SNDC is Not a Dinner Club

My house is 2316 NE Mason St; it’s the grey house with the humongous photographs of people in the windows.  Let’s meet 5:30 tomorrow.

To calm our jittery nerves after the debates, and to celebrate summer’s end, let’s have some winter butternut squash pasta.  OK, that’s not the real reason; I just like pasta.  Also, I’m proud to say I’ve made this once before, with success.  It’s really rather easy to make–if not for the peeling, grating and deseeding of the squash, it’d only take half an hour–and doesn’t require too many ingredients. 

Here’s what the recipe calls for: 

1 pound peeled and seeded butternut squash- Ellery
2 tablespoons olive oil- Ellery
freshly ground black pepper- Ellery
salt and 1 teaspoon sugar- Ellery
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg- Courtney
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan (should be non-dairy, for Dan?)- Dan

And let’s have a salad too.

I’ll get the butternut squash, and I’ve got most of the spices & the Parmesan; I’ve also got spinach, tomatoes, carrots, and various dressings.

Can people bring: 
Freshly grated nutmeg?- Courtney
Non-dairy Parmesan? (I have regular ol’ Parmesan cheese & a Parmesan spice shaker, if Dan’s not coming)- Dan
Anything you want to add to the salad?
Drinks, juice or alcoholic?
Snacks?

Again, if you have any suggestions or you have a humongous allergy to squash etc., let me know. 

Ellery

I think Ben and I are hosting again this week. 1201 NE 21st.

Are folks up for a slightly crazy idea?  Five Spanish tapas dishes, inspired by this menu, which has recipes for a lot of farmers market stuff that I wouldn’t know what to do with otherwise. Everyone is OK with eggs, right? This looks crazy, but only the eggs take much time and effort – and they cook faster than, say, tamales.

Here’s my suggested menu:
Pimenton Padron  -  Roasted Patron peppers in olive oil with sea salt, aka Spanish roulette. About every 5th roasted pepper is SPICY!
Plato de melon – ripe melon with lime
Pan al horno – warmed bread with olive oil.
Tortilla espanola – Spanish potato omelet
Tomates asados -Smoked roma tomatoes (over charcoal, instead of wood chips, probably, though)

Ben and I already have most of the ingredients. Here’s what we still need:
A big loaf of airy bread – maybe even two.
Fresh parsley
Drinks – anything other than water that you might enjoy.

Optional -
Lime – I have lime juice at home, but I bet a fresh lime would be really good with the melon instead.
Vegan sour cream
parmesan

Also optional – If any of the other simple tapas dishes (like fresh grapes or garlic hummous with bread) appeal to you, feel free to bring them. But I think we should have plenty of food.

Let’s do our part for the hurricane victims by going Tex-Mex. Tamales will be a couple hours’ work, but I doubt they will disintegrate. Really, I do.

We need:
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/veg5spicetamales.htm

salsa
guacamole (opt)
sour cream (opt)
1 lb tofu, crumbled
2 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice powder (or some combination of spices that
sounds like it would work)
3 tablespoon onion, dried (or 5 tbsp. fresh)
1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped
4 teaspoon mustard, prepared – Mike
20 corn husks – Mike
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper – Mike
1 tablespoon soy sauce – Mike

Tamale Dough (Masa):
4 cups masa mix for tamales (probably from Freddie’s or Safeway)
1 tablespoon baking powder – Mike
2 teaspoons salt – Mike
4 cups vegetable broth, warmed – Mike
1 cup vegetable shortening – Mike

We also need a steamer. Dan, do you think you could borrow one from atop your fridge?

Mike

 How about this?  A corn and black bean polenta, to celebrate….the fact that it sounded good when I read the recipe.  Here’s what the recipe (from "The Big Book of Casseroles," Maryanna Vollstedt) calls for–I’m not good at quantifying this kind of thing, so I’m assuming that I would double the amounts when we get together.  

1 can (15 ounces) black beans- Ellery

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin- Courtney

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano- Courtney

polenta- Ellery

corn (at least 2 ears) – Courtney

red bell peppers- Ellery

1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce- Ellery

2 cups Monterey Jack cheese (vegan)

light sour cream? (vegan)

Other stuff: 

drinks? 

snacks?

By tonight, I’ll figure out what we actually have at home and what I’ll be able to buy before tomorrow evening; if there’s anything that you definitely have that you want to offer, feel free.  I also have a cranberry oatmeal cookie mix we can use; and if for any reason the polenta recipe doesn’t pan out, I have all of the materials for a butternut squash pasta recipe, as well (which turned out really well last time I tried it!).  Maybe we could also use any leftover bell peppers, corn, and lots of spinach we have on hand here, as a side salad? 

I’m not too advanced in the way of cooking, so if you have any suggestions, questions or requests before we get together, feel free to let me know.  

Hey, folks, hope everyone had a delightful time in Estacada.  (Mmm mmm smores!)  Are we still interested in coming over to my house this coming Sunday for SNDC?  5:30 on the 7th?  Our house is 2316 NE Mason St, about five blocks south of 23rd and Alberta.  Let me know what we think. 

OK, it sounds like it’s me, Ben, Mike, Dan. Sorry if I’m overkilling here, but I want to cover all the basics.

Packing, non-food.
There’s a chance we’ll have to pay to park at least once, so if we could all bring $1s or $5s, that would be good. Firewood should be available for purchase there, too. Bring a flashlight! Don’t forget to pack for all kinds of weather – it will probably be warm, but it’s good to have layers in case it winds up chilly. Also, the campground is next to a stream and a short drive from a hot springs, so swim clothes or stuff that can get wet is an option. Backpacks to carry stuff during the day. Ben and I will have a camp stove, pan, coffee making stuff, enough coffee mugs for all, and paper plates. We don’t have bowls we can bring for the oatmeal, but I guess we can bring some of our Rubbermaid/Tupperware dishes for that. We’ll also have sunscreen.

For food:
Ben and I will bring:
* Oatmeal, brown sugar, cinnamon, coffee, and tools to make them for Sunday breakfast.
* Loaf of bread for Sunday sandwiches.
* Fixings for couscous and veggies and beans, enough to feed everyone on Sunday if Dan & Mike stay for enough meals.

Mike and Dan, between the two of you can you bring?
* Items to put ON sandwiches
* Smores incredients.
* GORP and other stuff to nosh on.

Here are semi-decent driving directions from Portland, overlaid on my Dark Sky map.

I plan to make a better map with written directions before Ben and I take off and I can e-mail whatever I put together to you both when it’s done. Too tired to do it right now.
 
See you tomorrow afternoon.

I’m really into the Obama stuff on CSPAN right now, so if I overlook something let me know, but here’s a quick low down on camping stuff. I’ll e-mail this to any/all who might be interested later today. I’m assuming that Ben and I are the only ones staying until Monday, so we’ll plan our own Sunday night and Monday day meals.

1. Getting there:
Camp sites open at 2 p.m. With the stuff Ben and I have to do to get ready, I think we’ll more realistically be there around 3 p.m. My reservation is at camp site 7, and it’s under my name: "Courtney Sherwood." If you get there earlier, feel free to claim it.
Driving there From Estacada, Oregon, travel east on Highway 224 for 26 miles to
Ripplebrook Campground. The highway number changes to 46 at this point.
Continue on Road 46 to Road 63. Turn right on Rd 63 to Road 70. Turn right
onto Road 70 (towards Bagby Hot Springs) for 1 1/2 miles to Kingfisher
Campground.

2. Fire wood
I’m not sure if fire wood is available, so if someone can grab some wood that would be really cool.

3. Food – want to volunteer to bring fixings for any of the following?
Snacks –
GORP/trail mix
crackers/chips
veggies

Dinner
ME AND BEN: Fixings for couscous and veggies with canned beans
Optional other stuff: meat if you want it.

Camp fire stuff
Graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate.

Breakfast
Oats, brown sugar, other fixing for oatmeal.
ME AND BEN: Ground coffee

Lunch
At least one loaf of bread
lettuce, veggies, some kind of spread (like hummous)
optional meat and cheese and other sandwich fixings.

Cooking and food transport stuff:
camping stoves – I’ll bring one, but more are better
Pots/pans – I’ll bring a heavy household pan, if you have more that’s better.
Dishes
cups (that can hold hot as well as cold)
utensils
French press for coffee – me and ben

Extras:
We’ll bring a bunch of bottled water.
Juice might be good.
I could go either way on wine or beer.

4. Getting there.
There are two parking spots per camp site. Ben and I are staying until Monday, so we can’t drive anybody back who’s leaving Sunday.  Hopefully if we wind up with three cars it won’t be an issue, and two cars won’t be too crowded, but it’s something to consider. Our car has five seats total, so three extras not including us. What do we need to figure out there?

5. Who’s going?
Me, Ben, Lena, Brian, Mike all sound like yes. Dan? Ellery? Anyone else?

6. Camping gear.
Anybody need to figure out tend/sleeping pad/sleeping bag/other gear borrowing or swapping arrangements?

7. Stuff to do:
Obviously we’ll cook dinner, roast s’mores, gaze at stars, sleep, make coffee, make breakfast and have lunch. But in between?
Anybody know any good camp games or board games that won’t blow away when played outdoors?
I’ll also find a couple of easy-to-moderate trails to suggest in the area.
And I’m very curious about Bagby Hot Springs. It might be good to bring swim gear or shorts/shirts that can get wet in case we decide to check out the hot springs.

8. Obama!!!!!

As requested, here are the details on my plans for Labor Day camping. I think it should be a lot of fun.

I’ve reserved a campsite at Kingfisher Campground, which is about 2 hours outside of Portland, for the nights of Saturday, Aug. 30, and Sunday, Aug. 31. Arrive Saturday, depart Monday. Ben and I will definitely be there, and we’d love to have others join us, but there are some restrictions:
* Two cars per campsite.
* Maximum of 8 people at the site – if more than 8 people want to come, let me know and I’ll try to get a first-come-first-served walk-in site when Ben and I arrive. There are a number of these walk-in sites available.

I should be able to fill in more details on stuff to do by later in the week, but here are a few thoughts:
* I believe this is near Bagby Hot Springs, so we could go stew in water heated by the earth’s fires.
* There are also nice big clear lakes in the area.
* Lots of hiking in the vicinity.
* Cooking together would be fun.
* As would making smores.
* And then there’s the star gazing.
* We could play cards or bored games or tell scary stories or do whatever else it is that people are supposed to do when they gather witout electricity to be together.

This camp site is in the Mount Hood National Forest, in an area that is supposed to have some of the best night views of the stars in the country. There will be no  moon Saturday and barely any moon Sunday, so there will be great views of the stars and probably some shooting stars before it’s all over.

There are bathrooms, but no running water. No showers, no sinks. We’ll have to pack in and pack out whatever we bring.

If you plan to come, let me know so we can start planning food, driving, and other stuff that needs to be figured out in advance.

Driving there From Estacada, Oregon, travel east on Highway 224 for 26 miles to
Ripplebrook Campground. The highway number changes to 46 at this point.
Continue on Road 46 to Road 63. Turn right on Rd 63 to Road 70. Turn right
onto Road 70 (towards Bagby Hot Springs) for 1 1/2 miles to Kingfisher
Campground.

How about we make two pizzas, one vegan and one with mozzarella, at my place (1201 NE 21st), 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

I’ll provide:
* pizza dough
* pizza sauce
* shredded mozzarella
* tomatoes
* basil

Everyone else can bring:
* vegan cheese
* any and all vegetarian-friendly toppings you’d like (ex: onions, mushrooms, peppers, etc.)
* drinks
* optional dessert.