Oma's Featherlights These rolls are a tradition at our house for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.  My mom got the recipe thirty years ago from her friend, Cora Leavitt.  They were originally called "Grandma's Featherlights" but in our family, my mom is "Oma" so that's what we call them. They are tr

Okay, so I don't have time to take a photo of them right now (Shhhh!  I am busy constructing a chocolate volcano cake with strawberry syrup lava for my son's birthday tomorrow), but if you are in the market for local walnuts, have I got a deal for you!!!  A friend of mine has a bumper crop this year and just dropped off t

We visited my daughter Christine and her husband Blake for Thanksgiving.  They took us to Central BBQ the other night for some authentic Memphis ribs.  We ordered two "slabs", one "dry" and one "wet" and a variety of sides to go with them:  baked beans, slaw, cooked greens, potato salad, fri

"Let [local] food be your medicine."  I think all food was local when Hippocrates gave that advice.

 Photo courtesy of Robin Loznak I bought ten pounds of the best-tasting local prunes yesterday at the Umpqua Valley Farmers Market.  Janet Fisher and her daughter and son-in-law were giving out samples, so naturally I had to try them and oh, were they good! My complaint about the packaged prunes at the grocery store (the

Hazelnuts (filberts) are ready at Norm Lehne Garden & Orchards, but if you'd like some , you'd better hurry out today as they are going fast.  These are large/jumbo Ennis variety nuts.  They are $1.75/lb. and you can crack them yourself on the spot with Norm's old-fashioned cracker.  It doesn't take long at all to se

My niece's wedding cake.

Our Pizza Margherita fresh out of the oven. My husband and I just returned from a two-week vacation around the Pacific Northwest.  Seattle was our last stop and on the final night of our trip we searched out Delancey to try their wood-fired pizza.  I had read about Delancey on Molly Wizenberg's food blog, Orangette.   M

Kevin and I picked sixty-six pounds of blueberries in less than two hours last Friday at Haven Farms.  I gave some to my parents and packaged forty-eight pounds of them in 2-pound bags for the freezer.  The rest are still in the frig and we're eating them fresh. This morning I went out to The Berry Patch (in the rain) an

Quick note:  Tomorrow, Friday, will be opening day for blueberry-picking at Haven Farm near Tyee.  Picking starts at 8:00 am but you will want to get there by 7:30 am or so to get in line.  Their Duke berries all ripen at once, which makes it easy to pick lots of berries very quickly, but it also means they will be gone

I'm in Southern California this week visiting family.  I didn't make it to my hometown farmers market, but I spent the day at the beach in Carpinteria on Thursday and when I'd had enough sun and sand and salt water, I walked down Lindon Street with my signature yellow canvas "Eat Local Produce" shopping bag to th

The menu...Salmon on a plankBaby zucchini and yellow squashSteamed fingerling potatoesRoasted beetsMixed greens with nasturtiums dressed with an orange muscat vinaigretteBaguette slices with Boursin cheeseIndividual Berry Pavlovas The salmon was a gift from a friend, caught in the North Umpqua river just a few miles from o

I made individual berry pavlovas for tonight's dessert, in honor of Independence Day.  (My folks are doing the hamburger and hotdog barbecue tomorrow, so this was my chance!) I used this recipe from the pastry studio blog (oh, what fun I could have working my way through that blog!) and the only change I made was to make f

Okay, so I went a bit overboard at the farmers market this morning.  I just couldn't help myself.  I started out at The Baklava Lady's booth just a few minutes after 9:00 am.  You have to get there right when the market opens because she sells out fast. My favorite croissants were on display, the ones with the fabulous N

If you haven't made it to the Umpqua Valley Farmers Market yet, you are missing out on the ultimate spot to 'buy local.' I've been buying zesty lettuce mix, tender asparagus, leeks, flowers, and of course, sampling the baked goods.   There are four bakers at the market this year.  Well, five, if you count the baked go

The Umpqua Valley Farmers Market opens at 9:00 am tomorrow morning!  I can't wait.  It's been a long winter.  It's so fun to reconnect with all my favorite vendors again. I'll be picking up some tender asparagus from Jim and Joni Leet and then I'll be looking for lettuce, arugula, and flowers.  I hear there is a new f

Warm, sugar-crusted doughnut "pillows" with creme anglaise for dipping. On the recommendation of Jennifer over at Culinaria Eugenius, my friend, Laura, and I stopped into Osteria Sfizio in Eugene for lunch a while back.  I don't pretend to be a food critic and I only write about places I like (Thumper's rule), b

Think Local Umpqua has teamed up with the First United Methodist Church in Roseburg for their second annual "That's My Farmer" event. This is a great chance to meet farmers in our area, learn more about local CSAs, watch a great film called FRESH:  New thinking about what we're eating, and enjoy an ice cream sun

After my pie-baking marathon last week, I needed something a bit easier for this week's bake sale.  For the bread, I made a double batch of Sour Cream & Chive Potato Bread.  I mixed the dough Wednesday afternoon, refrigerated it overnight, then shaped and baked the loaves Thursday morning so they would still be warm f

I love my baking stones!  They "live" in my ovens.  I rarely take them out.  They are perfect for baking hearth loaves right on the stone, but I also place pie pans and cookie sheets directly on the stone and I find that things bake more evenly. One thing about the stones though, if you get any sort of oil

Yesterday I had the challenge of making eleven apple pies in about six hours. My daughter, Laura, is going on a six-week trip to El Salvador this spring as a volunteer with Help International. She'll get to practice her Spanish while fighting urban poverty in the capital city of San Salvador. In order to finance her se

Hello faithful readers.  I got a call-to-action from fellow master food preserver and food blogger Jennifer Burns Levin (Culinaria Eugenius) regarding HB2336, the Direct Farm Marketing Bill.  If you care about access to local food, please take a minute to call or email your house representative and urge him or her to supp

I learned to make these the other night and if you like Oreos you will love them. The recipe is simple and comes from a great baking blog called Bakerella. Check it out here then come back and for my tips. I used regular Oreos, but mint Oreos or peanut butter Oreos would be great too.  I don't like using “bark” or

FYI....Today is the last chance to stock up on produce from Kruse Farms.  They will be closing until mid-April. They still have apples, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, winter squash, oranges, etc. They also have jams, instant refried beans and other packaged products. Everything is 20% off.  I believe they are open until 6:00

 Delfino Vineyards in all its autumn glory. We had a Think Local Umpqua advisory board retreat in the guest cottage at Delfino Vineyards.  It was a lovely setting and perfect for our purposes, with a good-sized dining room table to meet around.  I brought sliced apples, cheese cubes, and cookies for everyone to munch on,

Here's one to add to my collection of Cakes to Make You Laugh Out Loud.  This year, my son requested a cake in the shape of a present, with ice cream inside!  I naively thought it would be "a piece of cake".  I mean, it's a cube--how hard can that be?  Well, you can tell from the photos that it was quite a cha

I was searching through some boxes of memorabilia and children's artwork today and came across an old travel journal from a trip my husband and I took to New Orleans in 1990.  I have only kept journals sporadically over the years, but somehow I always find time to write about good food. This was written on September 18, 19

Hi, guys.  My daughter, Laura, is working to help Tipping Bucket win a $250,000 grant in the PepsiRefresh competition.  It's is an incredible organization, making the world a better place.  Just check out this video... What is Tipping Bucket? Tipping Bucket is an organization and website that allows everyday people t

I'm sitting at a table in The Daily Grind this morning while my car is being serviced at Mobile Tune.  This is the first chance I have had to use my new netbook in a public place and take advantage of free Wi-Fi.  I feel so cool! I ordered a hot chocolate and spied some interesting-looking truffles made by a new, local c