Signed Copies of Food Lover's Guide to Portland

Food Lover's Guide to Portland

1 signed copy media mail (2-7 days) cont. U.S. shipping incl. $17.95

2 signed copies media mail (2-7 days) cont. U.S. shipping incl. $34.00

3 signed copies media mail (2-7 days) cont. U.S. shipping incl. $50.00

1 signed copy priority mail (2-3 days) U.S. shipping incl. $20.00

2 signed copies priority mail (2-3 days) U.S. shipping incl. $36.00

3 signed copies priority mail (2-3 days) U.S. shipping incl. $55.00

Custom message with signature?

Even though my book is available from all sorts of great sellers including Powell's Books, New Seasons Market, Elephants Delicatessen, In Good Taste, Elliott Bay Book Company, Mirador Community Store, Alma Chocolate, Kenny & Zuke's, House Spirits and Reading Frenzy I get more requests than usual around the holidays for signed copies. To remedy the situation I've added this magic little PayPal button above for folks who want signed copies of Food Lover's Guide to Portland. You don't need a PayPal account to buy books this way but you do need a credit card.

I think my book is a nice gift on its own (yes, a little biased) but I think it's even better with a tasty treat or two from one of the many food and drink folks featured in it. I'm going to post 100 local pairings for the book between now and the end of December on Twitter if you're into that sort of thing. For now, Food Lover's Guide to Portland pairs nicely with...

Pickled herring and house-cured salame from Edelweiss Sausage & Delicatessen A bottle of Eau de Vie of Douglas Fir or Pear-in-the-bottle brandy from Clear Creek Distillery A Spella Caffe gift certificate An Urban Cheesecraft DIY cheesemaking kit Another local food book or two from Powell's Farmstead cheeses and charcuterie from Cheese Bar Smoked seafood from Newman's Fish Company in City Market Custom Kinder eggs or chardons from Pix Patisserie

Shipping

I'm taking care of the shipping on continental U.S. orders via media mail and there are discounts for multiple book orders. Media mail takes a few days to a week but you can also spring for priority mail for a bit more $. If you want even quicker shipping, more than three books, books to multiple addresses, or a chicken in a zebra costume please just drop me a line and we'll figure it out.

From my shelf to yours...

Voodoo Vintners & Montinore Estate

In early September I was lucky enough to be invited to one of the Hardy Plant Society'sKitchen Gardening Group outings. I've been to other events with this group and they're great. You might remember this talk all about grapes that I went to last spring.

For September's outing we met at Montinore Estate vineyard and winery just outside of Forest Grove. We waited in the vineyard parking lot -- it was a beautiful day -- until everyone arrived and then moved into the tasting room where we met Montinore owner and vintner Rudy Marchesi and his wife Susan Fichter. Lucky for us they took us on a tour of the 230+ acre vineyard that Rudy's owned since 2005. (He owns 30+ additional acres at other area farms.) Here's a great article in The Oregonian all about Rudy and Susan's passion for food and drink.

Check out Katherine Cole's book that came out this summer that features Montinore Estate -- Voodoo Vintners: Oregon's Astonishing Biodynamic Winegrowers -- if you haven't already. I wrote about Cole's book and some of her upcoming book events and wine tastings in last week's Willamette Week.

During the Montinore tour Rudy taught us all about biodynamic farming and it was inspiring. I worked on a biodynamic farm in Spain for several months in 1996 through WWOOF and it was a trip down memory lane for me listening to him describe and sometimes demonstrate various biodynamic practices.

On biodynamic farms cow horns, such as the one above, are packed every year with cow manure, buried and overwintered until the spring when they're dug up and mixed with water in a vessel shaped like a pregnant woman's belly. I got the job of stirring that shit so to speak and then applying it to the fields of the culinary herb farm that I worked on. Biodynamic practices are very unique and from my limited experience they seem to work.

Rudy Marchesi of Montinore Estate talking with the Hardy Plant Society's Kitchen Gardening Group about biodynamic farming.

The group taking in the scenery and learning the history of Montinore Estate.

Where water turns into wine at Montinore...

It wouldn't be a wine tour without a tasting in Montinore Estate's beautiful tasting room.

I learned a lot during this tour including:

The name Montinore comes from the original ranch owner who was from Montana before he moved to Oregon. Get it? Mont-in-Ore.

Because of all the moisture this growing season mold and mildew have been a constant struggle in vineyards. It's been a challenging and expensive season.

Rudolf Steiner was a rad dude. He's the grandfather of biodynamic agriculture as well as Waldorf education.

The reason Rudy got into biodynamic practices...phylloxera. An area of the vineyard was destroyed quickly by this pest so Rudy reevaluated growing practices and in 2001 (before he owned the vineyard) stopped all use of herbicides.

In 2003, Rudy took a biodynamic course in New York while still farming back east and in 2005 he bought Montinore Estate. In 2008 it was certified as biodynamic.

There are 25 or so biodynamic vineyards in Oregon but only seven are certified.

Hardy Plant Society Oregon www.hardyplantsociety.org

Montinore Estate 3663 SW Dilley Road Forest Grove, Oregon 503.359.5012 ext 3 Open daily 11am-5pm www.montinore.com

Buy Katherine Cole's book Voodoo Vintners: Oregon's Astonishing Biodynamic Winegrowers Read my review of Voodoo Vintners in Willamette Week

Yard Fresh Pt. 16

I made some of these foods weeks ago but there's been so much to post about here -- mainly the third annual Portland Fermentation Festival -- that I haven't gotten around to posting photos until now.

We've been eating well and appreciating all the good things that have come from the garden in recent weeks. Next up from the garden -- beets and carrots. This weekend I planted my garlic. I'll probably put in more this week. We eat a lot of garlic and it's so easy to grow...

Our neighboor gave us this side of chinook and it was so good. Smothered it in olive oil with some salt and pepper and put it skin-side down on the grill with lemons on top. Delicious.

Didn't eat all of it so made a nice and simple chowder with it the next night.

I make hot sauces and salsas all summer long and well into fall. This hot sauce had poblanos, jalapenos, tomatoes, onion and lots of garlic. Powerful stuff.

Used a little of that hot sauce with this potato poblano andouille hash with eggs.

What our daily take from the garden looked like for much of September.

Tuna sandwich with tomatoes and lemon cukes on sourdough.

The chicken and the egg -- chicken curry and rice with egg. Sounds strange but it was really good.

These are all up now for the fall garden. Hello fall, you came too early but it's still nice to see you.

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Portland Fermentation Festival 2011 Redux

What an amazing event and turnout! Yes, we know that many of you got stuck in the long line last night that snaked down the stairs, out the building, and around the block but we hope with all hope that you stuck it out and found that the wait and the crush was worth it. We put Portland Fermentation Festival together every year with a shoestring budget + heaps of volunteered hours and we're so grateful that Ecotrust puts up with us every stinking (literally) year. Thank you again Ecotrust! We love you.

But yes, we do hear you, it was too crowded and the line was too long this year. We'll problem solve and come back in briny style next year for 4.0. Thank you so much to everyone who exhibited, volunteered and attended! Portland Fermentation Festival is an annual love letter to our fair city. True blue Portland spirit fuels it and we wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks again to everyone who was a part.

If you'd like to keep up with local fermenty goings-on please check out our website, Facebook and Twitter. This year we had a very generous serving of media attention. Here's a slice of that coverage if you didn't get enough firsthand last night...

Willamette WeekPortland TribuneOPBPortland Farmers Market

I was able to take a good amount of photos at the festival last night before we opened the doors as well as after...

Erica Fayrie's as good as it looks sauerkraut with beets.

Eva Sippl's Eva's yummy Herbucha in the house.

Lynne Van Dusen's Vine to Brine lacto-fermented sodas. Really tasty.

Festival co-organizer Mr. David Barber of Picklopolis aka King of Brine! Ghost pickles! Ah!

Peg Butler and posse serving up krautini (fermented cabbage tonic), fermented garlic, sour dills and sourdough rye. Yum!

Galen Williams and Pete Mulligan's delicious hard cider.

Biwa chef-owner Gabe Rosen and Kina Voelz serving up Biwa's hurts so good spicy daikon kimchi.

Earnest and Sumiko Migaki of Jorninji Miso cooking up a stockpot of their amazing miso, and sampling miso sauce and amazake made with their own koji.

Allen Field rocking his spicy kimchi and Turkish sauerkraut.

Nat and Sarah West sampling tart and tasty hard cider. Ridiculously good.

Anna Stulz with more fiery good kimchi.

And then the doors opened and the crowd moved in...

Courtlandt Jennings' Pickled Planet with all sorts of big, briny goodness.

Curious Farm's Cathy Smith serving up leek horseradish kraut, fermented chili sauce and more.

And the crowd kept growing...

Hank Tallman's Mama Hank's Pickled Veg. The spicy fermented green tomatoes were kick-ass good.

The line wrapped around the staircase out the door of Ecotrust and around the block within twenty minutes. We knew that the festival was going to be big this year but we didn't realize it'd be this big. Wow.

The lovely Kate Patterson sampling her festival favorite-- fermented salmon. Mmmm.

Festival organizers David Picklopolis Barber, me, and Mr. George dapper foodist Winborn right before the doors closed at 8pm.

One of the better looking cleanup crews in town! Good night and good luck.

Thanks to everyone who made the third annual Portland Fermentation Festival happen! We love you.

Portland Fermentation Festival 2011 -- This Thursday!

This Thursday night is the Third Annual Portland Fermentation Festival and we really hope that you're either participating as an exhibitor or volunteer or planning on attending to sample all of the awesome homemade food ferments that will be available! It's going to be delicious and so much fun. It always is...

Here's some coverage that we've gotten already for this year's event: Portland Tribune storyPortland Farmers Market video

And just so you know, even if you aren't signed up as an exhibitor please feel free to bring any homemade food ferments, cultures, recipes, info. etc. to share with others on the fly. This event is very unique in that it's a no sale/no buy, skill-sharing night. (Check out last year's Portland Fermentation Festival.) In other words, you pay your $5 to get in and then it's all about interacting, trying tasty things and hopefully learning enough to make them yourself. It really is unique and we're proud that Portland Fermentation Festival so accessible and fun for all ages without any corporate ties.

Come out and see for yourself -- find out what's stinkiest and tastiest this year! See you Thursday I hope.

Third Annual Portland Fermentation Festival Open to the public, all agesWhen: 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.comTwitter @PDXFermentFest Facebook Portland Fermentation Festival

Yard Fresh Pt. 15

I love to cook and I love to garden and both come together daily for me in the summer and fall. There are seasonal staples that I'm always making -- spicy garlic dills, fried pickles, blackened salsa, hot sauce, potato tacos, arugula pesto, gravlax -- and then there are the new things like our first attempt at carne asada above.

For the fall garden I've got carrots and beets about to be harvested and arugula and radishes gaining ground so plenty more good eats ahead. Hope you've been cooking and eating good things too.

The salad deserves its own photo. Chopped boiled beets in a creamy lime vinaigrette with dill. Loved it.

Can never get enough summer artichokes. Had these with drawn lime butter.

Rogue Smoky Blue carbonara with toasted hazelnuts.

One of our favorite summer sandwiches -- warmed sourdough with salted tomato and mayo. Keep it simple.

Watermelon, canteloupe, lime juice. Miss this.

This year's garlic is done curing so we'll be using it in lots of things in upcoming weeks. Wish I'd planted more this year...

This is what my colander looked like most evenings through September. Lemon cukes, pickling cukes and pole and bush beans. AKA lots of pickles.

Homemade gravlax and pickles for our friends' campout wedding in Washington.

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Wordstock 2011

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I look forward to Wordstock every year. In fact, I wrote about just that recently. Jeff Baker, book editor for The Oregonian, asked me to write 150 words on what Wordstock means to me and I did along with Nancy Rommelmann, David Biespiel, Justin Hocking and many others for last Friday's A&E cover story. (If you can find the story online please let me know. I have a hard copy but would love to link to it here...)

This year I'll be speaking on a panel on Saturday at 2pm on the Wordstock Community Stage titled -- Every Book is a Start-up with Jen Stevenson and Kelley Roy moderated by Todd Sattersten. The focus of the panel: "Learn from author-preneurs who found unconventional methods to launching their books about Portland's food scene."

Throughout Saturday and Sunday I'll also be tabling at the Hawthorne Books table at the Book Fair. I've been an editor at Hawthorne since summer of 2009 and always look forward to Wordstock because a lot of our authors come and visit and sign books so we get to catch up and I also get to meet all sorts of folks while tabling, paneling, attending readings and wandering the fluorescent lit convention center halls. This is one of the few events worth braving that kind of lighting for. I hope to see you this coming weekend! Counting the days...

Wordstock www.wordstock.com October 8-9

Portland Fermentation Festival 2011

A couple weeks ago I got to talk with Dave Adamshick at the NorthwestPortland Farmers Market about all things Portland Fermentation Festival. It would have been more fun if festival co-organizers David Barber and George Winborn could have been a part too but they were there in briny spirit. Here's a short video that Dave made from our conversation...

We're in countdown mode now for this year's third annual Portland Fermentation Festival on Thurdsay, October 20th from 6-8pm at Ecotrust! We're still accepting applications from folks who want to sample their homemade fermented food and drink. Here's the entry form. And we're also looking for more volunteers to help set up and break down and work the door. If you'd like to volunteer please send us an email at info at portland fermentation festival dot com. Also, if you want to help spread the word please print out some of these posters and put them up around town. See you at the Portland Fermentation Festival in a few short weeks!

Third Annual Portland Fermentation Festival Open to the public, all agesWhen: 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.comTwitter @PDXFermentFest Facebook Portland Fermentation Festival

Friend Food Pt. 3

I love putting these posts together because it always reminds me how much I have to be grateful for. In recent weeks we've been gifted all kinds of super tasty foods including these Mexican mouse melons that I guarantee are the cutest food I've eaten all summer.

Hope you've been eating/drinking/living well. What's been on your plate?

My neighbor Alison and I did a weekend morning berry exchange earlier this summer. She left a bowl of just-picked raspberries on my front porch before I woke up and I picked blueberries and left them on her porch mid-morning.

Alison also gave us some of her homemade vegan strawberry ice cream made with almond milk that was amazing.

And then there was the vegan tomato corn soup that my friend Michelle made from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's and Terry Hope Romero's cookbook Veganomicon that I couldn't have shared if I wanted to.

Made these sour cherries that I picked with friends from a neighborhood tree into cherry wine that's bubbling away in the utility room and will be ready to drink in several months.

Our next-door neighbors Michael and Mulysa gave us this enormous bowl filled with all different lettuces from their backyard. So good.

Our friend Mount has been supplying us with his incredible coffee ever since Tyler built a coffee dispenser for his roastery. Delicious.

Our neighbor Butch gave us this side of Chinook straight off the boat. He and his family go fishing most weekends in the summer and early fall and we always get a lot of the catch. I'll show you what me made with it in upcoming posts.

Friend Food Pt. 1Friend Food Pt. 2

Portland Fermentation Festival 2011 -- Save the Date!

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:

Food Lover's Guide to Portland 2010Willamette Week 2009Willamette Week 2010KBOO Food Show 2010Mix Magazine 2010Learn to Preserve 2010

More details soon!

Third Annual Portland Fermentation Festival Open to the public, all agesWhen: 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.comTwitter @PDXFermentFest Facebook Portland Fermentation Festival