Get your plot at 78th St.

Filed Under A Green Life, Clark County, Devour | Leave a Comment

Folks who want to plant and tend a garden at Clark County’s 78th Street/WSU property can submit their names to a lottery which will determine gardeners for dozens of available plots. 

To enter the lottery, submit contact information to Sunrise O’Mahoney at 360-397-2370 or sunrise.omahoney@clark.wa.gov between Feb. 20 and March 5 at 5 p.m. The drawing will be held March 8. Winners will be notified by March 11.

People whose names are drawn will be given a 20-foot by 20-foot plot. Cost is $40, although some scholarships are available. No pesticides or herbicides may be used. The garden plots will be available from April to October. One plot per person or household. ADA-accessible plots are available.

For more information, go to www.clark.wa.gov/78wsu and click on “Projects and Workshops” on the left.

Grow there today-

J.

Muffin’s Meals

Filed Under Devour, Vancouver | Leave a Comment

Local chef Muffin Batiste has started the new venture Muffin’s Meals. There are several entrees and salads to choose from each week, which Muffin prepares and delivers — you cook or microwave the dinner and unwrap the salad. The menus feature a variety of meats and vegetarian options, and frankly, look delicious.

The meals will cost you about what you’d pay in a restaurant — but quantity deals are available.

Also, Muffin is rocking Valentine’s Day for $35 a person. One of the lover’s eve dinners, for example, is mustard crusted rack of lamb with Kalamata olive risotto and seasonal vegetables. All entrees are served with artisan bread, sweet butter, chocolate mousse and cookies.

J.

PS- I’ve had Muffin’s food, and it is delish. So email her at lesouschef@msn.com for full details on menus, prices and availability.

Discuss food garden options at county/city parks

Filed Under A Green Life, Clark County, Devour | Leave a Comment

The public is invited to a community forum to hear about the changes in the Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation Department Community Garden Program, and discuss local food garden options.
The forum is scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 12, at Luepke Center Community Room, 1009 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Parks and Rec reps will present some upcoming changes to the community garden program as well as discuss a new option: food gardens in neighborhood parks.
When the department participated in a multi-agency public forum in April 2009, along with Clark County Health Department, some critical needs were identified around creating more food garden options, including more garden space and better access to education about gardening. To discuss these issues, the forum’s speakers include staff from the new Clark County Public Health Growing Groceries Mentor Program as well as the citizens who started the Rose Village Community Garden.

More information about the Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation Department community and food garden program is available online. Click on Community Gardens under Facilities & Locations.

Sounds delicious-

J.

Celebrate Fall Harvest with Vancouver Food Co-op

Filed Under A Green Life, Devour, News, Vancouver | Leave a Comment

The Vancouver Food Co-op is celebrating the Fall Harvest on Saturday, Oct. 3 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Vancouver Marketplace on Columbia and Evergreen. The event will be catered by Woody’s Tacos, featuring appetizers and desserts made from ingredients grown by local farms (and you can bet when the VFC is doing it, that’s LOCAL farms, not the tri-state area).

The Co-op will be unveiling its new logo, designed by Vancouver’s Tribe2 Graphic Design and Creative Services, the same folks responsible for the Turtle Place mural, and talking about store opening plans. Bluegrass band The Grey Sky Boys will play.

The event is FREE, so don’t miss it. My only regret is posting this so late!

J.

CHEF PROFILE

Filed Under Devour, Featured North Bank magazine stories | 1 Comment

Aaron Baumhackl,
Solstice Wood Fire Café

story + photo By Charity Thompson

Leave it to Aaron Baumhackl to make a sausage-cherry pizza a best-seller.
img_5588
As chef and co-owner of Solstice Wood Fire Café in Bingen, Aaron specializes in wood-fired pizzas with unique local toppings, such as the cafe favorite with cherries, chorizo sausage, goat cheese and rosemary.

Aaron got his start in restaurants at age 15 in California, first at a Spanish tapas restaurant and later riding the first wave of the California-style pizza trend.

“It drew me in because I like to eat and I like to create,” he said of the industry. “I like to see results fast.”

Along with that background, Solstice’s creative pizzas come from a playful approach among kitchen staff.

Solstice Wood Fire Cafe
415 W. Steuben St. (Highway 14), Bingen
www.solsticewoodfirecafe.com
509-493-4006

“In the kitchen, everybody has a voice,” he said. “We’ll come up with a dish, plate it and see what other color combinations can go in there to make it (reflect) the season.”

Aaron’s menus change with the seasons. This fall’s menu includes a pizza with local butternut squash, leeks, bacon and blue cheese. He’ll also dish up Siragusa pear salad and pizza, huckleberry crisp and huckleberry pizza with prosciutto, mascarpone and arugula.

He keeps an eye on the local farm scene with his wife and co-owner, Suzanne Wright Baumhackl.

“Literally, we’re surrounded by farms,” Aaron said. “We see a tractor go by with eggplant and say, ‘Eggplant’s in season – what should we do?’”

Solstice has two plots at Bingen’s community garden – one for its kitchen and one for the local food bank.

Its menu also includes foods less common in rural areas, such as sautéed kale and quinoa chowder.

“We’re trying to keep it simple,” he said, “and let the food speak for itself in flavor and nutrients.”

Foodies, anyone?

Filed Under Devour | 3 Comments

pelicano-custard1The winter issue of North Bank, releasing in November, is focused on artisan foods of the homemade, shop-made or restaurant-made quality — think Dee Creek Farm goat cheese, Crippen Creek Inn pizza and Julia Bakery table breads. I’m looking for suggestions of amazing, off-the-beaten-path, heretofore undiscovered artisan foods and food makers to show off in the next mag. Tell your friends, pass this along — get the ideas rolling. And let me know soon — we start tasting right away!

Also, this issue showcases our annual Best Beverages survey, so give me the people’s choice: where is the best coffee, tea, wine, beer, soda and other healthy bevvies on the North Bank?

Email jessica@northbankmagazine.com or just comment here. Thanks! Yer the best…

J.

Mint Tea dinner service starts tonight

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Mint Tea is now offering its bistro service until 9:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, starting Jan. 23 and 24, at 2014 Main Street in Vancouver.

Owners Jenna and Abdul say: The dinner menu, like lunch, will be based on local, organic and seasonal foods, but with a stronger focus on the flavors of Morocco. The fixed price menu will include a soup or salad, entree, tea and light dessert. Entree selections will include meat, fish, poultry and vegan options as well as some gluten-free meals. Prices will range from $12 to $17.

Soon, they will be adding wine and beer, but for now you can bring your own bottle of wine. New chef Ashley Miller arrived at the shop in January from the Ahwahnee Hotel, a four-star restaurant in Yosemite National Park.

I, for one, am eating it up.

PS: Look for the locavore-themed edition of North Bank everywhere on Feb. 20.

J.

Food System Council seeks members

Filed Under Clark County, Devour | Leave a Comment

This is a great opportunity for those who care about local food systems:

The Clark County Food System Council, a citizen advisory council whose mission is to increase and preserve access to safe, local and healthy food for Clark County residents, currently has membership openings. Council members share common interests and beliefs related to creating and maintaining a sustainable community food system. Members represent public health, nutrition and education, food security, waste management, resource conservation, agriculture, food distribution and community leaders.

The council meets monthly on the fourth Thursday of each month from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the CASEE Center, 11104 N.E. 149th St. in Brush Prairie.

Applications will be accepted through April 15. For more information and to receive an application, please contact Tricia Mortell at 360-397-8000 ext. 7211 or email tricia.mortell@clark.wa.gov.

River Maiden Coffee opens Saturday!

Filed Under Devour, Vancouver | Leave a Comment

River Maiden Coffee is set to open its second location tomorrow in DT Vancouver, Saturday March 21, to coincide with the Vancouver Farmers Market. The new location is at 7th and Main at the former bus mall, just two blocks from its former location at the indoor VFC. Initially, hours at the new River Maiden will be 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekends.

Drink up!

1220 Main re-re-opens

Filed Under Devour, Vancouver | Leave a Comment

1220 Main Restaurant and Bar is having (yet another?) grand opening. The establishment has a new executive chef, new menu items and has undergone an interior redesign. This Friday Jan. 30, at 5:30, the restaurant will have a champagne toast, snacks and a ribbon cutting, following by live music with the Bobby Torres Latin Jazz Trio.

Also, a Valentine’s Day Package for Two is available. Call 360-448-2020 for more info.

J.

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