Northwest Fresh Seafood, Lentil Underground, Cuvee Weekend

There are three tasty events coming up -- two of which I'm directly involved in -- that I want to tell you about. I also want to acknowledge that I do realize that I haven't done a Yard Fresh installment in far too long. One excuse, over the summer and early fall I got my kitchen remodeled by my amazingly talented friends at St. Johns Design Build (see some photos of my kitchen remodel here!), beyond that life has been full. Anyway, I haven't forgotten about that series and I'll add to it again soon enough. For now, here are some upcoming food/drink events I'm hoping that you might come to and if not that you will help spread the word about. Thanks!

Saturday, March 7 @ 2-6pm at Northwest Fresh Seafood Newberg, Oregon BUBBLES & BOOKS

A month ago Zach Elliott of the Newberg seafood market Northwest Fresh Seafood asked John Gorham and me if we'd come out to the market for a spring food/drink/books event and we agreed right away. John and I are both seafood lovers and always up for a fun excuse to get out to Oregon wine country. The result is an afternoon and evening event hosted by these great folks with oysters, bubbles, signed copies of Toro Bravo: Stories. Recipes. No Bull. AND Food Lover's Guide to Portland, live music by Kent Smith and a Q&A with John and I ALL for $65. I hope you'll come out for it and even if you can't I hope that you might help spread the word. It's going to be great. Tickets are available here.

Monday, March 9 @ 7pm at Powell's Portland, Oregon Liz Carlisle, author of Lentil Underground: Renegade Farmers and the Future of Food in AmericaREADING

Working as a book publicist at Hawthorne Books, and having covered food and food books since 2003, review copies often come my way. They're usually from Chelsea Green, which is one of my favorite publishing houses, but sometimes they're from other publishers -- in this case Gotham Books. Liz Carlisle is coming to Portland mid-March for a reading for her book Lentil Underground and if you care about food as much as I do I think you're going to want to go to this Powell's City of Books reading. I've only begun reading it and I'm inspired by the depth of Carlisle's research into renegade farmers and sustainable agriculture as well as the tenacity of her subjects and their dedication to new ag. business and cropping systems and a sustainable ag. future. GENTLE PORTLAND LENTILS, please pick up a copy of the book and come out for Carlisle's Powell's reading and become a part of the Lentil Underground! If my endorsement isn't enough...

"What does it take to farm sustainably–and make a living? Liz Carlisle tells the engrossing story of the ‘audacity rich, but capital poor’ Montana farmers who thought lentils were the answer and stuck with them until proved right. Anyone who dreams of starting a farm or wants to know how organic farmers can overcome the obstacles they face will be inspired by this book." --Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics and professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University.

Look at that fuzzy gentle lentil behind the book! Rubin is my favorite photo bomber.

Saturday, March 21st @ Noon at The Allison Inn & Spa Newberg, Oregon Cuvee Weekend PANEL

In celebration of Women's History Month The Allison Inn & Spa in Newberg is hosting an inaugural Cuvee Weekend on the weekend of March 21st. Couples are invited to purchase weekend packages and attend everything from a cooking demo. by Kristen Murray of Portland's Maurice and a 4-course winemakers' dinner with Tamara Murphy of Seattle's Terra Plata to a guided vineyard tour and a panel discussion on women in food on Saturday, the 21st with me, Kristen Murray, Tamara Murphy and Veronica Vaga of Deschutes Brewery. Please help spread the word!

The Allison Inn & Spa rated #1 Hotel Spa in the Continental US by Travel + Leisure.

Portland Food Lover's Suite Airbnb

I'm really sorry for the long delay in writing here but so much has happened this summer that I had to drop a couple things and unfortunately blogging was one of the casualties. I'm back though and I hope that you will forgive the silent treatment.

I recently got introduced to Airbnb -- do you know about it yet? If not check it out because it's a great way to travel around the world and stay in folks' homes usually for very little $. I'm doing it with the entire second floor of my home and I'd love it if you or a loved one or even an acquaintance would come and stay at my food lover's suite. I'm including a copy of my book for those who stay four or more nights. It's $70 a night.

The second bedroom/reading room attached to the bedroom.

I hope that you are doing well and, of course, eating well!

Here's the description that I have up on Airbnb:

airbnb.com listing

The 400+ square foot entire second floor of my house has hardwood floors, sloped wooden ceilings, a queen bed, a full bed/couch, two closets, dressers and reading nook along with an attached office/reading room and private bathroom with bath at the base of the stairs. It's perfect for one to four people. There's a TV with DVD player (for DVDs or VHS, no TV stations) and free WiFi. Cozy and clean, no pets please. Check in/out time is flexible, please inquire.

North Portland's Overlook neighborhood has all sorts of restaurants (Mextiza, Pause, Mio Sushi, food cart pod with 10 carts), bars (Old Gold, Palace of Industry, Barlow's, Hop & Vine), cafes (DiPrima Dolci), coffee shops (Blend) and parks all within a short walking distance of my 1907 cedar shake bungalow with front and back edible gardens and a comfortable front porch with chairs.

I'm a local food writer and editor and I've lived in Portland for 10 years. Included in the cost of a four day or more stay is a copy of my book, Food Lover's Guide to Portland. It will help you find all that is delicious throughout the city! I'm more than happy to offer eat, drink and be merry suggestions to you during your stay.

Guests can easily travel the city without a car from my house. The light rail line is five blocks away and takes you to/from the airport, downtown, the Rose Quarter and all over Portland. A bus to the Alberta Arts District also runs by my house and gets you there in 10 minutes. There is plenty of street parking available and it's a quick car or bike ride to downtown, Alberta Arts District, Mississippi Avenue, and all sorts of other great Portland neighborhoods.

You're more than welcome to use my fully functional and equipped kitchen (French press, refrigerator, oven, shelf space etc.), living room, as well as the washer and dryer and there is wireless throughout the house.

Please help share this with anyone that you think might be interested. Thanks so much!

Portland Food Roundup

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

How to Forage for Nettles

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.

Syncline Winery and the Gorge

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