Bread and Ink Cafe Review

Bread and Ink Cafe Review

Originally posted: 11/11/02:

3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd Portland, OR 97214 On Hawthorne, I’m currently at a toss up about this place. It’s busy, crowded, and the wait staff is harder to find then a good Sylvester Stalone movie. But… the food is good enough that it almost makes up for it. Dinner dishes range between $10-$15 each. Apparently the Coconut crusted chicken is their most popular dish, my date liked it a lot. I had the pork medallions, and while they were pretty good, I was disappointed in the portion size. Especially when compared to the chicken dish, or the steaks the couple at the next table had. Over all I’d give about 3 stars. When I say the wait staff is hard to find… I mean it. Somebody came by the table a total of 4 times, once to get our order, once to deliver drinks, then to deliver the meal, then the pay check. In the two hours I was there I feel that’s a little slow, especially when wanting a refill on the drink. Perhaps on a weekday when they’re not so busy, the service is better.

Originally posted; 11/5/03:

So a year later I try again. We went for Sunday breakfast. There was a line out the door and a 45 minute wait when we got there at 10am. Wandered down Hawthorne for a while and came back at about 11:30, was seated at 11:45, and had food by 12:30. The service was better, still not as great as I’d like it to be – especially for that side of town. But the food was just as good as last time. Eggs were perfect, home-style potatos were cooked perfectly in olive oil. The side of Canadian bacon I had was very good, and tasted organic. They make their own ketchup – my GF didn’t like it, but I didn’t mind as it has less sugar then the major brands so it had a tangy quality about it. It tasted like it was made of sun dried tomatos. The bill was about $25 including tip, about as much as we would have spent at Elmers. While there was smaller portions, we did not go away hungry. Oh – and they have crayons and paper on the table to keep you entertained.

Originally posted: 10/10/05:

Yet another visit. New GF, better service, same good food. I had home made cinnamon raisin french toast dipped in a vanilla cinnamon custard with the side of Canadian Bacon. GF had a Mushroom spinach omelet with the side of potatoes mentioned in an earlier post. The service was MUCH better this time. Arrived at 10:30. Got seated right away, had food by 10:45, out the door by 11:15. The waiter came by several times, filled water glasses, etc. All in all, this place is just getting better.

Potato Leek Soup (Vegan)

Potato Leek Soup (Vegan)

We just created this recipe last night and started it in the Crock Pot.

Ingredients
2 Medium or 4 small red potatoes
4 Medium Leeks
6 small carrots
2 full heads of garlic
3 stalks of celery
1 – 4 quart Pacific Village vegetable stock (House brand of New Seasons Markets)
1 1/2 table spoons extra virgin olive oil
water
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Cut all vegetables into small chunks. In a frying pan use the olive oil to sauté the leeks, carrots, garlic and celery. This only takes a few minutes. When done the vegetables should still look like veggies, just a bit softer.

Potato Leek Soup (Vegan)

Combine all the ingredients into the slow cooker. Top off with water and cook on low for 8 hours.

Potato Leek Soup (Vegan)

I cheated by using minced garlic for one of the full heads. It’ll freeze well for use in the winter, although I like to freeze the soup then use it as ice in the cooler during camping trips. The recipe is currently vegan, but during a camping trip I’d probably add some kielbasa or pork sausage of some sort for extra proteins and to make the portions go further.

Garden Views

Garden Views

Buying a house these days is not like the heady good old days of free ARM’s being given out to every one who asked without any type of references what so ever. The difficulties of house buying in this day and age are near infinite it seems. We finally closed after the Mortgage Officer had literally gone through six different companies. One wanted us to have slightly better credit. One wanted us to not buy in this neighborhood at all. One wanted a bigger down payment. One wanted us to carry more mortgage insurance with a bigger up front payment. Ironically, paying a few thousand MORE for the house got us to go with this last one AND a smaller down payment. This of course was all on top of the seller’s two lenders who had to approve the whole thing. It was literally down to the wire before foreclosure and only proof that we were interested in the house and had an offer in allowed the lenders to keep from doing so. Ironically, this has caused us to get two “letters” from companies seeking to refinance us on our “foreclosure” due to the time it takes all the public records to get updated.

Old Garden

So here is the old owner’s garden. In the middle of December when we first were browsing the market.

Garden

Here is the same view, last week. I’m letting the second bed go because I’m planning on starting a whole new one in another part of the yard so weeds are pretty bad. The front bed will go away in the fall after we’ve harvested everything. There are two brandywine tomato plants, a Japanese heirloom tomato who’s name escapes me, white sweet corn, Anaheim hot peppers, another heirloom tomato, and “pizza” peppers. This menagerie of plants were products of an impulse buy at Costco, who had six organic plants (Tomatoes and peppers,) for $15 or so.

Also in the picture are two Camas plants which are doing pretty well considering they’re still in the pots, a Chinese Tea Plant, and hidden way in the corner are four lonely strawberry plants that the squirrels ate before the berries even had a chance to get ripe.

Off picture is two potato stacks made of old truck tires and filled with red potatoes. Thanks to “Steve”, the previous owner for leaving them in the garage for me to “dispose” of, along with 40 plus gallons of used motor oil. The theory is to plant the potatoes in the first tire then when it’s 6-8 inches above the top, put another tire on and more dirt. Repeat until you’re four or five tires up. Then harvest in the fall and enjoy the bounty of fresh potatoes.

The eventual plan is to dedicate a large portion of the yard to vegetables and fruits. The good thing about the weeds and grass is that right now they’re providing plenty of foliage for the compost piles, which will of course make it’s way back into the raised beds next year. I might also have to add a green house for early starters to increase the growing season. On top of this all, I’m relearning everything I might have ever known about gardening.

Luckily it’s mostly common sense.