Eighth Annual Portland Fermentation Festival -- TICKETS ON SALE!

The Portland Fermentation Festival aka Stinkfest is less than a month away! I'm pasting the press release that I just sent out here below. Please have a gander and save the date! Want to participate as an exhibitor or do a demo this year?! Info. on how to do so below.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Eighth Annual Portland Fermentation Festival Thursday, October 26th 6-9:30pm Ecotrust’s Billy Frank Jr. Conference Center Rooftop food and drink sales and music 721 NW 9th Ave. Portland, OR All ages, open to the public, $10 advance, $12 cash at door Children 12 and younger attend for free www.portlandfermentationfestival.comTickets on sale! We are now less than a month away from the EIGHTH annual Portland Fermentation Festival! Please join us on the evening of Thursday, October 26th at Ecotrust for Portland's annual, open-to-the-public, all-ages celebration of fermented food and drink lovingly referred to as Stinkfest. Bring kimchi, try kimchi. Bring miso, try miso. Come out for Portland's fermented food and drink skill sharing, recipe sharing and tasting event of the year. Taste and share live, fermented food and drinks made by professionals and home fermentation enthusiasts at the annual event that brought out more than 400 attendees in 2016.

Talk to fellow fermenters, exchange cultures and recipes, get advice from local food fermentation enthusiasts, attend fermentation demo's and sample everything from sour pickles, miso and natto, to cheeses, hard cider and kombucha.

2017 highlights:

Nat West of Reverend Nat's Hard Cider will be making and sampling Hawaiian okolehao at this year's festival! For festivals past Nat has made chicha, kumiss, Angel of Death (LAMB-steeped cider!) and other gutsy ferments. We always really, really look forward to the wild (in more ways than one) ferments that Nat experiments with and brings to the festival. Love it.

Imperfect Produce recently launched in Portland and they'll be joining the Stinkfest festivities this year in order to talk up what they're doing, hand out some of their Imperfect Produce and give fest attendees recipes to ferment their produce with.

Some of the fermented treats already on the roster to be sampled in the main festival hall from amateur and professional fermenters include Korean makgeolli, fermented mustards and ketchups, adaptogenic herbal kimchi, Wanpaku Natto from Heidi Nestler, Soma Kombucha and Elixirs, Eva's Herbucha, Squirrel and Crow Tempeh, Claudia Lucero of Urban Cheesecraft's vegan fermented cheeses and much, much more.

On the beautiful Ecotrust rooftop (with its lovely open hearth to cozy up to and pretty strung lights) we'll have food and drink for sale. Reverend Nat's Hard Cider will be pouring delicious hard cider and Cinder BBQ (at Bushwhacker Cider every Thursday) will serve tasty sandwiches. DJ Jimbo will make his annual pickled playlist for the fest so you can sip on cider, eat a 'cue sandwich and listen to sweet and salty Jimbo tunes under the stars. We have surprisingly *never* had a rainy Portland Fermentation Festival. Strange but true.

Festival demo's will take place throughout the night. Please check our social media closer to the date for details.

Admission for the 6pm or 7:30pm Thursday festival tastings and fermentation demos is $10.

Online tickets are on sale! A limited number of tickets will be available at the door the night of the festival and will be $12/cash only.

If you or your business has a ferment that you'd like to sample and/or demo at this year's festival please visit our website for info. on how to apply to be a part.

Festival coverage:

KGW

Photos from last year's festival Food Lover's Guide to Portland

Cooking Up a Story

KBOO Food Show

Portland Monthly

Willamette Week

Portland Mercury

OPB

Facebook Portland Fermentation Festival Twitter @PDXFermentFest Website www.portlandfermentationfestival.com

Mark Bittman at the James Beard Public Market Fundraiser in Portland January 22, 2015

I'm a very lucky lady. I got to be Mark Bittman's date when he was in town for the James Beard Public Market fundraiser dinner at Leftbank Annex last night. Greg Higgins of Higgins Restaurant put together an incredible Pacific Northwest bounty meal comprised of recipes inspired by Mr. B's latest book How to Cook Everything Fast which Higgins joked in his intro. to the event was probably "the longest book on fast cooking." It's a whopping 4+ pounds after all. (My favorite dishes that I've cooked from the book so far: miso glazed catfish with mushrooms, caramelized cod and Vietnamese-style fish sauce brussels. Mmmmm!)

The James Beard Public Market has been in the works now for nearly 15 years and it looks like we'll finally have a market sooner than later. There have been all sorts of recent developments including the securing of the space at the west end of the Morrison bridge from the county for development, the partnership with the Norwegian design firm Snohetta to design it, the partnership with Bon Appetit Management Company to develop the teaching and demo. kitchens and on and on. In other words, things are moving right along now and gaining momentum. There are so many great local food folks involved including board secretary Janie Hibler, outreach and operations director Ann Forsthoefel, board members Lisa Sedlar and Greg Higgins and many, many more.

The dinner met the night's fundraising goals and the highlight was Mr. Bittman's inspiring speech which you can listen to here if you weren't able to attend:

The sound is pretty crappy but if you crank it up you can get most of it. There were a lot of bodies in the room and a lot of wine glasses if you know what I mean.

I'm really looking forward to one fine day when we have a large urban, indoor/outdoor year-round public market. I grew up in Cincinnati with Findlay Market and I really get how important these hubs can be to local culture. I want it! I want it now! Patience. It will soon be. Help make the James Beard Public Market dream a reality. Let's do this thing.

Leftbank Annex all pretty for the event. Three Leg Torso playing on the stage just out of view of the photo to the right.

Mark and Bon Appetit Management Co. CEO and co-founder Fedele Bauccio before the dinner.

Super tasty menu from Greg Higgins.

EVERYONE left with a copy of Mark's How to Cook Everything Fast.

Mark giving his inspiring speech. Link to the audio is above.

Greg Higgins' yummy dessert.

Mark and James Beard Public Market executive director Ron Paul at the end of the night.

The happiest and luckiest person I know at the end of the night. Yep.

Learn more about the James Beard Public Market at www.jamesbeardmarket.com

Food Lover's Guide to Portland 2.0 Launch Party ++

I went camping on Memorial Day weekend this year and during that trip I made a pact with myself to spend as much of this summer outside as possible. I succeeded! It's been an incredible and very lucky summer for me filled with trips back and forth to the coast, day trips to rivers, lots of barbecues, camping and long hot summer nights spent around campfires, on beaches, in backyards. It's been amazing. And now I've been reeling it in and getting back to the business of books and writing and food -- all of which I love. Wish summer could last just a little bit longer though.

The second edition of my book Food Lover's Guide to Portland comes out in less than a month and the day that it launches Hawthorne Books is throwing a big launch party for it at my friend's Reverend Nat's Cidery & Public Taproom -- Monday, Sept. 1st 6-10pm. It's going to be a whole heck of a lot of fun with Nat's hard ciders for sale, food donated from folks featured in the book, music from DJ Jimbo of XRAY.fm and more. I really hope that you can come out for it and help me and Hawthorne Books celebrate.

So far, you can look forward to tasty treats from Boke Bowl, Cheese Bar, Toro Bravo, Ken's Artisan Bakery, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Ruby Jewel Ice Cream, Fleur de Lis Bakery, Full Circle Creamery, Hotlips Soda, Slow Food Portland, Berry Good Produce, Bowery Bagels and Remedy Wine Bar. AND there will be a cake with an icing-based cover of my book courtesy of Hawthorne Books from Helen Bernhard Bakery. If you have something tasty you'd like to donate to the party spread please contact me at info at liz crain dot com. Thank you!

Three other events to quickly mention that I also hope you might make it out for:

Powell's Books Food Lover's Guide to Portland panel with me, Gabe Rosen, Nick Zukin, Nat West and Brett Burmeister Thursday, September 11th 7:30pm @ Powell's City of Books

People's Co-op Harvest Festival fermentation demo with me, David Barber and George Winborn in promotion of the upcoming Portland Fermentation Festival Wednesday, September 17th demo 3-5pm @ People's Food Co-op

Fifth Annual Portland Fermentation Festival Thursday, October 16th 6-9:30pm @ Ecotrust

See you soon at one or more of these events I hope!

Long Live Jorinji Miso

My friend Earnest Migaki, pictured above, needs your help. It's not just the residential rental market in Portland that's tight -- the commercial rental market is as well and Earnest has been without a production facility for his Jorinji Miso company for several months now. In a month he will run out of all of his already produced miso currently available throughout Portland in markets such as Uwajimaya and Anzen. Portland, we cannot let that happen.

I first met Earnest and his late wife Sumiko when I was researching the first issue of my book Food Lover's Guide to Portland -- they were the first interview that I conducted for it. And every year following they participated in the Portland Fermentation Festival. Earnest's miso is some of the very best that I've ever had (I really love miso) and if you haven't tried it you better help Earnest find a new commercial kitchen otherwise you won't get to! Miso takes a loooong time to make. The youngest miso that Earnest makes takes four months of fermentation.

Why should you care? My friend Earnest is an amazing human being and he has endured so much hardship in the past year -- more hardship than I've endured my entire life. Earnest has been to hell and back again and now he needs Portland's help. Step one: help Earnest find a commercial kitchen for Jorinji Miso. Please email me at liz crain at gmail dot com with any leads and I will pass them along tout suite to Earnest.

Please SHARE THE FUCK out of this -- word of mouth, Facebook, Twitter, bulletin boards, forums, get it tattooed on your FACE. Thank you. Don't actually get anything tattooed on your face. Your face is beautiful just the way it is.

Earnest is looking to lease: A standard commercial kitchen space that is 1,000 to 2,000 square feet that is $2,000 or less a month in Portland, ideally Southeast Portland. The kitchen can be shared but he can't work with anyone working with yeast because the koji for the miso doesn't work when yeast is present. Ideally the space will have plenty of storage space, a 3 basin sink, an 8-10 gas burner, room for a large industrial mixer and AC.

The day I met Earnest and Sumiko five years ago.

From Earnest's Jorinji scrapbook.

www.jorinjisoybeam.com

Portland Fermentation Festival 2013

We're so happy that we're less than a week away from this year's 4th annual Portland Fermentation Festival! The 2011 festival was so well attended we had a line down the stairs and around the block at Ecotrust. Last year, the thought of tackling such a popular festival was just too overwhelming for David, George and I so we decided to skip it and come back even stronger this year.

We've made some changes this year so that you won't be crushed during the festival and so that you won't have to wait and hour and a half to get in. The biggest changes: advanced ticket sales, different types of tickets: two tastings and Sandor's talk (the talk is sold out -- sorry! Tickets to tastings are still available), use of the mezzanine, and rooftop food and drink sales and music by DJ Pickle Barrel. I'll let the press release speak for itself below. Please come join us for the good, stinky fun on the 23rd!

Aaaand here are a few photos from our crazy 4:30am to 9am stint on KPTV's Fox News Good Day Oregon early this morning to promote the festival from 4:30am to 9am. Ouch.

KPTV Fox's Good Day Oregon covers the 2013 Portland Fermentation Festival. Left to right: Jeanne Kubal of Ecotrust, Andy Carson of Good Day Oregon, Lola Milholland of Ecotrust and David Barber of Picklopolis and co-organizer of the festival.

Me talking up this year's festival guest speaker Sandor Ellix Katz with Andy Carson on KPTV Fox Good Day Oregon.

Picklopolis fermented foods to show off on-air along with other fermenty festival treats.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   Organizers & Media Contacts:   Liz Crain lizcrain at gmail dot com   George Winborn gw.winborn at gmail dot com   David Barber briney at picklopolis dot com   Open-to-the-public, all ages celebration of fermented food and drink. Bring kraut, try kraut. Bring miso, try miso. Come out for Portland's fermented food and drink skill sharing, recipe sharing and tasting event of the year. We are very pleased to announce that this year's special guest is Sandor Ellix Katz, author of Wild Fermentation, The Art of Fermentation and The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved. In addition to all sorts of fermented food and drink samples enjoy rooftop food and beverage sales from Reverend Nat's Hard Cider, Upright Brewery and Bingo Sandwiches and music from DJ Pickle Barrel.   Fourth Annual Portland Fermentation Festival Wednesday, October 23rd 6:00-9:30pm Ecotrust’s Billy Frank Jr. Conference Center Rooftop food and drink sales and music from DJ Pickle Barrel 721 NW 9th Ave. Portland, OR All ages, open to the public, $10-$20 Children 12 and younger attend for free www.portlandfermentationfestival.com   Come celebrate pickling season at the Fourth Annual Portland Fermentation Festival at Ecotrust. Taste and share homemade live, fermented food and drinks made by professionals and home fermentation enthusiasts at the event that brought out more than 500 attendees in 2011.   Talk to fellow fermenters, exchange cultures and recipes, get advice from local food fermentation enthusiasts, and sample everything from sour pickles, miso and kefir to cheese, hard cider, and mead.   Visit the website above for more information on how to enter fermented goods and cultures for the event. If you'd like to see what past Portland Fermentation Festivals have been like check out some coverage:   Willamette WeekOPBFood Lover's Guide to PortlandKBOO Food Show Portland Farmers Market video

www.portlandfermentationfestival.com Twitter @PDXFermentFest Facebook Portland Fermentation FestivalPURCHASE TICKETS!

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern in Portland

Last spring I got a call from a producer of Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods asking if I wanted to help out with an upcoming Portland episode. She'd seen my book Food Lover's Guide to Portland, had checked out my blog and wanted me to help choose subjects and themes for the upcoming Portland show. We had a lot of back and forth for a few months before they came to Portland to shoot last summer.

I know a lot of the folks that they ended up featuring but I'm sure that there will be some surprises as well. People and businesses that I recommended include Steve Jones of Cheese Bar, Nat West of Reverend Nat's Hard Cider, Geoff Latham of Nicky USA, Earnest and Sumiko Migaki of Jorinji Miso, John Cleary of Newman's Fish Company, David Barber of Picklopolis, The Frying Scotsman, The Big Egg, Andrea Spella of Spella Caffe, Gabe Rosen of Biwa, Gena Renaud of Yume Confections and Naomi Montacre of Naomi's Organic Farm Supply. These are the folks that I remember talking about but I know there were more.

When the crew came to town last summer I got to tag along for a day. I haven't seen any of the show yet but if you watch it imagine me crouched between storage racks behind the sound guy when Andrew is making a very strange sounding ice cream (hint: smoke and bones). I even got to introduce myself to Mr. Z and we talked a bit about Vassar our alma mater. Now, more than a year later, the show is finally airing -- next Monday night on the Travel Channel. I'm really looking forward to tuning in.

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern

Friend Food Pt. 6

I have incredible friends and family and we give each other a lot of love with food and drink. I started this blog series a while back to chronicle that. Here are some of the tasty things that I've gotten to be involved in with friends or have been given by friends lately...

Debbie gave me a big bag of delicious Green Salmon Coffee, from Yachats, to brew and fill my new mug withfor Christmas.

Several weeks ago my friends Chris and Karen invited me over for dinner and we made buttternut squash and chevre raviolis. So good.

What dinner looked like that night.

My friend Loly made peppermint schnapps and Kahlua for the holidays and I was lucky enough to get both!

My brother and sister-in-law gave me this mug with my nieces on it when I went home to Cincinnati for Christmas this year. It makes me happy.

My neighbor and friend Chris made a batch of this tasty raspberry jam and I got some.

And his girlfriend and my good friend Alison has been giving me eggs from her hens for years. I love my neighbors so much

My friend Michelle and her daughter Kylie and I making beet salad.

My friend Emily gave me this jar of rendered pork fat from a class that she took recently at Portland Meat Collective.

And just so you know that the gifting goes both ways -- here are most of the edible gifts that I gave to loved ones over the holidays.

Friend Food Pt. 5Friend Food Pt. 4Friend Food Pt. 3Friend Food Pt. 2Friend Food Pt. 1

Friend Food Pt. 5

I'm so grateful for my friends near and far -- such a great family of friends in my life. I don't have any friends that don't love food so we eat, drink and are merry a lot and also gift one another with tasty food and drink often. In this installment of friend food you may feel a little jealous. I hope not. I hope that it inspires you to make something yummy and give it to someone you love -- every last bite of it.

My friend Michelle recently moved and she has an enormous rhubarb plant in her yard. She didn't have time to cook with it so she gave me all of it and I chopped it up and made...

Rhubarb syrup! So far we've just had it with seltzer but rhubarb margaritas are in our near future...

My dear old friend Autumn moved to India a little more than a year ago and when she visited us this spring she brought us all of these treats. Lucky.

Our friend Anthony grows all sorts of chiles from seed every year and he's kind enough to always give us some. This year he gave us shisito, cherry bomb and aji chile plants and they are happy and healthy in the backyard. Future hot sauce.

My King of the Brine friend David Barber of Picklopolis recently gave us a couple bottles of his excellent hot sauce after he got his lovely new tattoo from my boyfriend Tyler at Grizzly Tattoo to commemorate his baby girl. The tattoo -- "Junior Pearl -- mon petit cornichon." Love.

Finally finished bottling the 50 or so bottles of last year's plum cherry wine. It would have been without the cherries if it weren't for my lovely friends and neighbors.

Our friend Nat West dropped off a case of his super tasty hard cider that's now available in all sorts of restaurants and bars around town. Go Nat!

And last but not least our friend Alison and her boyfriend Chris brought us back some tasty candy from Massachusetts. Witches did not make it.

Friend Food Pt. 4Friend Food Pt. 3Friend Food Pt. 2Friend Food Pt. 1

Friend Food Pt. 2

So many good things have come our way food-wise from friends in the last few weeks. We're so lucky. Here are some of the yummy things we've been gifted lately...

Our next door neighbors recently went to Portugal for a couple weeks and brought us back this lovely olive oil.

Our friend Ariel Kempf gave us a jar of her Creaux Creole Mustard. Hot and spicy good. Learn more about it at www.creaux-mustard.com.

Our friend Dave gave us two jars of super yummy almond butter.

We got a couple Woodblock Chocolate bars from the makers themselves. Delicious!

Eat anything tasty lately?

Check out Friend Food Pt. 1

Bakesale for Japan April 2nd @ Ristretto Roasters & Barista

Giovanna Zivny, Elizabeth Nathan and others have organized Portland's Bakesale for Japan next Saturday, April 2nd from 10am-2pm at two of Portland's favorite coffee shops -- Ristretto Roasters (Williams) and Barista (Pearl).

Home and professional bakers are grabbing their whisks and cranking up their ovens to raise money for Peace Winds Japan, a partner of Mercy Corps.

This is a nationwide effort (Bakesale for Japan currently has generated 17+ bake sales stretching from San Francisco to NYC) that originated with Oakland chef Samin Nosrat. She raised $23K for Haiti last year with just three bake sale locations. Portland's Bakesale for Japan has a matching donation lined up from Intel.

If you'd like to bake (amateurs and professionals welcome) or volunteer for Bakesale for Japan contact pdxbakesale@gmail.com.

Here is the amazing list of Portland folks signed up so far to contribute tasty baked goods: Little T American Baker, Alder Pastry & Dessert, Woodlawn Coffee and Pastry, Fleur de Lis Bakery and Cafe, Alma Chocolate, Kir Jensen (The Sugar Cube), Kristen Murray (Paley’s Place), Kim Boyce (Golden Oven), Bakery Bar, Suzette, Random Order Coffeehouse & Bakery, Petunia’s Pies & Pastries, Confectionery, Little Branch Jam, and Bees & Beans.

Portland's Bakesale for Japan 10am-2pm Saturday, April 2nd @

Ristretto Roasters (N Williams location) 3808 N Williams Ave & Barista (Pearl location) 539 NW 13th Ave