On New Ideas and New Experiences

Years ago I discovered that one of the few physical things I'm good at is climbing stuff.  Rocks, trees, anything I could find.  I used to spend hours hopping from rock to rock up and down rivers whenever I got the chance.  When I was a teenager I went with my dad and stepmother to Kitty Hawk for vacation and we tried climbing an indoor rock wall.  It was amazing.  A while later I went on a two week outdoor adventure camp that was amazing and beat the pants off everyone at real rock climbing.

To that end, last week I joined the Portland Rock Gym as a form of exercise and social interaction.  You always have to have a partner (someone to belay you), so unless you've got someone you go with every time, you're constantly meeting new people.  Even just one or two routes up the wall (and there are a lot of walls to choose from) will make you feel it.  The cool thing is that they've got it all marked out so that you can follow certain rocks up the wall and that path is rated for difficulty.  Every now and then professional climbers come in and change up the rocks and the routes.

I have been trying to hang out with friends more, go out for drinks, take adventures to Mt. Hood, that sort of thing. My friend, we'll call him Doctor Adams (Doc for short), is essentially a male version of me and vice-versa.  We are so much alike that we had nearly the exact same thought run through our heads when he challenged me to a duel to the death over Douglas Adams in our first conversation (this was an exceedingly funny exchange, trust me).  He has been expanding my geek horizons with Buffy and Angel and I have made Doc and his roommate, Lando, part of my test group for my bakery recipes (more on this later).  This past week, Liza, Lando, Doc and I all went to Rockband Tuesdays at a bar called Backspace in downtown Portland.  It was a blast!  I hope all of you here in town will come out with us one week.

Ok, on to the tasty stuff!  I've mostly decided to go with an upperscale-style bakery that's open for lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch.  Danielle made a comment on my last post with some awesome geek dessert name ideas and the great point that the place could be upscale and very nice but still have a slight geek flavor.  Below is the list of potential menu ideas that I have so far.  I'm still adding things and of course I'm sure it will get narrowed down as I test the recipes and decide what works best in the area, etc.  I'm using my hotel friends as guinea pigs for all the new recipes and for improving the ones I make already.  Doc works at one hotel downtown and my friend, we'll call him Heath (after another fabulous Australian), works at another.  Both of their hotels will be getting lots of goodies (especially after a weekend of boredom). So thank you in advance to all my taste-testers!!!

I'm so excited about everything going on and I can't wait til school starts.  Partly because it means there's only 6 months until I move and that I'll be incredibly busy until then, but mostly because it's going to be AWESOME!  I want to make things that people can't get elsewhere.  If you have any suggestions for new and interesting treats, let me know! So, without further ado, here is the list of tasty goodness I have so far.  You may commence drooling.

LUNCH

Chicken Salad in Phyllo Cups

Individual Chicken Pot Pies (puff pastry top)

Mushroom and Cheese Empanadas (puff pastry)

Sandwiches on fresh bread

Soup

Risotto with Mushrooms

Quiche

 

DINNER

Chicken or duck breast with risotto and vegetable

Steak with potatoes and vegetable

Pasta with Seafood or Chicken

Cornish Game Hen with Wild rice stuffing

Acorn squash with wild rice stuffing

Orange Ginger Salmon with Vegetable and Rice/Risotto

BRUNCH

Omelets with fresh vegetables/other stuff

Homemade bread French toast topped with crème fraiche and fresh fruit

Pancakes/Waffles

DESSERT IDEAS

Peach with a layer of raspberries on the bottom and in the middle

Chocolate cream with chocolate graham cracker crust and andes mint shell

Lemon chiffon/tart with Strawberries

Orange ginger carrot cake

Apple with gingersnap crust and crumble top

Chocolate cream with Chocolate raspberry shell

Raspberry rum truffles

Strawberry cream puffs

Chocolate Mousse

Tiramisu

Cannoli

Chocolate-Peppermint Shortbread Cookies

Cheesecake

Ginger Cookies

Brownies

Eclairs

Buchets with pastry cream and fruit

Apple turnovers

Plum/berry hand pies

Lemon-Glazed Ginger Cookies