Pudding On the Rice!

February 24, 2009 by Leave a Comment

On Sunday, I had the really interesting experience of heading out to Tigard, and for lunch we stopped at a place whose name intrigued us: Pudding On the Rice. See, I don't just eat at places that I read about in magazines, newspapers, and the internet. I'm no snob- I'll try anything.

It turns out this "gourmet dessert bar" is new to the Portland area, and only one other location exists: one in Provo, Utah. You're quite a long way from home, little gourmet dessert bar! The concept is very clean and minimal, sort of what you'd see if you visited a Pinkberry/yogurt venue, but with one differentiator. They serve rice pudding.

How is that appealing? Well, they have come up with more than 40 flavors of the rice pudding, all made from scratch daily, and include flavors like

  • Berry Manilow: mixture of blueberries, raspberries, and marionberries… "um-hum"
  • Bittersweet Symphony: dark rich mixture of bittersweet chocolate infused with vanilla and cream
  • Che's Cake: cheesecake of a revolutionary kind
  • Chupar la Pina Colada: coconut with crushed pineapple with a hint of rum
  • Dream of the Blue Turtle: fine milk, dark chocolate, toasted pecans and caramel
  • The Legend of Sleepy Mallow: marshmallow cream with a hint of vanilla and mini marshmallows
  • The Opiate of the Masses: blend of fresh lemons, zest, and poppyseeds
  • Pavlov's Nog: version of egg nog
  • Peanu Butterfuco: creamy peanut butter and milk chocolate chunks
  • Peter Primate Special: we pay homage to distant cousins with an intelligently designed and naturally selected mix of walnuts, chocolate chunks, and banana cream… evolution never tasted so good
  • Raspberry Rousseau: fresh raspberries, vanilla, and hint of almond…
  • And more…

I liked that the rice pudding was light tasting, similar to what you would find in a gelato but without the fat- these babies are only 70 calories! And, the extra texture of the rice in the pudding (you can add toppings too, but totally unnecessary in my opinion) gives you just enough extra on your tongue to taste so it doesn't melt away like ice cream or gelato would.

DSCN1071DSCN1072
If you are looking for a little bit more before the rice pudding, they also make fresh savory crepes in combinations such as shaved honey ham and swiss cheese; fresh tomatoes, scallions, and parmesan cheese; baby spinach, mushrooms, bacon, and poppy dressing; roasted turkey and cranberry sauce; tomato tepenade, fresh basil, and mozzerella; cheddar cheese and sliced apples. Or, you can choose your own fillings from apple butter, bananas, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, cinnamon/sugar, fresh fruit/berries, jam, nutella, peanut butter, and whipped cream. You even have your choice of enjoying it in a paper cone, a la the Parisian Creperies you find on the street.
 
If you happen to be in the area of Tigard's Bridgeport Village, instead of going to one of the many chain restaurants here, give this place a try. It's a refreshing reprieve from the rest of the monolithic suburbia outposts here to grab a light healthy bite in an obvious little labor of love by an entrepreneur.
Signature

Filed Under: Food and Drink, Restaurant Review Tagged With: , , ,

Chinese New Year 2009- cleansing day

February 18, 2009 by Leave a Comment

When Chinese New Year started, I noted that the Chinese Classical Garden here in Portland was going to have a special event on the last day of Chinese New Year celebration. I got there early enough to see the tai chi demostration, and saw little kids making paper lanterns, coloring pictures of dragons, and writing Chinese characters. I opted for Chinese tea and snacks in the teahouse while listening to the Portland Orchids and Bamboo Chinese Ensemble perform traditional Chinese music. – mooncake (which is only edible with tea) and my favorite, turnip cake!

DSCN1024DSCN1026DSCN1029

Unfortunately, as you can see below, shortly before the floating lantern and dragon came out, it got very grey, and it was a bit soggy and sad for the floating lanterns. However, the little boy next to me getting soaked was soooo cute, though shivering by the end. He was looking a little spacey. Reminds me of my brother. Heeee.

DSCN1030DSCN1032DSCN1033DSCN1036DSCN1044DSCN1048DSCN1049DSCN1050

Earlier when Chinese New Year started, I of course ate noodles, and chicken, and potstickers. I still needed some fish though. I wasn't sure what Chinese restaurants in China Block (it's the Chinatown downtown, but I wouldn't call it a town… sure it has the gates, but it's only like 3 blocks!) were good, so I ended up at Typhoon again. At least I had a steamed fish instead of a deep fried one like last time… though that was tastier deep fried. Well, it was a healthy start to the new year at least! And, I had more tea- my favorite tea is the Toasted Rice Flower tea. It smells great, and has a light taste. Another strikeout with the vegetarian dish though- the eggplants were fine, but the tofu salty as if taste was overcompensated for by salt. Well, the three times I've had meaty dishes I've liked them all.

DSCN1058DSCN1063DSCN1061

And look how pretty those are… as opposed to these veggie dishes at Paradox Cafe, which is 90% or more vegetarian/vegan. I didn't even bother to taste the vegan sloppy joe there in that third photo. I had the Solstice Corn Cakes, which are corncakes with apples and toasted walnuts in the mix (I had them with quite a big pat of butter, and the next day with lots of syrup. The parts with the apples were best, the rest needed help with the dryness. Or maybe I was just adding fat. Let's not be picky) and the half portion of "Biscuits and Gravy HOB version" which is herb and onion bread with almond gravy. The gravy was good. The bread was a bit hard, but had some potential in flavor if it hadn't been overdone- and it definitely still needed that gravy. Other offerings here include a sandwich called a Tree Hugger which you can add tofurky to, Tempeh Reubon, Asparagus Sandwich, and Curried Tempeh Tacos, Tempeh Gyro, and 8 kinds of salads, among many other items.

DSCN1064DSCN1068DSCN1069

 

 

Signature

Filed Under: Festival Event, Food and Drink, Portland Highlights, Restaurant Review, Weblogs Tagged With: , , , , ,

No Bourdain No!!!

February 4, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Noooo! Anthony Bourdain shot a segment of his No Reservations show in Chicago… his stops at L20, Avec, Blackbird, and Moto (I've had two of the dishes showcased- the roadkill and deconstructed/reconstructed bbq), he has deep dish pizza at a cool place called Burt's Place which I enjoyed rather much instead of him going to one of the big chains- it had character, and is well loved by LTH Forum, which was my go to expert guide to yummies. And then he went to Hot Doug. Nooo! And he praises their duck fat fries, which are only available on Fridays and Saturdays. Great. Now the lines will be impossible. How could you Tony, how could you. Really watching the meal at L20 made me drool, it seemed out of this world. Also, it was 20 some courses.

Going to Tom Tom's Tamale, the Mother In Law tamele on a bun and Suicide beverage (random mix of every soda) at Fat Johnnie's (that could have served fine as his "wild and crazy" food, if Moto and L20 wasn't amazing but crazy enough because it was fancy), even Calumet Fisheries' smoked fish in greasy white paper bags that is sooo south side (I really wanted some sticky rice to go with it, is that wrong?), I understand. True hidden gem that showcases part of Chicago, though where was the messy Italian beef sandwich? Man, seeing Calument Fisheries reminds me of many a trip my family took to DiCola's Seafood. How did my mom get involved and bring us to that! She doesn't usually try new places, so it had to have been introduced to her.

But meeting Mancow at Silver Palm, having a PBR and that Three Little Pigs sandwich sounded disgusting: a sandwich with smoked ham, breaded pork cutlet, bacon strips, 2 eggs and gruyere on a brioche bun with french fries and onion rings fried in lard- do you feel your heart pumping really hard?

The Chicago cop I understand but what's with Ramova Grill (a missing scene from what actually was on the show)? You could have at least gone to White Palace or Eleven City, though I certainly don't begrudge Ramova as a great neighborhood place and the show covering the south side instead of the trendy north side, but south side is not so monotone. For such a cosmopolitan cultural city, why was he surrounded by white people (exception cute foodie blogger Louisa Chu who was a food fixer and food journalist for his Chicago trip)? And no Maxwell Street Market street food- no, the visit to Tom Tom's is not representative enough.

I had to admire the really great shots of the cityscape the camera crew got. Great shots of the skyline and the el, often combined!

Next Monday's episode is on Food Porn. Is it wrong to be excited?

Moto: Edible Menu, "BBQ Pork and Baked Beans", and Roadkill
Signature

Filed Under: Food and Drink, Weblogs Tagged With:

Flavor profiles outside the USA

January 17, 2009 by 1 Comment

When you travel overseas, one of the best, most recommended souviniers I like to advocate for people to bring back is interesting snacks. Tastes vary all over the world, and candy, chips, and soda are cheap ways to bring this back to the US to remember and share.

Here is what I brought back as highlights from my recent 2 week trip.

 

Signature

Filed Under: Food and Drink, Travel, Weblogs Tagged With: ,

Cravings for Asian food

December 13, 2008 by Leave a Comment

I'm not sure if it's because I know I'm going to Thailand soon (from the 29 of December to January 11), but this week I really had a craving for some Asian food. I didn't try anyplace new- instead, I went back to two places to see if I ordered something else, would I still like the place.

For dinner one evening, I returned to Typhoon and had the "Three Flavor Fish"- a flash-fried halbut with a spicy sweet and sour sauce. Unfortunately when the waiter put it down the stacked fish fell over, but you can see the delicious crispiness all the same. It's quite a bit of fish, and I ate all of that up. Maybe I was straining myself for the last third, but that crispness wouldn't be there if I saved it and took it home. Another thing I like there is there large selection of teas to choose from, so I had a pot all by myself practically. 

DSCN0361DSCN0367DSCN0360

I also went back in Beaverton while running my first Zipcar errand to Petco and Fred Meyer to a dinner at Jin Wah, which I have also blogged about earlier. This time, I remembered to capture the Joy Yee-ness of the place in their photographed food examples, and the largeness of their menu. This time, I somehow noticed the oilyness that I missed the first time- or was willing to overlook because of their drug-like control of me when I have their chinese sausage fried rice. This time, when I tried their noodles, it was a fail. No crispy burnt parts at all! Fail!

DSCN0369DSCN0370DSCN0371DSCN0374DSCN0375

And… Zipcar? What's that? Well, I recently joined Zipcar, which is a membership car coop program in which I pay a small annual fee, but otherwise it's about $10 an hour to rent a car (or $70 a day) and there are several cars nearby in walking distance just sitting in designated rental parking spots (for instance, 8 within half a mile of my house alone). I use my card to just open the car after making a reservation approximating how long I would use it, either doing so online or via phone. I don't pay for insurance, or for gas (there is already an insurance card in the car, and a gas card I can use as well). The use of the car card is pretty cool- it scans it from the windshield, which unlocks or locks the car. The actual key to the ignition is permanently attachedf with a cord in the car. Thieves don't steal the car because unless you activate it with the card, the engine doesn't even work.

I also got a discounted annual fee by buying a coupon book from Whole Foods, and that book has lots of coupons for groceries and restaurants. I've already made the money spent on the book back on savings through my membership savings of not paying an application fee and getting some driving credits, and that's without me using the grocery store coupons in the book. I have often thought of joining ZipCar, but since I know of 3 ZipCars within a 5 minute walk of me (one is only 2 blocks away) and with the addition of that coupon book and the fact that some of the bigger stores like Target, Petco, and such are farther away and would be a pain to go to public transit wise, it just makes sense for me to have a Zipcar.

So I own a car now! Sorta.

zipcar

 

Signature

Filed Under: Food and Drink, Restaurant Review Tagged With: , , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »