Food Lover's Guide to Portland is my 2010 book from Sasquatch Books. This blog is a collection of some of the research, recipes, images and culinary adventures that went into it. I started the blog in February 2009 as a companion piece to the book and to help organize my thoughts while researching and writing it. I didn't think I'd like blogging but it turns out I really do. I'm currently working on the Toro Bravo Cookbook for McSweeney's Books due out in fall 2013.
I’m so happy to announce that we’ve set a date for the third annual Portland Fermentation Festival — Thursday, October 20th 6-8pm at Ecotrust! Thank you SO much Ecotrust for kindly allowing us to stink up the space yet again! We couldn’t do it without you.
And we couldn’t do it without YOU! We hope that you will come out and celebrate the wide world of fermented food and drink with us this year. More than 500 of you did last year so maybe you’ll each bring a friend and we can double attendance. Actually, that might be a little too crowded.
If you don’t know about the Portland Fermentation Festival listen up. At PFF you get to hang out with fellow food/drink 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. Good stuff.
We’ll be getting more details out in upcoming weeks here and over at the official website but for now the main issues to attend to are 1.) Sign-up to sample fermented food and drink at the event here 2.) Shoot us an email if you’d like to volunteer at the door or for set-up/clean-up at info at portland fermentation festival dot com. In exchange for volunteering you’ll get good things, we promise.
Check out some previous Portland Fermentation Festival coverage:
Third Annual Portland Fermentation Festival
Open to the public, all ages When: Thursday, October 20th 6-8pm Where:Ecotrust’s Billy Frank Jr. Conference Center on the second floor, 721 NW 9th Ave., #200, Portland, OR What: Sample and learn about all sorts of food and drink ferments Cost: $5 at the door info@portlandfermentationfestival.com Twitter @PDXFermentFest
Facebook Portland Fermentation Festival
Biwa sous chef Ed Ross serving up a rocking kimchi with big chunks of daikon and lots of fire.
Another year and another briny, stinky, lovely and amazing Portland Fermentation Festival! Thanks to everyone who came out and thanks to all of you who made it happen — especially those who generously sampled their fermented food and drink. You’re amazing.
Thanks also to awesome coverage in Willamette Week, Laura McCandlish’s KBOO Food Show and thanks to all the other publications that helped get the word out! Thank you so much Ecotrust for putting up with us (we’re stinky) for yet another year. We couldn’t have done it without you.
For now, I’m just going to post some photos from last night. I’ll probably follow that up soon enough with even more words, thoughts and photos. (It was an amazing event so it deserves a lot of show and tell.) For now a fermenty feast for your eyes…
Even though we had Mr. President to contend with the crowd was thick.
Peg Butler with her sour pickles and home captured sourdough starter rye bread.
PFF co-organizer extraordinaire George Winborn demo'ing kraut.
PFF co-organizer (also extraordinaire) David Barber and Bonesaw Wilson serving up crunchy delicious Picklopolis pickles.
A lot of people's favorite of the night was Kate Patterson's awesome fermented salmon.
Linda Swanson-Davies' puckery delicious fruit kefir.
Norrie and Anna Gordon's fermented goat cheese, goat butter and then some.
Biwa chef-owner Gabe Rosen and sous chef Ed Ross sampling kimchi.
Anne Berblinger's spicy delicious fermented chiles.
Dan MacDonald serving up his sour radishes and whole cabbage kraut. His radishes were kick ass.
A close-up because Dan's ferments were picture perfect.
I guess I just like butts.
The lovely Tressa Yelig of Salt, Fire & Time shared rocking pumpkin yogurt, green tea kombucha and cortido.
Tressa's super yummy cortido.
Heidi Nestler chopping up garlic for kraut.
Krista Arias and Jeanne sampling cortido.
I'm sad that when I was photographing I didn't catch Chris Musser of Lost Arts Kitchen. These were her supplies for homemade fermented chock-full-of-clove ketchup, mayonnaise and more.
Although Sandor won’t be at this year’s PFF we hope you will. Event details can be found below but all you really need to know if you love fermented food and drink is when and where. We’re honored that Ecotrust has agreed to host the funky fest again this year because let me tell you that a room full of fresh ferments is, how do I put it, well, a little ripe. We’re very grateful that they’re willing to put up with the stink.
So if you don’t love the smell of dill and garlic slapped sour pickles, tart and punchy kombucha, sweet and sour fruit kimchi, or mild and tart kefir don’t come. There will be more to sample for the rest of us. That’s what the event is all about — sampling ferments, talking with those who made them and skill sharing.
If you didn’t get a chance to sign up as a presenter don’t worry. You can still bring your ferments to share. You won’t have a table and set-up but that’s ok. The more the merrier. So, please, come out for the wild, funky, stinky and delicious Portland Fermentation Festival 2010!
Second Annual Portland Fermentation Festival
When: Wed., October 20th 6-8pm
Where: Ecotrust, 721 NW 9th Ave., #200, Portland, OR
What: Sample and learn about all sorts of food and drink ferments
Cost: $5 at the door
Dan Akroyd will sign one of these for you today in Vancouver. No lie.
His vodka to be exact — Crystal Head Vodka. And as strange as this might sound, he’ll be in the ‘Couv today from 3-5pm signing bottles of his strange looking hooch at Stateline Liquor Store.
I’ve scheduled this blog post because, as you might already know, I’m under sail in the San Juan Islands. I’m thinking that you, however, might just want to go shake hands with Dan Akroyd this afternoon.
I haven’t tried the stuff, although samples are on the way. The press release for this vodka was one of the strangest ones I’ve gotten in awhile. Check part of it out below.
If I was in town I’d be heading to Vancouver this afternoon. I don’t think I could resist meeting Akroyd and asking him about his vodka, which according to the press release is, “triple crystal filtered through Herkimer diamonds.” It’s your supernatural world Mr. Akroyd, I’m just in it.
Here’s some more info. straight from Akroyd’s PR peeps about his vodka: The Ghostbusters and Blues Brothers star himself, Dan Aykroyd, will be in town on Monday, September 27th to promote his popular vodka, Crystal Head Vodka. He will visit Stateline Liquor Store at 1109 North Jantzen Drive from 3–5pm for a bottle signing.
Aykroyd, known for his work on Saturday Night Live and in films including Trading Places, Ghostbusters and Driving Miss Daisy, has been involved with producing and distributing wine and spirits for seven years. He recently created Crystal Head Vodka as a result of his fascination with the supernatural.
The super-premium vodka is made with water from a deep aquifer in Newfoundland, Canada, blended with selected grains for a creamy and slightly sweet finish, and triple crystal filtered through Herkimer diamonds, which, according to New Age belief systems, embody positive energy and goodwill. Crystal Head Vodka is available wherever fine wine and spirits are sold.
