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From Land to Sea: A Culinary and Garden Workshop at Channel Rock
August 1st to 7th, 2011
Chefs Dianne West and Blake Van Roekel join with permaculturists Stephanie Asbeck in providing you with a culinary experience rooted in the land and sea of Channel Rock. Bring your passion for food and explore the cycle from seed, to harvest, to stovetop, to compost. The week-long workshop focuses on connecting culinary creativity with that of the natural world; the garden, the forest and the sea of Channel Rock. Additional excursions woven into the curriculum include trips to a beekeeper, oyster farm, and other gardens and farms on Cortez Island.
$1200 total includes all instruction, food, lodging and excursions. Register by July 1st and save $200. For more details and to register, visit www.channelrock.ca
Keuken Dinner at Stoller Vineyards Saturday, January 22nd
Winemaker Melissa Burr of Stoller Vineyards and myself bring you an evening that combines the pleasures of drinking wine and cooking with wine. A cooking demonstration of a pinot pan sauce is followed by your four-course meal, which includes:
Apple Sausage and Fontina Stuffed Parsnip Brioche
Cream of Celery Root Soup with Fennel Compound Butter Garnish
Red Wine Braised Leg of Lamb
Roasted Root Vegetables & Butter Caramelized Brussels Sprouts
Riesling Semifreddo with Chocolate Sauce & Quatre Épices Shortbread Cookie
Each course is paired with a Stoller wine. Cost is $100 general public and $75 wine club members. To reserve your seat and for more information, click here.
Roadtrips, Farms & Food – June Posting
Oregon Summer 2010
Explore and savor the best of what Oregon’s phenomenal farms have to offer. Join me in my trek to visit the small and independent farms resting near the urban-growth boundaries of Portland. Let’s meet growers, tour farms and harvest ingredients! Back in Portland, we will cook up the ” ingredient of the day” in the kitchen ofRobert Reynolds’ Chef Studio. The preparation involves a first-course dish paired with a biodynamic wine selected by Jeff Vejr of Alu Wine Bar. Students are then offered to conclude their day with a meal and free dessert at Navarre, just blocks away from the Chef Studio. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the process of “the ingredient” from its cultivation, to its preparation and presentation. In addition, the course offers a hands-on appreciation of the importance of our local food sheds.
Farm visits include Slow Hand Farm, Zenger Farm, Malinowski Family Farm and more.
Dates of the course are Saturdays, June 26, July 10, July 24, August 14, and August 21. Cost is $125 per class and includes farm tour, a light lunch, ingredients, instruction and a FREE membership to Friends of Family Farmers. Time is from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. Contact Blake Van Roekel at blakeatgoodkeuken.com or call 503.753.1655 to register.
DUFF DINNERS – April Posting 2010
Words. Trees. Food. Conversation.
Duff: (noun) fertile forest soil where seeds take hold.
Duff Dinners is a dinner series that celebrates the living history and the ours-to-shape future of our forests. It all started with the writing of a book about the way landscapes affect the stories of our lives. What happens to our worldview and personal story when our local landscapes change dramatically? What would you do to protect the story you are living? Your landscape? What makes up a local landscape anyway? These questions took writer Kristin Kaye up very tall trees and deep into the forests of Oregon and California. Along the way, these questions grew into conversations with others like Good Food Promoter Blake Van Roekel about her commitment to local farmland—the dirt, the farmers and the bounty they produce. We wanted to keep the dialog alive and Duff Dinners was born.
The conversation continued with foresters Peter and Pam Hayes and their vision for conservation forestry and then with writer, editor and publisher Matthew Stadler concerning his experiment in sustainable publication with Publication Studio. We invite you to join our table and the conversation that seems to keep on going long after dinner is over.
Join us on May 15, 2010 for the first Duff Dinner that includes Blake Van Roekel’s forest and farm-sourced 4-course dinner with wine pairings, an exploration of Hyla Woods with the Hayes’, readings from Kristin Kaye’s novel-in-progress To Catch What Falls and discussion into the night led by Matthew Stadler who will navigate the confluence of words, trees, food, ideas and books.
Duff Dinners will be hosted quarterly at a cabin in the Hayes’ Hyla Woods in Timber, OR.
Go here for more information on how to RSVP and tickets.
3×2 Saturday, April 3rd
- Photo: Kent Johnston
Not only are we culinary co-conspirators, but Courtney Sproule of din din and I are also neighbors at Milepost Five. Last year we collaborated and joined our Supper Club tables in a monthly dinner series called 3×2 (three dinners and two cooks). Now we open the doors to our creative home at MP5 beginning on Saturday, April 3rd at 7:00 pm with a dinner in honor of Peter Cottontail. Cost is $40 + gratuity for 4-courses and wine pairings. RSVP to me at blakeatgoodkeukendotcom or call 503.753.1655. Seating is limited.
Peter Cottontail Menu
Wild Mushroom Crespelle
Composed Salad of Dandelion Greens, Poached Quail Egg and Baccalà
Braised Rabbit with Chartreuse Lettuce Sauce & Carrot Gnocchi with Tarragon Butter
Lemon Lavender Tart
Savor the best of 2009 and stay tuned for 2010! – January 2009
Food and farm photos taken by Yours Truly © 2009. All Rights Reserved Until The End Of Time.
SUNDAY DINNER SERIES AT THE CHEF STUDIO - Posted November 2009
The Studio’s extended family of chefs, culinary writers and food artisans have come together. Hosted by Camas Davis and Mike Thelin, several Portland chefs have joined together to create a family of dinners starting in September and ending on Sunday, November 15th.
Hurry now – we still have seats for this Sunday! It is my honor to be cooking in Chef Robert Reynolds Chef Studio. He has a blue stove. (I like to think it is a magic stove.) And on this blue stove I will be making . . .
ART+PALATE – Posted September 2009
Hi Friends! Hurry and save your seat now for our next Art+Palate with Wesley Younie on October 22nd.
I invite you to step into one of Wesley’s paintings with me. It is a land of beasts, and fancies, and tall tales. Peter Pan of the Orient sweeps in to join us at our picnic with Christopher Robin. We travel to a time where pagodas are being erected across English country estates and lacquerware floods the West. The word “empire” is actually spoken in political discussions and the science of nomenclature is made beautiful with artistic renditions. There is a fascination with the East and with what is deemed exotic. The Orient infiltrates the West.
I was touched by the youthful tale, vibrancy, and exotic wonderment of Wesley’s work. With that in mind, I skip across the subtle graces of Chinese and Japanese culinary touches and enfold them in Western method. And threaded throughout is whimsy.
Join our table for an Art+Palate not to be missed! Here is your invitation.
SAVOR A SONG – Posted August 2009
A twilight harmony of sunlit cuisine and starlit music . . .
August overflows with such a delicious bounty, you could call it the succulent season. To celebrate, come take in a feast of pastoral flavors seasoned with song. Each sunkissed course features an ingredient — from juicy peaches to tender lamb, cool mint and melon — paired with a melody to match. You’ll enjoy a harmony of taste and sound, served in the glow of a summer evening under an arbor of cherry and chestnut branches.
Who: A collaboration between Blake Van Roekel of Keuken, singer Mia Nicholson, pianist Steve Christofferson and you.
Date: Wednesday, August 19th
Time: Dinner bell rings at 7:30 pm
Where: 3615 SE Main, Portland, OR 97214
Cost: $70 includes a 4-course meal, wine pairings, and live entertainment.
RSVP: Seating is limited to 16. Call or email Blake at 503.753.1655 or blake@goodkeuken.com
Starter: Prosecco with Elderflower Liqueur – “A Sleepin’ Bee” Harold Arlen & Truman Capote
Sweet Onion & Fennel Semolina Tart – “A Little Taste” David Frishberg
Paired with Soblechero Verdejo “Amarre”
Soup: Chilled Honeydew Melon Soup with Dungeness Crab and Lemon Verbena – “Peel Me a Grape” David Frishberg
Paired with Muri-Gries Pinot Grigio
Main: Grilled Lamb Chop with Wild Rosehip, Lavender & Mint Relish – “Lazy Afternoon” Latouche/Moross
Savory Corn Custard
Paired with Grand Cres Rose of Cabernet Sauvignon
Dessert: Peach Galette with Honey Chevre Ice Cream – “Under a Blanket of Blue” Symes, Neiberg & Livingston
Paired with Domaine de Blanes Muscat de Riversalts
EATING BY DESIGN – Posted June 24, 2009
Thursday July 9th @ 7:30 pm
There are two things in life that warrant divine recognition: the art of slacking (otherwise known as “soft meditation”) and to play with one’s food. An inspired dinner guest at our June Eating by Design supper created what you see below, causing me to feel like I had indeed transmuted the theme of Modern Color by Marimekko into a cuisine that awakened the da Vinci in us all. Ahhhh, the rewards! On July 9th, we are celebrating Modern Elegant with a meal to match the simplicity and beauty of Rosenthal and Iittala. Now, playing with your food does not quite parallel this theme, however, you are certainly invited to repose elegantly, and to honor “peaceful loafing” as eat and drink. Hurry now, as my favorite creative dinner guest has already booked 10 seats and several more have been claimed. From Indoor Smore Action, to Playing with Your Food, to Peaceful Loafing. . . this is your last chance to truly experience Eating by Design.
Photos courtesy of Kent Johnston
EATING BY DESIGN – Posted May 29, 2009
Thursday June 11th @ 7:30 pm
RSVP now for the second supper in our fabulous dinner series fusing form, funtion and food
Check out the latest for our May dinner featuring Blomus and Modern German Campfire.
Photos courtesy of Kent Johnston
“Ode to Mom” posted May 1st
“Ode to Mom” next Monday, May 11th – don’t miss it! Read below or click on Three by Two to understand how Courtney Sproule and myself have taken cheese whiz soup and bologna and ketchup sandwiches . . . to new places . . . in honor and homage to our moms. I love you Mom!
“Ode to Mom” is the second in Courtney and Blake’s happily successful supper series, Three by Two (following the first dinner, “Ode to Peter Cottontail”). With mom on their minds, the two friends created a meal inspired by their very much American upbringing. Looking back with fondness, Blake recalls her mom’s grilled cheddar cheese sandwiches with bologna and ketchup. She still loves them, especially when hung-over. With that in mind she recreated the little starter with a twist to be enjoyed in any state. Courtney’s memories revolve around her mother’s potato soup made with hot dog and cheese whiz. Moving beyond cheese in a can, Courtney takes this soup a step further incorporating racette complemented by the freshness of lovage.
Both Blake and Courtney were lucky. They sat down to dinner every night and truly did get the “three square meals” – more than most in an era when convenience overshadowed the food traditions of our great grandmothers. Blake and Courtney honor their moms, the food they knew, and the tables they lovingly set.
We invite you to pull up a chair and join our table. Two culinary friends have come together to create for you a collaborative cuisine: Courtney Sproule of dindin and Blake Van Roekel of Keuken. Wine pairings are included with each course. We join together in welcoming our family of guests, who come with
adventurous palates and gregarious dispositions, to one table. With only two dinners left, let us feast!
Supper #2 – May 11th
Ode to Mom
An encore to Mother’s Day
Starter – Blake
Mortadella on toasted brioche with fontina and tomato coulis – Blake
Course 1- Courtney
Potato soup with Alsatian sausage, racette & lovage
Course 2 – Blake
Pork tenderloin on pistachio oregano crust with orange beurre blanc
& sorrel pappardelle
Course 3 – Courtney
100 Years pound cake with grilled gran marnier tangerine
& candied pine nuts
Dates:
Supper #1 – Monday, April 13th
Supper #2 – Monday, May 11th
Supper #3 – Monday, June 8th
Time: 7:00 pm
Where: James John Cafe, 8527 N Lombard, Portland, OR 97203
Cost: $60 for one dinner, $50 each for two, or $40 each for three.
RSVP required: Contact Courtney at 971.544.1350 or
courtney@dindinportland.com. Spaces are confirmed with payment. Full refund with cancellations made more than 5 days prior to the date. We cannot offer a refund with less than 5 days notice of cancellation, though guests are welcome to fill your seat.
April 1st Posting
Keuken is cookin’ up a storm this April. Savor it all under Upcoming Events.
