Party for 50

Who he had to bribe, I have no idea. Normally at the beginning of April we here in Portland are doing that in-like-a-lion thing, with the traditional rain, hail, thunderstorms and wait-ten-minutes-the-weather-will-change dance.

But my friend Eamon "Shoehorn" Molloy (lower right), head dude of the Hillsdale, Lloyd, Multnomah and, temporarily, Interstate farmers' markets, had nothing but blue skies and temps in the 70s for his tables-on-the-front-lawn 50th birthday party.

Which is a very good thing, because he'd asked Mark Doxtader of Tastebud (top photo) to haul his huge brick wood-fired oven over for some serious pizza-making. And there were platters of salads, one a particularly fabulous wheat berry and kale flower combination that totally rocked (and yes, I'm working on getting the recipe!).

And I was forbidden from naming names or publishing pictures of the process, but certain fluffy, pastel-colored marshmallow treats got singed in a certain wood-fired oven, making them a crunchy-on-the-outside, marshmallowy soft-on-the-inside treat, a poor man's crème brûlée. Whatever it might be called, I declare it deeeelicious!

Happy five-oh, Eamon!