One Local Summer, Week 11

On Friday, I took a cooking class with three friends at the In Good Taste Cooking School in Northwest Portland. This is the second one that a couple of us have taken and it is a great way to learn some new things and have a lovely dinner. This class was called "Dog Days Dinner Party" - a menu you can prepare in the cool part of the morning and then serve on a hot summer evening. Little did they know, when the class was planned in April, that August 15 would turn out to, in fact, be a true dog day in Portland. Seeing Ken's comment to this post, I'm adding an quick edit. It reminded me that I had forgotten to put in the name of the instructor for this class - Ken Hoyt. With a demonstration class, the instructor's ability to carry on an entertaining conversation can make a big difference in the enjoyment of the class and we really did have a good time. Thanks, Ken.

One thing on the menu was "Summer Corn Salad". So, for tonight's dinner, I tried it out.
The salad is made with:
tomatoes (Denison Farms in Corvallis)
corn (from Washington)
red onion and bell pepper (our CSA)
avocado (not local)
cilantro (California, unfortunately, since my plant is dead)
pine nuts and jalapeno pepper (can't remember where they came from)
and dressed with olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper

We had it with quesadillas made with local whole wheat tortillas, Tillamook pepper jack cheese, the same tomatoes, jalapeno and cilantro that I used in the salad. Turned out to be a nice summer dinner.

Our heat wave seems to have come to an end - for which we are all pretty much thankful, including Molly. Looks like we'll even have a little rain this week which should make the garden plants happy.