We’re headed to Austin, TX, tomorrow and I’m so excited! Excited to make the journey with my favorite brew-rapper, excited to see and explore Austin, excited for Laurel and Paul to join us, excited to go to the Off-Centered Film Fest, excited to see our film on the big screen at the Alamo Drafthouse!
Thank you so much to all of our friends who participated in and supported this project. We love you.
~g
photo by Ian Kaye
A couple of months ago, my man and I came across a call for submissions for the 2012 Off-Centered Film Fest from Dogfish Head Brewery and we knew what we had to do… You see, Gavin makes beer for a living and I make films so when it comes to making films about beer, we’re almost always game. Especially when the theme is Western!
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Soon after moving to Hood River, OR, a couple of months ago, I took a part-time job working with the Pastry Chef at Knead Bakery. Some of the perks of working at Knead include a constant, heavenly aroma in our workspace, the opportunity to sample everything from new pastries to brownie edges and the really fun crew that works there. Aside from all that, I also have the opportunity to take delicious artisan bread home with me twice a week. I don’t always take it because the resulting increase in my waistline is not necessarily a perk but when I do indulge in some bread, I’m sure to use it wisely. So when I took home this wee little French roll, I knew it needed fixings that would do it justice. That’s where the Beet & Goat brie sandwich came in…
This is a giant bottle gourd. I came across it while shooting a piece for Farmers Ending Hunger at ‘Another Pumpkin Patch’ by Pearmine Farms in Gervais, OR. At first I thought it was one of those plastic, hollow fruits that some folks use to decorate their homes (if you have those in your home, make a trip to your local thrift store today and leave them there) but I soon realized this idea was ridiculous as I was surrounded by big, beautiful gourds and pumpkins. I was, after all, at a pumpkin patch. Then I thought, ‘Giant pear.’ No. Obviously. Molly McCargar, a 4th generation farmer at Pearmine, put an end to this strange internal dialogue and told me it’s a bottle gourd. Bottle gourds make great decorations after they’ve dried out and essentially hollowed, which they’ll do on their own if you simply let them be, but the mention of bottle gourds immediately reminded me that I have a much smaller version of one of these meant to hold maté. I picked up said mate gourd while I was living in Cordoba, Argentina for a short time. (For the record – Argentina is a beautiful, magical place.) I wanted to share this photo with you because I don’t think it’s often enough that we celebrate the less common and more curious products of nature. And look at that thing! It’s fabulous.
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Each issue of edible Portland ends with a ‘last bite’ – a one-page spread comprised of an inspiring photo and a short caption, recipe, quote etc. In fact, many of the edible Communities publications end this way – in edible Marin & Wine Country it’s called the ‘cherry on top,’ which I love. The last bite of the Winter 2010 issue of edible Portland is a photo of an Oregon woman bent over a box of rhubarb in her cellar, surrounded by 800 quarts of home-canned food. The photo was taken by Dorothea Lange in 1939, just before the end of the Great Depression. Whenever I think of canning, this photo pops into my head. It just makes so much sense – when you have a surplus of something, or the ability to create a surplus, preserve it. And I know it’s not the Great Depression but it’s a difficult time and canning does save a lot of money. This year, I have canned strawberry preserves, ketchup, summer squash & onion relish, salsa and pear sauce – all with produce I grew or was given to me. Well, I bought the palette of strawberries on the side of the road on a rainy day on the way home from Silverton this summer. I couldn’t resist. But the point is that I spent very little on the food that now fills my cabinet, ready to be opened and embraced in the deepest throes of winter. I’ve heard people say something like “canned sunshine” or “sunshine in a jar” in reference to preserved summer fruits. And I think that’s accurate.
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Yesterday I saw golden leaves on a few trees near the Columbia River… Thing is, I love Fall and I find the colorful approach to the season charming but, oh, how I love summer and hot weather and juicy fruits. So much. So this time of year is always a little bittersweet for me.
When I arrived home at the end of my drive yesterday (where the aforementioned golden leaves were spotted), I found this beautiful, bulbous heirloom tomato* hanging from the vine of one of my giant tomato plants. It’s as if the universe tuned in to my slightly melancholy end-of-summer feelings and gave me this big beauty as a consolation prize. There’s a few more on the vine that are just about ready to turn into plump, juicy gems like this one. It’s been HOT this month and I’ve loved it. And these tomatoes may be my saving grace for the end of this beautiful summer – reminding me that it’s still hot enough outside to ripen some big ol’ tomatoes, there are still a few more barbecues left and the juicy fruits of summer are not yet a memory but a fresh prize still waiting to be won.
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I make videos mostly about food (for a living) so I get really excited when I see other people doing the same and doing it well. This video is a fun one – 1 minute of… oh my goodness i want to travel the world and do nothing but eat forever.
While I’ve learned a TON in the last couple years, I’m still new enough to gardening that I am still planting and harvesting things for the first time. Also, there is always more to learn when it comes to gardening… Garlic is among those things, as well as onion. Last fall, I planted a box full of onion sets and garlic cloves that would hypothetically over-winter and be ready in the spring. It may have been the easiest crop I’ve done – Portland waters them in the winter and the sun bulks them up in the spring. I’ve watered them a little bit so as not to let the soil dry out completely but this spring has been late and wet so it’s been easy to step back and let them do their thing. I’ve been tugging them out one at a time, not sure if the conditions are quite right for harvesting, but this morning I decided they were (almost) all coming out. Because this morning the sun shone down on us Portlanders for the first time in several days (it’s gone now) and as I understand it, the key to harvesting garlic is sunshine and heat. When you harvest garlic and onions you’ve got to leave them out to dry for a few days, especially if you’d like to store them. I’m going to toot my own horn a little bit with this photo because, like any good garden mama, I am very proud of and happy with my garlic. Not only are they just the right size and shape, they’re delicious. And even though I’m leaving them out to dry, I’m not sure they’ll last long in storage…
*my favorite things to do with garlic: pesto, salad dressing, roasted (in skins) and spread on bread, sauté with veggies, pizza topping, minced and put in burger patties, aioli…
The website for which I have been producing videos for about a year now – food-hub.org – launched a new version of the site yesterday. It’s really quite pretty, but it’s also highly functional for all kinds of people in the food business – so much so that President Obama told my boss and FoodHub’s Project Director, Deborah Kane, that it was “a great idea” at a Rural Champions of Change meeting at the White House last week!
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I met Irene and Cheryl last week at Double J Jerseys dairy farm in Monmouth, Oregon, where they live. I was there on a tour hosted by the Organic Valley coop, of which Double J Jerseys is a part. These heifers are not only happy, they’re hotties. And they love the camera! Much more on this soon…
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