I count myself lucky to have been one of the multitudes of Itinerant chefs cooking at the Ashland Elks.

Photography by Dave Siemer

Photography by Dave Siemer

Without a Trader Joes anywhere in the vicinity, my holiday wine of choice will be whatever is $2.99 with a real cork at Grocery Outlet that week. If your budget is a bit higher and your options more cosmopolitan than mine, try one of the Weekly's suggestions.

Down at the corner of Hanley and Rte. 238 is a small strawberry field. Originally destined to be plowed under and lost, restoring the field has become a project of one of the Thai families that have moved to Southern Oregon. The resurected fields still produce some of the best berries, outside of my own, and due to a late ...

The cranberry sauce served with last week's Orange Buttercream cake was pefectly in season. Oregon cranberry growers have started showing up  with their bags of berries at the windy, chilly Farmers' Markets.  Brave the elements and pick up some coastal cranberries for your Thanksgiving feast.

I support the arts anyway I can I afford and for Betty LaDuke's Rogue Art Gallery Show for Heifer International, my budget was $10. I went with six loaves of focaccio dressed with lots of caramelized onions, roasted garlic and everything in my pantry. I fired the tops with a propane torch to melt the cheese and give the illusion of ...

It was only a matter of time. One Jacksonvillian offers self-serve flowers over on the alley off "D" Street and a trend is sweeping my small 20 block town. This morning as I biked along the old turn-of-the-century trolley trail, I saw a self-serve herb stand over by Daisy Creek. I can't wait to find out what peer pressure self-serve happens ...

Cottage industries here in my little town in Southern Oregon have gotten creative. One of the ladies of the local amazing Garden Club opened her real cottage garden to all of us by setting up this self-serve bouquet service. Who could resist?

This sauce has followed me throughout my career. It’s a Northwest thing that resonates with taste buds everywhere I’ve worked. It was created to serve with homemade dark chocolate ice cream at the Redstone Inn in Redstone, Colorado. l’ve also served it with citrus marinated grill sea bass  when I was the executive chef at the Camlin Hotel in Seattle and ...