Happy HoliDOTS!

Tonight was the annual Baker City Twilight Parade, the official Christmas season kick-off event. What has always been the "shortest parade" in Oregon was simply fabulous tonight. It's been known to be short because it's usually around 20 degees and it's one FAST MOVING parade!

Tonight it was 22 degrees and there were twice as many floats and entries as last year,

it was fabulous!

The BELLA Happy HoliDOTS float followed the Baker Middle School Marching Band. All the BELLA staff and their kids were ringing cowbells, wearing their elf hats and having a great time. After the parade, it seemed like the entire city gathered at the intersection of Main and Court for the tree lighting and some carolling. Santa cruised the crowd and then everyone stormed back in BELLA for one last Hot Ghirardelli Chocolate with extra whipped cream!

Happy HoliDOTS to Everyone!

Here's another short video from in front of the store!

Who Doesn't Love Fruitcake?

Well the Holiday Showroom at BELLA Main Street Market opened up this past weekend and we had an absolutely fantastic celebration on Saturday with the Grandmas, Great Aunts and Fairy Godmothers crew! The chocolate fountain was a bit hit with cubes of Italian Pannetone, fresh strawberries and MARSHMALLOWS! Everyone raved about the Twila's English Toffee (still my favorite treat and guilty pleasure!) and the Sweet's Chocolate Covered Orange Sticks and Raspberry Sticks elicited a LOT of childhood reminiscing,

More customers picked up the real fruitcake (the Trappist Abbey Fruitcake!) than inflatables and even more took the Trappist Abbey Date Nut cake, but the Blow Up Fruitcake got the most laughs for sure!

The Fruitcake "infomercial" is the result of our late night 'final touches' work party. Work for sure, but it's a party if there's a little champagne! Here's another moment of levity as Colleen and Vicki model the measure/mixing bowls!

Now it's time to start thinking about turkeys... specifically Grandpa's Farm locally raised, free range, happy hens from Haines!

Grandpa Kurt and Grandma Connie have really filled a huge gap in our local food circle. We've brought in free-range and organic birds from California for the past 4 years, but have dreamed of the day we could offer chickens that didn't travel!

Lucky us! These birds grow up with a view of the Elkhorn mountains under crystal clear skies, with no light pollution, traffic hummmmm and nothing but the rhythmic squeak of Grandpa's rockin' chair on the porch each night as they bed down. The turkey tastes even sweeter when it grows up in such idyllic circumstances and we are just so excited for Thanksgiving dinner this year because of it!

Turkeys are available in 9-12#, 12-15#, 15-20# and we have a few birds available over 20#.

Give us a call at BELLA to get more information or to reserve your turkey today!

541-523-7490

My first Halloween!

I was born under the sign of Mars and have always embraced my Aries nature- including the seemingly senseless ability to 'ram' my head against the so-called walls of my world- but my mom just saw the horns and dressed me appropriately for my first Trick-O-Treat.

What began the day as my dad's red hoodie was transformed into a baby devil by evening!

My First Steelhead

I spent Columbus Day weekend on the Imnaha River. It was my first trip to the area and a memorable one indeed! This part of NE Oregon is wild and breathtaking. The drive from the town of Imnaha is not for those (like myself) that get carsick. It's a LONG, windy, bumpy, narrow - and surprisingly traffic heavy piece of road but if you carry enough candied ginger and stop regularly to take pictures, it's well worth the drive! The cliffs of columnar basalt and pillow rock, the dal sheep and bighorns and ruggedness of the land is just remarkable!
There are century old farmsteads along the river - so remote and idyllic but that's a really long way to drive a hay truck! After a crazy busy week at work, I found myself dreaming about living in that kind of pastoral isolation and peacefully tending my cabbage plants.
It's a nice dream, but the only reason I was there was to catch a fish!
And I did!
I caught my first Wild Steelhead on a fly, an itsy bitsy fly in fact! I can't even honestly call myself a fisherwoman yet. My casts are inconsistent- although at times quite marvelous- and my feet get really, really cold still when standing in 34 degree water for over an hour- even with the fabulous neoprene waders and fancy fly fishin' boots.
I may look good but my feet get COLD!!
I took over 100 photos of the river, the canyon and the fishin'. The poison ivy was brilliant red and is actually really beautiful this time of year! I've attached my Imnaha Photo Albumn for your to check out, just click the photo to the top right side of the blog!
The steelhead that made my day was about 28 inches long, bright and wild- so she's still there in the Imnaha where she belongs. I hooked several more, didn't set the hook more than a couple of times and lost a huge one but got a great photo before it took my fly and swam away!
Anyways, it was a quick planned trip- didn't even pack my gas burner and little stove-top espresso (a mistake I will not repeat!) - but we picnic'd like royalty and stayed toasty warm in the tent with layers of quilts atop our down sleeping bags. I took a 'box' of the Green Path Organic Australian Shiraz, Oregon Raw Milk Cheddar, Emerald Valley Hummus and roasted Hazelnuts. Great food, excellent wine and no glass bottle to haul back!

This year has been an amazing one for Oregon fishing! The limits have been increased on the Grande Ronde River because of the incredible number of fish making their way up the rivers. It's been an incredibly lucky season for me!
This picture is one of my 'old favorites' from 1963- I was always the camp cook it seems. Uncle Don caught this image of my cousins Bryan and Janae with their catch of the day as I stand there with those glorious chipmunk cheeks and a frying pan in my hand. I especially love the BandAids on Janae's forehead!

When You LOVE it... Write About It!!

I had a call back from a customer last week that claimed he'd found the "dream deal" for his passion of BBQ on his recent visit to BELLA.
I asked if he'd be willing to write a review!
We will be featuring the Kingsford BBQ Wok and Grill Basket in our
Top 20 Great Gifts They Will Use
catalog this year. But I'll let David tell you more!!!

KINGSFORD BBQ WOK REVIEW
DAVID BAGNARD, GARDEN VALLEY, IDAHO

As a life long barbequing practitioner I have always been frustrated when trying to grill fresh vegetables on a barbeque. Fine screen grill attachments I have purchased in the past were poorly constructed, wimpy, and usually failed in a short period of time. I even tried using paint roller screens designed to hook onto a painting ladder. Unfortunately the results were unsatisfying and the ladder hooks made the process clumsy to say the least. And, lots of beautiful veggies were sacrificed during this unsuccessful experimentation, ending up in the bottom of the barbeque along with the charcoal.

Finally, due to the buying genius of Beverly Calder and her extremely competent staff the miracle product showed up on the shelves of the wonderful BELLA Main Street Market in beautiful downtown Baker City, Oregon. Unbeknown to me, the Kingsford charcoal briquette people started marketing a fantastic BBQ wok. Carefully thought out, perfectly engineered, and extremely sturdy, this is the ultimate veggie griller for use on an outdoor barbeque. And it even has handles for lifting it onto and off the grill.

My suggested method of using this great little round basket wok is as follows:

Take a mixing bowl and fill it with various vegetables you have selected from your garden or the local purveyor. Before the veggies go into the bowl chop them up in one inch lengths.(Cut at a forty-five degree angle for artistic effect if you like.) Various squashes, onions, peppers, eggplant and anything else you can think of work great. Roma tomatoes are particularly delicious and juicy and grill perfectly. I love to add several jalapeños sliced length-wise with the seeds left in. (This adds a delicious heat to all the vegetables that are being grilled.) When your bowl is filled to your satisfaction drizzle a little olive oil over the mixture and add some high quality garlic salt. Stir things up and you are ready for the grill. Take your new BBQ wok and spray it with Pam or just brush on some of the olive oil you used for the veggies. Place the empty and oiled BBQ wok onto the barbeque grill and wait until it is good and hot. Dump your prepared vegetables into the wok and stir with a soft (Teflon) spatula while you drink a delicious glass of excellent wine from the BELLA inventory. When the veggies are cooked and nicely browned, remove the wok from the barbeque using two pot holders and dump the contents back into your kitchen bowl that still contains olive oil and garlic salt residue from the original mixing. You might consider throwing a few raw shrimp into the BBQ wok while cooking the vegetables or you could buy two woks and cook shrimp, scallops, pieces of fish or some chunks of chicken breasts separately while the veggies are grilling. I haven't tried small pieces of steak yet, but I believe they would be outstanding. Remember to treat your BBQ wok(s) with consideration and respect. No automatic dishwasher or abrasive scrubbers. Just hot water and a little liquid dish soap will work fine. Bon appetite.

The Grill Basket is one of my favorite pieces, if you love kebabs and you hate trying to turn those little skewers- you will absolutely LOVE this basket!! Line up the kebabs, lock it up and put it on the grill. Turn the entire basket once and voila!! no burned fingers and perfectly grilled kebabs! I've also done steelhead and salmon steaks in the basket.

Tastes Like CHICKEN SHOULD!!

Grandpa's Farm is what you'd call a small family operation.
Real Small.
It's just Connie and Kurt who decided that they weren't ready for rockin' chairs on the porch but loved the idea of raising baby chicks and putting
LOCAL
FREE RANGE
HAPPY CHICKEN
on the table for local consumers to enjoy! Whoopee!
I for one am a happy chicken eater and I couldn't help but smile when a devoted customer (who has her own cookbook and has lived in this valley for somewhere in the neighborhood of 60+ years) called to tell me she hadn't "tasted chicken this good in 30 years!"
I thought it was good chicken before but then I was sure!
I've roasted them (stuffed with lemons and herbs), BBQ'd (with Spicy Chipotle Sauce from Red Tail Ale), cubed and stirfried with fresh veggies and each time I take a bite (and then marvel over the flavor) I just giggle with glee!
How many people can pop over to their local market and pick up a chicken raised less than 15 miles from the store and processed by the owner of the chicken?
NOBODY touches Grandpa's chickens 'cept Grandma!

I am so proud of these folks and so thrilled to offer their chicken at BELLA Main Street Market (7 'til 7, 7 days a week - now and forever!)
Last night was the BBQ option, I simply quartered the bird (you won't believe it, there's NO FAT on this poultry!!) and rubbed it with the sauce, popped it into a hot oven and roasted it until the juices ran clear. I served with Napoli Bucantino Pasta tossed with roasted NE Farms Roja Garlic, Caspian Pink Tomatoes, sweet Walla Walla Onions and some of that absolutely amazing Fiorentina Zucchini from my own garden. A pinch of sea salt, some crushed peppercorns and a small bit of the Mamma Junes's Tuscan Tomato Herb Blend is all I add (plus the required amount of olive oil!) I grate a bit of fresh Pecorino Romano over the top and pour a glass of Ciacci Piccoliamini Rosso and all is well in the world!
Of course, we'd had fresh grilled steelhead the night before and it's always hard to follow something so incredibly tasty and fresh like Deschutes big fish but Grandpa's Farm Chicken was getting no complaints!

If you'd like to try it for yourself, join us in historic downtown Baker City this Saturday for the Taste of Baker City and the festivities of Fall Festival. BELLA Main Street Market will be celebrating local agriculture from 4 'til 8 pm under sunny skies. Come on down, grab some 'wooden nickels' and enjoy the fruits of Oregon's harvest!

• NE FARMS Roasted Organic Garlic with Sourdough Baguette


• Free Samples of Grandpa's Farm Chicken and Turkey


• Horse Drawn Organics Oven Roasted Sweet Corn on the Cob


• Eagle Creek Orchards Fresh Alberta Peaches & Whipped Cream


• Michele's Handmade Chocolate Truffles


• Weiser Classic Candy Company Hand Dipped Velvet Mints


• Oregon Peppermint Chai

And last but not least, it's the wine tasting of the season!! Buy a crystal BELLA wineglass for just 6 wooden nickels ($6) and taste through the new shipment that just arrived from Spain and Italy along with an amazing dessert wine from Malaga, sparking Moscato d'Asti and a fabulous little Oregon Pinot noir that we are simply mad about!

HOPE TO SEE YOU ON MAIN STREET THIS SATURDAY!!

By the way... Congrats!!! to Charles Smith - the genius behind the wheel of K Vintners. We loved you even before you were famous in WW2 and we still think your wines absolutely ROCK and that's why we feature them so proudly in the cellar at BELLA!

Great story about wine labels - check it out!

http://www.kval.com/news/59563347.html

That's FIRE... THAI FIRE!!

Sarah called to correct me - and suddenly everything made more sense!
Aha!
It's not Thai Fine... it's THAI FIRE!

This garlic has a slow building heat that is sumptuous and breathtaking all at the same time. Gorgeous cloves with an intense yet complex aroma, but take a tiny bite of the raw and you'll be stunned with the most wonderful hot flavor. It reminds me of Thai Holy Basil sauces - all these layers of flavor and then you realize... wow, there's some heat too! It mellows beautifully on the palate and was delicious in the roasted aubergine, tomato, basil and pork dish I created for dinner! Just tossed with herbs, pepper and sea salt--- oh and a good healthy drizzle of really, really good Italian olive oil --- 45 minutes in the oven and served over Carnaroli rice. It was delicious and Will was happy because there were plenty of leftovers - he calls it 'fish food', as it's what he's eating this weekend while fishing the Deschutes. All the other fisherman have bags of Cheetos and beefsticks, Will dines on Thai Fire Caponata!

After dinner, there was pie.

All you need... is PIE!

Say it with PIE!

and ALWAYS,

Save Room.... there's PIE!

Fresh local Red Haven peaches from Eagle Creek Orchards with 2 cups of Wild Huckleberries and made with unprocessed cane sugar and a bit of fresh grated nutmeg.

All is well in the world.