On the Road Again - Part I

A couple of weeks ago Verne read in the Sac Bee about a two-day Berry Festival to be held in downtown Portland mid-July with over forty vendors from all over the state and all types of berries from the most common, strawberries, to less common farmed berries, such as, black raspberries, loganberries, olallieberries, tayberries, and others. That was the start of our most recent adventure (a 1,300+ mile trip to buy berries for jam)...

We set out from Volcano Thursday morning about 7:30 a.m. and arrived in Lake Oswego (10 miles south of Portland) at that same time in the p.m. We again turned a 10-1/2 hour drive into 12 hours...in addition to several Starbucks stops (did you know SB charges only 50 cents for a coffee or iced tea refill?), we spent about a half-hour olive oil tasting at the Olive Pit and Lucero in Corning (our first and last tasting at Lucero...we much prefer the Olive Pit's tasting bar and wide array of food and food-related items); enjoyed a picnic lunch at a beautiful rest stop on Lake Shasta;  checked out the specials at Harry and David's flagship store in Medford (we once stopped when they were selling month-end premium fruit for $5/crate...we're hooked and always hoping we'll hit it lucky again). Here's a pic of Verne tasting at the Olive Pit...

Oops! Let me back up a bit. We did make one other stop in Corning. Two years ago this month on our return from Portland we discovered the R&K Orchard about two miles west of the Olive Pit. As we exited the freeway we saw a small, hand-written sign that simply said "Peaches" with an arrow pointing to the right. About a mile from the exit and down a narrow driveway through the orchard, we came to a large metal building, doors rolled up leaving one side open. There were tables of crated peaches picked that morning and an old man and his grandson tending the business. It was a memorable 45 minutes and we left with some of the best peaches we’d ever eaten. We’ve learned from our recent visit that they’re called Gene Elberta’s.

Offloading peaches just picked. You can't get fresher than this...

The main event of our weekend, the Berry Festival, was scheduled to begin early afternoon on Friday. We spent the morning at Bob’s Red Mill Factory Store about 20 minutes from downtown Portland. It’s something we’ve wanted to do since discovering Bob’s is based in that area. We’ve used several of his products and love them (masa harina, corn meal, polenta, and the list goes on). The Factory Store is incredible…an adventure in itself…with over 300 of Bob’s products, including all types of grains, pastas, and spices, sold in small family-sized packages up to 50 lb. bags for bakeries and restaurants. 

The factory tour, which is offered at 10:00 a.m. every week day, is now a must and been added to our Bucket List! 

On to the Berry Festival…it was about what we expected with over forty vendors offering samples and selling everything “berry”…all varieties of fresh berries, freeze-dried and flash-frozen berries, vinegars, sauces, juices, chocolates, and even infused vodka and liqueurs. If you don’t eat your berries, then at least drink them! What did we buy? Over thirty baskets of all types of berries (after all, we did make an exhausting drive to attend the event!), a quart of mixed berry pie filling, and marionberry barbeque sauce. I’m still not sure why we bought those last two items. Guess we were just caught up in the moment.

Scott drove down from Seattle early Saturday morning. Friday had been so much fun that we decided to do it all again. With Scott in tow, we made a second trip to Bob’s for more shopping and breakfast at his deli located within the factory store...

and then back to the Berry Festival for a quick walk-through, a few samples, and a flat of strawberries. 

Then we were off to the Saturday Market. Throughout the year, Portland holds a huge art-craft-food fair downtown Saturday morning. It’s like other flea markets and has its share of tie-died apparel, leather-beaded bracelets/anklets, and pottery - all very common and reminiscent of the 60’s. But, it also has a handful of exceptional artists creating original work. Eventually, I plan to own something from each and, thanks to Lauren for my belated Mother’s Day gift, I’m already on my way. One artist I admire creates brightly colored, whimsical animal masks from clay: dogs, cats, chickens, and any other critter you might favor. For me, it’s chickens. Here’s a pic of her chicken caricature…

Before we left the Market, we introduced Scott to an Elephant Ear. Visualize the size and shape of an elephant’s ear and then imagine the taste of a churro, but with far more sugar and cinnamon due to the shear size of the pastry. Hot out of the oil it’s too hot to hold, let alone eat; but it’s too delicious to wait. We were still full from breakfast so we shared an Elephant Ear. Actually, there was no sharing; it was a feeding frenzy!

Back home around noon, Verne and I began making jam while Scott and Lauren entertained themselves in front of the TV. Two recipes, about eight different types of berries, and five hours later we’d made over thirty jars of jam. As with other jams I’ve made this summer, the berry is low sugar…on the cusp of tart. Just the way I like it. Low sugar jams are more flavorful and because they’re lower in calories, you can eat more! Eating more is important as I’m up to almost 100 jars of jam. Yikes!

That’s it for our berry, berry good trip to Portland. On our return we once again stopped at the R&K Orchards and this time bought a lug of peaches. Tuesday will be another jammin’ day…this time spicy ginger peach! Nummy!