Sweet Roll Waffles. Sweet rolls waffles made from the pre-made Trader Joes package. Easy peasy. Cook them in the waffle iron not the oven. Topped with icing. Yum.

Harvester Brewing is the first Gluten-free micro-brewery I know of and they are based in SE Portland.  New Seasons told me it was “very legit” and I agree.  Tasty pale ale that could use more hops for my taste.  (They don’t make an IPA and I’d like to find out why.)  The Dark is good too but the sweetness and chestnut qualities are a bit strong.  Then again if you can’t drink regular beer this should be your favorite new brewery.

Check them out.

Cilantro lime tilapia tacos.

Chicken strips homemade for the football weekend.  So yummy.

My first BBQ pork ribs.  Ribs (and shoulder strips) from New Seasons.  Dry rub from Ironworks in Austin Texas.  Under the meat is a bath of beer and liquid smoke (the beer is 2 Widmer’s Black IPA and 1 Bridgeport IPA.  Stubb’s mesquite BBQ sauce as a glaze towards the end.

Rebuild Roosevelt!  I found these in the garage.  They’re from 1981, 1982 and 1983 when my elementary school in Santa Barbara needed to raise money to build permanent buildings.  (Each of my 5 years there were in portables.)

Taken from the RIck Bayless book Everyday Mexican Cooking.  

Ingredients:  1 3/4 cups of Masa Harina (corn flour). 1 cup and 1 tbs water.

Mix the two ingredients togeths and knead or mix until combined.  Cover and let sit for 15 min.  Should feel like cookie dough:  not stiff but not sticky either.  (Dough should yield about 15 balls.)  Scoop out dough and form ball in hand.  Put on wax paper in tortilla press. 

Make sure that the ball of dough is sizeable — bigger than a jumbo marble so that the pressing doesn’t make the tortilla too thin.  (The thinness makes it hard to get off the wax paper without ripping.)  Squish in the tortilla press but not too hard so the tortilla is 1/8th of an inch thick.  

Drop on pre-heated pan (over medium heat) and cook on each side for 30 sec.  (For more of a huarache style you can cook over a minute but this becomes more like a stiff cake than a flexible tortilla.)  Transfer to a towel lined basket and store.  Top with cheese, veggies, etc.  Then grub!!

In Portland there are some great micro-roasters Stumptown of course and one of my favorites Courier Coffee.  I usually find Trader Joes coffee to pale in comparison in every way except for price.  I rolled the dice on this TJ’s New Mexico Piñon coffee and it’s very good.  It’s a pre-ground mix of Arabica beans and wild piñon nuts both of which are slow roasted by hand (according to the label).  The taste reminds me of a hazelnut flavored coffee but without a fake or chemical aftertaste.  Pretty earthy and yummy.

My weekly OPB Music radio show is live on the web now. (That’s Oregon Public Broadcasting for you not living in PDX.)

http://opbmusic.org/player

Lots o’ new music (Deerhunter, The Acorn, Matt Costa, Film School, Matt and Kim, Morning Benders, Of Montreal, Telekinesis, Guster, J. Roddy Walston, The Thermals, Corin Tucket Band, Chromeo, Clinic, Klaxons, John Legend and the Roots and more…!)

New Wave set (Classic Depeche Mode, Gary Numan, Wire, new OMD!)

Live sessions (Laura Veirs, Menomema, Avett Brothers and Ra Ra Riot recorded live in the studios of OPB)

Solomon Burke tribute each hour.

In 2002 I approached the mgr at the South Pasadena TJs to complain — yes complain — about the Muzak version of Spashmouth that was playing in the store.  I kid you not.  It was the worst music for any retail environment, much less the hipster South Pass TJs.  Everytime I’ve been in Trader Joes I note the music.  They get their tunes serviced by DMX (the same instore music provider that I work with for the Nike retail music).  Conversations with TJs employees taught me that employees in my current TJs can choose between one of two or three stations (which is in line with a more basic DMX subscription).  Those stations are Classic Rock, 70s and what one employee told me today is “Folk Rock.”  I’m calling BS on that being the name of it because the music in TJs today was GREAT.  (In fact it sounded like my OPB show — I’m obsolete!!!)

What I heard at Trader Joes today:  Ted Leo and the Pharmacists “Bottled in Cork” and Dr. Dog “Mirror Mirror”

What I normally hear:  the same Beach Boys song or Cheryl Lynn’s “To Be Real”

Bravo Trader Joes.  Bravo.

The devil takes many forms at Trader Joes…

I met Solomon Burke in 2002 when he came to KCRW to be a Guest DJ on “The Open Road.”  He was deep and thoughtful but also sharp and funny.  Most of all he was generous and kind.  I just saw this video he did for Record Store Day and I thought it was a great glimpse into who he was:  always pitchin’ his music but generous with his time.

Home made grape juice sourced from West Union Gardens.  Easy to make recipe too. We pour Honest Pints here in PDX.  

Best Bagel I’ve ever had!  I’ve been making this recipe for a while and it’s easy and incredible.

Jo’s Parisian Bagels

Welcome to my urban adventure blog originating in the Rose City of Portland, Oregon.  Nothing is off-topic but I’m especially interested in the arts, culture, music, food and beer of the Pacific Northwest.  

A few years ago I moved up from Los Angeles where I worked in Music Supervision (Boomtown, Six Feet Under, Las Vegas, etc.) and in a film/tv/A&R capacity at Nettwerk (the Submarines, Pinker Tones, Styrofoam, Nortec Collective, Matt Wertz, Weepies, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Of Montreal). I also helped produce my buddy Gary Calamar’s KCRW show “The Open Road.”  Now I work at Nike as the in-house music supervisor and also host a weekly new music show on OPB Music, Portland’s NPR affiliate.

Grub - verb.  To dig up by or as if by the root.  Also, noun (slang) for food, in this case of the stomach, ears and soul.