When cherry season arrives, I go a little crazy. I have been known to eat a pound or two and call it a meal. I just got an email last night from one of my favorite u-pick farmers in New Jersey saying that their cherries are ripe and the blueberries are coming in.

This image from Mike (who lives in my hometown of Portland, OR. Woo hoo!). It makes me hungry just looking at it and now I think I have to find some time this weekend to go get myself some cherries. Thanks Mike, for adding your picture to the Slashfood Flickr pool.

It's a good weekend for attending a food festival if you:

a) are a hipster of the American Northwest
b) love wine
c) have never attended a crawfish boil
d) are hungry

If you, like me, find yourself nodding emphatically at these criteria, read on! This weekend offers food festivals sprinkled across the country, promising some of the most interesting and delicious foods I've seen in a while.

• He thought he was heading towards Alice Waters' landmark restaurant, Chez Panisse, but instead Chef Marco Shaw of NE Portland's Fife Restaurant found himself captured by the relative ease and peace of Portland (not to mention a thriving restaurant scene).
• Rianne Buis lived in Portland for several years and found herself deeply addicted to the Irish Soda Bread from Grand Central Bakery. A move to Seattle left her without a soda bread source and so she determined to recreate Grand Central's version in her own kitchen.
• How best to use herbs in your cooking and keep them fresh in between uses.
  
• In the Mix offers info on local fundraiser, Take Back the Tap, on whether parenting styles can raise a child's risk of being obese and rounds up some happy hour deals.
  
• What could be better than using up your St. Paddy's Day leftovers in a corned beef quesadilla.
  
• Latkes are yummy but all the potato grating can cause bodily harm. Using spaghetti squash in place of the spuds saves your knuckles as well as your waistline.

I picked up this magazine-style cookbook when I was in Portland, during my bi-yearly visit to the bins (the as-is Goodwill Outlet in SE Portland that sells nearly everything by the pound) for $.50 (the books are just about the only things that don't go by the pound). My edition of the The American Homes: Meals in Minutes was printed in 1964, by the publishers of The American Home magazine (which was headquartered in a building 13 blocks from my apartment here in Philly).

The thing that's fun about this cookbook is that it is a snapshot of a time in American cooking that has since past. I contains recipes for things like "Make-Ahead Frankfurter Casserole" and "Tongue Noodle Supreme." However, tucked among the kitschy and slightly revolting are some really useful and tasty-sounding recipes, including a well-explained and fairly authentic version of Osso Buco. Another useful element of this book is that it prints calories and information about the vitamins contained in each dish under the recipe. I'm fairly certain that they were probably one of the first to be publishing that sort of data back in those days.

Scattered among the recipes are also a variety of tips and tricks for making food look more lovely and for getting the most out of your leftovers. I'm a particular fan of the tip on page 60 that suggests a good way to heat up leftover rice, spaghetti or veggies. They say that you should place the food on a piece of aluminum foil and then cup the foil up around the food, making sure to leave the top open. Then place it in a saucepan with a small amount of boiling water in it and steam for ten minutes or so, until the food is well-heated. Not a bad tip for these days, especially if you are trying to reduce your dependence on the microwave.

When I was at the farmers market on Saturday with Sarah, I picked up a couple pounds of gorgeous-looking beets, without much of a plan other than they called out to me. Yesterday afternoon around 3 pm, they started to talk to me from the vegetable drawer and so I put a pot of water on the stove to boil them up. I had picked up a package of chevre at Trader Joe's and I started to imagine a beet and goat cheese salad with red onion, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

While I was in the middle of making some relatives showed up and my cooked beets spent about an hour gently cooling in their skins on the kitchen counter. When I finally got back to them, they slipped out of their skins easily. I cut them into half moons, tossed them with some great olive oil that somehow wandered into my parents' kitchen, the crumbled chevre, some slivered and soaked (in attempt to make them a little less pungent) red onion, a little balsamic, a bit of cracked black pepper and some salt.

I had intended to top it with some toasted walnuts, but people came in and started eating it before I got to that step. Instead I just cut off a hunk of sourdough from a loaf I bought at New Seasons earlier in the day and scooped up a plate of beet salad for myself. They were some of the best beets I'd ever had, sweet and earthy and so tender. If you have some beets laying around, this is a great way to make them appeal to a large swath of people, as no one who has passed through the house yet has been able to say no to it.

Saturday morning I met up with sometimes Slashfooder Sarah Gilbert and her youngest son at the Portland Farmers Market. It was cold and rainy (normal for this time of year in Portland) but that didn't stop us from first taking a loop of the whole market to see what was being offered before starting to buy in earnest. It was the first time I've been to this market and I was totally awed by what I found. I thought that we were doing pretty well in Philly with our Headhouse Square Market, but Portland had put us totally to shame.

I tried to be restrained in my buying, knowing that my mom had already the bulk of the holiday food shopping and I won't have that many opportunities to cook before I head back to Philly on the 29th, but I still managed to fill the reusable bag I brought with me and spend around $20 on some of the most gorgeous produce I've seen in a while. I was particularly taken by the mountain of turnips you see above. There was something about the freshness and sheer abundance that seemed to embody the best qualities of a farmers market.

Sadly, it was the last Saturday for the Portland market until spring. Thankfully, it will be open again when I get out this way again during the summer. I can't wait!

I turned my browser to the New York Times Dining and Wine section yesterday morning and was startled to discover that the headlining story was about the burgeoning restaurant movement in my very hometown of Portland, OR. As I began to read, I was totally delighted to discover that the very first restaurateur they mentioned and then quoted was none other than my cousin, Andy Ricker. Forgive me the familial pride, but I'm bubbling over with excitement that what started as just a little Thai take-out shack in SE Portland has become enough of a city institution to merit a mention in country's newspaper of record.

Oh, and if you happen to get an opportunity to go to Pok Pok, make sure to have the fish sauce glazed wings. It's been nearly ten months since I had my last taste and I still dream about them.

Photo link

The newest issue of Cooking Light, which is their 20th anniversary issue, has the magazine's choices for the top 20 cities in the US, based on 15 criteria that they feel embody their "Eat Smart, Be Fit, and Live Well" philosophy. They looked at fitness, health and exercise data from the Centers for Disease Control, the number of parks and recreation areas (and how often they're used) from the Trust for Public Land, restaurant ratings from the Zagat Survey and James Beard Foundation, and the USDA's farmers markets listings. Everything was evened out on a per capita basis and the cities with the most of everything made the top cut.

One of the top ten cities will be featured each month in the magazine this year, so readers will have access to information about all the things that got the city their ranking.

1. Seattle, WA
2. Portland, Ore.
3. Washington, D.C.
4. Minneapolis, MN
5. San Francisco, CA
6. Boston, MA
7. Denver, CO
8. Milwaukee, WI
9. Philadelphia, PA
10. Tucson, AZ

Would you say that you love donuts? Even if your answer is "yes" and the employees at your local Dunkin' Donuts have your order ready and waiting for you every morning, you probably don't come close to the donut-love of Blognut. Not only does he blog about doughnuts, but actually took a trip across the country, from New York to Portland, OR, to get his wedding vows (with his wife, not a donut) renewed at Voodoo Doughnuts, one of the best donut shops in the country. And not only did he trek out to Voodoo, he blogged the whole experience - including what seems to be every donut on their menu. He and his wife visited Voodoo at least 5 times in one weekend, including stopping in three separate times on their last day in the Pacific Northwest. Multiple donuts were consumed each day.

The trip is blogged in five parts (part one, part two, part three, part four, part five) and is a must-read for any donut lover. Or if you just want to see some really great pics of some really unusual donuts (like the giant cat-donut above).

A fabulous service offered in the metro areas of both Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA, is called Organics to You. The food service began in 2001 in Portland, but due to the high demand of quality fruits and vegetables and the competitive prices of the merchandise, it quickly expanded North to Vancouver. Organics to You uses local farmers who are dedicated to growing food in the nurturing environment of chemical and pesticide free soils. Not only is the company committed to pure foods, it is also devoted to the environment and local communities in numerous ways. The trucks used for deliveries are currently being converted to bio-diesel engines, incentives are offered to members who also convert to green power for their own transportation. Local schools benefit from donations of the organic fruits and vegetables, as well as community fundraising and social events.

The service is user friendly and easy to begin. By signing up on-line a customer can choose from various bin sizes that suit their needs. Bins range in prices from $23 to $52 depending on individual needs. The company provides the bin and delivers it each week straight from the farm. Contents can be customized for specific tastes and the size can change depending upon customer request. A small variety of other organic items, such as milk, eggs and cheese, can be delivered as well. This is a wonderful way for customers to enjoy clean food while the farmers benefit from working with a small company that is interested in encouraging a healthy lifestyle.

Yesterday I picked "Ethiopia Sidamo" from the thermal pot at my fave local coffee shop, on a whim. I almost never go with the boring, ordinary Colombian house blend. Sometimes I'm wowed by my alternative selection, other times it's just coffee.

Color me wowed. I can't get enough of this stuff. It tastes like berries. No lie. And I'm sure you're thinking, coffee that tastes like berries? I totally passed that raspberry-flavored stuff up in the coffee aisle at my grocery store. But this is more a terroir thing (do they call it terroir in coffee?). The coffee beans, they're not that different from grapes, after all. Roasting brings out these amazingly complex and, yes, fruity flavors. According to the roaster, Stumptown Coffee, "The cup is Neopolitan ice cream... Intense chocolate, strawberry and creamy vanilla flavors in every sip." Plus it's organic and fair-trade and ohmigod I am so in love with this coffee. I wish I could give you a taste, you'd never be the same.

I'm not what you would call a sushi purist, but I really hate "California rolls" and other constructs meant to make sushi palatable to picky eaters and those fearful of raw fish. My favorite rolls include spicy tuna, barbecued eel, or soft-shelled crab, and I have a guilty love of that spicy mayonnaise served with some tempura rolls.

But when I visited a little sushi joint in downtown Portland at the insistence of my three-year-old son (he loves "slushli" and has been eating barbecued eel since before he was one), I almost didn't order the peanut sauce roll. But it had everything I love in one roll - spicy tuna, avocado, cucumber, tempura shrimp. And Thai-flavored peanut sauce. Why not?

I tried it, and though I felt a little silly, I loved it. It's terribly frou-frou and not "real" sushi. But it's good. I don't know - it works for me. Would you order such a silly piece of sushi?

[Photo Sarah Gilbert]

I ate my Danish for D-day but didn't get a chance to write about it. Now, I do.

This Danish is... literally... six inches across. It's the most decadent thing for breakfast within a good 17-mile radius, scented with cinnamon and butter, dotted with crumb topping crumbles, sparkling with icing and swirled with raspberry jam. These delectable pastries, in a variety of flavors and many studded with whole blueberries or sliced local peaches, are baked fresh every day by Bowers Bakery in Portland. Just wait until you see the height of this ultra-yummy pastry.

I didn't really believe it, at first. A vegan cupcake? Yet there they were, almost glistening in the rainy late morning light. If any place is going to have a delicious vegan cupcake, I suppose, it would be here, in Portland, Oregon, at this strangely gourmet cafeteria where everything is vegan. The space used to be a the lobby of a grand downtown hotel, but now it's Veganopolis. I've tasted their almond pate, and it was wonderful, so I dared to try the cupcake.

And, yes, it was lovely. I picked the cranberry orange variety 'cause the waitress got teary-eyed in her description. It was fruity, it was pleasingly sweet, the frosting (most importantly) tasted just like buttercream. I still haven't had a chance to call and ask what was in it - silken tofu, maybe, or (yikes) shortening perhaps. Either way, the huge mound of frosting was even more than I dreamed. Too much more, in fact; it was so rich I couldn't finish.

[Photo Sarah Gilbert]

There is not a decent bagel to be had in all of Portland, Ore. Yeah, that's right, I said it. I lived two blocks from a bagel shop and in the year and a half that I lived there, I went there once, and once only. They were ter.ri.ble. If it's not boiled, it's not a bagel. (Sorry Noah's.) I like dense, chewy bagels, not fluffy, cakey bagels. I know there are those that will say that there are no decent bagels to be had outside of  New York. If you live there, and eat bagels there, lucky you! (Try not to rub it in too much.)

Now that we are back in San Francisco, I woke up early this morning and headed to one of my favorite bagel places, House of Bagels on Geary. I bought a baker's dozen of assorted bagels for $6.75 and loaded up on whitefish salad (my fave), chopped liver with hard-boiled eggs, locally-made cream cheese, and lox. Then, I came home, made a pot of dark-roasted, Caffé Trieste coffee (San Francisco's own), and invited some friends over. One particularly great friend had the forethought to stop for champagne and O.J. along the way. A bagel and a mimosa later, we headed out for a walk.  Finally, a decent bagel. What a perfect way to start a sunny Sunday.