Chanterelle Mushroom Compound Butte
Food+Drink, Recipes

Chanterelle Mushroom Compound Butter

Home Grown Chef Thor Erickson | photography by Charlotte Dupont Thud, thud, thud! The knock on the door reverberated as I took my first sip of morning coffee. It was around 7:30 a.m. on a damp October Sunday. At the door was my friend and colleague Julian Darwin. “Good morning, Chef!” he exclaimed with urgency. “Get your things, we’re going into the forest.” “What? Why?” I asked. “For chanterelles, of course!” he announced, his British accent elevating it to a proclamation. I put my coffee in a thermos, put on my boots and coat, and we were off. Julian, more than just a chef, has been a mentor to me in many ways. He introduced me to the world of teaching. Before that, our culinary paths crossed, and we’d worked together. European trained, he is an old-school chef with the same work ethic and ideology I learned during my early…

Yoga retreat
Live Oregon

Don’t namaste put—get away to a rejuvenating yoga retreat

written by Cathy Carroll IN A DOME built into a hillside, a round skylight at its crown, Burdoin Mountain rising behind it and the Columbia River flowing in the foreground, the yoga session began. The poses unfolded easily for the participants, who’d spent the night steps away in a ring of cabins inspired by minimalist Japanese design, and the morning rotating between the sauna, the cold plunge pool, the warm saltwater soaking pool and the hot tub outside, gazing up at the Zen landscape—the Gorge veiled in mist. Yoga at the subterranean Sanctuary at The Society Hotel in Bingen, as with other retreats, just isn’t the same as hitting the nearby studio after work. Done anywhere, yoga can calm the spirit while strengthening the body, but retreats can amplify the experience as well as the benefits. This spring, yoga retreats throughout Washington offer varying themes, from hiking and uncovering your…

Cream of Chanterelle Mushroom Soup
Food+Drink, Recipes

The Magic of Mushrooms — Cream of Chanterelle Mushroom Soup & Chanterelle Mushroom, Brie + Hazelnut Toast

Cream of Chanterelle Mushroom Soup Nicoletta’s Table / LAKE OSWEGO Yields 8 cups  2 pounds fresh chanterelle mushrooms  2 tablespoons shallots, finely minced 1⁄4 cup onion, finely chopped 1⁄4 cup celery, finely chopped 2 tablespoons sweet butter 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, finely chopped 1⁄4 cup dry sherry  4½ cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)  2 cups heavy cream  2 teaspoons Kosher salt 1⁄2 teaspoon ground black pepper Clean the mushrooms of any excess debris and pine needles by gently brushing the mushrooms using a vegetable brush or a clean soft cloth. Gently tear the mushrooms into 1⁄2-inch wide lengths. In a heavy-bottomed, 6- to 8-quart pot, melt the butter and add in the olive oil over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, shallots, onions, celery and thyme and stir occasionally until everything is wilted and soft, without allowing the vegetables to color. Turn up the heat…

Ashland, Oregon
Trip Planners

Ashland Wine Tasting: Shakespeare and chardonnay, a fine pairing in Southern Oregon

written by Kevin Max vines • wine • tapas There is no better place in America to combine bold wines and the boisterous Bard than in Ashland. So far south in Oregon, Ashland feels as much northern California as it does Southern Oregon. Climate doesn’t strictly respect state borders, but the climate for wine growing in Southern Oregon does have its boundaries. There are warmer Spanish tempranillos and cooler pinots, with syrahs and chardonnays in between. The stages of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival bud and bloom with wit, sarcasm, churl and charm. Spring and summer in the Southern Oregon tasting rooms and vineyards bring a full-bodied intensity with a note of drama and an air of openness. For visitors who have never been to Ashland, the first thing you’ll notice is the beautiful hills and rolling terrain surrounding it to the west, south and east. It’s on the faces of…

Think Oregon

How the Oregon Trail could change and no one will have known what happened

Stop B2H Coalition, a small nonprofit centered in La Grande is working day and night to preserve the Oregon Trail from Idaho Power n estimated 80,000 early pioneers arrived in Oregon on the Oregon Trail, passing over the American West and etching their journey in miles of wagon wheel ruts. These ruts stand witness to an historic and epic journey, the evidence still visible almost two centuries later. But as Smithsonian magazine put it back in 2016, some of these ruts are in “danger of destruction as municipalities push to stretch bigger and better power supplies across the region.” That’s the case in Oregon, where a long-proposed project could change the view forever. It’s a battle over the desert, farmland, forests and big skies of Eastern Oregon—with scant attention from the rest of the state. It’s a tale of underdogs fighting enormous odds to protect what’s theirs, and what their…

Oregon Trail
Explore Oregon

The Oregon Trail, 175 years later — Gravel Bikes, Running Shoes & Great Brews & Views

  written by Kevin Max regon gives a lot and sometimes, when you’re retracing the Oregon Trail on bike and on foot in a four-day span, it gives more than you expect. Okay, we took an Airstream too, but chiefly for its historic connection along the Oregon Trail. Read on. It was the second week of June, and my friend Zach Violett and I left Central Oregon with our dogs and a thirst for new adventures and good beer, bound for Farewell Bend State Park—the eastern point of modern-day Oregon’s section of the Oregon Trail. Wagons that left Independence, Missouri, crossed here months later into what is now Oregon. We brought gravel bikes, running shoes and a curiosity of what we might find along the way. Zach is an ultra runner who was recovering from a hernia surgery. Thus predisposed, he would, by doctor’s order, have to reduce his mileage…

Home+Garden

Designer Spotlight: Designer Jessica Helgerson on chic and timeless kitchen design

Designer Spotlight interview by Melissa Dalton, photos by Lincoln Barbour   Twenty-two years ago, Jessica Helgerson started her design career in Santa Barbara, working for a green-building nonprofit called The Sustainability Project. So what’s the greenest move you can make in a kitchen? First, she says, “Get the design right for that house so that the kitchen never has to get ripped out again.” We asked her to elaborate on her secrets for doing just that. 1. Take cues from the existing house. At Helgerson’s firm, designers pore over old photos for inspiration. For instance, in a recent remodel of a Portland home that was once a library, Helgerson referenced the house’s past in the kitchen with built-in shelves and a rolling library ladder. 2. Build stylish storage and, bonus, hide the fridge. To balance open shelves with the room’s storage needs, Helgerson’s firm has recently been installing walls of…

Daniel Sperry
Live Oregon

Cellist Daniel Sperry interprets Ashland’s Lithia Park for music and emotion

written by Kevin Max TTHE VOICES OF YOUNG KIDS bounce along the turning leaves of Lithia Park. A man submerges a cylindrical wire frame into a bucket and pulls it out, wet and dripping. He makes a slow arc with the wet frame, and an oblong bubble fills and trails behind it, growing to a size equal to the child waiting to chase it into the sky. The bubble separates from the implement and floats out of reach of the small saboteur. The smooth tenor of a cello follows the bubble’s plight as it rises slowly, soon to burst on an oak branch above. The notes subtly gain pitch as the bubble rises like Icarus to its certain demise. The cellist sees all of this and is, at once, sympathizing with the plight of the Icarus bubble while taking in the kid commotion and reading the emotion on the faces…