Heresy or Genius? You Decide!

I have to admit, when I heard that beer cocktails were the latest thang on cocktail menus, it got one of those big-time eyerolls usually reserved for bartenders who ask if I want my martini with gin or vodka.

Really? Cocktails made with beer? Spare me!

But, as usually happens when I get all up on my high horse, a comeuppance wasn't far behind, and it came in the guise of nice guy and bartender extraordinaire Jacob Grier (left) of Metrovino. He'd been playing around with beer cocktails, seeing if our local microbrews could be insinuated into some cocktails for the benefit of spirit, brew and drinker.

You might remember him from my post about Kopstootje, the Dutch tradition of drinking genevere with a beer back, when he had the bright idea to introduce the folks from Bols to Upright Brewing's Alex Ganum. So when asked to come up with a couple of unique libations using the Brazilian sugar cane spirit called cachaça, he knew he'd found a good candidate for his experiments with beer.

The first round of the drink was good, but not quite the knockout Grier wanted, so with some juggling of ingredients—he decided to jettison the traditional mint because it added an unpleasant bitterness—he came up with a libation he's calling the Caip-beer-inha, a twist on the national drink of Brazil.

While some might argue that Ninkasi's Total Domination IPA is a fabulous beer on its own and a caipirinha doesn't need any help, thank you very much (neither of which I can deny), the combination does have a certain je ne sais quoi as a summer sipper. Try it at your next lawn party and see if it doesn't get some nods of approval!

Caip-beer-inha

From Jacob Grier

2 oz Novo Fogo silver cachaça
Half a lime, quartered
1 spoon superfine white sugar
Ninkasi Total Domination IPA

Muddle the lime and sugar, add cachaça and ice and shake. Dump contents into a rocks glass, top with more ice, and finish with the beer.

Simply Seasonal Pasta

You all know how much I love pea shoots, and contributor Jim Dixon of RealGoodFood has my full attention with this simple pasta dish.

I’d planned to make pasta with sugar snap peas and mint this weekend, but I didn’t get to the farmers market and there were no peas at the store. I did see a nice bundle of pea shoots, so I made this instead.

Pasta with Pea Shoots, Mint and Shiitakes

Chop a shallot, leek, and some garlic and cook them in extra virgin olive oil for a few minutes. Trim the stems from some shiitakes (they’re tough and don’t really get tender), then slice the caps into quarter inch strips. Add them to the pan. Slice a bundle of pea shoots into roughly 2 inch pieces; add to the mushrooms. Tear the leaves from 7 to 8 stalks of mint; add. Cook for about 5 minutes, toss with just-cooked pasta (and a bit of the pasta water) and serve with grated Parmigiano.

Garden as Biography

It might not be polite to say it out loud, but I love to go on garden tours for the ideas I can steal about landscaping and plant varieties and combinations. Plus it's so much better to see them in place, in the same conditions that I have to contend with (freezes, soggy soil and overly shady patches, for instance).

Many gardens are lovely, designed down to the last detail from the aggregate stone used to form the pool surround to the precisely trimmed boxwood around the entry. A few reflect the personality of the gardener, with whimsical ornaments or sweet vignettes. Fewer still, usually long-established and hard-won, are like meeting the gardener herself.

I was fortunate to be able to walk through one such garden, that of Barbara Ashmun (below right), author of seminal books on garden design like "The Garden Design Primer,""Garden Retreats"and "Married to my Garden." On the near-acre plot you can tell that this is a garden that is always a work in progress, with boggy areas, shade and hot sun making it challenging to work in.

It's also casual, with whimsy in the purple watering cans suspended from a canopy at eye level, or a life-sized ceramic couple reclining under variegated dogwood, with many areas set aside for quiet contemplation. Unlike many grander gardens with their emphasis on geometry and a not-subtle display of wealth, this garden is one that offers glimpses and glances for the viewer who is willing to pay attention and notice what's going on in the periphery.

That said, there are definite statements of authority here, too. A tall sturdy tree dominates a slope of lawn leading down to the body of the garden, a perfect place to sit and survey (and probably make mental notes on what is and isn't working). Some unusual species occupy the "I didn't know that could grow in Zone 8!" territory, letting you know that this is a gardener who knows her stuff.

Ashmun herself was there, sitting in a bright pink folding chair under a favorite tree mid-garden, chatting with admirers, answering questions and watching tour-goers walking through, pointing and smiling. I introduced myself and thanked her for opening her private space for the day, but I didn't stay to chat. I'd already met her through her garden.

Finding the Forgotten Feast

Hank Shaw, in his new book Hunt Gather Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast has a devious agenda. His aim is to get you to open your eyes and not just look at, but actually see the world around you. And the bastard actually succeeded, at least with this reader.

I took the brand new book to the beach with me, thinking I'd scan a few chapters and write about it. The house we'd rented for the weekend was a block or so off the beach, a short walk that took me past an overgrown yard on one side and a wetland on the other.

After reading the first couple of chapters, my single-minded march to the beach turned into a completely different experience. I slowed down and started scanning those patches of green with different eyes, wondering what that blooming shrub might be, whether its bell-shaped blossoms would turn into berries in the next few weeks and if they might be edible. What would I make with them?

At this point I have to interrupt this review to tell you that I know Hank personally. He's the younger brother of my friend Loo, who mentioned a few years ago that her brother, a newspaper reporter by trade, had started a food blog called Hunter Angler Gardener Cook about hunting and foraging around his home in Northern California. On a trip through the area, Dave and I stopped and had lunch with him at a restaurant near the capitol in Sacramento where he was reporting on some government meeting or other. We talked a little bit about blogging and writing, which was new to me at the time, but when the conversation turned to food it was obvious that this guy had a huge passion for the subject.

The next time I saw him was up here in Portland, and we were passing by a vacant lot on our way to breakfast at Tasty n Sons on North Williams. Where I saw just a patch of urban decay, Hank was pointing out the mallow growing in cracks in the cement, and at least a dozen other greens starting to take over the broken ground.

And that's what this book, written in a very approachable, unintimidating style…he uses phrases like "Trippy" and "Holy tartness, Batman!"…does so successfully. Earnest, informative and chock full of recipes, it reminds readers that the world out there is a rich, abundant, tasty place, not something to be tamed or avoided or, even more pertinently, forgotten.

"We live in an edible world. It's all around us, if you look closely. You can see it in lawns and at the beach. It thrives along every river, on hillsides, and deep in swamps. You can even steal glimpses of it growing between the cracks of abandoned parking lots and on untended mounds of earth forgotten long ago by construction crews. Nature's garden grows, yes, but it also flies through the air, runs through the brush, an swims through the water."

- Hank Shaw, "Hunt, Gather, Cook"

Photos by Holly A. Heyser for Hunter Angler Gardener Cook.

Going In Through the Garden

I've already confessed to being a nosy parker. Using the excuse that I have to walk the dog, I'm always peeking and peering over fences and through shrubbery in daylight and gazing in brightly lit, uncovered windows at night. I'm not out for lascivious thrills or gathering dirt on the neighbors, just boring stuff like how they paint their houses or landscape their yards. Really.

Which is yet another reason I love this time of year, when neighborhood homes, gardens and even chicken coops are thrown open to the prying eyes of the public. So I want to remind you about one garden tour in particular that's coming up this weekend that, appropriately enough, benefits a new landscape being done by dedicated volunteers at the West Slope Community Library.

It features seven gardens, including the almost completely edible garden of the Oregonian's Vern Nelson and his partner, Mary Sherman. A friend described it as having "one of the largest raised beds I’ve ever seen, side yards with strawberries, onions and garlic, a greenhouse, a trio of black ducks quacking, chickens laying, espaliered fruit trees and a new doorway Vern is installing to ornament the entry to their good friends and neighbors directly behind them. Plus a recently expanded covered back porch/living room with a roof extension with skylights and the beginnings of a new earth oven in progress."

With warm, sunny weather predicted, this is a can't-miss opportunity for garden lovers and snoops alike. You can bet I'm going!

Details: Raleigh Park Garden Tour. Sat., June 4, 10 am-3 pm; $15 advance, $17 day of tour; tickets available online. Pick up tickets and map the day of the tour at Raleigh Park Elementary School, 3678 SW 78th Ave.

Shopping Ethnic Markets

In case you didn't catch the sidebar to my article "A Ramen Renaissance" in the Oregonian's FoodDay section, I think this advice from Susana Holloway of Portland's Culinary Workshop is good to keep in mind when going to any ethnic grocery.

Don't be afraid!

Looking at a list of ingredients that includes things like kombu, dried sardines and bonito flakes (aka katsuobushi) might make you run straight back to the arms of Bobby Flay or Marcella Hazan.

I asked Susana Holloway of Portland's Culinary Workshop, who teaches classes on Asian cooking, what she'd recommend for someone who finds the thought of going to an Asian market intimidating if not downright scary.

First, she said, go to one of the larger Asian markets (see list of stores, below). They tend to be laid out more like Western-style grocery stores, with wide aisles and distinct departments for produce, meats, fish and dried goods. Plus, they'll often have signage in several languages, including English.

And while they are stocking more and more organic produce and gluten-free products, expect to find conventionally grown, though very inexpensive, vegetables and fruits and packaged goods with long lists of ingredients.

She also recommends first-timers going to an Asian market without a list in hand.

"What has worked for me has been to not necessarily come in with a recipe where I have to go around and find stuff," she said. "Give yourself some time to wander around the aisles and look at things. If you're the type of person who likes to go to grocery stores, it's the perfect place to do that. I've literally found myself wandering around the aisles in a grocery store for hours."

The larger markets, because their product mix attracts a diverse customer base, also tend to have better customer service departments. "Don't be afraid to ask for help," said Holloway. "After all, the shopping should be part of the overall experience."

Fubonn Supermarket
2850 S.E. 82nd Ave.
503-517-8877

H Mart
13600 S.W. Pacific Highway, Tigard
503-620-6120

Uwajimaya
10500 S.W. Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway, Beaverton
503-643-4512

Fish Tale

Posted at the entrance to the docks at Kelly's Brighton Marina on Nehalem Bay in Rockaway:

"Dr. John. I was at the mouth of the river, looked up—four foot size crab was trying to get into my boat. I attacked it with my oar four times, threw a can of MacTarnahan's at it—then—I swear a killer whale came and ate it!!! Kelly, crab impresario, Sept. 2004"

For a video of Kelly's run-in with some (real) killer whales in Nehalem Bay, see his website.

Beach Eats, Home Version

You can't beat copious amounts of seafood consumed while listening to the ocean and smelling the salty sea air. And that's exactly what we did last weekend in Manzanita.

After throwing together a dinner of linguini with clams on arrival, then the next day eating (nearly) our weight in clams and crab for lunch at Kelly's Brighton Marina in Rockaway, we stopped and picked up a steamed crab on the way back and made crab cakes for dinner that night.

Talk about eating local!

 Linguini con Vongole (Linguini with Clam Sauce)

1 lb. dried pasta
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. dried red pepper flakes
2-3 lbs. steamer clams
1/2 c. dry white wine or rosé
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan

Bring large pot of water to boil. Add pasta and cook till al dente. Drain.

While pasta cooks, heat oil in large frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic and briefly sauté till warmed, making sure it doesn't brown. Then add red pepper flakes, stir briefly, and add steamer clams and rosé. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover for five to ten minutes until clams open. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over pasta in serving bowl, sprinkle with parmesan.

* * *

No-fuss Crab Cakes

Herbs and other ingredients like hot peppers or celery can be added to these, but keep the amounts as small as possible. The point, after all, is for them to be mostly crab with just enough filler to hold them together.

1 steamed Dungeness crab (approx. 1 lb.)
2 Tbsp. yellow onion or green onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 egg
1 c. dried bread crumbs*
1/2 tsp. lime or lemon zest
1/2 c. mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Remove meat from crab and place in mixing bowl. Add onion, garlic, bread crumbs, egg, zest and enough mayonnaise to moisten the mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste and combine. Form into 2" cakes about 1/2" thick (they should barely hold together). Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat and brown on both sides. Serve.

* Make your own bread crumbs by cubing two or three slices of bread and putting them in a 300° oven for half an hour or so, checking to make sure they don't burn. When they're completely dry, put them in a bowl and crush with a smaller bowl or drinking glass (I improvised, can you tell?) to make fine crumbs.

A Ramen Renaissance

Ramen is back and it's big, as exemplified by two Portland restaurants, Biwa and the pop-up sensation that is Boke Bowl. Also includes a guide to shopping Asian markets (or any ethnic markets, really).

Read about them in my article, "A Ramen Renaissance," in today's FoodDay section of the Oregonian!

Photo above by Doug Beghtel for the Oregonian. Thanks also to Bruce Ely and Thomas Boyd for their great work!

Manzanita Redux

I've been going to the beach since before I can remember, taken by my parents back in the day (or "B in the D" to use current vernacular) to any number of beach motels and campgrounds. There was an oft-told family tale of my mother and father as young newlyweds bringing his parents (called "the in-laws") to the Oregon coast for a camping trip to show off my mother's skills as a campfire cook.

Unfortunately for her, as she was coaching some pancakes or steaks or some such to grilled perfection on the red-hot iron grate, she slipped and caught herself from falling into the fire by placing her hand…yes, you can wince now…on that same grate. Since emergency rooms in hospitals weren't readily available or equipped to deal effectively with third degree burns in the mid-1950s, she bandaged it up and soldiered on as any young bride in that situation would have, presenting a brave face to the in-laws and never, EVER, wailing that she wanted to go home.

Dave with two favorites: beach and beer.

Dave and I tend to rent houses when we go to the beach if it’s more than a day trip, preferring to have a kitchen, decent beds and a functioning bathroom with shower nearby rather than a sterile and cramped motel room, especially since we can't deny Walker and Rosey the pleasure of running on the beach with dog-like abandon (see video at bottom).

Manzanita is a favorite spot having, as it does, a more leisurely pace than its northerly neighbor, Cannon Beach, which has gone from a sleepy backwater with a couple of taffy shops and myrtlewood knick-knacks to a near mall-like consumer paradise. A great local resource is Ocean Edge Vacation Rentals, with a staff that is always ready to work within our budget constraints and, even better, has many dog-friendly homes available.

Mmmm…linguini with clams.

On a recent trip for Dave's birthday we stayed at Coe's Cottage, a sweet and comfortable family retreat set back from the beach but with a terrific view of a sweep of ocean. With a decently equipped kitchen, the night we arrived I whipped up an…if I may say so…awesome linguini with clams using steamers from a local market. The second day I promised to take Dave to the spectacular Kelly's Brighton Marina to reprise a lunch I'd had there the week before, one that I knew would blow his mind.

Janice Laviolette, Kelly's best half.

Co-owner and genuinely funny gal Janice Laviolette brought three pounds of clams and two cooked crabs to our sunny picnic table on the deck overlooking the picturesque confluence of the Nehalem River and Nehalem Bay. With a couple of bottles of Ninkasi Spring Reign from the store's fridge, Dave agreed it was going to become a regular stop when we were within spitting distance of the place.

Four Paws for pets and their people.

Then it was back to Manzanita where I strolled the main drag while the guys took Walker for a run. At Four Paws on the Beach, with its supply of both necessities (food, leashes, treats) and not-so (toys, apparel for owners and their pets, and "pet prayer flags"), I finally caved to the lure of the Chuckit for Walker.

And how can you not love a beach town with three book and/or magazine stores? Cloud and Leaf is the more traditional, with an intelligent selection of most genres, including best-sellers and pulpy beach reads. Ekahni Books, a relative newcomer, describes itself as "an idiosynchratic selection," with mostly used titles from (Wm) Styron to (Nora) Roberts. (Could Powell's have been this size once upon a time?)

The classic Manzanita stop is at Manzanita News & Espresso, which has anchored this beach town since I first went there, and it still has the coolest curated selection of zines both popular and eclectic. And the coffee's decent, too.

Mmm again…crab cakes!

Other must-stop shops for inveterate consumers are Syzygy and Unfurl, two (mostly) women's clothing shops that share a building on the town's upper end. Moxie Fair Trade has taken over from another fair trade gift shop nearby, with much the same colorful inventory of gifts, pottery and clothing.

I picked up a fresh steamed crab at Great Northern Garlic Company, a wine bar and small plates place, and took it back to the cottage to make crab cakes with whatever basics I could scavenge from our supplies. Fortunately we had bread for breadcrumbs, a bit of chopped onion, limes for zest and mayonnaise to moisten, and with a salad of greens from the garden and broiled asparagus, we called it dinner.

The last day Dave whipped up a spectacular breakfast of mushroom omelets with some of his bacon and bagels we'd brought, then we cleaned up the place and took the dogs on one last romp on the beach. Here's our 12-year-old Rose doing what she loves to do. And needless to say, she slept soundly the entire trip home.

A Meal to Remember

A weekend at the beach with friends…it sounds so benign, right? But when you're with Linda Colwell and Carol Boutard, things can get pretty nutty pretty fast.

Kelly's Brighton Marina in Rockaway.

Linda had taken us to one of her favorite haunts, Kelly's Brighton Marina in Rockaway, for a lunch of fresh clams and crabs washed down with a bottle of a stunning '06 Pinot d'Alsace from Domaine Bott Geyl that she'd brought along. Though the day was misty, it wasn't cold, so we sat down at one of the brightly painted picnic tables on the deck overlooking the bay.

Linda anticipating the deliciousness.

Kelly Laviolette is the ebullient proprietor manning the tanks and the cooker. His wife, Janice, mans the store and took our order, shortly thereafter delivering three pounds of tiny, succulent steamers with cups of melted butter to the table. A rain shower required a move under cover, but didn't stop us from sucking down all three pounds in short order. After all, we had two whole Dungeness crabs coming.

The delicacy that is a crab heart.

When they arrived, Linda pointed out the tiny, star-shaped heart of the crab, insisting that I needed to try it. I picked up the half-inch morsel, bit down and got a flash of a soft, creamy, intensely briny flavor. Then it was gone. And it's definitely something I'll look for the next time I shell a crab.

Kelly at work.

Walking over to the oyster tanks where Kelly himself presides, Carol asked about getting a fresh oyster. Now, Kelly has the usual small molluscs you find on most restaurant menus, but he also has eight and ten-inch-long monsters, things you might expect to find in a Ripley's Believe It or Not display. So when he told Carol to grab one out of the tank, I thought she'd choose a small, ladylike shell. I should have known better. She came back from the tank proudly carrying (or was it hoisting?) one of the leviathans. Kelly was so impressed he said he'd shoot one with her, though you can see he added his own special twist.

How poor little Travis got roped into the proceedings, I'm not sure I know, but if you turn the volume up at the end of the video you'll hear his review. Hopefully the little guy's not scarred for life.

Wine and Dine

It's Memorial Day weekend and, rain or shine, people are going to be heading to wine country. They'll hit the big tasting rooms and the big wineries along the major roadways. But I'd encourage you to get off that purple highway stained with the drooling of the masses and take the opportunity to visit those wineries and farms that aren't usually open to the public.

One of my favorites is Big Table Farm, nestled in a narrow canyon outside of Gaston on highway 47. They'll be tasting through their highly-rated wines, of course, but the big attraction to me is the rare chance to see an example of sustainable agriculture using rotational grazing, where the land is being restored to useful status after decades of neglect.

Oh, and Clare tells me that there are a couple of new calves to ooh and aah over, not to mention her sweet draft horses and baby chicks. It is, after all, spring on a farm. Seriously, it's worth the drive.

Details: Memorial Day Weekend at Big Table Farm, 26851 NW Williams Canyon Rd., Gaston. Directions on website. 503-662-3129.

Puppy Upper!

It's been a darn long time since I've posted any cute puppy pictures, so here are a couple I snapped when I got my puppy fix this morning visiting a litter of 5-week-old Cardigan Corgis.

With the good news about the passage of the Family Farms Bill (HB 2336), the day just keeps gettin' better and better! Enjoy!

Farm Bulletin: Healthy Markets & A Farm Tour

I am delighted to welcome contributor Anthony Boutard back to the blog with this post about an important piece of legislation that needs your support, HB 2336. Then, after you've written your senator, be sure to make note of the Ayers Creek Field Day scheduled for June 26.

Last week we finally bid farewell to April—the season, that is. The melancholy period exerted its grip on us for nearly 45 days. All told, though, the fields are in good shape. The raspberries and loganberry blossoms started to open Saturday, and the boysenberries should be a wall of white by the start of next week. We are looking forward to the fruit.

On the 17th of May, the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee voted to send HB 2336 to a vote of the full Senate with a "do pass" recommendation. Senators Thomsen (Hood River), Prozanski (Eugene), Hass (Beaverton) and Chair Dingfelder (Portland) voted aye. Senator Olsen (Canby) provided the single nay vote. The bill should have its third reading, debate and vote sometime this week. Senator Prozanski will carry the bill on the floor. If it passes, it will go to the Governor's desk.

Formally know as the "Farm Direct Bill," HB 2336 will clarify what foods may be sold directly to customers by the producer without getting additional licenses. For us, it will remove the regulatory questions regarding frikeh (left) production that initiated a stream of hems and haws when you all asked about it. In addition to making clear what foods can be sold without a license, the bill also clarifies that a seller who has food produced in a licensed facility can sell it directly to the public without additional licenses.

For example, we can sell our preserves (right) at Hillsdale without getting a separate retail store license. This latter point was equally important to those of us who worked on the bill over the last 18 months. If you have a moment to call or email your state senator in support of the bill, it will help.

The support the Oregon Farmers' Market Association, Friends of Family Farmers and Oregon Grows Partnership has been critical. Friends of Family Farmers has played a key role in bringing together an effective coalition of groups in support of family-based agriculture. Tomato tastings and exotic salt sampling are fun and may awaken interest in different foods, but hard-nosed advocacy is what changes the landscape. With their "muck boots in the capitol" strategy, the FOFF have made substantial advances in the Oregon's agricultural policy this session. There is a lot more to be done at the agency level and in future sessions.

Update: HB 2336 just passed the Senate (on Tues., 5/24) and now goes to Gov. Kitzhaber for his signature. Thanks to everyone who wrote or called! Woo hoo!

* * *

Our Field Day this year is scheduled for the 26th of June, from 3:00 to 6:00 PM. It is the Sunday before our return to Hillsdale. We will send out a reminder and directions a week before. If you are interested, jot down the date.

Spread the News

Speaking of gorgeous greens (What? You weren't? But it's spring!), contributor Jim Dixon of RealGoodFood is dreaming of what he can do when those lumpy, spongy pods start hitting the markets in the next few weeks.

I haven’t actually purchased any any fava beans yet this year, and the local crop is still at east a month away. But favas (fave is the plural in Italian) from further south should be available. I had some at a winemaker’s dinner last week—beautifully prepared and hosted by the winemakers Jan-Marc and Barbara Baker—cooked simply in good butter.

When I have the time to sit and and shuck, parboil and peel a pile o’fave for myself, I’ll make this. Since a pound of fava pods yields maybe a cup of the edible inner bean, this spread stretches them so you don’t need to shuck quite so many.

Fava Mint Bruschetta

(Always, always pronounced brew-sketta.)

For enough for four people, start with at least a pound of pods, although another half would be better. Split open the long pods with your thumb and strip out the beans, still in their tight, pale green skins. This will take about 30 minutes if you’re fast.

Get a medium saucepan of water boiling, toss in a little salt, and add the beans. Let the water return to a boil, cook another minute, then drain and run a little cold water over the beans so you can handle them. I find the easiest method for getting the bean out is pinching the skin open at one end and gently squeezing until the bright green bean pops out. It’s fine if the beans split, and most will. Plan on another 10-15 minutes for this.

Combine the shucked, peeled fave in the food processor with at least a cup of tightly packed fresh mint, a couple cloves of garlic, a splash (about a tablespoon) of Katz Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc vinegar (the sweet note works well with this), a long pour of good extra virgin olive oil (at least a half cup) and pinch of sea salt. Process, taste, adjust salt, oil, or vinegar and process again to a uniform but slightly coarse paste.

Toast or grill good bread (New Seasons wheat levain is my daily bread, Ken’s or other good loaf fine), spread with fava mix, drizzle with a bit more oil, and eat.

Salad Smackdown: Farro Tabbouleh

A friend put it succinctly when she said that she was itching to shed "the bourbon and blanket lifestyle" we've all adopted (whether in real life or just psychologically) in order to cope with a record-setting wet, cold spring.

For me this means not only switching my wardrobe to t-shirts and sandals, but putting away the soup pots and starting to think outside the Dutch oven. And what are the shorts and sandals of the table but hearty salads made with the fresh greens spilling off of farmers' market tables and popping out of raised beds.

The Italian parsley I planted last year has come back with a vengeance, and the mint I dug up, potted and shared with the neighbors is happily doing what it does best and spreading all over the place once again. And because I was moved to buy some farro recently, I decided to see what it would be like in a tabbouleh-type of salad.

Tossed with some spring onions and garlic and tossed with a lemony vinaigrette, it's a great side dish as is, but would be great with chopped tomatoes and cucumbers when they come along, and the addition of fresh slices of mozzarella alongside would make a nice lunch. For summer barbecues it'll be a perfect light grain dish to go with whole roasted chicken hot off the Weber.

OK, weather, I'm ready for summer now. Bring it on!

Farro Tabbouleh with Lemony Mustard Vinaigrette

For the vinaigrette:
1/2 c. olive oil
6 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

For the salad:
3 c. cooked farro
1 c. coarsely chopped fresh mint leaves
1 c. coarsely chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/2 c. diced spring onions, including greens
Salt to taste

To make the vinaigrette, take any tightly lidded container (I often use a leftover [clean] salsa container), put all the ingredients into it, put on the lid and shake like the dickens over the sink, in case, as once happened, the lid wasn't as tight as I thought and I ended up dressing the kitchen instead of the salad. Can be made ahead; stores well for several days in the fridge.

Put 2 cups uncooked farro in the bottom of a large saucepan and cover with 2-3" of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook for 20 minutes, adding water if it gets too dry, until farro is cooked through but still has a nice resistance when you bite into it…don't let it get mushy. Drain and rinse in cold water to cool. Transfer to large mixing bowl, add remaining ingredients and enough dressing to moisten. Combine and, if time allows, let it sit for an hour or so for flavors to meld. Serve at room temperature.

Try this Farro and Pecorino Salad for another take on this great grain!

Getting Schooled

You fly over it when the plane comes in for a landing at PDX; you drive over it when you head north to Vancouver or Seattle. To its credit, Vancouver has several restaurants near the Interstate Bridge overlooking the river, but I'm hard-pressed to think of more than a couple where you can drink or dine on its banks on the Oregon side.

Dan More, Salty's bar manager.

One of those is Salty's on the Columbia. Originally opened as Bart's Wharf in 1961, the building was sold and remodeled in the late 80s, keeping the sweeping decks with views of the marinas and river traffic but, sadly, losing the tuck-and-roll turquoise booths and swivel chairs that populated its dining room. I'd never been there before, but when Dan More, Salty's beverage manager, invited me to come by for a cocktail class, I happily hopped in Chili and drove out for some seat time in front of his bar.

The Aviation.

A recent transplant from Seattle, More's classic cocktail style is inspired by Murray Stenson of the Zig Zag Café, with the philosophy that "simplicity is the key." He set me up with the makings for three of the bar's signature drinks, kindly providing recipes to share, below. My next challenge is to work on him to give up the recipe for the bar's so-good-I'd-drink-it-on-its-own Bloody Mary mix.

Aviation

2 oz. Aviation Gin
1/2 oz. Luxardo maraschino liqueur
1/4 oz. fresh lemon juice
Brandied cherry or amarena cherry

Fill cocktail shaker half full of ice. "Too many people go way over the top and overuse ice," More said. Pour gin, maraschino liqueur and lemon juice in shaker, shake briefly and strain into cocktail glass. Add cherry and serve.

Lilikoi Margarita

From Salty's bartender Sam Dixon from his stint at the Hali’imaile General Store on Maui. 
2 slices orange, 1/4" thick
2 slices lemon, 1/4" thick
3 slices lime, 1/4" thick
2 oz. Cazadores Reposado tequila
3/4 oz. Cointreau
1/2 oz. Lilikoi (passion fruit) purée
Lime
Li hing mui plum sugar powder, available online or at Asian groceries

Rim a tall cocktail glass with lime and dip in plum sugar. Place fruit slices in bottom of pint glass and muddle, pressing out the juices but not pulverizing the fruit. Add ice till 2/3 full, adding tequila, Cointreau and purée. Top with metal shaker (called a Boston Shaker). Shake and strain into rimmed glass, garnish with slice of lime.

Sazerac
1 sugar cube
1/2 oz. water
3 dashes of Peychaud's Bitters
2 oz. Sazerac Rye
Pernod or absinthe
Lemon twist

Fill an old-fashioned glass with ice water, letting it sit and chill while preparing drink. Put sugar cube, water and bitter in a pint glass and muddle, crushing the sugar cube and dissolving it in the water. Fill the glass 2/3 full of ice, add rye and stir. Dry the chilled old-fashioned glass and rinse with a small amount of Pernod, pouring out any that remains. Strain rye mixture into glass and serve with a lemon twist.

Details: Salty's on the Columbia, 3839 NE Marine Dr. 503-288-4444.

Read It Forward

Enumerating the benefits of owning dogs has been done to death. Companionship, protection, even exercise are obvious. But incidental advantages can accrue as well, like the social circles, and subsequent friendships, that develop at the local dog park.

Another I've discovered in years of walking dogs is that you get to know your neighborhood really well, from who's fixing up their house to which elderly neighbor has passed away, or which new family is putting in raised beds and a chicken coop (a development that my dogs find particularly intriguing).

One development that's been particularly intriguing lately is a mailbox that's popped up in a parking strip next to a house that had recently sold (top photo). Labeled "BOOKS" in gold letters, opening it reveals a couple of stacks of well-thumbed pulp novels, mostly women's fiction of the type that book clubs dote on.

Questions arise of whether the books are there for the borrowing or the taking, if more than one person contributes to the trove or if there is a particular genre that the mailbox attracts, but you can bet I'll be checking it at regular intervals to see what appears there.

A Tart at Heart

You could say the internet has been a boon to our marriage. And no, I'm not talking about getting drugs from Canada or watching videos of people getting way too familiar with the cameras on their laptops. (As I told our son when he got old enough…like when he was five…to disable any blocking mechanism we might install on the computer, "there are some pictures you just don't want to have in your head.")

What I'm trying to get at is that, at our house, we're information junkies. As a former journalist, Dave is never happier than when he's diving into the deep end of a pool of information on his latest fascination. Because of that he gets a ton of feeds about subjects he's interested in, from bread (Portland-based The Fresh Loaf is a big fave) to beer to cars to barbecue to cooking videos. Then he gets busy in the kitchen. 


Like last weekend. He'd spent most of Saturday making his sourdough bread, and because he absolutely hates throwing out any leftover starter he made sourdough biscuits for breakfast Sunday morning. On a Cooks Illustrated video he'd seen Chris Kimball and one of his lady friends (who seem to do most of the actual cooking, at least from what I've seen) making an onion tart. So with some of the homemade bacon he'd smoked the week before, that became dinner.

And, really, who needs more than that to make a happy marriage?

Bacon Onion Tart

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated.

For the crust:
1 1/4 c. flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick chilled butter or margarine, cubed
Ice water

For the filling:
4 oz bacon in 1/4-inch bits.
1 1/2 lbs. yellow or white onions (6 c. when sliced), sliced crosswise 1/4 inch thick)
1 sprig of thyme or 1/2 tsp. dried
Salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup half and half or whole milk
Pepper

To make the crust: Preheat oven to 375°. Spray oil on bottom and sides of quiche or tart pan. Put flour, sugar, salt in processor and pulse twice. Add cubed butter and do about 15 pulses until it looks fine. Add 2 Tbsp. ice water and process. If you can squish it and it holds together, stop. If there are too many flour bits add 1 tsp. water and process again for 5 seconds. Drop walnut-sized chunks into pan and spread evenly, pushing the dough up the sides. You can put plastic wrap on it and spread with hands to get it nice and even. Pinch dough off edges of pan to make sharp edges. Put pan with dough on plate and put into freezer for 30 minutes. Remove from freezer. Spray tinfoil with oil and gently press into pan. Cook's Illustrated advises you fill it with "pie weights"; I put a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil over the dough and pressed it into place and it worked just fine. Bake for 30 minutes.

To make the filling: While the crust bakes, cook bacon on medium heat until a little crisp. Save 2 Tbsp. bacon fat; put bacon on paper towel-lined plate to degrease. Put 2 Tbsp. bacon fat into nonstick pan. Get the bacon fat "a little hot." Put onions into bacon fat. Add sprig of thyme and a little salt. Cover and cook 10 minutes on medium heat. You want onions soft, not brown. Remove cover and stir, replace cover and put on low for another 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool a little bit.

Check crust. If it's still soft and moist, keep in oven. If not, remove tinfoil or weights and put back in oven 5-10 minutes until golden brown.

Put eggs in mixing bowl. Add half and half and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Whisk together. Add onions and bacon and stir until incorporated. Put into tart. Smooth and make sure onions are uniform throughout. Put into oven and bake 20-25 minutes. Should be cooked through and be firm when jiggled. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan.