Tangent Inn

Formerly known as 'Dixie Creek Saloon', the 'Tangent Inn' has been remodeled and is now open for business!  We've all been watching and waiting for this classic to re-open and it's finally here! Although the Grand Opening hasn't happened yet, and from what we were told the menu will be expanding, we dropped in to see the face-lift and sample the menu.  We were excited to see in which direction the new owners would take this.

The parking is still the same, the exterior is very familiar, but the interior is clean, updated and much more pleasing to the eye.  The bathrooms were clean, the floors were shiny and the staff was polite and helpful.

The menu is simple; appetizers, soups & salad, sandwiches and burgers.  We were very impressed with the polite and attentive service we received; the staff is knowledgeable and was very helpful with menu recommendations.

We started with appetizers as recommended and tried the Fried Zucchini which is Panko-battered, sprinkled with shredded parmesan.  Nothing frozen here, these were real, juicy zucchini spears and they were delicious!  It comes with ranch or honey mustard, but we asked to sample all dipping sauces and we actually determined that the bleu cheese is the dipping sauce to order with this.  The flavor doesn't overpower the zucchini as ranch and honey mustard both tend to do.

The Beer & Cheese dip was our 2nd appetizer, made with Gilgamesh Classic Ale, cream cheese and

cheddar cheese.  It is served with homemade pretzel bites.  This was good as well - a bit heavy on the salt in both the cheese sauce and the pretzel bites, though not uncommon in a bar establishment.

For dinner, Brownie ordered the Tangent Burger with tots.  This 1/2 pound brisket/chuck mix patty is made with a cheese skirt and comes loaded with hickory smoked bacon (no skimping here) and a roasted

garlic aioli. As you can see in the photo, it's a good size portion.  Eating through the crispy cheese and bacon ends is a delightful pathway to the burger - enjoy!  The burger itself was a bit dry and overcooked, though we tend to believe this may because of the timing of the cheese skirt rather than incompetence in the kitchen.  Time will tell as it's been less than two weeks since they opened their doors.  As for the tots .... tots are tots.  They tasted as you would expect tots to taste.

Cheese. Skirt.

I ordered the Roast Pork Loin Sandwich; thinly sliced pork loin, smoked gouda cheese with sage mustard

on homemade sourdough bread.  The pork was tender and flavorful, though the smoked gouda flavor didn't come through as much as the sage did for me.  I love sage and it was delicious, so no complaints there!  My sandwich came with fries, which are hand cut in the restaurant; our waitress proudly told us this when ordering.  They are well worth ordering as a side!

Ask for this mustard, it's divine!

Overall, we enjoyed our experience. The staff was so friendly and helpful and the atmosphere is a lively bar; we even got to enjoy a  couple dancing near our table when a slow song came on.  Minors are allowed in the dining room until 9pm just in case you want to bring the family to eat.

We were told that the menu will be expanding soon during or after the Grand Opening to include family-style options and a breakfast menu.  We will not be giving Tangent Inn a Brownifer star rating until after we sample all of these options.  Too bad for us, right!? :-)

Until then, we highly suggest you head out to Tangent and check out Tangent Inn!  The prices are reasonable and from what we experienced, you'll enjoy your time at this new restaurant, they're off to a great start!

Homemade Yumm! Bowls

Our blog is full of beautiful food that Brownie comes up with, but I'm going to start sharing some of the things that happen in between those gorgeous dishes!  Unfortunately, we don't eat like that every day :-)

If you've never been to Cafe Yumm!  You should definitely go!  So delicious.  Where we live, there isn't one close enough to run to and the one that is - well I'm not a fan of fighting college campus parking to get to it.

Which brings me to one of our favorite go-to dinners (and lunches if we make a big enough batch): putting together our own Yumm! bowls at home.  It's fast and easy and they're so flavorful! And yes, healthy!  Here are our basic ingredients:

-Cooked Brown Rice
-Chopped Kale
-Black Beans
-Fresh grated Parmesan (or whatever cheese floats your boat - just please don't buy bagged cheese ...     just please!)
-Canned Jalepenos (optional)
-Fresh chopped onion
-Fresh chopped tomato
-Salsa
-Yumm! Sauce
-Sour Cream

You can add anything, really.  We add avocado when we have it; you could literally add anything to this and it would be delicious!  Check out Cafe Yumm's website for ideas!

The process?  Not much of one, but here ya go:

1.)  Cook Brown Rice (Hey, I'm not a fan of brown rice either - start with white rice and work your way there.  I promise that all the flavor in these bowls won't have you wishing you'd chosen white rice!  In fact, this is the ONLY thing we use brown rice for!  It's a start.)

2.)  Put rice, kale, beans, onion and grated cheese into your bowl and microwave for 1 minute

3.)  Top bowl with your own amounts of everything else you want to use here - you can omit the sour cream and cheese if you want to stay vegan, of course.  We just love the added creaminess :-)



4.)  Stir everything together into a big mushy bowl and eat - the flavors will just blow you away!  In our opinion - the stirring and mixing is the key to enjoying these bowls properly :-)

Enjoy!!!!







**Where do I buy Yumm! Sauce?  We find it at our local Co-op and at Market of Choice grocery stores.  Cafe Yumm's website has links to where you can buy it near you and they take phone orders directly as well, I believe.  Also, at any Cafe Yumm! restaurant, you can purchase it.  I'm thinkin' we need to make a trip for an original Yumm! bowl and grab the big bottle! hahaha  These small jars just don't feed our craving.  It's literally good on, in and with anything! Veggie dip, chip dip, sandwich spread .... I'd Yumm! sauce the world if I could! :-)

Sybaris Bistro - Albany, Oregon (Review)

Sybaris Bistro - Albany, Oregon

A Brownifer Review

An impulsive decision to have dinner out on our kid-free night of this week brought us to Sybaris Bistro.  We have been wanting to try this restaurant for some time now, always checking the ever-changing menu and wondering if we
could afford to truly experience what it had to offer on a budget.  Tonight we decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it!  Sybaris opened in October of 2001, why we've waited this long to visit is truly beyond us.

I'm pleased to say that we thoroughly enjoyed our evening and we can't wait to share it with you!

The first thing I noticed when we approached the building was how quiet it seemed.  Brownie wondered if they were even open, but when we opened the doors, the bustling of the dining room burst upon us. While we waited to be seated, we found a series of books on a table by the door with old photos of Albany over the past century and beyond, which we promptly snatched up and began exploring.  Not only was this space the infamous Anderson Sporting Goods where we bought our letterman jackets in high school, but exploring these books and the history of Albany taught us that it was also originally the site of a mechanic's garage!  Love our town.

We were lucky enough to be seated by the wood-burning fireplace, which was beautiful and set the mood for a special evening out.  We were even permitted to bring the photo books with us :-)

Sybaris has a unique menu that changes with the seasons.  The owners pride themselves on sourcing their ingredients from Oregon; what comes to the table is what happens to be locally available at the time.  This clearly showcases the bistro's identity in the straight-forward one-page menu.  Which is one thing that always made me nervous about this restaurant: I am not a fan of winter vegetables.  Silly?  Maybe.

Once we had ordered, we enjoyed our homemade bread (made in-house daily) and butter while we waited for drinks.  I scanned the walls and noticed that they showcase local artists and at this time, they have a variety of paintings by a local woman covering quite a bit of space.  It was beautiful.

Scottish cold smoked salmon,
traditional garnishes, rye crackers

We chatted and enjoyed the atmosphere while waiting for our appetizers, then enjoyed our salmon and a salad we'd ordered to share.  Our waitress, who just happened to be one of the owners, let us taste some red wines she recommended to pair with our menu choices and we each chose a glass.

Antipasti salad- mixed greens, marinated mushrooms,
salami, cheese, garbanzo beans and a hard-boiled egg

I will take this time to mention the service, as this is the point where I began to notice that I was impressed. Brownie will tell you I'm a service snob when it comes to dining.  Now, I can eat with my hands, man-handle a sloppy burrito from a food truck and gladly carry my own plastic utensils to a picnic table to enjoy a wide range of delicious food BUT...when I dine out and I'm expecting to shell out some Benjamins for an amazing meal, I do have my own expectations.  I like the experience to be thoughtlessly blissful.  By this I mean, I want to talk and sip my wine and enjoy the food and flavors and conversation and I don't want to have to think of a thing regarding my meal other than getting it into my mouth.  That being said, Sybaris is one of the good ones!  While we were finishing our salad, we were brought the silverware we would each need for our main courses.  And I fell in love. For the rest of the meal, I didn't have to ask for a thing.  My water was always full, she forgot nothing and I got to sit back and just enjoy everything from start to finish.

Veal chop parmigiana, bucatini, red sauce
& plenty of cheese

When the main courses did arrive, they smelled delicious. Brownie ordered the veal chop parmigiana, which turned out to be a monstrous bone-in chop that would make Fred Flintstone drool. Truly a man's delight.  He did let me taste it, however, and it was scrumptious. The sauce had one spice that Brownie couldn't quite pinpoint, I suspect he will be rifling through our spice cabinet tomorrow.  While we were discussing the plating of the food, I asked Brownie if his dish was visually pleasing.  His answer:  Is Italian food ever really plated with that in mind?  No, it really isn't.

Lentil cassoulet with duck confit, lightly cured pork,
garlic sausage, winter vegetables

I ordered the Cassoulet and with three kinds of meat and winter vegetables, it's pretty difficult to incorporate much color and variety.  But my dinner was full of flavor and and seasoned very well.  Upscale comfort food that incidentally paired amazingly well with the cabernet I had chosen.

Creme Brulee ice cream w/caramel

Dessert?  Why yes, please!  Brownie had the creme brulee ice cream and I had the chocolate souffle - both a perfect ending to our meal.  We shared a cup of coffee with dessert, which was piping hot and perfectly brewed.  We sipped away and looked through the books at the table next to the crackling fire, marveling at how Albany had changed over the years.  Our waitress made sure to let us know about a walking/driving tour available by map through the Albany Visitor's Association and even pulled it up on her phone to show us.  I truly felt like I'd had a local experience during my time in this dining room!

Valrhona dark chocolate soufflé,
red berry love potion

Sybaris offers Albany a Portland-esque dining experience without having to travel out of town.  With locally-sourced ingredients, fresh baked daily bread, the owners serving and befriending their guests and small Albany touches everywhere you look, this restaurant is a foodie's paradise.  I dare any Portlandia cast member to ask anything about any of the food on the menu.  I would bet money they knew the name of the duck that was served in my bowl.

If you're looking for a romantic evening out, a comfortable spot to dine and visit, or you've been curious about Sybaris but trepidatious about making a reservation ... it's time to book your visit now.  The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly, the staff is beyond amazing, and the food will surprise you in the most delectable ways.  Yes, the menu is pricier than many others in town but we went all out and when our check came, we were surprised that we hadn't spent more.  The portions are very generous and you will likely come away with leftovers when you leave.

With our scoring system, we gave this visit 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.  We can't wait to visit again in the spring during the height of seasonal fruits and vegetables to see what Chef Matt Bennett has in store! Brownie is also dying to try the seafood tower, which requires three days notice - so we'll have to make a reservation for that one sometime!  We love that Albany is becoming a foodie haven with so many options popping up everywhere.  All we can say is, more please!

Garden Veggies over Rice

Brownie likes to create beautiful food and play with flavors.  I tend to be more practical and rely on the foods I grew up eating.  I have a deep love for zucchini and this week, we had THREE zucchini ripen in the garden.  Two yellow and one green.  We also had two beautiful tomatoes ready to eat.  So tonight, I took over dinner duty.  

Now, when I cook, you can bet it's going to be something simple.  Every time my mother and I went to a potluck of any kind, my vegetarian mother would bring this dish with us and people would absolutely devour it.  It was one of the first things she taught me to cook as a teenager.  I still love it.

So in the spirit of sharing actual recipes, I will write down what I used and how I put this together.

Ingredients:

• 3 Medium Zucchini (or a mix of zucchini and yellow squash)
• 1 Large Scallion (Or onion, whatever is on hand)
• 3 Medium-to-large Tomatoes
• Basil (dried or fresh - either way)
• Garlic
• Salt
• Olive Oil
• Cooked Rice

Direcitons:

• I cook rice ahead of time and when my rice cooker beeps, I start the veggies and let the rice warm.
• Heat olive oil in a saute pan and begin cooking Scallion and freshly minced garlic - whatever your tastes are!  I use a LOT of garlic, we love the flavor.
• Chop Zucchini to desired size and put in the pan with garlic and scallion.
• Toss and add salt to taste
• Chop fresh basil and tomatoes while you're waiting for the zucchini to soften.
• Stir your zucchini or toss it in the pan every so often - don't neglect it or it will cook unevenly.
• If you're using dried basil, add it at this point so it has time to re-hydrate
• When they start to soften, I throw in the fresh basil and toss with veggies.
• When they're the texture you prefer, turn the heat off and stir in your chopped tomatoes so they can warm with everything else.  You don't want to COOK the tomatoes, just warm them.
• Scoop some rice into a bowl and add veggies on top!

You'll notice your veggies are a bit watery in the bottom of the pan - that juicy goodness is DIVINE scooped over your rice!  I love to eat this all stirred together in a big mashy mess - it's perfection!

This time around, I decided to use some of our freshly harvested Nasturtium leaves as well.  They have a peppery, radish-y flavor that I wanted to play with.  I didn't really use enough to flavor much, but when I got some in a bite, I could definitely tell they were there and they were a nice addition.  Not always available, but if you want to try them ... it does work with this recipe pretty well.

Enjoy the summer veggies while they last!  As usual, if you try this and put your own spin on it, we'd love to see what you come up with!  Come back and post pictures for us! :-)

Brook Trout over the Fire

Camping Eats Continued!

When we ventured out for the day on Saturday, we ended up fishing at Three Creeks Lake near Sisters, Oregon.  We bank-fished all afternoon (which we have decided we are just NOT good at) and came away with one 12" Brook Trout.  I will say I'm supremely proud of that catch :-)

Cleaning fish in camp isn't a big deal, but ... we didn't bring any flour; we hadn't planned on cooking fish in camp.  So we started rummaging through the grocery bags to see what we could find and brainstorm.

By this time, our Ramen Noodle adventure had come to a close, the kids had stayed up to see the amazing stars and two of the four were passed out in the tent.  Cleaning a fish in the dark - interesting times.  Photographing a fish cooking in the dark - even more fun! :-)  But obviously we made it work.

The closest thing we could find for a breading for Mr. Brook was Trader Joe's Gorgonzola Crackers.  So into a Ziploc bag we poured those babies and one of the kids got the satisfying job of crushing them into dust.  Fishy was shaken in the crumbs and onto the waiting grill pan he went!  No, we didn't season fishy any further than the crackers.  Mostly because ... fishy was cooking in the leftover bacon grease from that morning and we knew that would be enough!  So resourceful.



While fishy was frying over the fire, Brownie scooped up the leftover bell peppers from the kids and sauteed them with the rest of the onions and cilantro from the Jamexican Tacos (how many meals did we get out of that adventure!?) until they were soft.  Then, stirred in two chopped tomatoes from our garden to warm in the pan and ... on top went Mr. Brook Trout!  We just shared a plate, ate the meat and scooped up the veggies as we went ... it was delicious! Wild trout taste nothing like farmed trout, TRUST US!

Overall, we were definitely frugal with food on this trip and created some pretty yummy, if unconventional and strange, meals if you ask me!  And yes, we ended up coming home with quite a few groceries to spare!  We had a blast!

I wouldn't recommend staying in a campground with no water, though.  Luckily we were close to town where we could buy water because .... dirty fishy dishes ... must be washed! :-)

Camping Ramen Noodles

If you've never been camping with 5 kids ... then you don't know our pain.  This weekend we only had 4 out of 5 and luckily, we have a camp stove.  This trip, we brought hot dogs to roast, of course and sandwich fixin's to make sure we were prepared.  But we always make camp spaghetti and I am just sick of the idea truthfully.  So this year, I had read a blog someone posted about their own family tradition of making Curry Ramen Noodles when they go camping and how the tradition got started.  I thought:  Ramen!  What a perfectly awesome camping idea!  Plus, it's inexpensive and with 4 kids ... you get the idea. 

I can't in good conscious feed our kids merely noodles, but they argue over which cooked vegetables are edible.  So we opted for raw veggies!  Brownie cut up three bell peppers and put them on a plate with some raw carrots and heirloom cherry tomatoes.  The kids munched on (and nearly finished) those while I concocted the noodles with what we'd brought.

What we brought was very little.  I am allergic to MSG.  The packets in Ramen Noodles with all those salty spices? They get tossed. Knowing how they make me feel, I can't put that into our kids' bodies.  I had brought some vegetable broth leftover from making our Jambalaya with us and a handful of jars from the spice cupboard, knowing the spice packets would be useless to me.  There must be others out there who can't stand those packets, so I will share. At home, I will sometimes use cumin or curry or wherever my intuition leads me, but ... in the spirit of camping I kept it simple.  My skeleton recipe for camping Ramen with no spice packets? Here ya go:

Ingredients:

6 packets Ramen Noodles
Water
Broth (doesn't matter what kind - I have to use specific brands and usually vegetable to avoid MSG)
Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper
Poultry Seasoning
Chives (dried from our garden)
Dried Basil

Directions:

Boil water and broth, add noodles, add everything else until the taste is just right for you.  You know how to make Ramen! :-)

Once the kids were fed and full, we still had noodles left for us.  I stirred in a little more water, chopped up the rest of the Jerk Chicken from our Jamexican Tacos that I'd put in the cooler on our way out of town, threw it in and warmed the noodles up again.  Yes!  This may be a new favorite. Did I mention we're packing Jerk Chicken with us no matter where we go now form now on?  Yup.

We even had enough noodles leftover to store in the used chicken container to heat up for breakfast!  I will never camp without Ramen (and 1/2 my spice cupboard) again!

Cheese Bar Quickie

Our Day in Portland is coming to a close, we've decided to head to the restaurant to see if we can find parking on Burnside and possibly get a seat at the counter to watch the chefs cook.  But our last stop is Cheese Bar on Belmont.

We decided to be authentic and just order the cheese boards.  They are simple, no-fluff, straight about the cheese.  I like that.  They have awesome wines, microbrews and ciders available and the atmosphere is very cafe-laid-back.

The staff was super excited when we wanted to taste some cheese in the case while we waited on our food.  They interpreted my 'I like the crunchy cheeses...." perfectly and found exactly what kind of cheeses I was talking about.  These people KNOW CHEESE.  No one made me feel like an idiot for only knowing the common everyday cheeses, they just enthusiastically offered me options and steered us expertly toward exactly what we wanted.

We ended up buying three cuts of cheese that we can't wait to make a cheeseboard at home with .... we enjoyed our time here and the staff .... just awesome.  I can't wait to go back and try some of the other things on the menu!

Stop by and get your cheese on!!!  I guarantee you'll learn so much and come away with something amazing and mouth-watering!

First Attempt at Asian Cuisine!

Just a quick photo!

We love to eat Asian food of all kinds - but neither of us are incredibly talented at cooking it.  So Brownie broke out the wok and for the first time - successfully made us Asian cuisine!  Stir Fry Veggies with Noodles and Laab Lettuce Wraps.  SO good, I could do this every night!!!!

Sweet Red Bistro

We haven't had a date in a long while, we were due!  Tonight we chose Sweet Red Bistro in Albany, Oregon.  This wasn't our first trip to the restaurant, but I thought I would share a little about it here.

This space was home (for years) to the old Boccherini's Coffe & Tea House.  It's always been a quaint and relaxing space to spend time in.  Albany-ites were so sad to see Boccherini's go but now .... we have Sweet Red's in its place!

You can order from a list of beautiful wines (lots of sweeter dessert options here) or you can even bring your own bottle and they will open it and pour it for you.  I always like to try one or two of their wine flights to taste which goes better with what I'm eating and tasting.

Tonight I also decided to try the tomato basil soup - I was starving.  It was delicious and full of basil flavor!  

We ordered the cheese board, knowing that it would fill both of us up and we felt like playing and flirting and creating fun combinations of nuts and cheese and fruit.  It was perfection!  

The atmosphere here is perfect for a romantic date night.  The lighting is low, you can tuck yourself in the back and enjoy your food.

The staff is so friendly and knowledgeable about the wines and food!  They answered all of our questions without a blink and when my flights of wine came, I got to hear all about each of them. 

Tonight we also did something we rarely do:  we ordered dessert!  No need to order coffee, the wines went wonderfully with our chocolate dessert!

Overall, we adore this place.  The art on the walls, the ambiance, everything just screams 'relaxing sexy date night'.  It was perfect for our mood!  Love it!

Elk Burger

Just a quickie to show off our gift for the week:  Ground Elk Venison!  Brownie made burgers with this because we just wanted to savor the meat!

So, officially the description is:  Elk Venison Burgers topped with shiitake mushrooms and Dubliner Cheese with spicy mustard!

They were scrumptious.  Now if Brownie would just go hunting with friends and bring us home some other cuts of venison to experiment with .....

Black Box Challenge

We like to keep things entertaining around here.  I know Brownie likes to cook and dream up amazing things, but I like to challenge him and push his limits :-)

Tonight, I stopped by the store and created a little black box challenge for him with ingredients that seemingly don't really go together.  I researched this a little and was informed that:  1 protein, 1 starch, 1 vegetable, 1 fruit and something off-the wall.  Easy enough.

I stayed with standard grocery items that we all see everyday, so the conventional grocery store was were I chose my ingredients.

After some research, I was sent with some wine into the living room to wait while he created in his space.  What he came up with .... he seriously has to make this again because it was SO good!!!!

Almond (Nut Thins) and Rosemary Crusted Shrimp with Avocado, Tomato and Bell Pepper Cous Cous with a Kiwano Melon, Chili and Ginger Chocolate Sauce.

I really wish he wrote down recipes as he creates ... we will work on that.  Because this was just outstandingly delicious!!!!!  Challenge met!

BBQ Ribs

If there's anything Brownie loves, its smoking meat on his BBQ!  This process takes hours - it's a labor of love.  Sometimes he will stay up all night, setting alarms and checking charcoal and wood throughout the night just to get the meat perfect for the next day.  

Which means ... neither of us sleep.  But ribs don't take all night.  He started these today and by the time I got home from dance practice - they were nearly done and ready to rest.

When he cut into them ... oh my!  Juicy and tender and just right!  Now we're off to dig into these and get messy!  Goodnight all!

Asian Pears Foster

Just a quickie!

We just moved in to our new house - we now have a huge kitchen, a gas stove and apparently - an Asian Pear tree!  So Brownie made Asian Pears Foster with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, Ginger Snap Granola and Fresh Mint - it's divine!  I think we're going to love living here!

BBQ Brisket

Brownie's latest BBQ masterpiece.  This baby was on the grill all night, torturing our neighbors with meaty, smoky smells.  I'm surprised no one is knocking on our door today.

Brownie's favorite part of BBQing is slicing into his latest endeavor.  Today - he discovered perfection waiting inside!  This Brisket was juicy and just melts in your mouth.  He's super proud of this one!

We put our slices on a bun with some pickled carrots, cucumber and thinly sliced red onion.  They were absolutely incredible!  Leftovers are going to be amazing for the next few days!!

BBQ Success!!!!!