Tarte flambée

Or, in Alsatian:  flammekueche.

I’ve been wanting to try to make one of these ever since I started making pizzas.  It’s my favorite thing to eat when I’m in France (well, eastern France).  It’s essentially really really thin-crust wood-fired pizza with a cream sauce, traditionally topped with onions and lardons (thick bacon pieces), but there are other variations too.  When you get it at a restaurant, they just keep serving them until you say stop, and the number of tallies on your paper tablecloth is your bill.

For a first attempt, this wasn’t bad.  I used uncured bacon because I thought it would be more authentic, but it didn’t really produce the desired effect.

Served with salad and cider.  I mean, cidre.

Next time:  More sauce, fewer toppings.  Just use normal bacon.  Try to roll out thinner dough.

No time for cameras

Bacon-leek-thyme mac and cheese is a great way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

Especially with Guinness (note the extra thyme drying).

 

And then some time passed, and it was Easter.  It’s almost as if I was really busy with something, and didn’t take any pictures or do anything too exciting for most of March…

Thank you Mom for the napkins and carrot-themed (but not flavored) jelly beans.

Ham!

 

Oh, that’s what I was busy doing – I wrote a thesis.

So glad to be done with that.

To celebrate, sushi!

Sarah and I went with Ed and Maggie to a new place downtown, Kamitori.  It was really, really good.  We definitely recommend it!

Here, fishy fishy!

I love this recipe from Rachel Ray.

(Can you spot the stormtrooper?)

Sweet Cheeks tempranillo.

Balsamic brown butter tilapia and farfalle with bacon and peas.

And leftovers of the most delicious German chocolate cake made by Tyler!

Random

Schezuan broccoli with egg on top:

Chickpea, cucumber, orange salad with yogurt/cumin dressing:

Stir fry with orange coconut sauce:

Salmon, green beans, couscous:

Indian food:

Wine label of the winemaker I worked with at Iris (end-of-harvest gift):

And a toad on the doorstep:

Skiposium 2013

I drove to Sunriver for the weekend in the middle of my GK-12 stint to meet up with the chemistry department for Skiposium.  I narrowly escaped running out of gas between the start of Hwy 97 (where it connects at 84) and Madras.

There are four “towns” on that stretch of road, and I had no idea it would be so difficult to find gas.  I had to buy two gallons from a general store while I was still 41 miles from Madras.

I was happy to make it in time!  On Saturday we found ourselves at 10 Barrel in Bend.

On Sunday I headed back to Umatilla but had plenty of time to kill, so I stopped at Smith Rock for a quick hike.

I could get used to these sunny days.

I avoided the boring stretch of road with no gas to take a route that was gorgeous but still definitely had no gas (I was prepared this time).  I got excited when I drove by one of the John Day Fossil Beds at Clarno, but there were only a few leaf imprints, no dinosaurs.

And a petrified tree trunk.

Lots of nice scenery though with no good places to pull over and photograph!

4th grade

Although I had a great time the last time I was in Umatilla, this time around I had an absolute blast.

I made a pit stop at Multnomah Falls on my way there.  Impressive as always.

I stayed with two different families for each of the weeks I was there.  The first couple lived out in the country, and had five horses!

And a dog, and this cat.  It liked to jump on the hood of my car when I got home because the engine was warm.

On clear days on my way to school I could see Mt. Rainier.

The second week I stayed with a different family in Hermiston.  I made them chicken piccata.  The other GK-12 fellow and I had a pizza cook-off one night for a bunch of the teachers – he made Chicago deep dish and I made a thin crust pesto pizza.

Teaching 4th grade was fantastic.  They were so helpful and articulate; we had a lot of fun together.  All the teachers were wonderful too.

I just had to sneak a picture of this assignment hanging on the wall:

I was there for Valentine’s Day and we had a ton of fun.  I haven’t received that many cards in a long time!  I also really enjoyed freezing roses in liquid nitrogen the next day and shattering them.

I’m excited to return in May for my final trip!

Dinner party

We had some friends over for dinner a while back.  There was pork that needed to be grilled.

Sitting by heaters and drinking Scotch – two of Bryan’s favorite things combined!

Some of us had mashed bananas instead of pork.

Also yummy!

We had gone on an exploration earlier in the day to Alsea Falls.

(Photo credit:  BNell)

It was a little rainy.  Bryan is a pro at taking photos like this!