For the past five years, in addition to food writing ++ I've worked as editor and publicity director at Hawthorne Books. Hawthorne published the second edition of my book Food Lover's Guide to Portland so I wrote a blog post over there all about last week's book launch party. It seems like a big old waste of time to do the same thing here so here's the link to all kinds of photos and words about the night. CLICK HERE!
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Food Lover's Guide to Portland 2.0 Launch Party ++
I went camping on Memorial Day weekend this year and during that trip I made a pact with myself to spend as much of this summer outside as possible. I succeeded! It's been an incredible and very lucky summer for me filled with trips back and forth to the coast, day trips to rivers, lots of barbecues, camping and long hot summer nights spent around campfires, on beaches, in backyards. It's been amazing. And now I've been reeling it in and getting back to the business of books and writing and food -- all of which I love. Wish summer could last just a little bit longer though.
The second edition of my book Food Lover's Guide to Portland comes out in less than a month and the day that it launches Hawthorne Books is throwing a big launch party for it at my friend's Reverend Nat's Cidery & Public Taproom -- Monday, Sept. 1st 6-10pm. It's going to be a whole heck of a lot of fun with Nat's hard ciders for sale, food donated from folks featured in the book, music from DJ Jimbo of XRAY.fm and more. I really hope that you can come out for it and help me and Hawthorne Books celebrate.
So far, you can look forward to tasty treats from Boke Bowl, Cheese Bar, Toro Bravo, Ken's Artisan Bakery, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Ruby Jewel Ice Cream, Fleur de Lis Bakery, Full Circle Creamery, Hotlips Soda, Slow Food Portland, Berry Good Produce, Bowery Bagels and Remedy Wine Bar. AND there will be a cake with an icing-based cover of my book courtesy of Hawthorne Books from Helen Bernhard Bakery. If you have something tasty you'd like to donate to the party spread please contact me at info at liz crain dot com. Thank you!
Three other events to quickly mention that I also hope you might make it out for:
Powell's Books Food Lover's Guide to Portland panel with me, Gabe Rosen, Nick Zukin, Nat West and Brett Burmeister Thursday, September 11th 7:30pm @ Powell's City of Books
People's Co-op Harvest Festival fermentation demo with me, David Barber and George Winborn in promotion of the upcoming Portland Fermentation Festival Wednesday, September 17th demo 3-5pm @ People's Food Co-op
Fifth Annual Portland Fermentation Festival Thursday, October 16th 6-9:30pm @ Ecotrust
See you soon at one or more of these events I hope!
Rachel Smith: Editorial Assistant Extraordinaire 2nd edition Food Lover's Guide to Portland
I just want to quickly introduce the lovely lady pictured above. I first met Rachel when she interviewed for the fall 2012 internship at Hawthorne Books -- the publisher of Food Lover's Guide to Portland and where I've been publicity director and an editor since 2009. Right away, Hawthorne publisher, Rhonda, and I knew that Rachel was in. She's bright, passionate, always curious, has a great sense of humor and is just a genuine pleasure to be around.
Rachel kicked ass during the 10-week internship and we were sad to see her go. When we decided to do a second edition of Food Lover's Guide to Portland I was in the thick of completing Toro Bravo: Stories. Recipes. No Bull. and felt a little overwhelmed but knew that the time was ripe and that the book needed an update. I thought about how to best manage my time, how to lessen the stress of another book project as much as possible and then I had the bright idea to hire an editorial assistant. Rachel was my number one choice and she said YES!
During the insanity of updating Rachel did everything from fine-tooth combing all of the contact info. throughout the book and making sure addresses, hours etc. were up to date to interviewing new subjects and writing the respective listings. I couldn't have done the second edition without her. She was on top of every project every step of the way, and most importantly, she was really fun to work with. Love you Rachel! Without further ado...
Sweet, sweet Rachel Smith on food, travel and working on the second edition of Food Lover's Guide to Portland:
When I was 6 years old, I used to pretend I was allergic to pizza and spaghetti sauce—not tomatoes—just pizza and spaghetti sauce. I disliked mushrooms, melted cheese, and loathed mustard. Strange textures and peculiar flavors were a no-no. I could barely choke down cooked vegetables. Sausage, meat on the bone, and meat cooked rare made me gag.
Eventually, as it happens for most of us, my taste buds and I began to grow up. Traveling became a priority in my life, and being a picky eater doesn’t go along well with it. I came to learn that one of the best parts of going abroad is experiencing the food. I also realize, when I travel, I desperately miss the food at home, and when I’m home, I crave the food from abroad.
Portland is a food-obsessed city. We know it, we love it, we partake in it. My head could explode thinking of the incredible variety of restaurants we have, the locally sourced vegetables and meats, the microbreweries and markets. As Portlanders, it’s in our veins. Outside of Portland, this isn’t as common—no news flash here. Yet every time I travel, I notice I have forgotten this. What, your bar doesn’t serve food? Your grocery store closes at 6? You don’t have any Mexican restaurants, because I could kill for a burrito right now.
I don’t mean this out of ignorance; I mean it is as a fantastic appreciation of what we have at home. It wasn’t until assisting Liz that I came to understand this even more.
As I write this, I’m on the brink of my third month visiting Switzerland. I’ve been eating melted cheese on the regular, devouring pizzas the size of my face, and obsessively ordering sausage. I recently tried horsemeat (and though it’s a horrendous thought to many people, and I vowed I would only try it once, it was quite good). But my stomach is rumbling at the thought of eating chorizo tacos from Uno Más or fresh sashimi from Bamboo Sushi. The idea of a Painted Hills burger with blue cheese and applewood-smoked bacon is enough to make me weak in the knees. Whining is not part of my intention here—I’m thoroughly enjoying the food and the experience, yet I do miss the access to variety.
Working on the second edition of Food Lover’s Guide to Portland was a reminder of our access and diversity. We have the ability to go straight to the source and pick fruit on Sauvie Island, go crabbing at the coast, or take a drive into wine country. We can feast on Vietnamese, Thai, Cuban, African, or Japanese food any day of the week. And we’re really lucky to have that—not only in restaurants, but in our grocery stores too. Did you know how many ethnic grocery stores we have? Or that Cheese Bar sells raclette so I can get my fix when I’m missing Switzerland?
My point is: the delicious world of food is at our fingertips right here in Portland. We can find just about anything we’re after. And when I’m home in 3 weeks, the first thing I will be doing is hunting down and demolishing the tortilla-wrapped goodness of a marinated pork burrito.
Pre-order the 2nd edition of Food Lover's Guide to Portland from Powell's Pub. date September 1, 2014 $17.95
Cooking the Toro Bravo Book Party Pt. 3
We've now officially cooked through half of Toro Bravo: Stories. Recipes. No Bull and we've only had three dinners so far -- the first one at Loly's, the second at Tom's and this last one at Dana and Oliver's. The dinners have all been a lot of fun and I'm really grateful that my friend Chris Damcke came up with idea. Thank you Chris!
Last weekend's dinner at Dana and Oliver's was the lightest of them all in terms of what we ate/drank but that's pretty absurd because we all consumed so much that we felt super sleepy at 9pm on a Saturday night. So much good food.
The next Toro book dinner will be at my house later in the summer once my kitchen is remodeled. I'm really looking forward to having a fire in the backyard for that one and putting my new gas Dynasty range to good use for it. Yes! I'm also looking forward to doing this cook the book thing with the next book when the time comes too -- the Tasty Brunch Book that John and I are working on now. I see a lot of day drinking in our future.
Here's what we cooked and ate from the book this time around. Really tasty as always.
Toro Bravo: Stories. Recipes. No Bull. dinner party menu
Casa Rita White Wine Sangria (with plum wine) Halibut Cheeks Grilled Corn with Cilantro Pesto Sauteed Spinach with Pine Nuts and Golden Raisins Hazelnut Ice Cream (with strawberry rhubarb compote) Olive Oil Cake (with balsamic vinegar reduction) Hand-Cut Noodles with Pimenton Dulce Moorish Meatballs
Yard Fresh Pt. 30
I haven't done one of these since last summer! Holy shit time flies. Lately I've been wishing that there were a way to expand time to fit more of the best of life in. I don't necessarily want the days to be longer I just want to be writing, sailing, cooking, loving, swimming, travelling and on and on and on contemporaneously somehow/someway. So that each would be enjoyed fully but a different part of me would be present for each. I'll go do some more drugs now. Sorry.
So, I'm getting my kitchen remodeled! Finally. My super talented friends at St. Johns Design Build (they don't have a website yet but once they do I'll shout it out here) -- Brian McVay, Clarence Jacobs and Rude Graves -- are kicking ass doing a complete overhaul. Things that I'm really looking forward to: the original fir floor being sanded and finished, my new-to-me kick-ass professional-style Dynasty gas stove, sweet-ass tiling by Rude, old bleachers made into beautiful new cabinets and drawers and shelves by Clarence, a bar, maple chopping block peninsula, paperstone counters and all sorts of other magic by Brian and crew. Life is sweet. I'll put up some photos of the progress in the next several weeks.
In the meantime, near and dear friends in the neighborhood are happy because I've been using their kitchens more and I also have a funky little interim kitchen in the back of my house in the utility room with a hotpot, rice steamer and toaster. It works and it's actually been fun to have some cooking restraints. It's like camp cooking, boat cooking etc. -- pushes you to be creative and work in new ways with what you've got.
It's been a really fun spring so far and I hope you've been doing well too. I just finished writing the Tasty Brunch Book proposal with John (now it's with our agent, next to the designer), I'm working on all sorts of food-plus projects at Hawthorne Books, working on a still secret book project, little here and there on my novel and Food Lover's Guide to Portland 2.0 review copies go out NEXT WEEK and it publishes in three short months. Madness. In the very best sense of the word.
Here's what I've been eating. What have you been cooking and eating?
Cook and eat something good tonight!
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Long Live Jorinji Miso
My friend Earnest Migaki, pictured above, needs your help. It's not just the residential rental market in Portland that's tight -- the commercial rental market is as well and Earnest has been without a production facility for his Jorinji Miso company for several months now. In a month he will run out of all of his already produced miso currently available throughout Portland in markets such as Uwajimaya and Anzen. Portland, we cannot let that happen.
I first met Earnest and his late wife Sumiko when I was researching the first issue of my book Food Lover's Guide to Portland -- they were the first interview that I conducted for it. And every year following they participated in the Portland Fermentation Festival. Earnest's miso is some of the very best that I've ever had (I really love miso) and if you haven't tried it you better help Earnest find a new commercial kitchen otherwise you won't get to! Miso takes a loooong time to make. The youngest miso that Earnest makes takes four months of fermentation.
Why should you care? My friend Earnest is an amazing human being and he has endured so much hardship in the past year -- more hardship than I've endured my entire life. Earnest has been to hell and back again and now he needs Portland's help. Step one: help Earnest find a commercial kitchen for Jorinji Miso. Please email me at liz crain at gmail dot com with any leads and I will pass them along tout suite to Earnest.
Please SHARE THE FUCK out of this -- word of mouth, Facebook, Twitter, bulletin boards, forums, get it tattooed on your FACE. Thank you. Don't actually get anything tattooed on your face. Your face is beautiful just the way it is.
Earnest is looking to lease: A standard commercial kitchen space that is 1,000 to 2,000 square feet that is $2,000 or less a month in Portland, ideally Southeast Portland. The kitchen can be shared but he can't work with anyone working with yeast because the koji for the miso doesn't work when yeast is present. Ideally the space will have plenty of storage space, a 3 basin sink, an 8-10 gas burner, room for a large industrial mixer and AC.
Cooking the Toro Bravo Book Party Pt. 2
I didn't think we could surpass the amount of food and drink cooked and consumed during our first Toro cook the book potluck last month but holy shit I was wrong. This past Sunday the original gang -- minus and plus a few -- gathered at my friend Tom's house in Southeast Portland for part two and we put in a full EIGHT hours of cook/eat/drink. We cooked 16 recipes from the book (at the first one we made 11) and It was so much fun that I think everyone hurt at least a little the next day. I know I did. So worth it.
For this round Rebecca and Fred Gerendasy of Cooking Up A Story and Food. Farmer. Earth. came and filmed. It'll be awhile before that airs -- most likely early summer. They left after a few courses and there were six courses so I'm fairly certain we were all at our finest while they were there. Guess we'll find out!
We're going to keep having these parties until we cook through the entire book -- Toro Bravo: Stories. Recipes. No Bull. Here's the menu from our second Toro Bravo cookbook party followed by photos from it. I can't recommend this sort of dinner party enough. Leave any questions about it in the comments below and please, please let me know if you've done something similar yourself. I'd love to hear about it. Eat, drink and be merry!
Toro Bravo: Stories. Recipes. No Bull. dinner party menu
Jerez Negroni Bacon-Wrapped Dates Tortilla Espanola Fennel Salad Romesco Butter Lettuce Salad Pork Rillettes Squash Dumplings Braised Lamb with Apricots and Coriander Squid Ink Pasta Drunken Pork Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon Sherry Cream Oxtail Croquettes Potatoes Bravas Panna Cotta Limoncello
If you decide to host a dinner party like this please, please let me know and send me photos! I'll post them here. So fun. Eat, drink and be merry AND hairy!
Friend Food Pt. 7
I am so lucky to have the most amazing family of friends. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't feel gratitude at some point for that. Last night I was talking with my friend Wendy about how I show my love and give love to those I'm closest to through food and how she does the same.
Lucky for me a lot my friends share this trait. My friends have given me so many amazing things to feed me in more ways than one recently as you can see below. And I've really appreciated it since I haven't been able to cook as much lately since the Toro Bravo cookbook dropped and we've been busy with events and then some for that along with everything else. I love this semi-regular blog installment because it reminds me of one of the greatest reasons that life is so sweet -- friends. The love you have is the love you give. Cook something delicious for someone you love today.
Cook something delicious and spread the love!
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Cooking the Toro Bravo Book Party
I have the best friends. So grateful. Several weeks ago my friend Chris Damcke said we should have a potluck dinner party and invite everyone to cook and bring something from Toro Bravo: Stories. Recipes. No Bull. I said that was a great idea and then pretty much left it at that because I felt too busy to organize it.
A couple weeks ago I got a call from my friend Loly inviting me to it at her place! She and Chris made it happen. Sooooo last weekend thirteen of us gathered at Loly's with all sorts of tasty treats cooked from the book. We filled her kitchen, dinner table and our bellies with all sorts of deliciousness from Toro Bravo. It was so great that we decided to do it again next month -- this time at Tom's house. We've also decided to have these parties until we cook through the entire book.
I've never done this with any cookbook before but I hope to do more in the future. So fun! And I'm very proud to say that no one had any problems with any of the recipes -- not a one. It was all so good and so fun.
Here's the menu from our first Toro Bravo cookbook party followed by photos from it. I can't recommend this sort of dinner party enough. Leave any questions about it in the comments below and please, please let me know if you've done something similar yourself. I'd love to hear about it. Eat, drink and be merry!
Toro Bravo: Stories. Recipes. No Bull. dinner party menu
Radicchio Salad Potato Salad Salt Cod Fritters Chili Shrimp a la Plancha Boquerones with Toasted Bread and Piperade Seared Cauliflower with Salsa Verde Coppa Steak with Salbitxada Harissa-Stewed Butternut Squash Pepino cocktail Red Sangria Panna Cotta with wine poached pears and Campari blood orange topping
If you decide to host a dinner party like this please, please let me know and send me photos! I'll post them here. So fun. Eat, drink and be merry AND hairy!
Yard Fresh Pt. 29
It's been a crazy fall and winter with the launch of the Toro Bravo cookbook, our book tour, local events and media and everything else in my life. I really couldn't be happier these days. 2013 was a big, beautiful year for me -- following a very rough 2012 -- in fact it was one of the best of my life, if not the best. There's a term that I learned recently that pretty much sums that up -- post-traumatic growth.
Despite the wild ride and burning the candle on both ends I still managed to cook and eat a lot of good food at home and at friends' and family's homes and I'm including some of those things here. I hope that you've enjoyed a great closing of 2013 and start to 2014 too -- food-wise and beyond. Food is one of the great pleasures of life if you let it be -- especially if you treasure it and share that magic with those in your life. The love you have is the love you give. Cook something delicious for someone that you love today. Cheers to 2014!
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