Fun at Elevation, and Other Stuff

The Master Food Preservers met at the Elevation Restaurant in Bend (yes, I'm still participating until June), which is connected with the Culinary Institute there.  Meals are prepared from local products right there at the Institute, and are prepared and served by students.  The entire facility is lovely; lots of glass, a great open kitchen area, and elegant place settings.

Today's menu was quite adventurous, I thought, given that the last time I was there (granted, for a banquet where everyone got the same meal) we were served ground chicken shaped like a chicken breast.

We shared the crab cakes, potato salad and charcuterie plate as appetizers,

I was too slow to photograph the other appetizers

and each item on the charcuterie plate was made by students in the Institute, except the cheese:  the bleu came from the Rogue Creamery (still Oregon, tho) and the chevre was from nearby Tumalo Farms.

I had the halibut and salmon dish:

Katie had the risotto,

and Jenny had the pork loin, right side up.

The prices were reasonable, and Katie and Jenny loved their dishes, but those of us with the halibut and salmon were unimpressed.  A shame, but then visiting was great; it's always fun to get together with these folks.

Remember my new year's resolution to "Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do or Do Without?"  Well, that does not apply to anything related to running or working out, because I had to have bluetooth headphones and my new Garmin Forerunner 10 arrived today, yay!

The Forerunner was to be my reward for finishing my upcoming half marathon, but I figured, 'Hey, I need it FOR the half marathon!'  And they just came out with this Vikings purple model, so the stars were aligned....

Finally, even though that rotten OSU won't let me teach public workshops anymore (see why here), I think it's important that this information get to as wide an audience as possible, including my five faithful blog readers, so here you go:

These classes are a blast, so if you're in Central Oregon, I'd urge you to sign-up - you almost always get to come home with something you've made, be it mustard, smoked fish, whatever the class is that day.    You'll learn a lot!