Yes, indeed, the rumors are true.  There is a restaurant serving Ethiopian food in Hillsboro.  Vikki and I had lunch there on Monday.  It's still mostly a deli/diner, so most of the menu is burger-fries and cold sandwiches, but they have 7 Ethiopian dishes on the menu, each of which comes with a salad and your choice of injera or rice.  We had a spicy beef dish, and the collard greens, both with injera.  Very tasty!  The injera was very fresh, and the flavor of both dishes was excellent.  It's a bit expensive, and portions are small, so keep that in mind.  It's not the cheapest lunch around, but a welcome addition to the local lunchtime scene for sure.

Lalibela Ethiopian Cafe, 5289 NE Elam Young Pkwy, #F-800, 97124

My Dad turned me on to them a few years back, and it was a particular hit with my son, who's a huge dim sum fan, so we never would have made it out alive without at least paying a quick visit. 

I've had a fair amount of dim sum, including places in SFO like Yank Sing, most of the well known places in Seattle and Portland, and even Hong Kong, and I've have to put Ton Kiang at the top of my personal list. 

The individual dished are very well executed, and there is a ton of variety, including many dishes you don't see often.  They have a whole series of shrimp dumpings, similar to har gau, but including different greens such as green onions, spinach, cabbage, and snow peas.  It's well worth it to try them all.  The dumplings are all quite small, which is nice because it means you can try more dishes instead of filling up on giant hum bao right off the bat.  The fried taro was also exceptional.  Not to everyone's taste, but one of my favorites. 

Best of all, Ton Kiang is right down the street from the Wirth Brothers' Bakery, which is home to my wife's favorite poppyseed coffee cake in all the world. 

I've long heard of this fabled Bay Area Asian fusion restaurant, and last week I finally got a chance to try it.  We went to the one in Larkspur, not the one in SFO proper. 

E & O Trading Co bills themselves as a "Southeast Asian Grill", but I'd have to go with "Pan-Asian" or Asian-fusion.  There were elements from many different regions, including some Korean (great kimchee) which doesn't really count as "Southeast Asian". 

They have two different sections to their menu, Small Plates, and Big Plates, and we ordered mostly from the small plates menu and shared around.  My favorite dish was mussels in Thai red curry sauce, which made a very nice foil for the mussels.  The calimari was also excellent, with a slightly spicy coating, and sweet green chile sauce on the side.  My kids both love calimari, so it was a bit of a tussle, but I think everyone got some in the end. :-)

The only downside to the experience was the fact that the restaurant was incredibly loud, but that may have been a function of the fact that it was Friday night, and there was an outdoor festival of some sort going on outside at Larkspur Landing. 

E & O also makes a wicked Singapore Sling, if you are a gin fan.  In fact, it's pretty sweet, so might appeal even to non-gin lovers.  The mai tai was only so-so, but that may be just not my thing. 

If you like pan-Asian food, and happen to be in the Bay Area, you will certainly enjoy a trip to E & O.

Last night Vikki and I actually managed to sneak away for a date night, and at her suggestion we headed for New Seoul Garden in Beaverton.  Very tasty.  We hadn't been there in a while, and I'd almost forgotten how good their food is.  We opted for a BBQ table, meaning a table with a gas powered iron grill set into the middle.  We got some marinated ribs and sliced beef which come to the table raw for us to grill ourselves.  To go with the meat, you get a bowl of raw sliced garlic, some chili-bean paste, and a bunch of romaine lettuce leaves.  The trick is to wrap up pieces of grilled meat in the lettuce with garlic and bean paste, then eat like a little burrito-from-on-high.  Fantastic.  You can get about 10 different cuts of meat to grill, including pork, chicken, beef, goat or lamb. 

I also ordered a bowl of what is one of my favorite soups, called kimchee jige (or chige or cheege depending on how it's transliterated).  It's a soups of cabbage kimchee with tofu and sliced pork.  Very spicy, and just the thing for a cold winter evening.  The also serve a version with big chunks of black cod, which is also very tasty. 

The crowning glory of the restaurant, however, is the kimchee bar.  Kimchee is one of those things (like saurkraut) that you either love or hate, and luckily Vikki and I are both lovers.  New Seoul Garden used to bring you a platter with different kinds of kimchee on it, but at some point in the last few years they switched over to a help-yourself, all the kimchee you can handle bar.  Depending on when you go, you'll get your choice of 10-12 different kinds of kimchee, some spicy some not.  Last night our very favorite was some pea shoots (baby pea plants) with sesame oil dressing.  Crunchy, bright green and very flavorful.  There were also some really good, very spicy pickles that seemed like baby bok choy, only very tiny.  There was also some traditional spicy cabbage and radish kimchees, and some mildly flavored radishes and black beans. 

Best of all, there was enough of the soup left over for breakfast this morning. :-)

I'm always on the lookout for a good plate of biscuits and gravy.  It's one of those dishes that can either be really great if properly executed, or something you'll regret for the rest of your day.  Given today's dietary trends, it's pretty much on the outs, since it tends to be loaded with both fat and carbs.  I've tried lo-glycemic biscuits and gravy, and had some pretty decent successes, but most restaurants go for the old fashioned fluffy white biscuits.  As an occasional indulgence, I'm willing to take the hit.  This weekend I happened to be in lovely Port Gamble, WA, and found quite a lovely plate of said delicacy at the Port Gamble General Store.  They have an all you can eat breakfast buffet for a very reasonable $5.95 on Saturday and Sunday mornings.  If you happen to be in the neighborhood, check it out.  You can also get a good plate of b&g at the RV park just north of Kalama, WA, or at least you could a few years back. 

If you want to make lo-glycemic biscuits and gravy at home, here are some suggestions:

• don't skimp on the biscuits.  I like Bob's Redmill Lo-carb baking mix, but I've made them from scratch too.  I go heavy on the barley flour, since I'm more interested in glycemic index than in no-carb.
• for the love of heaven don't use weird lo-carb thickeners.  I've had gravy thickened with xanthum gum instead of the traditional roux, and it's VILE.  No flavor at all.  Yuck.  I use something lower-glycemic like barley or whole spelt flour, since if you aren't going to make a roux, it's not gravy, it's greasy soup.  If you are that concerned about carbs, do yourself a favor and eat something else.
• soy milk works OK.  It comes out pretty well.  However, make sure you use unflavored.  My wife made a batch from vanilla soymilk once, since it's all she had.  The result turned out to be way better over oatmeal than biscuits. 
• the better the quality of your sausage or bacon for the gravy, the better the result.  I like New Season's bulk pork breakfast sausage. 

All these gravy tips apply equally to the even more ambrosial dish, chicken fried steak, which is well worth making at home if you like that kind of thing.  I realize many people just don't, but I was raised by hippy vegetarians, so chicken fried steak, or even chipped beef on toast is and exotic slice of heaven as far as I'm concerned.  :-)

If you ever happen to be in The Dalles, OR and you're looking for a good cup of coffee, check out Holstein's Cafe (303 E 3rd Street). 

I myself just happened to be in the Dalles yesterday, and looking for a good place for a post-camping trip breakfast, stumbled upon Holstein's.  A fine double latte, and some of the best biscuits and gravy I've had in a while.  Nice fluffy biscuits, not too soda-y (as cheap ones tend to be).  The sausage gravy was of the perfect saltiness, with nice, evenly sized bits of good sausage.  Fluid enough to work with but not runny.  In short, a fine hearty breakfast. 

On the subject of biscuits and gravy...  I love 'em.  My wife's family is from Oklahoma, where people know a thing or two about gravy, and they turned me on to the whole b&g thing.  Unfortunately, I never got a chance to try the ones made by her Grandma, since no one since has been able to duplicate her gravy perfection.  Vikki's brother is also a big fan, and since he's into Atkins, we've done some experimenting with lo-carb biscuits and gravy, with varying levels of success.  The biscuits aren't too hard.  I prefer Bob's Red Mill low carb baking mix, which makes really good biscuits, especially with home-rendered lard.  The gravy is slightly harder. 

Personally, I'm more interested in low-glycemic than low-carb per se, so I use a little spelt or barley flour to thicken the gravy, which works out pretty well.  Ted uses Xanthum gum, which I think makes the gravy way too tasteless, and the texture is weird.  I'm willing to use a little flour to get the taste right.  Plus I like more sage in my gravy. :-)

I've tried similar things with another perennial favorite, chicken-fried steak.  Unfortunately that's one thing Vikki doesn't share my love of, so I get less chance to experiment.  I've several good runs using good quality pounded round steaks with a coating of barley flour, salt and pepper, and plenty of sage.  Fry those puppies up to a nice golden brown and coat liberally in gravy.  That's good eatin'. 

I think I'd have to say that Lebanese food is some of my very favorite, especially when the weather turns warm.  Last night I decided it was Lebanese food weather (it's in the mid 70's, which is pretty nice for Portland this time of year). 

So, I cooked up some

• Fried eggplant with pomegranate sauce: fry up some slices of eggplant in a fair amount of oil until tender, then drain on paper towels.  The sauce is pomegranate molasses mixed with some chopped garlic, good olive oil, salt and pepper, drizzled over the eggplant slices.  Puts eggplant in a whole new light.  I've served it to people who swore they didn't like eggplant (my sister in law :) ) and had them come back for seconds.
• Cucumbers in yogurt: just chopped cucumbers in yogurt (use laban if you have a Middle Eastern grocery around, or drain the yogurt for best results) with garlic, dill, salt and pepper.  I mixed in some Italian parsely and just a touch of Spanish smoked paprika with fine results.
• Lamb patties: I was lazy at this point, and just mixed up some ground lamb with some of Penzey's "Turkish Seasoning" and chopped garlic, then pan-fried them.  Would be good as kabobs too.
• Whole wheat pita.  I got some "Bible Bread" from Garden of Eatin'.