Hey everybody. I don’t really have much to say this week but I’m trying to post more regularly. My only notable food “adventure� of the week was finally remembering to use my way-too-old smoked paprika (I know for a fact it’s too old because I remember exactly when we bought it – December 2002 for our Spanish Christmas dinner.) It still had a lot of aroma but the roasted shrimp that I made with it was just OK. Smoked paprika is fantastic stuff – don’t let my failure prevent you from seeking it out. Anyway, the real reason for this post is that I wanted to share my newest favorite food website with you - Slashfood! Slashfood is a food blog that has been around only since August. Unlike many food blogs that I’ve come across (mine very much included), Slashfood actually has lots of things to say. It seems like new posts are added every hour or so. There are many contributors so they are always finding really cool, unusual food-related things to talk about. I go there once or twice a day and always find something interesting to read. The site is searchable by a variety of categories and has great, saliva-inducing food photos (particularly in the “food porn� category.) Be sure to check it out!

This weekend we went to visit some friends in Portland so we decided to make Burgerville our lunch spot on the way down. I had been wanting to eat there ever since I heard about it on NPR’s “The Splendid Table” but, since it only has locations in southern WA and northern Oregon, I hadn’t had the chance. At first glance, it seems like your typical fast food burger joint but Burgerville uses lots of local, fresh ingredients, many of which are organic! They also just switched over to using wind power which is pretty cool. I had the breaded halibut sandwich which was just OK but my fries were wonderfully crispy and flavorful. The true highlight, however, was the mountain huckleberry shake. It was absolutely delicious and had tons of little huckleberry pieces in it that I could chew on! Robert had a burger featuring 100% Oregon beef and Tillamook cheddar cheese. Burgerville also has really cool packaging and nicer-than-average employees. I may need to find an excuse to go back when the sweet potato fries and hazelnut shake are in season!

Last night we met up with our friends at a Turkish restaurant in West Seattle called Ephesus. I’m still not quite ready for Greek food so I was hoping Turkish food would be just different enough. The menu seemed to be a bit more Middle-Eastern, less Mediterranean which worked out perfectly for me. We started with the Ephesus plate: hummus, eggplant spread and yogurt dip served with flatbread. The flatbreads are made to order so they come out all warm and delicious. We also split the mushroom appetizer which was fantastic. The mushrooms were very simply prepared but had a surprising amount of flavor. Next came the salad which I was prepared to pick at because the menu said it was served with - you guessed it - feta and tomatoes. Fortunately for me, there were very few tomatoes and only a hint of crumbled feta. My entree was the Isgara: char-grilled fish. I wouldn’t say there was much char but it was a delicious piece of grilled salmon anyway. It was served with lemony rice pilaf and a ton of steamed broccoli, cauliflower and snap peas. It’s pretty rare in restaurants these days to be served such a large amount of veggies so that was a nice surprise. I tasted a bit of my friend’s claypot shrimp with potatoes and tomatoes and that was pretty darn good too. Robert really liked his lamb kabob. It was all delicious!

I forgot to put a link to our Greece photos up here last week so here they are:
Page 1: Athens and Santorini
Page 2: Naxos and Syros