Yurt Living – The Decision

For years I’ve wanted to just step back and live as close to the land as possible. People always just laughed it off as, “must be that hippy in you, being raised in Oregon.” Well, yes I guess to those who I told on the east coast it may have sounded like a crazy idea. But, really isn’t living in a congested, noisy, dirty, expensive city just as crazy? Ever read the book Your Money Or Your Life by Joe Dominguez? Well, my Dad had me read that book just out of high school and I think it changed my whole outlook on what’s important in life.

Born and raised in Eugene, OR (the epicenter for liberalism and relaxed living) I moved out to the east coast to attend the Culinary Institute of America. After graduating I ended up getting married, buying a house and settling in the area for a bit. Until that is, I realized I was just stepping on the treadmill towards that typical American lifestyle. All my dreams of someday stepping off and living off-grid (or close to it) in a yurt had never been understood by my then-husband. I was told even by him that it was ‘crazy nonsense’ to even think about living in a yurt.

So, I quickly moved back to the West Coast once the realization set in that I was signing up for a life of credit cards, gas guzzling vehicles, pottery barn furniture and 2.3 children. Whew. Feeling like I really dodged a bullet I moved on with my quiet, slower paced life in Oregon.

I have now been able to and decided to build a yurt on my family’s farm (more about that in another post). So, what’s crazier – Living in a yurt? Or, stepping on the treadmill to live like everyone else?

First of all, living in a yurt here in Oregon is a fairly accepted thought, yet they are technically illegal to live in! Explain to me why people can build those “McMansions” everywhere, guzzling down power and I can’t live in a yurt. Some of those houses are well over 5,000 square feet! Give me a break. The electricity used in one of those houses could easily power an entire town in a third world country.

So, I’m trying to live – legally – in a structure that is plenty big enough for two people (30′ yurt is a little over 700 sq. ft.) and it’s not aloud. I will be treading much, much lighter on the earth and living with less (not much extra, frivolous crap can fit in this thing). I have asked the yurt manufacturers and they claim that most people just build these illegally. So, why hasn’t anyone gone to the trouble to try and make these things legal?

The messed up part about this? They have them at about 18 state parks in Oregon for people to rent for the night instead of taking a tent! Explain that one! Not even the county can, they are completely contradicting themselves.

When visiting Pacific Yurts in Cottage Grove they have their demo yurts set up to look like houses. They have all the amenities that are needed; toilet, shower, kitchen sink, dishwasher, fireplace, etc. They have their 30′ demo set up to look like some kind of Vail ski house, really even those people building the giant, Martha Stewart houses would be impressed! Yet when you pay a visit to the county to try and get a permit to build one of these things they start off by saying they aren’t really legal to put up at all, let alone live in one. The one way they let you build it is as a “storage shed”, not one person may spend even one night in the yurt. Then even on top of that you have to have the plans for the base of the yurt engineered!

So, I can’t live in this structure. I can’t really do much except store my shovel and rake in there yet I have to go to the trouble and pay an engineer top dollar to be aloud to build this thing!

So these series of blog posts is about just that. My journey of going through the loop holes and all the county permit crap to just get this thing built. Then, of course I’ll have pictures and videos of putting the yurt up, and later living in the yurt – seeing just how far I can reduce my carbon footprint and still live a fairly normal life.

Blogs – Narrowing Down to One

I have three blogs out there. Each of them talking about things that are very closely related food, farming and travel. Over the next few months I will be bringing posts from my other blog over to Cooking School At Home. Just in case some of the posts seem a bit random…

Carlton Winemakers Studio – July 2

Eric Hamacher Dinner Carlton

Yes, a little bit behind schedule here I know. Better late then never though, right? At the last dinner on June 11 with Bryce Vineyard I was asked to come and cook the dinner on July 2 with Eric Hamacher.

Prior to the dinner however, on the 16th of June Eric and Tom asked if I would please come and cook a lunch. They had their professors from the School of Viticulture and Enology up visiting the studio. The lunch was a wonderful chance for me to be able to work with Eric more than just at the dinner. At the luncheon they all were seated outside and had a light three course meal.

Hamacher Luncheon Menu:

First Course
Local Red Leaf Salad
Shaved Sweet Onions, Pecorino, Herb Vinaigrette

Entree
Boneless Pork Chop
Green Beans, Potatoes, Onions, Radicchio Slaw

Third Course
Oregon Cheese Plate
Fern’s Edge Goat Cheese
Rogue River Blue Cheese
Ancient Heritage Sheep Cheese
Fig Perserve, Crostini

The menu for the 2nd of July with Hamacher wines was meant to be kept light and summery. First speaking with my fisherman he said there was a possibility of getting spot prawns for the dinner! I was so excited about that option but in the end the prawn fisherman didn’t end up going out… bummer. This is the menu that I served with Eric Hamacher’s wines:

First Course
Fresh Ricotta
Grilled Bread, Local Greens, Strawberries
Paired with: Hamacher 2007 Dry Rose

Entree
Grilled Spicy Prawns
Spaghetti, Tomatoes, Garlic, Citrus, Butter
Paired with: Hamacher 2007 Chardonnay

Dessert
Almond Torte
Strawberries, Goat Mascarpone
Paired with: Hamacher 2006 “H” Pinot Noir

Bread by Hideaway Bakery… yummm!

I made the fresh ricotta from local milk the day before the event. Everyone LOVED this cheese and they were all very impressed that I made it. People wanted to know where they could buy this cheese. Eric Hamacher said he hadn’t had ricotta cheese this good since he was in Italy! So, I guess I should pass along the recipe that I used.

I have a standard formula and method for making ricotta (just in my head), but it really never produced a great yield. Since I was making cheese for 50 people here I needed to try a different way. So, I turned to Barbara Ciletti’s book Making Great Cheese At Home and the difference in taste, texture and yield was so impressive.

RICOTTA CHEESE
Yield: 1 pint

1/2 Gallon Whole Cow’s Milk
1 C Heavy Cream
7 Tblsp Lemon Juice
1/4 tsp Salt

Heating the Milk
Blend the milk, cream and lemon juice – med. low heat. 45-50 minutes allow to reach 165-170F. Stir only once or twice during this time – stirring more will break up the curds too much. It will start to form into small pea sized curds.

Increase slightly to medium. 7-8 minutes more to 200-205F. should be right on the verge of boiling. curds should be creamy.

Remove and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Curds settle to the bottom, whey to the top. Pour into cheesecloth. Drain 20 minutes. Add salt and refrigerate.
_________

Once at the dinner I grilled pieces of Hideaway bread, added a scoop of fresh cheese and heated it in the oven. Served along side the cheese was a salad with a strawberry (fresh, local, of course!) vinaigrette.

The dinner went over very well, it was oversold at 48 people. Everyone was able to sit outside and enjoy one of the great summer evenings of the year.

Cheers!

Now Will You Eat Local Food?

If the latest report doesn’t scare everyone into eating strictly local food I’m not quite sure what would. They are now saying they STILL don’t know where the salmonella outbreak came from. Could be onions, cilantro, jalapeños, or maybe they still just don’t really know… Yeah, that’s comforting.

So, buy local or grow your own! Then you don’t have to worry and start throwing stuff out of your cupboards each time there is an outbreak in our messed up food system.

Take a class on gardening and grow your own, really it’s easy. Put seeds in ground. Give seeds water. A little sun. Seeds grow. Result, FOOD! No pesticides, chemicals or chance of getting very ill. You grew it. You know where it’s been. Don’t feel skilled enough to garden? Meet your new friend, Mr. Farmer-Down-the-Road. Here’s another bonus, local food tastes better!

Taste, Taste, Taste!

The only way to learn about the food that you’re cooking is to taste. Great cooks never send food out to you at a restaurant without first tasting it…over and over and over. You can learn to be a better cook just by tasting your food throughout the whole cooking process. Taste when you first start and dish, part way through and at the end. The more you taste your products during the cooking process the more you will learn about what your final product is supposed to taste like. Tasting, looking, smelling, and feeling, these are all important ways to learn about your ingredients. Tracking how the textures and flavors change will be helpful balancing the dishes flavors. Through this tasting process you will also learn about your likes and dislikes of your own palate.

The best way to change the flavor of a dish that you’re not too confident about what it needs is to just pull out a small amount and season that. Once you have determined what it is that is missing in the dish you can then season the whole dish. This will take away a lot of anxiety about ruining the whole dish with one big swoop of salt.

In order to remind yourself to taste, taste, taste place a cup filled with spoons next to your stove, right alongside your dish of salt and pepper grinder. This are three very important tools to becoming a better and more confident cook.

Bringing Back The Blog

Cooking School at Home has been dormant for sometime now due mostly to … alright basically it’s procrastination. I have been saying for some time now that I was going to start this blog back up and I’m saying it again now. So here we go.

Pictures from Dordrecht

Well we are in the Netherlands staying in Rotterdam, just outside of Amsterdam. Today we went over to a small town out of Rotterdam called Dordrecht. They had a market with lots of fresh produce and fish. It was really interesting to see it all in action, the people and the purveyours. Since we don’t know any Dutch, the friend that we are staying with has been telling us what things are that helps a whole lot.

Here are a few pictures from the Market in the town of Dordrecht:

Stroopkoeken in Dordrecht, Netherlands

This is a picture of a vending machine for hot food on the side of a cafe.

Produce Stand at the market.

Fish for sale.

Woman cleaning herring at the market.

Close up on the fish for sale at the market.

Smoked makrel at the market.

Papa’s Breakfast

I’m going home to Oregon this week and I will be cooking breakfast for Papa and about 50 of his friends. This is what I will be serving:

Papa’s Breakfast
Wednesday June 8th
VFW Hall Creswell, OR

French Toast
with choice of toppings:
lemon curd, caramelized bananas,
maple syrup or fresh fruit and
whipped cream

Scrambled Eggs
with peppers, onions, and pepper
jack cheese

Buttermilk Biscuits and Chicken Sausage Gravy

Assorted Muffins
White Chocolate or Blueberry

Fresh Orange Juice, Coffee

Roasted Pork Loin with Asparagus, Mushrooms, and Mashed Potatoes

Gather all of your ingredients necessary to create this dish. This includes: Pork Loin, Onions, Idaho Potatoes, Butter, Milk, Salt, Pepper, Asparagus, Mushrooms, and Olive Oil.

Heating the Pan