It’s been several weeks since I’ve cooked at home. The reason is that I had to deal with packing up my kitchen for my move to a new apartment. That fateful, monumental event took place about a week ago. My new apartment is still filled with unpacked cartons (there were originally 80 cartons of books, dishes and bric a brac of every type such as piles of placemats and napkins that I forgot I had). In my new kitchen I have lots of drawers and cabinets and am slowly filling them. One notable mishap was that I couldn’t find the carton that contained all my spices. From peppercorns to exotic blends, even vanilla extract and my homemade baking powder were all missing. And then yesterday I finally found them in a carton marked “Fragile Glassware.” Indeed.
So like so many in Portland I’ve resorted to take out before and during Covid quarantine.
In general, my biggest gripe is the navigability of the restaurant websites. Many are hosted by Upserve, which can be finicky. And heaven help us if you want to feed yourself on Mondays to Wednesdays since most of the kitchens limit take out to Thursday through Sunday. There are some exceptions, of course. And I fully understand that restaurants are operating on lean budgets and staff. I think Damian Sansonetti and Illma Lopez of Chaval are virtually solo in their kitchen, and keeping up with diner-out demand is difficult. Monte’s, too, for his great Roman style pizza works from a skelton kitchen staff but plans to be open 6 days a week in June.
Pine Ridge Acres Farm with cases filled with fresh and frozen meat, dairy and eggs; canned good made at the farm as well
