14 Things I Love

If only there was an app for that: I'm talking about 100 Things We Love, the compilation of the year's best food, drink, books and places to fuel your next obsession, put together by the writers and contributors to the Oregonian's FoodDay section.

This year it covers everything from farmers' markets to pantry must-haves to bookshelf staples, and the editor was kind enough to include a few of mine:

• Farmers' market favorites: Fresh oysters from Gilson Marine Farms.
• Where you'll find us when we're not cooking: Caffe Autogrill; Trailhead Coffee Roasters.
• What we like to read, watch, click on: The Berry Bible; How to Cook Everything iPhone app.
• What we reach for in the kitchen: Burr grinder from Black & Decker.
• A mélange of favorites: Banh mi at Foster & Dobbs; butchering chickens at home; charging station for electric vehicles; InFARMation (and beer!) meetings; Naomi's Organic Garden Supply; Woodlawn neighborhood commercial district; Pioneer Square farmers' market; MSC certification for West Coast albacore.

It's always a great read, and I guarantee you'll discover things that you never knew existed. Now to get my in-house programmer working on that app…

Small Café, Fond Memories

When our son was four years old we took a trip to France, and since we've never been interested in the four-star, play-it-safe experience, we've always opted for a more ground-level view. That meant staying in small, family-run hotels and eating in local restaurants, most of which weren't geared for English speakers. Contrary to stereotypes of the French, the innkeepers were invariably helpful and friendly, even reverting to the English they learned in school, much better than my college French, to give us pointers on what to see and where to eat. It didn't hurt that our son loved escargot and duck more than pizza or hamburgers, which seemed to amaze our hosts, and we were able to bask in the reflected approval.

Our days would always start in the small breakfast room of the hotel, the innkeeper bringing two long-handled metal pots, one filled with strong coffee and the other with hot milk. A simultaneous stream from each would be poured into our cups, and a basket of pastries or a baguette from the village bakery would appear, often accompanied by homemade jam.

The reason I bring this up is that we went by Florio Bakery on a recent morning when Carrie Birrer (left) was just setting out the day's pastries, the smell of cinnamon and sugar mixing with the heady richness of just-brewed Trailhead Roasting espresso. You may remember her from the coffee shop of the same name on SE 28th and Ankeny, and this one, located in a little bungalow just off MLK, has many of the same wonderful French-style pastries, along with her famous (and much missed) scones (lower right).

Light spills into the south-facing room containing the pastry counter and espresso machine, and there is an adjoining room with tables where you can sit back and watch the neighbors passing by on their daily errands. It already looks like a popular spot for moms and their kids, with a basket of books and toys to keep them busy while their mothers sit and relax.

In a departure from the typical coffee shop model, the scones are also available at several local stores in the freezer section under the Florio label. At the café she's also offering ready-to-bake frozen scones and croissant dough filled with fruit or savory fillings to customers who may want to have her freshly baked pastries without having to change out of their jammies. I'm thinking this is going to be the ideal solution for breakfast for overnight guests or to have on hand when a friend stops by for coffee.

Birrer is also marketing her pastries this season at the St. Johns Farmers' Market on Saturdays, and she's talking about expanding her café menu to include lunch offerings in the near future. As for me, I'm going to be heading there as a tasty destination for a dog walk, and to pretend for a few minutes that I'm back at that small hotel in France.

Details: Florio Bakery, 431 NE Rosa Parks Way. Phone 503-928-9444.

Blazing a Coffee Trail

You gotta love Portland's neighborhoods. And I'm not talking about shopping on the latest "it" boulevard or eating at the hottest new resto in the hood. I'm talking about being able to hang out on your front porch and chat with your neighbors who pass by about the new baby or a house going up for sale or house-training their puppy.

Take our neighborhood, for instance. Mostly a mix of middle-class working folks, some with children in school or, like ours, all grown up. Gay and straight, singles and couples, we've got neighbors from Fiji, Vietnam, upstate New York, California and, in rare instances, right here in Oregon. From cabinet-makers to chefs and graphic designers to experts on native pollinators, people are editors, writers and coffee roasters.

In that last category is our neighbor Charlie Wicker of Trailhead Coffee Roasters. I see him biking by almost every morning, towing a trailer laden with pounds of fresh coffee or large samovars full of brewed coffee to an event or a waiting customer.

The beans he roasts come from the Café Femenino Coffee Project, a social program for women coffee producers in rural communities in Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru. In addition to buying beans from the project, Trailhead also gives a percentage of profits to The Café Femenino Foundation, selecting a specific initiative, like a water project in Peru, so customers know exactly where their money is going and who is benefiting from it.

Charlie's been thrilled with the quality of the beans he's been getting and is convinced that Cafe Feminino is the perfect fit for his company. And his coffee, as well as his bike-powered deliveries and business operations, have caught on with several grocery retailers looking to expand their selection of local roasts. You can also find him at the Interstate and the Lents farmers' markets.

So needless to say, I love my neighborhood. Now if I can just rig up a traffic bump on the street so one or two of those bags of coffee might just fall off the trailer…

Details: Trailhead Coffee Roasters. Coffees available at Whole Foods markets, New Seasons, Food Front Co-operative, Market of Choice and Pastaworks. Complete list with addresses here. For a complete schedule of Portland farmers' markets, click here. You can also find Trailhead coffee at Café Velo and Florio Bakery.