The New York Times, Saveur, Portland Monthly, Forkfly — Burgers are apparently as newsworthy today as saying someone’s actions

A creation from Mother's Bistro & Bar's new Burger Bar

are stupid despite the fact that you’re the head of the free world.

Why burgers? Why now?

When my friend Kate Krader from Food & Wine Magazine was in town a few months ago she explained it this way.  ”People are super interested in cooking and food, they want to become authorities on cuisines and dishes but when the economy’s down, they can’t afford to obsess on super high-end ingredients or become experts at something that’s a luxury item.  However, it’s easy to become a burger or pizza afficianado.”

Good editorial instincts Kate, it’s no wonder you’re one of America’s top culinary trend forecasters.

My question though, is the obvious conflict between conventional vs. natural beef.  Anyone who’s read a Michael Pollan book or seen Food Inc. is most likely verging on becoming a vegetarian if not at the very least considering giving up all conventionally raised meats. So, how do food-loving passionate burger fans indulge in burger mania when most offerings are patties made from grain fed, hormone filled, inhumanely treated animals?

We say, think local now more than ever when it comes to your burger cravings.  Develop a solid understanding of where your beef comes from so you can eat with wild abandon.  Here are our top 3 local, grass-fed beef ranchers and/or Co-ops we want to support: Painted Hills Natural Beef, Highland Oak Farm and Ford Farms.  Please consider doing the same.

Wednesday morning it is a tradition for team LAD to head to the Downtown Farmers Market for fresh fruits and other assorted goodies.

Our mission on this (HOT) day: tomatoes and peaches.

We strolled through the bustling booths, all filled to the brim with fresh fruits and vegetables. The atmosphere was alive with enchanting smells and a symphony of voices.

After picking up two bags of tomatoes – there was no shortage! – we set off in search of the perfect peach. We enjoyed several samples before tasting Sweet Sue from Baird Family Orchards. We learned they are a family farm located in Dayton, Oregon and they grow a variety of fruits including cherries, peaches, nectarines, apples, and even pluots (a blend between a plum and an apricot). The energetic salesman offered a pretty good pitch, but the true selling point was the crisp, smooth texture and refreshingly sweet taste.

The Wednesday Downtown Market runs through October 28 and is located in the South Park Blocks at Shemanski Park between SW Salmon & SW Main. Hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visit the website here!

For the past few years I’ve been using Google Reader to keep tabs on my favorite social media bloggers.

When I heard Jeremiah Owyang from Forrester Research, Inc. was heading to Portland as a keynote speaker for the 2009 Internet Strategy Forum I leapt at the chance to meet him.  I’ve been following his blog for about a year and a half and find that he continually produces original and creative thought on a subject inundated with ‘experts.’

On July 22nd the Social Media Club PDX hosted a summer social on the rooftop of the WebTrends building featuring a Q&A with Jeremiah.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn many people there were from creative and communications departments ranging from companies such as iContact to Intel.

Jeremiah gave a brief overview of who was doing what in the world of social media technology and answered questions that had been submitted prior to the meet-up.  While he didn’t have time to go into too much detail, he reiterated some important points related to adopting social media technologies.

For those trying to determine whether or not to use a certain social media technology, Jeremiah referred people to the POST methodology as created by Forrester Research, Inc.  He gave us examples of companies who are using social technology well (Intercontinental Hotel Group, Zappos, Best Buy) and directed our attention to Yahoo!, which is currently in the process of turning their homepage into an aggregate of many existing social networking technologies.

It was refreshing to hear someone speak about social media with a sense of humor.  When answering a question about the online behavior of Americans, he said, “Oh, do you mean U.S. Americans?” (a reference to Miss South Carolina Teen USA)

He ended the meeting with a caution to those businesses looking to utilize social media technologies in other cultures.  He said every culture is different, and every culture uses social networking technology differently.  For example, he explained how mobile phones and mobile social networking technologies are big in Japan.  He cited a recent study claiming Japanese people use the phone to talk for only 4% of the time, and the average person has two phones.

At this point someone lobbed a softball question.

“Why do they have two?”

“I don’t know,” reflected Jeremiah.  “One for the girlfriend and one for the wife …”

The audience erupted into laughter and groans, but all jokes aside his message was pretty clear.  While social media websites like Facebook have 250 million users, not all of them are active users.  Email continues to be the biggest social networking technology, and most of the A-list bloggers use it as their primary mode for communication.  Additionally, mobile applications are becoming increasingly popular and inching towards a junction where they may eclipse desktop applications in popularity.

And finally, he claimed the aggregation of existing social networking technologies will be a key trend for 2010.

If you want to tell your friends you were there first, I recommend checking out these sites:

Friendfeed

TweetDeck

Ping.fm

Burgers galore! The August issue of Portland Monthly contains two burger focused stories – “Create the Perfect Burger” and “Eat Me”.

“Create the Perfect Burger” was a competition between three local chefs and judged by three other culinary professionals/chefs including Nostrana Chef Cathy Whims and Mother’s Bistro and Bar Chef Lisa Schroeder.

“Eat Me” is a best of round-up of burgers in Portland. Ten 01’s Chorizo Burger was a runner-up in the non-beef category.

From high-end restaurants to happy hour joints, check out where you should go to get your next burger in the August issue of Portland Monthly.

The 3rd Annual Maritime Heritage Festival kicks-off today at 2:00 p.m with the largest flotilla in 50 years making its way down the Willamette River.  The Portland Fire Boat will lead the flotilla of 45+ classic vessels from the Broadway Bridge to the RiverPlace Marina.  If you are joining in on the fun at the Oregon Brewers Festival, that is also taking place on the waterfront, be sure not miss this spectacular of classic boats coming down the Willamette!  The Portland Fireboat will be sure to show off its stuff by performing a water demonstration (pictured below).

The Maritime Heritage Festival will be taking place all weekend long at the RiverPlace Marina & Docks.  Here are some highlights of the planned public events:

Friday, July 24, 2009

2:00-4:00 pm:
- Arrival of boats:  Ship Flotilla & Water Parade

Saturday, July 25

10:00 am-4:00 pm:
- Maritime Festival Village (land displays, demonstrations boat building, children’s events, etc.)
- Civil War Naval & Cannon Demonstration
- Dockside Boat Show (many owners available for questions)
- Concours d’Elegance
- Musical performances from regional favorites
- Vintage boat rides (owners’ discretion)

11:00 am & 2:00 pm
- Vintage water skiing show

12:00 noon & 3:00 p.m.
- Civil War Cannon Fire

12:00 – 2:00 pm
- Music: White Rhino

4:00 pm
- Festival ends for the day

Sunday, July 26

10:00 am-4:00 pm
-  Maritime Festival Village (land displays, demonstrations boat building, children’s events, etc.)
- Civil War Naval & Cannon Demonstration
- Dockside Boat Show (many owners available for questions)
- Musical performances from regional favorites
- Vintage boat rides (owners’ discretion)

11:00 a.m. & 2:00 pm
- vintage water skiing & water sports demonstrations

12:00 pm & 3:00 pm
- Civil War Cannon Fire

12:00 – 2:00 pm
- Music: White Rhino

4:30 pm
- Festival Ends

Wildwood Executive Chef Dustin Clark will fire up his barbecue on the patio, grilling fresh ingredients from local farms for the restaurant’s new weekly happy hour – “Garden Grilling.”  The Tuesday happy hour menu celebrates seasonal Pacific Northwest ingredients at Portland prices – $5 each.   The new value-oriented happy hour menu offers three new dishes each week, depending on what the farmers deliver.

Wildwood’s happy hour beverage menu includes white and red wines ($5), a specialty cocktail ($5) and a select beer ($2-$3).

Garden Grilling happy hour will take place on Wildwood’s front patio overlooking NW 21st St. every Tuesday throughout the summer.

DRAPER VALLEY FARMS BEERCAN CHICKEN     5
bob’s red mill cornbread and harissa crème fraîshe

SLOW COOKED SWEET BRIAR FARMS PORK RIBS     5
caraway coleslaw and smoked tomato sauce

TOMATO AND BASIL PIZZETTA     5
fresh mozzarella and arbequina olive oil

HOUSE SELECTED WHITE WINE    5

HOUSE SELECTED RED WINE         5
Willamette valley

JOHN DALY 5/pint glass
bourbon, house made lemonade, iced tea

FULL SAIL, “SESSION ORIGINAL”, LAGER     2
Hood River, Oregon
FULL SAIL, “SESSION BLACK”, LAGER     2
Hood River, Oregon

DOUBLE MOUNTAIN BREWERY, KÖLSCH     3/pint
Hood River, Oregon

It’s Oregon Craft Beer Month, the Oregon Brewers Festival kicks-off this Thursday on the waterfront and barbecue season is in full swing.  LAD worked with the Oregon Brewers Guild and asked several Portland chefs what they would recommend as the perfect barbecue and beer pairing. John Foyston of the Oregonian picked up the pairings and posted them on Oregonlive.com.  Check out the full list of pairings here.

Whether it is ribs with a Bridgeport Blue Heron Pale Ale or lamb with a Terminal Gravity IPA, check out these recommendations from local chefs and try them out at your next barbecue.

It’s been a varied and outrageously wonderful trip to South Africa so far, I’ll share more when I’m back in the states.  We’ve done a week horseback safari in St. Lucia, seen cheetahs at Phinda, sailed with 4 humpback whales, and waddled with penquins.  But now we’re taking off our safari hats and we’ve gone urban scouting on Table Mountain and noshed as much ethnic food as we could manage — full LAD list to be published end of July.

gorgeous winter morning coffee with Table Mountain just behind us

After 3 dreadful cups of coffee yesterday, we were pleased to discover Cafe Vida in the Gardens neighborhood, just around the corner from our hotel (www.hippotique.co.za).  The lightly roasted beans and espresso was pulled just right.  My new favorite morning treat was their oversized four-cheese, onion and corriander muffin. The Indian spices infuse many moments in Cape Town, and we’re loving them all.

More TK.

Each Tuesday for the past two weeks Wildwood’s new Garden Grilling happy hour has enticed this young LAD to put in a little time off the clock.

Ok, I haven’t actually been working (as demonstrated by the $2 bottle of Session Black gracing my table) …

… but regardless I’ve found it impossible to miss Wildwood’s exhibition of garden grilling at its finest.  Their menu offers delicious gourmet dishes using seasonal ingredients at prices that well, even an intern can afford.

On June 30th we enjoyed three dishes (all $5 each) from the kickoff menu including:

•    Grilled lamb ribs with red harissa
•    Grilled yogurt marinated chicken, cucumber raita and summer lettuces
•    Grilled flatbread pizzetta, mozzarella, basil, olive oil and chili flakes

I couldn't wait to take a nib

Garden Grilling happy hour takes place on Wildwood’s front patio overlooking NW 21st St. every Tuesday throughout the rest of the summer from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.  The new value-oriented happy hour menu offers three new dishes each week, depending on what the farmers deliver.  Wildwood is also now offering happy hour beverages, including white and red wines ($5), a specialty cocktail ($5) and a select draft beer ($3).

We caught them in their natural habitat!

It’s Oregon Craft Beer Month and Red Star Tavern & Roast House is teaming with Eugene’s Ninkasi Brewing Company for a 5-course beer pairing dinner this Wednesday night.  Check out more about this dinner in the July 10th A&E.