Oregon Food And Wine - Chocolate Fest

Chocolate Fest 2010 - Oregon Food And Wine

Just in time for Valentine's Day...

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Okanagan Greens A Conduit For Local Food

Okanagan Greens will host on the weekend of Feb. 6th their Conduit Festival.  It is a celebration of live music, local farms, art, emerging artists and all things Okanagan.There will be over 100 local poets, musicians, crafters and artists contributing.  Story tellers from En'Owkin shared ancient stories of the land and generations past.

Okanagan Greens' Conduit Festival Event 2010

Conduit is all about the Global Green Movement. It is a Zero Waste all Organic and Local faire, self-sufficiency Festival that dealt with the issue of Climate change with proactive creative solutions from the Okanagan community. It is for everyone to be inspired and involved in our societal evolution, understanding and wellbeing.


The 5th Annual Organic Okanagan Festival will be held at Summerhill Pyramid Winery September 26th, 2010.
For  more Information please go to:  Okanagan Greens

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Eat Local, Give Global

Seattle

Eat Local, Give Global

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Haiti Relief Dinner
In response to the recent tragedy in Haiti, Campagne in Seattle invites you and your friends  to attend a fundraising three-course Bouillabaisse dinner on Monday night, January 25th, 2010.


For dinner and wine pairing they suggest a minimum donation of $100 per person, 100% of which will be donated to Doctors Without Borders, a charity who has had a presence in Haiti for the past 19 years.

Campagne’s  service and kitchen staff have volunteered their time to make this as effective a fundraiser as possible.  Even the suppliers of the restaurant have offered to support with donations of product and the Inn at the Market will generously  match the first $5,000 that is raised.

First course: Salade verte au chèvre chaud
Second course: Chef Daisley Gordon’s renowned Bouillabaisse
Third course: Galette des Rois
Wines will be donated for the first and second courses.

Seatings begin at 5:30pm. Space is limited so please make your reservation soon to help make a real difference for the victims of this tragedy.  Ph# 206.728.2800.

“Exquisite food that’s treated as respectfully as the customers… Whatever route you take to Campagne, a great evening is assured.” – Zagat Survey

Named as one of the top ten restaurants in its opening year by the Seattle Times and as one of the best restaurants in America by The Wine Spectator, Café Campagne has received the designation as Seattle’s top French Café/Bistro consistently by Zagat Survey.

Now, for being such a good and blessed human being, reward yourself!  Try some of these, in the name of research, in preparation for Valentine’s Day…

Honest Chocolates

These salted chocolate-covered honey caramels are made in small batches in McMinnville, OR.  The soft caramels are slow-cooked with cream, butter, sugar, and local blackberry honey, then hand-dipped in milk or dark chocolate. $25 per pound; honestchocolates.com

Moonstruck Sweet Heart truffles

Treat your Valentine with this set of pink Champagne, crème brûlée, and chocolate ganache heart-shaped truffles. $15 for a box of 6; moonstruckchocolate.com

Icicle Ridge Winery Chocolate Cherry Passion

This dessert wine is divine on its own, but even better drizzled over ice cream or cheesecake. Think cherry cordials in a glass.$28.50 for a 375mL bottle; icicleridgewinery.com

Phillips Double Chocolate Porter (okay, technically a beer)

Phillips Brewery in Victoria, B.C., infuses powdered cocoa and roasted coffee into this light (just 5.2% alcohol) yet surprisingly rich brew. Knock back a few pints, or substitute it for Guinness in your favorite recipe for chocolate stout cake. $5cdn for 650mL; phillipsbeer.com

Extreme Chocolate Cocoa Magic

These cocoa spice rubs add a surprisingly savory depth of flavor to roasted and braised meats, with a different blend for poultry, pork, lamb, and beef. $7.50 each; extremechocolates.com

KuKuRuZa

This Mexican chocolate caramel popcorn  is Seattle’s premier gourmet popcorn.The shop drizzles caramel corn with cinnamon-spiked chocolate, worth smuggling into the theater for that date movie. $16 for one gallon; kukuruza.com

Coastal Mist truffles

Named “Best in Show” at 2009’s Oregon Chocolate Festival, Coastal Mist’s impeccably decorated Belgian truffles (made by chocolatier-couple Kevin and Tara Shaw in Bandon, OR) are simply irresistible. $18.50 for a box of 10; coastalmist.com

Oh! Chocolate

Pacific Northwest collection Local ingredients—DuChilly hazelnuts, Pinot Noir, and Pike Street Stout (brewed by Seattle’s Pike Brewing)—fill the centers of these Northwest-inspired truffles. $32 for 16 pieces; ohchocolate.com

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Drink To Your Health!

Drink To Your Health!

“Wine is a food.”   – Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Wine is the most civilized thing in the world.”  – Ernest Hemingway.
“What contemptible scoundrel stole the cork from my lunch?” – W.C. Fields
Wine … cheereth God and man. – Judges, 9:13
“By making this wine vine known to the public, I have rendered my country as great a service as if I had enabled it to pay back the national debt.”
- Thomas Jefferson

Here’s looking at you, kid.  – Humphrey Bogart, with a glass of Vive Clicquot, toasting Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca

Wine is the “healthiest and most health-giving of drinks.”
-Louis Pasteur

“You have only so many bottles in your life. Never drink a bad one.” -  Len Evans

Likely, you think this is all a myth, this notion, this hearsay that wine is good for you.  But we’re here to tell you that it’s not just mythic folklore…we have scientific proof that wine is nothing less than medicine in a bottle.  Read on, O devoted oenophile…

Researchers who surveyed 12,000 men and women about their alcohol consumption found that the people who drank one glass daily of wine had a 50% lower risk of developing non-alchoholic fatty liver disease. This, according to a study published in Hepatalogy, a medical journal.  Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease can lead to liver scarring and cancer, notes Dr. Jeffrey Schwimmer, M.D. of the University of California, San Diego.
Rider: these beneficial side effects do not apply to beer or spirits consumption, just vino.
Furthermore, in Copenhagen, medical researchers conducted yet another study in which they determined, from among 490,000 test subjects, that…

…individuals who consumed one alcoholic drink daily had a decrease in mortality from all causes of 20% and cardiovascular-associated mortality of 30–40% compared with nondrinkers. In the Copenhagen City Heart Study, individuals who consumed between three and five drinks of wine daily had a decreased relative risk of death from all causes, including cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, of 50% compared with non-wine drinkers.  READ MORE

So we here at Local Food And Wine say, go ahead, drink to your liver! drink to your heart! drink, of course, in moderation, and then write to us and tell us what wines you love and what you love to drink them with.

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Wineries of British Columbia

The Wineries of British Columbia

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This vast subject is one that John Schreiner tackles with courage and conviction in his "completely revised and updated," The Wineries of British Columbia.  You can pick up your copy for $29.95 in your local book store or online.

John Schreiner's B.C. "wine Bible."

Schreiner covers a whopping 200 wineries within the book's 496 pages.  And, yes, we'll confess, there are more wine regions in B.C. than only the Okanagan, which are, in and of themselves, as outstanding in terms of wine production.

To note, there is the Similkameen Valley, the region of Vancouver and Fraser Valley and also the area of Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands.  Vancouver Island is well-known for its locavore population with its attendant local food devotion, a practice that has been part of the lifestyle there for quite some generations.
As a whole, however, wine is a relatively new crop for B.C.  There is currently 9,100 acres of cultivated vineyards in B.C., up from just 1,000 acres in 1989.  Calona Vineyards in the Okanagan was the province's first commercial winery to open up in 1931.  Nearly all the vineyards are planted with vinifera vines with only about 3% hybrid grapes. Most of the original hybrids were torn out a couple of decades ago and replanted with vinifera grapes.

Cellaring Your B.C. Wine Finds

Another book, written by another dean of Canadian wines, is Tony Aspler's Cellar Book.  This is a great guide for all of us who like to buy what we like to drink when we taste it on these vineyard tours of tastings and discovery.

Aspler's newest is a trusted handbook for those who have or are developing an interest in wine, as a hobby or an investment, or both, and want to create a cellar in which to house their passionate vine finds.
And, just an afterthought, intelligent cellaring is one way to pay, in due time, for what can quickly become an expensive pastime. According to Aspler, "You can sell off a case or two you've held for a few years and realize a healthy profit in order to buy more, thereby subsidizing your wine drinking."
Tony Aspler's Cellar Book, Random House, Canada

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Carina Cellars Santa Ynez Perfectly Pairs Wine And Chocolate For Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day Cheese and Chocolate Celebration

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Carina Cellars pairs wine and chocolate for Valentine's Day!

An evening of perfect matches: specialty cheese from Santa Barbara’s C’est Cheese and chocolates created by local chocolatiers are perfectly paired with 6 of Carina Cellars most decadent wines.

Carina Cellars is hosting a Valentine's Day special event on February 13th at their Los Olivos tasting room.  Last year's event was such a success that this year they are doing it again...Celebrating a perfect match:
Wine, Cheese and Chocolate!

Carina Cellars  will pair six of their most beloved Rhône wines with cheese provided by Santa Barbara’s C’est Cheese, and chocolates created especially for each wine by several local chocolatiers.

Carina Cellars owner David Hardee and and winemaker Joey Tensley partner with growers who share their philosophies on farming – a dedication to canopy management, low yields and vine balance. Their top-quality Rhône wines showcase and emphasize terroir above all else.

Reservations for this event are required, and tickets are only $20 per person (Iconoclast Members $15).  Please contact Carolyn Turner at 805-252-0860.

Carina Cellars
(Los Olivos)
daily, 11am - 5pm
2900 Grand Avenue, Suite A Los Olivos
(805) 688-2459
www.CarinaCellars.com
tastingroom@carinacellars.com

Ice Wine Is The Okanagan Winter Festival Of Wine

The Okanagan is often described as the "California of Canada," however, it does get a little cooler up here than in most parts of California, and blessedly so, hence the fabulous regional Ice Wine Festival, now known as the Winter Festival of Wine.


Dates are Jan 16-24, 2010


Have you never tasted an Ice Wine? then we advise you to do so and straightaway.  This god-like elixir is a perfect blend of sweetness and acidity and can only be described as the wine nectar of the Okanagan.

Frozen grapes for making Ice Wine, an Okanagan specialty.

Re-christened in 2010 as the Winter Wine Festival, this annual event is kicking off as we speak, with a week's worth of tastings, seminars, lectures and more tastings!

For example, on Jan. 22nd, enjoy  Cadbury Chocolate & Heavenly Wine $40
"From light chocolate to rich dark chocolate, there is always a perfect match for chocolate and wine to satisfy your palate."

Sun Peaks Resort is hosting this year and event is generously being promoted by Okanagan Wine Festivals.

Enjoy a wonderful marriage of culinary events, wine tastings, educational seminars, and some of the best skiing and snowboarding anywhere in the world.

For more information click on Okanagan Food And Wine .

Grapes for delicious Okanagan Ice Wine.

Harvesting for ice wine in the Okanagan.

Read more about this year's ice wine harvest in British Columbia on Wines and Vines.

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Vancouver's Main East Meets West Event

Main Street, Vancouver, East Meets West

Read More on Local Food And Wine
Beginning January 18th and stretching all the way to the 24th, restaurants that line Vancouver’s Main Street are hosting the city’s The Main Event: East Meets West.  Diners can feast on prix fixe tasting menus of $25, $35 and $45 at participating restaurants.  Food donations benefitting The Greater Vancouver Food Bank will be accepted at these fine dining establishments.

Hot and tasty!

KICK OFF PARTY: Monday, January 18th from 8 ’til late at The Biltmore Cabaret. Entry is by donation and proceeds are for The Greater Vancouver Food Bank.
8 – 10pm: Free Appetizers | $4 drinks | Door Prizes | Silent Auction | DJs featuring Analog Bell Service and DJs Luke Kyd and Elan.
Restaurants have pledged to donate a percentage of their food receipts from theweek long event to The Greater Vancouver Food Bank.
For more information email: info@themaineventvancouver.com
With over 20 fine restaurants participating, you’ll have plenty to choose from the whole week long.

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The Edible Schoolyard

The Edible Schoolyard

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The Edible Schoolyard (ESY) is a program of the Chez Panisse Foundation.  At ESY, students participate in all aspects of growing, harvesting, and preparing nutritious, seasonal produce.

The Edible Schoolyard, started by the Chez Panisse Foundation.

Students get hands-on experience in the kitchen as well as the garden and all lessons are fully integrated into their class curriculum. Kids learn an appreciation of the natural world and what sustains us as well as using skills such as reading, math, coordinated cooperation, accurate measuring and workspace cleanliness.
The Edible Schoolyard was started in 1995 at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California by Alice Waters of Chez Panisse fame. To date, the acre of land that is the Schoolyard Garden boasts, 15 years later,  lush seasonal vegetables, herbs, vines, berries, flowers, and fruit trees.

Some of the teachers blog on the ESY Journal. Here are some excerpts...

By Joyce Lin-Conrad | Published: January 8, 2010

Though it was hard for all of us to come back on Monday from a relaxing, two-week winter break, we had a new grade level waiting for us in the kitchen upon our return. 7th graders bring a different kind of energy to the classroom, and Esther and I can only marvel at how many inches they’ve all grown since the last school year. For their first class back, the students are making a black-eyed peas dish from Ghana that includes red onion, coconut milk, greens from the garden, and at least ten different spices...

By Shaina Robbins | Published: December 18, 2009

There is no snow on the ground in Berkeley around the winter holidays, but that does not mean that here at the Edible Schoolyard we don’t celebrate the changing of the seasons. This week we had our annual holiday wreath making party...When all the students arrived after school they were given a basket, and instructed to collect their materials. The choices were nicely scattered across our oversized picnic table beside the garden, and without any arranging, made a beautiful display...

By Benjamin Eichorn | Published: December 8, 2009

Last winter, in the Edible Schoolyard garden, the 6th and 7th grade students installed a rainwater catchment system that can hold up to 6,000 gallons of water. From October to May, which is our rainy season in Berkeley, we captured and stored over 5,000 gallons of water. Our students calculated that for every inch of rain that falls we will have 200 gallons of water.
The rainwater we collect is used for irrigation purposes during the summer and fall. This process helps us lessen our dependence on municipal water sources and also decreases runoff into the San Fransisco Bay. Currently we are using the rainwater to irrigate our Oyster Mushrooms (the mushrooms have their own story that must be told, but that will have to wait until the next entry). They are fragile and prefer non-chlorinated water, so the rainwater couldn’t be a better match...

Read the complete ESY Journal postings here: ESY Journal

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Frey Vineyards Biodynamic Vineyards And Sulfite-Free Wines

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Frey's Biodynamic Vineyards And Sulfite-Free Wines

Frey Vineyards is situated in the beautiful Redwood Valley in Mendocino County, California, and was actually the very first organic winery in the United States.

Mendocino's Frey Vineyard wines are sulfite-free and organic.

Paul and Beba Frey both grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and after they were married settled in Redwood Valley. They raised their twelve children with  love of the land and agriculture.

In the late 1960s the Freys planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Gray Riesling grapes on the ranch’s old pastureland, selling the fruit to nearby wineries.  Jonathan and Matthew Frey, two of the couple's sons,  realized the vineyards’ potential when a Cabernet Sauvignon made from Frey’s grapes won a gold medal for a Santa Cruz winery and established Frey Vineyards the following year. That was in 1980.

Frey Vineyards is a completely family owned and operated business. Seven of the twelve Frey children, along with some of their spouses, work full time at the winery. Sustainable practices have been the plan from the beginning; the family knew they were there to stay, wished to contribute to the overall ecological community instead of robbing from it, and wanted a legacy to pass on to their children.
Frey was the first maker of certified Biodynamic wines in the U.S.

Biodynamic: In harmony with nature.

Frey Vineyards, of Mendocino County, produces organic wines with no sulfites added that are also vegan and gluten-free. Their organic white wines are fined using only bentonite clay. The red wines are not fined. 

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Biodynamic farming nurtures and feeds the soil and recycles its nutrients.  Some examples of how this pertains specifically to wine-making:  all the  grape waste is composted and the resulting compost is used in the vineyards, fruits are harvested by hand, and synthetic preservatives are prohibited.

Frey Biodynamic® Winemaking

Biodynamic Winemaking & Terroir Authenticity

The most exciting aspect of Biodynamic winemaking for us is the prohibition of cultured yeast and malolactic bacteria.  This preserves and protects the terroir (the subtle flavors of the vineyard site and vintage).

Recently, on Jan. 9th, Frey Vineyards hosted a lecture put on by the Biodynamic Association of Northern California where the subject was The Cow Horn: Form and Function.  Sometimes biodynamic is referred to as a "cult" because of the devotion of its followers.  Here's how the lecture was described:

"This lecture traces the laws of form that underlie a horn’s structure, deepening our understanding of the choice of the cow horn for the 500 and 501 biodynamic preparations. By contrasting horn and antler formation as a polarity of skin and blood, and comparing protein structure to silica crystal formation, we will build a foundation for understanding the principles of capacitance and force amplification in the horn which make it the ideal sheath for the preparations."

Seriously, though!

And on January 8th they hosted another day long lecture series event put on by the Coros Institute that, "traced the activities of warmth, light, and rhythm in the life forms of the natural world. The intent is to form a picture of 'the etheric.'"

Interested? Read more here and also for a Calender of Biodynamic Events.

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Do The 100-Mile Diet

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Do The 100-Mile Diet

New Year's is a time of resolutions and most of us tell ourselves we'll go on a diet.
Well, here's a diet, the 100-Mile Diet, that's worth sticking to!

Locally harvested vegetables and produce.

First the Why's...

1. Taste the difference.

At a farmers’ market, most local produce has been picked inside of 24 hours.  Local foods can also be bred for taste, rather than for withstanding the abuse of shipping or industrial harvesting. 100-Mile Diet foods will be the best tasting foods you've ever had!

2. Know what you’re eating.

Buying food today is complicated. What pesticides were used? Is that corn genetically modified? Was that chicken free range or did it grow up in a box? People who eat locally find it easier to get answers. Many of us build relationships with farmers whom they trust.  When in doubt, you can drive out to the farm and see for yourself.

3. Meet your neighbors.

Local eating is social. Studies show that people shopping at farmers’ markets have 10 times more conversations than their counterparts at the supermarket. Join a community garden and you’ll actually meet the people you pass on the street.

4. Get in touch with the seasons.

When you eat locally, you eat what’s in season. You’ll remember that strawberries are the taste of summer. Even in winter, comfort foods like squash soup and pancakes just make sense–a lot more sense than flavorless fruit from the other side of the world.

5. Discover new flavors.

Ever tried sunchokes? How about purslane, quail eggs, yerba mora, or tayberries? These are just a few of the flavors you might get to sample over a year of local eating.  Even familiar foods will be more interesting. Count the types of pear on offer at your supermarket. Maybe three? Small farms are keeping alive nearly 300 other varieties–while more than 2,000 more have been lost in our rush to industrial agriculture.

6. Explore your home.

Visiting local farms is a way to be a tourist on your own home turf, with plenty of stops for snacks.

7. Save the world.

Studies have found that a regional diet consumed 17 times less oil and gas than a typical diet based on food shipped across the country. The ingredients for a typical British meal, sourced locally, traveled 66 times fewer “food miles.” Or we can just keep burning those fossil fuels and learn to live with global climate change, the fiercest hurricane seasons in history, wars over resources…

8. Support small farms.

We discovered that many people from all walks of life dream of working the land–maybe you do too? In areas with strong local markets, the family farm is reviving. That’s a whole lot better than the jobs at Wal-Mart and fast-food outlets that the globalized economy offers in North American towns.

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9. Give back to the local economy.

A British study tracked how much of the money spent at a local food business stayed in the local economy, and how many times it was reinvested. The total value was almost twice the contribution of a dollar spent at a supermarket chain and some accounting estimates it's actually much higher than that even.

10. Be healthy.

Will  the 100-Mile Diet work as a weight-loss program? Well, it depends on what you eat. More importantly, though, you'll feel better than ever. You'll eat more vegetables and fewer processed products, sample a wider variety of foods, and eat more fresh food at its nutritional peak. Eating from farmers’ markets and cooking from scratch will keep you entertained and engaged with your food, in a nutritious and tasty way.

11. Create memories.

A friend of ours has a theory that a night spent making jam–or pies–with friends will always be a better time than the latest Hollywood blockbuster. We feel it too.

12. Have more fun while traveling.

Once you’re addicted to local eating, you’ll want to explore it wherever you go. You may just find yourself picking organic grapes on a vineyard one day.

Now, For The How's...

1. Start small.

You can start with a single meal, a 100-Mile day, a one-week commitment. Most people partner up, or do the 100-Mile Diet as a family or group.

2. There are no rules.

Make your 100-Mile Diet experiment a challenge. If you’re trying it for a day, consider getting tough: every ingredient in every product has to come from within 100 miles.
Over a longer period, escape clauses are nice. Maybe the occasional restaurant meal or dinner at friends’ houses?

3. Surf the internet.

There are likely resources specific to your area, from lists of nearby organic farms to community kitchens where people get together to can foods. A great resource for Americans is Local Harvest, where you can find markets, local-food-friendly restaurants, farms, and food delivery programs for every region.

In Canada, the city of Richmond in B.C. is developing the Richmond Fruit Tree Sharing Project (RFTSP). Its aims are 1) to grow vegetables and distribute harvested, healthy produce to food banks and community organizations, 2) Use organic, sound environmental practices and unmechanical farming techniques 3) Connect surplus fruit and vegetables to volunteers who have time to harvest it and distribute it to food banks and community organizations.

Community Supported Agriculture, find a farmer in your area.

Folks in the UK can visit BigBarn.

4. Find your Farmers' Market

The easiest and most fun step toward eating locally. Make the market a weekly priority for your food shopping. Check out  13 Lucky Farmers Market Tips for more info.

5. Find your farmers.

Most larger cities and many smaller towns have organic food delivery companies, often with direct connections to local farms. Consider joining a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.

6. Start a garden — even a tiny one.

Self-sufficiency feels good, and greens up our cities and towns.  In a one-bedroom urban apartment you can grow vine beans, tomatoes and herbs in pots on your balcony. Is there a community garden,  run by a cooperative community group, in your neighborhood?

7. Plan a winter garden.

Winter is a tough time to find local produce. You might be surprised at what still can grow. Ask your gardening friends, garden shops, or read through regional seed catalogues.  Garlic, kale, mustard greens, turnips and cabbage grow throughout the winter. Spinach and Swiss chard are other good winter greens. Friends as far north as Whitehorse, Yukon, have extended the growing season with a backyard greenhouse.

8. Buy in bulk and preserve.

Buying bulk saves money. Throw a"preserving" party. With a few bottles of local wine and cider, even a small group can make quick work of canning jams, pickles, fruit and tomatoes.  Call up your elders before the knowledge is lost, try the local library, or go online with National Center for Home Food Preservation.

9. Join the movement.

Do the 100-Mile Diet, even if just for a day. Everyone, and every meal, counts. The diet is even better if your 100 miles includes a wine region!

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