Day 12: Pasta Making at Caffe Mingo - June 26

Rachel has been eyeing the cookbook Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast for at least a year.  Our library doesn’t carry it so every time we are in a bookstore it is one of the ones she pulls out and pours over.   It wasn’t until we were in Powell’s bookstore yesterday though that I realized that Ken’s Artisan Bakery (a restaurant on the list) was THE Ken Forkish of the book – I had no idea he was in Portland.  So that became today’s breakfast destination.  We ordered four pastries and a bowl of house made granola (please, remember we are just three people), and didn’t end up needing the bag I had asked for to pack up any leftovers we had.

From there we walked down the street a few blocks to Caffe Mingo to meet up with co-owner Mike Cronan.  Backstory: Sarah (Jim’s mom) studied in Rome 50 years ago – they are having a reunion in Rome this fall - and the connections she has from that one year of her life continue to enhance all of our lives.  Our realtor in Mountain View was the daughter of a fellow student, two of my dear neighbors and friends in Mountain View are the sister and niece of a fellow student, and now one of the most special experiences of this trip was provided by a fellow student – and one, by the way, that she didn’t really even know 50 years ago.  In her way, Sarah reached out to Mike to let him know we were coming to town and liked food and asked if he would be willing to show us around his restaurant, which by the way is rated one of the best Italian restaurants in Portland.  He said yes; I sent him an email letting him know we were here; he called and asked what I was looking for; I said anything; and he said maybe we’d make some pasta, come by the restaurant around 9 on Friday. 

So, we walked into Caffe Mingo having no idea at all what to expect.  Mike was perfectly welcoming – we sat at the bar while he told us stories of his restaurant (which is 24 years old – a long time for a restaurant), weaving in the history of Portland and the restaurant scene here in general.   After about 30 minutes he walked behind the bar and placed a tray of croissants on the counter along with three plates and three glasses and said– these are from Ken’s down the street.  Please remember we just stuffed ourselves unashamedly at Ken’s 30 minutes before.  But, what’s one to do.  You can’t be rude.  So the girls and I somehow seemed to have no problem doing the kind thing and eating the food he got for us.  Thankfully we hadn’t already told him we’d just been to Ken’s.  

Then, out of the kitchen comes chef Wes to tell us he is ready for us to join him!  He was making gnocchi for tonight’s dinner but the potato delivery was a little light so not only would be making gnocchi, we needed to make some fresh fettucine too as a backup.  Rather than feeling like we were just in his way (the kitchen is super small) he was clearly happy to have such an interested audience in us and loved sharing his passion for cooking with us.  At first we watched while he worked and explained to us what he was doing, like what he wanted his dough to look and feel like – and while he made adjustments along the way to get the feel he was ultimately looking for.  But, soon it was all hands on deck.

We peeled and riced the potatoes for the gnocchi, and rolled the pasta using a machine and cut it by hand.  He showed us how to turn the potatoes we riced and the ricotta he had made earlier and some flour into gnocchi.  We tried our hands at rolling and forming gnocchi (which takes some practice).  Even though there were three extra people “helping” him, we put him a little behind schedule in the end.  I don’t think it was that we worked slowly – he just loved to talk and explain and of course we loved to hear what he had to say and had tons of questions.  Wes whipped us up a quick, beautiful, delicious tomato sauce and finished some gnocchi in it for our lunch, which we enjoyed with Mike while Wes quickly finished making the rest of the gnocchi for the next two nights in the restaurant.  When we walked in at 9 am I thought we might be there an hour or so, but we didn’t walk out until 1:30 pm!  It was a truly unusual and very special experience and I can’t thank them both enough!

We walked right by Ken’s on the way back to the car and decided Rachel had been looking at that cookbook long enough – and where better to buy it than at his shop.  And while we were there, we really needed to be sure to try the bread too, right?

Portland is in the middle of the heat wave and the temperature is growing steadily each day.  Today it was already 95 degrees and it is only supposed to get worse (into the triple digits) through the weekend.  But, we needed to see the International Test Rose Garden.  There was an info desk with a laminated walking tour we could follow through the garden and it was quite interesting.  It was a little odd to have such a close connection to the other “city of roses” but I’m ok with Portland sharing the title with Pasadena.  It being a test garden the history was interesting, especially of the Peace rose from the ‘40s taken out of France on the last plane out before the German invasion.   We also wanted to see the Japanese Garden but with only about 10 minutes for viewing before needing to head out for the US kickoff vs. China we decided not to pay the entrance fee – maybe we’ll get there in the next couple of days.

I knew enough now to call ahead to local bars and restaurants showing the game to make sure the girls would be allowed to watch and on our third call I found a place relatively close to our hostel.  We went back to the hostel and left Julia there while Rachel and I went to claim table space near the TV.  Julia jogged down to meet us for the second half.  This time the restaurant was full of people interested in the game and it was fun to celebrate the US win with a bunch of strangers all clapping and cheering along.

Rachel was inspired watching and wanted to go play soccer.  She’s really missing it this summer, but even though it was almost 7 pm it was still over 90 degrees out.  We went back to the hostel and got a little lazy feeling in the heat…but around 8:30 we rallied and went out to a local field to kick the ball around (mostly because I hadn't gotten my 10,000 steps yet).   Just as we decided to head back at 9:15, Nava came out to the field with her Frisbee (she plays and loves ultimate) and so we ended up playing with her until I just couldn’t see the disk any longer.  With Jim arriving tomorrow, we are hopeful to get a pickup ultimate game going!