P I C N I C

I called up the vineyard at the last moment and so when I then tried to get a crusher/destemmer the wine shops were of course all booked up for several days in advance. We decided to simply crush the white grapes by hand, bunch by bunch, and press with the stems. The juice is so sugary, about 20% by weight, and very acidic, especially the sauvignon blanc, that it made our hands pretty parched by the end. Not to mention sore from crushing 400 pounds with mere elbow grease!

While I was hosing out 35 gallon trash cans for the grapes, Elly was putting together a picnic for us. We had hardboiled eggs with balsamic, cheese and salami, potato chips and super sweet grapes. It was yummy. We walked into a grove of pear trees to set up. Being in an orchard is always a dreamlike experience. Long, evenly spaced rows and dense hedge like trees.

Me, Elly, Chris and Kate drove up to Garnier vineyards in the gorge, just east of Hood River. It was a beautiful day and a dreamy place to be. The mountain (or is it a hill?) in the background is Washington. The slope runs down into the Columbia and rises up quite far on our side. The soil where we are is sandy with some clay. As you can see the environment is a kind of temperate desert. It always surprises me going east, the transition from lush and wet to desert.

We bought a variety of grapes but the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay look to be the best.

Here’s Mike at his Belgian fries cart, Potato Champion, at SE 12th and Hawthorne. I was biking back from Ben’s house up in North Portland. It was 20 o’clock but he was just opening. The fries are crisp and very oily. He makes 9 different sauces and toppings, I got the tarragon anchovy mayonnaise.

He was saying that he has an extended process of soakings, first in water, then in oil at 200º, then they rest, then they get fried for the final time. Open till 3am!