We love Portland, Oregon. The summer between grade 4 and 5, my Grandparents made us explorers! That summer, they picked us up the day that school ended and we spent the entire summer with them at their home in Penticton, BC. Now my home, literally. That summer was what truly defines core memories, that summer I learned a lot about myself. That was the summer my Grandparents decided to stop at every single viewpoint or point of interest. I took in all the history as we travelled between Winnipeg and Penticton. Later that summer, we camped through Wenatchee and Lake Chelan and ate an onion like an apple in Walla Walla, Washington. I explored the beaches of Sechelt and took a ferry on the Pacific Ocean! We also drove down to Portland, Oregon to visit family and I learned all about code breaking from my Great Uncle Ernie! Portland was a very memorable trip to me for a few reasons, 1 the code breaking obviously lol 2, I was the oldest grandchild and my Grandparents left all of the Kids at my Great Aunt’s house while they all went to Bonanza for dinner, and I got to go. My Nana even bought me a brand new unicorn poster after we went to dinner and the whole experience made me feel like such a grown-up and 3, a secret came out that weekend. We’re a family that had/has a lot of family secrets lol I’m sure every family has those but one of them came out that weekend, thanks to my very innocent younger Sister. It was memorable because it was a big secret lol and because my Uncle didn’t handle it well and blamed me. On the way home from our trip, my poster went missing. After we had our KFC lunch, as we were driving out of the State Park in Wenatchee, I could see it sticking out of the garbage can my Uncle had used to empty our road trip garbage. It broke my heart. Portland was a very memorable trip for me. The entire 2 months live in my memory rent free even though it was 35 years ago. My Grandparents instilled in me the sense of adventure and learning. I am forever grateful to them.
Ninja and I have been to Portland together and stayed right downtown. We explored the farmers market, the pearl district, breweries and numerous delicious restaurants. You can check out all of our recommendations in this post HERE! This time was a little bit different, however!
This time we did not come to explore, we came for a concert and to visit our RASBesty and Lady Friend! Many years ago, Ninja got into the podcasting world and started listening to a podcast, called Reasons Are Several. Later, one of the hosts became great friends with Ninja and myself, in fact, Ninja, and our RASBesty have a musical conversation podcast called Our Liner Notes that isn’t always consistently released, but always a great listen! We have been fortunate enough to meet up with them in the past in Portland, once in New York and our last time was in Seattle! They had planned on coming up to the Okanagan Valley for a visit May 2020… Obviously, that didn’t happen. So, when Ninja bought me VIP tickets to one of my favourite punk bands of the early 90’s and they were playing in Portland, Oregon, we thought this was a perfect chance to get in a long awaited visit with them, and see the concert at the same time!
While, we didn’t hit up a ton of tourist attractions this time around, our hosts graciously drove our butts all around Oregon visiting the most unique and stunning locations! I want to share with you some of the highlights of our trip through the Willamette Valley learning all about wines, local produce, and olive oil!
The drive from Penticton in the Okanagan Valley to Portland in the Willamette Valley is about 8 hours. 8 hours is nothing for a Canadian who loves a good road trip and the landscape changes so much that you will never be bored! When we arrived at our friend’s home in a suburb outside of Portland, they had, a bottle of wine open and dinner ready! Lady Friend cooked us up the most delicious sausage and basil pasta using copious amounts of Tillamook mozzarella cheese! If you haven’t had Tillamook Cheese, you are missing out! I am a big fan of cheese, Tillamook, out of Oregon is one of my absolute favourites! We even had a fresh tomato and basil salad complete with fresh burrata cheese and Durant olive oil! But I don’t want to get ahead of myself lol. After dinner, I had to go to bed. That seemed to be the trend. This is the first time I have travelled with MS outside of travelling for something with my immediate family. I learned a lot. I’m not going to talk about my MS journey and the difficulties of travel in this post though lol I will post on that later, when I fully wrap my head around and accept my new reality.
Speaking of MS, showering and doing my hair takes a lot of spoons. I had told Lady Friend about my spoon theory and she came up with a fabulous idea, blowouts! Up where I live, we don’t have dry bars and blowouts, but if anybody was looking for a sound investment… This would be it! Lol, we went to the Dry Bar in Happy Valley and had a blast! The stylist thought I was hilarious! What a pampering treat! In less than an hour, they washed my hair in a dimly lit room, gave me a scalp massage, blow dried my hair, and styled it for me! No spoons required! How freaking amazing is that?! After we looked good enough to eat lol we headed out to Sokol Blosser Winery. RASBesty and Lady Friend are members of this estate winery that offers the most amazing Farm and Forage luncheons! There was about 10 of us and we sat family style as we were served the most delectable 6 course meal paired with ridiculously amazing wines, while being told all about the winery, the family who runs it and the history of the estate. Also, we had Chef Jesus join us to describe each course in detail, including which ingredients were foraged right from the farm we were eating at. I can’t say enough about this incredible experience. They have been voted Best Winery Lunch in all of the United States of America, 2 years in a row and I can see why! This is truly one of the most well done experiences I have ever had. After our lunch, we had a tour of the kitchen and more one on one with the Chef! After, we took our wine outside and sat on their expensive patio overlooking their vineyard and farm. Truly a memorable experience.
The next day Ninja and RASBesty went golfing at the Oregon Golf Association. Ninja had a fantastic time, learned a lot and enjoyed the beautiful Oregon views. While he was out golfing, Lady Friend took me on another adventure! We started the day with the most personalized wine tasting I’ve ever experienced at Bergstrom Winery. Coming from a wine valley myself, I have to say, the Willamette Valley knows how to do it right. They are so professional, sophisticated and they really do give you a full bodied experience just like their delicious full body wines! Lady Friend is also a member at this winery and I just loved how they treated their members and guests. We got personalized 1 on 1 talk with the ladies from the winery. I learned so much, was blown away by the views and especially liked that they had individual unique tasting rooms for each of their parties. Every time you come, you could have a completely new and unique experience! The views were incredible! We saw the most beautiful yellow finch by our table as we looked out onto wide expansive farm fields, the snowcapped mountains in the distance and the chipping birds and fragrant flowers all around us. It was like being in a dream! Don’t even get me started on the cheese puffs that they left at our table! Amazeballs!
Lady Friend isn’t just a member of wineries! She is also a member of Durant Farms, which specializes in olive oil! I didn’t even know olives could be grown in North America let alone delicious olive oil! Farms at Red Ridge Farms in the Dundee Hills has a 17 acre olive grove! They make all different types of olive oils and fruit vinegars! My favourite was the jalapeño olive oil mixed with the white peach vinegar… Drool! The entire property is stunning! You can buy your gardening supplies, lavender, amazing and unique gifts from their general store and also learned so much about olive oil making! Who knew!
To end our weekend, we got dropped off at Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland to see the final Portland concert of NOFX. It was a full weekend with a craft beer festival showcasing dozens of local breweries! The weather was perfect, the music was great, and the concert goers were kind and polite. On top of all that, the majority of the audience were our age! Lol, it was fantastic to watch a bunch of geriatric punks give the middle finger to the government while standing in a city run park while public servants cleaned up the recyclables around us lol very punk!
All in all, Oregon, you blew our minds! Thank you to all of the places we visited for making our stay so special and so memorable. Giant thank you to RASBesty and Lady Friend for hosting us. Your empathy, kindness, and hospitality were unmatched.
Cherries! When I was a Kid if there was one thing that described the Okanagan Valley, it was cherries or at least in July it was. If you asked me in August, it was peaches but if you asked me in September, I would’ve said apples lol. Now a days, I would say wine but once upon a time not that long ago, there were cherry orchards that filled the entire Okanagan Valley! You would drive into town and all you could smell was ripe fruit. When I was a kid, cherry juice stained all my T-shirts, every bathing suit, my fingers and my teeth! As soon as we arrived, it would be cherry season and my Poppy would take us out to pick different types of cherries for different recipes. Of course, my Nanas cherry pie was always our first dessert of the summer! We don’t have as many cherry trees these days, but as soon as July 1 hits, my body starts to crave cherries! This year I used cherries in 3 new ways that blew our minds!
The Cherry Breakfast Bars were the perfect start to a hot summer day! HBear enjoyed them with a side of vanilla ice cream lol SBean just shoved them in her mouth, excited to be given dessert for breakfast lol I tried to explain that they were healthy but she just shushed me and kept on eating lol.
SBean was even more excited when we had dessert for dinner! This Cherry Dutch Baby with Almonds could be considered dessert, but I preferred it for dinner, although it would be great at any time of the day! The perfect balance of cherries, vanilla, and almonds made this dish a big winner!
If you are looking for a knockout dinner that will use up the bounty of cherries that kick off summer, look no further! This Skillet Cherry Chicken with White Wine Sauce, is FANTASTICAL! It was so easy to prepare, looked stunning, and tasted even better! This is a dinner that you make to impress somebody or to treat yourself to a restaurant quality dish that is healthy, beautiful, and tastes delicious!
Ingredients
1 ½ cup rolled oats
½ cup flour
½ cup brown sugar
⅓ cup almonds, chopped
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
2 ½ cups cherries, pitted and chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Directions
Preheat oven to 350° F. Line an 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper and grease with coconut oil.
In a large bowl, mix rolled oats, flour, brown sugar, almonds, baking soda, and salt. Pour coconut oil over the mixture and stir until the mixture is well coated.
In a separate medium-sized bowl, combine the cherries, lemon juice, maple syrup, and cornstarch. Mix well.
Measure 1 cup of the oat mixture and set aside. Using your hands, spread the remaining mixture onto the bottom of the baking dish. Pour the cherry filling over the oat mixture, using a spatula to evenly spread and fill the corners. Evenly crumble the remaining oat mixture over the top.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the top begins to turn golden brown. Allow the bars to cool completely before removing from the pan.
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds cherries, pitted & halved
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup + 2 teaspoon flour, separated
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons almonds, sliced
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425°F with a 12-inch oven safe skillet on the centre rack.
Add the cherries to a medium size mixing bowl. Squeeze the lemon juice over the top and add the almond extract. Toss to coat. Add the 2 teaspoons of flour and the cinnamon to the cherries and toss to coat again. Set aside.
Whisk the eggs, sugar, and vanilla together in a bowl until smooth. Add 1/2 cup of flour and salt and and whisk until smooth. Pour in the heavy cream and milk and whisk until smooth.
Carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven and place it on the stovetop. Add the tablespoon of butter and use a cooking spoon to help move the butter around so the entire bottom of the pan is coated.
Pour the prepared batter into the skillet. Scatter the cherries over the top. Quickly place the pan back into the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until it has puffed and turned golden brown.
Rotate the pan half way through baking. Sprinkle sliced almonds over the top when you turn the pan so they can toast while the dish finishes baking.
Dust with powdered sugar and top with whipped cream and a drizzle of syrup to finish.
Skillet Cherry Chicken with White Wine Sauce
4
servings5
minutes35
minutesIngredients
3-4 chicken breasts
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups cherries, pitted and halved
1 small shallot, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4 oz burrata (at room temperature)
1/4 cup fresh thyme leaves
Directions
Use a meat mallet, pound chicken breasts flat to 1/2-in thickness. Pat chicken breasts dry with paper towels and season on both sides with salt and pepper.
Melt 1 tablespoon butter and olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan and sear 2-3 minutes per side until golden brown. Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside.
Add cherries and shallot to skillet and saute in pan drippings over medium-high heat 3-4 minutes until just tender and juicy. Transfer cherries to a plate and set aside.
Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high heat. Add garlic and saute 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Add wine, chicken stock, and lemon juice and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and allow sauce to simmer 5-10 minutes until slightly reduced.
Nestle chicken and cherries back into sauce and allow to simmer over medium-low heat an additional 5-10 minutes until chicken registers 165F.
Season chicken with additional salt and pepper to taste. Break burrata open over chicken and cherries and garnish top with fresh thyme.
Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode #388: Gratitude This week, we get together under the heat dome to chat: heat wave, kids driving, first cars, getting your license, wine glasses, compromise, SOW, being supportive, & playing DJ.
First week of summer baby! To be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to the kids arguing every day and whining that they were bored lol however, that didn’t happen! In fact, it was a fantastic week! The kids did all their chores, they helped out, they got along, and they had Fun! After we got home from our awesome trip, we had a TON of laundry, a LOT of wine, and MANY books to read. The library opned back up and HBear is SO happy to be back at work! We are in a heatwave so that calls for COLD wine, the beach with friends, and slumber parties. SBean had friends over while HBear hung out with Papa washing Sunny and having a walk and dinner in Peachland! Ninja ended the week by having an early evening swim at the beach with the Kids to try to beat the heat and prepare for another hot one!
2 thoughts on “Winetasting in The Willamette Valley & Summer Cherry Recipes”
I live in the WIllamette Valley and I love it!! And I love cherries – so this is a post for me!! Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party!! Enjoy the weekend and we’ll see you again on Sunday!
How lucky are you?!?! What a beautiful place you live in and the friendliest people too! Thanks for having me at the party and into your beautiful valley! Enjoy cherry season!