Strangers in the City - Tom from Ambacht Brewing

This is Tom, the brewmaster of Ambacht Brewing, a small craft brewery located in Hillsboro, Oregon. And by 'small' brewery, I mean Tom is also the accountant, shipper, bottle washer, and even toilet scrubber of the business. Tom was serving up free samples of delicious craft Belgian inspired ales at the Beaverton (Oregon) Farmer's Market, and we got chatting about beer styles and cameras. Just one more reason for you to visit Portland - you can get to Beaverton by a short 15min light rail ride, and a stroll through the 'liquid lunch' area of the market (free samples from local craft breweries, wineries, and distilleries) means you will be wasted in short order. And all for FREE!



Photo taken with the Kiev88 CM and Arsat 80mm f/2.8 on Kodak Portra 160.

Portlandia, Part 2

Alright, more photos from Portland. But before we get there, I had a random question: If a feminist is someone who is a vigorous advocate of women's rights, wouldn't that make a sexist a vigorous advocate of sex? If you're dyslexic... or a pervert, you may have read that as 'advocate of vigorous sex' instead.




I loved this girl's tattoo, so I asked to photograph it (I didn't feel like trying to capture it creepishly...)






The Steel Bridge (one of 10 bridges that crosses the Willamette River in Portland)


Georgian (NOT Atlanta, but think Russia) cuisine from a food cart. Cheese breads, dumplings, and eggplant w/ hummus rolls.


I liked the image she had on the back of her denim vest. But I didn't ask this time, and just creeped the shot.




Happy Hour at Dan & Louis' Oyster Bar.




Down the hatch!


Fish Tacos!! Happy Hour - 2 for $4.50


Parmesan garlic fries.




Golden Swiss chard at the Beaverton Farmer's Market.








As if orange and purple cauliflower wasn't different enough, how about this weird unique variation?

Portlandia, Part 1 - Shoes and Brews.

Hey dudes, we've returned from a short 5 day adventure in Portland, the North Oregon Coast, and the Columbia Gorge. Oregon is a beautifully lush state, with a craft brewery culture that puts many to shame, a dining scene that is eclectic yet accessible to mainstream (vanilla) tastes, and farmer's markets that are to KILL for. And Portland, being a biggish city, has a surprisingly small town charm and feel, while retaining city-esque amenities and services. The people, in particular are warm, polite, and friendly, unlike our visits to many other cities where we often feel like isolated outsiders - here, it just feels like we are part of the day to day life in small town America. Highly recommend you go and experience it for yourselves. For the ladies - NO SALES TAX (sorry gents, that means they're going shoe shopping). But that also means you can hit up one of the many local breweries for some tastings and tours to make it tolerable. You could call it the Shoes and Brews trip.

A few photos from our first day or so. Many more to come. Enjoy.


Got in late Thursday night, and Silk was the only nearby restaurant we could see still open. Fantastic Vietnamese joint, serving a broader range of Vietnamese fare than just Pho and Vermicelli.






Banh Canh (Vietnamese crab soup). This was awesome, and reminded me of vintage food from my mom's kitchen!


Turmeric Catfish Vermicelli. The fish was deee-lish.


Bo Kho (beef stew with egg noodles).


Not on the menu at Silk...


We stayed at the Benson Hotel, which was not far from all the action. Including this joint. We did not venture in.


The aforementioned Benson Hotel. Rooms are very classic chic, staff are friendly and attentive, and there's free lemon water in the lobby.




The Union something bank next door.








Brunch at Tasty n Alder. The light coming in through the windows was perfect for some candids of other patrons.




Chocolate potato donuts!


French Toast.


Bim Bop Bacon and Eggs (a slight twist on a Korean dish).

Wonton Wednesdays

A colleague of ours has been off work with a concussion for an extended while now, and so a group of us thought it would be nice to prepare some frozen, easy cook meals for him, to help make his recovery smoother. I present to you: GEORGE's FAMOUS NINJA WONTONS. They're NINJA wontons cause their awesome flavour is hidden, but will smash your taste buds like nunchuks to your face. I know that totally makes zero sense, but whatever, I spent the evening wrapping wontons when I should have been packing for Portland (we fly out tomorrow)... gonna be a long night.















Recipe:

Ingredients:
1 lb. medium ground pork
2 green onion stalks (finely chopped)
1.5 tbsp sesame oil
1 egg white
couple pinches ginger powder
white and black pepper to taste

1 lb of small shrimp
1 package wonton wrappers

Preparation:
Combine pork, green onions, egg white, oil, ginger, and pepper. Mix until evenly distributed, and sticky. Place ~1 tsp of mixture into centre of wonton wrapper. Add 1 shrimp. Wet two edges of wrapper with water, fold in half to form triangular shaped dumpling. Pinch edges as shown above. Freeze until needed.

Cooking Instructions:
Cook from frozen - bring water or chicken stock to boil. Drop wontons in and boil for ~10 min (or until pork fully cooked). Serve in chicken stock. Add cooked egg noodles for an extra dose of awesome. Prepare for a NINJA assault to your taste buds.