Compliments to the Chef: Acadia

Another amazing meal at Acadia reminded me that this post is long overdue. Chef Adam Higgs is doing beautifully inspired things at his New Orelans bistro in NE Portland and I want everybody to know about it.

I love everything about this place. In my mind it represents a true bistro; the size is just right and the service is always warm. The food is elevated, clean, and long on flavor. When you go, please order the Louisiana BBQ shrimp appetizer. DO NOT MISS THIS. YOU WILL THANK ME LATER. This dish is so good that I rarely share, and I recommend using extra bread for soaking up the remaining pool of butter sauce. You will be tempted to order a side of just that sauce (don’t). You will want to bathe in that sauce (please don’t). Rather than continuing to go on and about why you should check this place out, I’ll just share with you what we ordered the other night and let Adam’s food speak for itself. And the answer is yes, everything tastes as good as it reads.

Grilled house made andouille sausage with pickles okra and Creole mustard

Arugula and Butter Lettuce with gingersnap cookies, brown sugar roasted kabocha squash, Cypress Grove fromage blanc and black pepper vinaigrette

Shrimp Creole with shrimp meatballs, gulf shrimp, fresh spinach and Creole tomato sauce over rice

Red beans and rice

Roasted root vegetables with horseradish butter

Shredded Brussels sprouts with bacon and apple

1303 NE Fremont St
Portland, Oregon
(503) 249-5001

creolapdx.com‎

MAP

Tags: Acadia, Chef Adam Higgs, Creole food, NOLA

Dinner: Home

Carbs and ice cream: It’s about the only thing that’s comforting me during the NBA lockout. Fall just isn’t the same without my Portland Trailblazers. (Okay, okay, I’d still be carb loading even if the NBA season was in full swing.)

Spelt Lasagna

with spinach, burrata and chanterelles

Pumpkin Ice Cream

Tags: Fall, lasagna, mushrooms, spelt

Happy Halloween

Me: “Would you be willing to be Mark Anthony for Halloween?”

E. Dohrmann: “Like Jennifer Lopez’s Ex?”

Me: “Uh, no.”

And for the record, E. Dohrmann’s costume also included a shield bearing the likeness of Romulus and Remus. (He also was supplied with a sword, though he refused to carry it in public.)

Tags: Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra costume, E. Dohrmann, Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, Marcus Antonius costume, Romulus and Remus

Other People’s Houses

This is the bar at my friend Hannah’s house.

Isn’t it beautiful?

Tags: bar supplies, gin, home decorating, local distillery, whiskey, Why I Love Portland

Toast Gluten Free Bread

I do not have celiac disease. Nor do I suffer from a wheat allergy.

That said, I do like to try gluten free breads from time to time. The only flavor of gluten free bread that has ever convinced me that it was something other than gluten free bread is cinnamon raisin toast. That tastes really good to me. Especially when there’s a high quality butter melted on top.

Tags: breakfast, celiac, GF, Gluten free, toast

Breakfast: Home

Not gonna lie. Husband and I recently joined the juice craze. Based on a friend’s recommendation we watched two food documentaries, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and Forks Over Knives. Inspired, I convinced my mom to retrieve the Juice Tiger from her basement and put it out on loan. After dusting the ancient relic off, E. Dohrmann and I proceeded to embark on a five day cleanse where we consumed nothing but juice. At the end of it, our skin and allergies were noticeably better. We also felt like we were sleeping better. In other words, the cleanse worked miracles in our lives.

In the beginning we tried juicing every fruit and vegetable under the sun, including a recipe that once combined  carrot greens, pineapple, beets and radishes. Let’s just say some combinations work better than others. A good general rule of thumb is lemon and ginger make everything taste better. We’ve since upgraded to a Breville juicer which has turned out to be a life changing event. We now try to make juice at least once a day. Here’s the recipe to our favorite:

Mean Green Juice

• 1 Bunch Kale
• 1 Cucumber
• 2 Green Apples
• 1 Lemon
• 2 inch piece of ginger

Tags: Fat, Forks Over Knives, juice cleanse, juice fast, Natrual remedy, Nearly Dead, Sick