in season

What came first, the chicken or the egg? The egg I think. Its smooth curves and cool shell just look like the perfect blank spot from which a beginning can get its start on. Plus, they’re delicious. As egg lovers, a few years ago, my husband and I decided to maximize some of the space … Continued

Standing in a supermarket on a rainy March day, I find myself under the fluorescent lights examining apples to fill a bag for my kitchen fruit bowl. One by one I choose them, firm and enticing, until I have all I want. What’s unusual about this early spring apple selection scene? Absolutely nothing. Even though … Continued

It was the green that lured us. The hills that surround the Yakima Valley have an ease and softness to them that is unique—like creation exhaled over the land, and as its breath slowly fell to the earth, the roundedness of the downward drift held its shape. This time of year, with extra moisture and … Continued

The sun feels good on my head as I look at our distorted reflection in the quilted chrome of Le Truck on a recent blue sky day in Yakima. Aileen, Shelley and I are waiting patiently to get a bite of the tasty, truck-born vittles we have been hearing so much about. Standing around waiting … Continued

The beer is alive. No, really, it is. And, it’s being held by its master in a cellar beneath the The Beer Shoppe, in downtown Yakima, Washington. While sitting at the wooden bar with a fresh pour of cask ale, I met the owner of the shoppe, Jeff Clemmons and the shoppe’s British Cellar Master, Tony Mitchelhill, someone … Continued

Our out of town guests always insist on a Mexican meal (or two!) when they visit Yakima for a weekend, knowing that we are extremely spoiled because of the many authentic Mexican restaurants and taco vans located throughout the Valley. For about the past ten years, I have attempted to make Mexican-styIe beans but the inconsistency with each outcome lead me … Continued

It’s fantastic to be on the downhill side of the winter solstice. With the shortest day of the year behind us, there is something about our time in the sunlight getting incrementally longer with each passing day that makes the cold and the snow that much easier to embrace. I always think of this time … Continued

After being hypnotized by the auctioneer’s steady hum at the Toppenish Livestock Commission last week, we thought we’d go full circle and visit a local butcher to see what it takes to get that meat to plate. Just off of Jones Road near Highway 97 in the Wapato countryside, we pulled off the pavement in … Continued

I was surprised to feel the vibration in my feet. The auctioneer’s chant was so loud and continuous it actually created a noticeable presence in the space, like a thick sonorous fog slowly curling into every corner of the amphitheater and penetrating the walls and floorboards, my shoes helpless to stop the din as it … Continued