Squash Chronicles: Spaghetti Squash Cacio e Pepe

It's all squash, all the time here at Good Stuff NW…or so you might surmise from the preponderance of Oscar-worthy starring roles that winter squash has been playing in recent posts. Much of the blame for this cucurbit-heavy obsession can be laid at the feet of the fellow in the video above, the estimable Chef Tim Wastell and his henchperson/enabler Lane Selman of the Culinary Breeding Network.

Tim Wastell showing proper squash butchery technique.

A couple of years ago the pair held a Squash Party for which Tim concocted a mind-blowing squash ice cream that disrupted the comfy little niche I had created in my mind for winter squash. I came home and immediately made a winter squash sorbet and, damn him, it was stunning! It also began my quest for what else this herbaceous vine might be capable of.

Selman and Wastell recently held a Squash Sagra in which Wastell demonstrated squash butchery to a rapt audience. It's also where I learned of a series of videos of Tim making fabulously simple dishes using these much-maligned gourds. Filmed by my friend Jeremy Fenske, they are short and sweet and sure to inspire you. And, I hope, to blow apart that little niche you might have for this amazing food.

Get the recipe for Squash Cacio e Pepe. Find more squash recipes here.

Cameron Wines: A Year in the Making

Winemaker John Paul has been making some of the state's best wines, some would say some of the best wines in the country, since 1984—a year he describes in the video above "as one of the worst vintages ever." Variously described as a genius, idiosyncratic and maniacal about his wines, he's hewed to his vision of producing wines that express both the essence of the grapes and the Jory soil in which they grow.

The video above, which documents one year in the life of Cameron Winery was made by my friend Jeremy Fenske, a newcomer to Oregon but someone we can all hope decides to make a home here so he can tell more stories about the people who make it so special.