Fritter instead of Twitter

I just discovered this delightful website and am in love. Frittering beats Twittering in my book any day. Enjoy, my fellow conscientious foodies.
http://www.culinate.com/home

Castagna Restaurant

The evening of my birthday celebration kicked off with perfectly seared scallops and ended with decadent cheese ice cream, all at Castagna Restaurant. What a way to ring in my 36th year of existence; seated in a dimly lit dining room, surrounded by a simple, elegant setting and noshing new food with my hubby.

The star of the show was Cassio's appetizer consisting of dungeness crab, amaranth (a leafy green,) lemon and cardamom. The citrus and crab provided the perfect dialogue, leaving a refreshing aftertaste at the tip of your tongue. Second place, only because of its monologue nature, was a simple swipe of black garlic across my plate. Yes, I ran my finger oh so tenderly through the grainy black decadence, desiring more so as I could spoon it onto a cracker and lap it up with enthusiasm.

Overall, the food was well-prepared, but there seemed to be something lacking with the dishes. Striving to feature a wide array of popular and inventive ingredients, the dishes seemed to fall short when it came to a cohesive concept. Simply put, the food didn't play nicely with each other. Of course this is just my humble opinion, and while I had a wonderful experience, I would recommend other restaurants over this one to those who visit this wonderful city.

Environment: 2+ thumbs up

Food: 1 thumb up

Price: $$$

Service: 2 thumbs up

Location: SE Hawthorne

Garlic: the New Black

After supposedly sporting a stethoscope and curing folks for ages in Korea, China and Japan, black garlic donned a chef's hat, traversed to the U.S. and began to cure bored palates. Upon arrival, this member of the onion family quickly became the next "it" ingredient. Its sweet, fermented cloves hypnotized chefs across the country and enchanted its way into top kitchens' dishes while making celebrity appearances on TV shows such as Bravo's Top Chef: New York.

So what exactly is this black garlic I speak of? Why is it black? Has it been burnt or ruined? Perhaps the color is simply its best defense. "Yes, yes, I'm burnt and ruined through and through. Don't eat me. I'm awful." Don't you be deceived, my noshing friend. The flavor is purely divine. Spread it on a cracker and call it bliss; dab it on some scallops and bliss will explode. Yes, yes and oh my goodness, yes.

This bulb is best aged at a constant temperature over a month, which yields a soft, jelly-like texture, a black color and a sweet molasses flavor, of course complemented with a hint of garlic. This heaven has only teased my tongue once, but I sincerely hope Mr. Black Garlic and I meet again soon.

Foster Burger

There's a new hunk of meat in the hood with mighty tasty buns. The name? Burger. Foster Burger. Simple name, simple menu.

A little background: Pok Pok, a delicious Thai restaurant on Division, is the claim to fame for these burger connoisseurs, featured in culinary publications such as Gourmet, Food & Wine and Saveur. (More to come on Pok Pok later.) Exclamations of joy that these culinary geniuses chose our neighborhood for their next experiment, and our taste buds weren't disappointed.

First off, great atmosphere and wonderful lighting. (Those who know me know my respect and obsession with dimmers.) Secondly, extremely friendly service, although a tad slow on the uptake, but we sympathize with new restaurant jitters.

Lastly, glorious food. Favorite thing, hands down were the black and white fries. Yes, the burger was cooked to perfection and drew saliva from my tongue, while the buns were sweet and fluffy, sourced from "An Xuyen Bakery" smack dab next door. (Not a long walk for them buns.) But these fries; unique, decadent and wonderful. The white? Truffle oil. Always a nice upgrade to tators. The black? Get this: squid ink aioli dipping sauce. GLORY BE! Good bye ketchup, hello squid ink. Yes, please.

Overall, a great experience. Mostly burgers on the menu (duh) and a couple of salads. I might have to try a leafy green option next time; maybe the Cobb, featuring a big slab of perfectly smoked, superbly cooked bacon lying provocatively across the top of crisp greens.

Environment: 2 thumbs up

Food: 2 thumbs up

Service: friendly but slow

Location: SE Foster

Nosh-i-guchi, an Introduction

Nosh: A Yiddish word defined in Webster's as "to eat on the sly" or " to eat a snack" like "noshing on pizza." Mmmmm, noshing. A wonderful and adventurous method of experiencing Portland. Apparently, it's difficult to stumble upon icky food here. And I love the word nosh, because change one letter, and it's the first syllable of my last name. Come on. Good times with words. Let's all say it together, class: Nosh-i-guchi.

So, armed with a clever name (if I do say so myself) and a plethora of deliciously exciting food at my fingertips, I've set a goal to nosh and blog this year. I may nosh at a restaurant, at a happy hour, at home or anyplace where noshing abounds. I may nosh in the present, or I might do some retroactive noshing. But mark my blog words, there will be plenty of noshing experiences to share with you folks.

Stay tuned, my fellow noshers.