Beaverton Farmers Market

It was my first time at the Beaverton Farmers Market last weekend and I can't stress to you enough what a fantastic market it is. I'd heard that it was a good one but until I saw it with my own eyes -- adjacent to the Beaverton City Library and just north of Beaverton City Park -- I had no idea.

First off, it's huge -- nearly 200 stalls. Second, vendors from Oregon and Western Washington are fully loaded with farm fresh products because people really shop at this market. I've never seen so many customer bags, baskets, carts and wagons full-to-brimming before at a market.

I talked with market director Ginger Rapport for a while (I was there selling books and she stopped by a couple times to check in) and she told me that the Beaverton Farmers Market stands out because folks there are shopping for families as opposed to other urban markets where people are sometimes snack shopping, gathering a few boutique edible items, or just treating the market as a great people-watching spot to check out.

Folks really use their purchasing power at the Beaverton Market and this has a lasting impact. In other words, there's A LOT to choose from. Including some really good eat-there market foods. My friend Christine and I ate some super tasty pork and asparagus tamales from these folks.

Here's a bit of what stood out for me at last Saturday's market...

A very good sign...

My friend Christine stopped by and we both got salsa supplies from Forest Grove's Sosa Farms.

More from Sosa Farms...

If I didn't have a big sack of hazelnuts already I would've gotten some from this guy.

The Pony Espresso folks had a long line all day.

Notebook, pen, money pouch, camera, sunglasses and books is all I need for a great day at the market...

Beaverton Farmers Market www.beavertonfarmersmarket.com Downtown Beaverton at SW Hall between 3rd and 5th Street Get directions 503.643.5345 Saturdays 5/8/10-10/30/10 -- 8am-1:30m Wednesdays 6/16/10-8/25/10 -- 3-6pm Harvest Market 11/20/10 -- 8am-1:30pm

Yard Fresh Pt. 7

It feels like fall and we've still only had a handful of tomatoes from the garden. That's alright though because we've had a lot of other great homegrown food in the past couple weeks including Brooks plums (into wine and dehydrated), zucchini (grilled, pureed into soup, sauteed and then some), lemon cucumbers (straight up, but soon to be pickled), and some really nice garden gifts from neighbors -- big sacks of green beans and pickling cucumbers to be exact.

A lot of people have been complaining about green tomatoes in the past few weeks (myself included) and so I'd just like to pass on a little trick. If your tomatoes don't ripen on the vine this year -- a lot of them still will -- harvest them and keep them in a brown paper sack rolled up or fastened at the top in a cool part of your home. Check the bag every couple days and pull out the ripe ones. They'll ripen that way for weeks and although they don't taste as good as vine ripened it's a nice trick if you can't deal with any more fried green tomatoes or tomato chutney.

Here's a slice of what I've been cooking up during the past few weeks...

Happy hour spread and homemade hard cider with Steve and Lorna.

Roasted red pepper, zuke and scallion sandwich with cheddar and romesco sauce.

Grilled salmon and fresh jalapeno sandwich on Pearl ciabatta with slow cooked green beans and tomatoes.

Pureed zuke, potato, cilantro, spinach and lime soup with bread and olive oil.

Turkey, lemon cucumber, green zebra tomato sandwich on an english muffin.

Yard Fresh Pt. 6Yard Fresh Pt. 5Yard Fresh Pt. 4Yard Fresh Pt. 3Yard Fresh Pt. 2Yard Fresh Pt. 1

Upcoming Book Events

When I was thinking about summer in respect to my book I decided that I'd give it a solid three months of events and publicity and then I'd let it do its thing. Well, now it's the beginning of the third and final month and there are some fun upcoming events to report. I'm also happy to announce that I'll be cutting the month a little short and heading out for a 10-day vacation on the first day of fall. Yahoo!

Here's a slice of what I'll be up to in upcoming weeks. Come say "hello" if you're at any of these events...

Beaverton Farmers Market Saturday, September 4th 10:30am-Noon

Check out the Beaverton Farmers Market this Saturday.

Belmont Street FairStumptown Scribes Sunday, September 12th 10am-5pm

I'll be at the Stumptown Scribes table all day...

Foodportunity Monday, September 13th The Heathman library 6-9pm

I'm honored to be in this line-up for Portland's first Foodportunity at The Heathman Monday, September 13th.

Wild About Game Sunday, September 19th The Resort at the Mountain in Welches, OR 11am-4pm (game dinner buffet 5:30pm)

I'll be at Wild About Game this year -- about an hour southeast of Portland.

It's a Biscuit, It's a Triscuit, It's Prescott!

This post isn't about Portland -- it's about Portland people enjoying food and drink somewhere beyond Portland. Earlier in the summer my boyfriend and I and our friends Loly and Faulkner went to our friends' Jude and Colleen's wedding in Prescott, Arizona. It was such a great long weekend and wedding and some good eats were had by all. Consider this a post about wider eats -- a photographic tale from Portland to Prescott...

First respite of the trip on the way from the airport in Phoenix to Prescott.

Deep fried hot dog. Need I say more?

Old school club with cottage cheese.

I love where we stayed. Look them up...

We drank at fine saloons such as this on Whiskey Row...

And this...The Raven Cafe. Our favorite Prescott place.

Cheers Prescott! Hope to see you again real soon.

Our favorite spots in Prescott, Arizona...

The Motor Lodge www.themotorlodge.com

The Raven Cafe www.ravencafe.com

Homemade Plum Wine

Making fruit wine has quickly become one of my favorite summer things. I initially got into it via dandelion wine -- my gateway home hooch. Next up was hard cider (although not a wine it's a home fermented beverage that's similar to DIY wine) and this summer I got to bottle both my first attempts at homemade cherry wine and now plum wine.

I made the plum wine with Sandor Ellix Katz's recipe (check out my abdriged version of that here) last summer with some of our sideyard plums and it's been sitting pretty in the utility room ever since. After the initial ferment in a food-grade bucket I funneled it into a three-gallon glass carboy. A few months later I racked it but other than that it's just been doing its thing. Until I bottled it this weekend that is.

***Just so you know I've been using about half the called for sugar when the fruit is good and sweet and the wine has been tasty.***

I thought it would be good but I had no idea it'd be this freaking good. It's tart, dry and tastes like a perfect plum. Except better. And alcoholic. We're not sure what kind of plums they are but they look like these cherry plums.

Everything that makes these plums not so great as fresh eating plums -- small fruit to pit ratio, very sour and slightly bitter skin, not so sweet flesh -- makes them perfect for wine. Most of the sugar and sweetness is fermented off and the sour and bitter of the skin adds character and body.

This year is the first year that our front yard Brooks Plum is significantly fruiting -- we planted it three years ago -- so I started a batch of plum wine this week out of those. I'll be sure to let you know how that is about this time next year.

All you need is a two gallons of plums to make 10-plus bottles of tasty plum wine. What are you waiting for?

Plum wine -- tree to bottle!

Who Did I Miss?

I know that there are a lot of worthy people, businesses and organizations that unfortunately didn't make it into Food Lover's Guide to Portland whether they opened too late to be included, didn't fit nicely into any chapter, or were just plain overlooked.

I've been keeping a list and when it comes to working on the second edition I'll be checking that list more than twice. In the meantime, I'd love your input on spots that you wish were included. I'll get you started with just a handful from the list that I've got going. Thanks in advance for any and all feedback!

Urban Farm CollectivePortland Meat CollectiveHomebrew Exchange Fred Carlo Sausage ConfectionaryFifty Licks Ice CreamMr. Green BeansCoalition BrewingCellar Door Wine ShopOblique Coffee RoastersHeart RoastersBreakside BreweryLovejoy BakersFlorio Bakery and Cafe

Where Fine Books Are Sold

Now that my book has been out for more than a month I figure it's about time I post a list of spots where you can actually buy it. It's available in many more places locally and nationally than I've included below because most bookstores and a lot of shops go through book distributors and I don't have that info.

What I do have is a list of spots that Sasquatch Books has sold directly to as of this week and it's pretty impressive. So, if you don't have a copy of the book or want to get one for someone here are some of the places in Portland and beyond that you can do that.

P.S. If you want to purchase copies for retail please call Sasquatch Books at 800.775.0817.

In Portland:

Powell's BooksNew Seasons MarketIn Good TasteAAA Travel Store Downtown Portland CosctoBarnes & NobleInk & PeatAnnie Bloom's BooksBroadway BooksUrban Farm StoreMcMenamins' EdgefieldElephants DelicatessenPresents of MindButterscotchStella's on 21stMartinotti's Cafe & DeliPortland State Bookstore

Beyond:

Third Street Books (McMinnville) Omnivore Books on Food (San Francisco) Queen Anne Books (Seattle) University Bookstore ( UW Seattle) Waucoma Bookstore (Hood River) Pear Delicatessen & Shoppe (Seattle) Elliott Bay Book Company (Seattle) Ketchum Kitchens (Ketchum, Idaho)

Pioneer Square Farmers Market

I had such a great time late July at the Pioneer Courthouse Square Farmers Market. It was my first time getting over there since I'm usually at work while it's on. It's a glass slipper of a farmers market -- fits perfectly in the space. It's my one of my newest favorites. Here's why...

A few minutes before they rang the start bell at Pioneer Courthouse Square Farmers Market.

Currants and gooseberries still going strong.

End of July was all about peaches...

Young onions perfect for the grill.

Good looking beets.

And my guide to the goods. Thanks Pioneer Courthouse Square Farmers Market!

Pioneer Courthouse Square Farmers Market Mondays 10am-2pm June 21-October 25 Between SW Broadway and SW 6th and SW Morrison and SW Yamhill

Yard Fresh Pt. 6

Thought I'd post a roundup of good eats -- just a mishmash of good food we've made at home. It's been a busy few months but we've still managed to cook up some tasty food....

White Pine pancakes with maple syrup. Mmmm.

Went camping on the Clackamas and our camp neighbors gave us some of their homemade carne asada!

Homemade pesto pasta with snap peas from the front yard and chorizo.

More potato tacos because these lovely friends brought homegrown spuds.

This year's mostly softneck garlic harvest.

Yard Fresh Pt. 5Yard Fresh Pt. 4Yard Fresh Pt. 3Yard Fresh Pt. 2Yard Fresh Pt. 1

Book Events

The past several weeks have been a little nutty but the best kind of nutty -- extra special hazelnut butter nutty -- because of the book. I've done so many book events now some of them are blending into one another in my memory. I think because of that that it's high time I post about them.

Oh, and another good reason for this post is that there's a great event taking place tomorrow night -- Tuesday, August 10th -- that I want to tell you about. Friends of Family Farmers has found a new monthly InFARMation space at Holocene. FOFF was hosting this monthly PDX agricultural event at Roots Brewing Co. but they closed shop (so sad) and now FOFF is now hosting its InFARMations every second Tuesday of the month at Holocene. Read more about InFARMation here.

I'll be at InFARMation tomorrow night -- Tuesday, August 10th -- sitting at the back selling my book and talking with folks from 6:30pm-8:30pm. This month's InFARMation is all about the Eater's Bill of Rights. InFARMations are free and run from 5:30-8:30pm (talk/presentations from 6:30-8pm) with food and drink for purchase. Should be great. Stop by if you can.

Since July 1st here's a bit of what I've been up to with book events that I haven't already written about...

This year's Mississippi Ave. Street Fair was a great time...

I got to hang out all day with this fine fellow -- Paul Gerald -- at the Mississippi Ave. St. Fair. Paul is author of a bunch of books that I love and his booth is Stumptown Scribes.

Paul's hiking and camping books along with my food/drink book are a good mix. He's working on the second edition of Breakfast in Bridgetown at the moment.

They expected 30,000-plus at Miss. Ave. St. Fair -- think they got it.

Overlook Village Celebration was fun too...

Stumping it with Stumptown Scribes and Paul Gerald at the Overlook Village Celebration.

The Powell's book event with Nick Zukin, Sarah Hart, Steve Jones and John Cleary was a dream come true...

The Powell’s book event with Nick Zukin, Sarah Hart, Steve Jones and John Cleary was a dream come true…

Doesn't get better than a book event at Powell's...

(L-R) John Cleary, Sarah Hart, Me, Steve Jones, Nick Zukin at Powell's.

Thank you to everyone who's made these events so special!