Aaron

Aaron

Hors D'oeuvres
Food+Drink, Live Oregon

Beer Pairings for the Holidays

written by Jeremy Storton | illustrations by Yoko Baum I must admit I’ve gotten bored with the typical holiday feast. Unless I want to do all the cooking myself, the simplest way to make things interesting is to bring some stellar beer pairings to the table. Here are a few combinations I offer: COURSE 1 HORS D’OEUVRES Let’s start with an aperitif. I love the light body and snappy bitterness of a German pilsner paired with homemade popcorn. Or, I’d enjoy the light citrus and herbal tang of a Belgian witbier with smoked salmon. Both beers serve to stimulate my senses and tease my appetite. My Picks: Breakside Brewery’s Pilsner; Monkless Belgian Ales’ Shepplekofeggan Witbier COURSE 2 GREENS Now, I want complex sweetness and assertive bitterness. A German-inspired altbier balances the simple yet delightful grilled romaine lettuce with olive oil, salt and pepper. Or, if we grill fall vegetables, a…

Wooden shoe stretchers hang on a peg board inside Julie Derrick’s Baker City shoe repair shop.
Live Oregon

Meet Julie Derrick: Reviving Shoes and Stories in Baker City

Growing up in rural pragmatism, Julie Derrick learned to reuse and repair life’s staples, and now shoes written by Joni Kabana | photography by Petar Marshall Growing up in rural Idaho, Julie Derrick was used to repairing what was broken. Clothes were made by hand, mended when torn and remade into other clothes until the fabric was too thin to use, and then those scraps became rag rugs and quilt tops. As a young girl, Derrick was exposed to many modes of fixing, including a favorite memory of watching her farrier grandpa taking things apart to make them into new things. It is no wonder Derrick, after working in several “heady” jobs, found her way back to her roots—she now owns and operates JD’s Shoe Repair, an old-timey shop that recently moved from Portland to Baker City. Hammers, end nippers, knives and awls are found in abundance at this shoe…

Plan a kayaking outing with the help of the adventure coaches at Headlands Lodge.
Adventure, Explore Oregon

Romantic Off-Grid Escapes: Oregon’s Lakes, Rivers & Ocean Retreats

Wanderlust and Love written by Cathy Carroll The spray off a waterfall, the rush of a salty ocean wave, the lapping of a meandering river, the placid surface of a mountain lake—they woo us, beckon us, seduce us. Whether you plunge in, paddle in or perambulate by them, they heighten our senses, soothe us and provide the perfect setting for relaxing, romantic fun. They abound. Here are a select few. NETARTS + PACIFIC CITY Waves Kayaking through mellow Netarts Bay between Cape Meares and Cape Lookout, connect with your partner as you take some lessons in play and relaxation from seals and sea lions lounging in pristine surroundings. Fully exhale as pelicans, great blue herons and bald eagles soar overhead, and western snowy plovers—palm-sized, sand-colored puffs—skitter on the shore. Songbirds serenade, and cormorants perch on rocks, spreading their great black wings out to dry. Follow suit, warming your own wings…

Local ranch owners assisted each other digging trenches and fire lines long before the fire reached town. (photo: Becky Clark)
Featured

Spray, Oregon, Rallies to Fight Lone Rock Fire, Saving Homes and Land

A small Oregon town’s response to this summer’s Lone Rock Fire written by Joni Kabana “It’s just what we do.” These words, barely audible, a resident of the small town of Spray spoke for everyone that morning about saving the town from a massive wildfire. His head bowed, I could feel the collective weight this fire had on him and many local volunteer firefighters. Local residents came off their farms and out of their houses and, for twenty-seven days, fought the relentless and unforgiving fires that would burn more than 100,000 acres in Wheeler County alone. From local teenagers to elders, both men and women joined at the front lines of the rapidly advancing fire, digging trenches, cutting trees and spraying flames to protect their own ranches, their neighbors’ farms and the beloved tiny town of Spray. As the fire burned on and closer to my home, we received the…

Roasted Sunchoke Hummus packs in the flavor for a perfect snack.
Farm to Table, Live Oregon

Roasted Sunchoke Hummus

written by Thor Erickson | photography by Tambi Lane I was drenched with sweat as I neared the end of my sweltering drive to Brownsville. The AC in my old Toyota pickup meant cranking the windows down. The best produce in Oregon, used by the best restaurants in the nation, is grown in this tiny pocket of the Willamette Valley, and I was here to convince the farmer to sell it to my restaurant. I rehearsed my pitch as I pulled onto the dusty road leading to George Weppler’s farm. As I got out of my truck, George emerged from a field where beautiful purple lettuce and sunflowers were growing. He greeted me with a firm handshake. “Swim with me!” he said in a raised voice as he shed his dusty clothes leaving nothing but a neckerchief and a straw hat. He gestured to the irrigation pond that resembled a…

Grange Estate at Dundee Hills combines luxury in the midst of luxurious wines of the Willamette Valley.
Explore Oregon, Lodging

Grange Estate: A Luxe Farmhouse Retreat in Dundee Hills

written by Kerry Newberry The vintage photographs, golden Douglas fir interiors and wall of antique farm tools (an ode to the agricultural history of the area) radiate modern farmhouse charm. But as you walk around the recently opened Grange Estate at Dundee Hills, there’s also a luxe wine country aesthetic from the open kitchen with sea-green Moroccan clay tiles to the sumptuous leather couches and backlit bookshelves. Set in the heart of the Willamette Valley’s famed Dundee Hills, this new retreat is the sister property to the neighboring and beloved Black Walnut Inn. The nine-room property is packed with treasures that celebrate the spirit of place, from historic maps and artisan furnishings to local crafts like an eye-catching Oregon flag tapestry that was hand-woven by Kush Rugs. You can soak up vineyard views from most windows—or settle into an Adirondack chair on the rambling veranda. Even better, you can reserve…

Enjoy kayaking, boating or fishing at the iconic Wallowa Lake just south of Joseph.
Explore Oregon, Trip Planner

Discover Joseph, Oregon: Art, Nature, and Local Culture in the Wallowa Valley

In artsy Joseph in summer, there’s much to see and experience—and not much time written by James Sinks It’s little mystery why Joseph attracts artists in droves. Surrounded by windswept grassy fields and in the shadow of towering peaks and glacier-carved Wallowa Lake, and with the easygoing aura of a place where nobody is in a hurry including hungry herds of loitering local deer, the Western-themed hamlet all but demands that you slow down, exhale and revel. And yet it’s almost impossible—nor would it be responsible—to breathe and bathe in the dramatic landscapes of the northeast corner of Oregon without also acknowledging a sad irony. It was here in 1879 that newly arrived settlers called the town Joseph, after the Nez Perce chief who’d just recently been chased from the valley. Chief Joseph always hoped his people could one day return to their ancestral homeland and the place his father…

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve offers a beautiful and austere experience without the summer crowds of national parks.
Explore Oregon, Northwest Destination

Explore Idaho’s Craters of the Moon: 100 Years of Lava Landscapes and Adventure

Celebrate the centennial of Idaho’s dusty lava wonderland at Craters of the Moon—and then clean up your act afterward written by James Sinks As he zigzagged an otherworldly expanse of lava flows, blackened buttes and craggy caves in central Idaho—and on rocks so jagged underfoot it left his Airedale terrier’s paws bloodied—Boise explorer Robert Limbert remarked that the more than 600 volcanic square miles looked like a desolate moonscape. And yet at the same time, also strikingly beautiful, he wrote in National Geographic in 1924, as part of a bid to secure federal protection. “It is a place of color and silence,” he wrote in dispatches from the Craters of the Moon. “It is the play of light at sunset across this lava that charms the spectator.” The name stuck. The same year, President Calvin Coolidge formally designated the Craters of the Moon National Monument, he said, to conserve its…

Oregon beer and breweries
Food+Drink, Live Oregon

How Oregon Became the Epicenter of Craft Beer Culture

written by Jeremy Storton | illustration by Sophie Barlow In the fall of 1993, I walked into Deschutes Brewery for the first time. Bend was a sleepy mountain town of about 15,000 people with a well-known ski mountain. The micro-brewing fad had traction, but momentum was a few years off. Still, I was intrigued that Deschutes was a place where one could get beer with color and flavor, and not some giant factory pumping out industrial liquid widgets. In the early 1980s, Widmer, Bridgeport, Portland and McMenamins brewing companies pushed the legislation that would allow breweries to sell beer directly to consumers, thus breaking down the barrier between artisan and consumer. In doing so, they also showed us how to redefine ourselves through better beer experiences. In California, circa 1976, when the seeds that would grow into the craft beer movement were sprouting roots, the “Judgement of Paris” informed the…