My New Love – Chipotle Cheese

Discovered Chipotle Cheese in the best grocery store on the west coast – Winco Foods, and absolutely love it. I love pepper jack, so it is no surprise that I would love Chipotle cheese as well. I think this Chipotle is spicier than the pepper jack from the same store.

A taste of Palm Beach

I was in the neighborhood of NE 28th; so I stopped at the well-celebrated PDX stylish restaurant Pambiche for lunch.
(Forget the Cuban names on the Menu, so here is the English name/description)
Drink: Cuban Latte - it was sweet and creamy ($3.25)
Lunch: Stuffed Fried Dumpling with Potato and cheese. Beet Salad and fried banana. ($7.75)

This is how Asian does Dinner - Instant Noodle

Instant Noodle is huge in Asian, and I am not talking about American Ramen (we trick Ramen out, too).
So it is a cool afternoon, and I really want something spicy for dinner. So I pulled out Mr. Kong Instant Noodle Sichuan favor. I been saving it for a long time, but I feel like eating it today :)

I added some Kale and imitation crab meat. It looked like a noodle bowl from a Vietnam Noodle Stand. (see picture: I so need to work on my presentation.) Anyway, it was a good bowl of noodle and it was spicy.

Colorful Berries for Marathon TV party.

Going to a Mad Man Marathon party tomorrow. (The season premier is at 10 pm tomorrow). Got 6 pins of berries. Black, Raspberry, and blue, 2 pins each. The Blackberry looks really delicious. Hope I won't eat them all before tomorrow.
Should we make pie or cocktails out of these berries.

(cost of berries: $18. One pin usually goes for $3 around the farmer's market here in Portland, Oregon)

Mac and Cheese - trick out version

I brought tons of these cheap under ¢50 Mac and Cheese packages. Because of the amazing cook that I am, I put some WOW into the basic Mac and Cheese.

I added some bigger macaroni to mixed it up; then some corn, carrot, bean mix along with some chopped Spinach. Finally, two Kosher sausages (thanks to Costco). For cheese, I add some Pepper Jack - what, I love spicy food. (I actually add some red chilly pepper flakes.)

Oh, I didn't.

Every Sunday is my Store Ad day. I went to almost all of the Electronic shops and view their weekly ads. My recent love - digital camera. This is how I brought my current digital camera.

So with one decent digital camera (Nikon, btw) in possession, and I am still looking. And I found one - GE A950 for $79.99 (9 mega pixel, 5x optical room).
My first reaction was – GE makes digital camera? I got check it out.
It was popular, because it was sold out when I went to the Radio Shack close to my work. The second one I went to, they just got a new shipment.

Well, yes - I will return it. I would say it is not advance enough for me. Okay, I wasn't expecting that much according to the price. The thing is that there were not a lot of options when it comes to manual shooting. As far as the camera goes, the most annoying thing is, the mode dial and the shot button are both on the right' but the mode dial is at the farthest right, and the shot button is inside. So your finger had to cross the mode dial to reach the shot button. Trust me, it bothered the hell out of me. As for the picture quality, it is pretty decent. I guess I should not have taken it when I saw the package. (Please stop with the hard plastic package. It's a pain in the ass to open it.)

Summer Retrace - Cape Meares (Lighthouse), July 25 2009

Cape Meares is a fun place to stop along US highway 101. It has a lighthouse, and cliffs and the Octopus Tree (see picture). Of course, a great view of the ocean and the rocks.

It is a great place to see the ocean and have a little picnic.

Summer Retrace - Hug Point, July 25 2009

Portland had a Phoenix-AR style heat wave during the week of July 24-30. Couple of my friends and I skipped the heat by going to Canon Beach. Unfortunately, so was every else tried to go to the beach. Canon Beach itself was packed. So we drove along US-101, and stopped at Hug Point Beach, where was a smaller beach not far from Canon.

It was really nice. The sun was warm - although I got a nice arm tan and sunburn. The ocean water was really cold. But it was fun. If you surf, the wave was good. Also, there are tons of weird looking rocks.

Summer Retrace - Sunday Market Astoria July 19, 2009

Went to the Astoria Sunday Street Market July 19, 2009. A lot of fresh NW berries, and great market food. There was a screen printer to print your T-shirts. Many great art vendors, but cannot afford any at that time. Also, a vendor with tons of cookies and berry pies.

In picture: how can you say no to a Limenade with an umbrella; it was high on sugar though ($3). and my friend got that big pie with grill vegi from a Mexican food vendor - they have some big plates ($6 - I think).

Summer Retrace - Trip to Astoria July 18, 2009

Had a trip to the beautiful oregon coast. Walk around the city of Astoria. A lot of old houses, which I love. Although, many of them are churches.

Anyway, the scenic pictures was taken on roof top of the Elliot Hotel in downtown Astoria. It was a great sunny day. And there is the famous Astoria Column.

Bite of Oregon

I was really excited to go to Bite of Oregon today, but I was not at all pleased to pay $8 for admission. I know it is all going to the Special Olympics. But if I were donating, I would rather donate to the school for disable kids or other education or health organizations. and $8 – come on, we are in a damn recession.

Another aspect - I thought there might be a lot $2-$5 sample-size dishes, but not really. A lot of them were meal-size deals.
But thumbs up to North 45 and H5O, as well as the desert stands. Although, I got full before I was about to get a Marionberry Pie.

I think it was a good event to go if you like wine tasting, because there were a lot of wine and beer stands. I think the wine out numbered food. Too bad, I had to drive myself home, so no alcohol.

Another upside was the entertainment. The musician and the circus people were really good and entertaining.

I think I spend a little bit too much there.

(The pictures are the mussel plate from North 45. It was really good.)

Saburo Sushi Munch Munch

Went to the legendary Saburo Sushi in SE Portland today with my friends. Spent $20, and definitely stuffed. I had to loose my belt for the first time in my life - seriously. Well, take a look for yourself.
I had Uni for the first time. The Tuna, it is the freshest in town, and huge...

Dangerous - going to back school sales.

It is dangerous in the mall as for now. I am not going back to school this year. (Finally, it had been three years) But I am joining the going to back school sales. A window shopping trip over Old Navy - $50 something then were gone. Well, it was half off on clearance price.

Today, I spend a little over GAP. Well, mostly on couple of my friends. It was really good deal. A polo ran up to only about $4 (it was actually $3 something). I think I should do XMas shopping now.

I know - somebody stop me.

Spending too much on food.

This summer had been quite costly so far. A trip to Seattle (for Seattle Pride), and two trips to the Oregon coast to skip the 100+ heat waves. I noticed that I had been spending quite a lot on food.

My food budget was $250 tops. But I think I am spending much more than that. Thank you, Costco. Well to be fair – there are still two giant package of hot dogs in my freezer.

Anyway. I am going to stay within my budget. Even better, I will try to stay around $200 (is this too little). I will go out to dinner in a restaurant at least one time a week. Just for my sanity and the economy.

I guess, I will be the coupon queen again.