My mom gave us all coupon books for Christmas with things to do through the year with us. One of the first things was a tour and cooking demonstration at LeCordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in downtown Portland.
We took a tour first. We saw an ironing room and my mom was taking pictures of that. They have an ironing room because when the students are on campus they have to wear their chef jackets and they have to be ironed because they work with food and they are suppose to look professional.
We took a tour of the kitchens, and there were large mixers and huge tables. It was very impressive. Only, I could smell the gluten and feel it in my lungs and it started making me feel a little sick.
Next up, we went to the demonstration kitchen where the chef taught us to cook a meal. The chef was a teacher who had been a chef in fancy restaurants and cruise ships all around the world.
He taught us to make lettuce wrapped steaks with veggies. It looked really easy to make.
Then... he called me up to the front! I was pretty scared but I did it. So I stood up in front of everyone and made the wrap and tasted it! It was so exciting for me.
I made some felt play pasta for kids. I have "pesto farfalle" and "cheesy agnolotti". They will be on sale for $4.00 per package. I will also have some aprons for sale too!
My mom is going to have her belts and dresses there too, and my sister will have a table as well. Come by and say hi if you are in Portland and buy some play pasta!
My mom and I were grocery shopping and we went to New Seasons. I had my gift card that I won so I went to the cupcake area and chose a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting from New Cascadia.
The frosting was at first hard, because it was refrigerated, then it softened in the car. Now it tasted like chocolatey butter.
The candy sticks tasted like chocolate and vanilla swirl.
The cake is vanilla and I LOVE vanilla, and it tastes moist; it's soft, nice in my mouth, and it's powdery, in a good way, not grainy.
It's very sugary!
You should go get one of these cupcakes at New Seasons or New Cascadia, they are delicious! Fancy, divine, wonderful.
We had the day off of school on Friday and my mom decided we would take a tour of Bob's Red Mill, which is about twelve miles south of us in Milwaukie, Oregon. I was really excited to go and see where our grains come from, because we buy lots of Bob's Red Mill stuff.
They have a place just for gluten free flours and they even test it in a lab to always make sure it's safe for gluten free.
I didn't really believe Bob was even real, but we were sitting there listening to the tour lady, and unexpectedly, Bob walked through the door! I was so excited that I got to see Bob! He was 84 and I was pretty surprised he walked through his 15 acre factory every day.
Then we took the tour and saw how they grind the grains and put it into bags. I learned they have over 400 products, and they work 24 hours a day.
here we learned what wheat looks like, how to get the wheat berries out and grind it.
Bob's Red Mill is in all different countries around the world!
I want to win gluten free awards one day!
On June 15, 1988, Bob's Red Mill was burned down in a fire by an arsonist. And Bob said to the firemen "save my two stones!" and they were saved. But Bob didn't quit! They rebuilt the mill and the barn. Now it's a huge business and he gave his business to his employees.
At the end of the tour, they gave out free samples and a chip to buy a cookie at the store.
After the tour, we went to the Bob's Red Mill red barn store and restaurant. I ordered the plate of three gluten free French Toast.
I was excited about all the dairy free butter and jelly I put all over my toast!
There was eggs on the French Toast and I thought that was strange but it was so delicious and eggy. I thought three pieces of toast it wasn't going to be enough. But after having half a piece I was already beginning to be full. I had also had my free little gluten free donut too. It was a lot of food.
Bob came down to the restaurant and he played the piano and I thought it was kind of funny, so I took some pictures but I also took a video! Here he is playing "When You're Smiling". I was so excited and amazed I could be there that day.
I took a first bite of the pumpkin pie and the only stuff I could get to was the cream, so I took a bite of the cream and it was wonderful, divine, beautiful.
so many yummy looking things, hard to make a decision!
Why I chose the pumpkin pie is one night I went to this bakery, Back to Eden, with a friend named Kerry and I got the pumpkin pie and cake, and I wanted it again. Back to Eden sells all gluten free and vegan food.
The pumpkin part tastes like pumpkin pie with a little bit of cinnamon. The cream tastes like coconut ice cream and nutmeg.
I saved the rest until I got home and can get a crack at the crust. Now that I've had the crust, I would say it's a little hard, but pretty good!
I went to order my pie and I wanted to give her my business card and I was really nervous, I don't feel that brave. But when I gave her my card, she was very excited that I have my own blog, so then I felt proud.
Our favorite coffee shop, The Arbor Lodge, had their two year anniversary party that we went to Saturday night.
The next morning I woke up, got dressed, and ate breakfast. We wrote a thank you/congratulations card to Scott, who owns The Arbor Lodge. My mom and I were going to go to Trader Joe's and we went to the coffee shop first to bring the card. I was going to get dairy free hot chocolate but I saw these beautiful muffins. When I first got the muffin I felt the freshness in my hand.
When I ate the muffin, I tasted the freshness and the delight of the muffin. The gluten free marionberry muffin was from Florio Bakery. On one side I can taste a hint of sugar; on the other side I can taste a hint of honey, and if you taste both sides at once then it tastes divine!
