A weekend of indulgence kicks off this evening with the chocolate-makers’ dinner at Ashland Springs Hotel. Once again serving as a judge for the Oregon Chocolate Festival, I’m anticipating a marathon of tasting tomorrow to determine the best chocolate products in a variety of categories. But first check Facebook and Twitter this evening for photos [...]
As compensation for crashing his first cooking class last night, my 11-month-old son purchased his first cookbook. Hopefully, “The Burma Cookbook” will inspire him and the whole family to travel and experience food as one of life’s great adventures. Regardless, the volume by Robert Carmack and Morrison Polkinghorne is a keepsake, both for its quality [...]
After a lull of too many months, my culinary calling card finally is filling up. At today’s Greatest of the Grape, I’ll be one of three judges to rank 28 appetizers from 14 participating restaurants and caterers. With 28 wineries on tap, that’s two dishes from each food producer. Check Twitter and Facebook later today [...]
When I’m in the Willamette Valley, Marche Restaurant in Eugene’s Fifth Street Public Market is usually on the itinerary. Although the French bistro-inspired menu changes seasonally, some of the items, such as the wood-oven roasted mussels, are mainstays. The supremely simple dish can handle numerous variations, most recently with fennel and Pernod, one of my [...]
Speaking of the Umpqua Valley, I’m headed to Canyonville Saturday for Greatest of the Grape. This wine-pairing gala is billed as the state’s longest-running such event. While I’ve read plenty about Greatest of the Grape over the years, including editing wine columns that review it, I’ve never had occasion to attend until I was asked to serve as a food judge. Tough job! If you didn’t [...]
Driving up Interstate 5 through the Umpqua and Willamette valleys this past weekend, I had to smile at the sight of lambs frolicking in adjacent pastures. My smile grew to a veritable grin today at news that my lamb, the one I’d ordered last December, finally was ready — for the freezer, that is. Late [...]
Most of us have heard that beans aren’t among the ingredients in truly traditional chili. But that doesn’t keep most of us from including them anyway. Inexpensive, high-protein beans, the subject of a story in this week’s food section, help stretch a little bit of meat. Plus a meal that includes beans with all their [...]
I couldn’t help but exclaim when I spied pizza dough in one of the refrigerator cases in Food 4 Less’ natural-foods section this week. One of the employees working the aisle eyed me like I was tad crazy. Blame several years of braving traffic on Highway 62 to purchase Kaleidoscope dough just some I could [...]
Speaking of roasting a whole cut of meat, it’s a familiar exercise in kitchen economy, as a recent story by the Chicago Tribune acknowledged. And the long cooking duration leads to some speedy meals later in the week. That’s exactly what became of tagine-roasted pork shoulder. After the initial night’s meat-and-veg platter, it was transformed [...]
It’s always flattering for home cooks to hear compliments from a chef. Tagines were the topic when my friend Cristina recently came to visit. I’ve been experimenting with the conical cooking vessel that I received a couple of Christmases ago and have come to prefer it to my slow cooker mainly for ease of cleanup. [...]