1859’s Home Grown Chef Thor Erickson shares the secret to a gourmet alternative to marinara that you can easily do while in quarantine. Try Thor’s simple pasta all’Amatriciana! Find more recipes from Thor that use local Oregon products here.
Across the region, theater companies are making masks, distillers are bottling hand sanitizer, restaurants are making exquisite meals and, of course, a San Juan Island tour company is streaming whales to soothe everyone in quarantine by Cathy Carroll ALTHOUGH COMPANIES THROUGHOUT the Pacific Northwest are feeling the economic pain of the pandemic, they haven’t let that get in their way of duty. Just as businesses had heeded President Franklin Roosevelt’s World War II mandate that “powerful enemies must be out-fought and out-produced,” companies are all in for the fight against the coronavirus. The “Rosie the Riveters” of our day, this group is retooling to manufacture weaponry to crush COVID-19. Theater costume makers are sewing masks. Distillers are mixing hand sanitizer. Global sportswear and aeronautics brands are making face shields, chefs are delivering food to healthcare workers and leading research institutions are searching for the medicine that will stop this scourge….
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…
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 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…
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…
Beerlandia columnist and cicerone, Jeremy Storton, heads to Hood River to find out what’s bubbling in the mind of Wyeast Labs Tamara Logsdon
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…
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…
