Clean Eating, Haitian Style, with Elsy Dinvil
Tomn tomn & calallou soup, Malaysian sweets, an NYC & SLC eatery recap, and a Father's Day preview
Bringing Creole flavors to Portland
Portland is a foodie town. This is a well-known fact about the city, drawing in tourists and new residents alike to its array of new-American cuisine and fusion dining establishments. We knew Portland had a robust food scene when we moved here but what I didn’t expect was the number of absolute powerhouse professionals that keep the industry moving. People who are so incredibly passionate and dedicated to their craft that they refuse to let any setback stop their momentum. Elsy Dinvil is one of those people. Originally from Haiti, she came to Portland on a scholarship to study food science technology—something she didn’t actually want to study, but opportunity called anyway. She’s bounced around a number of jobs, but what she is most well-known for now is her line of mouth-watering marinades made with straightforward ingredients and Haitian flair. Her business Creole Me Up was founded after a severe health scare that put Elsy in the hospital, leaving her unable to hold down a full-time job for a year. Finding herself intolerant to gluten, dairy, soy, corn and other ingredients common in the Standard American Diet, Elsy started sourcing the cleanest, highest quality ingredients to use in her cooking. One thing led to another and now her products are in local grocery stores across Portland and you can find her at a number of local markets on weekends.
I chatted with Elsy about her rollercoaster of a journey and photographed her making tomn tomn & calallou, a dish special to her home region of Jeremie, Haiti. Tomn tomn is breadfruit pounded to a smooth, dough-like consistency, and is a version of West Africa’s fou fou. Served alongside calallou—or a stew of seafood, meat, okra, whatever you have, really—the dish is topped with a whole scotch bonnet pepper. Elsy was extremely excited to feature this dish, saying it’s a part of her and a part of Haiti people rarely get to see.
Read our conversation, see the photos, and get her tomn tomn & calallou recipe on the blog.
Foodie fathers, take the stage
Whether your dad is a grill master or a wannabe Iron Chef (or an actual Iron Chef), there are only so many gadgets and gizmos one can source as a good Father’s Day gift. Instead of more stuff, get the whole family together for a Family Cookbook experience. Request a gift box by June 9 to receive it in time for Father’s Day. Once you give your gift, you can start planning your photo session and custom cookbook! You have an entire year to get your photo session on the calendar, which leaves plenty of time to gather your recipes, get with dad and create a cookbook that is both a meaningful gift and a fun family experience.
Have more questions about gift boxes and booking? Reply to this email or click the button below.
Cooking on Instagram
After a short hiatus while I was traveling over the past few weeks, Friday dishes will return this week on Instagram! Starting with onde onde, a mochi-like sweet popular in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. I’ll be focusing on Malaysia to talk about the harvest festival Pesta Kaamatan, which takes place at the end of May. Like many harvest festivals, a beauty pageant is involved, as well as a singing contest, a dancing contest, and arts and crafts displays. What’s more unique to this particular festival is a body building competition and hitting of the gong ceremony.
Pesta Kaamatan is mostly celebrated by the Kadazan-Dusun ethnic group on the west coast of Sabah, Malaysia. They believe that there must be a firm balance between the spirit world and the natural environment, and that land is a cherished gift. So harvest festivals and routine around the land are very important rituals. This onde onde recipe comes from Rasa Malaysia, and is made with rice flour, pandan juice and palm sugar.
Next week, I’ll dive into the fire walking practices of Bulgaria’s northeastern regions. Originating in ancient Pagan beliefs, the ceremony today has evolved into more of a tourist attraction than a religious rite, but walking barefoot over hot embers is a fantastic feat none the less. Banned during the Communist era, the ceremony now dedicated to Orthodox Christian saints Helen and Constantine has been revived in the town of Bulgari. While exploring this tradition, I’ll be making zelevi sarmi, or stuffed cabbage rolls, from Bulgarian food blogger Tacos & Tiramisu.
Have food will travel
It’s been a little less than a month since I headed to NYC for my spring visit. I had various business to take care of there, with the bonus of seeing friends, family, and meeting new people. All of these activities take place over a meal, and while New York has way too much food to enjoy in a lifetime let alone a week, here are some of the highlights.
I finally got to meet Dawn of Modern Heirloom Books who creates custom memoirs and other family history books. We dined at 12 Chairs, an Israeli cafe in Brooklyn. The hummus, kebabs, and shouk salad were hits.
Another fabulously fun meeting was with Natalie Cruz, writer, producer, foodie extraordinaire (and assistant to THE Padma Lakshmi on Taste the Nation). Sign up for her fantastic newsletter Food for Thought. She took me to Harlem Shake for a tasty classic burger.
Other dining standouts: The Jin (Korean bites and drinks so tasty I ate there twice). The Smith on Broadway, The Migrant Kitchen Lebanese pop-up at Time Out in Dumbo, and Floating Mountain Tea House (though get out your credit card. Reservations recommended—I got lucky).
After a quick three-day jaunt back home, my husband and I headed to Salt Lake City where I worked on a few projects for just under two weeks. Though it often gets overlooked, this city definitely has a few gems and a new spots that have popped up since the last time I dropped by. Notably: Lola in the 9th & 9th neighborhood (no website, sorry). There is something joyful about walking into an intentionally designed space, and Lola provided a gorgeous setting for higher end Mexican bites. Definitely recommend if you are looking for a slightly spendier night out or date idea. Old haunts we love to hit up every time we’re in town: Trolley Wing Co., Grid City Beer Works, The Grove deli, and for Mother’s Day we brunched with my mom at Ridge Cafe in the hills of Draper.
And now we are slightly broke from eating out all these weeks, so we’ll be cooking at home for awhile.