Afternoon reading material...

Sometimes it’s nice to pull together a little food roundup so below I’ve linked up to some recent stories that I’ve written as well as food stories by others that I’ve liked lately. If you’ve come across something too good to not share then please leave a link to the story in the comments. Hope all is well!

Recent stories I’ve written or contributed to…
Cooking Light, Portland Food Rules
Budget Travel, America’s Best Food Regions
VIA Magazine, Portland’s North Williams Avenue
The Progressive, Joe Sacco interview
Willamette Week, Devour
Willamette Week, Summer Guide
Portland Woman, Eat Your Way Around Portland
Cooking Up A Story, 5-part Lisa Weasel interview

Other folks’ stories and news that I’ve dug lately…
Speaking of Faith Show, interview with Dan Barber
McSweeney’s new food quarterly Lucky Peach (Just subscribed! First issue out!)
Portland Farmers Market looking for winter space
Cooking Up A Story, raising backyard chickens with Naomi Montacre

Stinging nettle booty.

I love nettles. I even grow them in my yard. But the small patch that’s in the enter at your own risk section of my garden — raspberries and nettles — is really only good for a few scrambles a year. That’s not enough. I need to make big platters of nettle lasagna, dinners of nettle risotto, early spring nettle pesto. You get it.

We harvested A LOT of nettles recently and here’s my advice — gloves, scissors, bags and don’t bring the dog. The last part is difficult but please heed the warning. Ours whimpered for hours after because he stung his foot pads. Poor guy. We just kept soaking his feet in cold water and applying cortisone. You could tell it really hurt.

Don't forget your gloves...

Nettles as far as the eye can see.

On the positive side we made a lot of delicious things from our nettles and didn’t get hurt in the slightest. (Lots of risotto as you can see because we’ve been craving that with the cold, dark weather we’ve been having this spring.) Wear gloves when collecting and preparing nettles and remember that just a few minutes of cooking gets rid of the sting.

Golden beet and nettle risotto.

Nettle risoto finished with cream and asiago.

Sounds strange but this nettle tostada the next morning was awesome.

The perfect spot for a picnic -- Maryhill Museum of Art's picnic grounds. That peacock did not eat with us but I'm sure cleaned up our crumbs.

My mom and her husband visited Portland from Cincinnati (where I grew up) mid-August and I’ve been meaning to post about their visit for awhile since a lot of what we did centered around food and drink as it usually does. We had some great meals out at Toro Bravo, Ping and Acadia to name a few and we also had a really good barbecue at home on their last night in town.

The trek we took this time while they visited was out to the Gorge. On our way out in the morning we stocked up on all sorts of great picnic supplies and then we pretty much beelined for Maryhill Museum of Art. I wanted to finally visit what Raymond Carver referred to, in so many words, as the strangest museum he ever went to.

By the time we got there mid-day — it takes about two hours from Portland — we were hungry and headed straight to the picnic grounds. It was a great picnic spot next to the sculpture garden and behind the museum with our peacock friend. My favorite foods from the picnic were the spicy paprika loaf from Edelweiss Sausage & Delicatessen on Grand Central baguette and the tiny pickled anchovies from New Seasons Market.

On the way home (the museum was great and I fully agree with Carver) we only had time for one winery stop so we made it Syncline Winery and I’m so happy that we did. We tasted several of their delicious reds and whites and came home with two whites — their Viognier and Roussanne. I’ll be back to Maryhill and to Syncline. Check both out the next time you’re in the area.

We tasted the whites and the reds. Tastings are $5, deducted if you buy wine...

Turn here for Syncline Winery in the Gorge...

The tasting room is in the production house with the fermenting tanks and the barrels.

Syncline Winery, if you can't tell already, is beautiful.

Maryhill Museum of Art
www.maryhillmuseum.org
509.773.3733
Goldendale, Washington

Syncline Winery
www.synclinewine.com
509.365.4361
Lyle, Washington