Tag Archives: food

Interview Series: Corey Pressman

I first met Corey at the sausage making class at Portland Homestead Supply. He was the instructor but seemed more like a host of a party. (If you get a chance, you really should take his class. It’s like an intimate dinner party where you get to help make the food.)

The thing about Corey is he is one of those clever and charming people that you feel like you’ve known forever. He’s a great conversationalist and super intelligent.

Jamie: Please tell us a little about yourself.

Corey: You can never step in the same stream twice.

Jamie: I’ve never had anyone answer that first question so succinctly. I am curious to know the journey of an anthropology professor into a software design and development founder. I picture one as a nutty professor of sorts, surrounded by cobwebs, dust, and musty books. Perhaps with an old desktop that is terribly out-of-date. While the other person has a pristine Apple laptop, wears a hoodie, and goes to “meetings” at coffee houses. How did that transition happen? (And don’t destroy my illusions of what an anthropology professor is like if you can.)

Corey: Actually, being an anthropology professor prepared me well for a life of software design. Anthropology’s focus on culture and ethnographic field methods have been somewhat co-opted by the user experience industry. Also, delivering over 4,500 hours of lectures prepares one for speaking at conferences – something I do quite often. This is my main form of marketing. Lastly, my talks, blog posts, and approach to digital strategy and design all derive from historical and anthropological research about things like stone tools, cave art, and medieval scrolls. So – I’m still a nutty professor, writing pedantic and oblique blog posts, surrounded by musty books. I do, however, have a shiny Macbook Air and meet with clients at Heart Coffee Roasters. No cobwebs, however. And hoodies are for hipsters and children.

Jamie: You told us a lovely story about “becoming a foodie” in the Sausage Making class I took at Portland Homestead Supply. Would you mind sharing that story again here?

Corey: I had been a line cook on and off for a few years. However, I did not yet understand the magical aspect of food. It was a meal at Wildwood on NW 21st – it had just opened and there was a real buzz about the place.

I remember the dish being set in front of me: bacon wrapped trout on a bed of lentils. Simple enough. But it was symphonic – an astonishment. The woodsmoke of the bacon, the texture of trout. And the lentils were all nose – so complex and perfect that I can STILL taste them. I put my fork down after a few bites, took a deep breath, and wiped away tears. That was when I realized I knew nothing about food.

I’ve been trying to learn a little something of that magic ever since.

Jamie: So if you had a perfect food day in Portland, what would that look like?

Corey: The perfect food day – love the concept. It would start at home with a hot mug of black Heart coffee made in a french press. I would fry eggs in walnut oil and an eventual splash of moscatel vinegar (cooked off), salt, pepper. This is eaten with good toast and enjoyed with the wife and children. Lunch at Olympic Provisions – probably one of Joe’s genius soups (beet!), a green salad, and a glass of white. Snack of nuts and chocolate at 3:00. Dinner with the fam at Navarre. Stinky wine, greens, rabbit, mussels, white beans. Right before bed, I smother a banana with peanut butter and eat this over the sink, breathing out of my nose.

Jamie: Haha! That last part! Would you like to share some internet links?

Corey: http://pdx.eater.com/

http://www.olympicprovisions.com/

http://www.homesteadsupplyco.com/

Big thanks to Corey for participating in my series! I really appreciate him answering my questions. If you think of more, ask them in the comments, I’d be happy to pass them along.

food photography: beet and beef stew

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I love stew.

In particular, beef stew. There’s nothing quite as simple and comforting as a slow cooked, filling, and savory meal. I typically have a go-to recipe that I vary little from, but I thought I’d try a new twist using golden beets, celeriac, anchovies, and herbs de Provence. The recipe I used is from Chris Kresser’s site.

Stewing meat, vegetables, and spices together doesn’t get any easier. I like the ease of starting with a lot of fresh ingredients (and perhaps a few shortcuts if you don’t have your own stock or tomato sauce at hand), and ending up with something so hearty.

You start by sauteing the onions and shallots in your heavy bottomed pot. Add garlic when your onions are nearly finished (garlic can burn easily), then add all the rest of the ingredients to the pot save for a couple cloves of chopped garlic that you’ll add at the very end for a little punch.

Golden beets

celery root/celeriac (You could also use turnips, parsnips, or carrots)

red wine and beef stock

bay leaves and anchovies

tomato sauce, tomato paste, and herbs de Provence

grass fed beef

Once you’ve put all the ingredients into the pot, you simply leave it in the oven for a few hours. The low, slow heat does all the work tenderizing your meat and vegetables, and it melds all the flavors.

You can see even more photos of this stew on my Flickr page.

food photography: macarons

recipe: brandied cherries

Portland Food Photography: Slappy Cakes

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There’s this place in Portland that really has it figured out.

How do you combine pancakes and fun in a restaurant? I know what you are thinking, “Pancakes are already fun!”

And I say, “No, they get fun-er. More fun. Having all the funs.”

I introduce you to: Slappy Cakes.

Slappy Cakes offers several batters for pancakes, but the twist is THAT YOU GET TO COOK THEM YOURSELF AT YOUR TABLE!

You choose your batter:

Buttermilk
Whole Grain
Gluten-free
Peanut Butter
Vegan
Sweet Parsnip

You have choices of toppings and ingredients too! We picked lemon curd and blueberries.

You might be thinking, “I don’t really care for pancakes or waffles or any of the sweet breakfast foods.” And that’s fine, they have a full menu.

Portland Food Photography: Blue Star Donuts

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First of all, HAPPY NATIONAL DONUT DAY!

I hope you got to celebrate! David and I had planned to visit our favorite donut place in all the land (so far): BLUE STAR DONUTS! But by 11:30am, they had sold out. They make fresh donuts everyday for that day, and they stay open until they run out. It’s crazy. They are crazy. The donuts are seriously the best I’ve ever had.

They use a French based brioche bread recipe to start. Then they craft their magical donuts in the open style kitchen. Everything is clean and modern. Very simple. They have maybe ten to fifteen flavors of donuts per day (and I think that may be overstating the number.)

We were fortunately able to visit Blue Star when David’s brother Thomas was in town. We shared five donuts, and all of them were super delicious. We could hardly decide which to get. May I recommend a donut party with your friends? Order a bunch and share! Seriously. You will want to try them all.

Lemon Poppy Seed

This was a classic fritter.

And a classic cake style

The famous Maple Bacon

Blueberry Bourbon Basil

Meyer Lemon & Key Lime Curd

Thomas’s face pretty much says it all.

Follow them on Twitter or Facebook.

And here’s a link to their Yelp reviews.

Paleo Food Photography: Bacon Wrapped Dates & Goat Cheese

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These little buddies are magical. Just make them paleo food eater or not. They are the perfect combination of sweet, salty, tangy and bacon. Make them for yourself at home (they taste delicious even cold), or prepare them for a party. Although I don’t know how to share something this delicious. It’s difficult, but some of you are more generous than I. You could also make this dairy free by stuffing the dates with an almond or something else, but I recommend the goat cheese if you would prefer to reach nirvana.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees WITH THE BROILER PAN IN IT. That way, when you put the bacon on the hot pan, it’s less likely to stick and pull your precious bacon away with it.

Count your dates.

Cut your bacon in half. (I had ginormous dates, so I did full pieces of bacon for the pictures.) Now, you either have more pieces of dates or bacon. Whichever one you have less of, that’s how many you can make. I am assuming here that you have about eighteen pieces of bacon after cutting them in half. One of the small goat cheeses should do you, but you should always buy the larger one because GOAT CHEESE.

Soak eighteen plus extra toothpicks in a little bowl of water (a couple extra in case any of your toothpicks are janky and break)

Prep those dates-they may have pits if you didn’t pay attention and buy the de-pitted kind. Take the pits out, remove any stems, and use a knife to slice them open from top to bottom.

Then, shove some goat cheese inside with a butter knife. Put in as much as you want. It’s okay if it shows out the side. Stuff them all before wrapping them in bacon. (Trust me, it’s easier and reduces the risk of cross contamination.

(At this point, you could eat these or bring these to a vegetarian party. Or serve up extra dates and goat cheese while waiting for the bacon ones.)

Then, wrap each one with bacon and secure with a toothpick. Do them all, and by this time, the oven and pan should be ready!

Place them all onto the broiler pan (they should sizzle! Be careful!) Give them a little room-no touching! Put them into the oven and turn them once after about 10-15 minutes. They should be done after 20-25 minutes, BUT IT DEPENDS ON THE SIZE OF YOURS! And also your bacon crispy preference. The dates and goat cheese do not need to cook, so the only thing you have to worry about is the bacon.

Enjoy!

paleo food photography: The Perfect Paleo Pancake

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I read a lot of blogs about paleo/primal/caveman/whatever-you-want-to-call-it eating. THERE ARE SO MANY. One of my very favorites is The Paleo Mom. She’s someone who came to paleo eating because of a lot of health issues. Her writing comes with a scientific perspective; she has a PhD in Medical Biophysics. You can read more about her journey here and here and here. (That last link has some super inspirational before and after photos!)

She shares some great recipes and this is by far my favorite: Perfect Paleo Pancakes

They are super simple, only six ingredients: green plantains, eggs, coconut oil, vanilla, salt, and baking soda. You could always add extra spices like cinnamon or nutmeg. I topped mine with kerrygold butter and maple syrup. They really hit the spot when you are craving something special. I especially love how easy they are to make and flip. The texture is perfect and they keep well in the fridge for second breakfast.

Get out all your ingredients. Heat your pan with some coconut oil. Then peel and rough chop two green plantains. Throw them in the food pro with four eggs, two teaspoons of vanilla, three tablespoons of coconut oil (I’ve also used coconut butter here), a half teaspoon of baking soda, and a pinch of salt. Wazz it up until the plantains are all chopped up.

Then spoon it into the pan! The pancakes bubble a little and crisp up around the edges perfectly. Flip it! Cook the other side! Then slather them up with whatever paleo or mostly paleo ingredients you believe in! My vote is butter and maple syrup for the classic angle, but you could serve and eat with fruit or nut butters if you are into that sort of thing. I’d imagine that these pancakes (without the added vanilla) would be great as a bread substitute as well, although The Paleo Mom has some recipes for that too.

Portland Food Photography: The Sapphire Hotel

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Last week, David and I decided we needed to celebrate so we searched for happy hours on Yelp and we choose The Sapphire Hotel based on the reviews and the menu. Their website claims long roots into the history of Alberta Street:

The Sapphire Hotel was originally a turn of the century seedy hotel in Portland, Oregon inhabited by sailors, travelers and ladies of the night. They rented rooms by the week, night or by the hour and spent long days and evenings in the lobby drinking, laughing, eating, talking and kissing.

Aside from entertaining one another you could count on the presence of a mystic, traveling musician or a handful of gypsies to lend some fun and adventure to your night. As the years went by, the area around the hotel grew more affluent and the ladies of the night took jobs as shop girls along the avenue. The artists began to sell their work at the galleries that cropped up along the Avenue and the rooms became upscale apartments leased to the people in the local community.

There’s a long list of signature cocktails, wine and beer followed by a shorter list of tasty food.

I ordered the hour hour special marionberry margarita and (I think) David got the Common-Law Girlfriend.

I couldn’t resist ordering a couple happy hour appetizers in addition to the food. We chose pickled veggies and nuts & olives.

Dinner was a seared tuna nicoise salad and a meze platter. Two thumbs up! Give them a try for some ambience and delicious drinks and food!

Portland Food Photography: Portland Juice Press

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Okay seriously. This place is so good! I heard about it through someone on Instagram (can’t remember who), and I rode my bike up Milwaukee to visit it. It’s right by Bushwacker’s Cider.

They juice hundred’s of pounds of vegetables, fruit, and nuts every day. They specialize is juice fasts-you can actually have them deliver to your house or work. I just happen to like fresh juice and had a craving for a thick nut milk. So I picked out The Ohm. It was perfect. Exactly what I wanted: hazelnuts, dates, cinnamon, and filtered water.

If you are undecided, they have no problem opening up bottles for you to sample the flavors. Next time, I am getting the lemon, ginger, honey one.

They even have these vintage inspired postcards -FOR FREE! I took one or six.