Let’s move onto another of my mom’s non-recipe dishes. This time, we’re making oxtail soup. What’s oxtail soup? Well, it’s exactly like it sounds. It’s soup made from the oxtail. Again, no recipes! No measurement! Just more of who the heck cares? Get a package of oxtails from your local grocer, it’s probably easier to find at asian groceries, and soak it in cold water for awhile to let the blood out. It will become considerably less deep red than before. You can also get rid of any obvious fat.
Eventually, throw these into a big pot with water and boil, boil, boil!
After a good hearty boil, dump all of the water out and leave the oxtails in. Wipe away any of the foam that may be left behind.
Fill the big pot back with water and put it back on the burner. And start heating.
While it’s heating up, add a whole raw onion. Nothing else, just add an onion.
Cover and let it simmer for hours and hours and hours. Just let it cook and cook and cook. And eventually, it will be ready! You can tear the meat off of the oxtails and then discard the bone bits. Remember, this has nothing in it except water, oxtail, and a whole onion. So whoever is eating it can add salt, pepper, and scallions to their liking. It’s really up to the eater to add what they want. Typically, it’s eaten with rice. It takes time, but it’s beyond simple to make!

Since I can’t get ramen at home, whenever I’m in a place where I can, I get it. Upon Shirley‘s recommendation, I went to Boom. It’s by the same people who run Blue C Sushi, which is a Seattle conveyor belt sushi place. There are a couple of Booms in the area and I visited the one in Bellevue, which is connected to a Blue C. The place is big and modern, with a bar, lounge, and dining area.
I decided to try the pork buns just for kicks. I had no idea if they’d be decent, and to my surprise, I liked them! The buns themselves were warm and soft and fresh. The pork was shredded and fatty, which made it a bit juicy. For veggie fillings there was lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, and cilantro. It was all served with a ginger cherry plum sauce. Really, these were pretty good!
I wanted some spice so I got the kimchi tofu, with braised pork, tofu, kimchi, raw egg, and green onion in a spicy miso broth. The broth, kimchi, and the noodles were all pretty good, but it was a bit weird. The pork was in big hunks. It made it hard to eat. They really should think about slicing it. I liked the tofu quite a bit. But cilantro in kimchi ramen? Do they not know how much old korean ladies tend to abhor cilantro? To mix cilantro and kimchi is a bit scandalous. It was still nice to eat ramen though. I already miss it. Service was meh. I ordered a drink but I never got it. Yep, the server just completely forgot about it. At least he didn’t charge me for it, that would have made me livid.

For my last meal in Portland, we headed to The Country Cat in the southeast. I really wanted to go to this food truck called Kim Jong Grillin’ because, honestly, I couldn’t think of a food truck with a better name. But alas, it was closed that night. The Country Cat is a neighborhood restaurant specializing in Farm-to-Table food, where everything in prepared in-house. It’s got a good sized dining and a bar. There’s also a chef’s table at the open kitchen, which is where we dined. It got really hot there!
The mixed salad of local greens with a really zesty house dressing. This was a big plate of greens, just greens. Would it have killed you to throw in a tomato? A piece of carrot? It was just too… green for me. And the dressing, while good, was a bit too much. They need to lighten up on the amount of dressing. The greens were nice and fresh.
The soup of the day, which was some kind of sweet potato or butternut squash type of creamy concoction (sorry I forget!), topped with a whole lotta bacon, croutons, and fresh cream. I love creamy and thick soup like this. When it’s cold out, there’s really nothing I love more. And this was a nice sizable bowl! Plus, bacon! Any soup with bacon is a winner in my book.
Here’s the cast iron skillet fried chicken with bacon braised collard greens, served with a honey drizzled sweet cream biscuit. It’s delicious! It’s extra delicious because I got to watch them make everything. I think they cook this chicken twice in the skillet. It’s hot and juicy. I’m not the biggest fan of greens, but I definitely liked these, as they weren’t bitter at all. And I absolutely love biscuits, especially when they pour gobs of honey over it… I can see why this dish is so popular. Service was good and I enjoyed the free show!