Portland Eateries Part I: The Waffle Window

It definitely seems like my blog is naturally becoming one centered around food, and I'm fine with that.  I realize that there is no way at all I can become a professional blogger - one who updates things regularly - since my last post was over a month ago!  Whoops...

Anyhow I decided to make a series called Portland Eateries!  Is this going to be a weekly thing?  A monthly thing?  A whenever-I-feel-like-it-thing?  I have no idea.  But what I do know is that The Waffle Window on NE Alberta St. is amaaaaaaazing.

Whenever I have friends visiting Portland I am often asked, "What food place should I try in Portland?"  I always say "The Waffle Window!"  The Waffle Window has two locations - one in SE Portland and the other in NE Portland.  I've only been to the NE Alberta St. (NE Portland) and it's because on both occasions I wanted to sit down and eat.  From what you can read on yelp, the SE Portland has a dining area that it shares with an adjacent restaurant.  The NE Portland location however is more like a cafe-esque type of place where you can sit and happily munch on your waffles.  They have SO. MANY. WAFFLES.  From sweet to savory and to even waffle sundaes (what???) with seasonal specials, there's something to satisfy everyone and anyone.

Now for some beautiful waffle images:

The "Three B's" Waffle - Bacon, Brie, and Basil

Look at how beautiful that is!  I somehow always wind up getting the Three B's.  Even when I feel adventurous and want to try something new, I end up asking for it.  There's just something so magical about the harmony between crunchy, salty, sweet, and savory tastes that form in my mouth with every bite.  It also comes with a big heaping of their house-made peach jam.  I die.  I'm kicking myself for not knowing the exact price, and not all prices are listed on their menu, but I believe it was less than $9.

More waffles:

Nutella and Fresh Banana Waffle looking all delicious.

I'm not a big fan of sweet things, so the waffle above was happily devoured by my boyfriend.  I had about two bites and it definitely reminded me more of a cake than a waffle.  The whipped cream wasn't too heavy nor did it taste like it came from a can, and it was topped with delicate cinnamon-sugar and fudge.  Again, I'm not too sure about the prices but I'm positive this one was less than $9 also.

They also have some hand-crafted lemonades like blackberry basil and green tea mint.  I'm a devout fan of green tea so you can guess which one I always get.

So basically if you want to eat something different, delicious, and satisfying, definitely try The Waffle Window the next time you're visiting Portland!  You'll spend less than $10 a person and leave happy!  Are you a fan of waffles?  Have you visited The Waffle Window before?  Let me know what you think in the comments below and don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin`!  

How To Make Kale Chips

Hi everyone!  Now I know I'm literally years late on the kale-chip-bandwagon, but here's a very, very, very easy recipe (below) on how to make these delicious, irresistible, crunchy power greens.  There are tons of reasons why kale is awesome; according to MindBodyGreen, kale is low in calorie, high in calcium, fiber, iron, Vitamin A, K, and C, and has 0 fat!  It also has a ton of antioxidants and works like a "detox food" (aka regulates your digestive business), and also serves as an anti-inflammatory food and it's awesome when it comes to cardiovascular support.  Not to mention when massaged with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt, kale chips become the healthy (and equally addicting) version of our dear old buddy, Mr. Potato Chip.

Easy Kale Chips

1. Preheat your oven to 325°F.  Get out your kale! The easy way to go is to buy your kale already cut, chopped, and cleaned.

2. Line a baking sheet with foil - this helps with the clean up - and take out a small handful (roughly 1 C) of kale onto the foil.

3. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil over the kale.  You can also use coconut oil if you'd prefer.

4. Massage the oil into allllll those nooks and crannies in between the leaves of the kale to ensure even cooking.  (Yes your hands will get super oily, but olive/coconut oil are good moisturizers for your skin!)

5. Sprinkle sea salt sparingly onto your oiled up kale; seriously less is more.  You don't need to physically sea the salt piling up on the kale chips.

6. (Optional) I wanted to try out Mrs. Dash's Lemon Pepper seasoning on my kale chips today.  Yes, I realize Mrs. Dash is salt-free, so putting the sea salt first completely ruined the point of it being a healthy seasoning alternative - but I had it in my pantry and decided to try it.

7. Make sure your kale chips are in a single layer and not bunched up on top of each other.  Pop them into the oven for 12 minutes.  Yes, 12 - not 11 and not 13, but twelve minutes.

8. After 12 minutes, take your lovely baked kale chips out of the oven.  As you can see they do shrink down quite a bit!

9. Put the chips into a bowl, toss the foil out, and enjoy!  I dare you to just eat one and walk away (it's impossible!)

*Storage note: 1 cup of kale can easily fill up a small bowl (see the first pic) so I wouldn't really recommend making a lot of batches.  If you do make a lot of batches, don't be surprised if the kale gets soggy or wilted overnight, even if you keep it in a container, and it'll definitely depend on the humidity of where you live.  BUT on the bright side, just pop them back into the oven the following day again at 325°F for about 6 minutes and they'll be back to their fresh, crispy selves.

Oh and if you were wondering how the kale chips tasted with the lemon pepper seasoning, I would give it 3 out of 5 stars (boo!).  I think the other seasonings within the lemon pepper shaker actually burned in the cooking process so a lot of my kale chips ended up tasting charred and just plain gross.  I think I'll stick to plain old sea salt or garlic salt next time around.

If you try out this recipe please let me know!  I'd love to know if it worked for you or if you made your own little adjustments to it!  Don't forget you can follow me through bloglovin by clicking on the Eiffel Tower picture to the right!

Enjoy your kale chips!

Firsts: Bella Luna Korean Spa & Sauna, a co-ed jjimjilbang.

From now on, every time I try something new - whether it's a new store, new food, or new experience - it's going to go under the title of "Firsts."

This Saturday marked my first experience going to a co-ed jjimjilbang.  A jjimjilbang is a traditional Korean sauna.  You might have seen one if you're a fan of k-dramas, or if you've seen Psy's Gangnam Style music video.

From kpopnews.org

A jjimjilbang typically has several dry sauna rooms, several wet sauna rooms, a bunch of pools and a bunch of pools you can go into.  I've always wanted to try going to a jjimjilbang but unfortunately Oregon only has one, and it's a bit out of my way.  My boyfriend however lives up in Washington near Lynnwood - a city that hosts a bunch of Korean eateries, supermarkets, and hair salons.  I figured if there was any place to look for a jjimjilbang in the Pacific Northwest, it would be Lynnwood.

Thanks to the power of Yelp, I learned of Bella Luna Korean Spa and Sauna.  Most jjimjilbang that I've seen are same-sex only, but surprisingly Bella Luna is co-ed!  Since my boyfriend is half-Korean I asked if he wanted to have a day or relaxation with me and he happily agreed.

*Note: Forgive my lack of pictures but I didn't like the idea of bringing my phone into 150 degree rooms just to snag a few photos.  Sorrrrrrry!

Bella Luna charges $25 for all-day use of their facilities.  If you want to get a massage or scrub, it's some additional $$.  Since I wasn't in the mood for a scrub and since my boyfriend and I planned on getting a couples massage later at a different location, we just wanted to use the sauna.  After paying, the girl at the front gave my boyfriend and I each a key to our locker, a pair of pants, a shirt, a body towel, and a face towel.  I also got a little bath cap.  We were instructed to take off our shoes and place them in a little cubby.  The floor is heated! We were then shown the gender-specific locker areas.  In the locker areas there are same-sex only sauna rooms, and a bunch of pools.

I met my boyfriend out in the co-ed lobby area and we set out to find the different rooms.  Each room has some mineral in it that's supposed to remove impurities from your skin and basically detoxify your whole body.  Our first stop was the clay room - which I didn't realize until after was the hottest room ever.  No wonder they had a note that said to only stay in it for 15 minutes!  After the clay room we found the salt room which is basically a room in which you can lie on a bed of salt.  That was at a much more comfier temperature thankfully!  Bella Luna also has a snow room which is a room with a bunch of freezer coils all along the walls, which allows you to cool off in between.  There are also ridiculously comfy couches in the lobby area complete with magazines and foot massagers!

After the snow room we went to the jade room which is probably my favorite.  This room is COVERED in jade and a bunch of other different rocks.  It was at a temperature in between the salt and clay room, so it was pretty warm but still comfy.  We migrated later to the charcoal room which was my boyfriend's favorite since it was only 108 degrees.  I think he fell asleep at some point!

We took a break to have some lunch at Cafe Robins, which is a restaurant inside Bella Luna that's run by an ahjussi and ahjumma.  We ordered the bulgogi plate, and some spicy ramyun alonside an ice coffe and green tea.  The ahjumma gave us little cookies on the side and lots of delicious banchan (side dishes).  I was debating about getting my phone to take a picture of everything but my boyfriend told me to relax and not worry about Instagraming everything.

After our meal we relaxed on the couch in the lobby before returning to the salt room.  I wanted to check out the Elvan stone room in the women's area so I bid my boyfriend goodbye for a bit.  The Elvan stone room was comfortable and set at a lower temperature.  Surprisingly there was a girl in there using her phone and eventually she fell asleep.  I don't know if her phone made it or not.  After the Elvan stone room I found my boyfriend sleeping in the jade room.  We basically cycled through all of the rooms again and finally near the end I said I wanted to go in the pools.  The boyfriend wanted to take a shower so he said he'd meet me back out in the lobby so we could grab some dessert from Cafe Robins before leaving.

Let me tell you about the pools.

First of all, you have to be comfortable getting naked in front of people.  There are signs all over the pool entrance that no swimsuits are allowed and your bath cap must be worn at all times.  There were lots of naked old ladies and women my age walking around not really caring at all.  It was slightly intimidating, but I found out you get over it really quickly.  The shower area also has shampoo, conditioner, and body wash so if you brought your own body loofa then I'm sure you could take a shower after you were done with everything.  Also within the pool area are scrubbing areas, and two additional wet saunas - an infrared room and a steamed jade room.  There are 3 different pools: 1 hot-tub like one, 1 mid-temperature large one, and 1 small freezing ice pool with a waterfall.  Surprisingly the ice pool felt amaaaazing to sink in to at the end of my time in all three pools.

I met my boyfriend in the lobby after changing and found out that there were no other men in his locker room so he got to test out the pools all by himself!  We went to Cafe Robins and ordered a yogurt berry patbingsu or shave/shaved ice.  This is the ONE picture that I took of the entire time at Bella Luna, but it was so delicious!

Nom, nom, nom!

Homemade ice cream atop a giant layer of red bean, followed by fresh raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries smothered in condensed milk, on top of a bed of freshly shaved ice and berry yogurt on the bottom!

Needless to say we gobbled it up in less than five minutes!

Overall my first time at a jjimjilbang was awesome!  I would definitely go again - especially if it's only $25 for the whole day and this place opens at 9 AM and closes at midnight (whaaaat??)!  I'd definitely recommend it to you if you're ever in the Lynnwood, WA area.

What about you?  Have you ever been to a jjimjilbang?  Comment below and don't forget to follow me on bloglovin by clicking the Eiffel Tower!

Poutine - those Canadians know what's up.

If I had to pick one thing to eat for the rest of my life it just might be poutine.  Honestly though if I ate poutine every single day then 'the rest of my life' would be shortened to a few years.  This artery-clogging goodness has its roots in Quebec, Canada.  Although arguments on what is considered the "original" poutine abound, poutine is basically a glorious mess of fries, cheese curds, and gravy.

My first encounter with this divine snack was on July 6, 2013 when my boyfriend and I drove up to Canada for the day to visit Playland.  Playland is part amusement park, part country fair, and due to poor planning skills my boyfriend and I failed to exchange our USD to CAD.  Thankfully there was ONE eatery in the park that accepted Visa.  We ordered some pizza, poutine, and sprite, not expecting anything amazing.  We were wrong.  Poutine was a mixture of crunchy, melty, salty, heavenly deliciousness.

The second time I met up with poutine was in September.  Again my boyfriend and I drove up to Canada for an overnight stay in downtown Vancouver - this time prepared with Canadian money.  I had gone on Yelp to find some poutine places and the #1 review was for Mean Poutine on 718 Nelson Street.  This place definitely had some mean poutine.  In fact, the poutine that my boyfriend and I ended up getting was called "The Mean Supreme Poutine" which had beef, bacon, peppers, mushrooms, and onions.  This poutine was one of 7 specialty poutines but you also can make your own!  They also serve the most amazing hotdogs ever!  You can view their menu here.

Finding cheese curds at a grocery store proved to be a bit difficult - even after hitting up Whole Foods and local markets.  Unfortunately I live 2 hours away from the Tilamook cheese plant - where I know they have cheese curds - so you can understand my excitement when discovering the Fred Meyer that was 2 minutes away from my apartment had some in stock.  I bought some gravy packets - those 58-cent powder ones - and some frozen fries.  I also added some caramelized onions to the mess.  The result wasn't as good as Mean Poutine's, but it satisfied my craving for it.

Nom, nom, nom!

Poutine is the perfect snack when you feel like being particularly gluttonous.  This weekend my boyfriend discovered that Trader Joe's carries poutine packs in their freezer section!  We also added kalua pig shipped up from Hawaii made by my father.  

Look for poutine in the freezer section at your local Trader Joe's!

Verdict?  We definitely should've added salt or something to the Trader Joe's fries.  They were a lot thicker than the generic Ore Ida fries I was used to, but also tasted like very bland potatoes.  The cheese curds were also a bit on the rubbery side since they were frozen in little packets and needed to be defrosted, but luckily we had some fresh cheese curds from Fred Meyer on hand.  The kalua pig definitely saved it.  Nevertheless, long live poutine.