Sunday, April 4, 2010

Liver, coffee, baseball

Portland, April 4, 2010—
WE CELEBRATED EASTER SUNDAY our own way here, beginning with chocolate bunnies left at the breakfast table by a mysterious overnight visitor, going on to fegato venexiano for lunch, then out to a café for coffee and pastries, then home to a hot dog dinner to accompany the opening game of the season.
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I cooked the liver the usual way, forgetting only a couple of points — I'm a little rusty, and then the liver, bought frozen yesterday at the farmers market, thawed very wet, making salting difficult. Oh well: butter and olive oil in the black iron skillet, slowly cook a red onion sliced very thin, remove the onions and sauté the liver cut into strips, deglaze the pan with red wine and a drop or two of Balsamic vinegar, serve with polenta and fresh-ground black pepper. One of the Hundred Plates.

Rocaberdi (Catalunya), 2008
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The café was new to me. Gibassier and canalés baked by Broken Frame, the gibassier nearly as good as Pearl Bakery; the canalé different in style from Ken's Artisan Bakery, a little damp inside, but good. My espresso was a single-origin Indonesian bean, beautifully roasted, fruity and spicy and expertly drawn.
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Giovanna made cole slaw and potato salad; we had hot dogs from Laurelhurst Meat Market on buns from Pearl Bakery, fresh-made mustard, sauerkraut of course, onions both fried and raw. With it, one of my favorite beers, Peter's Beer from Trader Joe. And the Sox beat the Yankees, 9-7, in a tight game.
  • Coffeehouse Northwest, 1951 W. Burnside Blvd., Portland; tel. (503) 248-2133
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