Spring in Finally here in Oregon

It has been a very rainy spring this year in Oregon, so with a peek of blue skies today I headed to the Beaverton Winter Market.  I live in the foothills of Mt Hood and this is a little over an hour drive for me but I just had to see what was Fresh from Oregon at the Market.  From blue skies to sprinkles of rain and dark clouds I arrived at the market to a few light rain drops, but hey this is Oregon.  During the Winter Market there are about half as many booths as you would find in the summer market but there was plenty of goodies to choose from.  The first booth I stopped in had a huge display of rhubarb, WOW I did not know that you could get fresh rhubarb Fresh from Oregon in April, I wish the strawberries were ready and I could bake a pie. The colorful bouquets of daffodils and tulips made it feel even more like spring.  If you are at the market and you want the best selection of apples this time of the year then you have to stop by the Kiyokawa Family Orchard booth.  Boxes and boxes overflow with apples picked last fall and they were still nice and firm.  They had at least 15 different varieties and I filled a bag with my two favorite apples, Gala great for eating and Honey Crisp perfect for baking.   There are several seafood vendors at the market with fresh Dungeness crab, oysters, ling cod, and rockfish just to name a few.  Down the aisle I saw a line of people at one of the booths and had to see what everyone was buying.  As I got close I could see a nice selection of different fresh mushrooms, dried mushrooms and mushroom powders.  The Mushroomery a certified organic family-owned mushroom farm that grows gourmet and medicinal mushrooms was here at the market.  After pondering over the different types I bought a basket of Shiitake mushrooms that will be perfect on a white pizza I plan to make for dinner tomorrow. I will have to check out the different mushroom powders they had another time. It is a little early but there were some potted herbs and vegetable starters if you are ready to plant in your garden.  There are many food artisans at the market and I stopped by Olympia Provisions to try a sample.   I tried slice of their Salami Nola (NO-lah) which is a coarse-ground Italian salami with black pepper, chili flake & allspice.  It had a nice mild taste and with a touch of the spices and just what I was looking for to add to a cheese plate. Olympia Provisions is Oregon’s first USDA-approved salumeria and the art of curing meat the old-fashioned way is what you will find with all their products.  Being made here in Oregon is a bonus for me but they are sold all across the country, check out their website to see where you can enjoy their Old World taste.  I was ready for something sweet and as I started down the next aisle the first booth was Nola Doughnuts.  There were so many different gourmet doughnuts, an apple fritter and mini bites to choose from.  What makes these doughnuts so different than others are the layers.  They are handcrafted over a three-day process using a layering technique commonly found in French pastry making.  Which flavor to pick Cajun Maple Bacon, Lemon Poppyseed, Raspberry, Chocolate Ganache or maybe the Apple fritter.  I decided to stick to may favorite Chocolate Ganache and added a few mini bites also to the bag.  For the past few years the market has been home to many craft hard ciders and spirits and I normally do not stop and try a sample but with a road trip planned next week in the new RV I thought I would find something to take on the road.  Bull Run Cider had a nice selection and I stopped to try a few samples.  They had three different dry hard ciders but I like mine sweet so I tried the Trespass Apple and it was perfect. They produce their craft hard cider in the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range and have a tap room open Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. I have already filled my first bag and have a second to get some fresh produce.  The last booth in the aisle I could see the piles of fresh produce.  Sweet potatoes, white & purple potatoes, leeks, radishes, greens, onions and more.  My bag was filled with a few onions, white potatoes that I can pan roast for dinner,  a few sweet potatoes that will make a nice filling in some homemade pasta and a few leeks that will go on my pizza or maybe a nice potato leek soup. With both my bags filled I headed to the car, glad I made this trip to the Beaverton Winter Market today.  Winter Market is only open 10:00-1:30 through April on Saturdays and then the Summer Market opens starting in May and is open 8:00-1:30.

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