Gray Culinary Adventures

Enough are the days where breakfast is the forgotten meal. I am catering this blog to those of you who think breakfast food simply consists of bland dull cereal that looks like it could have come from a cement truck, and to those who won't give the most important meal of the day credit for what it truly is: good eats! I have a husband who only eats oatmeal plain (no water added), only has cereal with a very small amount of milk, and who would prefer to eat chocolate chip cookies instead of Kashi fiber cereal. So I have had to come up with some ways to make breakfast appealing to him! And I think I have been successful. Try these three recipes, and I am confident that even the most stubborn breakfast hater will be converted. Chocolate Chip Muffins (12 servings) 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup light brown sugar (any type of brown sugar will work) 1/3 cup sugar 2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2/3 cup milk 1/2 cup butter--melted and cooled 2 eggs beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla ...

Living in Portland, I get to be very close to the new booming organic food movement. I've never been one to support the extreme veg and/or organic diets, but the more I am immersed in the culture the more I can't help but take some of it in. As an aspiring chef I can't thumb my nose at good quality ingredients, and yesterday I found myself in a Whole Foods grocery store. I've been there several times before doing everything I can to not spend my whole paycheck there, but this time I had a coupon! and was the initiative of my visit with Wendy. I'm always amazed at the selection and quality all in one store. On the menu for the upcoming week (Wendy and I plan everything ahead for dinner) were some soups, fish and something beefy. When we made our way to the meat counter and seafood section (they're separate!) the staff blew me away. They knew what they were talking about and the whole set up was just like a real butcher store and fish monger...they knew what they ...

Every cook has their own comfort zone: their favorite cooking instrument (my dutch oven), their favorite culture (Italian) and their favorite ingredient (garlic, of course). But their comes a time when new tastes must be discovered. I've tried many new things in the past year, escargot and sushi, oysters on the half shell and foie gras. So whats next? Since sparro w heads are out of the question, the next thing to try were anchovies (don't look at me like that). I stumbled on a recipe from my new favorite chef, Jamie Oliver, which looked pretty good. Called Hunters Chicken Stew, it was a rustic chicken Cacciatore dish cooked with garlic and in my dutch oven..wahoo! Only problem was it called for anchovies. Darn, it's kind of like a negative buzz word. Well who's heard of worcestershire sauce? Yah, its the main ingredient in it. Normally I would have made it just excluding whatever didn't appeal to me but I figured I would try it. Wendy thought it would be fun and it...

Well we don't really know where to start, so lets just jump into things shall we? This past weekend we went to a restaurant called, Imbibe in Southeast Portland. I (Wendy) was totally jazzed to go because I tend to love going to places like this. Portland has a great vibe to it if you will, that I love being part of. Lets have Richards thoughts now. Imbibe is a casual restaurant with a relaxed, Portland feel. You seat yourself and there are an array of tables and couches to choose from. Wendy and I enjoyed the whole experience, albeit there weren't many people there. I had a chicken sandwich with an array of toppings: guacamole, bacon, cheese and grease (mmm). It was actually pretty good, accompanied with a Moose Druel, a beer from Montana. I (Wendy) had an amazing ricotta, spinach, basil, asparagus ravioli concoction. Two humongous raviolis that had been put under the broiler until it was perfectly cooked. I also enjoyed a fabulous Bellini with peach puree, schnapps, and champ...