Wine and Wigs

Yesterday I rode my bike out to St. John's. I've never been out there before. It's adorable! It's a tiny little town/part of town situated in super North Portland. I rode with Shelley and Laura, and we stopped at Proper Eats Cafe for a minute. Great little place! It's a vegan co-op-y kind of place that's also a restaurant. It was about a 12 mile bike ride, there and back.


Then,
Abby and I went wine tasting. It was the annual autumn tasting sponsored by Galaxy Wines. We stuck to white wines and champagnes (real champagnes, too, not just "sparkling wines"). The fruit and cracker platter was tasty, but not enough to ward off a case of tipsy-ness.



It was awesome of Dave to invite us--he's the bar manager at BridgePort and gets these sorts of invites all the time.(Thanks, Dave!)


After wine tasting and hobnobbing, Abby and I made our way to a wig store, where I became the proud owner of a new hairstyle. What fun!

I desperately wanted her to experience the Liberty Glass, so we walked up there from my house. Played some BINGO (!), took some pictures:



Um, they have DELICIOUS mac and cheese. I should have taken a picture, but was too carried away by the sheer gooey-goodness of it.

Instead, I have a picture of my dinner tonight: mashed potatoes with sauteed spinach, butternut squash, sage and hazelnuts.



It's just work food, but the BridgePort Ale House has made some really good stuff recently. There's a yummy black bean burger (vegetarian but not vegan--it's made with a little bit of aioli) and a super duper yummy dish that has quinoa, tofu, arugula, and a vegan cashew-tomato sauce. KILLER!

I'm home early, and am headed to sleep soon, cuz I've got lots of stuff goin' on in the next few days: bowling tomorrow night, and then Rob and I are going out to McMenamins Edgefield on Thursday for the night! Fun! Have any of you guys been out there? I've been once, but it was so long ago! I'm most excited about the soaking pool and tea house. I'll take lots of pictures, I'm sure.

With every twisted ankle comes a silver lining--mac and cheese!

So, it was bound to happen sometime.

When one combines drinking + bike-riding, one is bound to crash. And when I say "one" I mean me. Too many beers led to a twisted ankle and my foot getting all scraped up. It's fine, just hurt a little.

And I had someone nice to take care of me.

that's Rob playing pinball

Before the beers, though, and the twisting, I took a nice picture of the moon next door to my work:
So pretty!

And after the beers, and the twisted ankle-tending, and a good night's sleep, I ate at Pine Street Biscuits--the newest thing in breakfast in Portland. They've been around for awhile up on Belmont--6 or 10 months or so?--but it was my first time. Had the biscuits and mushroom gravy for brunch, with some fresh OJ. Pretty good. Service was quick and friendly. I'd definitely go back.

And then tonight after work, I came home and made something delicious! I finally made that cashew cheese I've been thinking about. Didn't know what to do with it, but figured it out.
Boiled some elbow macaroni noodles, made the sauce (recipe to follow), and added a few other goods. So good! I went back for seconds, which I haven't done in some time.

Cashew Cheese

1 1/2 cups raw cashews, cut up small
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp flax seed oil
1 tsp peanut oil
1 tsp sesame oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tblsp dijon mustard
1 tsp garlic
paprika, to taste.

Cut up cashew pieces and put in blender with water. When blended, add all other ingredients. If too watery, add more cashews. If too thick, add more water. I also added a touch of Silk Soy Creamer.

Janessa's Mac n' Cheese
(serves 4)

1/2 cup elbow macaroni noodles
1 recipe cashew cheese sauce
1 apple sage vegan Field Roast Sausage, sauteed in olive oil
1 cup broccoli
1/2 cup frozen peas
soy cheese, optional

Boil water for noodles. Add the noodles. Put the broccoli in a steamer above cooking noodles. After a few minutes, add peas. This takes total about 6 minutes.
Drain macaroni. Mix veggies, cheese sauce, vegan sausage, and noodles together.

Now, this would be good (actually Great!) to eat right now. But I went one step further. I put the whole creamy mixture in a bread pan, and added some cubes of soy cheese on top. Turned it up to Broil for about 5 minutes.

Oh wow. Forget it about it. I know there's lots of oil in this recipe, but I felt like comfort food tonight. It was so worth it. Had some white wine I bought at a cute wine shop on Hawthorne this evening after work.

What a nice mellow night, and what a great way to relax on a hurt foot! (I really really wanted to go to the Okkervil River show at the Crystal Ballroom, but have already seen them and really should take it easy.)

Tomorrow's my Friday, then may go to the beach this weekend!
Yay!