Things I've Done in the Summertime or, What Happened to the Melba Toast?

So hot.  So sweaty.  So love.

I just got back from a vacation to home, to home.  To my mother's house.

I was tooootally gonna blog while I was there.  Totally was.

Now I'm back in Oregon with just bits and pieces of a beautiful trip on my camera.  Places I went, things I did.

Things I made and things I ate with my family and my friends.

Sometimes we just stayed home, in the house I grew up in.

A meat plate with lamb ham.  Part of a 14 course dinner I threw for friends.

I was totally going to blog that.

Some kind of racoon attack, maybe?

One hard, one soft, and one blue.  Those are the rules.

Cloudy meringues that were later filled with peaches and cream.

I was super going to take a picture of that.

A cold beet soup with yogurt and pumpkin seeds.

This is the sort of classy crowd I hang around with.  And that is a homemade ginger ale taking center stage.

Happy 4th, happy friends, happy heat, happy summer!

King Estate Winery

The summer is upon me.

I cannot cook.  I can only travel to places and have others cook for me.

Behold!  The King Estate Winery.

Nestled in the Oregon hills, overlooking miles of quiet farmland.  The only thing we could hear looking out was the swish of the wind.

Lavender to attract bees.  Bees to make grapes.  Grapes to make...well, you get it.

Bzz bzz.  Lean in for the lovely smell but don't snuff up a bee!

The sky was perfectly cloudless.  The sun was bright, fine and hot.

Bushy grapevines growing little bebe fruits.

Smell of hay and green things and lavender.

You can only play soccer at wineries.  Other sports are BANNED.

There's something romantic here...

The bloom is off the rose and on my baby's head.

Oak casks from France.  I guess French oak makes the best casks.

Rooms for chilling, swirling, and fermenting.

A large cooling tank - did you know wine heats up as it ferments?  I didn't.

Now the best part - lunch!  Truffle fries.

The menu changes frequently, we ordered a house-cured charcuterie plate.

Gorgonzola, dry salami, with crudites, crackers and mustard.

This was my favorite combination - gorgonzola and candied apricot on a seeded cracker.

Goodbye, beautiful sun-kissed winery!  I'll see you in my dreams!

Silver Falls State Park and a Big Fat Hamburger

The goal this summer is to camp.  A lot.  Every other week (if we can pull it off)!

Last week we went to Silver Falls State Park.  I'm finding that State Parks are often hidden little gems.  Far less traffic than a national park, and every bit as beautiful.  

If somewhat less grand.  Which can be a good thing, you know?

Notice the artfully graffiti'd 'uh oh' at the top

Silver Falls is a beautiful park with ten plus waterfalls all accessible via short hikes.

There was a paved swimming spot for kids, a well-equipped campground (flushers, is what I'm talking about here) and a playground here and there.

Very family friendly.  Which means a lot these days.

Not badly equipped for food either!  Well, ok this didn't come from the park itself but from the small but scrappy town of Strayton, Oregon.

Just outside the town.

We visited Kelly at her cafe twice - once going into the park, and once leaving it.

A lot of beef was eaten.

Worth it.

Within the park it was salmonberry season.

Sometimes I think if I had to choose a place to go wild (like Thoreau/Cheryl Strayed/My Side of the Mountain Wild), it would have to be the northwest.

Berries berries everywhere and all of them to eat!

The flowers (unfortunately not pictured here) are this bizarre fuschia color.  

I wish I'd brought a container, get me some salmonberries for salmonberry jam.

The taste starts sweet and then goes tart.  The color is orange as can be.

Meanwhile, on the forest floor...

Silver Falls = enthusiastically recommended!  Something for everyone, and salmonberries* all over the place.

*Presence of salmonberries not guaranteed after next week

Pumpkin Patch 2014

I am lucky to live in a place with so many farms.

There is a wide variety here; some cater very strongly to agritourists (that's a real word!) with playgrounds and animal activities and well-organized U-pick seasons.

Others are clearly more interested in the actual business of growing and selling food, with haybales rather than play structures and open pens of questionably friendly goats instead of well-stocked petting zoos.

View from the carrier.  I know it's blurry but look at that face.

Some are good for apples, some for strawberries.  Some grow the most beautiful flowers and others sell grass-fed beef and locally-milled wheat.  One grumpy old man won't open his storefront to save his life but if you ask he'll pit your cherries for you.  I don't choose which ones to go to over others because, why?

Where did Gray learn that this is what a smile looks like?

 I go to all of them.

Oh right

My favorites happen to be a pair that are within close range of each other, Lone Pine Farm and Thistledown Farm.  Lone Pine is an agritourist joint and it does its business well.

Their Halloween festivities are particularly well-done, with hayrides and corn mazes and caramel apples and a haybale maze for the kiddies.

This is the kiddie pumpkin patch.  The bigger one was squashy with mud and vines and overgrown with mammoth dying sunflowers that bent over like they were trying to get a better look at you.  I was good with the pumpkins-on-the-lawn type of patch.

Thistledown is a bit more down to earth, but they're flush with homegrown food and they'll take you on a hayride if you ask.  Also they have a corn maze from which you may never emerge.

 Halloween is more fun with kids.

Food is more fun with farms.