Border Patrol

Took some time recently to visit the 'other' Portland; East coast that is.  Actually I tooled around all over New England which is not the first time for me.  It's just been a long time since I'd been there.  I still love the accent, the diversity, and of course the food.  You can NOT go to that area and NOT have at least ONE lobster roll !! (see pic) Check that one off my list (twice).  Or not have a Modern Pastry cannoli---lines not as bad here as at their rival down the street--Mike's Pastry; lines out the door and down the block! Was it worth it? It was pretty damned good but this bakery had many equally decadent and gorgeous desserts.  I actually ordered their uber large 'white chocolate peanut butter cup'.  Yowza!! Decadent and sugar overload!  Next time I'll try Mike's, if I can get in, but there are only a few things I'll wait in that kind of line for!

Buck's Naked BBQ was a real tasty find---new since I'd been to Maine.  Good food, plenty of it, sauces of your choice and a lot of the food I grew up on---greens, okra, brussel sprouts, sweet potato pie, etc.  Somebody in that kitchen was 'puttin' their foot in that food!'  Worth a repeat trip.

Visited LOTS of historical sites and had fun playing 'tongue-in-cheek' with the ALMA FOODS products.

Great time seeing old friends and family and THAT was the best part of it all.  While I LOVE puttin' on the feedbag, reconnecting with special people is priceless!! Get out and see other areas, other cultures; life is about 'living'.

Classic New England Lobster Roll

Another Plum Dessert....

I teased you talking about plum desserts and since I was on a roll, I made a fruity, crispy Plum Crisp out of the rest of my plum bounty.  I just loooove fruit crisps---especially topped with some good quality vanilla ice cream!  Perfect for these hot summer days!

Dog days of summer.....

I cannot believe that we are coming into August already!  In spite of the heat, I must cook--albeit I try to do it uber early or uber late to outwit the heat!  Sometimes, though, you just gotta fire up the Viking and whip something up like recently when I had a batch of plums that were better for baking than eating...Never one to let food go to waste, I went the dessert route and whipped up this Plum Cornbread using some of our Camas Country Mill's 'Floriani Red Flint Cornmeal'.  Sensational !! I grew up on cornbread but my mother never took it in this direction.  She would get such a kick out of this sweet version because she always believed that dessert should be eaten first! Yummylicious!!

A Tasty Escape from the Heat!

Don't know about you but this record heat has been kicking my %$#^&!!  What better way to beat the heat than the Oregon coast?  Come, no run with me, to Florence this July 3, 5pm-8pm to the @All About Olives store in Old Town where I'll be whipping up some tasty sauces for bbq and for desserts using their incredible selection of oils and balsamic vinegars.  Free wine tasting and sweet/savory nibbles!  Ahhhhhhh.......

Demos out and about....

If you want to escape the heat this weekend, come nosh with me at the coast this Friday, June 5 from 5pm-7pm.  It's the First Friday Art Walk in Old Town Florence and I'll be cooking up some tasty chow at the Olive store using some of their amazing oils/vinegars paired with the ALMA Foods line.  Such a great selection of flavorful olive oils, balsamic vinegars, olives and other store merchandise!  Fun, fun, fun. ...

June 6th, this Saturday, my buddies at Long's Meats are having their weekly bbq in the parking lot; thought I'd mosey on over there and show how my rubs can infuse their meats with off-the-chart flavor in just a fraction of the time!!  Can you say FREE nibbles? (mine, not theirs!) Let your nose follow the smells--yummylicious! All day starting at 10am....

"Turkey" Napkin Fold

At a recent cocktail party, my friend was so inspired by our natural surroundings and the creatures milling about that she created these 'turkey' napkin folds as an homage to our feathered friends.  Now I know the wine was flowing but we saw it---don't you?  Check out the pic.

Priorities

It's very easy to lose oneself when one is a solo act and trying to create success.  I made the time to go to a networking event this morning and reconnected with a lot of business colleagues who are also friends.  Man, the energy, the love, the support was off-the-chart!  No amount of success can replace that kind of connecting so, periodically, I must remind myself to pull my head out of the sand and engage. Great meeting and a great way to go into the weekend!

Emergence

I have been null & void these past few weeks and for those who actually follow what I blog about (you know who you are--all 3 of you!), mea culpa for being out-of-the loop for so long.  This time of the year, and in particular, the month of April right before tax season is always a stressor for me as I'm always trying to meet the filing deadline!  Couple that with juggling the demands of two businesses, a house, a cat, various community commitments and well, you get the picture.  Can you say, "one hot mess?"  Going to share some pics and updates.  Good to be back.  Cocktails anyone?

New Territory

I have had the pleasure of meeting and hooking up with some of Lane County's passionate and hard-working food sources recently.  Always keeping my eyes and ears to the food buzz wherever I am so that I can indulge my passion for new tastes and offer my catering clients something else besides the usual 'buffet' fare.  Fisherman's Market and Friendly St. Market have jumped on board to share the ALMA FOODS product line with their customers and what a delicious pairing it is!  Both carry great products and a customer base that marry very well with the exotic, infused flavors the line offers.  Yes, demos are right around the corner so get out and taste their stuff and taste my stuff and let's just have a party in our mouths!

Embracing change...

You know the old adage, "Work smarter not harder"? From time to time, I have to stop and look at my business situation to make sure that adage is applying. When it isn't, embrace change and go forward. To that end, I have discovered that rather than spread myself all over the social media sites like warm butter, I'm going to continue blogging but only on my website. Everything you want or need to know about me (well NOT everything!) is here, all neatly tied up under one domain. Wanna keep following me? Come right here to: Almafoods.net/soiltosoulblog. Thanks for staying interested and thank you Tumblr for a bangin' site on which to share!