la pomme de portland

Something Lovely to Look At….

Carrie — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:40:42 +0000

Love, whose month is ever May, Spied a blossom passing fair, Playing in the wanton air. – Shakespeare

My lovely Cecile Brunner…the ole gal finally made it up the trellis.

Currently, I may or may not be involved in a project that brings to mind the St. Pauli Girl. I wish I could tell you more; however, I am not at liberty to say….yet.

So, since my lips are sealed, I give you this week something lovely to look at. A few glimpses from my springtime yard that make my heart do cartwheels whenever I look at them.

I adore the lavender blossoms on my pungent chives.

After 10 years, I finally have my boxwood border. I leap with glee whenever I look at it.
So do the deer. Let the battle begin.

And my lilac bush that sweetens the spring air.

xoxo

Sometimes It’s Not About the Plan

Carrie — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:06:48 +0000

When I asked Molly O’Neill if I should rent a car for my trip to Santa Fe in April to attend her Food Writer’s Retreat, she replied, “Nah, we have plenty of cars.”

When I asked how I should get from the Albuquerque airport to Santa Fe, Molly said, “You can ride in with my One Big Table business partner who is arriving a few days into the retreat like you.

When, a couple days before I was leaving my family for five days, the Rooster asked, “Where exactly are you staying?” I replied, “I’m not sure. Tesuque?”

I have a have a new attitude, different from my usual bossy, take-charge-self, which involves going with the flow, trusting the process, and when I can’t explain a situation, simply saying, “Interesting.”

I did meet-up with Molly’s business partner, Paul, who I correctly identified at the airport by his description “the guy from New Jersey wearing a cowboy hat.” We spent the hour-long car ride to Santa Fe talking about our kids, the ridiculous schedules for kids’ sports, and wondering what the “Twitter generation” will be like when they grow-up.

Famished, we drove straight to Bobcat Bite for their fiesta-in-your-mouth Green Chile Cheeseburgers.

Our hunger satiated, we headed for the Tesuque Compound where we were staying. After a few wrong turns and a few incorrectly inputted codes, we managed to open the gate to the compound and pull in. I later learned that the only way back out of the compound was with a car. Interesting.

Molly came right out of the current writing session to greet us. Her big brown eyes…that, no lie, sparkle with energy…and her generous smile welcomed us right in and made us feel like we hadn’t missed a thing even though, ahem, we had.

I signed up for the retreat to write. And, Molly did not disappoint in her mentoring. She is the ultimate wordsmith. I was constantly amazed at the words she could weave on the spot to fix issues in other people’s writing. But, I was not in the right mind-set to write. I arrived on too little sleep. When one morning we were given three minutes and the writing prompt, “I remember….” All I could think of to write was, I remember nothing.

Instead, I spent my days searching for chile sauce to try. Red chile sauce on pork. Green chile sauce on tamales. And a little of each, known to locals as Christmas, on enchiladas. Enchiladas from Garcia’s. Enchiladas from The Shed. And enchiladas from La Casa Sena.

Yes, I did Photoshop the bags under my eyes.

Two photos above compliments of Jen Reyneri Photography

And, I spent my time talking.

I talked to Mark, a baker and a chef, who started his career in the Kennedy White House with the war on poverty, more recently helped Thomas Keller of The French Laundry open his bakeries, and now teaches at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley in the bread program he helped create.

I talked to Donna, an ordained Christian minister in Manhattan, and her 27-year-old Jewish daughter. One morning, we cracked ourselves up shouting, “And we took the trail least taken!!” when we lost the group leading our hike and instead found our own trail, complete with an abandoned car and remnants of skeet shooting disks.

I loved talking to Jen, a food writer/photographer from Florida, and a fireball of energy, about the book she’s working on, Finding Jesus in Las Vegas.

Katie, who recently left Portland for Santa Fe and now works in a café in Santa Fe with a Portlandia theme, could have been my new best friend.

Somehow my mug shot ended up in the local newspaper. Here’s the story.

When I asked Wendy, a forager from Colorado, what her favorite foraged plants are, she replied, “Cattail pollen. Delicious in pancakes. And nettles.” When I asked her favorite “foraged” meat, she smiled and said, “Deer and squirrel.”

I met back up with “her talents never end” Deb, who I had met before at a food conference. She and her darling husband, Rod, made a romantic retreat of the whole thing. He practically brought her “breakfast in bed” one day.

There was Deb #2, our resident cellist who could pick out the rhythm in our writing, Melissa, a former internet marketing executive who has actually figured out how to make money from her website, Randy, the local attorney who tutored us in New Mexican history, the talented writer/blogger, Shauna Ahern, Molly’s right-hand workshop woman, Carol who was exploring the theme “forever lost,” and of course Rosa, our lovely event planner and local celebrity who was never without ideas of how we should be spending our time.

And, finally, dear, dear, Peggy, a contributing writer for the Chicago Tribune with a new book due out in fall 2013, who became Aunt Peggy when she secured her AAA rate for me at The Hotel St. Francis and drove me off the compound so I could see Santa Fe.

In keeping with my new attitude, here is my take-away from the retreat:

Sometimes it’s not about what the plan was.
It’s about the food and the conversations we share.
And somehow, our lives are made more interesting because of that.

PS: Anyone have a good red chile sauce recipe they want to share with me? I’m on the hunt!

Serendipity? Hard Work? Or a Little of Both?

Carrie — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:54:25 +0000

About three years ago, at what felt like the exact moment the publishing world imploded, a new magazine showed up on shelves here in Oregon: 1859 Oregon’s Magazine. I was immediately smitten and have been a faithful reader ever since. I love that they cover our whole state. I’m inspired by their stories about people – worthy of reading whether you live in this state or not. And when most magazines are struggling to stay in business, 1859 is moving from 4 issues a year to 6 issues a year starting this summer.

In January, when I wrote my writing goals for 2012, I typed the first one as:

Query to get published in at least one regional glossy starting with 1859.

I am a fan of setting goals each year. Not lofty ones like “get in shape” or “organize the entire house including the garage.” No. I prefer small, step-by-step goals that I can realistically accomplish. One regional glossy this year, that seemed manageable.

I also believe that the most important part of my 2012 mantra: Be present. Trust the process – your own process. And keep moving forward. is the part that says, Keep moving forward.

Meaning for me, someone who wants to continually improve her writing and have it published, I have to write.

It seems so basic, doesn’t it? But honestly, for years, decades even, I thought about writing…a lot. I’d read these amazing books and think, “I could do that.” I only wrote when the moment moved me and filed it away. But, I didn’t sit in the chair and do the hard work of writing every day. And I definitely didn’t take the next, more frightening step, of showing my writing to the public at large.

But in order to be a writer, you have to write. Even on the days when it’s all clichéd crap, which many days it is.

A few years ago, I grew tired of thinking about writing. I was sick of listening to myself, “For crying out loud, quit talking about it and start doing it. What example are you setting for your kids? Your daughter?” which is when I started with my yearly, attainable goals. That first year spawned this blog with the goal of writing regularly and putting it out there. Since then, I have done many things, to “keep moving forward.” Some took more courage than others but all took the hard work of simply writing…every day. (Ok, maybe not on the weekends.)

In March, I received a phone call from the Editor at 1859 asking if I’d be interested in “interviewing” to be their new Home Grown Chef. They had seen my blog and really liked what I was doing here. I would be responsible for writing a food column, submitting an original recipe, possibly photographs, cooking in an on-line video, and writing a monthly blog post. After a few phone calls, some emails, and cartwheeling through the house, I was hired as 1859’s Home Grown Chef.

I am thrilled to be a part of this publication. My first blog post is already up on their website. You can check it out here.

My first column and recipe will be in the July/August issue, which I believe comes out sometime in June.

I’m telling you this story not to be boastful (although, I am darned excited,) but to possibly inspire you in some small way to start doing whatever it is you’ve been “thinking about” for months, years…or decades. Who knows where it will lead. Just keep moving forward.