New Building!

We just purchased a building downtown Creswell to house my catering company! Finally a kitchen to call my own and a space to actually use all that commercial equipment – which right now is being used as very expensive dish racks!

More to come, I’ll keep you up to date the renovation of the old building and more about what our future plans are for the building/catering company venue.

New Equipment

Finally! The equipment for my new catering kitchen was delivered. It’s been months of back and forth, deciding which building to put it into. To have a restaurant or not, to go downtown Creswell or not, to be on the farm or not…? Well the farm won.

We’ll be starting the construction on a new building that will house the kitchen very shortly…hopefully. Until that time I guess I just have to go out to the barn and drool over the brand new equipment I can’t really use yet. Although, I may plug in the refrigerator and freezer just for the hell of it!

Morning Calm

Sitting on the couch, 6:27am. I’ve been awake now for over an hour, my mind racing. I’ve been doing work, reading blog posts and getting up to date on my food news stories. Pandora is playing my “George Winston” station in my pink earbuds, green tea brewing in the cup beside me. It was just now that I realized the sun is coming out. With its light flooding the room, peaking around tree limbs and casting it’s rays on the side of the hill.

Recently I was reminded of all the old posts on this blog which caused me to go back through and read over again what I had written while living in Indiana. This moment right now is so familiar to me from that time I was in Indiana. Getting up early in the morning to get what little time I could for myself. I would always turn George Winston, brew my first cup of coffee (first of many throughout the day) and sit and write blog posts or dream of being back in Oregon. If I close my eyes right now I could be there, that thought alone makes me shudder.

As I said before in one of my reflective moments flying to NY from Indiana, “life is for watching sunrises and climbing mountains…”. I was only in Indiana for a brief moment but it was long enough. I realized quickly there in that time (luckily) that I wanted to watch sunrises and climb mountains. If I had stayed like I should it would be coming up on one year. I sat in bed last night as I realized that… Wow. How messed up would I be right now? Would I have totally lost it by now? Would I be so out of sync with my thoughts and myself that coming back here to this quiet and peaceful life would be a scary thing?

I remember being on the drive back home wondering if I would ever be able to get back to my old mind set. I wondered if I would ever be able to back to the state of peace and calmness that I had worked so hard to be at before I ever went to Indiana. Well it was this morning that I realized I have. I’ve been back in my calm state for quite sometime now but just now fully realized it.

Sun light peering on the deck where our container garden sits, George Winston playing, my morning cup(s) of green tea (I stopped drinking coffee awhile ago). I’m so glad I saw through that life in Indiana. It really took a lot of guts to go to that place and leave so quickly. Always make sure you’re happy in life. It really is short. You hear that all the time from people but until you do it for yourself you’ll never quite understand why it’s so important.

This year my younger cousin, 18, lost his two-year battle with cancer. That alone is a very powerful motivator to live life, not stress the small stuff and to take time to appreciate beautiful moments like this right now this morning. This is what life is about. It’s not about a job, a house, a fancy car or money. It’s about appreciating what’s around you. What you have, not what you don’t have. That is why Tim and I are moving down to the family farm, building a yurt and we’re gonna raise some food. Live a simple, small, peaceful life.

You hate your job? Think about why you have that job. Is it to pay for your new car, new fangled-latest-greatest cell phone-a-ma-jig, big screen TV, new clothes, fancy-lavish vacations? Get a smaller car (you’ll get better gas mileage too, a double bonus!). And all those other things? They are just a result of your stressful job and they are adding to your stress. Think about it. You wouldn’t need a vacation if your life was free of stress. And, you wouldn’t need the stressful, high-paying job if you didn’t need all those excess things. That’s all they are. Just things. Things that don’t go with you when you die. Things that cost money and stress you out.

Be happy. Everyday. Really, do it. If you’re waking up and dreading work, dreading life. Change. Each day could be your last. Live. Turn off the TV, go for a walk. Take time to enjoy the real beautiful things around you, they don’t cost any money.

Carlton Winemakers Studio, June 11th

This was the second time this year that I have been the guest chef at the Carlton Winemakers Studio in Carlton, OR the winery I was paired this time was Bryce Vineyard. Bryce Vineyard is a small vineyard located in the Ribbon Ridge AVA, in the town of Newberg in the Oregon Willamette Valley wine region. Marcia makes a wonderful Pinot Noir, she focuses all her attention on one grape and makes just one wine per year making her wine a very special, limited wine to be able to enjoy.

Marcia’s 2006 Pinot Noir, which is what we had for the dinner, has a wonderful flavor profile that includes notes of cherries and chocolate. Great. Delicious. Tasty wine. Marcia has just 4 acres of grapes planted and chooses to err on the side of producing less than the Oregon average/acre to preserve quality. She lovingly takes the wines from the field to the pressing room at Carlton Winemakers Studio and ends up with a great Pinot, one that sells out very quickly due to the short supply that she makes each year. I was very lucky to get to work with Marcia and her 2006 Pinot!

Because she only produces one wine we ended up using it to pair the main course and the dessert – a tricky feat – pairing with savory and quickly followed by sweet. For the first course we chose to use the Viognier from fellow winemaker, Patrick Reuter of Dominio IV. He just released this wine in the end of April and what a wonderful wine!

Before I could write the menu for this dinner I had to go and taste Marcia’s and Patrick’s wines since they had both just recently been release and I had not gotten a chance prior. In order to do that I had to make a trip up the Carlton for their annual Memorial Day tasting. The event brought all the winemakers at the Studio, all together there were 48 different wines to taste…not a bad day on the job at Heidi Tunnell Catering Company! And, one great benefit to being a chef at the Studio – we all got into the event for free (entry fee was $20-30/person).

We got the chance to meet all the winemakers and taste *almost* all the wines (think we came pretty close to trying all 48)! I got the chance to talk to some of the winemakers about coming down and being the showcased winery at our Barn Dinners (more on these in another post). It was a very cool experience, getting a chance to really connect with each winemaker there at the event. Just some of the winemakers interested in making the trip down and be showcased at the dinners include: J.Daan, Boedecker, Dominio IV. So exciting!

Back to the menu. So after tasting Marcia’s Pinot and Patrick’s Viognier this is the menu I came up with:

FIRST COURSE
Grilled Asparagus
Paprika Oil, Fleur de Sel, Pecorino

MAIN COURSE
Tuscan Chicken al Mattone
Potatoes, Greens, Grilled Lemon, Olive Persilliade

DESSERT
Goat Cheesecake
Strawberries, Hazelnuts

The menu went over really well. The dinner was oversold! And, everyone seemed to appreciate pairing the Pinot with the main course and then the dessert.

A little detail about the menu:
- Chicken was marinated with paprika, garlic, rosemary, thyme, red wine vinegar. Then, cooked under a brick on the grill at the Studio for a crispy, delicious skin.
- Potatoes were roasted with Red Pepper Flakes, Paprika, Fennel Seed, Thyme, Garlic and sauteed at the event with lemon juice and parsley.
- Cheesecake was made with hazelnuts in the crust, fresh strawberries picked just the day before and first of the season!

South Dakota IS fun!

The next day I found myself actually in awe in South Dakota. Who would’ve known. Well, I’m sure lots of people knew of South Dakota’s beauty, but not me. We made it to the South-Western corner of SD were we went into the Badlands. AWESOME!

On our way to the Badlands, across the state it was so windy it was rocking the car all over the freeway. We stopped one time at an overlook and our jackets were flying off. Wasn’t really a good day for the gas mileage but it was still really cool.

Along the way there were so many tourist stops, but none were open. We followed signs once to a “Ghost Town” and it turned out to be really just that. There was not a soul there, I can’t really convey how quiet and strange it felt there.

Once we reached the Badlands it was time for a break from driving. And man, the badlands were so impressive! They made us both stand in awe overlooking the first point. We were both so excited about them we stopped at each turn out, took lots of pictures and felt like little kids excited about the new discovery. Tim was really in heaven, he was so happy it was cute.

Standing out on ledges taking pictures, walking out on the rocks, looking at fossils, listening to prairie dogs talk, and getting cold in the high, whipping winds. It was so cool and really made me get excited to get back home to go hiking and exploring! As I drove through Tim took so many pictures that we laughed he would fill my whole card up with pictures of rocks!

After hours spent in the badlands we decided that we headed to Wall, SD. People told us that is was really cheezy but we were so close we couldn’t not stop at Wall Drug! We walked through, took some pictures, bought some cheezy gifts, and had a good time. But, yes, it was pretty cheezy. Word to the wise, don’t ever go to the restaurant across the street, it was awful!

Next we drove out to Mount Rushmore, figuring we would just drive there and stay somewhere near there that night. As we pulled into the town of Keystone it was just dusk, got to the monument and it was dark. But we were there and decided to go anyway. We ran in the freezing cold to the lookout point just as they turned the lights on, it was us and just two other people. Freezing we took the picture and raced back to the warmth of the car!

Driving down the hill and back into the town we realize that nothing is open! The town is in the off season and there isn’t one place to stay! So, we decide to push on to Deadwood… It was just another 20 miles away.

Once we reached Deadwood we hit snow! Yeah, the first snow of the trip!! It was so pretty. We quickly found a hotel so that we could get out of the car and see the snow. Ending up at a pretty cool casino, Deadwood was so cool. It was just what I always expected it to be, felt like an old time town. That night we ended up in a pretty old building on the top floor in a little restaurant. It felt so nice to relax and eat food, after the night before of gas station food!

Able to just stumble back to the hotel room we decided to have a couple bottles of wine, walk the streets of Deadwood and enjoy the snow. It felt good to just slow down. All this after just weeks prior working myself to the bone. It was becoming apparent to me I was returning to my old self… Finally.

Back at the hotel we went down to the pool and hot tub and just swam around like little kids. Fun.

The World’s Largest Ball of Twine!! Oh yeah!

So the next day we found ourselves driving right through the town in Minnesota with the WORLDS LARGEST BALL OF TWINE! Yeah! Glad I can finally now knock that one of my list of things to see in my life. It really is just what you would think, it’s a giant ball of twine. Enclosed in a glass cased gazebo of course to protect it from the harsh Minnesota elements.

From there we went to eat breakfast at “The Home of Stuffed Hashbrowns”. What the heck? Yeah, exactly what I said, I had to see what this was all about. I love the fact that we weren’t in a hurry on this trip and could stop and see random stuff like this and the ball-o-twine. It’s really more fun traveling across country this way.
The report on the hashbrowns… Well they weren’t really all they were cracked up to be. They were actually pretty bad. As soon as the plate was set in front of me and I saw the canned mushrooms peaking out from between the layers of potatoes I knew I was in trouble. During lunch I just sat and stared in jealousy at Tim’s chicken fingers.

The rest of the day was spent trying to get to a town, any town in South Dakota. Since we had started our day off the interstates we were going to stay off them, thought we could see more that way. Well, there’s not too much to see in middle South Dakota. The only excitement of the night was driving to try to get to the next town to find a hotel and a deer in the middle of the road that we almost hit at 80mph. Tim used his wonderful defensive driving skills to help us avoid hitting the deer.

Later, I was so shook up by the almost flip that Tim kept thinking I was mad at him. Really I was just so freaked out that we almost flipped and very thankful that he reacted the way he did, saving us from near disaster.

Shaking we made it to the next town and there in the middle of nowhere, the three hotels in town were booked. What? We were in the middle of BFE and there was NO VACANCY?! Well, turns out there was some kind of hunting competition going on. Oh boy. The next nearest town was 45 miles away.

Finally we found a little hole in the wall, crappy, little hunter’s lodge hotel. Now, food. Yeah, we drove through town and were frightened to go into any of the places so we ended up at the gas station… Yup, sour patch kids, chex mix and beef jerky for dinner!

‘Cheese Country’ aka Wisconsin

The next day while spending the first daylight hours in Wisconsin we drove out of Madison. The first stop we made was because we thought Tom-Tom was pointing us to a Cracker Barrel, but it turns out he wanted us to turn around and go to the last town. So, already being off the interstate we decided to stop anyway, at a little cheese shop.

We went in and bought some cheese (and chees-y gifts, hehehe), took some pictures with Bessie the cow and took a little break from the drive. After the cheese shop we drove down to a small family restaurant to grab some breakfast before driving again.

On the way across we made our way to the Wisconsin Dells and couldn’t help stopping to play some mini golf! Don’t ask Tim about the results, he’s still a bit sore about being beat by a girl! Hehehe.

The road from there led us across the Mississippi and into Minnesota, over to a relative that Mom wanted us to meet. It was Ruth Ellen and she lived in Austin, MN (the home of the SPAM museum). We unfortunately got there too late to attend the SPAM museum but got there with just enough time to get to know Ruth Ellen. Ruth Ellen knew my Grandfather’s family while he was growing up, he used to wear her dresses while great-grandpa was starting the Mayo clinic in MN.

After leaving Mary Ellen’s house we made our way up to Minneapolis/St. Paul to meet up with a fellow CIA grad I haven’t seen in over 5 years. He, Alex, had just returned home three days prior from bumming and bicycling all over Asia for the past year! Oh, so jealous!

We did a bit of restaurant/bar hopping around the area and met some of his friends in the area. Later in the evening we left and got a hotel room in the area on the way out of town, for a quick egress in the morning.

Outside of Bloomington…really?

…You mean we’re not going back…? We really made it out of Bloomington? I was out. Free. I could live my life again. Whew. The first night we made it to Madison, Wisconsin. Neither of us had been to Wisconsin and were both pleasantly surprised at how nice it was there. Madison is a very nice little city on a lake.

Using the Tom-Tom that Tim’s parents had graciously sent him for this trip we navigated to a restaurant called Harvest, recommended by Alan. It’s a small restaurant using non other than local, sustainable ingredients like most all restaurants these days. It was a great dinner. Maybe it was because of the company, or the fact that it was Saturday and I wasn’t working, or maybe it was the good food but I had a really nice time.

After that dinner I finally started to realize that Tim was there to drive with me back to Oregon. It was hitting me. We weren’t just going away for the weekend to turn around and go back to Bloomington… It was all starting to sink in. We had an ADVENTURE ahead of us! WOOHOO!! Oregon here we come. A week of driving wherever we wanted to go – so long as we didn’t get sick of each other along the way! hehehehe.

Oh yeah…Bacon. Hehehe. Dave sent a slab of bacon back with us to my Dad because he knew how much he loved his bacon. So, we decided to play a little game with Bacon. That’s his name ‘Bacon‘, got really creative with that one. Here’s the plan: we were going to dress him up and take pictures of him crossing the country, sending various pictures to Dave as Bacon traveled. Kind of like the Expedia gnome. Hehehe. Here’s where I would add that “I’m such a dork”. But Tim willingly played along so I’m going to have to say that we are both pretty strange.

Indiana in the Rear View Mirror

So my time had come to leave Indiana. The west coast, the ocean, and the mountians had been pulling me back since I had arrived in the dead-flat, ocean-less Mid West. Tim arrived on Thursday, November 8th (!) so I went up to Indy to pick him up, he didn’t know I was coming and he was nicely surprised.

That night we got all dressed up for fun and went to dinner at Tallent. The next day we packed up, went to the Chocolate Moose (a Bloomington must for any visitors) one last time, ran some errands, (had way too much fun in the Walmart camping/survival section) then later went out with Alan and Emily. On Saturday, we woke early and met Alan, Dave, and Krissy at the Farmer’s Market and from there we headed back to Tallent to cook some breakfast.

Dave and Krissy cooked while Tim, Alan, and myself sat and talked. Breakfast was great and it was really good to have all of us together for a send off breakfast. But, we didn’t have too long to dilly-dally because the car still needed to be packed up.

So Tim and I said our goodbyes and went on our way, packed up the car. Threw out what wouldn’t fit in the back of my Subaru, and we were on our way. I needed to get out of Indiana. It was not a good place for me. When we were leaving I was having feelings of regret. Regrets that I was doing the wrong thing, giving up on a job. But, Tim kept reminding me just how much it was running me down and had changed who I was in just three months time. Imagine what I would be like after the year I was supposed to stay.

The further we got from Bloomington, the better I got…

Stag’s Leap Tasting Dinner – December 5th

Restaurant Tallent is teaming with Stag’s Leap to do a tasting of wine and food on December 5th. Anyone interested should contact and sign up, the cost is onlny $80 for a 6 course, wine paired, wonderful dinner. This is the planned menu for the evening.

Restaurant Tallent and
Stag’s Leap Winery Dinner
December 5, 2007

Hors d’ Oeuvres at 6:30
Stag’s Leap Winery Amparo Rose, Napa, 2006

Lemon, Black Pepper, and Peekytoe Crab Risotto
Stag’s Leap Winery Viognier, Napa, 2006

Pancetta Wrapped Rabbit Loin with Truffled Rabbit Cannelloni
and Wild Mushroom Ragout
Stag’s Leap Winery Merlot, Napa, 2004

Pan Roasted Pacific Coast Sturgeon with Braised Pork Belly and
Black Currant Sauce
Stag’s Leap “The Leap” Cabernet, Napa, 2002

Spice Crusted Elk Loin with Braised Elk and Fingerling Potato Hash,
Brussel Sprouts and Chestnuts, Foie Gras Bordelaise
Stag’s Leap Petite Syrah, Napa, 2004

Tarte Tropezienne with Citrus and Vanilla
Beringer “Nightingale”, Napa, 2003