Jul

08

“Crocin’ in the USA,” plus, the Belton Chalet

unfiled

When we left our house last Saturday our only stop on the way to Portland’s Union Station was the Thai Laundromat (er, Monsoon Thai Cuisine on N. Mississippi and N. Skidmore). Strapped into our backpacks, we aroused only a mild interest from our server/hostess. “Are you doing laundry,” she asked sweetly as she sat us, “or going on a trip?”

A trip, we replied, two weeks, all over. When she returned with our food and our eyes got big she said, smiling and nodding in understanding and empathy, “Last Thai food in a long time.” It was delicious as always, a great way to see ourselves off.

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Jul

04

The No-Brainer That J9 Forgot

Essays

In planning a menu, for heaven’s sake – consider when it will be consumed!

In mid-April, when The Squeeze and I met with the catering manager at Oakway Wine and Deli in Eugene, it was cold outside. And drizzly. And it had been cold and drizzly for as long as we could remember. We thought, perhaps even justifiably, that it would be cold and drizzly forever, even during the last week of June. So when we sat in Jessica’s office, snuggly in our late Winter sweaters, to taste Oakway’s blackened fish and roasted chicken and skewed prawns, the weather did not cross our minds once. Or, more likely, it did – probably we were grateful to be out of the cold and drizzly weather and inside the warm office, eating hot, delicious, free food.

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© Janine Eckhart. Except where noted, natch.