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Sarah Lemon
Sarah Lemon whips up stories on the Rogue Valley’s growing food scene with an enthusiasm that rivals her love of cooking. Her blog mixes culinary musings and milestones with tips and recipes you won’t find in the Mail Tribune’s weekly A la ... Read FullCategories
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Author Archives: Sarah Lemon
Raw milk ‘owners’ leave no cheese for the masses
Nationwide, debates about raw milk rage, with laws varying state to state and a federal lawsuit pending against the Food and Drug Administration.
Last week, interest reached new heights locally with news that state-sanctioned Siskiyou Crest Goat Dairy was rejecting its own license for a grass-roots alternative. Its plan to sign up “owners” of its goat [...]
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Don’t go nuts over pesto, personalize your recipe
Although my garden has basil aplenty, pesto plans were put on hold for the past month or so for want of pine nuts.
My mother-in-law, who puts up pints of pesto every year, first reported that Food 4 Less was out of pine nuts and asked if I could look for some at Costco. Perish the [...]
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Round up then roll up those puny eggplants
The weekend’s dip in temperature seemed an ideal time to prepare one of our household favorites: Eggplant Parmesan.
Of course, I had recent heat to thank for spurring one globe-variety eggplant to a length of 8 inches or so. This beloved dish, I’ve learned, requires eggplant of respectable size.
Although we have plenty of eggplant to slice up [...]
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Are you ready for a Downtown Throwdown?
It’s true that the soft opening at Downtown Market Co. has been softer than typical.
As covered in this week’s A la Carte story and a previous blog post, Nora LaBrocca has been quietly stocking her East Main Street store since May in anticipation of a big splash. It’s coming tomorrow in the form of the Downtown [...]
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Beat the heat with classic flavors of Provence
Trying to look on the bright side of extreme heat that’s characterized the past few days, I anticipated picking a few full-sized, ripe, red, juicy tomatoes for an informal Sunday lunch with friends.
Alas, tomatoes are still languishing as August hits its stride. Fortunately, the lunch menu could be adjusted, its main dish reliant on green [...]
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Small-batch preserving encourages creativity
A year doesn’t pass at the Mail Tribune without its food section running a jam story — usually more than one — usually written by longtime, semi-syndicated columnist Jan Roberts-Dominguez.
This year is no different with this week’s A la Carte highlighting peach preserves, in particular. But whereas canning once seemed quaint, relevant only to “home [...]
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Enjoy lavender essence at today’s Ashland class
Classes at Allyson’s Kitchen have come in fits and starts since last’s year’s departure of store founder Allyson Holt, who took much of its passion and expertise with her.
But under the direction of Dawn Smedley, hired to help in the Ashland store’s wine cellar, captivating cooking classes have returned to Allyson’s. In fact, they’ve been planned [...]
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Calling all locavores to take the challenge
The annual Eat Local Challenge is still more than a month away, but organizers have been busy planning this year’s event. We have, too.
If you haven’t checked out the Mail Tribune’s Eat Local web page in a while, you’ll find updated information on dates, participating restaurants and other resources. Check back throughout the month for [...]
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Former food columnist to lecture on new book
Readers of Rebecca Wood’s Eating Locally column — or just anyone interested in whole foods — can catch up with the author and cooking instructor Wednesday evening at Ashland Food Co-op.
Wood lived for about five years in Ashland and for two years wrote a biweekly column for the Mail Tribune’s A la Carte section. The [...]
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Melon melodrama remains unmitigated