I am writing to you from the Corner Café in Brownsville, Oregon, a tiny historic pioneer town located at the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in the fertile Willamette Valley. It is beautiful out here, surrounded by the mountains. Although we had frost this morning, now it is sunny and gorgeous. I can't concentrate with the smells of fresh brewed coffee, cinnamon rolls and apple cobbler coming from the oven!

This is my second trip to Brownsville in the last couple of weeks. I have become enamored with sheep farming! I first came here to visit some friends while on my way to the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. One of them dropped out of the high tech world of computer security and now works on a commercial sheep ranch when he’s not tending the filbert orchard.

Well it's lambing time at the ranch and and things are busy twenty-four hours a day. I asked if I could go along help out. I had even brought my rubber vineyard boots with me!.

As soon as we arrived at the barn, one of the Ewes was having trouble delivering her lamb. I watched with amazement as Don, the owner, reached in and pulled the baby out! I'm glad I was paying attention, because the next day, I had to do the same thing by myself! I guess that's what they mean by "connecting to the source of your food"

Since that first day I have had a blast! I have helped pull out twins and triplets, I have put holding pens together, loaded stock trailers, checked fences, mucked stalls, herded sheep, bottle fed babies, and even worked the night watch.

Kathy, Karen and I "worked" the baby lambs, Randy gave me delivery pointers, George showed me how to load the "raceway" and "bagg" the ewes! And most days we had lunch at Shirley May’s!

Yesterday, Raphael, a stockman from southern Chile, showed me how to skin and butcher a lamb. I watched as he deftly removed the hide and the entrails, then put a metal rod between the bones on the back legs and hung the carcass uo by the silo. Before I left the farm that night , Raphael and I took it down and laid it out on a table in the barn so that I could cut off one of the loins for dinner!

The Willamette Valley is also known for fabulous pinot noir, filberts (hazelnuts), walnuts, white truffles, chanterelles, and marionberries. It is truffle season right now, but I can't go out hunting until I finish this note!

San Francisco Winter Fancy Food Show San Francisco is one of the places I go each winter to try to find new food discoveries for you! It is always a great experience.

I found delicious new cheeses to bring in from Italy, Sardinia, Spain and small farms in the States. I had a chance to meet incredible people; cheese makers, olive oil makers, chocolatiers, orchardists, cured meat specialists, vintners.

These are people who are passionate about what they are producing, growing, farming, and crafting. I love to be around that kind of energy!

I attended terrific seminars that gave me insight into many aspects of my business and the fascinating world of food. Gary Guittard and Michael Recchiuti were among the knowledgeable and fascinating guest speakers at a discussion on fine chocolate .

Jean-Louis Carbonnier spoke to me at length about the production of Comte St. Antoine, a wonderful French cow's milk cheese from the Jura in the French Alps, that we sell at the market.

Full ripe, buttery olive flavor! Exceptional quality, only 1000 bottles were produced! I tasted this in San Francisco at the Winter Fancy Food Show and I had to order it! I was only able to order two cases because of the limited production! There is only one importer to the US and demand for this jewel is very high because it is so rare!

This extraordinary oil comes from the internationally acclaimed Master Taster, Avelino Vea of the VEA Estate in northern Spain’s Catalanregion. For generations this family has represented quality of the highest level in both the cultivation of the olive trees and the extraction of the oil. They also produce Lerida and L’Estornell, which you may have tried at the Pellston Market.

To make Les Costes, Mr.Vea explained to me that they have chosen the olives of one of their best properties with the oldest trees. The average age of these trees is 200 years! Some of them are over 500 years old! The hand picked harvest is much smaller than that of a younger grove and the results are magical!<br>
Come in and try some, I will reserve one bottle for myself to share with you! I am hoping to receive the shipment by the second week of February. I think the price will be in the $42-$45 range for a 500ml bottle. It comes in a beautiful box and it would make a fabulous gift for someone you love!

I hope you can join us for one of our next dinners! February 10, February 24, and March 1, 2007 Call 231/539-7100 to reserve!

Till next time, Bon Appetit Nancy