Sometime during my college years, a teahouse called the Tao of Tea opened in Portland, OR. I often went there with friends during my holiday breaks and summer vacations. It was there that I was first introduced to the world of loose leaf tea (we were strictly a Lipton and Celestial Seasonings household during my childhood) and learned that there was more to tea than just black and herbal.

Recently, Matthew Amster-Burton rounded up eight of the best teahouses across the Pacific Northwest for Gourmet.com, and included my beloved Tao of Tea in his piece. He's put together a wonderful selection of spots between Portland, OR and Vancouver, B.C. If you're a tea lover who's planning a trip to that area of the country, this list is a must-read.

As you can see I've changed this week's "Midweek Meals" to "Weekend Meals." This recipe, while delicious, takes up a goodly amount of time and so after a long day, this isn't the quick meal to prepare for yourself. After acquiring "The Paley's Place Coobook," I was instantly drawn to this recipe and had to make it immediately. So that's what I did Sunday afternoon - all of Sunday afternoon.

After a hard week at work, I like to reward myself with a meal exactly like this one, hearty and unique. This recipe has become an absolute must - the pork shoulder is divine and the robust blend of cinnamon, ground fennel, allspice and ginger made this dish unlike anything I've ever tasted before. If fall could taste like something, it would taste like this dish.

Adapted from the cookbook: The Paley's Place Cookbook by Vitaly Paley and Kimberly Paley with Robert Reynolds

We've gotten the warnings about oysters from the Pacific Northwest, and we also know the old saying that we should only eat oysters in months that have the letter "R" in them (summer months), but thanks to FedEx, calendar be damned! Restaurants can ship oysters from colder climates to anywhere, even here, southern California. The Los Angeles Times' West magazine lists five places where you can kick back at the raw bar and enjoy the slippery little suckers.

• Ocean Avenue Seafood - 401 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 394-566, www.oceanave.com
• Brophy Bros. Restaurant and Clam Bar - 119 Harbor Way, Santa Barbara, (805) 966-4418, www.brophybros.com
• Bluewater Grill - 630 Lido Park Dr., Newport Beach, (949) 675-3474, www.bluewatergrill.com
• Kendall's Brasserie - 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 972-7322, http://www.musiccenter.org/restaurant.html#KENDALL'S%20BRASSERIE
• King's Fish House - 100 W. Broadway Ave., Long Beach, (562) 432-7463, www.kingsfishhouse.com

When I was in Seattle last weekend, I couldn't help but notice a popular (and clever!) bumper sticker all over the city: "Farm-Raised Salmon Dyed for You."

Meanwhile, an interesting article in the New York Times dropped some remarkable facts about recent trends in smoked salmon:

• Many -- nay, most -- major retailers on both coasts and in the Midwest (Wegmans and Costco included) buy their smoked salmon from one source: Brooklyn's Acme Smoked Fish.

• Whereas the industry shifted from nearly exclusive use of wild salmon in the 1980s to farm-raised salmon in the 1990s, recent bad press about farm-raised salmon -- like the aforementioned bumper sticker -- has caused the industry to swing back towards wild salmon.
• Smoked salmon has undergone a remarkable shift of late: unlike most everything else, smoked salmon is less salty than ever before. 

Still to be determined is how the Pacific Northwest wry bumper sticker industry will respond.

When my boyfriend said the Pacific Northwest was "cool," I thought he meant it was "cool" in the sense of "hip." I didn't realize he meant "cool" in the sense of "bone-chillingly cold."

It turns out that May in the Puget Sound is a lot like February here in Virginia. In other words, wintry.

I should explain. We were just at a wedding on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands of Washington State. After a day of cross-country flights, shuttles and rental cars, we then had to take a ferry for an hour-and-a-half from the mainland to Orcas itself.

I suppose that if you live in the Pacific Northwest, you understand the trade-off: beautiful landscapes for chilly weather.

Thankfully, for everybody else, there's Portofino Pizza in the village of Orcas. We ordered the Tuscany: gouda, garlic, fresh roma tomatoes and salami.

Maybe it was just my hypothermia talking, but I think it was one of the top ten pizzas I've ever had.

In any case, if you're on Orcas, get a pie at Portofino. Even if you're not freezing, you'll be glad you did.

From mid-May to mid-June, Pacific Northwesterners get to eat the famed Copper River salmon thanks to the millions of fish that spawn up the Copper River in south-central Alaska and the thousands of fishermen that catch them.

To be in Seattle right when Copper River salmon are in season is like visiting Pamplona right when the bulls are running, or showing up in Rio just in time for Carneval, or visiting France when there isn't a strike.

Connoisseurs of Copper River Salmon say that what distinguishes it from regular salmon is its rich, nutty flavor. But I think it has more to do with the fact that it is available for two months out of the year. It's like Beaujolais Nouveau --- if the wine world's answer to Kool-Aid were available year-round, probably no one would ever drink it.

Unavailability, after all, makes things taste good.

I'd like to confess some sins of the edible variety. 

I may be a slashfoodie, a gourmet wannabe, a woman whose credentials even include the word "chef" after "position" on her résumé. But still, when I'm hungry and busy and in the car for any reason, I'll stop at the burger joint more often than not.

At least it's Burgerville. The Pacific Northwest-based fast food chain is the slowest on the burgers-and-fries scale. They get their beef from Oregon-grown, free-range cows. They get their cheddar cheese from Tillamook. They use local tomatoes when they're in season, they only make onion rings a few months a year from Walla Walla sweets. Their salads feature Oregon hazelnuts and blue cheese and they even offer apple slices in their kids' meals.

It may be fast food, but I still feel a little bit good about it. Now if I could only figure out a justification for skipping breakfast...

[Photo Sarah Gilbert, Burgerville via my husband]