ESTATE SALE, DATE NIGHT AND BAKING CLASS

Yes, estate sales.  And date nights with other couples. Plus a bonus baking class, too!

It was a busy weekend, people.

It started with ten teenagers descending on my house for a Movie Night — Oliver lamented recently that he doesn’t see his friends that much now that he’s started high school so I thought it was time to start doing movie nights again in the basement.

It’s all about snacks, a good movie (the scarier the better, apparently) and kicking back with friends.

Giant kettles of popcorn, snacks and lots of candy — it’s how we Klines roll.

Saturday was spent running around, and I got to pop my head into a neighborhood sale.

What a fascinating estate sale that was.

It was in a circa 1910 house with very little if improvements: I wouldn’t be surprised if it’d been passed down from one generation to another without any changes whatsover. The kitchen looked like it hadn’t been remodeled in sixty years and the entire unfinished basement was a wood workshop.

Clearly a very religious Catholic family had lived there — there were saved programs from recitals at St. Mary’s, religious Christmas cards and books, and a gaggle of these.

I’ve never seen anything quite like this doll before — so unusual to find something so old, sacred and sweetly beautiful all at the same time.

It took three tries to get into this house — two earlier visits were so crowded with lines of collectors (and interested neighbors, perhaps?) waiting to get in that I left hoping to get back later. I bring this up because I thought later — what other really old treasures were snatched up before I got there? What things did those hundreds of peoples take away?

Luckily for me, they hadn’t found all the good stuff.

Hidden in an old box of mostly blank envelopes I found these.

I think they hadn’t been nabbed yet because the box was right near a closet and the cards were still in their envelopes; unless you looked carefully it just looked like back-up office supplies, and not the treasures that they so clearly are.

The cards were all pristine, and I think many are from the late forties or fifties, and the colors on them are outstanding.

And the fonts?

They were ridiculously pretty — and the old age of the cards made me wonder; had the owner forgotten about them too for almost sixty plus years, or just hadn’t yet found the right occasion to send them?

Either way, I was grateful to stumble upon them.

I also found two sets one of cocktail napkins and some really old aluminum measuring spoons.

I’m so happy these all came home with me — and I braved a third trip over there.

I ran home from the estate sale to get ready for a date night with two other couples– we were headed out for dinner and a show.

We ended up going to Teote, a Latin American restaurant off of SE Hawthorne Street.

We started with a round of killer cocktails.

Our group tried several different kinds but my favorite by far was my drink — The Paloma Piccante with mescal, grapefruit and lime juice, agave syrup, chile salt and grapefruit bitters.

What an amazing drink that was!

We took our drinks and went out to the patio in the back bedecked with long tables, perfect for sharing.

Teote has a wonderful menu of both grilled and braised meats and all kinds of sides– all of which you can put atop or alongside homemade arepas (somewhere between a corn bread and a very dense English muffin).

We decided on family style platters, and here is an idea of the kinds of proteins they offer.

Here is an idea of what comes with when you order the platters.

Better yet, here’s what’s our table looked like once the two family style platters and sides arrived.

It worked out to be about $45 dollars per couple for all this deliciousness — and that included one very strong cocktail for each person.

I thought it was a fabulous deal for such exceedingly scrumptious food.

The arepas were outstanding, the plaintains lovely, the meats fantastic — even the black beans and cilantro lime rice were standouts.

Next up, Live Wire.

Not familiar with it? It’s a semi-regularly broadcast live radio program produced here that later airs on public broadcasting all over the country.

Each superbly produced show features acts and interviews with disparate characters, all resulting in a supremely entertaining show.

It’s produced at Revolution Hall (formerly Washington High School) — Portland’s newest mid-size concert hall, perfect for live shows, concerts and stand-up comedy.

Here’s the line up we caught at Saturday’s show.

What can I say about all the things we heard that night?

We heard Ruth Reichl talk about her illustrious restaurant critic career and then the dark days later when Gourmet was summarily shuttered without warning while she was promoting their cookbook in Seattle. We heard of her feelings of loss and grieving for a beloved magazine now gone and a future career in question.

We then learned of her redemption and path to wellness as she cooked her way out of the abyss — and hence a new cookbook was born.

I love Ruth Reichl, and her interview confirmed everything I’ve ever read of her or by her– she’s my kind of kitchen hero. I was too busy talking in the lobby to track down a copy of the book, but I will order it this week.

We then heard a riff from a hilarious stand-up comedian name Jackie Kashian, an interesting conversation with composer/singer/ songwriter Van Dyke Parks (he’s collaborated with Brian Wilson among many others), and also a couple originals songs from a young woman named Lolo who brought the floor to its feet with her incredible vocal range and raw, throaty delivery. Run, Lolo, run!

And then here was Cheryl Strayed (Wild, Dear Sugar) who talked about her newest book Brave Enough, a collection of her quotations and meditations from earlier works.

In this town it’s probably easy to feel overdosed on all the (admittedly justified) Strayed Adoration, but her intimate, frank and engaging conversation cemented her hero status for some and made others shrug off their cloaks of cynicism.

She held the audience spellbound, and I can’t wait to listen to the taped broadcast on October 24th on OPB Radio.

Luke Burbank, the host of the show,  proved to be both an adept and agile interviewer, treating each guest with respect and humor like an old friend, and the banter never crossed into reverence– he was just the guy up on the stage who asked the questions we all wanted to hear (as in a guessing game in which he had RR listen to a line-up of ingredients and she had to name that dish– only Pepperoni Hot Pocket stumped her).

Food for both body and brain?

If you haven’t yet been to either Teote or Live Wire, you must add them both to your Portland Must Do List.

And then Sunday was no less busy.

And then that brings me to the baking class.

My Lewis and Clark foreign exchange student (I talked about her here) told me that it was a long weekend for them at school and many of her friends were going away — did I have time to do anything this weekend?

Did I!

I had promised Charlotte a baking class this weekend so I picked up Aika, my friend Mary Ann (her student Rio was out of town) and we all headed back to my house for a little baking.

With almost eighty pounds of apples between us, it seemed like apple crisp was inevitable.

They peeled and then sliced up about three dozen apples and put it all in a giant bowl left over from my old catering days.

They learned about how important a little lemon juice in the filling (it not only inhibits browning of the cut fruit but cuts through the sweetness as well ) and what works best for flavoring (vanilla, sugar, cinnamon, ground ginger and a little salt).

Then they made the crisp topping.

We showed them that you don’t need a pastry cutter and it’s fun to play with the cold butter, incorporating it into the flour and oats until it’s reduced to the size of pebbles.

Then they started layering their crisps.

It was so fun to watch this twenty year old from Japan sit alongside my eleven year old Portlander — they were learning together and making conversation, talking casually about their pets, favorite sweets and things they were looking forward to in the weeks to come.

Just two young women getting to know one another.

The crisps went into the oven and because it was so beautiful outside, we decided to take a walk in the park and neighborhood and work up an appetite for all the warm goodness to come.

We showed Aika one of the Little Free Libraries that people have installed on curbs outside their homes; it’s always so interesting to see what kind of treasures people have left behind for strangers to enjoy.

We took her up some secret steps that bring you up to the top of Alameda Ridge where beautiful views awaited, and before you knew it, it was time to dash home and check on our crisp’s progress.

I cannot even begin to describe how incredible my house smelled with the aromas of warm apples, cinnamon and vanilla wafting throughout.

The girls were proud of their creations, and rightly so.

Just look at that deliciously crunchy oatmeal crisp topping.

My friend and I explained that half the pleasure of baking is sharing it with friends and neighbors, and that here in Portland we do that a lot.

We had Charlotte and Aika wrap up all their desserts and get it ready for drop off.

We hit the road with deliveries in hand.

Aika was particularly adorable as she walked up to each door with the package she’d so carefully wrapped.

At the first door she was a bit shy, but she got the hang of it by the second delivery and then before we knew it, she was beating us to third door.

It was like reverse Halloween. Walk up to the door and then ding dong! We have a treat for you!

Like I said, it was a busy weekend in Portland — and so many more adventures ahead this week.

Don’t hate me, but this time tomorrow I plan to be up to my elbows in lobster rolls.

Jealous much?

http://www.teotepdx.com/

http://www.livewireradio.org/