I love rediscovering my pieces when they come out in print. Often, months go by between the completion of a piece and its actual publication. And in most cases, I'm not involved in the layout and photos that accompany my text; the package comes as a nice surprise.
Last week, I made my FOODday (the Oregonian's Wednesday food section) debut with the front page feature story about white asparagus. The photos are so wonderfully eerie, like a scene out of a haunting sci-fi film. And when I arrived home on Saturday after running some errands, I was delighted to find two pounds of green asparagus, one pound of white and a few pints of fresh strawberries sitting on the porch, a kind thank you from farmers Manuel and Leslie.
Instead of using one of the recipes from my piece, I took a different route, braising the white spears in chicken broth and butter and serving with a citrus reduction. Yum.
I made another debut this month in Northwest Palate magazine, where I gave wine lovers some advice on how to both respect beer and enjoy it. Not only was "Beer Demystified" my first piece for NW Palate, but it happened to be the publication's first-ever story about beer (they've been around for 20 years). Always happy to break new ground when it comes to beer education.
