Giorgio's

The Pearl District in Portland has some pretty good eats. I have been hearing about this Italian restaurant for a while and I have to say it was pretty freaking good. I compared this place to Fratelli, which I feel has some really great Italian. Here is my review on Fratelli, if you'd like to compare even more.

The salads. Up top is the beat salad. I love yellow beats just as much as red ones. This salad was so yummy, but I know I am biased because I could pretty much eat beats for the rest of my life and be happy! The one below the beats is the Caesar salad that Shane ordered, also pretty tasty. 

 I ordered the potato gnocci--listed on the menu as "Handcrafted Potato Gnocchi, Spicy Lamb Ragu, Olives, Ricotta, Oregano". It.Was.Divine. So amazing. I think it one upped the famous lasagna at Fratelli. Now, I'm not saying don't get the lasagna at Fratelli because that stuff is beyond delicious. So good I can't even talk about it, just go order it. But the Lamb ragu with the homemade gnocci was something else, a very similar flavor but the buttery and velvety gnocci pushed it over the top. YUM!                 

Shane ordered the Char Grilled Piedmontese Beef, Gorgonzola Dulce Risotto, Pine Nut thing--basically a steak. It had a good flavor and for sure different than most steak house steaks. The pesto around the edge really added the most flavor. 

I loved Girogio's but man is it expensive. Here is Shane's family friend trying to split up the bill (we had a large party). I couldn't stop laughing that she actually had an old fashioned calculator in her purse for situations like this!

 hehe:)

So, any Italian restaurant recommendations for me? I'm not sure we can top Fratelli and Giorgio's but we will see!

Volunteering at the Dachshund Rescue

I have a soft spot in my heart for little weiner dogs--probably because I grew up with a standard dachshund named Oscar and I think I loved him more than I have ever loved any animal. We got him when I was in 4th grade and he passed away the summer between my junior and senior year in college. I remember being devastated when he died and so happy when my parents got a new miniature weiner dog named Bernard. I would love to have my own but with our work schedules it just wouldn't be fair to the dog. The next best thing? Volunteering at the Oregon Dachshund Rescue!

The Oregon Dachshund Rescue is run by an amazing woman named Jenell who has a place in her heart for these pups. Right now she has 41 dogs in the rescue and she is really overwhelmed. I am on the volunteer mailing list and when I got the email saying she needed extra help walking the dogs this memorial day weekend, I was super excited to say yes! Normally the time frame's she needs walkers does not work for me but this time it worked great. Shane went with me and we took the dogs two at a time out for a nice walk around the Sellwood neighborhood. We took 4 groups of dogs out that afternoon and I fell in love with them. I especially love the brown ones---they are just so sweet and cute looking.

BlackJack

Nicholas Cage (I don't know who named him...)

Shane with BlackJack and Nicholas Cage

Holly

Cute little Holly

pure bliss on my face when these dogs cuddle me

love this baby

hugging Holly and Nicholas Cage--he is actually her dad. Holly has a missing foot and a little hop but it didn't stop her on our walk!

Nicholas Cage. How handsome!

We ended up walking the dogs for about an hour and a half, trading them in every 20 minutes or so and giving everyone a chance. There were a couple of other volunteers out walking as well. Sellwood is a really nice neighborhood and I Shane and I usually try to go for walks anyway, so this was the perfect thing for us! I hope it works out to help out again. These dogs need some love and I loved hanging out with them.

On a sad note, right after we left the rescue I got bad news from my mom about her weiner dog Bernard. He started acting funny and was twitching and so they took him into the emergency clinic. Turns out he probably ingested some slug bait and was being poisoned. It was really scary for a few hours but they got him on an IV, he stayed overnight and ended up recovering nicely.  I was really worried because it is possible that dogs can die from this. 

What did you do on this long weekend?

If you are interested in adopting a weiner dog, please visit the web site here to look at the available dogs.

Pilates...almost there!

This weekend marks a monumental day in my life. On Saturday I will take my Stott Pilates Certification Exam. I am so excited to be done with the training process and begin teaching! Although I have been teaching for 6 months at an apprenticeship, it will be great to have my very own clients. 

I will begin teaching Mat Pilates classes at the 2020 Building in Goose Hollow soon. This is a residential building near Jeld-Wen field and the Multnomah Athletic Club, near NW Portland. They have a beautiful rooftop terrace with sweeping views on the city and I will be holding classes up there a few times a week. I also offer private sessions. Please contact me if you are interested in attending class! 

Now I am back to studying....my exam is in the morning and I have lots to review!

Read here for more info about the rigorous training I have gone through over the past year. 

Skinny Eggplant Parmesan

I have made both Chicken Parm and Eggplant Parm multiple times. This time I tried to "skinny' the recipe by adding more veggies and cutting down on oil, cheese and breadcrumbs.

First of all, I used my new Misto to spray the pan. Whitney from Whit Likes Fit recommended this to me, and then I realized that Gina from Skinny Taste uses one too! It is a pressurized spray can that you add your own olive oil to and use it to lightly spritz the pan. It cuts way back on use of olive oil. 

 I did the usual dunk the eggplant slice in egg and then breadcrumbs. However, my breadcrumb mixture was one quarter part ground flax seeds, half part panko breadcrumbs and half part Italian breadcrumbs. I figure the flax adds some nutrition! I fried them in the misto spray before assembling. 

 Here is my healthy tomato sauce! I started by sauteing onions with NO OIL, which I learned in my Healthy Cooking with Whole Food event I recently attended. As long as the pan is really hot you really don't need oil, it doesn't burn and it tastes the same. Plus you save at least 140 calories! Then I added a whole bunch of super food Chard and some water and let that simmer under cover before adding a jar of Marinara sauce and some cherry tomatoes.

 I assembled the eggplant parm---one layer eggplant topped with my veggie loaded tomato sauce, then some mozzarella and Parmesan cheese (go light to make this dish skinnier) , repeat until you run out of eggplant. Then top with dried AND fresh basil, and pop it in the oven for 20 minutes.

It was super yummy and honestly I didn't even taste the different from the last time I made it without the chard, flaxseed and reduction in amount of cheese!

Craving a Track Workout

About a year ago I started doing track workouts for the first time. I thought they would be a nice addition to my running and maybe help me get faster. That was a huge understatement---in about a year I have improved my pace quite a bit and become so much more aware about pace and perceived exertion. Not to mention I have been getting an incredible workout at the track---I feel more tired after track than I do sometimes after a long run! 

I am really lucky that my gym offers a track workout on Tuesdays, complete with a coach who used to be a professional triathlete. Lara is awesome---the perfect mix of encouraging with reality. On days that my heart rate shoots up and I'm visibly tired, she gives me a shorter drill and then tells me to walk a few laps barefoot, with a reminder to get more sleep and stop eating so much sugar so I can feel better next week. 

Here is an example of a workout that we have done:

Warm-up 1/2 miles jog

Dynamic warm-up--includes walking lunges, butt kicks, high knees, over/under hurdles, ect.

2x400 at threshold pace*

45 seconds rest in between

3x900, running the 1st 300 at threshold, the 2nd 300 at 10K pace, the 3rd 300 at threshold

1 minuter rest in between each 900

3x200 FAST. Basically sprint the 200's, and a full recovery in between each one

Walk one lap barefoot

Jog back to the gym (about 1/2 mile away from the track)

*Our threshold pace is something that Lara taught me about. We consider this pace to be one that you could run comfortably for an hour, saying words but not holding a conversation. I was able to gauge my threshold pace after a few practices by running a 400m and then taking my heart rate for ten seconds. When I was consistently getting 27-28 beats, that is what we considered my threshold. The amazing thing about this is that I have seen so much improvement. One year ago my threshold pace for a 400m was about 2:15. Meaning it took me 2 minutes and 15 seconds to run one lap around the track at a comfortable pace I could run for an hour without dying. The past few months I have consistently run a 1:49! It is really amazing how speed work can make you faster. Track has also helped me to become more aware of my pace and how to settle into it. I am less likely to go out fast during races and overall feel better about my pace. I seriously look forward to my Tuesday track workouts and crave that feeling at the end of practice when I am so exhausted. I feel so accomplished!

If you have any questions about the track terminology that I am not being clear on, let me know! I have just been learning it as well. Although I ran track in middle school somehow I forgot all of the terminology. I am still learning too!

Do you do speed work? How has it helped you? I would love to know!

Little Squirt at the salon

One of my sister and my favorite things to do is get a pedicure at Savannah's Nails on NW 21st & Irving. We have been going there for years and years. Maybe even ten years now! We used to go when Sara was pregnant too and now we bring little Natalie with us. She's too little for her own pedicure but one day she will have one too! Here are some snaps at the salon recently.

She is super cute, doncha think?

I heart Beats

I love beats! I hate cooking them though. I really am afraid of getting a beat stain on my clothes or even my cute apron. I am lucky that my work cafeteria serves organic local beats a few times a week in the salad bar! This week I had some yellow beats. I am not even sure what the difference is, but they tasted the same! I like to add a little olive oil, salt and feta cheese to my beats and eat a big bowl of them. yum:)

Don't knock it until you try it! I think some people are turned off by beats because they are a little strange...so different than other veggies. I dare you to try a beat salad next time you go to a restaurant!

lunch at my desk!

Homemade pizza (even the dough!)

One of my co-workers gave me this yeast to try out and make homemade pizza. It was awesome! In the past I have used ready made dough from Trader Joe's or Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free dough so I was excited to make my own this time.

The crust recipe on the back of this yeast packet was super easy and I liked the way it turned out!

Shane helping to mix the dough

veggies for my veggie pizza. Shane put pepperoni on his half

all done and ready to bake

yummy yummy.

I really liked this yeast and making the dough was pretty easy. I think I'd do it again as opposed to buy the ready made stuff. What about you? What kind of crust do you use when you make pizza? Any good topping recommendations?

Mother's Day at 87 degrees

It's a little weird but wildly welcomed in Portland when the weather hits 80 in May. Last year my softball team didn't play a single game in May because all the games were rained out, this year, another story. We hit 80 over the weekend and are continuing this week!

I was particularly happy that it was so warm on Mother's Day. I was looking forward to relaxing on my parents deck with my niece and their weiner dog, both of whom I am pretty obsessed with. However, it was almost TOO hot, as the afternoon sun hits directly onto their deck. They put up a couple of umbrella's to mask the direct sun, but it almost created a bubble of hot air. I was also multi-tasking, which didn't really help me relax. Among other things I was entertaining/feeding my 10 month old niece, practicing my muscle flash cards for Pilates Certification, drinking a homemade IPA beer, helping my mom cook macaroni & cheese and doing laundry. (yes I still take my laundry when I go home, at the age of 26. Don't judge).

It wasn't all bad though---I do enjoy the heat and it's always fun to visit with my mom. Plus Shane's mom came over too, and I got a picture of them wearing their Sea Lillie necklaces that I got them. I gave Shane's mom her's for her birthday and got my mom one for this Mother's Day. Sea Lillie is an Etsy shop that I love love love. It was pretty priceless when my social media inept mom opened the gift, and asked, "Oh, did you get this from Pinterest?". Haha. Good try. Then I explained Etsy, to add to her list of unexplored internet land.

There is little Natalie with her bib on. She is so cute! Unfortunately my sister had to work on Mother's Day but that meant that we got to be with Natalie all day!

 My dad barbequed two whole chickens. He put some amazing rub in between the skin and the body of the chicken and then added BBQ sauce. It was so yummy. My mom also made her famous Mac & Cheese (I helped--can't let her do much on Mother's Day) with asparagus and I made a lemon poppy seed cake with strawberry rhubarb filling and cream cheese frosting. I forgot to take a picture of the cake! But it was delicious.

Mom and grandbaby and little puppy

What did you do for Mother's Day?

Cooking without Oil

I learned from Chef Chad Sarno at the Healthy Cooking event at Whole Foods how to omit oil from cooking, so I decided to give it a try. He taught us how to saute onions using no oil. The trick is to get the pan really hot first. It worked! I heated up the pan and then waited an extra minute just in case. Then I threw in some diced onions and watched them begin to carmelize! It was amazing---they did not burn. After a moment I shook the pan and let them cook a little more. Then I added some diced bell pepper and let that cook too. Still, no burning! I added some water (probably 1/4 cup or so) and then added in some ripped up Kale leaves. As I was doing this, I had some water boiling and I put in a cup of orzo pasta from Trader's Joe's. I added a good shake of Turmeric to the water to add in some healthy, good for you spice to the pasta, a little color and a little flavor. I covered the kale and veggie mixture and let it simmer for a bit until the water was mostly absorbed. Then I threw in the veggies with the Kale, added some good quality Parmesan cheese and ate my dinner made without oil! It was pretty delicious and you couldn't tell the difference whether I had used oil or not! Chad had told me that each tablespoon of oil has about 140 calories! I probably would have used close to 2 tablespoons so I basically eliminated 280 calories from this dish!

Oh How Pinteresting!

I found another Pinterest DO! I pin a ton of recipes and have tried a bunch. Check out my Pinterest do's here.I made Asian Glazed Drumstick's! The pin originated from Gina's Skinny Recipe's, which I have tried several and LOVE.

Gina's photo

The result in my kitchen

I made two pounds of drumsticks, which turned out to be ten. Shane loved them, and to be honest he was the main reason I made this dish. He loves eating meat and I don't so much, but I knew he would enjoy this recipe. I served it with green beans and quinoa, and I think Gina served her's with broccoli. 

Any good Pinterest DO's lately? Meaning, have you actually tried any of your pins lately? Let me know, do a blog post and link up or just comment!

Waffle Window

Can you imagine a walk-up window on the side of a building that hands out waffles? Waffles covered in delicious toppings, from sweet to savory? Well, it exists on SE Hawthorne & 36th!

here it is....The Waffle Window

at the top right: The 3 B's. Top left: Farm Fusion. Bottom: the special with strawberries, bananas and peanut butter mouse

Farm Fusion waffle. Delcious! Balsamic mushrooms, spinach, chevre, tomatoes, chives and red bell peppers

The three B's: Brie, Bacon and Basil with peach marmalade

We couldn't resist getting a 3rd "Dessert" waffle after the savory ones we ate for lunch. This was one of the daily specials and included strawberries, bananas, chocolate syrup and a rich peanut butter mouse

 The waffles were coated in sugar and made for a great combo of sweet and savory on the first two waffles we tried. We stood in line at the window as the woman in the windowsill took orders, shouted names of orders that were ready, and handed menu's to people who were arriving. There was a covered seating area as well as outdoor seating available. They even had some yummy drinks on the menu like basil or blackberry lemonade. It was fun to try this unique place in the Hawthorne neighborhood!

Date night at Soho and Salt & Straw

I love some good Sushi! Soho on the south waterfront has some really unique and tasty sushi rolls. We've been there a few times and Shane's sister gave me a Groupon for this place for my birthday so we went back. 

Veggie Tempura

Hitch Hiker roll. Salmon, cream cheese, avocado, caramelized onions, crab

Scarface roll---crab, shrimp tempura and cucumber on the inside, crab, spicy tuna and asparagus and spicy may on the outside. YUM!

Then we decided we needed some dessert, even though we were full from so much sushi! I've been wanting to try Salt & Straw over on NW Alberta. I've heard so many good things about it, not only that it is super tasty and has unique flavors, but that it used only organic ingredients that are mostly local. 

 The employees were so Portlandia. Obviously.

I got chocolate with gooey brownies, topped with 'finishing salt'.

 I've had salt on my frozen yogurt before and liked it, so I thought 'finishing salt' would be a similar thing. I asked, just to be sure. I couldn't really believe the answer I got. I asked the employee above with the red beard "What exactly is finishing salt? It is just salt?". His reply? "It's salt that we picked over in the field on Mississippi Ave". "Excuse me?" I asked, thinking that I heard something wrong. Nope, he repeated the exact same thing. So I ordered it as a topping anyway, and yes, it was just salt, but quite thick and hearty salt, even thicker than sea salt. Is anybody confused here? I don't really think you can 'pick' salt. It is a naturally occurring element. And I'm pretty sure it doesn't occur in a field in North Portland. WTF?

Yum...we didn't try this but you could order it with ice cream

Shane with his sundae

Me with my finishing salt and a sock bun in my hair

Salt & Straw was packed! I wish I had taken a picture of the crowd. The line was out the door and people were milling around inside the store eating their ice cream cones, sundaes, drinking coffee and socializing. This place sure is popular. I bet it's out of control during Last Thursday, the street fair that goes on on NE Alberta once a month. I would love to go back and try some of their unique flavors, like Pear & Blue Cheese or Salted Caramel Cupcake. They have rotating flavors and special flavors all the time. They serve Stumptown coffee and I heard they sometimes have a Stumptown ice cream flavor. Our date night was fun and I am so glad that Portland has such great food:)