This is the time of year, before the HUGE fall cooking season, when I’m always in a bit of a posting slump. This means it’s a perfect time to post pictures of a meal out!

Nehalam River Inn
34910 Highway 53
Nehalem, OR 97131

We finally (finally!) went to the Nehalem River Inn for dinner. The occasion? To celebrate jwa’s 38th birthday! We had a very nice meal and, although we didn’t stay there (they had a 2-night minimum, even on a Sunday night), we found a very nice room at the Wheeler on the Bay Lodge & Marina which was about a mile away.

The Garden Room at the Lodge

But first, back to the food.

We got there a few minutes early for our reservation (we were hungry!) but got seated right away. After perusing the menu for a few minutes, we had a plan. To start, I had the Arugula Salad with Israeli Couscous, Currants, Pepitas, Cherry Tomatoes and Tarragon Aioli. It was very good!

For his first course, jwa decided to have a tasting of both the White Corn Soup with Truffle Oil and the Heirloom Tomato Salad with Organic Greens, Fresh Mozzarella, Chopped Marcona Almonds and Basil Pesto. See, this way, he could get two things, as the ‘tasting’ sizes of the first courses were a bit smaller.

Salad

Soup

For my main dish, I got duck. I get duck a lot when we go out, because I hardly ever cook it at home. Mmmm duck! In this case, it was Roasted Muscovy Duck Breast with Polenta Cake, Haricot Vert, and Pomegranate Sauce. Delicious!

And, because it was his birthday, jwa got steak. But not just any steak — Filet Mignon with Truffled Potato Gratin, Swiss Chard, Hon Shimeji Mushrooms and Balsamic Reduction. Wow, it was so good. An amazing crust on the steak.

We finished with desserts — he got an apricot brioche bread pudding and I got a flourless chocolate cake with strawberries and pecans.

Bread Pudding

Chocolate Cake

The restaurant’s back porch, after dinner

After dinner, we went back to our room in Wheeler, were the lodge cat Zoro was entertaining himself outside our room. jwa spent a bit of time playing with the cat.

Assorted Images from the Next Day and the Drive Home

Apple tree growing along the river bank.

Our room had a balcony that had a great view of the river.

Deck at the Lodge

Oswald State Park Beach, off 101. Lots of surfers…(although, not in this picture…)

Why do all trips to the coast begin or end with Pacific Way Cafe? Oh yeah, because we love it there! We stopped and had lunch on the way home. I forgot to take any pictures of the food…

Bad cats at home. I don’t know what they did while we we’re gone, but I am sure they did something.

Blue Heron taking off in Yachats, OR

We went to the coast last weekend to celebrate jwa’s birthday and here are some pictures. That’s about it. More food coming soon!

Heron before flight. We happened upon him just hanging out in the river bank. As more people started walking by he took off, flying a few yards away to a less congested spot.

We stayed in Yachats at the Shamrock Lodgettes (silly name) in one of the spa cottages. It was nice. Dinner was at Yachats River House (tasty) and the next morning we started a leisurely drive home along the coast from Yachats to Cannon Beach, then cutting inland on 26. But not before…Breakfast!

Egg, sausage and pesto panini sandwich from the Green Salmon Coffee House. But, it gets better…

Here’s the view! We got the sandwiches and fancy coffee drinks to go and then drove a couple of blocks to the ocean, parked the car and had an awesome breakfast.

A seagull hopped on the hood of my car to check us out. Actually, I was kind of concerned he was going to try and fly in my open window and steal my sandwich.

Me by the tide pools and rocky coast part.

Tide pools

Waves crashing

Coastal flowers that succumbed to the wind and cold

The long sandy beach at Rockaway Beach, during a stop along the drive home,

One day, it would be nice to have a cute, little place on the coast where we can go anytime we want and where I would have more wall space to hang more art…

We’re going to start exploring more coast areas…next up, I think we’ll head towards the Long Beach area of Washington and maybe drive up the peninsula.

Bridgewater Bistro
20 Basin Street
Astoria, Oregon
503-325-6777

So, jwa and I headed out to Astoria this weekend (such a pretty drive along highway 30 with the leaves and the sun and all) to have dinner at Bridgewater Bistro. It’s the new restaurant by Ann and Tony Kischner of the Shoalwater Restaurant in Seaview, WA. Not to put any pressure on the meal or anything, but they are catering our wedding at the Hotel Elliott in May and we wanted to go there and eat as many things on our menu as we could. Oh and we did.

First off, the space at Bridgewater is Beautiful. It’s a big, red barn-like building right on the waterfront. There’s a downstairs seating room, an upstairs mezzanine, tons of windows and multiple fireplaces. So warm and inviting. And one thing that I really like is that the space is not over-crowded with too many tables crammed into the space. There’s a nice amount of space between each table.

To start the meal we had a little complimentary glass of crisp fries and ketchup. I would have taken a pictures of these but we ate them too quickly.

One of the appetizers on our menu is halibut cakes with green apple and avocado salsa. While this was not on the current bridgewater menu, they did have fish cakes (halibut, salmon & cod) with a mango-ginger sauce. We tried the two-cake version of this as an appetizer to our meal. Really good — lots of fish. As the bride, I will be demanding extra halibut cakes and green salsa at the wedding. So you know, you’ve been warned. I can come by and steal your halibut cake. Back off — I’m the bride.

Next, jwa did the salad with salalberry vinaigrette and I did the French mushroom soup. Excellent all around. I loved the salad and the soup was really mushroom-y and good. We were trying to decide between a tomato soup and a mushroom soup as the second course and I think we’ll be going with the mushroom. And the salad (the fourth course) will be a great transition between the entree and the wedding cake.

Now, for our main meals — jwa had the salmon (served here with a cranberry-mustard sauce, a side of rice pilaf and sautéed swiss chard) and I had the Moroccan chicken. The salmon on our menu will be grilled (we love grill marks) and finished in the oven with a dill sauce and a side asparagus. That said, the salmon at this meal was very good. And jwa especially loved the rice.

My Moroccan chicken was the surprise hit of the meal. Not that I didn’t think it wouldn’t be good, just that I had already decided that I would get the salmon at the wedding. And we were kind of going back and forth between the Moroccan chicken and coq au vin. Not anymore. Moroccan chicken all the way, baby. So tasty. If I get this at the wedding, I will have to fashion some sort of bridal bib as the sauce is very red and my dress is very ivory and that sort of set up pretty much has disaster written all over it.

Desserts were a pear-fig-honey cobbler with vanilla ice cream and a bourbon-chocolate-pecan tart with vanilla ice cream. They were both delicious.

Price-wise jwa and I were trying to guess (before the check came) if this meal would be over or under what we just spent at Iorio for the Harvest Dinner we attended. And…Bridgewater was about $20 cheaper. We were both kind of surprised as we got a soup, a salad, three entrees (the fish cakes were an entree, not an appetizer) a bottle of wine and two desserts at Bridgewater.

Also, while we were at the restaurant, they were having a wedding reception in the upstairs private dining room! That makes me super happy too — that they can handle a full house of regular diners and also be catering a wedding at the same time. Awesome.

I’m just so happy we chose to go with them for our wedding catering. On top of the food, they’re just so nice to work with while planning a reception meal culinary extranvganza — friendly, calm, knowledgeable and skilled with northwest ingredients. The whole wedding planning can all be so stressful it’s a huge relief to have faith that the meal will be delicious and go smoothly. Hooray for Bridgewater Bistro!

Over Labor Day Weekend, jwa and I headed to the coast to celebrate his birthday. We had a really nice time and a dinner that was so good I’m pretty positive that I’ll be making it again soon. It’s always a little challenging working in an unfamiliar kitchen but this worked out pretty well.

I put the marinade together at home and brought it to the beach in a cooler and we picked up some halibut in Cannon Beach at the Ecola Fish Market. The original recipe was for tuna (on epicurious.com) but it was great with the halibut. Plus my new favorite thing to do is toss avocado with fish (salmon, tuna, halibut, etc…) and this fit that bill perfectly.

Marinade:
3 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
2 tbsp finely grated peeled fresh ginger
2 tbsp peanut oil
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 serrano chile, seeded, minced (or a pinch red pepper flakes or a few dashes chili oil)

Along with…
halibut (about a pound for two)
Pasta (linguine, fettucine, etc…)
1 avocado
1 lime
sesame seeds
more cilantro
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium carrots
1 medium zucchini
red pepper flakes
salt

Mix the marinade ingredients together and marinate the halibut for about an hour. Meanwhile, clean the carrots and use a vegetable peeler to make very thin strips.

Do the same with the zucchini. Add a little olive oil to a pan and saute the vegetables with a little salt until tender and starting to get a little color.

When the fish is ready, heat a little olive oil in a pan and grill on the stove top for a few minutes on each side until done to your liking. You can bring the marinade to a boil and then simmer for a few minutes to mix in with the pasta and serve with the fish. You can also double the marinade recipe and use half for the fish and half for the pasta/serving.

Dice the avocado and toss with the juice of a lime, chili flakes, salt, sesame seeds and extra cilantro.

To serve, pile the pasta in a big bowl and top with the halibut and avocado.

The Lighthhouse
Manzanita, OR

As if the meal wasn’t enough, we also found a pretty nice place to stay in Manzanita. It’s a 1/4 of a block off the ocean and has a balcony with a great view. It’s also cheaper than Coast Cabins, has a nice kitchen and (imho) is in a better location.

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View of the couch, kitchen and dining area

Sleeping alcove

“living room” area and balcony

View from the balcony

Pros: nice atmosphere/interior, great location, full kitchen (microwave, stove/oven, fridge, sink), balcony with ocean view, cozy, good comparative price

Cons: couch smelled a little like dog (pets are allowed), have to light burners with a match, uh, that’s all I can think of!

For Easter this year, instead of making a brunch at home, jwa and I headed off to Heceta Head Lighthouse, on the coast between Yachats and Florence. Okay, we actually headed there Saturday as it’s a 3+ hour drive and that’s pretty far to drive all in one day — even for a seven-course brunch.

I’m not saying we wouldn’t do that, just that it would be far.

We stayed at the Ocean Cove Inn in Yachats that first night (Perpetua Room, no two night minimum, good price and it was sufficiently cute) and went to the Drift Inn for a huuuuge dinner of nachos, fish, key lime pie and beer. The nachos, beer and key lime pie were all awesome, the fish, sadly, was not. *sigh* Lying people on tripadvisor.com! You bastards! It did, however, remind both jwa and I of Flagstaff. Must have been the hippie waitress. Not to be confused with the more-prevalent-in-Portland, hip, indie waitress.

Anyway, the real reason for this post — The Lighthouse and the Never-Ending Brunch of Easter Awesomeness.

Coming up the trail from the beach…the house.

So, so good. Two hours of good. Geez. Where to start? Fruit. Salmon. Blueberry frappe. Strata-frittata thing. Chicken apple sausage. Apple strudel. Cheese and fruit. A bathroom full of ladybugs.

Oregon Pinot Gris Cocktail
Fresh strawberries, honeydew, Asian pear and watermelon infused with an Oregon Pinot Gris syrup, topped with marscapone cheese and candied roasted hazelnuts. This was served with some Heceta Bright Bread– zucchinis, cranberries, apricots and candied ginger baked together in a firm yet cheerfully crumbly treat.

Oregon Lox & Bagels
with shaved onion. English cucumber, daikon and baby dill.

Oregon Blueberry Citrus and White Chocolate Frappe — A very nice palate cleanser after the fish.

Heceta Head Strata
Garnet yams, caramelized onion, fresh garden sage and Juniper Grove Thor smoked chevre. Served with Taylor’s Chicken Apple & Cherry sausage.

The sausages were so good, I had to take a picture of them too!

Grandma Marie’s Apple Strudel
Served warm with fresh whipped cream. Unfortunately, I could not finish my strudel. It was very good, though. jwa finished his without hesitation.

And last, we have: Melon & Apple Jazz
Lavender Farmers cheese from Juniper Grove Farm. Yeah. I made a little room for the cheese!

After brunch, we hiked up the trail to the lighthouse and took a tour. It’s a very cute and squat lighthouse, with less than 108 stairs.

Looking up into the lighthouse light.

Looking at the ocean from the lighthouse bluff.

Highway 101 bridge as seen from the beach.

After brunch and the lighthouse exploring, we made our way up the coast and back home, choosing to cut over at Tillamook. It was rainy most of the way back but still a very pleasant drive. Oh and the lighthouse is one of the places we are considering for Wedding 08. The food would be amazing, that’s for sure…

Strangely, the bathroom upstairs had about 10 ladybugs on the ceiling. Just hanging out. Wandering about. Being ladybugs and such. Not at all icky, though. I like ladybugs. They’re cute!