comfort makes me belly joyful

the cookbook i recived for my birthday was five hundred best comfort food recipes...that's five hundred folks!!! wow!  
yesterday since both mc61 and i had taken the day off, we picked a recipe and went to town. irish beef stew. alterations: recipe calls for lamb we just used beef cuz that's what we had available...and even though it called for one can of guinness, mc61 decided what it really meant was a big, huge, more than a measly can, bottle of G! either way it was quite delish.
tonight we're making sheppard's pie. i'm not sure if we'll be following the exact recipe only because i don't think we have breadcrumbs or parmesan for the bread crumb topping. and seeing that we made this a few weeks ago, before i even got the book, we know that cream corn might be a nicer addition than just regula' ole corn.
(and notice it sorta matches my tablecloth!)
 

if you aren't a fan of beef or lamb there's a chicken with sweet potato topping version of the sheppard's pie. 

 as for other inspirations i spied: shrimp etoufee, jamaican jerk chicken (no way can ja'mak-a-mistake with that!), cajun cassoulet, pulled pork...why even the smoked salmon mousse looks sooo gouda! 

in other news... i am going to learn how to knit the cap portion of my hat this week...i can't wait!

another year wiser...

halloween brings another birthday for me...victorian weekend with the unicornist and c39 was so much fun. we had breakfast saturday and then headed out to a pumpkin patch on sauvie island. it was completely worth the trip just to watch the unicornist squash every pumpkin that looked like it was starting to decay... and even though we didn't really tackle the pumpkin treats we wanted, somehow margaritas, dominoes and cribbage got in the way, at least for me! good thing some people were better at staying on task.. we did manage to chop up one and roast seeds. mc61 made us smack n' cheese in the new cooking ware from the mf's..

 new yarns and embroidery floss

means i'm ready for a big winter snow storm, which leaves me stuck at home to be creative!! 

i also got a gift certificate for at the local yarn shop, so i can stock up with even more yarn. 

i really need more time in my day for all the projects i want to do.

 

as usual the kbomb found interesting vintage looking gift wrap.. caged birdies and pistols. wow! and old school treasures. 

 remember these???

 

i got flowers.. a wonderful cookbook, socks, an air plant and a cool gardening book... oh my goodness a million good wishes.. what else?















AND a new tattoo...we got a little tip that moment of truth was having halloween tattoos for thirty one dollars. i've never had a tattoo done on my actual birthday so we decided to check it out. not to mention the mc61 and i don't have a local tattoo artist so it would also be research. thanks jacob for doing an awesome job!!! i love my black kitty cat!

werkin at the car wash..

you think after taking a few weeks away i'd have something clever to say, but nope i don't. i feel spent. drained. in need of a day off... 

if i had a day off i'd probably sit and sew most of my time away, which would make me happy. anywho enough of this little pity party. 
i'm not saying that i haven't done any sewing.. i have in fact! i finished that birthday card for MMF...it's pretty splendid!

need to see just one piece to get the real effect...

hello my name is... coco!

oh pdx and your crazy love for all things food cart...actually i suppose we can really say oh america, you and your crazy love for all things food cart. it's not like the food cart hasn't been around everywhere think construction sites with the cellophane wrapped white bread sandwiches and bad coffee... fortunately they've been taken up a notch or two...chi-town's gott'em, seattle is explorin'

em. heck there's even a show coming up on food network or travel focusing on food carts. 

i digress, what i really wanna share is my excitement that 2 food carts have just moved in at 7th / e burnside... you know where air play used to be. naturally, i had to a be good, friendly "neighbor" and say "hello". more like say hello and here's my money hook me up with the goods...

boy oh boy did they ever!

has it been since monday that i ate the delectable "big c peking pork"  sandwich from Porridge?? really only a few days? how sad and lonely my taste buds have grown.. 
What pray tell is a "big c peking pork".. well, how does smoked pork, melted swiss, hoisin pear glaze with jicama slaw sound? to me it sounds addictive! can you see how thick the melted swiss is... oh my gawwd. the pear glaze is really what put it into overdrive. it seaped in the bread and man, deeee-lish! de-gorgeous and de-GROVY... (thank you delite!)
this baby, and it was like a firm little baby bundle wrapped in brown paper, is only $7.00.
which to me is totally worth it... i couldn't even eat the whole thing so i got to enjoy it twice. sheesh!! the mc61 even got a few bites outta this baby! that how big this baby bundle was!

thursday, today,  brought me to slow & low. they've got a silver food cart/truck with a big piggie adorning the side. best part of the piggie is it's got a skull on his shirt. i didn't have my phone otherwise i'd grace you with a picture. i did manage to snap two when i got back to the office...

coco is really coconut chipotle braised boston butt.

WOW! how's yer butt? oh it's great; pulled and juicy. shit this was damn fine. it also has carrot daikon pickle and thai basil. but they were out of thai basil so i substituted the arugula from one of the other sandwiches being offered.  look at how amazing this sandwich looks... i will say this though, it was not as dense as the "big c"... it was much easier to carry this one back to my office, ha!

oh coco, coco, COCO... just when you think it can't get any better... you are like the ole billy barrooo (sp) that ted knight waxes for in caddyshack. 
you come through in the clutch that's fer sure!


i highly recommend visiting either one of these food carts not only are they donned with delicious food, the owners are very nice and friendly.

after watching three episodes of anthony bourdain in india and eating these sandwiches i just wanna come home and cook shit! mc61 and i even talked about taking a cooking class together. we both love to cook although, he is really much better at it than i am. then again, i'm better at hand sewing. we've all got our things ...