Flannel Shirt

Mother's Day breakfast

Took Joan out for Mother's Day breakfast, not that I need an excuse to take her out to the Country Cat for breakfast. I actually forgot what she had, I'm sure it was good, but I had the above. This wonderful, spicy, smoky pulled pork and grits, topped with a couple of eggs. It was magnificent.

FIre on the mountain, pizza in the belly

When I was dumping my iPhone pix into my computer the other day I discovered this pizza.

It was at Fire On The Mountain, which is a pizza/microbrewery. Portland has microbreweries all over the place and lots of pizza places, and this was both.

It's a fig and prosciutto, with blue cheese and carmelized onions. And mozzaella. I like good old-fashioned pizzas with a good red gravy and sausage and pepperoni and peppers and mushrooms. But this pizza was undoubtedly the the best pizza I've ever eaten. We also split an order of hot wings too. I particularly liked the Jamaican jerk sauce for the wings. And the beer was delicious. Wonderful. Those are Joan's arms offering up that pizza goodness like Demeter at harvest time. Mmmm.

All the weight I'd lost during the stress of my move to Oregon from California seems to be finding its way back to me.

Pee guitar

In my neverending search to find important developments in mankind's growth I give you Pee Guitar.

Reminds me of a joke by George Carlin that involved a group of men, a keg of beer and a Kent micronite filter.

 

Beer Appreciation Week

Get ready for Beer Appreciation Week, from February 10 to February 19. Okay, it's San Francisco Beer Appreciation Week, and it's more like ten days, but who's counting where you are?

A sign of the Apocalypse

Here.

Twinkies maker Hostess Brands Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection.

The company, based in Irving, Texas, said it was struggling with pension and benefits costs and the tough economy.

It's not the first time the maker of Wonder Bread and Ding Dongs has filed for bankruptcy. Ripplewood Holdings took control of bankrupt Interstate Bakeries in 2009 and renamed it Hostess Brands.

Interstate was created in 1937, but Twinkies are even older. They were created in 1930 by Continential bakery manager James A. Dewar in Schiller Park, Ill., selling for a nickel for two.

Hostess said in a statement that Ho-Hos and its other products aren't going away. Its bakeries and outlet stores will stay open during the restructuring, with financing by Silver Point Capital. 



I have been told that deep-fried twinkies are great food. They may take a year off your life, but they are supposed to be great. I would hate for them to disappear before I've tried one.

When my daughter and I drove up to Oregon in early October we stopped at a roadside restaurant for breakfast and I had a deep-fried chicken-fried steak. It was wonderful.

Cackalack crack chicken closed!

A newly-settled Portlander, nattily attired in his raingear, looks on sadly at the Cackalack Chicken Shack, which has been closed. This is our second attempt to eat "chicken on crack". Joan checked their website. Apparently, they are in the process of a change in ownership. Or maybe they're closed because they're on Christmas vacation. We had to settle for some super lamb gyros at the next food cart over.

Poutine virginity lost

Poutine, not to be confused with a Russian totalitarian monster we are supposed to hate a lot, is kind of a greasy spoon comfort food which was born somewhere in rural Quebec in the fifties. It is french fries and cheese curds covered with gravy. The cheese curds melt between the fries and the gravy. Here is my order:

It is delicious. With every bite you clog your arteries, I'm sure, but it's good.

Here is what wiki says about the etymology of "poutine":

The Dictionnaire historique du français québécois lists 15 different meanings of poutine in Quebec and Acadian French, most of which are for kinds of food; the word poutine in the meaning "fries with cheese and gravy" is dated to 1978. Other senses of the word have been in use at least since 1810.^[8]

While the exact provenance of the word "poutine" is uncertain, some of its meanings undoubtedly result at least in part from the influence of the English word pudding. Among its various culinary senses, that of "a dessert made from flour or bread crumbs" most clearly shows this influence; the word pouding, borrowed from the English pudding, is in fact a synonym in this sense. The pejorative meaning "fat person" of poutine (used especially in speaking of a woman) is believed to derive from the English pudding "a person or thing resembling a pudding" or "stout thick-set person".

In other meanings of poutine, the existence of a relation to the English word pudding is uncertain. One of these additional meanings — the one from which the name of the dish with fries is thought to derive — is "unappetizing mixture of various foods, usually leftovers." This sense may also have given rise to the meaning "complicated business, complex organization; set of operations whose management is difficult or problematic."

The Dictionnaire historique mentions the possibility that the form poutine is simply a gallicization of the word pudding. However, it considers it more likely that it was inherited from regional languages spoken in France, and that some of its meanings resulted from the later influence of the similar-sounding English word pudding. It cites the Provençal forms poutingo "bad stew" and poutité "hodgepodge" or "crushed fruit or foods"; poutringo "mixture of various things" in Languedocien; and poutringue, potringa "bad stew" in Franche-Comté as possibly related to poutine. The meaning "fries with cheese and gravy" of poutine is among those held as probably unrelated to pudding provided the latter view is correct.

In Maine and northwestern New Brunswick, poutine may be called "mixed fries", "mix fry", or simply "mix", although the term "poutine" has been gaining in popularity in recent years. In some parts of eastern Canada, the term poutine is not commonly used. In Baie Sainte-Anne, New Brunswick for example the word patachou is used to describe this dish.

Joanie and I went out on a food cart quest in her corner of Portland. Unfortunately, at this time of year a lot of food carts shut down for the season. After all, it is cold. One of the first things I learned upon arriving in California lo those many years ago is to dress in layers. Down there it's because of all the microclimates. It might be fifty degrees one place and sixty-five degrees twenty blocks away, or over a hill. So you dress in layers so you can take off or put layers as needs be. In Portland you also dress in layers, but to keep warm. Here:

I am wearing a t-shirt, a shirt, a sweatshirt and another sweatshirt and I could have used another couple of layers.

At this place there were several different food carts, a crepe place, a Cajun place, etc., and they had a heated tent with picnic benches where you could sit and eat. That's good when the alternative is to squat on a curb and watch your food freeze before your eyes.

Joan got fries covered with pulled pork. It was, eh, interesting. The pork was spicy, not a problem, but it was spiced entirely differently from what you think pulled pork should taste like.

You'll note that Joan's wearing gloves, a kind of clothing I should investigate.

Anyway, the poutine was as good-tasting and as bad for you as it looks. This was my first food cart. We had started out looking for a place called "Cracka Lacka" that serves fried chicken that's like crack. But as I've said, like a lot of food carts, Cracka Lacka was closed. We must wait for that one. [I have seen Cracka Lacka referred to as "cackalack's". I don't know if this is another business or a derivation of the name.] 

Joan's promising to take me to a barber shop that serves beer, though.