P I C N I C

I biked down to Sellwood to have lunch at Garden State, located at 13th and Lexington. Now that the weather is getting nice it’s pretty fun to make a little excursion to have an outdoor lunch. Sitting at a nearby picnic table allowed me to watch the dogwalkers and lunchtime strollers go by. I had a little green salad and the porchetta sandwich, which was really delicious. Moist, long cooked pork shoulder was mixed with mint, rosemary, and oregano. The juices saturated the toasted hoagie roll, making it a little messy but very tasty. Next time I stop by I think I’ll try either the meatball hero or the garbonzo cake sandwich with lemon aioli.

Abernethy elementary school is having a fundraiser to help pay for a full time music teacher. I thought I’d donate a meal for them to auction. Quite a few other gustations are up for auction. A candlelit dinner by Chef Nicole and her parents in the gorgeous garden of wonders; a wine tasting by Brandi Nash sampling 24 boutique Willamette wines; a bourbon party at Jonathon Radmacher’s house; a walking dinner tour in Ladd’s Addition!

I took this photo as an illustration of the dinner I might make, to put on the auction site. It’s not literal of course. I was thinking of those Dutch still lives and was looking at some on a great site I discovered, the web gallery of art.

The last batch of beer is about half drunk so it’s time to make some more. I brewed it up Saturday and by last night it was already fermenting very well with a thick krausen. Unfortunately it’s a little weak and watery, like the last batch. This is due to my sparging efficency, I’m not extracting as much sugar as I should be. The following formula will come in handy in the future:

(Gallons•Specific Gravity/Pounds of Malt)/Maximum Extraction=Efficiency

(5.15 Gallons•40/8.8)/36=65%

That’s a pretty bad percentage, so in the future I’ll just need to add more barley to make my beer stronger.

Kate and I had dinner tonight. We drank some of the Pale Ale from February 8th, along with the trumpet mushrooms in risotto, stewed peppery bok choy, and carrots boiled in brine. We talked about good things.