For beachcomberlc, because I have a feeling she'll get it.
For the rest of you, to hopefully make you smile.
This was not edited by any sort of professional.
Gastronomical Magazine May 2014 – Jacob Black, contributing editor.
Over the course of the last month I have gained and lost seven pounds. Gained due to the food truck sampling I was tasked to do for this article. Lost by nervously waiting for The Best of The Best of Portland winners to be announced.
Most of the weight gain can be attributed to Bella Swan's fantastical shortbread. The other to Edward Cullen's oatcakes. These are not your Grandmother's oatcakes nor are they the disks of sugar served in coffee shops. These are luscious, melt in your mouth, delicacies worthy of St. Patrick himself. The oatcakes alone are glorious but the addition of butter and mixed berry jam render these cookies a saintly status.
Almost everything Cullen serves contains mass amounts of butter and his dishes are more the better for it. Potato boxty with either smoked salmon or home made pork sausage. A Cottage Pie that would make the toughest shepherd giddy. There is some method or mystery to the potatoes on the Cottage Pie and Cullen won't spill for love or money. Yes, I offered him both. And a Guinness stew served in a soda bread bowl made entirely of angel's tears.
Cullen's Irish Jig is new to the Portland scene as is Cullen and his partners Rosalie Hale and Jasper Whitlock. But the comfort food truck is taking the city by storm. Both Cullen and Whitlock are classically trained chefs who could work in five star restaurants if they chose to but much to our luck, they don't. Their partner, Hale, recognized the trends towards street food and the Portland market so they packed up shop in New York and settled here.
Last months edition focused on Bella Swan's meteoric rise to Food Truck Queen of Portland and I am pleased to include, later in this article, some of my interview with her. First I sat down with the Cullen's Irish Jig crew, my second pick for Portland's reigning food truck, and spoke with them.
"Comparing Oregon to New York, it must have come at quite a shock to you when you arrived here. What were you first impressions?"
EC – "We, I mean really me, were humbled by what we found when we started here. Coming from such a big market we thought that we would take Portland by storm, show everyone a thing or two about street food and what it could be and turn the city on it's ear."
JW – "Instead, we were completely blind sided. Not only were we just one in a field of many but we really had to work hard to build our reputation. This is a much more culturally diverse market than we ever expected. We had to revamp our menus many times before we settled on what we offer now."
RH – "It was touch and go for a while but word of mouth spread and we now have a loyal following. The competition is fierce, more than I bargained for when I did my preliminary research. But the competition is also friendly. We have received so much support from other trucks and cooks in a way that would never happen in New York City."
The article went on and on but Bella Swan wasn't as interested in it as she thought she would be. Her best friend Emmett had encouraged her to buy the magazine because it featured his new girlfriend. But Bella wasn't interested in what the mainstream press had to say about Portland, it's food or herself.
Bella was impatiently waiting for the results of the University Best of the Best contest. The votes of the people who really mattered to Bella, the local consumer, were all that were important. Sure she'd sent a copy of the magazine and the issue before it that featured her to her dad so he could follow her progress. But she didn't get into cooking for any acclaim. She just wanted to share what she could with the people who would appreciate it. Her love of food and dislike of connective tissue and sinew brought her to vegetarianism. Her talent in the kitchen and Emmett's kick ass idea to make Scottish food to honour his family afforded her a nice lifestyle. She loved her job, her truck, her recipes and most importantly, her friends. All she every really wanted from life was to be surrounded by friends and family. Maybe a garden to putter in while watching the fauna. A nearby beach to roam on warm sunny days. Simple things but not simplistic.
Bella worked hard. She worked her way through school and saved every penny she could. When her dad retired she convinced him to start his second career and helped him with it. His truck was the talk of the town and she was so proud of him for it. When he wanted to sell he came to her first but she didn't want to ride his coattails. Sure, she could have kept his spicy Caribbean inspired truck going but she wanted to make something of her own. Plus there is little market for jerked tofu. With the magic marketing fairy, her other best friend Alice, she and Emmett bought and fixed up their own truck.
Winning the Best of the Best would be validation enough for her. Although it was nice that Portland was finally getting some recognition in food circles. She picked up the magazine again and flipped through it. She did have to agree with the sycophantic reporter, Cullen's oatcakes were sublime. Emmett brought her some whenever he went flirting over to Rosalie. Bella had never tried anything else from Cullen's truck because it was full on carnivore. The man served a great deal of lamb; cute, fluffy, cuddly lamb.
She stopped on the picture of the Cullen crew and looked at it for a while. There was something familiar about the three of them. She felt fairly sure that they had met at one time or another. But she couldn't for the life of her remember. And my goodness but they were handsome. All three of them but the men in particular. One was a dark blond with a naughty smirk. He looked as though he had a secret, a very dirty secret, and he'd be willing to share it if you got dirty with him. The other was damn fine. There really wasn't anything else to say about him but damn fine. She wouldn't mind meeting up with him in a dark alley.
The magazine was place aside once more as Bella stood to leave the room. In just a few hours the Gala to announce the winners was being held. Bella was looking forward to attending. She had a kick ass dress, a bra that performed miracles on her cleavage and pair of panties with enough power to light the Chrysler building. When she was dressed in all three she felt as though she might break her drought and possibly go home with something pretty this evening. It had been a long time since she had broken up with 'The Tool' as Emmett called her ex. He wasn't too bad as ex's go, but not malleable enough for her. She needed a man who was willing to bend sometimes. A man who could see things her way once in a while. However, The Tool was almost always right even when he was wrong. Their last fight was when she caught him Googling the fact they had been arguing about and Google confirmed her argument. She knew he was just blowing it out his ass but to catch him confirming what she knew to be right was the last straw. He picked up the last of his boxes two years ago, although he phoned every few months for a year after to see if they could have another go. Alas and alack, there had been no one since. But perhaps there was a cater waiter with her name on him for tonight.
AN: I am not a vegetarian, I just play one on TV. Next update Friday. I need a day or two.