Time for an update, I think. The weather in Portland has been wet. Not wet like most years, but rainy almost every day until the last week or so. Wet as in we already had more rain by June 4 than we usually have in the entire month. Wet as in basil can’t survive but [...]

Categories: gardening, rant, urban farming
Tagged: gardening, rant, urban farming

One of the Ladies of Stumptown Savoury laid a larger than normal egg (on the left). She’s done this before. The egg is about twice the normal size, weighs about twice as much, and will have a double yolk. A three-egg omelet from two eggs–yet another reason to keep some chickens! Here’s a nice breakfast [...]

Categories: eggs, rant
Tagged: eggs, rant

Some of us don’t have room for a garden, but almost everyone has room for a container or two. I decided I should grow some things in containers to prove to myself that it’s worthwhile. I have three containers planted, and am already enjoying the results. A salad is a joyful thing, especially when it’s [...]

Categories: gardening, rant
Tagged: gardening, rant

As always on Memorial Day, I remember fallen friends and comrades, especially my best buddy, Brian John Bennett, who died saving his squad.

Categories: rant
Tagged: rant

After cracking open this first egg from The Ladies of Stumptown Savoury I am redefining “fresh” as it applies to eggs. Note how thick the inner white is, how the yolk is tall and well-defined. This egg was opened less than 2 hours after it was laid. (The Ladies were too busy to pose for [...]

Categories: eggs, rant, urban farming
Tagged: eggs, rant, urban farming

A former comrade-in-arms messaged me recently because his daughter had decided to go all organic and he wondered whether it was worth the extra cost. Good question. Let’s start with that extra cost issue, because it’s important. The first thing to understand is that growing things organically can be more expensive because there is more [...]

Categories: rant
Tagged: rant

I haven’t managed a new post for awhile so I thought I would share a few notes about what’s happening in my life at the moment. Maybe you’ll accept this as a valid excuse. I hope so. Firstly, my teaching load is heavier. Most weeks I’m teaching three classes and some weeks there are one [...]

Categories: rant
Tagged: rant

Today, live on pdx.fm at 4:00pm Pacific, listen to me chat with Devlyn and rant on savor portland. Or wait and download the podcast for free on iTunes. Either way, it’s something you won’t want to miss. Episode 9. Sure to be a classic.

Categories: rant
Tagged: rant

Over the past year I’ve seen a lot of posts about macarons filled with spectacular and stylish photographs and gushy praise for the cookies. I assumed that any cookie with stores dedicated to it and books written about it must be at least as special as the chocolate chip cookie, so I decided I, too, would take [...]

Categories: baking, dairy-free, dessert, gluten-free, rant, technique, vegetarian
Tagged: baking, cookies, dairy-free, dessert, gluten-free, mother recipe, rant, technique, vegetarian

I was out eating breakfast the other day and saw something important, I think. All around me were my fellow Americans, busily eating and reading newspapers or working on computers. Virtually everyone was alone, no matter how many people were sitting at the same table. They were all eating rapidly while doing some busy-ness necessary [...]

Categories: rant
Tagged: rant