a slice of havana

(thank you andy s. from yelp for this picture)

i know, i know i am so behind on all my blogging. i think the hardest thing about keeping up a blog is finding the time to actually KEEP IT UP!! but i am a work in progress when it comes to this, so bear with me while i get back in my groove^_^ i recently got back from japan (and you know i have some amazing food pics from that trip!! don't worry those posts will be coming along as well^_^) so i have a lot to catch up on...including sleep! 

well, back to the purpose of this entry...PAMBICHE!! a little slice of havana on the sidewalks of portland, oregon. my old roommate, brittney, came into town to interview for a job, and she demanded (as only she would) that we have dinner. who am i to say no to a woman who was my guide through the horrors of my freshmen year of college at UH Manoa. so i picked her up after a barrage of back anf forth texts about where and when we should eat, we both somehow picked Pambiche. i'd like to think she and i are just in sync that way! so i picked her up from her hotel, and made sure to bring along my garmin (seriously the best purchase if you move ANYWHERE in the mainland). so we set off on our little food adventure about town. When we got to pambiche i couldn't help but think that this place was going to be goooood! the colorful paint, the outdoor umbrellas, the people sitting outside enjoying a sangria or two. it just oozed of spicy south america in my mind.  we sat down and started checking out the drinks first of course!

the menu: a nod to the havana flag

our yummy palm beach coolers: made with white wine, selected fruit, and finished with fresh mint and a small stalk of sugar cane^_^ brittney and i couldn't stop gnawing on the sugar cane, it was so sweet and added great flavor to the taste of the cooler!

we finally decided after the waitress coming back and forth multiple times, due to the fact that we didn't know what a lot of things on the menu were and also because we got caught up in catching up, we kept forgetting that we had to order>_<

my plato cubano: consisting of adobo marinated roast pork, served with cuban red beans (which also has pieces of pork in it, you see where i am going with this??), and rice. finished off with yuca con mojo, which basically is a kind of potato starch found in south america and consistently used in cuban dishes. this particular yuca was served with a delicious garlic sauce...yum!

this is brittney and her food: she got vaca frita. this dish consisted of citrus marinated shredded beef char grilled with garlic and onions. she actually got a mixture of beans and rice with maduros or plantains on the side. 

so we literally gobbled our food up, and shared in between. brittney's beef was delicious, the citrus flavors the garlic, all just makes my mouth water to think about it now. my yuca...AMAZING!! sorry i have a thing for fries or anything fry-like! so i was in heaven. the pork, not to memorable for me particularly, maybe it was too saucey or something...but the beans were yumm-o and i did finish all of those! after we digested and continued to gnaw on our sugar cane it was time for dessert...

as usher, the musical artist has so eloquently put it "OH MY GOD!" behold the TORTA DOMINO: white chocolate mocha cake soaked with kahlua coffee liqueur and cafe cubano, filled with chocolate canela mousse and glazed with oaxacan chocolate ganache; finished with a white chocolate domino and served with crema chantilly and ice cream. the words just roll off your tongue into a whole lotta drool over this baby. it was perfect, the mixture of coffee and cake with the addition the cool vanilla ice cream and chocolate covered coffee beans with their crunch, just gave it the best feeling in your mouth. it was an excellent way to finish off dinner. and i was content^_^ 

i found out that they have an in house pastry chef who specifically develops these desserts for pambiche. i thought that was a great idea and addition to the overall sultry feeling of the place. if you ever make it to portland, this would definitely be a place i would suggest to any of my friends for a good place to relax and eat some great food! 

a much needed night out...

so i had a day off, and another wonderful day with someone visiting from hawaii! russ was visiting from hawaii to interview for a job up in portland. luckily for me that meant more food experiences!! we were trying to figure out where to eat for dinner and hopefully make it in time for a decent happy hour, i had hoped we would get to check out this place called Miss Delta on Mississippi in northeast portland, but since time was running short jen suggested we check out podnah's...

this is the front of podnah's and my friend russ, charming isn't he? i thought the name of the place was very deceiving. seemingly indian, yet southern bbq...intriguing...^_^

we sat in the back of the restaurant where they have an outdoor picnic bench type of set-up. i actually prefered it, not only because it was a beautiful day, but also because it set a nice feeling of being at a family bbq. there was a large group right next to our picnic table, i believe they were from wisconsin, and i couldn't help but smile...(i lived in wisconsin from the time i was about 10 to 17)...it reminded me of one of my original homes^_^. well back to the food, i love pork ribs, like SERIOUSLY LOVE THEM!! and i can't help but order them when i go to any southern food place, call it boring if you like, but i like to say i like to compare and contrast^_~ seriously though, if you order the same thing time and time again to start to really tell the difference between the way it was prepared. was it smokey? was it tender? was there too much bbq sauce? all relevant questions in the search for the ultimate rib^_~ these ribs, were tangy and delicious, definitely tender and not too much sauce, really tasty, and the collard greens, cornbread, and potato salad weren't a bad addition either! so good!!

obviously i was VERY HAPPY with my food!

PECAN PIE!! TO DIE FOR!! that disappeared all too quickly! which led us to our next stop...

that's right, we went to a tiki bar of all places fully accompanied by the tiki men, leis, etc! i'm sorry but i really loved this place and i don't care who thinks it is crazy, we had a good time and a strong drink....

behold...the VOLCANO BOWL^_^ a drink, with a surprisingly cinnamony and milky flavor...very yummy, and like the pecan pie, it quickly disappeared^_~...

overall, we had a good time. good friends, good food, and good drinks...a successful night on the town in portland^_^

blueberried out!!

i think this will be my last blueberry creation for a while! i think i am completely blueberried  out!! if only my parents would stop picking so many so i don't feel inclined to make something with them! but, i do. and it is always so mouth wateringly good, that i just can;t stop. i'm a slave to the blueberry and its antioxident goodness>_< well enough of my rants and on to the CAKE! my friend jordan had been telling me how he has been trying to perfect his cheesecake for a while now. his had been getting cracks, but he continuously made it, not only for himself, but for friends, family, etc. well, his passion for the cheesecake inspired me to try one. oddly enough, one morning while i was enjoying my oatmeal with blueberries(yes, they are eaten A LOT in my household) and bananas i stumbled upon a recipe in the paper that had apparently won an award. so i thought, "hey, why not give it a try!" lucky for me i have the coolest foodie aunt EVER, who had just bought me the best spring form pan set the week before! thanks again auntie liane! so i set to work gathering the things i needed. slowly chipping away at the gallon sized bags of blueberries that are sitting in our freezer, i set to work. first was the sauce...

the sauce was a little tricky for me, because the recipe calls for it to be put in a food processor for a while and then placed over a heat, but it came out kinda flat, and i LOVE chunks of blueberries in my sauce, so i added a few extra at the end for good measure^_^

next, preparing the crust. i think i actually over processed the graham crackers in the food processor and will opt to just hand crush them next time. by the end of it all, i feel like it was a little too dense, and not as crumbly as i would have liked it to be, side note for next time...

mmmmmm filling!!

swirling the blueberry sauce in layers!! this part was fun and artsy for me!!

ready for the oven!!

the cool down!! after it cools it had to sit in the fridge overnight...more waiting!!

FINALLY!! the next morning i was so impatient i ate it for breakfast!! the inside was creamy and not too thick, the crust was a good contrast to the cream, and the blueberries, well, they were just the tang that it all needed!! overall a great recipe and great first try!!

BLUEBERRY SWIRL CHEESECAKE
For the sauce:
12 ounces frozen blueberries, thawed
1 T sugar
1 T water
1 1/2 t cornstarch

For the crust:
1 1/4 c graham cracker crumbs
1/4 c sugar
1/3 c butter or margarine melted

For the filling: 
3 packages (8-ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
1/4 c lemon juice
Blueberry sauce

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• in a food processor or blender, process the blueberries, sugar, water, and cornstarch until blended. 
• transfer to a heavy saucepan; bring to boil. 
• reduce heat; cook and stir over medium heat for 2 min. until thickened. 
• set aside 6 T of sauce for the filling of the cake. and refrigerate the rest for the topping.
• combine crust ingredients and press into the bottom of a 9-inch greased spring form pan; set aside
• in a mixing bowl beat mix the cream cheese and milk until smooth.
• add the eggs; beat on low until just combined. 
• add lemon juice and beat until just blended. 
• pour half of the filling over the crust; top with half the reserved berry topping. repeat layers. 
• cut through filling with a knife to swirl. 
• place on baking sheet. 
• bake for 40-45 min or until center is almost set. 
• cool on wire rack for 10 min. carefully run a knife around the edges to loosen and cool 1 hour longer.
• refrigerate overnight.
• remove the sides of the pan and serve chilled with blueberry sauce!!^_^

$$$ cookie recipe for elianna

my cousin elianna is going to germany for a study abroad semester. i am so proud of her for traveling the world! and i know she will have a great time, but i wanted to get this recipe to her before she left, or at least have it up so she can make them while in germany. and why not share it with the rest of the internet world why i am at it^_~

preheat oven to 325 degrees
makes about 7 1/2 dozen


1 cup butter
1 cup oil
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup oats (i don't use instant)
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts (i use pecans and i toast them first, and then chop them myself)
1/2 cup chopped chocolate chips (i tried it with whole chips and it was a bit too chocolately for me, i know how can anything be too chocolately?! but it really was, so i chopped them up and they came out WONDERFUL!!)
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda

• cream butter, oil, both sugars, egg, and vanilla
• in a separate bowl mix all other ingredients
• roll into walnut sized balls and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.(you dont need the parchment but i ALWAYS use parchment paper, less of a clean up^_~)
• so the recipe says to flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in water, but i just use my hand. it works just as well. 
• bake at 325 degrees for about 12-15 min.
• enjoy!!^_^

this is a great recipe, not only because it is simple but, also because these cookies make a great gift! especially if you are sending them to someone. they stay crispy and have a semi-shortbread consistency but not the heavy shortbread butter flavor.i hope the recipe works out for you eli! and have a great time in germany!!

which came first?

which came first? the chicken or the egg? in this case, neither! again we had some family visiting, i think it has been a frequent thing for the past few months. well, one of my cousins that was was visiting, kelsey, is vegan. for those of you who do not know what it means to be "vegan" i will fill you in. basically its being "a vegetarian who omits all animal products from their diet"(so says dictionary.com). very interesting idea. even more interesting the many baked goods you can make without dairy products!! in addition to this cake, we also got to make a blueberry crumble pie, which i admit did not turn out as well as i had hoped:-p but, you live and learn...anyways, back to the cake. this recipe actually came from my lovely sister...

this is  my sister corie^_^

well, back to the story...she had sent me those cards of recipes that i had never gotten around to. i had made the banana muffin one, that i had to tweak to make more appetizing. and i had seen the one for a chocolate cake that was vegan, however, until kelsey showed up i had never made it! BIG MISTAKE!! well, when i was working my cousin and family ended up making it, kelsey also added a vegan frosting that was so yummy!! when i got home i tried it and i was pretty blown away! so i had to make it again! i actually wanted to make it for my workers and see if they could tell the difference between a regular cake and this one, call me a sneaky boss^_~ but this is basically the breakdown...

best cocoa powder to bake with!

all the dry ingredients...

all the wet, no eggs^_^

mix and bake...

OoOoOoOoOO...

frosting time!!

mix! and...

spread...i couldn't wait till it cooled! i had to have some! YUM YUM YUM!!^_^

i had to add this in there too! i went to sur la table again with my auntie liane when she was in town. bought myself some heavy duty baking sheets, and i got an early birthday present!! a set of three spring form pans, thanks auntie liane!!!^_^ you know what this means?! cheesecake to follow soon!!^_^

CAKE RECIPE:

preheat oven to 350 degrees

grease a 9x13 baking dish

3 cups flour

1/2 cocoa powder

1 t. salt

2 t. baking soda

2 cups sugar

2 T. vinegar

3/4 cup oil

2 cups cool water

• mix flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, and sugar together in large bowl
• in separate bowl mix vinegar, oil and cool water
• while mixing add the wet ingredients to the dry ones till just incorporated
• pour batter in dish and bake for about 40 min. depending on the strength of your oven
• take out and let cool completely before pour frosting on top^_^

CHOCOLATE FROSTING RECIPE: (i only used half of this recipe to cover my cake and it actually was a good amount, but if you are a frosting fiend more power to you in using the whole recipe^_~)

1/2 cup shortening (i used earth balance)

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup soy milk

1 t. vanilla extract

1 1/2 t. almond extract

• combine cocoa and shortening 
• add in powdered sugar, soy milk, and extracts. 
• beat for about a minute, or until good consistency. pour over cooled cake^_^

Just to follow up, my workers couldn't even tell the difference and some of them even asked for the recipe!! i'm glad it was such a hit!

the list...

so i have a list going of friends that i like to send care packages to (actually its just people who i have actually gotten addresses from). i am SLOWLY getting through all of them, however, on this last day off i decided to just knock a couple off all at once. i basically went on a complete baking spree!! i had told a friend of mine that i would make him some bread, so i decided on a banana bread. i also wanted to make another friend some cookies, so i decided on a recipe my auntie rina had given me when she was in town..."$$$ cookies" is what she calls them. and finally, i made blondies, because they are just so great!!^_^ so i set to work...along the way i decided that i was going mix things up a bit, something you can easily tell i enjoy doing, and also because it gets boring following the same recipe all the time, so why not experiment!? i had always mad the banana bread very simply, no nuts, no added anything, VERY BORING! well, on my tour through the cordon bleu school i had tried a girl's banana bread and she had put chocolate and nuts in it. WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT?!  well, i had made it with chocolate chips before, but i think the chips, although small, were a bit too much still, so i chopped them up even smaller. so i attempted to do it myself. i had leftover toasted pecans and some chopped up chocolate chips from the cookies so i threw them in...

mashed banana, chopped pecans, and chopped chocolate chips...

i hope he and his wife enjoy the bread^_^

with the first round of cookies i had made after my aunt had left me the recipe i had the same problem of chocolate chips that were just too large. don;t get me wrong in chocolate chip cookies i love the chips and i wish there were LOADS of them, but when you have them competing with so many other added flavors, you want to tone it done a bit. so i chopped them up, and made them as uniform as i could for packaging purposes. mmmm cookies hope my friends enjoy them!^_^ 

finally! the best one! i had actually always loved making blondies. i think it was because i had never really heard of them or known about them when i had grown up, sure you hear about chocolate chip cookies, and regular brownies, but blondies? my point exactly^_~ well, i had found a recipe by emril about a year or two ago, i made my own little tweeks to make the inside a bit more dense and threw in some white chocolate chips just for good measure...pre-baked goodness...

i hope the overnight team back at my old store appreciate this one^_~

basically by the end of it i was baked out, if that is even possible...but i am happy to have FINALLY sent the goodies to my good friends^_^ miss you guys!

blueberry cream cheese yummyness!!

 

another day off, which means another day for me to try out a new recipe!! i kinda stole this idea from diamond head grill's blueberry cream cheese scone, but i had never made scones before, and it was either blueberry cream cheese, or strawberry with a lemon glaze. so due to popular demand i went for the blueberry^_^ once again pulling out "martha" for help. i looked at her recipes for scones, checking to see the kind of consistency i was looking for and what kinds of shapes i would want. i finally decided to reference her current scones recipe. i have to say, that even though i fudged over a few of the steps due to my fridge being too small, and substituting blueberries and cream cheese for currents it came out pretty darn good! here is the recipe for all of you out there in blog world, i hope my side tips help you out!!

Blueberry Cream Cheese Scones

4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, cold cut into small pieces
1 cup frozen blueberries
½ block cream cheese cut into large cubes, unless you want more
1 large whole egg, plus 1 large egg yolk
2 ¼ cups heavy cream
Sanding sugar (which is Sugar in the raw from maui)

• “Martha” says to start my lining two baking sheets with parchment paper, but I am going to tell you right now, the first thing you should do is one: make sure your baking sheets can fit in your freezer and two: make room in your freezer for those baking sheets. Then, after you have done that, then I would line the baking sheets and set aside.

• In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

• Add the butter and using a pastry cutter cut the butter into the dry mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs with a few large clumps.

• Add the blueberries and the cream cheese clumps and gently mix well with your hand. *I say to put the cream cheese in large clumps here because they will get small when mixed, when I made it I added them in globs after I had already mixed the cream with the dough, my mistake>_< But, as a warning the blueberries will start to defrost and break down. Although, it didn’t turn out bad and you may prefer to do it that way.*

• This is the fun part…add 2 cups of heavy cream and use your hand to draw the dry ingredients over the cream, gradually gathering and combining the dough until it comes together. If it is too dry, add more cream a tablespoon at a time till it all stay together.

• Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and with lightly floured hands gently press and pat the dough into a 11-by-7-inch rectangle, about 1 inch thick. Using a sharp knife or pastry wheel (ie pizza cutter), cut the rectangle into 16 triangles. Place the triangles onto the prepared baking sheets; cover with plastic wrap and freeze until the dough is very firm. About two hours or overnight. *this is the step I missed because my freezer is not very big and the baking sheets I have can’t fit, that’s why you have to be sure to make room in your freezer!*

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. In a small bowl lightly beat the egg yolk with the remaining ¼ cup of cream; brush over the frozen scones and then top generously with the raw sugar. *I would put about 1 ½ teaspoons or more, because you really want to coat the top, it adds a lot of flavor and makes a really great crusty top for your scones!*

• Place in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, making sure to turn the baking sheets half way through until the tops are golden and flecked with brown spots, also check the bottoms to ensure they are golden brown. When done transfer to a wire rack and let cool, they are best eaten right away! Or within the same day^_^

all the ingredients...

whisking all the dry ingredients together...

cutting in the cold butter...

 

the crumbly mixture...

 

cut and placed on the baking sheets...

 

yummy!!^_^ eat warm!