Day 181: Ice Cream Soda

Some call it a float. It's ice cream and soda water with flavoring, and it's rumored to have originated because some guy ran out of ice in the 1870s. He used ice cream instead and it caught on quickly. Also: Soda apparently used to be a regulated item not sold on Sundays in conservative areas (what the WHAT?!), which gave rise to plain ice cream with toppings. Sundaes. Get it? Anyway, we stopped into Cosmic Soda Pop Candy Shop for our ice cream sodas. Alex got a Bananas Foster and I got a Portlavendar.

They look exactly the same. And they were both delicious. I'm only sad that we didn't do the obligatory 50s 'two straws in the soda' photo. Sorry. All you get is Alex looking confused.

PS: We played Candy Land and it was as dumb as we both remember.

Day 180: Almond Butter Crunch

Otherwise known as Almond Roca. Besides being gross, Almond Roca always makes me think of my former roommate, Heather Anne, and her dog Fatty Patty. You see, I had a cat, Mogi, who had a litter box. Fatty Patty often snuck into Mogi's litter box to consume her, well, droppings. Heather Anne likened said droppings to 'doggie Almond Roca.' EWWWWWW.....

Anyway, Almond Roca was enjoyed by all (except me) and it was good. Sorry for the gross story. Blame Heather Anne. Especially.

Day 179: Tapioca

I went with a bubble tea for this day. Most of you (i.e. 2 people) might think this would be an odd way to go or possibly not even in the spirit of the day. On first reading this holiday I immediately thought of tapioca pudding. Who wouldn't?  Unfortunately, tapioca pudding is a different day. Liz pointed out that a bubble tea would work. I liked that idea.

I enjoy a good bubble tea from time to time, but Liz isn't with me on this. I stopped by Fat Straw on my way home from softball. I got a pomegranate green tea with tapioca bubbles.

I love it. My only complaint is that when you start to run out of tea, the ice makes it difficult to suck up the rest of the bubbles. So frustrating. 

Day 178: Orange Blossom

The jury is out on what this actually is. Is it the flower of the orange tree? The martini drink? Or the flavoring/liquer called Orange Blossom Water? Well, today it's all three (sort of). I read up on orange blossoms and found that Orange Blossom Water is used in the martini drink and also as a flavoring for everything from rice to sparkling water. We made a refreshing summer 'cocktail'.

Very nice. Of course, Alex said it needed sugar, but I was fine with the slight flavor the liquer offered. Even after he added sugar, nothing much happened. We squeezed some fresh orange juice in there, too. I think it's very nice.

Day 177: Chocolate Pudding

At work in the Avanti Market that we have, there is a pudding cup that is available. I have never grabbed one. I'm cool with sticking to candy offered in my coworkers' cubical.

This is pretty damn tasty although I'll probably never do this again. I doesn't seem like it's worth the price.

Day 176: Strawberry Parfait

Day 175: Pralines

This is another one of those items that has different meanings depending on where you are. In America they are usually made from sugar and pecans. I wasn't a fan of yesterdays pecan treat so I kept my search on more of the Belgian chocolate variety. Or at least I think I did.

I went to Pix Patisserie on my way home from work. It was just as long as a normal ride, but with a different view. I got a few Amelie's. It's described as "Two complementary layers, Grand Marnier and orange praline crisp, in a cameo mold." It's got praline in the damn description so I'm counting it! Yeah... yeah.. it counts.

They are pretty good. A little toffee like. The orange is a nice touch.

Day 174: Pecan Sandy

Liz picked these up for me at QFC. Nohting special. Just something made by elves.

They are okayish. Definitely on the lower end of the cookies I'll eat scale.

Day 173: Chocolate Eclair

We picked these up at Ken's Artisan Bakery. This is the same place we went for the hazelnut cake. This is by far much better. It looks prettier and has a great creamy center. I'm tempted to eat the second one we got, but I will save it for Liz.

Day 172: Peaches and Cream

No it's not the complexion, and it's not the Beck song. It's simple sliced peaches and whipped cream. A perfect summer dessert. We were able to find almost ripe white peaches.

They were pretty good. Yellow peaches would have been better but nonetheless, delicious.

Day 171: Vanilla Milkshake

For this, I biked over to Cosmic Soda Shop Candy Shop. It's not super close, but not terrible far either. I never would have know it was there if I didn't google for a place.

It's a pretty decent candy shop. They have a table for board games too, but I'm guessing it was intended for kid games.  They had a nice selection of shakes and floats, but this was about the plain Jane of the bunch. Very good. I had some whipped cream put on top as well. I was a little tempted to put the Sixlets I got on top, but I restrained myself.

Day 170: Dry Martini

We had to do this quick so we stopped off at the Gladstone Pub real quick. Liz enjoyed it thoroughly.

Day 169: Sushi

Mmmmm, sushi! This is probably the weirdest food that Alex WILL eat. We went to Yoko's, which is down the street from our place and absolutely delicious. We got a massive platter.

Everything was top notch, fresh and delicious. We love Yoko's!

Day 168: Apple Strudel

The Germans sure know their pastries. Wayyy out in Parkrose, there is a charming little place called The German Bakery. They make Apfelstrudel fresh every day along with many other German delights. It's super cute and run by actual Germans. Love it.

It was perfectly flaky with sweet apple filling inside. Es ist gut!

Day 167: Fudge

Ah, a smooth fudge day. Remember Nutty Fudge? How I was so mad? Well, we went to Sweets, Etc. in Multnomah Village for a fudge brick (buy 4, get 2 free!).

Oh, the wonderful flavours! S'mores, Mint, Salted Caramel, Peanut Butter and good old Chocolate Fudge. Based on the samples we were given, it's amazing. I better finish this up quick so I can have some smoooootthhhhhh fudge.

Day 166: Lobster

Thankfully, this time we didn't have to make a gross sauce and put the concoction on toast. Just straight lobster this time. We got a frozen lobster tail (this isn't Maine, you know) at New Seasons Market (dot com!) and threw it on the grill.

My sweet Madre cleaned and prepped the lobster and dipped it in butter for Alex to taste. He ate it, but he didn't like it. Yech. Good thing my Madre and Padre were around to finish it off!

Day 165: Strawberry Shortcake

Well this day is out of place for 2 reasons:
1) We are having Strawberry Shortcake tomorrow for Father's Day
2) The early crop of Hood strawberries has ended
D'oh! Oh well. We got some good ol' California strawberries and shortcake made by New Seasons Market (dot com!).

It's still amazing. And I can't help but think of the 80s:

Day 164: Kitchen Klutzes of America

So this isn't any type of food other than home cooking. I thought I would really get into the spirit of the day and attempt something I've never done before. I had Liz grab me one of her cookbooks. She chose Kitchen Seasons by Ross Dobson. I don't know if I trust the look of that guy.

To make it really interesting and not planned I used an excel worksheet to pick a random page. I had it pick something from the summer recipes since this is summer. The first page that got picked didn't work since I didn't have an ice cream maker nor did I want to make another eggy disaster. The second random page seemed doable. I got Crispy Skinned Salmon with Salsa Verde Rice.

After work I took a trip to New Season to get pretty much every ingredient except the oils, salt, and pepper. The recipe was a little iffy on quantities. I didn't know how much a hand full of basil was. Is that a tightly packed handful, loose handful with some hanging out the side, a Ross Dobson hand sized handful?  I did what I could and timed it to be finished perfectly with Liz's arrival.

It wasn't bad. I think it would have been better had I gotten the salmon from behind the counter rather than pre-packaged. Liz ate the rest and loved it.

Day 163: Peanut Butter Cookie

This is one of the only desserts I make from scratch regularly. Don't confuse regularly with often though. I probably make these twice a year. Usually out of boredom. They are really easy. I'm not a huge die hard peanut butter cookie fan. I'll take Chips Ahoy! and Oreos over them any day. I make peanut butter cookies because they are easy and I tend to have the ingredients without having to make a special trip to the grocery store.

Day 162: German Chocolate Cake

I do not like this. I would not like it on a boat or with a goat either. The coconut really tarnishes this dessert. I had a normal first bite and hated it. From then on I ate around the coconut. So much better that way!

Day 161: Black Cow

This is one that was hard to pin down things. And by that I mean, what the hell is was. It seems that there are a range of definitions on was a black cow is: root beer float, root beer float with chocolate and whipped cream, Coke float. I decided to go with the latter since I could never call a root beer float anything else but a root beer float.

I've had one once before, only because I couldn't get any root beer. I hated it. This one wasn't too bad. If you go in hoping for the supreme flavor of a root beer float, I can see why I may have found this lacking. If you set your expectations low, it's okay.

Day 160: Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

It drives Alex crazy that rhubarb is always paired with strawberries. In fact, his mom made him JUST rhubarb crisp for his last birthday. No such luck for you today, Alex. The good thing is, we got to go to Lauretta Jean's for the strawberry rhubarb pie. It's cute (a bit hipsterish, but not enough to be annoying) and all of their pies are handmade!

It was delightful. Tart rhubarb with strawberries to balance it out crammed into a flaky crust. Yum.

Now we are so stuffed we can't move. Every letter I type makes me remember that I overate. Ughhhh...

Day 159: Jelly-Filled Doughnut

Before we left for Rockaway Beach, we stopped at SesameDonuts to get today’s selection: A jelly doughnut (I can never decide which spelling to use. It’s annoying.). Alex was pleased, to say the least.

There you have it. Now we are going to get back to our mini-vacation.

Day 158: Chocolate Ice Cream

I decided to do this right after karaoke. I'm actually typing this with Liz sleeping behind me. We are headed to the coast in the morning and I wanted to get it out of the way.

I picked up some Snoqualmie ice cream at Plaid Pantry. It's called Mulkilteo Mudd. It's exactly how I wish actual mud would taste like. I'll probably have a little for breakfast too.

Day 157: Applesauce Cake

I know what most of you might be thinking. Why didn't he celebrate National Doughnut Day? That seems to be the only food holiday anyone ever knows about. We all get our office e-mails reminding us of that fact. My reason is simple. Doughnut day is on the first Friday of June and I'm doing food holidays on specific dates. It's holidays like those that mess with me. I never remember if Thanksgiving is on the 3rd Thursday or the 2nd to last Thursday of November. If you feel bad that I missed out on doughnuts, just wait for Sunday.

This particular day is for applesauce cake. I'm not certain about it. It smells fine in the oven. It's yet another recipe from allrecipes.com. It's also another treat where we have all but the namesake ingredients to complete the deal (truthfully I skipped the nuts in this, but that decision was based on me not liking nuts in my desserts.)

Aaaaaand... it's pretty damn good. Not too fruity, moist, and not to crispy 'round the edges. I would definitely do this again.

Day 156: Gingerbread

I love a good ginger snap, but I'm not sure I've had gingerbread cookies. I'm not even certain if I've nibbled on a gingerbread house. We got a recipe from allrecipes.com again. We actually had all the ingredients except the ginger. Liz was nice enough to prep the dough for me while I was at work.

When I got home, I cut them out and threw them in the oven. They are pretty quick when you don't remember you have them sitting in the fridge for 3 hours.

I may have left a few in too long. I burned the bottom of about half. They aren't bad. Definitely no ginger snap. I think if I would have added frosting it would have added a bit more flavor. And if I could have made them in the shape of people it would have added a little bit of excitement as I would have bitten it's head off and pretended to blow blue flames down it's throat.

Day 155: Frozen Yogurt

YogenFruz!

Day 154: Eggs

The incredible, edible egg! I will eat eggs cooked in any way; Alex will not. The only eggs he really ever eats are scrambled, cooked WELL. So that's how he had them.

I prefer a soft-boiled egg with butter, salt and pepper. Yum. Did you know that it's best to hard or soft boil eggs that are older, so that the shell will more easily come off? It's true. It's because the membrane between the white and the shell slowly breaks down over time.

Pre-dinner for the Alex. Just two. They smell good and I am slightly jealous. Sadly, they are grossly overcooked. Wah-Wah.

Day 153: Rocky Road Ice Cream

Chocolate Ice Cream?

Marshmallows?

What else could I ask for?

Day 152: Hazelnut Cake

We got hazelnut pound cake at Ken's Artisan Bakery because it meant we didn't a) have to bake a whole cake or b) buy a whole cake.

Oh no. It looks like Alex is impatient.

And it also looks like he's not going to share.