Pechluck's Food Adventures

Grand Fir Brewing and Breakside Collaboration Dinner

February 17, 2023 by Pechluck Leave a Comment

I am a supporter of all things delicious – including craft beer, with special appreciation for those female brewers out there who make it in what is a male dominated field. Being a woman in engineering, I have to support and applaud their resilience, naturally. Whitney Burnside has been an award-winning Portland brewmaster that I have followed for many years and now she recently founded along with the other half of power-couple duo husband chef Doug Adams, the brewpub Grand Fir Brewing. Recently they launched a collaboration beer with longtime friend Ben Edmunds of Breakside Brewery a new collaboration brew called Chef’s Kiss! They decided to celebrate this launch with a five course Grand Fir Brewing and Breakside Collaboration Dinner.
Menu of the pairings for the Grand Fir Brewing and Breakside Collaboration Dinner

If you have not been to Grand Fir Brewing for Doug’s BBQ Wednesdays, you are missing out! Every Wednesday there is a new barbecue special on offer to enjoy with the refreshing and approachable beer lineup of Grand Fir, adding to the regular menu which offers a small curated list of a handful of small plates and handful of large plates. But a beer dinner with multiple courses that were created to pair with specific beers – yes, I was excited. And I was extra excited to see that there was smoked rib on the menu for this collaboration dinner – the 12 hour slow cooked beef rib with green sauce with tortilla was my favorite dish from the smoker from his previous restaurant Bullard Tavern, and I’ve really missed it.

Well, let me tell you this whole dinner met and went beyond my expectations.
Grand Fir Brewing and Breakside Collaboration Dinner Menu of the pairings for the Grand Fir Brewing and Breakside Collaboration Dinner

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Filed Under: Beer Review, Food and Drink Tagged With: beer and food, beer dinner, Breakside Brewery, Chef's Kiss coconut yuzu IPA, Doug Adams, Grand Fir Brewing, portland beer, Portland Beer and Food Pairing, Portland Beer Dinner, Smoked Spiced Beef Short Ribs, Whitney Burnside

Monarch Butterflies in Monterey Bay

January 10, 2023 by Pechluck 1 Comment

During the colder dreary months of winter, you may be inclined to think you should escape to sunny beaches in Florida or Hawaii or Mexico for your vacation. But, I would argue that this is the time to head to California, particularly Monterey Bay. Besides the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium, these months are also the best time for viewing the Monarch Butterflies in Monterey Bay. November to February is the monarch butterfly migration season as they migrate from places that freeze and rest in coastal groves. It’s a very unique experience along Central Coast California as they migrate between Canada to Mexico.

Pacific Grove is one of the locations that have the perfect conditions for the monarch butterflies to rest on their migration path: you can see other locations here along Highway 1 between the Bay Area and Los Angeles. These groves offer the balance of not too cold, but also not too hot, protection from wind and moisture from fog. Of the locations, the Pacific Grove one stands out to me as a do-able day trip from the Bay Area (1.5 hours from San Jose for instance), and has the bonus of the Monterey Bay Aquarium also nearby, or visit on your way to Paso Robles and visit Sensorio in the evening and/or stop in wine country, etc. so you can easily plan multiple diverse activities on your itinerary.

You can track the latest monarch butterfly counts at the Pacific Grove website or on their Instagram. the numbers were depressingly low the past few years, dropping from the millions into the thousands. The numbers are starting to rebound as people (including you!) can follow the call to action to help preserve them – they still desperately need your help. Until they recover, you may need to temper your expectations of how many butterflies you may see – thus checking the counts before your trip. During my trip, the count was around 15-16,000 during the first weekend of December.
Monarch Butterflies in Monterey Bay

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Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: Butterfly sanctuary, Butterfly viewing, California Butterflies, California Monarch Butterflies, California road trip, California roadside attractions, California Travel, Garlic Capital, Garlic Capital of the World, Garlic ice cream, Garlic Shoppe, Garlic World, Gilroy, Monarch Butterflies, Monterey Bay, Monterey Bay trip, Monterey CA, Monterey California trip, Monterey vacation, Pacific Grove Sanctuary, visit California, where to see monarch butterflies in California, where to see monarch butterflies in the United States, where to see monarch butterflies in US, Wold's Largest Artichoke, World's Largest Artichoke

KinKan Bento Boxes

January 6, 2023 by Pechluck Leave a Comment

I spent Christmas in Los Angeles with my siblings and niece and nephew, and one way we treated ourselves was with KinKan Bento Boxes they offered for the holiday. This half-Japanese, half-Thai restaurant is a favorite of my sister who raves about the omakase there and I hope to return on a trip to dine at the counter. Until then though, we enjoyed the KinKan holiday bento boxes as one of the most beautiful takeout experiences I have ever had. Make sure you follow KinKan on Instagram to be in the know when special boxes are available!
KinKan Bento Boxes - holiday bento boxes from KinKan LA for takeout, Chirashi Heaven Bento

We enjoyed the Unagi Lover ($15) and the Stairway to Chirashi Heaven Bento ($300) that comfortably fed 5 of us. I have a reel of the unboxing on Instagram, but for still photos of the details, check out below
KinKan Bento Boxes - holiday bento boxes from KinKan LA for takeout

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Filed Under: Food and Drink, Travel Tagged With: Bento Box, Bento Boxes, bento dinner, Chirashi Bento, Chirashi Don, Christmas Bento, Holiday Bento, KinKan LA, LA Eats, LA Restaurants, Los Angeles Eats, Los Angeles Restaurants, New Year's Bento, Stairway to Chirashi heaven, Unagi Bento, Unagi lover

Art and Eats in Bandon

December 20, 2022 by Pechluck Leave a Comment

Bandon has a cute, very walkable downtown in their Old Town district, located in a marina area just off of Oregon Coast Highway Highway 101 S. You can easily see where to pull of from 101 thanks to two Old Town arches you can see right from the highway. You can find street parking and there are several free visitor lots as well. One of the compelling reasons to stay or at least stop and wander here in the Old Town District is that you can find a good mix of art and eats in Bandon beyond just the usual handful of small local stores for souvenirs and local crafts, and it’s super walkable. Also the art is FREE to enjoy! Here are my favorite picks.
Bandon Art and Eats: Annual Port of Bandon Boardwalk Art Show Bandon Art and Eats: Washed Ashore Gallery, not only creating striking sea life sculptures created from ocean debris, but volunteers help to gather the material via beach cleanup efforts and hope to raise awareness globally about pollution in the ocean and to spark positive changes

Art in Bandon

There is a unique, family-friendly, interactive and educational and FREE art gallery that you can find in Bandon- the Washed Ashore Gallery. This is one of two galleries they have (the other is in Coos Bay), and the specialty here is “art to save the sea” by teaching environmental issues in an engaging way through the arts. The efforts of non-profit Washed Ashore, include not only creating striking sea life sculptures created from ocean debris, but volunteers help to gather the material via beach cleanup efforts and create curriculum to help educate and inspire, and provide volunteer opportunities to get involved in the art creation. Founded in 2010, they hope to raise awareness globally about pollution in the ocean and to spark positive changes. You may have even seen some examples of their art in other locations as part of commissions or traveling exhibitions.
Bandon Art and Eats: Washed Ashore Gallery, not only creating striking sea life sculptures created from ocean debris, but volunteers help to gather the material via beach cleanup efforts and hope to raise awareness globally about pollution in the ocean and to spark positive changes

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Filed Under: Food and Drink, Travel Tagged With: adventures, Angelo's Italy, Art contest, Art gallery, Art in Bandon, Art Show, Bandon, Bandon Art, Bandon beer, Bandon Boardwalk, Bandon dinner, Bandon downtown, Bandon lunch, Bandon marina, Bandon Oregon, Bandon restaurants, Bandon seafood, Bandon's famous crab sandwich, Boardwalk art, crab sandwich, downtown Bandon, Face Rock Creamery, live music Bandon, Old Town Bandon, oregon coast, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Ocean, PNW, Public Art, restaurants in Bandon, things to do, things to do in Bandon, Tony's Crab Shack, Washed Ashore

Sake Advent Calendar

November 28, 2022 by Pechluck Leave a Comment

I loved going through the Namazake Paul Advent Calendar last year in 2021, and the Sake Advent Calendar is back and better for 2022. The calendar is huge – because it features at least one sake cup sized prize behind each door (an even more special larger portion for Christmas Eve!). The box is massive – here’s my cat for a little scale, as well as a few detail shots about the cute calendar art.