I was wondering and wrote about it
Michael Yes, it looks good. Thanks to #bakewithjack, I’ve got a second and a bit more experience and I can tell what is going on. Now onward to numbers three through five.
Things that have nourished people include these three. Sourdough, Polenta, and Commonplace Books. Two are simple foodstuffs, one is a keeper of the knowledge. All of them sustain people.
Sourdough is, or so it seems, simple. You mix flour and water. You wait. You add more flour and water. Then, eventually, it is filled with bubbles. There you have it. The thing that will raise your bread is ready to use.
Polenta, today, is coarsely ground yellow maize, coarse cornmeal. It is sustaining because you can eat it hot, like oatmeal. Or allow it to cool and become a loaf that can be grilled, fried, or roasted with topping to suit. Prior to corn being imported from the new world other grains had the same uses. Chestnuts, millet, chickpeas, and others were used. It is a flexible grain. You can include olive oil or butter, chopped jalapenos, a cheese of choice, these are the simplest of ways to modify polenta.
Commonplace Books is the way of keeping knowledge. Particularly, it was used by women before they were allowed to attend universities. There are notes in the margins of cookbooks. There are scrapbooks. There are books not know by this name. Do you have one? More? It sustains your personal knowledge base.
What sustains your life? These are three that sustain my life.
Where Woodstock crosses Foster, right before you get to I205 there is a bakery. Bella’s Italian Bakery, a straight forward name. Bella’s? Where did that come from? In the words of the owner.
Michelle’s Nonna called all the girls in the family “Bella” – so Bella is all of us here working to bring you a little Italy. We are proud to be a woman-owned, women-led business.
We’ve been there three times now. Once for a “how is this place?” visit, a Saturday. It was also the first anniversary of their opening the place. Lucky us! Packed, delicious, a man passing out tiramisu after we’d eaten. It was jovial, people sharing their meals. And on the menu, we saw that every Sunday they served lasagna and on Thursdays pizza. It’s also a store, wines, milk, bread, pastas, and more to go. We were beyond happy with the pastries. They were enough to drive out there for. But I’m being unfair, they serve breakfast and lunch foods. Italian train station sandwichs anyone? Yes, you don’t need to go for just a (wonderfully done) coffee and snack. You can go for more.
Every day we bake focaccia, house bread, pepperoni rolls, and seasonal savory flatbreads as well as both traditional and modern pastries: almond cakes, berry tartines, lemon ciambella, sweet rolls, cannoli, ricotta cheesecake, assorted cookies, and sfogliatelle (weekends only). We also do rotating seasonal specials inspired by our farm fresh deliveries. Stop by and see what we’re baking today!
Their Menu
So we went back. For lasagna. As good as what we’d had earlier.
And then last night, for pizza. A perfect Margarita Piazza. How often do you get a perfect pizza? OK, there’s lots of pizza in Portland. We’ll go back. Again and again. Because the place is so damn good.
So if you want to feel like you’re in Italy, go here.
I have been both. Brave women speak out. Listen. Especially the ending.
Since the Paris Agreement, global banks have invested 1.9 trillion U.S. dollars in fossil fuels. One hundred companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions. The G20 countries account for almost 80% of total emissions. The richest 10% of the world’s population produce half of our CO2 emissions, while the poorest 50% account for just one-tenth. We indeed have some work to do, but some more than others.
Greta Thunberg
Don’t believe politicians when they say the emerging countries are going to pollute the world as they develop.