Cascadia Food & Coffee - November 2013

Happy Thanksgiving! Of all the meals I had during my trip to the Pacific Northwest (aka Cascadia), Thanksgiving Dinner with the family had the best company of all. Plus, it is difficult to top homemade lefse and roasted turkey. And yes, that is real sunlight coming through the blinds. It is hard to believe, but Thanksgiving in Seattle was sunny. Really.

It may come as a surprise, but the residents of Cascadia love their coffee. Yes, they have Starbucks. A lot of Starbucks. But they also have wonderful places like Coava Coffee, Case Study Roasters, and Moore Coffee Shop. Nearly every cup of coffee was a treat, especially those tasty cappuccinos and lattes. Even Starbucks has to kick it up a notch. I guess when you only get sun once or twice a week, it helps to have a nice warm cup.

Various Pierogi from EuroDish with Sour Cream and Cucumbers

Georgian Food Sampler from Kargi Gogo - The Country not the State

Little Poutine from Sideshow Eatery

Portland has an amazing food truck/cart/pod scene. The main website Food Carts Portland maintains a listing of the various mobile food places in the city. Many of them occupy downtown parking lots, creating an outdoor food court with an amazing selection of options. I had Polish, Georgian, and Canadian food within a one block radius. Sure, they have all sorts of Thai and burgers, but who can pass up real Khachapuri?

Another great place is Olympic Provisions. This restaurant makes an amazing variety of salamis and other cured and prepared meats. During happy hour, they had the above special of pork rillette, pork shoulder cooked in its own fat, then potted with additional back fat, an amazing pork terrine, and a substantial portion of French-style salami. This was served with pickled beets, cauliflower, onions, and mustard. Not back for $7! Highly recommended, but not for anyone watching their fat intake.

I had to get a selfie in there at some point. There were a lot of people taking their picture at the Pike Place Market. Other than the famous fish market where they throw your order across the aisle and the original Starbucks, there are many other food options in the area. I had a very good chowder and Dungeness crab sandwich at Pike Place Chowder and some fresh cheese curds at Beecher's Handmade Cheese. It certainly brightened up the gray day.

The food in the Pacific Northwest reflects the natural bounty found in the region. Seafood is king, with lots of clam chowder, fish & chips, and crab everything. Many recent immigrants have brought their foods to an eager audience, but I still cannot find decent Mexican food! Please enjoy the rest of my culinary photos below:

Beers of Portland - November 2013

Portland, OR is a great town for many reasons, but I think it is one of the best beer towns in the world. For many reasons, there is a great beer culture in the city, and the numerous local breweries take pride in brewing up many versions of fermented barley. On my recent trip, I was able to drink a lot of them - using their excellent public transportation of course!

Laurelwood Brewing Company is one of my personal favorites. This brewery has a pungent hop odor when you walk in the door and resembles a ski lodge on the inside. This is fitting since most Portlanders look like they are heading to the slopes - even at midnight. They make all the standard brews, but they do each one very well. It is refreshing (pun intended) to sample so many good beers in one place. Their Happy Hour is pretty good, and there is no sales tax in Oregon!

This is not a picture of beer, but it was just too funny. The streetcars and light rail tracks are a potential hazard to the many bicyclists in Portland, so the city has warning signs posted to remind riders what happens to bike wheels in the train tracks.

It is also worth noting that my hotel during the trip - Marriott Residence Inn Portland Lloyd Center - had a very nice evening reception with complimentary local microbrews and appetizers. They are on the Airport-Downtown light rail and also have a free hot breakfast. Don't forget the beer!

This place is just amazing. The Cascade Brewing Barrel House produces many solid beers, but they shine at making sour beers with complex ingredients and magnificent flavors. A sour beer is simply a standard beer that was aged and re-fermented, typically in wine barrels, that acquires a sour taste that compliments the overall flavor of the beer. Imagine mixing beer and wine in a good way. This is simply a style of beer that is very rare, but done very well by these guys. Their Bourbonic Plague and Sang Noir are just beers that you want to keep in your mouth as the complex flavors rush over your tongue wave after wave. Oh yeah, this place is great.

The Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB) is another one of Portland's finest. I have been to most of the major places in Portland - many on a previous trip - but this is the first one to have bike frames hanging over the bar. This is another place that does beer right, but they also love to experiment with new ingredients. They use mainly organic ingredients, and have several unique brews including a 7-grain stout brewed with coffee and a white IPA made from wheat! They also sell their beer in cans, but it does not taste as good without bikes overhead.

The beer scene in Portland is very impressive, however Sacramento is quickly catching up. Our city reminds me a lot of Portland - we just have a little growing up to do. Fortunately, when beer cities compete, everyone wins! Enjoy the rest of my fermented pictures below:

Apple Hill - October 2013

If it's October in Sacramento, it's Apple Hill time. Fifty years ago, the apple growers in El Dorado County got together and created the agritourism spot known as Apple Hill to promote the fall harvest. Growers opened up their barns and sold their harvest, eventually expanding to include fresh baked pies, candies and fudge, and the holy grail of candy apples. Whether you prefer the gourmet caramel apple or the traditional toffee, they have something for everyone.

If you are looking for candy apples, one of the best places is Abel's Apple Acres. This place has perfected the candy apple, and now has specialty apples resembling witches, pumpkins, and even panda bears! Plus, their caramel is pretty darn good, so it makes for a great stop. They also have great activities for the kids and plenty of shopping for the adults.

If you are not satisfied with candy apples, apple pie, apple donuts, apple strudel, or even fresh apple cider, they still do sell the raw apples! Lots of them! You can find many varieties including wine sap, Arkansas Black, pink lady, and the traditional red and green ones too at Boa Vista Orchards. This year round orchard is massive, but still has that small feel. They bake a lot of pastry; they press a lot of cider; they sell tons of fresh picked apples.

You have to work hard to NOT have a good time at Apple Hill. OK, the October traffic is pretty crazy, and the dust can be a little rough on the car's paint job. Nevertheless, it is always a good idea to get out of the city and see where our food is grown. The farmers in El Dorado County do a great job and are very welcoming and happy to see us. Even though October is best, the rest of the year is also nice - especially when it gets a little colder and a lot less busy. They have wine too... Enjoy the pictures below!

SMUD Solano Wind Project Tour - October 2013

I had the opportunity to tour the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) Solano Wind Project near Rio Vista, CA. SMUD is the local electric utility serving most of Sacramento County, including my house. The utility owns 230 MW of clean wind power that provides enough electricity to power almost 80,000 homes.

Above is a video I shot of the wind farm and one of the windmills on the tour. Each windmill is over 400 feet tall and spins much slower than those found over the Altamont and Tehachapi passes. This reduces the number of birds killed by the blades (already very low) and is much more efficient. Electricity generated by these windmills is competitive with natural gas which is the main source of electricity for California.

One benefit of wind power is that the land under the turbines can still be used for agricultural purposes. An interesting fact about modern windmills is that the blades can rotate to extract more or less power from the wind as speeds increase. That is why they always spin at a standard rate even when the winds are very high. These turbines can produce power in speeds up to 55 MPH and are already reducing the carbon emissions from our power grid.

Yes, I could not resist the obvious selfie on the tour. Even though California does not have the massive wind resources of other states, our state still leads the way in deploying wind technology and benefits from the cost stability of renewable power plants. Plus, they are a lot prettier than a dirty coal smokestack! Please enjoy the rest of my pictures below.

Mercer Caverns, Murphys, CA - October 2013

I was fortunate to serve as a groomsman for one of my good friends at his wedding in Murphys, CA. I previously blogged about the town here. The wedding was a success and a great time, but I was able to sneak away for some wine tasting and a little caving at Mercer Caverns. The caves are a quick drive north of downtown Murphys.

The caves were discovered by Walter Mercer in 1885 and were named after him, of course! He was looking for gold, but found a much more profitable business in selling tours of his cave to miners for a pinch of gold dust. Before electric light, the tourists would hold candles on boards in their mouth to light the way. The above picture shows aragonite crystals on the cavern walls that were made famous when presented at the 1900 Paris World Fair.

This cave is a bit more rustic and cramped than the other caves in the Sierra Foothills, but it makes for a different tour. You feel much more like an explorer dodging rocks and squeezing through tight spaces. The tour is pretty short, but it is full of all sorts of cave bacon, popcorn, and ice cream. I guess the early cavers always were hungry thinking about food. Enjoy the rest of the pictures below.