aging gracefully

Awhile back, someone told me he'd recently cracked open a bottle of beer from 1999. It was a special occasion; he'd had the bottle stashed away since its release. I was curious. Was it good? Why? I started digging and discovered a subculture of passionate collectors who excel at the art of aging beers.

Read about their elaborate cellaring systems Beer Lovers Make Room for Brews Worth a Wait, my first piece for The New York Times.

will i hurt myself?

My inner runner dragged herself out of the house today for a decent hamster cage-like visit to Laurelhurst Park. I haven't been running much this month and I have a million excuses, most of which are based in a general feeling of sluggishness. Yeah, I should be doing some sort of Oprah cleanse, but it's not happening. Not now.

Today I felt back in good form, but only somewhere in mile 2-3. I think I've been failing to mentally push through this strange, extended warm-up phase. Seems long, no?

Anyway, my feet seemed lighter toward the end of the run, which made me feel like maybe, just maybe, I could do the Sauvie Island 1/2 marathon two weeks from today.

But will I hurt myself hitting it with so little training? Advice welcomed.

a new batch

Finally, summer has arrived here in Portland after a long, cold spring. It's nice to see a new batch of my pieces in print, the ones I wrote on colder, darker days. Check them out if you get a chance. Most aren't online, so you'll have to find the glossy versions.

When I wasn't on the hunt for truffle material in Croatia, I spent some time in Zagreb, and had the chance to learn about the city's hot spots from a local. See what I discovered in Outside's GO magazine.

After hitting the Indie Wine Festival for the first time, I've vowed not to miss the event again. Read my tasting notes from both Saturday and Sunday's pours on Saveur's web site.

Check out my take on Portland's Mississippi Avenue, which I consider one of my adopted neighborhoods, in this month's Sunset.

For Oregon Home's Green Living issue, I visited a cool, modern home in Bend. The house had many impressive green features, but I the solar design made me appreciate the state's tax credits for going solar. It would be so satisfying to be putting energy back into the grid.

i've been in a car with joni...i felt safe

Vanity Fair spills Bob's brain onto the page. It's kind of cool, no?

I raided the library for all my missing Dylan and am spending the evening rediscovering Infidels. You've got to admit Mark Knopfler did a hell of a job. I like this album, including all the strange political references and polished production. Hey, at least man's done naming all the animals.

I've also discovered that I missed celebrating International Talk Like Bob Dylan Day, but there's always next year.

in print

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.

voting by drop box

While voting by mail guarantees certain benefits (like filling out a ballot in your pjs with the Google on hand), it means missing the chance to visit a voting booth. Call me old-fashioned, but there's something great about pulling aside the little curtain and stepping into a protected little space designed for just one thing: participation in a functioning democratic system. (Forgive me. I tend to get highly patriotic on election days.)

This morning I filled out my ballot at the kitchen table, post espresso of course, but a few hours later I ended up at the library, an official ballot drop spot. Because the library didn't open until 10 a.m., people were instructed to drop ballots at the neighboring McDonald's.

Even so, at 9:45, people started to appear holding their little voting envelopes, anxiously waiting to shove the ballots into the blue tupperware box, secured shut with padlocks, inside the library. Somehow I got the voting booth feeling by just watching the crowd gather.

Maybe I'll hand out "I voted" stickers at the drop box in November?

imbibing

Last fall I had the chance to visit Croatia for two weeks. I was on assignment for a few publications and in search of the white Italian truffle. (A note to other travelers: do not attempt to call this delicacy "Italian" while in Croatia. You will offend many. Trust me.)

I did find truffle after truffle, not in the dirt but in pastas, cream sauces, cheeses, soups and one insanely memorable semifreddo. During the course of my truffle research, a few people have said that truffles can get to you. Somehow, they start to alter your perception of reality. You begin to smell them when they're not there.

Now I understand. I smelled truffles at the airport as I was leaving the country. I smelled them at home while walking down the street, buying groceries, ordering coffee, picking up the mail. The truffles got to me. I will never be the same.

But I digress. The trip was fantastic, especially because I had the chance to travel with photographer Leah Nash for the first time. The first piece from our adventure has just hit the newsstands. Check out Imbibe's May/June issue to see all of Leah's photos, or find the text version here.