To me, potato salad has always been synonymous with memories of summer BBQ, warm nights, and good times with friends. Summer seems literally ages away, considering I am currently looking out the window at a blizzard. I want a little taste of summer! Deconstructed potato salad, ahoy! Cook off a coveted package of Rainshadow bacon
Tall and I drove our cattle four miles to the top of Jeff's ranch in Monument, Oregon, where they'll spend the summer. This is a new place for us. Since we only have 60 acres for the cows at the home farm, it's really only good for winter and calving. We have to use leased
Food is a daily essential of our lives. We all make decisions about what to eat. These decisions implicate us in the real cost of that food; socially, environmentally, and economically. Not to mention, our choices impact our health, slowly, for better or worse, with every bite. When we walk into a grocery store we
Sweet and Spicy Curry Squash Bowls I think Indian food is so under-represented in Central Oregon. I never tasted anything so complex as the food I had during my time living in rural India. Everything was spicy, sweet, bitter, savory and unctuous all at the same time. Somehow all this was completely different
Whole Chicken (Yes, feet too!) Coq Au Vin It happens all the time... We open a bottle of wine that is, eh, underwhelming at best. Now, there are options... One, drink it (nope). Two, toss it (nope) or Three, make coq au vin. When you get a whole chicken that is truly free
Sesame Ginger Chicken Foot Bahn Mi Bahn Mi is a traditional Vietnamese sandwich that I basically lived off of in the afternoons during my travels in Vietnam. They are made about 1000 different ways, and generally consist of fresh pickled veggies and meat on a perfect French baguette (colonialism, eh?). I played around
Roasted Beat Salad with Goat Cheese The snow is here, the snow is gone, the snow is back. Today it's sunny and 55 degrees. Central Oregon never seems to make up its damn mind. We're getting into the last of the winter roots, and the Spring planting has begun... (Have you signed up
Rustic Ham and Parsnip Soup with White Beans Warm, rustic, and healing. Going into college finals with this awful sickness that's going around leaves me without time or energy to dedicate to my health through cooking. Ironically, that is when we all need it the most. The more you run yourself ragged, the
Spicy Beef and Chilies on Cheesy Grits At the end of the month, the winter CSA has dwindled and you find yourself getting pretty creative. Supplementing with other produce becomes necessary, but you can still incorporate preserved cheeses, grains, onions, and roots. Stored grains from the summer harvest are a staple in Central
Roasted Pork Shoulder with Apple and English Peas Summer focuses on fresh greens, melons, light squash, spicy chilies and myriad species of water rich produce. I think real creativity comes from scarcity. There is something special about the winter here in the Pacific Northwest. We move in to deep cold, with sweet apple,
