I’m a fan of contests because I love winning things but I rarely get off my bum to fill out the contest form, until now. Because I’m a fan of Oregon and good food, I’m excited about Travel Oregon’s contest for foodies.
They’re searching for seven foodies to award an all-expense-paid “Cuisinternship” (pronounced: quiz-een-turn-ship) – a cuisine internship. Each winner will win an all-expense paid one-week trip to shadow an Oregon expert in his or her field of culinary crafts. This is part of a new state-wide promotion called Oregon Bounty which is a celebration of the state’s culinary arts and those who make the tasty treats. These are the Cuisinternships being given away:
Artisan Food Producer: Become a culinary artisan in Southern Oregon with chocolatier Jeff Shepherd of Lillie Belle Farms and cheese maker David Gremmels of Rogue Creamery;
Brew Master: Turn hops and grains into craft beer with brew master Jamie Emmerson of Hood River’s Full Sail Brewery;
Chef: Immerse yourself in Portland’s dynamic food scene working alongside chef Gabe Rucker–one of Portland’s culinary provocateurs–learning how to turn out inventive, gourmet meals that delight diners at the award-winning Le Pigeon restaurant;
Rancher: Saddle up and herd cattle while learning sustainable ranching on two of Eastern Oregon’s Country Natural Beef ranches with the Pickard and Boyer families, who have been in the business for generations;
Fisherman: Head out to sea with charter boat skipper Lars Robison of Dockside Charters and learn the fine art of catching the Oregon Coast’s prized wild salmon and rockfish;
Winemaker: Walk the Willamette Valley vineyards of Penner-Ash Wine Cellars with renowned vintner Lynn Penner-Ash, learning the hands-on techniques involved in vineyard designate winemaking;
Distiller: Get an advanced degree in mixology and learn about Oregon’s booming craft spirits industry with distiller Jim Bendis of Central Oregon’s Bendistillery;
Here’s how to enter the Oregon Bounty Cuisinternship Contest:
Submit a short video;
Statement containing no more than 140 characters, describing why they are the best candidate at www.TravelOregon.com/Bounty (140 characters, does this have anything to do with Twitter?)
Seven winners will receive an all-expense-paid trip to Oregon to shadow their mentor for one week. Entries must be submitted between Aug. 24 and Sept. 18. A panel of judges, including the Cuisinternship mentors, will select winners which will be announced beginning Sept. 28.
My fascination with Oregon? I visited for the first time in 2007 on what I dubbed S2S and blogged about on my original blog. Don’t you worry, even two years later I’ll be sure to share thoughts from that incredible solo road trip.
I like to think of myself as a good person and responsible traveler but here’s a confession: I’m not.
Sure, I’ve chastised litterbugs and those molesting animals in national parks and even gave my food to a homeless man but my irresponsible tourism blunder happened during my 2006 trip to Kabul. For those who know, I missed my flight to Kabul and ended up spending the night in Dubai before meeting up with the rest of the group the next day.
The taxi driver who picked me up from the Dubai Airport was named Shazad and probably thought he scored the jackpot by picking up an American. I realize I wasn’t the first American he’d come in contact with as his English was nearly perfect (better than my Farsi) and Western contractors have been crawling throughout Dubai. But I had to wonder how often he picked up solo women travelers from the airport. We engaged in innocent chatter and he replied, “I think Afghanistan is very dangerous,” upon telling him my final destination.
Not sure how the conversation segwayed to living and working in the United States but Shazad told me about his cousin who was living the American dream so he pleaded his case as to why I should help him come to the U.S. to find his dream. Unlike my 2003 trip to Cuba when I was propositioned twice on the streets of Havana, no marriage proposal was involved but Shazad straight out asked me for my mailing address and phone number so he could get a working visa.
Having no clue how close we were to the hotel (Hilton Dubai Creek – loved it!) and afraid to say “no,” I gave him AN address, phone and name. While the name was real – not mine – the address and telephone number were fictitious.
I didn’t know what to do. I had spent the past two nights sleeping on airplanes, was disorientated and in a country I had curious yet negative stereotypical thoughts about. If I said no, would he have taken the extra long way to the hotel? Or worse, would he have harmed me since he knew which hotel I was staying in? He gave me his phone number, too, and for an odd reason, I still have it.
It’s been more than three years since our chance encounter and guilt still lingers. I wonder if he tried to contact me or provide “my” fictitious information to the U.S. Embassy in hopes of gaining a visa for an opportunity to live the American dream. And if he did, how disappointed did he feel that the information was false? Did he feel cheated and wronged by an American? Have I contributed to the international hatred of the United States by not delivering on a promise?
Forgive me World, for I have sinned and vow to be a more responsible traveler.
Christopher Elliott spoke at TBEX last month about using video and when he speaks I (and everyone else) listen because he’s the guru in travel social media – among his other talents. He said he experiemented with video lengths and found 30-second videos were the most popular so here’s my go around at a 30-second47-second video from last weekend’s scalloping trip in Homosassa Springs, Florida. Enjoy!
I’m back from a trip to Homosassa Springs and Crystal River, Florida, for scalloping. More to follow (hopefully this week – including photos and video) but enjoy this self portrait of me with my bag filling up with sweet, Florida scallops.
Feeling left out of all the recent conversation about exotic snakes invading the Everglades and Florida, I’d like to share a blog post I wrote in July 2007 about an almost-domesticated-python found in an employee dorm room in Everglades National Park. Okay, the snake wasn’t initially found in the dorm room, two employees put it there.
It was kept in the false bottom of a dresser and upon discovering it, a National Park Service official told one of the employees the snake could have killed him during the night. Yikes! Guess the employee didn’t snuggle up with the slithery reptile when it came to bedtime.
BlueAvocado Founders Paige Davis and Melissa Nathan
I’m continuing to share lovely discounts gathered from BlogHer ‘09 and here’s a sweet deal from BlueAvocado and their gro-pak, the collapsible, reusable grocery bag system. BlueAvocado is a women-owned, women-powered business. Founders Paige Davis and Melissa Nathan (pictured) were on hand at the BlogHer conference promoting their fashionable and practical totes which range from large multi-use bags with cool little organizational compartments to fashionable totes with ventilated produce pouches.
The BlogHer conference bag was a great little BlueAvocado pod bag that collapses into a little ball, about the size of an egg. I’ve already used it while grocery shopping and it has a great clip making it easy to hook to my purse so it’s there when I need it. How many times have you shown up at the grocery store without your reusable bag? I admit to doing it too many times. The pod bag is even small enough for me to tuck in my bag so I don’t have to look like the Grapes of Wrath when shopping.
You can check out the BlueAvocado site at www.BlueAvocado.com and now through August 15, 2009, receive 40% off using code goodkarma40 at checkout.
Traveling through Detroit Metro Airport last week I needed some grub to fill my tummy for lunch. Having three hours to kill between connections, I utilized my time by wandering the terminal in search of the perfect lunch and found it at PB&J serving gourmet peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
While the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich – just like mom used to make – is on the menu (along with peanut butter served with old school favorites such as banana or honey) I went for the offbeat choice – peanut butter, honey and bacon smacked between cinnamon swirl bread.
Mmm, mmm.
Did I just hear someone mutter “yuck” out there in the blogosphere? The combination did sound a bit bizarre but we all know, the cured meat is infusing mainstream food. Bacon ice cream is popping up across the country, there’s Bakon Vodka who want to drink the savory flavor of the meat without the greasy fat and Oxford Falls has a Bloody Mary Mix called Bacon Cheeseburger which promises a sassy bite.
Bacon seems to be the “in” food right now and being the trendsetter I am, had to try the peanut butter, honey and bacon sandwich. Peanut butter choices are smooth, chunky and cashew butter and went with smooth after asking the cashier which was the best. Crumbled bacon is sprinkled atop the honey and the two slabs of cinnamon swirl are smacked together. It was wrapped in parchment-like paper and handed to me in a paper bag (just like when I packed a PB&J for school).
The verdict? Pretty good. Not the most spectacular thing I’ve eaten but a nice combination of salty, savory flavors accented with the slight sweetness from honey and the cinnamon swirl bread. It was a bit messy and found myself licking my fingers after every other bite. It’s something I’ll try to recreate at home but will probably use bacon strips rather than crumbling it.
Find PB&J near gates A1 – A6 at Detroit Metro Airport. Most sandwiches with two items (i.e.: peanut butter and jelly) run $3.99, add another item and it’s $4.49. Top it off with a slice of bacon for an additional 65 cents. The peanut butter, honey and bacon sandwich atop cinnamon swirl bread costs $4.99.
Last Saturday evening was spent roaming the streets of Chicago before heading to the BlogHer CheeseburgHer Party. My intent was to experience dinner at Ed Debevick’s, evidently a popular place with tourists since I saw many wandering the Chicago streets with Ed’s paper caps. This was reinforced upon finding the 50s-style diner and the line of rumbling tummies wrapped around the building.
I’m not opposed to standing in line for a must-experience meal. I withstood freezing temperatures to stand in line at least an hour for Ben’s Chili Bowl while attending Obama’s inauguration earlier this year. But on this particular Saturday night, I was short on time and shuffled my feet elsewhere for Chicago-style grub.
The direction I headed was soon dictated by a round man wearing grubby clothing, staggering down the street and yelling at people. I realized he was probably harmless but I still wanted to avoid contact and slipped into a small hamburger and hot dog joint called Mister J’s (822 N. State Street; Tel: 312/943.4679).
With Chicago-style dog, french fries fresh from the fryer and cold root beer in hand, I saddled up to the window seating and watched the grubby man walk on by. As I savored the deliciously spicy combination of onions, pickles, hot peppers and mustard topped on my dog, a homeless man wearing a “Homeless Coalition” shirt entered the joint and started eating food off a tray left behind by a couple who exited no more than 30 seconds prior. He then came over to the trash and dove for hot dog bun nubs – you know, the end of the bun that never gets to wrap around a hot dog – and cold french fries. He left and stood outside, keeping an aware eye when customers left and as soon as they did, he returned for a second round of trash picking for dinner.
I wolfed down my dog, slurped the root beer and ate less than half of my fries. They still glistened with deep fryer freshness and were warm. My conscious couldn’t toss them and I wasn’t going to tote them back to the hotel. In what I thought was a kind gesture, I handed them to the homeless man hoping it would save him some dignity from eating out of the trash. Before he grabbed them he reached out his hand and showed me two quarters. He barked, “Give me 50 cents.”
Taken aback at his ungrateful reply to my offering, I said, “No. I have french fries for you.”
“No! Give me 50 cents.”
“No, I have food for you. They’re not good for you but it’s food.”
“Hummm. They’re cold,” he gruffed.
“No, they’re still warm,” I said while handing him my leftovers. I wanted to tell him how over the years I’ve paid and eaten my share of cold food and it’s something not only regaled to the homeless but realized as a human, he deserved some respect and I said nothing.
“Hummm,” he replied while grabbing a fry and putting it in his mouth. I’m pretty sure I saw a slight twinkle of surprise when he realized that indeed the fries were fresh.
