Nomad Nitiya

Hello again, crappy blog!
its been a while. since my depressing revelation on Architecture School I've done some shit:

Moved in with the Boy I Held Hands With

Went to Cambodia to try to save the world. ate shit. got drunk. saved the world

Visited my BFF Lex in NYC. there was a "hurricane" 

got a puppy with the boy i held hands with

Drank

ate shit

Continued working at my old restaurant, was promoted to manager, subsequently fired

Ran

Got unemployment. not because i couldn't find a job, but because i was being a spiteful bitch

got a job immediately after receiving first unemployment check. across the street. without an interview. and its 1000x busier.

mo money mo problems

Drank

Made amends with My old restaurant. celebrated by doing cello shots with my nemesis: Fat Powder

Ran

ate a bunch of shit

Ran my first Marathon

Visited my BFF Lex and Sert Bert in NYC. there was a hurricane

Drank

had a crappy weird meal at Jean-Georges in NYC

Worked the holiday season like it was the end of the world

Ran

ate some awesome shit at Castagna (seriously top 5 best meals)

Lost my Mind

Went to Disneyland with BFFs Lex and Ham. Had the time of my life

Got inspired again, mind still lost

Ran the starlight 5k with BFF Ham, her first. we dressed like Tobias Funke: Blue Man nevernudes

drank

ran

Stopped holding hands with the boy

drank

drank

went spontaneously camping. stole dog.

drank

sang

bought a ticket to NYC

getting rid of all my stuff.

leaving and not turning back.

want my desk?

When I started this blog I weighed nearly 170 pounds. I really hated myself and used my love for food as a crutch and my weight as a symbol of pride for said gluttony. I'm now 130 on a bad day. it took me a long time to figure out who I was, and what makes me happy. I still love to eat(seriously, big mac + filet o fish, in succession). but I learned to love myself. So sorry for not updating. i got busy living my life. growing. loving. losing. and moving on. I'm not perfect, and I am still figuring out what the hell the universe wants me to do. thanks for stopping by

architecture school

architecture school destroyed my ability to feel confidence in anything I do and my general feeling of self-worth. it made me hate myself, or at least was the best medium for me to grasp the feeling of inadequacy. it gave me anxiety. i loved to make, but the fear of rejection paralyzed me to the point of self-sabotage. my voice was never good enough and I preferred to stay silent.

i don't know what i learned from architecture school

Biwa

strong alcohol in tiny cups can be very misleading, especially when you are easily charmed by things that are little. Sert and I went to Biwa for dinner before watching our friend's dance/music show down the street.

There was delight from the tiny little carafe, and then there was the tiny little cups!
We giggled as we played with our grown-up tea set, but instead of imaginary earl grey it was the sweet nectar of sake.

My sister and I have very blunt conversations with unabashed honesty.

"have you been tanning? you face looks great"
"Actually I am wearing a shit ton of make up, I am totally breaking out right now and had to cover it up"

The table of 40 somethings look over our table, mere inches away, and pretended to concentrate on their bowl of ramen while I knew they were listening to our conversation.

we started with a chicken heart skewer. I love different and chewy textures, so i really enjoyed this. the hearts were grilled with a teriyaki glaze and served with a hot mustard. It was nice and irony, and I wished we had three.

The octopus salad was standard and all tentacle curl, yay!

the clams were served in a sake broth, and was full of chilies, also delicious and i really wanted some nontraditional bread to sop the broth up. Sert and I (not so) politely slurped it up with a soup spoon.

Unfortunately we did not get the Ramen noodles they are famous for. Sert is gluten-free. I don't even wanna say what i think about that. just. no.

afterwards we watched a clown writhe underneath plastic and two boys strip nearly naked in a bunch of sweaty glory. It was a very interesting performance.

A Milli

running a half-marathon in April so i get the excuse of eating a lot between running 20 plus miles a week. I seriously think I only started running to justify my ridiculous need to eat incredibly fatty foods.
This term I am taking a History of Jazz class, which just gave me more reason to eat and drink at night. So off to the Jimmy Mak's, portland's biggest jazz hub, we go.

Since conversations tend to get awkward and strained when my sibblings and I hang out with dad, I thought the distraction of live music would be a nice way to spend time together. It is not completely escapist, like a movie, yet not as stark and exposed like a silent dinner table. So my sister and I were able to avoid most of his piercing missiles. example:

"you look fatter than your sister"
"your sister looks fatter than you"
"you look like you are balding"
"what are you going to do with your worthless college degree"

Sert and I managed to escaped with a pleasant "both of you look like the same size, now"

hmm...

but before any awkward silences commenced, there was a "1-2-3-4" and the strings of a jazz guitar started plucking away. Only to be followed by 3 middle-aged men that looked like they were in various stages of coitus... for an hour and a half

Cafe Nell

Lunch time during "Blizzard crisis 2010!"

Met us with Ham and Clio for our quarterly check in.
I have heard a lot of things about Cafe Nell, all in all, they were good things.

I had the turkey burger which came in tasting delicious, and was washed down with a tummy warming spiked mexican hot chocolate.

coming out, however, was a different story.

10 hours later I am enjoying a walk in the brisk air with my boyfriend when i start to feel a gurgle in my belly.

the walk turned into a quick march, and then a light panicked jog back to his apartment. i rip my jeans off, not bothering to unbutton or unzip anything, and proceed to reenact a scene from "dumb and dumber" with gratuitous honor.

Meriwether's

Y'know how embarrassed you feel for yourself when you stumble upon your 7th grade diary?

it's the same feeling when you forget about your half-assed food blog, after a year.

Meriwether's is spectacular, and fresh. albeit uninspiring.

Sometimes we do not need to be awed by innovative technology, or weird gastronomic pairings.

Maybe an heirloom tomato should just be an heirloom tomato.
It was, at Meriwether's. It is about the farm. It is about the fresh ingredients. Meriwether's is so confident about the food they produce that there is no need for razzle dazzle. That is why they are so good, and that is why i cannot complain when a "panzanella caprese salad" is just a caprese salad on top of a little house made bread.

Meriwether's reminded me that life does not need to be complicated to enjoy.

Let fresh farm-to-table ingredients speak for themselves!

Frank's Noodle House

whoa its almost been a year!
recap:

I am still holding hands with the boy I held hands with in the last post. appropriately he is a very very talented cook who has a bizarre love for Martin Yan.

I haven't stopped eating. Notably:

A Cena: GET the lobster ravioli

Pok Pok (w/ dad): "it is amazing what a little marketing can do" -Dad

Mee sen (w/ dad): "this is so much better than pok pok" -dad

Red onion (w/ dad): "Every Thai restaurant should have crab fried rice" -dad

Gilt club: burger with foie gras? no. gourmet pork rinds? yes. 30% S.I. Discount? yes. Open til 2:30? yes. Tracy's first love? yes

Yoko's/C-bar: SAKE!!! delicious late-night bar food and pinball

Ping: skewers. over priced. eh. Asian food made by white people

Cassidy's: I love pickled eggs

Gruner: I do not love rabbit liver

Belly: boring food but the cocktails blew my mind

Clyde Common: tripe, never had it outside of pho, now i understand why most people are apprehensive about it. simple/tasty HH. Mr. Z bought me a cookie ":) Good bourbon = good gelato

Wongs King (dinner): Mr Z ordered sweet and sour pork. while i ordered lobster, hong kong style chow mein and a very disappointing pepper-salted squid

But it was FRANKS'S NOODLE HOUSE that compelled me to blog tonight (and avoid folding my laundry). Former proprietor of Beaverton's Du Kuh Bee opened up this little spot on Broadway. A most welcomed addition to the lackluster presence of good food eateries over there. Frank's enthusiasm and cheerfulness was really what sold me. While the snail salad and sauteed octopus were almost painfully similar and unmemorable the noodles were out of this world. The noodles were thick and chewy, only the way noodles can be when they are made by hand. The shreds of cabbage, onions and carrots were nicely coated with chili oil and gave just a sublte spice to the dish. Was it Korean or was it Chinese? I do not know, but my grin was as large as the one of the Noodle guy's on their restaurant sign. I will definitely come back for lunch, and maybe try something different for dinner. Korean short ribs, anyone?

love