It seems that it is suddenly autumn. A week or so ago, it was 90 degrees and humid, still summer. Now, the mornings are brisk and dewy cool so that you need a jacket and layers, and the dusk and darkness of night falls sooner and sooner. Crunchy leaves are littering the ground, and the geese are already here on their way to apparently California?
Since Picnic House has opened, it has become a regular stop every 2 weeks or so. Most of time on the way home, F will grab my favorite Nutty Brown Rice Salad, a mix of crunchy brown rice and roasted cauliflower, carrots, turnips & sweet peas in a roasted hazelnut vinaigrette, while he rotates through the salads himself depending on his mood. It’s a huge salad- enough for two meals on its own. After a stop at Benessere Oils and Vinegars store (where I cannot resist, even though I already know the specific flavor infused olive oil I want, to taste 4 other olive oils or balsamic vinegars), we met up to actually eat there among the charm.
With the cool breeze rustling the leaves around the South Park Blocks, soup and a sandwich sounded like just what we needed for some warm comfort. The summer corn and sweet pea soups have been replaced, although this being Oregon full of tall shady trees and rain making fungus plentiful all year ’round, the wild mushroom soup is still on the menu. He had the roasted tomato soup topped with basil cream and fresh oregano, not pictured. Meanwhile, I went with the spiced pumpkin soup, topped with cranberry cream and chipotle peppita seeds.
The dinner entree is listed as “Soup and Grilled Cheese” entree… but which bonus surprise! comes with a small salad too. The spiced pumpkin soup was very mild in terms of seasoning, presenting mostly soft creaminess as you would expect from any cousin squash soup. The cranberry cream and chipotle peppita seeds gave it some interesting depth of a bit of tart and crunch here or there. With the doughy melty grilled cheese, it was a little too much, so I had the soup and sandwich separately while taking bites of the arugula salad (along with gorgonzola bits and candied pecans) to cut through that richness. F had no problem dipping his grilled cheese into his roasted tomato soup though.
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