Buy No Seeds Year

It's buy no seeds year for me and if you know me you realize how difficult that is. One of my favorite things to do in the spring is flip through the Territorial Seed Company catalogue ticking and dog-earing delicious looking and sounding seeds, wandering the seed aisles at local nurseries, and choosing tiny parcels of seeds to carry me through the growing season.

I love reading the packets -- the tiny but taste-filled descriptions of tomatoes, the short and concise growing recommendations, the drawings or photos of the plants and fruits. I love the names -- Armenian cucumbers, tigerella tomatoes, sweet sugar snaps, red meat radish.

But there comes a time to clean out the long forgotten stores. To reach for that satchel filled with old seed packets (some are more than five years old) in the utility room and make do with what's inside. It's the same in the kitchen -- working through the stores, the frozen containers, jars in the back of the cupboard, tins on the highest shelf so I can start afresh. Some packets only have a few seeds remaining and never get used -- I'm planting all of those remainders this year.

So far buy no seeds spring has been somewhat successful. Most of the tomatoes have come up in the seed trays, all of the cukes, the green beans haven't sprouted yet in the backyard but I'm pretty sure they will. The poppies and nasturtiums look small and unhappy and only a few of the spinach seeds germinated but those are the only ones that have been weak and truth be told they were all kindergarten age. The sunflowers haven't sprouted yet either but I still have hope. It's crazy to think that all this was happening just a couple months ago.

I think once the summer sunshine sets in I'll devote an area to random direct seeds. It'll be the empty-all-remaining-packets mound. We'll see what comes up. Last year was a very fruitful season, hopefully this year will be too.

Maybe I'll even save some seeds this year. I always have the best of intentions but it never seems to happen. The best I've done is scatter dried seed pods directly in the ground, to wait through the winter and hopefully rise in the spring.

Go sow some seeds!

Food Lover's Guide to Portland is a Book

Maybe you read it (or heard ads for it on the radio...) and maybe you didn't but the March issue of Portland Monthly bore the same title as that of my forthcoming book that I've been researching and writing since fall 2008. I got a lot of calls and emails about this way back when so I thought I'd belatedly set the record straight here. Yes, they used the name of my book on their cover, in their advertising campaign, and for a feature without consulting me or my publishing house. No, I'm not included in the issue.

Moving right along to the sunny side I'd like to acknowledge some books about Portland food and drink that have inspired me. The books in the photo below are great and I've learned a lot from them even though they're a little dusty.

Portland food books

Another book that helped my own book along was Katy Calcott's Food Lover's Guide to Seattle. I love her book and I had wanted to write a book like hers about Portland food and drink culture for a while. Finally, I wised up and thought why not ask Sasquatch Books to publish mine? Before signing the contract to write Food Lover's Guide to Portland I got to talk with Katy about her experience researching and writing Food Lover's Guide to Seattle. She gave me some great advice that kept me sane.

There are loads of other fantastic books lining my shelves that inspired me as I researched and wrote Food Lover's Guide to Portland -- most importantly Patricia Wells' The Food Lover's Guide to Paris, and Patricia Unterman's San Francisco Food Lover's Guide. These are both fantastic books and if you pack them in a travel bag I doubt you'll regret it despite the fact that they're both pretty hefty.

As far as size goes I'm guessing my book weigh in at about a pound on it's pub. date of July 1st. More details soon on my open-to-the-public book launch party...

Pre-order THE BOOK Food Lover's Guide to Portland from: Powell's BooksAmazonBarnes & Noble

If you're a bookstore and you want to order books: PGW

If you're a non-trade business and you want to order books: Sasquatch Books

Portland Food Co-ops' Local Farm Event June 6th

Portland has great food cooperatives and on Sunday, June 6th all three of them are joining forces for a day-long local farm tour -- Alberta Cooperative Grocery, Food Front Cooperative Grocery, and People's Food Co-op.

Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for youth below 14 years old, and low income tickets are available. Ticket price includes: lunch, wine tasting admission, bus transportation, entrance into raffles, drinks and snacks. To register, contact your nearest co-op for details.

From the press release:

3 CO-OPS, 2 FARMS, 1 CIDERWORKS

On June 6th, the three Portland food co-ops will be joining together to offer a day long farm tour. Community members from Alberta Co-op, Food Front Co-op, and People's Co-op will spend a relaxing day together in the rural farmlands of Oregon visiting two farms and a ciderworks.

Sunbow Farm

The farm tour will began with a visit to Sunbow Farm in Corvallis to meet "the father of organic farming", Harry McCormack. MacCormack established Sunbow Farm in 1972 to be an organic market garden. The farm is now home to six greenhouses, several barns, a bath house, and the Institute of BioWisdom, an education center focused on building hands-on organic farming and life skills.

For lunch, Wandering Aengus Ciderworks will host the tour for a seasonal local meal and cider tasting on their 280 acres of land. Just outside Salem, Wandering Aengus grows organic apples that are crafted into cider using a low intervention technique that showcases the delicious taste of their heirloom apples. With Willamette Valley Cheese Company just across the road, tourers can also expect to be treated to a little cheese with their cider.

Wandering Aengus Ciderworks

The final stop will be at Mustard Seed Farms in St. Paul, where Farmer Brown and his wife Nancy will show off their diversified vegetable farm that supplies all three co-ops with beautiful, year-round nutrition. Known for their fall pumpkins, Mustard Seed Farms grows a large variety of organic produce, from lettuce in the spring to over-wintering cauliflower. By working with local communities and organizations, farmers David and Nancy Brown have been able to maintain what may seem impossible...a small working family farm.

About the Cooperatives:

All three co-ops are community-owned grocery stores focused on providing customers with high-quality organic local food. Alberta Cooperative Grocery at the intersection of 15th Ave. and Alberta St. was founded in 2001 and serves as a community resource and gathering place, while providing fresh, high-quality, affordable food to the diverse members of North and Northeast Portland.

People's Food Co-op, located on SE 21st between Division and Powell, has been thriving since 1970 and will celebrate its 40th birthday this year. From cob walls to living rooftops, a weekly farmers market to relationships with over 50 farmers and producers, they are dedicated to nourishing the Portland community.

Food Front Co-op was founded in 1972 in NW Portland. It opened its second store in the Hillsdale neighborhood in 2008. Food Front treasures the relationships they've built with local farmers and food producers who provide them with the freshest and the finest.

Sunday, June 6th All day local farm tour hosted by PDX food cooperatives ***Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for youth below 14 years old, and low income tickets are available. Ticket price includes: lunch, wine tasting admission, bus transportation, entrance into raffles, drinks and snacks. To register, contact your nearest co-op for details.***  

The Sun Magazine -- My Interview with Sandor Ellix Katz

In January 2009 I had the pleasure of flying to Nashville to interview my hero Sandor Ellix Katz for one of my favorite publications The Sun Magazine. It was a dream come true trip and now nearly a year and a half later the interview is in this month's issue!

Sandor is an inspiration and he's changed my life in many ways. I got a copy of his first book Wild Fermentation when it came out in 2003 just a few months after moving to Portland, Oregon. In the years since I've reached for that book on my kitchen bookshelf more times than I count. From it I've learned how to make sauerkraut, sour pickles, fruit wine, dandelion wine and much more. It's my kind of book -- lots of back to basics recipes, well researched culinary history and culture, and funny and insightful personal anecdotes. In other words, so much more than a straight-up cookbook.

When Sandor's second book came out -- The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved -- I got my hands on it the week it released. More learning, more inspiration, more discoveries. I've written about Sandor and interviewed him many times and every time I feel all the wiser.

Meet my hero -- Sandor Ellix Katz. The Sun Magazine interview with Sandor Ellix Katzwww.thesunmagazine.org

I never thought this day would come...

Taste of the Nation Portland -- Spring 2010

Last week I got to attend my first Taste of the Nation here in Portland and I've been daydreaming about it ever since. I wrote about it on the blog a few times leading up to it because I was given two free tickets to give away in order to promote the 100% charitable event. Every bit of the proceeds from Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation go to local hunger relief agencies. How amazing is that?

When you hand in your ticket at the door -- the event was at Luxe Autohaus on Northeast 17th -- you get a little clear plastic food tray and wine glass to eat and drink from for the duration of the evening. I saw more than one person grabbing napkins to clean up their saucy trays as the night went on. I did once too when I didn't have any bread to sop up one too many romescos.

I took a bunch of photos of food that I sampled during the three -- yes three -- hours of eating and drinking. (At least you walked a bit of it off while circling the tables.) There were 50 restaurants, 20 wineries and 5 breweries sampling food and drink. Mostly I drank pinot blanc, viognier and pinot noir from all sorts of local vineyards including Anne Amie Vineyards, Apolloni Vineyards, Lange Estate Winery and more. They poured tasters and sometimes when white followed red I'd have a blushed white.

In addition to incredible food and drink from Portland's finest -- and beyond PDX -- there was live music, a silent auction, and even a magician although I never saw him. Maybe he had on his invisible cloak.

Here are some of the really good things I tried...

Nuestra Cocina's housemade tortillas...

Their chicarrones with salsa verde...

Don't touch my Nuestra Cocina barbacoa taco...

Firehouse rocked it too with meatballs and lamb sausage...

As did Autentica with its bay scallops on tortillas with green chile sauce...

It wasn't just memorable because it was one of the last things I ate at Taste. Bluehour's smoked pork sausage with frissee was awesome.

Tyler's favorite at Taste of the Nation from Jory at the Allison -- crispy pork belly, pickled ramps and truffle apple salad.

Get a little closer...

Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation www.shareourstrength.org/portland

IACP Conference in Portland -- Judith Jones Remembers Julia Child

Now that the dust has settled a bit I'd like to share some more memories of this year's IACP annual conference in Portland. I gave you the gist here but now I want to give you a little more to chew on.

First off, those pomegranate margaritas above are what I ended the IACP conference with. I made them at my friend Craig's birthday party on Saturday night and they were delicious. It was the perfect cocktail to end the conference with considering the recipe is from IACP cookbook award finalist Chris and Idie Hastings' The Hot and Hot Fish Club Cookbook.

One of the best events that I attended at the IACP conference in Portland was the Julia Child talk with Judith Jones. I'm guessing that if you read this blog you know who Judith Jones is but just in case you don't, she's the legendary Knopf senior editor and vice president who's worked with everyone from Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus to James Beard and of course Julia Child. She discovered and edited Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking after all.

Several months ago Julia Child's program The Way to Cook, which aired in the late 1980s in conjunction with her seminal namesake book (Judith Jones worked closely with her on both) became available on DVD. At IACP Jones talked about the making of the show, the book, and Julia Child. It was a charmed event and here are some highlights...

HIGHLIGHTS FROM JUDITH JONES' TALK ABOUT JULIA CHILD AT THE 2010 IACP CONFERENCE IN PORTLAND:

Jones noted that during the 6-week production schedule of the series The Way to Cook the caterer put cilantro into just about every lunch. They ate it and didn't bat an eye until finally several days into cilantro Julia Child raised up her arms in a playful way and cried, "No more cilantro!"

Jones mentioned another time when Child was fishing a bouquet garni out of a pot. She finally got it and said matter of factly in front of the camera, "Looks like a dead mouse."

At some point during taping someone asked Julia Child why she always massaged chicken and she responded dryly, "I think the chicken likes it."

Jones talked about a dinner at Julia and Paul's one night when she made a simple potato dish, Paul made cocktails, and Julia made the main. Jones said that she added a little garlic while Julia hovered behind her and watched. At dinner Paul tasted the potatoes, smiled, raised his glass and toasted her. Jones said she was, "in cook's heaven!"

Jones made a bit of fun of Food Network shows during her IACP talk and the channel's slick everything prepped and ready-to-go in ramekins way by saying, "Who wants eight small cups to wash when they're finished with making dinner?"

One time on camera Julia Child was working on a soon to be roasted suckling pig and trying to figure out how to deal with the tail so it wouldn't burn. Finally, she said with a twinkle in her eyes, "Well, there's a perfectly natural little hole right underneath it for the tail to go in so you don't even need to bother."

A FEW THINGS THAT JUDITH JONES SAID THAT SUM UP JULIA CHILD'S CHARACTER:

"She had a strong impulse to communicate and to teach us to cook."

"Her biggest desire was to teach Americans the subtle art of French cooking."

"Julia's message was always to have fun and enjoy."

"Julia was always open to change -- if it was good change. Her standards were high. The first time she used a food processor she was absolutely thrilled with it."

"Julia always liked food that wasn't fiddled with too much and was what it was."

"She never lost that naturalness."

On that note I'll end this post. I feel very lucky to have been able to attend this magical event. My heros -- alive and in spirit... Judith Jones www.judithjonescooks.com

IACP Conference in Portland -- Quick Thoughts...

A few months back I learned that the 2010 IACP conference (International Association of Culinary Professionals) was scheduled to take place in Portland in the spring and I thought -- sounds interesting, I should check out some events. Once I found out more about the association and its conference -- and to put it bluntly more about the cost to attend -- I decided to volunteer for some of the spendier events and blog about and attend the less expensive ones.

Turns out I judged it right. By volunteering I not only got to attend a lot of fantastic events, I also got to know a lot of local Portlandfood folks that I've been wanting to meet, as well as catch up with somelocal friends. It was a charmed and memorable week for me. Here are some of the highlights...

Quite the honor to host these two for Portland's IACP conference...

I held this up at the airport last week because I was lucky enough to be asked to pick up this culinary powerhouse couple from the airport and take them to their hotel. They were exhausted from their NYC->PDX flight so I did little more than take them on a quick loop of downtown so they could get their bearings. They've been to Portland a bunch but it had been a couple years.

Even though it was a short trip from the airport and they were exhausted Karen and Andrew were nice enough to ask me a bunch of questions about my wee book and give me some expert advice on marketing it. (This is simply to let you know how freaking nice they are.) It turns out their first book was a summer title too!

Other than Michael Ruhlman calling "Bullshit!" on Karen during a lively panel talk they had a lovely time doing everything from hosting an all-star dinner at Leftbank Annex to benefit The Culinary Trust with Naomi Pomeroy, Steve Jones, Adam Sappington, Jason French and others, to talking about the death of recipes, and signing copies of The Flavor Bible at the IACP Culinary Book Fair...

That's another one of the many events I volunteered for. At the beginning of my shift I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to find Madhur Jaffrey (!!) asking me to escort her to her signing table. Well, yes, I think I can do that. Along the way we passed all sorts of well-known writers all signing away and chatting with fans...

Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg at the Culinary Book Fair..

Linda Ziedrich my pickling and now preserving hero...

Linda Ziedrich my pickling and now preserving hero…

and many more including the likes of Ruth Riechl, Judith Jones, Kim Severson, Michael Ruhlman, along with plenty of local cookbook authors.

That's all I have time to say right now but I'll be back for at least one more installment about the IACP conference. For now I've got to hurry up and finish up at the office so I can get over to this big PDX food/drink event happening tonight...

International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) www.iacp.com

We Have a Winner! Two Free Tickets to Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation!

Dave Taube! That's right, Dave Taube, please give me a holler at info@lizcrain.com as soon as possible and let me know where you'd like me to send your two free tickets for this year's Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation next Monday, April 26th at Portland's LUXE Autohaus.

(Oh and ignore the quotes surrounding the lucky number above. They're from a book I recently read. I wrote the lucky number in that notebook last week. It's a great book by the way...)

Just to clear up any confusion -- yes, Dave was #16 on the post's comments but I stated early on that my comments didn't count and since I commented three times...that brings Dave to the unlucky turned lucky number of 13!

Anyway, don't feel too bad about yourself if you aren't Mr. Taube, because guess what, there are still tickets available and this is a great event to support since 100 percent of proceeds go to hunger relief agencies AND you get to eat and drink all sorts of incredible things from local chefs, brewers, mixologists and more...

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.

IACP Conference in Portland Next Week!

I know you've heard all about next week's IACP Conference in Portland -- April 21st-24th -- already but I'm going to highlight a few low dough events that I think you might be interested in. That's where you'll find me in addition to a few of the workshops and events. Yes, there are plenty of $100 plus events going on but no you don't have to part with a Ben Franklin or two or three to enjoy some IACP action next week...

IACP CULINARY BOOK FAIR -- Friday, April 23rd 1:30pm-3:30pm:

The IACP Conference Culinary Book Fair at the Oregon Convention Center on Friday from 1:30-3:30pm is your chance to meet 50-plus cookbook authors under one roof, for just $10 admission.

Straight from the site:

Held in conjunction with the Annual Conference and Culinary Expo, this special book signing event will give you the chance to meet and mingle with your favorite cookbook and culinary book authors. Books will be available for purchase and authors can sign and personalize your copies. Wine and beverages will be served, and authors will provide tastings from their favorite recipes. For the first time in many years, the event will be open to food-loving members of the public. Please join us in thanking Powell's Books, the official sponsor of the Culinary Book Fair.

Ruth Reichl, Judith Jones, Michael Ruhlman, Karen Page, and Andrew Dornenburg will be among the 50+ authors at this cookbook signing event.

Pre-register online now. Tickets in advance are $10; tickets at the door ar $15 and subject to availability. (Admission is included for IACP Friday conference attendees.)

IACP FOODISTA FOOD FILM FESTIVAL -- Friday, April 23rd and Saturday, April 24th:

The Food Film Festival co-sponsored by Foodista.com. is also open to the public and $10 a film, which includes some treats, a no-host bar and a Q&A with filmmakers afterward.

The Food Film Festival will be held in the Salon Ballroom of the Portland Hilton located downtown on SW 6th Ave. Visit Foodista.com for more information on the film festival schedule and tickets.

ONE LAST THING...

Looking forward to cooking from this one this weekend...

I got The Hot and Hot Fish Club Cookbook in the mail yesterday as a precursor to IACP and I'm really looking forward to cooking from it this weekend. This Running Press title is up for an IACP Cookbook Award in the Food Photography and Styling Category and the restaurant's PR group sent me a copy to review pre-conference.

The gist: more than 200 recipes from the owners of the acclaimed namesake Birmingham, Alabama restaurant. The cookbook also includes profiles of more than a dozen purveyors who supply the restaurant.

In addition to being a finalist for an IACP award Hot and Hot Fish Club co-owner/chef Chris Hastings is up for a James Beard Award this year in the Best Chef: South category. He'll be at the Culinary Book Fair on Friday that I wrote about above. I'll keep you posted...

Win Two Tickets to Taste of the Nation, April 26th!

No, I don't know what that is but you might if you went to last year's Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation. Last week I posted about Taste of the Nation and this week I'm doing it again. No, I'm not a broken record because this time I'm giving away two free tickets to this wonderful event! Considering that tickets to TOTN start at $75 a pop -- it's a pretty exciting giveaway.

All you have to do to win is comment here about the best meal you prepared recently. See? It's not hard. I don't want to add any more stress to your life but I do want to know what you've been eating. Just because.

I have a lucky number in mind. In fact, I've written it down in one of my many notebooks. Promise. The lucky number person to post here wins two complimentary tickets to this year's TOTN. I'll announce the winner/s early next week. Until then tell everyone you know to get over here and comment to win. Just so I have proof I'm telling my coworkers the number since they're disqualified anyway...

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.