My Oh My, Serious Pie!

I've done it:  I've found the BEST pizza in the Puget Sound!

This weekend, I successfully ran a 5K. So what did I do to celebrate? Go out and eat of course! 

This Tom Douglas restaurant is renown for their delectable pies. I had to see what all the excitement was about, and folks, I was not disappointed in the least!

The open kitchen right by the door was the perfect sneak peak. As soon as I walked in I saw a mushroom and truffle pie being pulled out of the open pizza oven and nearly drooled all over myself. No, really.

When we got seated, it was pretty hard deciding which pie to get- every single one sounded amazing. I ended up choosing the sweet fennel sausage, peppers and provolone pizza.
Nedard got the special.

This was literally the best pizza I have ever had. I had to force myself to eat slow so that I could savor all the incredible flavors that were baked so perfectly on that incredible dough.... Nedard, however, inhaled his in an instant and kept eyeing my pie slices dangerously.

To wash it down, we had the Brasilena coffee soda. This is by far the most interesting drink I've ever had. It's like a carbonated coffee, but exponentially better because it's straight from Italy.

Then of course, we had dessert. Nedard ordered the rhubarb crostada that came with pistachio's and vanilla bean ice cream. Yum!

As always, I left Serious Pie happily full and in a mild food coma.
Check out the menu HERE if you're interested in trying out this Tom Douglas diamond!

Crock Pot Taco's

The Crock Pot, what a brilliant appliance.
You drop in a piece of meat, douce it in sauce, let it simmer and roast for 6-8 hours and you have yourself part 1 of a delicious meal.

For this dish, I used a fresh pork shoulder and put it in the slow cooker with Pendleton's Mesquite BBQ Sauce. When I got home from work, it was ready to shred!

I hesitate calling this a recipe because it is literally the easiest thing in the world.
It's all very basic. Here's what you need:
- Pork, shredded
- Avocado's
- Tomatoes
- Cheese, shredded
- Tortilla's

Shredding the pork is all the world you'll do- either that or making the guacamole.

Once the pork has been fully cooked in the crock pot, put it in pan so you can shred it but keep all those yummy flavors with the meat. The best way to shred is by using two forks and peeling the meat apart from itself.

Set the oven to 250 degrees and place the tin with the pork inside. This gives the pork more texture and and helps soak up that tasty BBQ juice.

In the meantime, make the taco toppings.
Dice up some tomatoes, grate your favorite cheese, and slice up that avocado!

With my avocado I made guacamole- my weakness.  The key to good guacamole is the lime juice, and the cilantro. To make this delicious home made guac here's what I did:
- Scoop out the insides of 2 ripe avocado's
- Combine about a tablespoon of lime juice, a few pinches of salt, a tablespoon of chopped cilantro and just a dash of hot sauce.
-Mix it all together and voila!

By the time you've made this, your pork should be done!

Pile your taco's to your liking and ta-da!
Your pulled-pork taco's are ready to be devoured.

All you need now is a salt-rimmed margarita and some of that gorgeous spring sun we've been having here in the PNW. You now have your perfect springtime dish for the work week! You're welcome.

xx

Birthday Foodie Madness

Last weekend I was back in the land of no sales tax for a mini-holiday.
I got to see college friends, go to a good old sorority event, and hang out in one of my favorite cities on the west coast. It was a pre-birthday present to myself. And I even found a dress!

You know me, with Portland comes good dining.  Foodie heaven, if you will.
And this trip did not disappoint.

B spoiled me with a wonderful birthday dinner at this amazing restaurant called ClarkLewis. It's located in South East Portland, right on Water Ave. They're a "farm to table" restaurant which means all their food comes from local farms. How sustainable and chic, I dare say!

We ordered our drinks and perused the menu. Calamari sounded good and what we got was unexpected-- fresh cooked calamari ink squid ink. B and I were expecting your typical lightly breaded and grilled calamari so when this little dish showed up on our table, we were in awe.

I must say, it was absolutely delicious!
It was new and different, that's for sure, but it was very, very tasty.
For the main course we each had pasta, which was also quite lovely.

hand made pesto pasta

pork shoulder toss

After stuffing ourselves with dinner, we headed over to the Portland City Grill for dessert.
Needless to say we went home satisfied and immediately passed out from a food coma.

Next day we headed to the Screen Door for brunch.
As always, the place was packed and the line was long. For just the 2 of us, it was a minimum of an hour and a half wait. We weren't complaining. Instead, we stretched our legs and walked down the street for coffee.
Only 45 minutes later we were seated at the bar and dived into our beverages.
By the time our hush puppies arrived, I was starting to get hungry...

hush puppies to share

B's breakfast po-boy sandwich

my cajun scramble with grits 

I always over indulge when I go to Oregon, but this time I was definitely more naughty than usual. But in my defense, it was my birthday ;)
x

April Showers

Everyone knows the saying: "April showers bring May flowers".
Well my dear Eastsiders, April has brought showers. And it doesn't seem to end!

But that does not mean that we should hide indoors and sulk until the sun comes out. For one thing, that could take months (let's be honest, if we wait that long, we'll be inside until July). And for another, spring time in the Pacific Northwest is all about adventuring- no matter what the weather!

I was determined to find a dress (or two) for next weekend so I braced myself for the clouds and put on my PNW spring-proof outfit:

"Dragon Egg" nail art with butter LONDON lacquer

Jacket & Leggings from TopShop

Sweater from Nordstrom

Bag from Steve Madden

Boots from Target (surprise!)

Jewelry from Michael Khors, Nordstrom and Tiffany's & Co. 

Lucky enough I didn't get too rained on. Sadly I went home dress-less.
Better luck in Portland I hope!

xx