Lower Klamath Refuge

I had been watching the weather for the past couple of weeks hoping that this dry spell that the West is going through would last through the long Martin Luther King holiday weekend. If it did I would head up to Klamath Falls, Oregon to do a little bird watching, specifically to view the large number of

Bald eagle in willow tree

raptors including bald eagles that can be found at Tule Lake and Lower Klamath Refuges  just below the California/Oregon border. We have raptors here where I live but not the quantity and variety that can be found at these refuges during the winter months. (We saw thirty-eight bald eagles in two days and as many as 8 standing on the frozen lake awaiting an opportunity at a goose carcass.) Dry weather would be the key since I don’t have 4×4.

My luck held and so I packed various layers of warm clothes, my boots and heavy coat and left Friday morning just after dawn for Nevada where I would meet up with Sis #2 for a road trip. From Minden, NV we headed north on 395 past the sprawl of Reno, through the more sparsely habitated areas of California’s high desert to Alturas, then on to Klamath Falls, a five hour journey if you don’t stop, meaning it took us much longer. What’s a good road trip without some interesting stops?

I have many fond memories of the Klamath area, having visited it off and on over the past twenty-some-odd years. One of the things that has become tradition after spending several chilly early morning hours watching birds in this literally frozen environment is to head back across the California state line to Merrill, OR for a hearty breakfast at Pappy Gander & Company. It had been at least 8 years since we had been to Merrill and we had high hopes that our traditional breakfast spot would still be open. We were in luck. It was.

Oregon grown Russet potatoes

Merrill is a small rural community with a population of less than 1000. It’s claim to fame; it’s home to an annual potato festival, a celebration held in October at the end of harvest. Not surprising since Merrill is located in Klamath County one of Oregon’s premier potato growing regions.

I can’t think of anything better with morning eggs than some crispy country fried potatoes and Merrill serves up some of the best. This particular morning a Chicken Fried Steak covered with delicious country gravy accompanied the eggs and potatoes. I think the duck hunters at the table across from ours were surprised that a couple of gals could match them in appetite. It was the perfect breakfast; it warmed us up and took us well into the afternoon. It was late in the afternoon, when we decided to head back into Klamath Falls for a bite to eat.  We stopped in at a little Thai restaurant in downtown and I had their Yellow Thai Curry, chocked full of chunks of beautiful potatoes. It was a potato kind of day.

That night as we were looking through some photos that we had downloaded on our laptops I got to thinking about the potatoes grown around Merrill. I knew potatoes grew in Idaho. Who hasn’t heard of Idaho potatoes but I didn’t really know much about potatoes grown in Oregon. I switched from photo browsing to a little information-surfing. Not only are potatoes grown in Oregon, it has one of the highest yields per acre of potatoes in the world at 53,000 pounds per acre and they farm over 36,500 acres. In the area around Merrill they grow various varieties of Russet, Yukon Gold, Purple and some certified organic, well as potatoes specifically grown for potato chips and seed. Historically the first potatoes were planted in Oregon by the crew of the ship “Ruby” on an island in the Columbia River, near Cape Disappointment in 1795. Twelve potatoes were planted and they produced 190 potatoes the first season. And by 1835  1,300 bushels of potatoes were produced at Fort Vancouver.

I found the Oregon Potato Commission site to be really informative and fun. Their Potato Trivia page has lots of interesting facts; the potato did not become popular in America until Benjamin Franklin tasted the potato served 20 different ways when he was ambassador to France and came back to America singing its praises, French Fries were introduced to Americans when President Thomas Jefferson served them at the White House and that potato chips were invented by mistake in 1853. One of the facts I found particularly interesting since I love California history was; during the California gold rush surplus potatoes from Oregon were packed by mule train, and later by wagon train to the miners. In 1849, four bushels of Oregon potatoes were selling for $500 in San Francisco.  Sounds like the Oregon potato farmers were doing better than some of the hard working miners.

Here’s a nice way to use potatoes in a soup. This recipe is one I’ve used for many years. It’s the perfect recipe for a cold wintry day. This recipe makes a lot so I usually end up freezing some for later use.

ready to cook

Portugese Bean Soup

2 ham hocks (I prefer shanks over hocks)

1 12oz Portugese sausage (linguica), diced

3 medium potatoes

2 medium onions, diced

3 celery stalks, including leaves, chopped

ready to eat

2 medium carrots (4 oz), diced

1 medium-sized bell pepper, seeded, divined and chopped

1medium bunch parsley leaves, chopped

2 15oz cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained (I use Cannellini beans)

1 15oz tomato sauce (I use 1 15oz can chopped tomatoes and 1 8 oz can tomato sauce)

1 t salt

1 t freshly ground pepper

1 t hot pepper sauce (if the linguica is pretty hot you may not need or want to add this)

1 bay leaf

Combine ham hocks, and sausage in heavy size saucepan over medium-high heat and sauté 4 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and enough water to cover. Bring to boil, skimming foam from surface. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer about 2 hours. Remove ham hocks from soup; discard bones. Cut meat into bite-sized pieces. Blend into soup. Enjoy!

As I was riding I was looking down towards one of the small farm houses admiring a beautiful persimmon tree heavily laden with fruit that was growing not far from the house when I noticed a couple of the low hanging fruits seemed to be moving. This was odd since there was no wind to speak of, so I slowed down, stopped and took a more focused look. What I saw was wild turkeys gathered beneath the branches pecking the fruit. I’ve seen turkeys many times on my rides but I’ve never seen them foraging fruit. The turkeys must have known that they didn’t have to worry about being chased off from their bountiful find since this farmhouse doesn’t currently have a dog in residence  and they were taking full advantage of the situation.

Turkeys aren’t the only ones who love fresh persimmons. A year ago I wrote about persimmons and what the term “true berries” meant and how I have grown to love these deliciously, crispy fruits. I have been buying them at the Farmers Market for weeks now and so far I haven’t tired of them. Sometimes I  chop them into small pieces add some chopped walnuts and a sprinkling of cinnamon and add it all to my morning bowl of oatmeal, but last night I used them in another favorite way, in a salad with baby spinach leaves and toasted pumpkin seeds all topped with a tasty little vinaigrette I had made using some Prickly Pear Cactus Syrup I picked up when I was in New Mexico in November. If you don’t happen to have any Prickly Pear Cactus Syrup vinaigrette available you could use vinaigrette made with pomegranate syrup or your favorite raspberry vinaigrette. You could also add any of the following to the salad; sliced red onion, pomegranate seeds, chopped Hazelnuts or candied pecans, sliced roasted beets or some goat cheese. They’re all delicious additions.

Poking around on the Internet I found the following recipes and uses for persimmons. They sounded too good not to share:

From KQED – Bay Area Bites

Fuyu Persimmon, Pear and Walnut Rolled Tart

Persimmon, Fennel and Almond Couscous

Fuyu Persimmon, Pear and Pine Nut Salad

From Destination Food

Pulled chicken salad with persimmon, witlof (endive) and avocado

and

WikiHow – How to Eat a Persimmon

Since finding a loaded tree that I can forage from hasn’t happened it looks like I’ll be picking up my fresh Fuyu this Sunday at the Farmers Market.

From Wikipedia – Persimmon

A persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus Diospyros in the ebony wood family (Ebenacae). The word Diospyros means “the fire of Zeus” in ancient Greek. As a tree, it is a perennial plant. The word persimmon is derived from putchamin, pasiminan, or pessamin, from Powhatan, an Algonquian language of the eastern Untied States meaning “a dry fruit”. Persimmons are generally ligh yellow-orange to dark red-orange in color, and depending on the species, vary in size from 1.5 to 9 cm (0.5 to 4 in) in diameter, and may be spherical, acorn-, or pumpkin-shaped. The calyx often remains attached to the fruit after harvesting, but becomes easier to remove as it ripens. They are high in glucose, with a balanced protein profile, and possess various medicinal and chemical uses.

bring you

peace, love and joy.

At most places of work a birthday brunch would mean gathering around in an office setting and sharing a variety of delicacies. Not where I work. It meant that we were headed out to the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area to do some bird watching, look at some of the newest research and restoration projects and of course, have our birthday brunch amongst a beautiful wetland setting with the birds singing and the sun shining down on us.

The Wildlife Area is a very special destination for all of us at Yolo Basin Foundation, but it is especially special to Robin, our Director. Robin was part of a handful of people that came together in 1989 to begin the conversation of restoring the wetlands of the Putah Creek Sinks located in the Yolo Bypass. As a result of these conversations  the Yolo Basin Foundation was founded in 1990 as a non-profit dedicated to the stewardship and appreciation of wetlands and wildlife through education and innovative partnerships. In 1997 the Wildlife Area opened to the public, the beginning a long-term partnership between the Yolo Basin Foundation and the California Depart of Fish and Game to provide public outreach and educational programs at the Bypass. The original area of preservation was 3,500 acres and that number has grown to over the years to over 16,000 acres. I can’t think of a more appropriate place to have her birthday celebration.

I have been thinking about how to make this crisp for days now. One member of our staff doesn’t eat foods containing gluten and another is allergic to walnuts. I want everyone to be able to enjoy the crisp so I combined ideas from a couple of recipes. I used Annie’s Apricot Crisp recipe to create the topping, but this time instead of using wheat or oat flour I used almond flour. Another potential problem was that some folks who are gluten intolerant don’t eat oats and I definitely wanted to include rolled oats in the topping so I checked to see why something that doesn’t have gluten in its makeup was on the avoid list. A Google search turned up http://www.glutenfreeoats.net/. Their reasons were: “The concern is that if oats are grown in a field that previously grew other gluten containing grains, some of those other gluten containing grains will naturally grow in the oat field the next year, which will then cause the oats harvested from that field to be contaminated. If a farmer uses the same equipment to process all his grains, that can also cause cross contamination. If the coop or transport company that brought the oats to the processor has stored and transported other grains, that can cause cross contamination. If the processor processes other gluten containing grains, there can be cross contamination.” Makes complete sense to me so I found some certified gluten free oats to use not wanting to take the chance of using cross contaminated oats. The second recipe was from Simply Recipes. It gave me the basic ingredient ideas for the apple part of the crisp; apples, lemon juice, vanilla, brown sugar and cinnamon. I added some nutmeg and increased the cinnamon and vanilla amounts over what they recommended. After a half hour of peeling, slicing and mixing the apples with the lemon juice, vanilla, brown sugar and spices, the mixture was poured into a 9 x 12-inch pan, then the topping with the almond flour, certified gluten free oats, chopped pecans and butter mixture was added. It looked great and if it hadn’t been a foggy morning with very little natural light coming in the kitchen windows I would have taken some nice pictures to show you. I really don’t like how food pictures turn out when you use flash. In my opinion the look is very unnatural and unappetizing and Annie is definitely not into unappetizing looking foods.

The crisp came out of the oven 45 minutes later, smelling wonderful as only apples drenched in sugar and cinnamon can and looking perfect. I wrapped it in a towel to keep it warm, loaded the car with my laptop and some serving utensils and headed off through the fog to work. The closer I got to work the sunnier it got which is unusual since there is always more fog in the rural areas and that’s where our office is, in a field surrounded by agriculture.  At work we loaded the food each of us had brought; bagels and cream cheese, just picked tangerines and freshly shelled walnuts, hot water for coffee, tea or cocoa, and Greek yogurt to use on the crisp.  Plates, silverware and hot cups were placed in a basket and loaded into the fifteen passenger van along with a loaded ice chest. Party supplies all loaded we all jumped in and headed two miles to the east to the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area where we drove south into a closed area to view a project area and some recently restored wetlands.  It took us a while, every time we got started down the road one of us would see a bird or birds that we would have to stop and watch.  Sometimes it was to make an identification. I was sitting in the third set of seats from the front, warm crisp on my lap and the basket of the other goodies and a co-worker beside me. My views were through windows that do not open and have not been washed for who knows how long. It was not good viewing, with or without binoculars, and definitely not good at all for picture taking. Since I couldn’t take any pictures of the birds we saw I took this picture to show you my view of everyone else bird watching. I thought it was funny. There they sat with their binoculars all at attention, the part you can’t see or obviously hear is the discussion as to which bird it was that was spotted and where it is amongst the hundreds of other birds out on the water. Then there is the discussion by a few of them that are using the iBird app on their phones to research or justify identification. It was definitely entertaining and not atypical of birders, which all of us, with the exception of two are. Actually the app was great help since some of the female ducks are really hard to identify. We also used it to confirm some eared grebes that are not common to the area.

When we got to the southern part of the wildlife area we stopped and had our brunch. Since we didn’t stop in an area with a table we used the ice chest and the seat and step of the van to set up our feast. The crisp went quickly and this is all that was left after eight hungry women had finished with it. At one point this morning I had considered making a 9 x 9 pan, glad I didn’t. Yes I ate again. I had to see if the crisp tasted as good as it had smelled all morning. It was delicious if I do say so myself. Guess what I’m having for breakfast tomorrow morning. Love leftovers!

As we pulled to the top of the levee to leave the wildlife area we were given one more memorable moment, we spotted five river otter playing in the water just below us. As we sat watching their antics I couldn’t help wish that I could just stay and spend the rest of the day as carefree as the playing otters seemed.  That wish would have to wait; there was work to do back at the office. But I knew as we drove off that I would be back out to the Wildlife Area the next day, this time with a class of excited school children and we would continue the exploration of this wonderful area.

To see pictures of the wildlife area and some of it’s inhabitants click here.

Foggy, misty mornings, not uncommon here in California’s central valley during winter,  are when I want to fill my kitchen with the aroma of homebaked spicy-smelling foods; like gingerbread muffins with golden raisins and chopped walnuts. Spicy-smells, like ginger and molasses weren’t really the only reason I chose to bake gingerbread muffins. The other reason was a little jar of Pumpkin Butter with Port that I had brought back from a trip to Washington (pictures from some of my travels can be viewed on my Flickr Photos – just click on a picture and you’ll be taken to the site) earlier this year. This wasn’t the first time I have purchased this butter, but it had been a while. So when I saw it I knew it was going home with me and sometime this winter it would be accompanying  some warm gingerbread.

As I started to write this I thought I should find a link to the company that sells the pumpkin butter, Aloha from Oregon, just in case you would like to try it too.  Having found the link I became curious as to the companies name since I hardly think of the word Aloha when I think of Oregon. Well it seems that the post office in Aloha, OR, just west of Beaverton, was established in 1912 and Robert Caples, a railroad man from the area, supposedly gave the the town it’s  name but the reason for its origin was unknown until 1983, when it was revealed by Joseph H. Buck of King City, that his uncle Julius Buck, was the first postmaster and that he named the office Aloah after a small resort on Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin, but that during the application process the last two letters were transposed by the Post Office Department, resulting the shift from a Midwestern Indian name to a Hawaiian word. Now, that’s a story I can believe.

For a recipe for the muffins I went to my James Beard’s American Cookery cookbook. Hopefully you can see the age and wear on this much loved book from my collection in the photograph.  This page contains not only the gingerbread recipe but the cornbread recipe I have used for the past forty some years.  I added the golden raisins and chopped walnuts to give the muffins more body and texture.  Another great combination might be dried cranberries and chopped pecans. They were served warm from the oven with the pumpkin butter and were deliciously satisfying.

Gingerbread

James Beard’s American Cookery (©1972)

1 cup light or dark molasses

½ cup boiling water

5 tablespoons butter

½ t salt

1 ½ to 2 t ginger

1 t baking soda

1 cups all-purpose flour

Put the molasses in a mixing bowl and add the boiling water and butter. Stir until well mixed. Add the salt, ginger, and soda, and stir lightly. Stir in the flour just enough to moisten and mix. Turn into a 9 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan Bake at 375 degrees 25 – 35 minutes, or until the top springs back when pressed lightly and the mixture is pulling away from the sides of the pan.

I added about ½ cup golden raisins and the same amount of chopped walnuts. Baking cupcakes or muffins takes less time, test for doneness by touching the muffin top to see if it springs back when lightly pressed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sending wishes for a day filled with good food and good company.

The weather here in sunny Northern California has definitely changed.  Night temperatures have been in the 40’s, with the last couple of days barely hitting 60 with no sun to speak of.  Not exactly my favorite kind of weather. I much prefer the sunshine.  It’s these crisp fall days that remind me it’s time to start making one of my favorite meals again, soup. To my mind there is nothing better on a cold drizzly day than a hot bowl of homemade soup.

Soup was one of the things my mom often made during the late fall and winter months. It was the perfect way to feed eight growing children a healthy nutritious meal on tight budget. Sometimes it was made using beef bones, sometimes she used chicken or turkey and often it was with split peas or beans and veggies, lots of different veggies. Her soups were always delicious, filled you up and made you warm inside.

According to ehow\’s The History of Soup , soup making is considered to be as old as the history of cooking. Soup was and still is inexpensive to make; it’s filling and easy to digest making it the perfect food for young and old and all those in between.

I’m not much on canned soups. For me, they have far too much salt (needed as a preservative). But for many it is the only kind of soup they have ever experienced. I hope if you are one of those who has only experienced canned or processed soup you will try this simple soup recipe. It will provide you with a delicious soup in about a half hour. I know it takes more than opening a can but I promise you the little bit of work you do will be well worth the effort.

Chicken Vegetable Soup

First pour yourself a nice little glass of wine. Take a sip and then pour a little olive oil in a two-quart pot, add about a cup and a half of quartered crimini mushrooms and sauté until they just begin to brown. Remove to a bowl. Next add equal amounts of chopped carrot, onion and celery (this is called mirepoix) I added about a cup of each. Sauté the mixture until the onion softens, the celery and carrot may not be soft but that’s OK. Then add about a quart of chicken or vegetable stock (your preference homemade or canned, but be aware of the salt content if your using canned) a diced potato (firm red or white skinned variety is preferred) and some fresh herbs, I used sage, thyme and parsley and bring to a simmer. Cook until the vegetables are just tender when you pierce them with a fork. With a potato masher, mash the mix a little to thicken the soup. Don’t mash too much unless you want a thick soup. At this point if you have mashed the stock and veggies a lot and want a thicker soup like chowder you can add some ½ and ½ and make it a cream stock and then add some diced cooked chicken or turkey. I didn’t go that route, but the more I write about it and think how tasty that would be, I may be trying that soon. Along with the chicken I added some leftover cooked green beans. Once it’s all together give it a good stir, let the chicken and green beans warm up and your soup is ready to serve. For a delicious topper I added some fresh sage leaves that I had sautéed in butter until they were crisp.  Shredded Parmesan cheese is also a nice addition to this soup but I didn’t add it this time.

Remember the mirepoix, it’s a basic for many soups and sauces.  Add some stock, fresh herbs, vegetables, grains, and meat if you wish and in about 30 minutes you’ll have an economical meal that will warm your soul and make you smile.

Last year I grew Ambrosia melons in my little garden.  They are by far my favorite melon so my intention was to grow them again this year. I don’t get very many off one vine, I think I got 3 last year, but there is something very satisfying about being able to pick a melon out of your backyard then take it inside, cut it open and eat it. Well, when I was at the Davis Farmers Market this spring looking for melon plants I found one called Ananas, an historic heirloom variety, grown by Thomas Jefferson in 1794 and offered commercially in the USA in 1824.   It sounded interesting, so I bought one, with the hope that it would equal or surpass my beloved Ambrosia.

Into the ground it went. It flourished and grew, and spread throughout the squash plant and intermingled with the Persian Baby Cucumbers. I fed it and watered it and dreamed of the day when I would finally get to taste it. I started seeing blooms, then small melons the size of the tip of my pinky.  The melons grew larger as the summer wore on. The melons continued to develop but still were very green. Just before Labor Day I noticed that the first melon was starting to turn a lighter color and finally it turned yellow. I checked it to see if the stem would fall away from the melon several times before it finally did. There it was, my beautiful Ananas melon, ripe and ready to eat. Into the house I went. I cut it in half. The aroma was sweet and the juicy ivory colored flesh had a blush of orange color in the center where the seeds were. Now the test, my first bite. Well, the flavor didn’t blow my socks off but it was good. I harvested three melons from my little vine and enjoyed each of them but I think I will go back to my Ambrosia next year, unless something else peaks my curiosity.

Here’s a bit of information I found when I was doing a little research on the Ananas; “The Ananas melon is one of the most popular heirloom melons grown in the United States today and is also widely grown in the Middle East. Another common name for this variety is Pineapple Melon.” Interesting that it is supposedly one of the most popular heirloom melons grown in the US and I had never heard of it and the farmer who I bought the plant from was trying it for the first time also.  Melons are part of the plant family Cucurbitaceae, which consists of squashes, melons and gourds, including cucumber, and luffas and those with edible fruits were amongst the earliest cultivated plants in both the Old and New Worlds.  The fruit is often a kind of modified berry called a pepo (a modified berry with a hard outer rind). For more information on “true” berries including a good description of the term check out my post  “Persimmons are true berries – What?”.

The farm sits on the northern part of Sierra Valley. This valley sits at approximately 4850 feet and is surrounded by mountains ranging in elevation from 6 to 8000 feet.  The former lakebed covers 120,000 acres and receives an annual rainfall of less than twenty inches, most falling as snow. It is what I call high desert, filled with grassland, sagebrush and extensive freshwater marshes that drain into the middle fork of the Feather River. It is an important area for migratory bird species that stop over in the fall and nest there in the spring.

It was in the 80s when we arrived around 11am and the wind, which can blow pretty hard here, was gentle, a perfect vacation day. We pulled in to a dirt parking lot, found a spot, grabbed a reusable bag from the back of my car and headed off to do some serious exploring. We had heard that the farmers market is presented among unique old farm buildings; an old grainery built in 1939, now houses a produce stand and walk-in cooler and the quaint farm store, that contains the checkout stand and hand made items for sale, is part of the old chicken shed. To say the setting is quite unique is an understatement.

We wandered through looking at everything from hand made pottery to some tasty looking bakery items, from gorgeous produce to some pretty interesting pasta and olive oils from Pappardelle Pasta (a pretty large company that sells directly at farmers’ markets and a few specialty gourmet retail stores throughout the country). For not needing anything and thinking we would just take a look, we walked out with one of the biggest pineapple heirloom tomatoes I have ever seen (and now that I have eaten the softball sized wonder I can say it was one of the best I have ever tasted), a small package of Southwestern Blend (Blue Corn Ziti, Red Southwestern Chile Lumache, Green Jalapeno Fusilli and Yellow Maize Amore) that I want to use in soup this fall, Smoked Mozzarella Ravioli,  a beautiful little cantaloupe, some lovely orange peppers and a couple of bottles of cold water from the cooler in the old grainery.

As we were leaving Sean Conroy, chef at Longboards Bar & Grill, Plumas Pines Golf Resort was setting up for a cooking demonstration. They evidently have one each week, something I have seen at urban farmers markets but out here in the middle of nowhere (sorry Sierra Valley folks), it was really unexpected, but a very nice touch.

Later I read on the market’s website that they also host a \”Dinner in the Barn\”, a four course gourmet meal featuring farm-fresh produce harvested specifically for the dinner. The setting is inside a historic rustic barn overlooking the farm fields. There is a farm tour before the dinner, which is catered by Moody’s Catering in Truckee. If they have one of these during the time I’m at Packer Lake next year I’d really like to go.

If you’re ever up in this neck of the woods during the summer months, seek out this market. It is definitely worth a visit.