Taste of the Nation -- April 26th at Luxe Autohaus

I've never been to Share Our Strength's annual Taste of the Nation but if I'm not too exhausted from IACP and other events the weekend of April 23rd I'm going to finally check out this Monday, April 26th event -- the 23rd annual Taste of the Nation. 100 percent of the proceeds benefit local hunger relief agencies. Doesn't get much more feel good than that.

The gist is you buy a ticket for $75 and up and get to sample unlimited tasty food and drink from local chefs, brewers, mixologists, food entrepreneurs and more.

***Check back with my blog next week for a chance to win two free general admission tickets to this fantastic event!***

Here are some highlights straight from the event press materials:

50 Restaurants 25 Wineries 5 Breweries ONE mission to End Childhood Hunger

Oregon is a state known for its abundant production of fruits, vegetables, and dairy products, and yet 1 in 6 kids in Oregon experience food insecurity and do not receive proper nutrition to grow and develop. Taste of the Nation works to end childhood hunger in the United States and abroad by ensuring that children and their families have reliable access to nutritious food, and by addressing the deeper causes of these conditions.

100% of the evening’s ticket and auction revenues will be given to hunger-relief efforts. Local beneficiaries o Oregon Food Bank, o Oregon Hunger Relief Task Force, o St. Vincent de Paul Food Recovery Program, o Klamath-Lake Counties Food Bank.

Since its inception in 1988, Taste of the Nation Portland has raised more than $1.1 million for hunger relief.

Taste of the Nation Portland is one of more than 55 food-and-wine fundraising events taking place across the U.S. and Canada, sponsored by Share Our Strength, a national organization working to end childhood hunger.

Sample of Participating Restaurants: Andina Bluehour Clarklewis Firehouse La Calaca Comelona Laurelhurst Market Nuestra Cocina Saint Cupcake Screen Door Simpatica Steve's Cheese LUXE and VIP GEMS: Beaker & Flask Beast Genoa Gruner Thistle

Beverages: Argyle Elk Cove Vineyards Foris Vineyards Winery Willamette Valley Vineyard Lange Estate Winery and Vineyards Illahe Vineyard Pamplin Family Winery Cooper Mountain Vineyard Chehalem Premium Wines Adelsheim Full Sail Brewing Southern Oregon Brewing Sierra Nevada Captured by Porches Crater Lake Soda

Cupcake Jones cupcakes from last year's Taste of the Nation...

100 percent of proceeds go to local and national hunger relief agencies.

Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation Monday, April 26th 5-9pm LUXE Autohaus 410 NE 17th Ave. Portland, OR 97232 www.shareourstrength.org/portland For tickets, call 1-877-26TASTE, buy them online at www.portlandtaste.org, or visit any New Seasons Market.

Sliders Revelation -- Dinner Roll Buns

I debated about whether or not to post something about burgers because honestly this town has had a lot of freaking burger action lately -- to the point where it's just about overkill. Pun intended.

But it's not often that something this delicious comes around in a bun so I'd feel bad if I didn't tell you about the incredible beef sliders that we cooked up recently.

I've been a little burnt out on burger buns lately. As funny as that sentence sounds it's true. You know, I put together these rad burgers with great meat, sometimes cheese and all sorts of tasty fixings and then they go on mediocre store bought buns. The first way out was to buy nice crust ciabatta buns. I still do that and they're great -- fluffy, porous and perfect for sopping up juices since they hold up well.

Last week I entered new terrain -- beyond ciabatta. I was perusing the New Seasons Market Arbor Lodge baked goods area when I came across Marsee Baking's take and bake dinner rolls. I had sliders on my mind and these little guys were just the right size. You know where I'm going with this.

Once home I left the meat out to get to a good temp. while I gathered the condiments -- mayonnaise, whole seed mustard -- and prepped the fixings -- butter lettuce, cilantro, homemade spicy garlic pickles and french-cut dilly beans. Once that was done we stoked the grill and formed the patties with salt, pepper and hunks of Rogue Creamery's Smokey Blue inside for good measure.

When my boyfriend put the sliders on the grill I threw the dinner rolls in the oven and several minutes later both were ready. I think the pictures speak for themselves but in case there's any doubt these were the best burgers of the season so far. Too good not to share.

Burgers are about the easiest thing to cook but if you want some tips I think this is a great article.

Blue cheese beef sliders baby...

Grape Talk -- Hardy Plant Society Kitchen Gardening Group

My friend Karen does all sorts of things that make me jealous. Lately she's launched into her new career as a landscape designer as well as working part-time at a local nursery. She gets to work with plants and people who care about plants all day long. That's pretty fantastic in my books and if that's not enough she also has the largest urban edible garden of anyone I know.

Not only is the garden amazing but Karen and her husband Chris have built a ceramic studio and sauna in the sprawling backyard portion of it. Another reason why I'm jealous of Karen is that she's a member of the Hardy Plant Society's Kitchen Gardening Group.

From the HPSO website:

The Kitchen Gardening Group is focused on edible landscaping, and sharing food and recipes from their bountiful gardens. They meet on the 4th Tuesday at 7pm at members homes, typically rotating from Eastside to Westside.

Karen goes to these monthly events and they always sound great. A while back there was one that I really wanted to go to -- how to grow and cook with Asian vegetables. Although I didn't attend that one I recently joined Karen for the March 23rd open-to-the-public grape growing Kitchen Garden event with Lon Rombough author of The Grape Grower.

Lon Rombough's favorite grape captured from his website...Swenson Red grape.

The event was held at a Unitarian church in Beaverton and although I didn't count I'm guessing there were about 30 people in attendance. They asked for a donation of $5 or more at the door but I'm sure they would let you attend if you couldn't afford that. I learned a lot and I'm definitely considering joining the Hardy Plant Society and its Kitchen Gardening Group as a result.

A few highlights from Lon's talk:

100 plus varieties of table grapes grow well in the Pacific Northwest.

We can grow good wine grapes here but outstanding table grapes. Why? Most of the wine grapes grown in the PNW are European varieties so they're not perfectly suited to the climate. Most locally grown table grapes are American varieties which are disease resistant and better suited to the area.

You can bury a sprawling grape vine at any point and it will sprout anew.

Swanson Red grapes are one of Lon's favorite table grapes.

Buds that are close to old wood are usually not too fruitful.

The best time to prune grapes is in the spring or late winter.

The biggest problem with growing grapes in Oregon...birds.

Lon Rombough www.bunchgrapes.comBuy Lon's books

River's Edge Smoked Salmon

I got a really nice package on my doorstep a few weeks ago from a woman that I used to work with at The Alameda Cafe -- Erika Simeon. I hadn't spoken with her in years and since then it turns out that she and her dad have started a business smoking and selling the above -- River's Edge Smoked Salmon.

The past two and half years they've been perfecting this secret recipe smoked salmon and I was lucky enough to get samples of the King and Coho. The King was definitely my favorite because it was so moist and flavorful. The Coho -- on the salt bagel above with cream cheese, capers, and scallions -- was a bit drier but still really good.

According to Erika they use wild line caught Northwest salmon, organic brown sugar, and solar evaporated sea salt for the small batch alder smoked salmon.

We went to the coast last weekend and I brought along a couple packages of chevre, along with some fresh herbs clipped from the garden and some of last year's garlic. I minced the herbs (oregano, mint, thyme, chives, sorrel) along with the garlic and whipped them into the chevre with a good amount of half and half. One of the tastiest things that we ate over the weekend was wamed and sliced Pearl Bakery baguette smeared with the garlic and herb chevre and topped with River's Edge Smoked King Salmon along with a nice, dry French rose.

Although River's Edge products aren't available in local stores yet -- I'll let you know when they are -- you can purchase the smoked salmon online. If you're local email Erika at erika@riversedgesalmon.com for free Portland area delivery.

Local smoked salmon at your service

River's Edge Smoked Salmon www.riversedgesalmon.com

Homemade Beef Jerky in my Excalibur Food Dehydrator

In the fall I went to the Home Orchard Society's All About Fruit Show in Hillsboro and had a really good time. It was the same weekend as Wordstock, and also my first Wordstock while working for Hawthorne Books so it was a chock full weekend. While at the fruit show I bought a whole bunch of raffle tickets for three reasons -- I didn't pay to get in but I wanted to contribute, there was a beautiful wooden cider press in the raffle that I wanted, and I also liked the looks of the Excalibur Food Dehydrator.

A few months went by before I was home sick in January and got a call from a very nice Home Orchard Society volunteer telling me that I'd won the food dehyrdator! I was pretty dang excited to get the news and even more excited when this man brought the dehyrdator all the way over to my house -- what a man.

For the past few months the dehydrator has been shuffled around from the front room to the utility room until I finally plugged it in in the kitchen this weekend and put it to use. In the summer and fall I'll have plenty to dehydrate -- plums, pears, apples, tomatoes and chiles etc. Right now in the garden I've got seeds sprouting, and lots of spring growth but not a lot to harvest.

I decided to break my Excalibur in with a little homemade beef jerky this weekend and I'm so glad I did. I read the recipes in the accompanying Excalibur booklet and also surfed online to get some ideas. I ended up hybridizing all of that into a spicy worcestershire, soy, honey and onion marinade that turned out fantastic...

Trimmed and thin sliced tri-tip soaking up the marinade...

Out of the marinade, blotted dry, racked and ready to go...

Six hours later cooling but ready to eat homemade spicy beef jerky

The little engine that could -- my lovely Excalibur Food Dehyrdator

Excalibur Products www.excaliburdehydrator.com 6083 Power Inn Road Sacramento, CA 95824

I've Been a Miner for...Miner's Lettuce!

I like taking my dog Rubin to my writing studio. It's a small enough room that it feels like a den -- more like a walk-in closet -- and he usually curls up under my desk and keeps my feet warm. He's a white malamute shepherd so he's not small and only has a few places to get comfortable in the room. It's nice having company while I write, research stories and projects, boil ramen in the hot pot, talk on Skype.

The best part of taking Rubin to work is that he gets me on a regular walk schedule. I love walks period but I'm more inclined to skip them when he's not around. So at the end of last week -- remember how sunny and beautiful it was? -- I was at my studio and took Rubin on a mid-day walk. I was soaking up the sunshine and shaking off a little work stress when I came upon something extraordinary...

You see what I'm talking about above and below -- the largest urban patch of miner's lettuce I've ever laid eyes on! So large in fact I actually looked around to see if anyone else was onto it. There were a couple homeless guys tinkering with their tent fifty yards away but other then that it was just me and Rubin. Bounty!

I plucked a bit and ate it on the spot -- first miner's lettuce of the season! And then we carried on with our walk after deciding to make a pit stop there with a bag to harvest before heading home.

Miner's lettuce is unmistakable and it's one of my favorite wild edibles.

By the time quitting time came around I almost forgot about the miner's lettuce but lucky for me my post-work brain kicked in and I stopped by the patch to snip enough for a big salad for a barbecue that night. I didn't even come close to making a dent. The patch is so big that I could probably eat salads from it all summer. I plan to do just that in fact. For the miner's lettuce salad last week I added butter lettuce and radishes along with mint, fennel and ribboned sorrel from the yard. I tossed it all with a homemade white miso, lime and olive oil vinaigrettte. Delicious.

I'm not telling you where my newfound miner's lettuce patch is but if you're looking for urban wild edibles now's the time. I highly recommend that you check this open source website out too -- Urban Edibles. I wrote about it in my book and there's a ton of great PDX foraging info. there. If you need some schooling Wild Food Adventures is heading into another fantastic spring season of local foraging expeditions and workshops.

I found it here! Sea of miner's lettuce...

Queen of the Sun Sneak Peek this Saturday

This is where I'm going on Saturday night. Queen of the Sun is Taggart Siegel's soon-to-be new movie (he last directed the film The Real Dirt on Farmer John) and there's a sneak peek screening in Portland this Saturday night at 8pm at Sunnyside Methodist Church. The film has been in the works for three years and the screening honors the film's main character Gunther Hauk who's visiting Portland for it as well as some beekeeping workshops -- see details below.

This special screening will raise money for Hauk's Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary as well as for the world premier and national release of Queen of the Sun later this year.

Details for the Saturday, March 20th screening: Cost: $10 advance, $15 at the door Time: Reception @ 7pm, film @ 8pm Location: Sunnyside Methodist Church, SE 35th Ave. and Yamhill Q&A with Gunther Hauk and filmmakers following the screening at 9:30pm

Beekeeping Workshop

March 19th-21st beekeeping workshop from biodynamic expert and teacher Gunther Hauk. All workshop activities will take place at Portland Waldorf School in Milwaukie.

Cost: $90-$125 -- lunch and snacks included.

To register and get full details contact Cathy at beeworkshop10@yahoo.com

Queen of the Sun Movie www.queenofthesun.com

French Prairie Farm Showcase -- Portland Chefs Collaborative Event

The onslaught of gardening and farming posts is due in part to the changing season. Spring has almost sprung and with all the changes that come with that there are some pretty fantastic events happening in Portland. The event I'm writing about now, however, is just for cooks and chefs so be forewarned.

I love what Portland Chefs Collaborative does for Portland food. I've written about them plenty on this blog including a post around this time last year for the organization's annual Farmer Chef Connection. The 2010 FCC just took place and although I didn't attend this time around I hear it was great.

Without further ado, Portland Chefs Collaborative is also hosting the upcomingFrench Prairie Farm Showcase next Thursday, March 18th in Butteville, Oregon.

Info. straight from the source:

The goal of this mini-trade show is to connect chefs with local farmers and specialty distributors. At present there are approximately 20 farms and 3 specialty distributors registered to be there to talk to you about locally grown organic and conventional products such as:

Row crops: bush and Italian flat beans, lettuce, salad green mix, green onions, special variety red onions, culinary herbs, radishes, spinach, parsley, beets, peppers, carrots, garlic.

Field crops: squash, zucchini, pumpkins,  potatoes (Yukon Gold, Red Fingerling, etc.).

Cold crops: Brussels sprouts on the stalk, cabbage, cauliflower, etc.

Pasture raised eggs

Pasture raised chicken and beef

Organic hops

Blackberries, raspberries and Marion berries

Thursday, March 18 from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm

Lunch provided: Reservations required—call ahead

Location: The Historic Butteville Store

10767 Butte Street, Butteville, OR 97002

RSVP to:

Ben Williams - 503.568.5670

Dianne Stefanni-Ruff - 503.250.2791www.portlandcc.org

Portland Chefs Collaborative - fostering a sustainable food system through advocacy, education, and collaboration with the broader food community.

Spring for Zenger

Ever been to Portland's non-profit urban farm and wetland Zenger Farm? I haven't but now, more than ever, I really want to. Starting March 14th local restaurants and nurseries are celebrating Zenger Farm and its newest program -- Healthy Eating on a Budget -- which educates outer Southeast Portland youth and adults about shopping for, and cooking, healthy meals on a limited budget.

Restaurants and nurseries participating in the fundraising initiative include Nedd Ludd, Biwa, Pine State Biscuits, Pistils Nursery, and Portland Nursery.

If you're interested in other Zenger Farm initiatives, events and classes (beekeeping, chicken butchering, sausage making and more) check them out here.

Spring in the Garden

The days are getting longer and spring is in the air even if it isn't technically until March 20th. I planted my first seeds of the season last weekend -- spinach and mizuna. I sifted through the compost, added it to the big backyard bed two weekends ago and last weekend I raked in the seeds and covered the bed with a PVC hoophouse. Next up: sweet sugar snaps. Mmmm. Even though my seeds haven't germinated yet there's all kinds of spring action in the garden. Oh, and the BIG spring happening -- I became an auntie several sweet hours ago! My one and only brother and my lovely sister-in-law gave birth to a beautiful Marielle Linda Crain. I can't wait to meet her out of the pod!

Here's a taste of what I'm talking about in the garden...

I planted two honeyberry bushes last summer. Bigger and sweeter fruit than blueberries.

Lemon balm is as pervasive as mint

One of my favorite spring sights -- red-veined sorrel

Seaberries on the way

Lots and lots of garlic

Spinach and mizuna under wraps