TracyFood

Foto Friday: belated pizza edition. 22 May 2010 1:06 pm

Posted by Tracy in : eugene,oregon,pictures,pizza,potatoes,random,restaurants,vegan,vegetarian , View Comments

I was on a posting roll this week, readers, but then yesterday I got distracted and completely forgot to post the best which I had been saving for last: pictures of two specialty pies from Pizza Research Institute in Eugene, OR. We got them the week of Peter’s graduation, which means I’ve been meaning to post about them, and PRI, for not quite a year now. Whoops. But better late than never, right? Right. So here goes.

Don’t worry, there are bigger versions of these pictures later.

Some of you may be asking, “Wait, Tracy, Pizza Research Institute?” Why yes, dear readers unfamiliar with Eugene, that would be the establishment with the unforgettable slogan “Tomorrow’s Pizza Today.” (more…)

Foto Friday: Linguine Alfredo recipe, for Piett. 15 January 2010 11:08 pm

Posted by Tracy in : Holland,Netherlands,cheese,convenience,cooking,eating,eugene,family,hot mess,pasta,photos,pictures,random,recipes,restaurants,vegetarian,work , View Comments

So I’m back from Holland and recovering from the trip, but still pretty freaking tired and nowhere near done uploading and organizing all the pictures I took. Today’s photo post was going to be all about flying fancy-style, but like I said, I haven’t quite got those pictures processed. Instead, I’m going to blog my dinner, which happens to relate back to my trip in more than just the “so tired, can’t get stuff organized” way. You see, on Tuesday night my brother Piett and I made a huge pasta dinner for my parents, my Oma, my aunt Ingrid, uncle Dako, their daughters Stéphanie and Claudia, and Stéphanie’s boyfriend Raymond (to be perfectly fair, Claud made her own food but I was still happy to have something that almost everyone could agree to eat). We cooked 1 1/2 kilos of spaghetti and three different sauces for people to mix and match to their own tastes: tomato-meat, tomato-vegetable sauce, and creamy pesto. Piett was an awesome sous-chef, and somewhere in the chatting over cooking we got to the topic of Alfredo sauce. My basic point was that it’s super-easy, and Piett said he’d like me to show him how to make it some time. While this post is not the video podcast recipe he suggested, it’s a step in that direction.

Linguine Alfredo: it’s what was for my dinner tonight.

(more…)

Saying goodbye to Eugene. 25 August 2009 7:08 am

Posted by Tracy in : CSA,Morning Glory,cooking,eating,eggs,eugene,events,fangirl,friends,fun,garden,good news,local food,meat,news,not even vegetarian,nyc,oregon,seasonality,summer,writing , View Comments

I wrote this piece for an assignment on personal essays and memoir in my food writing class last fall, and it isn’t exactly true anymore — I have had a few more last Saturdays in Eugene since the one described here. It’s still emotionally true, perhaps more so than ever now, and it’s appropriate, since Peter is saying goodbye to Eugene this morning and coming home to New York City, at last, with his shield, not on it. Congratulations, love. See you soon.

* * * * *

My last Saturday in Eugene, Oregon was pretty well perfect, thanks to a chance encounter with some carrot greens. I spotted them in the totebags of a pedestrian on the bike path south of the Lane County fairgrounds. She was on her way home from Saturday Market; Peter and I were riding our tandem to coffee after a morning of blueberry picking with Kevin and Laurel. It was August second, and thanks to those greens, I remembered it was our last chance to go to Saturday Market before our move. So after coffee, pastries, and a stumper of a New York Times crossword puzzle, we said goodbye to Kevin and Laurel. They rode south, and Peter and I went north, to our last Saturday Market for a long time. (more…)

A few good causes. 3 December 2008 7:04 am

Posted by Tracy in : eugene,friends,news,nyc,people,restaurants,time versus money , View Comments

Eugeniuses especially, take note:

I got some sad news over the weekend and I’ve decided to stop keeping it to myself. Mark Zolun, chef/co-owner of Eugene’s Iraila and all around great guy, has bladder cancer. (Some of you may remember that one of my first TracyFood posts was about my interview with Mark for my first food studies class.) He was diagnosed in September, right after he and his partner Kenne closed the restaurant to prepare for their transition to an exciting new location in Eugene, and the fact that he has this interim period to heal is a bright spot in his favor. Not so favorable is the fact that, like many small business owners, Mark has no health insurance. What he does have, however, is friends. (Some of whom are across the country wishing we could do more, and gritting teeth about being enraged at cancer yet again…. grrr.)

Catering jobs are out as a source of income, but there’s a fund set up in his name at Washington Mutual (again, that’s Mark Zolun, account #3411304029, and donations are tax deductible). More deliciously, there are some benefit events coming up in and around Eugene, and I would love it if anybody reading this checks them out or helps in any other way. (more…)

Oh please. 4 November 2008 5:01 am

Posted by Tracy in : eugene,news,pictures,politics,responsibility , View Comments

I’ve got even fewer fingernails now than when that picture was taken:

…but according to the U.S. postal service, my ballot was received on Saturday afternoon. So. If you haven’t yet taken your turn, I want you to vote, as hard as you can. And even if you’re not eligible to do so in the U.S. this time around, I hope you’ll join me in hoping for the very best this Election Day. (more…)