Berries, Tomato, Basil, Cookies & the Columbia River Gorge

First off, I return to with a neat annoucement - I'll be baking cookies, along with Julie Hasson and other lovely gals, for the Herbivore Vegan Cookie Extraveganza on July 7, 2007 at 2pm.
If you're in the area, come check it out, get a sugar rush & a snazzy new addition to your wardrobe.

Of course I wasn't gone long, a mere 3 days, but I was out here....at Skamania Lodge on the Columbia Gorge. Oooo. Ahhhh.
I don't drive, so I don't get a chance to get "out and about" in the Pacific Norhwest much.
It was still for work (convention), but nevertheless, it was pretty breathtaking.

The Columbia River Gorge, from outside the lodge grounds. The rest of my photos are in a set, on flickr, if you'd like to see more~

Back to the food porn business a recent brunch:

Basil biscuit, cucumber, rosemary & basil roasted new potatoes and a tofu scramble topped with a cherry tomato/fresh basil mixture - which you'll be seeing a couple more times in this post.

Look, more cherry tomatoes and basil!
I made a sauce out of the mixture this time, with garlic, olive oil, crushed red pepper, sea salt & pepper. It's served on top of Yellow Rose Recipes tester creamy herbed polenta, grilled. Along with it is steamed broccoli.


And more tomato/basil mania over Italian grilled tofu & portabella slices, lightly panfried creamy herbed polenta and fresh baby spinach. Topped with some Follow Your Heart shredded mozzerella.
Currently I have someFYH Cheddar in my fridge, with sadly, no ambition to use the remaining 3/4 of a block.

From the Wednesday farmer's market - chinese broccoli sauteed in olive oil and minced garlic.
So fresh.

I tossed the broccoli into this dinner of tricolor raddiatore (meh), cherry tomatoes, garlic, grilled bell peppers, scapes & green beans. Topped with almondy/noochy 'parmesan'.

Shanghai Stir Fry from New Season's organic wok bar. My first real meal post-trip.

And oh yeah, berry picking!!
We went to a couple U-Pick farms on Sauvie Island last weekend.

Have I mentioned that I had no idea how AMAZINGLY GOOD fruit (really most produce) could be until I moved to Portland?

Marionberries and Raspberries (aka what Thomas ate while I was away)

Strawberries

My favorite, though a bit under-ripe: blueberries

Thomas makes a mean fresh berry cocktail.

So far, I've frozen a some blueberries and we've just been eating the berries as is, or in drinks. I do foresee pancakes, and maybe crepes & waffles in our future. Maybe some raw strawberry pie...