much of an opportunity to enjoy the building, plopped ourselves into the last few remaining seats on the train and trundled off to NYC.

we were too late for most of the cherry blossoms in DC< but just in time for the tulips

It’s springtime and I’m unemployed: what else is there to do, but travel? Two weeks ago, Chris and I headed east: first to our capitol city (we got there about the same time as Bo the First Dog, but he would not grant us an audience, alas) then to Gotham to meet up with my sis, our friends and all the food NYC has to offer.

We arrived in the evening and after a dinner at Meskel, an Ethiopian restaurant in the Adams-Morgan neighborhood, we hoofed it all the way down to chez Obama. We waved vigorously at the windows, but realized we were much more likely to get the attention of Secret Service than any member of the Obama family.

Our first order of business the next day was to head to the NPR headquarters foor a tour. If you’re ever in DC (and a big nerd) I highly recommend it.

We walked down to the Mall for lunch and on the way walked past the Capitol where these dorky guys were taking these thumbs-up pictures of themselves in front of the building. Well, why not?

I had some school work to do for my Government Documents class so I thought I’d swing by ye olde Library of Congress to do some studying. Well, this turned out to be not as good an idea as it seemed at the time. Trying to dive into the Library of Congress to do a little class exercise is a lot like trying to slice butter with a chainsaw. Sometimes a smaller tool is what you need. Still, the building is rad and I got to think about my favorite scene from “All the President’s Men” again.

We used the Metro a lot — it’s fast and convenient. I can’t believe how frequently the trains run during rush hour. How do they do it? The station design is a little eerie though.

Swung by the Supreme Court and walked around in awe. And I took this unflattering picture of myself with my superhero Thurgood Marshall.

The next day brought us to the Hirschorn Museum (as well as a few other Smithsonian museums) where I was delighted to see this smaller version of Kenneth Snelson’s Needle Tower which I first saw at the Kruller-Muller Museum in Holland.

Not surprisingly, this alphabet sculpture was one of my favorites. The Louise Bourgeois exhibition inside was pretty darn cool, too.

At the Jefferson Memorial and Tidal Basin we were able to catch the last of the season’s cherry blossoms and check out the very moving Jefferson memorial. If I ever start a revolutionary movement, I’m gonna start it from here.

We tried to go to the Air and Space Museum, but the wait was longer than we had time for so instead I went for a spin on the big kinectic sculpture/plaything they had out front. See that manic look in my eye? That look means that I’m having fun AND I’m terrified.

And that was all we had time for before heading to the Big Apple. But wait! I hear you saying: are you telling me there are no pictures of food?! Au contraire, mis amigos. Just wait until you see the next post…

Those who follow the Portland foodie scene — and I know there are a lot of you out there, some of whom don’t even live in Portland [I'm lookin' at you, Tony Bourdain] — will recall the spectacular rise and and thunderous fall of the Ripe restaurant empire a few years back. One of the casualties of that implosion was the chef at clarklewis, a fellow by the name of Morgan Brownlow. A lot of criticism flew around in the aftermath of the implosion, but no one ever accused Mr. Brownlow of being a slouch at the stove. Nevertheless, with the businesses belly up and his reputation damaged, Morgan left Portland under a cloud.

But now he’s back! And IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD. Just a couple weeks ago he opened a modest breakfast and lunch joint on NE 28th. Its ambitions far more humble and its scope much more restrained. But once word got out this place is just as hot as clarklewis once was.

And unlike at clarklewis Morgan B is actually doing most of the cooking. And cleaning, and busing and serving. Whereas before he was the classic executive chef: felt, but neither seen nor heard, he is now the quintessential entrepreneur, scurrying around the restaurant taking care of everything that needs taking care of.

The place had only been open 7 days when we visited last weekend, but word had already gotten out and the small dining room was packed when we got there at 8:30 (which is an unheard of time for a Portland breakfast place to be packed… and come to think of it, it’s an unheard of time for us to go out to breakfast).

And so far so good. He’s clearly trying to do something very simple and straightforward with high quality ingredients simply prepared. I’m looking forward to seeing what the future brings for this little spot. Once the new Simpatica restaurant opens around the corner from our house, I’ll never have to leave the neighborhood again.

zepplole!!

a perfect fried egg sandwich

soft scrambled eggs with leeks

hmmm… could those bb holes in the window be from disgruntled past creditors?

Remember that Sweet Potato contest I mentioned a little while back? Well, never one to leave good enough alone, I have one more entry. See, we eat a lot of sweet potatoes in our home and since we were whipping up this meal anyway I figured why not document it and submit it, too. So here goes (sweet) nothin’.

This is yet another Thai flavored dish which goes to show both how often we make Thai food at home and how much the sweet potato is like the sweet Thai squash that shows up in a variety of dishes. And sweet potatoes are a heck of a lot easier to find than Thai squash.

It’s super quick and only involves a few ingredients. We used Mussamun curry paste because that was what we have a lot of (check out that tub!), but this recipe works equally well with whatever Thai-style curry paste you want to use. Most large grocery stores carry at least one or two varities so there’s no need to go to a specialty store (unless you want to since they’re more fun!).

Without further ado, here it is:

Thai Sweet Potato Curry
serves 4

1 can (15 ounces) coconut milk
2 heaping tablespoons curry paste
1 medium onion, sliced
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 pound tofu, drained and cubed
1 can pineapple chunks, drained (optional)
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup fresh, shredded basil
1 fresh lime

Ok, so, I forgot the lime and pineapple here, but you get the idea

In a large skillet over medium high heat, pour in coconut milk and add curry paste. Heat until the curry paste becomes fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Add onion slices and saute for about 3 minutes more.

Add sweet potatoes and tofu. Add water as needed to cover the sweet potatoes (no more than 1 cup). Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover. Allow to cook for about 3-5 minutes or until sweet potatoes are soft.

Remove lid and stir in pineapple chunks (if using), sugar and all but a couple of tablespoons of basil. Stir until the sugar has dissolved and the pineapple is heated through.

Serve over rice topped with the remaining shredded basil and with a wedge of lime.

Every February in Portland you can expect a few things: grim-faced locals trudging through the rain sans umbrellas, a case of seasonal affective disorder and the Portland International Film Festival. I know it’s been a while since the festival wrapped up — a little over a moth ago now — but I’m only now writing about it because the festival came and went in the midst of a very busy time: I was taking a class in Seattle and commuting every week and I was interning at the Oregon Historical Society and since the Film Center has become my sole source of (marginal) income, I worked as much as I could. But I wanted to make sure I mentioned it here because of the cookies.

We the theater employees deal with all kinds of stress and abuse throughout the two and a half long weeks of PIFF. You can only put up with so many crabby people declaring that you — yes, YOU! — are an idiot so many times before you want to storm out of there.

That’s where the cookies come in.

Now, cookies can’t take away the crazy lady who assailed the Broadway box office staff with fists and profanity, but it can calm the nerves and give you the strength to power through. Or maybe I’m overstating it. Maybe they’re just yummy and give you something else to think about.

Anyway, I made two batches of cookies, both from the blogosphere and both turned out very well, if I may say so myself. First was Vanessa’s Dulce de Leche cookies which were pretty darn beguiling I have to say. Plus it’s super fun to make Dulce de Leche. I added cardamom and powdered ginger to the Vanessa’s cookie recipe, otherwise it’s the same.

open wide

The second Saturday of PIFF just happened to coincide with Oregon’s Sesquicentennial celebration so I made a batch of cookies with Oregon’s favorite crop, the hazelnut. The recipe comes courtesy of Chez Pim whose Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Bite cookies look a bit more attractive than mine, but at least mine has “grown locally” street cred.

Happy Birthday, Oregon! Why, you don’t look a day over 99.

Oh, and the films? Amazingly, I actually got to see some this year. My favorite was probably “The Beaches of Agnes” a documentary by one of my favorite filmmakers, Agnes Varda. It’s a film about herself and her life and growing old. It’s wonderful.

Other good ones were “Karamazovs” from the Czech Republic (especially recommended if you have a Russian literature fixation) and “Revanche” from Austria which, trust me, you have to watch to the very end.

Since I’m already in the wayback machine I might as well mention some other (sort of) recent food offerings I’ve made. Right before Christmas I saw this recipe for Peppermint-Topped Brownies in Sunset magazine of all places and I immediately beat a path to the oven to start making them. The sad part was that I made them right at the start of the big snow storm which meant I couldn’t get out to give them to the people for whom they were intended. Well, not so sad, I suppose. We wound up eating most of them ourselves as did the mail carrier who really deserved a treat for living up to that “neither snow, nor sleet” deal.

Then right after Christmas, we had a chocolate making explosion in our kitchen all instigated by Aaron who was visiting from San Francisco and traveled with an enormous box of chocolate and chocolate-making tools. We busted a few hundred truffles in a day. It was a ton of fun, though I’m still finding little smears of chocolate on the walls and cabinets.

filling the chocolate molds with white chocolate citrus ganache. other fillings included raspberry, bourbon, thai iced tea and pumpkin pie

it was messy work

the final product

we had a lot of chocolate left over and made a chocolate fish and several buffalo - ’cause those were the molds we had

The good people of the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission have put together an irresistible promotion: write an original recipe featuring sweet potatoes and blog about it and you could win $1000.

Well, you don’t have to ask me twice. I love sweet potatoes — we always keep a store of them in the basement — and use them just about everywhere in just about every type of cuisine. And, as I think you might already know, I loves me a good recipe contest.

This recipe is quick and healthy - and rather attractive, too, if I may say so myself. It’s a great way to use up leftover chicken and since we roasted up a lovely hen from Thundering Hooves Ranch night before last we had plenty of that around. You could also use any other kind of protein you like — tofu, shredded pork, sliced beef.

So, here it is. My entry for the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission Blogger Contest !

Thai Spice Sweet Potato Cole Slaw

Slaw:
1 pound sweet potatoes (1 large or 2 small)
4 cups of pre-shredded cole slaw mix
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded

Dressing:
1/4 cup lime juice (about 1 large fresh lime)
1/4 cup canola oil (or other neutral salad oil)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 jalapeno pepper (optional if it’s too spicy for you)
1 teaspoon grated ginger

Topping:
1/4 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts
1/4 cup fresh cilantro

Clean and peel the sweet potatoes and cut into batons, approximately 2 inches long by 1/4″ wide.

Place into a large microwave safe bowl and cover the bowl with microwaveable plastic wrap. Place in microwave and cook on high for one minute at a time, testing for doneness after each minute. You want the sweet potatoes to be cooked, but still have a little snap to them. This should take 2-3 minutes. be careful of the steam when you peel back the plastic wrap!

Toss the cooked sweet potatoes with the rest of the slaw ingredients. Set aside.

Whisk together the dressing ingredients. Feel free to add more or less chili pepper to taste.

Toss the slaw and the dressing together and let sit for at least 10 minutes (or up to an hour) to allow the flavors to meld together.

When you’re ready to serve, top the salad with chopped fresh cilantro and chopped peanuts.

Serve and enjoy!