Mad about Mushrooms . . .

Siri Thai - Portland, Oregon

This past week on Steven's birthday we made a return visit to Siri Thai on busy Powell Boulevard, in justified anticipation of another scrumptious meal. We'd lunched there on previous occasions, always walking away pleased with the cheerful and efficient service, the lovely interior made especially noteworthy by its cleanliness and the large number of orchids in bloom, along with the beautifully prepared cuisine that consistently left us content and satisfied with our choices. 

As usual, Siri did not disappoint.  The wait staff welcomed us with generous smiles and a recollection of our previous visit, even pointing out that on our past visit (at least a month ago!) we'd just been to the Benjamin Moore paint store across the street before arriving at Siri for lunch. 

Thursday was a warm and lazy afternoon, and we started off with the Appetizer Special of the Day which was a tempura plate of squid, carrot and broccoli pieces with the house special sauce.  It was so delicious that we decided to have an appetizer lunch and ordered the Combo Appetizer Plate of: 3 egg rolls, 3 blanket shrimp, 3 crab puffs & 2 salad rolls, accompanied by both the house specialty sauce and a velvety peanut sauce, along with an iced Thai coffee, my personal, mid-day favorite beverage. Soon simply marvelous tidbits of food filled our table! 

 

Fanciful and Imaginative Mushroom Prints

All kinds of things cross our desks that have, in one way or another, a connection to mushrooms, and we pass along an occasional and select few to you, our readers, when we think they may be of interest.  So it was that when we saw these fanciful and imaginative art prints, done by New Jersey artist Nicole Denise, we thought you’d enjoy them as well. They’re not strictly of, or even about mushrooms, but fungi are such a prominent element in many of them that they can hardly be ignored.

The boxed set is bursting with color
and whimsical images.

July 2016's Recipe of the Month: Roxanne Chan's Sesame Shiitake Pie

Roxanne's like a good friend - reliable and always a little astonishing.  She's entered our Annual Recipe Content on a couple of previous occasions, adding an extra measure of creativity to the entries.  In 2009 her Szechuan Shiitake Spread was a judge's favorite, and in 2014 her Winter Wilted Shiitake Salad was a solid contender for the First Prize.  This year's entry, Sesame Shiitake Pie, was deemed lovely to look at and even more delightful to the palate, thanks to its rich pastry crust and indulgent filling, which caused the judging area to be filled with enthusiastic calls for "another serving, please."

We were glad to welcome Roxanne Chan
back to our recipe contest.

What keeps Roxanne creating new recipes year after year?  She responds by saying:

I enjoy developing healthy dishes from the produce I grow and try to give a creative twist to my recipes, in other words thinking outside the box. I recently achieved my goal of 1,000 award winning recipes after 35 years of my recipe contesting hobby.

Yes, you read that correctly!  1,000 award winning recipes.  Oh, my gosh!