Fermenting Cabbage: Kraut and David Chang’s Kimchi
Less than three weeks later: fermented kraut. Shredded cabbage in pickle crock on day one. Fermenting and pickli

Luscious Lamb Ragu
Lamb Ragu Already defrosting-ground lamb, bought on a whim from Afton Field Farm at rainy closing time at the Saturday market, inspired this simple, stick-to-your-ribs meal. Beef, pork, or even rabbit, yes, but you might not think to put lamb in your meat sauce. But it’s delicious, albeit with that slightly gamey, lanloiny, earthy lamb flavor.

Figs and Quince
Foraged figs. Thankfully, I recovered from that unfortunate foraging experience. I’m certainly not ready to swear all scavenging off. Maybe I should stick to fruit, like these beautiful figs that drop on the sidewalk and into the street just around the corner from us. They must be a neglected student house, because the inhabitants  don’t seem so interested in picking

Poisoning Myself with (Horse) Chestnuts
Those foreboding spiky shells should have been a sign. I guess I’ll be more cautious about foraging from now on. A few ago, I gathered these chestnuts from a downtown tree. They looked like the whole roasted chestnuts I had in China, they felt like chestnuts, a guy working on the house told me they were chestnuts. What else could they be? Their spiky

My Willamette Week Restaurant Reviews
Trout salad at Kir. Kir