Family Shabbat Dinner at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center (2/25)

Shabbat Shalom: Some rockin' Jewish kids songs were followed by the pre-dinner Shabbat blessing

Foolishly paying strict attention to the start time of this event, my husband Brett and I arrived promptly at 6pm to a completely deserted community center.  Approximately 45 minutes later the pre-dinner kids tunes began and a little after 7 the buffet line began.  It wasn't until we sat down that we were informed that Jews (though maybe it's mainly Portland Jews?) are not known for promptness.  Good to know for the next event.

We were also probably the only people there without kids, which we could have guessed by the title of the event, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get beyond the Christian-sponsored organizations that seem to dominate the community dinner world.  The pre-dinner kids music wound up being a blast to hear and watch.  The all-kosher meal featured nicely roasted parsnips, carrots and turnips, delicious mashed potatoes, roasted chicken, salad, and an outstanding dairy-free peach cobbler.  I now know where to send my lactose-intolerant friends for some good eating. 

The long tables were jam packed - some good community conversation was guaranteed.  After picking a thoroughly random location at the middle of one of the tables, it turned out we were sitting next to one of our best friend's carpool buddy.  We outed ourselves as non-Jews early on, which led to some great explanations of Jewish customs and holidays.  It was a very fun and educational evening! 

The dinner hall is open and modern - a big improvement on the school basements we've been frequenting.  The tickets were a little pricey, though the food was quite good and if we had brought kids they would have gotten their money's worth with the magic act and the bouncy house in the gym.  Overall a great dinner and cultural exchange - I recommend the experience!

Farm To Fork's Open That Bottle Night (2/26)

With several bottles of wine from the depths of our basement in tow, five of us piled into the car of our very kind-hearted, pregnant designated driver for the trip out to Farm to Fork in Dundee.  The restaurant is located in the Red Hills Inn, a Pottery Barn-inspired boutique hotel at the far end of downtown Dundee. 

For the dinner the restaurant created two long tables for a family style meal - excellent idea.  We plunked ourselves down at the first table, and for some reason all the other guests sat at the second table and the folks who were supposed to fill out the rest of the seats at our table never arrived.  Sigh.  I'll remember to wear deoderant next time...

But all community was not lost!  After a thoroughly enjoyable meal, a kind man from the other table came over to offer a glass of one of the wines they were drinking, and we reciprocated the offer.  Being a bit of a wine novice I had been too self conscious about our wines to make the first move.  As always, a completely silly notion - it's not like I brought a bottle of Two-Buck-Chuck.  Our neighboring table appreciated our wines and we theirs.  The exchange was exactly the ice breaker we needed to join their conversation and share great wines and great stories for the rest of the evening.  I pray that I may remember this lesson in community building: be brave enough to make the first move.  It's often exactly what people are waiting for.

The meal was quite a step up from our other community meals.  The chef introduced himself and spent several minutes describing the many courses that were to emerge from the kitchen.  According to the omnivores I came with, the non-goat-cheese-eating vegetarians (that's me) wound up with the tastiest dishes.  I have trouble imagining that anything could beat the flavor of the truffle-spiked rissoto that was my main dish.  The most decadant course was a lavender ice cream with fresh honeycomb - W O W. 

Thanks to our brave friends at the other table, we wound up having an excellent evening of outstanding food capped off with very nice conversation and a lesson in community building for the community dinner club.

Cedar Mill Elementary Pancake Breakfast (2/12)

Just seeing a whole class of 4th grade kids dressed up in Western hats, bandanas and calico hats was enough to make this a worthwhile event.  The dads were outside the cafeteria on a huge bbq flipping pancakes and the moms were mainly helping indoors with the kids, perhaps a less intentional nod to Oregon Trail history.

Everything was exactly as expected for a 4th Grade pancake breakfast - cute kids, tasty though slightly rubbery pancakes, corn syrup instead of maple syrup, school cafeteria with low ceilings and even lower bench seats, and drinks from large orange thermoses.  The filling meal at only $5 and the excited kids made it all worthwhile.

Have fun on the Trail, kids!

Events that are perfect, if only I could eat something

Portland is an incredibly vegetarian friendly town.  Yet it wasn't always so.  I'm reminded of this as I troll the great annual community dinners on offer in our area.  There are two upcoming events that sound excellent and I would love for "Club" members to attend, but as a vegetarian I don't think I'll be able to eat more than an iceburg lettuce salad at either one. 

The 60th Annual Leroy Hummel Crab Feed, sponsored by Knights of Columbus, will be on Friday, February 4th, at 6:00pm in the Parish Center at St. John the Baptist in Milwaukie, 10955 SE 25th Ave., Milwaukie, 97222. Reservations necessary. Tickets are $20. Menu includes a large, fresh crab, salad with special dressing, baked beans, French bread, and beverage. A 50/50 drawing will be held for those interested in participating. Recommended to bring crab cracking tools and a washcloth. For more info, call Jamie Peruzzo at 503-318-6853.

The 49th Annual St. Philip Neri Rigatoni Luncheon, February 17th in the parish's Carvlin Hall at SE 17th and Division. No other parish or restaurant offers the stuffed version of this classic Italian dish. It is labor-intensive and one-of a-kind—and a parish tradition since 1963.

Non veg-heads, the PDX Community Dinner Club encourages you head out to enjoy these time honored meals! 

House Concerts: De Temps Antans and Lisa Ornstein with Dan Compton (12/10 & 12/17)

It wasn't until I arrived at Abbie's house that I realized her house concerts are the perfect community meal event.  About two years ago, one of Brett's fiddle classmates had our friend Matias build a stage for her living room and began hosting traditional music concerts occasionally.  She now hosts concerts every couple months and they are preceded by a potluck dinner. 

This month's concert featured De Temps Antans, a group from Quebec specializing in Old Timey music.  They were like a comedy routine to watch - it was by far the most entertaining and fun concert I've been to in a long time!  I think everyone bought both CDs in an effort to bring the spirit home with them, but what we really needed was a live recording to capture their energy and humor.  Or we need them to move out here.

The potluck was a great lead-in.  Abbie and family had prepared a zippy Thai dish that was delicious and everyone else filled in around that with good cheeses, homemade bread, salads and cookies.  Any pot luck is well worth it to me when people bring homemade foods and the house concert guests came through with shining colors.

One week after the concert at Abbie's we attended a concert at Scott Killops' house by Brett's fiddle teacher, Dan Compton, and the outstanding Québécoise-turned-Portlander fiddle player, Lisa Ornstein.  Dan pointed out she was a real Portlander now because her footboard (the piece of wood traditional musicians stomp on with their feet for percussion) was made of bamboo.  Lisa and Dan were in some ways the opposite of De Temps Antan.  Their music was technically outstanding - their finger work floored me at times - and their introductions to the music were very educational.  Their performance style was much straighter and more serious than De Temps Antan.

Scott's house was a beautiful, large place on Mt. Tabor - the views from his neighborhood must be priceless.  There was less focus on the potluck side of things for this concert - in fact I wanted to invite the Club, but I couldn't figure out if there would be a dinner or not, a critical criteria for the PDX Community Dinner Club.  It turned out that there was a snacky dinner and some tasty homemade cookies.  The star dish of the evening was a traditional Quebec dish called a Tourtière.  Lisa made it herself using her family recipe.  It's a seasoned meat pie - she used pork and beef seasoned with rosemary and a long list of other spices.

For the next potluck house concert I'll make sure to send out a notice to the club so more of us can attend.  It's a great way to share a meal and spend an evening!

Reedwood Friends Concert and Dessert (12/12/10)

You'd think a holiday gathering at a Quaker church would be the antithesis of yesterday's distillery events, but the amount of sugar held in the dozens of dessert platters weighing down the banquet table was probably as intoxicating as any of the teaspoon-size samples of spirits yesterday. 

The event started in the church with a bell ringing performance that set the holiday tone, followed by piano, trumpet and choir performances interspirsed with short prayers and bible readings.  It was a relaxing way to spend an hour. 

Then everyone filed down to the community room and the 25 foot table laden with confections.  Whoa.  Given the number of people I saw in the church I thought there was no way all this stuff would be eaten, but the crowd (probably especially the dozens of kids) took care of almost everything.  My favorites were the peanut butter rice crispy treats with chocolate on top and a pumpkin bread that was still warm. 

Several church members brought items from home to decorate the tables, which warmed the otherwise standard church event room aesthetic.

I was thankful that they didn't have newcomers introduce themselves.  Everyone was friendly to us, but didn't make a fuss over not having seen us before.  They seem to host a lot of community events, so maybe they are used to new faces, or maybe it was mostly newcomers. 

My mental image of Quakers is a very white one, so I enjoyed the diversity I saw at the event - Latin American and Japanese families, and our tablemate mentioned her Kenyan friends there.

Overall, a 10 out of 10 ooey, gooey chocolately treats for an event that in every way lived up to what was advertised and didn't include any religious pushiness.

House Spirits Booze Bazaar & New Deal Distillery Season's Eatings (12/11/10)

The *extremely* rainy bike ride over to House Spirits definitely had my spirits down, so the toasty interior was a welcome respite in itself.  The cheese, chocolate, relish, coffee and, of course, spirits tastings were a big bonus. 

The event was held in the warehouse-like distillery and alcohol purchases could be made in the more refined salesroom next door.  Dave B, my cheesemaking partner in crime, Brett and I all walked away with the Acquavit - delicious! 

Brett and Dave B at House Spirits showing off their loot - Olympic Provisions meat, JP Cigars, and Jacobs Creamery blue cheese - we had yet to purchase bottles of Acquavit and White Dog.

It was tough to pull ourselves away, but Brett and I finally made it over to New Deal where we met up with Matthew and Windy for a similar, but even larger event.  This one had a more community feel to it since they allowed kids and had a wider variety of vendors offering generous samples of their wares - baked goods, cheese, beer, rum, sauces, chocolate, and most of New Deal's line of spirits.  In the more finished space next door they had an experienced bartender making half-size mixed drinks.  The hot toddy with their No. 3 gin, palm sugar, licorice root and lemon and hot water was outstandingly delicious.  There was even a place to sit and enjoy our drink and some conversation.  Very nice.

Matthew, Windy and Brett enjoying hot toddies at New Deal

Overall, it was well worth the bike ride in the driving rain.  While these events don't exactly fit into the meal theme, they were full of community and lots of good conversation - I especially enjoyed the multiple opportunities to chat with the owners of many of the small businesses sampling their goods at each place.  It's amazing to have such a collection of food crafting experts in our city!