Big City, Big Taste

The Chocolate Caramel Potato Chip Cupcake

We hit the city last weekend on Friday. Both of us had had one of THOSE days. Too long and too crazy to fit into one 24-hour period so we decided that a little food adventuring was in order at 5 pm that night. We piled the gang into the van and hit the road in search of the food cart pod on Mississippi Avenue. This is the pod with The Sugar Cube food cart in it, home of the chocolate cupcake topped with ganache, caramel sauce, and potato chips. Needless to say I was giddy, ecstatic, beside myself with glee, etc., etc., etc. You get the picture.

As soon as we hit the highway, which is 5 minutes away from our house, all three kids were out. That is how tired our family is. We are still trying to adjust to our school schedule so by the time Friday rolls around we have a cranky bunch of kids. Makes for interesting days, that’s for sure. Having 20 minutes of passed out kids in the car that night meant 20 minutes of catching up with each other. What a blessing!

We had no problem finding the food cart pod on Mississippi Avenue. As soon as you turned the corner, there it was, a cluster of twinkling Christmas lights, canopies, and picnic tables. A beautiful sight! I spotted The Sugar Cube right away and made a beeline for it. As I got closer, I saw that some of the desserts were out. No! It couldn’t be! As soon as I read about this cupcake in Portland Monthly I have craved it. But, thankfully, it was not true. They still had those delicious cupcakes lined up on their baking trays in the back of the food cart. I bought one right away, just to make sure, I would not miss out on this food moment.

As we sampled the food carts, we could feel the tension of the day melt away and no longer was it a crazy, long day but one that was relaxing and reviving. Throughout the night we sampled sopapillas filled with shredded, spicy pork and cheese from Nuevo Mexico. We had a classic meatball sub from the Garden State and salty, crispy fries from Magic Beans that truly became my favorite savory dish of the night. But, my anticipation grew as I ate my dinner and gazed at the chocolate cupcake sitting beside my plate, calling my name.  It was going to be good, I just knew it!

At last, my dinner was done and it was time to delve into the one thing that brought me here, the Chocolate Caramel Potato Chip Cupcake. But before I could eat it, I had to take a picture of it, just so I could share the moment with you. It was truly a cupcake done with style. The cake itself was tender and could stand alone without the ganache and caramel sauce. The ganache gave the cake a gooey consistency and then the caramel, what can I say? I licked the wrapper, that’s what I can say! You know something is good when there is wrapper-licking to be done. The potato chip on top was a great contrast to the sweetness of the chocolate. Sweet and salty is one of my favorite combinations. Job well done, Sugar Cube, job well done!

The Sugar Cube Food Cart

After dinner, we hit Mississippi Avenue to explore the city and to walk off some of that yummy food we had consumed. During that walk, I realized one thing, I need to let me kids out more often. I thought I had been doing a good job of exposing them to the world around them. Trips across country to grandma’s house, trips to the zoo through the city, and so on. But to watch my kids inhale the sights around them Friday night, you would think we never left our house! They were touching everything in sight from mailbox slots (a huge hit!) to doorknobs to pressing their faces to windows, peering into restaurants and stores. What a sight, right? If you were on the other side and three little faces were peering back at you?

One door had up to 10 doorknobs on it, one of those arty stores, and they had to touch every single one. Oh my! I am usually the one breaking out the hand sanitizer but my husband, this time, remarked that he was up for a hand sanitizer break. I can just imagine how many germs they brought home with them that night. I think we would have had less germ exposure if they had just licked one doorknob and not touched every single one they came across. But, oh well, they were enthralled with the amount of new sights that it was well worth the germ fest!

Nights like that make me glad that we enjoy going on food adventures. It gives our life a boost of excitement and a dose of good food. I am so very thankful that Portland has a huge food cart business that is thriving. With very little money, our family can enjoy a wide variety of delicious food. So take some time, hit Mississippi Avenue, and enjoy a night of food, family, and fun! You might just see me there enjoying another cupcake, which by the way, I did not share with my family. Is that wrong? Or, maybe a smart move if you are a sugar-lover like me!