azurite

In the PNW: fresh halibut, line caught tuna--grilled (so different from canned tuna), smoked tuna. Fresh sardines (cooked). I have yet to be able to get the last in OR though, at least where I live, there's a sardine fishery off of OR but apparently the local fishing boats aren't equipped to fish for sardine, so that they get (much larger then the size that eaten) it used for bait. Or that's what a former commercial fisherperson who now runs a seafood restaurant (featuring locally caught seafood) told me.

I've never cooked on Amtrak, but I've attended sessions on food menu/meal development on Amtrak & once was taken on a very short/quick tour of the kitchen on one of the Superliners. The trend on Amtrak is to provide almost prepared meals to the staff of the dining car and they are provided w/training on how to prepare/present the meals they are provided with. Breakfast eggs (scrambled, etc.) are still prepared (from eggs) on the train/prior to serving because so many passengers criticized the alternatives. Amtrak does have chefs (both for LD and for some regional trains) and they have been expanding the menus available, particularly on LD trains. Acela first class meals have long been chef designed; the food is very good. The kitchens are on the lower level of the dining car in LD cars, the food is transported to the passenger level by dumbwaiters. The kitchen seemed pretty cramped/likely to be hot to me and the sleeping car attendant who gave me the short "tour" indicated that was the case.

The # of USDA inspectors and inspections of slaughterhouses, etc., in the US has decreased (I believe, but am not sure, that the decrease started during the Clinton administration) because the industry could "regulate itself." See also http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/politics/ for a short history of the influence of the meat packing industry, etc., on US legislation since the 1990's re: meat and agency actions. Then think about the recent notable failure of the FDA to ban the prophylactic use of various antibiotics in animals raised for meat. https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/12/29-10 after all that, I'm not as sure as you that the food supply is that "safe." For me food "honesty" = what "artisan" has come to mean (nothing) = "homecooked" when applied to restaurant food or prepared foods sold in a supermarket. Maybe it means something other than a new advertising term to some of the chefs using the term, otherwise, I agree w/tikidoc (sp?)--doesn't apply to food.

just to update for anyone visiting Newport during the winter. This year a winter farmers' market started in Newport. Just like the summer market, it's held on Saturday, but in a building at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds. I went once in November, and there was more crafts & some interesting art, then food. However, Walker Farms (locally raised meat, several kinds of bacon, goose, chicken, beef, pork) and at least one seller of honey were there. Here's a link w/information re: location, schedule, etc. http://tenriversfoodweb.org/home/grand-opening-of-the-newport-winter-market-9846/

Plenty of hickory nuts in my mother's backyard on Long Island (NY). She has several hickory trees & I can remember stepping on them (hurts if you're barefoot) in the autumn. I think one reason there's a fairly large population of squirrels in the area is because of those trees. We used to see squirrels burying some of the nuts in the ground. Requires some time & preparation after picking before you can shell & eat them. http://www.ehow.com/how_5539153_eat-hickory-nuts.html

Somewhere on eGullet there's a thread about a 3rd choice: cook on the weekend (not all weekend) or on day/days off, freeze the food in single portions. Thaw as needed during during the week for dinner. Either for nights when there's no time to cook, the people who cook are too tired to cook, etc. Maybe pizza/takeout 1x/week or less. The thread also discussed how to utilize leftovers in other meals during the week, without expanding the cooking time. Iirc, many of the people posting worked & had children. Bittman's post seemed ok to me, he pointed out something I've observed, which is that many people (not all but many) make time for what they want to do or what they see as relaxing or "not work." TV, surfing the net, posting on Facebook, gaming, whatever. It is, to some extent, as he says, that cooking is felt to be work. Particularly, I think for some women, who so often got told it was their job or "women's work." Not to mention having to deal w/children who were picky eaters I was one of them, at least according to my father, although compared to what I've read here & elsewhere, I was only moderately choosey.

In addition to Local Ocean in Newport (on the bay front), there is a good restaurant in Depoe Bay (smallest harbor in OR) called Tidal Raves. Nice view of the ocean from some of the tables. Further north is Lincoln City, and there are several pretty good places there: Andaman Thai http://www.andamancuisine.com/ although I haven't been there in over a year. Also: Blackfish Cafe http://www.blackfishcafe.com/ and there is one other restaurant that's supposed to be quite good, The Bay House, http://www.thebayhouse.org/ If you like books, don't miss Robert's Books in Lincoln City. It's a second hand bookstore in what was probably once a house, maybe more than one house, so there are many rooms and many books. A very good selection of used books, including cookbooks, and the books are reasonably priced, http://www.robertsbookshop.com/ One of the people that works there has a phenomenal recall of the bookstore's stock. She has helped me find at least one non-fiction book when I could not remember the title or author, but only what it was about. The bookstore also has a good collection of book illustrations (for some of the older mysteries, thrillers, etc.) decorating the walls, and some weapons (spears, harpoons) hanging from the ceiling. I haven't gone further north in so long that I don't feel able to offer any more suggestions. There used to a be a great pie place in Garibaldi, but that was years ago.

Two good restaurants in Albany (almost adjacent to Corvallis), Sybaris http://www.sybarisbistro.com/ (on First Street in the old Albany downtown) and Novak's http://www.novakshungarian.com/ The chef/cooks at Sybaris use some local ingredients, like to experiment a little (usually the experiments turn out well) and the plating is almost always very good. Service is usually very good as well. If you go to Sybaris, the Carousel store/museum is almost across the street, if it's open, it's worth a visit. I like Albany's downtown, it's adjacent to a river & there's a park on either side of the river (downtown). If you visit on a Saturday, you can walk 4-5 blocks from Sybaris to the courthouse & check out the Albany Farmers market http://locallygrown.org/home/ You don't say where on the coast you'll be traveling, if you drove west from Corvallis to the OR coast, you could go to Newport's bay front and eat at Local Ocean, locally caught fish/seafood cooked well http://localocean.net/locations . Not too sure about what's good from Newport south to Brookings. There is a pleasant coffee shop/independent bookstore in Gold Beach, OR. http://www.oregoncoastbooks.com/ Ate here once: http://restaurants.uptake.com/oregon/port_orford/griff_s_on_the_dock_27066300.html the food was ok, I think we went there more for the location--the Port Orford "port" is worth seeing, quite small and the boats are lowered into the water by crane. Grif's is pretty much on the docks. There are a few other places in Port Orford to eat (very small town), and there is a beautiful state park, Port Orford Heads http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_61.php that's worth a visit. South Oregon coast is very beautiful w/some wonderful state parks (w/beaches), towns are usually economically depressed.

I'm not sure why live music has to be loud, or why most musicians in restaurants and bars, no matter how small, feel they have to use amplifiers. I've been to classical music and choral concerts where 7 (or was it 9?) well trained vocalists singing a capella (w/no electronic amplification) filled a large church (w/good acoustics) with their song. Maybe it reflects a lack of confidence on the part of the musicians or singers, but certainly violins/fiddles, pianos & drums can be quite loud w/out electronic amplification. Like so many of you, I strongly dislike loud restaurants. If possible, I e-mail a new place I'm considering trying ahead of time & ask about the noise level, although I don't always get a straight answer. I am clear about wanting to be able to talk to my dining partners w/out raising my voice. There are a few places I won't go to (I'll do takeout instead) because of the noise level. Not all restaurants will turn down the canned muzak volume if you ask (even if you ask politely), some will, some will have their staff tell you something like: "we can't control the volume, it's set automatically" or something like that. That's when I leave if I can. 95% of the time I'm dining w/friends and being able to talk to them w/out straining or having to raise my voice is part of the pleasure of sharing a meal with them. I've disliked overly loud noise since I was young and stopped attending rock concerts years ago when the volume started getting cranked way up. If I go to a movie theater, I wear earplugs as the theater closest to me cranks up the volume for some reason. The sound track level discourages me from seeing more movies there as well. Several years ago I started feeling like some kind of outlier because I dislike loud restaurants--although people's voices don't bother me much unless it's a child screaming or someone talking very loudly on his/her cell--it's the overamplified live music or cranked up canned muzak. I have difficulty tolerating the muzak played at ever increasing volumes in supermarkets, etc. and have asked that the muzak be turned off at my dentist's office (they do and no one seems to mind). Nice to know I'm not a complete outlier, although a year or so ago, there was an article in the Boston Globe about restaurants/noise levels and the article's author told me that of all the e-mails regarding the article she'd received, none indicated that they wanted more noise in restaurants, most were like mine, wishing for less noise.

Sometimes, but the sound on my notebook is turned off or disabled, so it's not a problem. I don't know if you can shut off the sound on iphones, android phones, etc. If I want to listen to something/turn the sound back on, I plug in headphones or earbuds. Given how many restaurants play muzak (at increasingly loud volumes, it sometimes seems), it's not much of a surprise to find that they feel ok about subjecting people to the same before they even get to the restaurant. If the site allows it, I now send an e-mail to wherever I'm thinking about going, ask about the restaurant's noise level, although I've gotten some vague responses. My criteria (that I state in the e-mail) is that X number of people will be dining and we'd like to be able to hear each other's conversation w/out straining or raising our voices, and all of us have normal hearing, as far as we know. And some websites are as described, but I've had reasonably good luck w/the sites for several restaurants in Portland, OR, and in the Corvallis/Albany area.

Yes, to either of the two co-ops I shop at, for the bulk goods. One supplies containers (and you can donate clean plastic & glass containers to the co-op, the employees sterilize them and they're put out for others to use). I'll resuse the clear plastic bags for produce, etc., & I've used reusable cloth bags for years. Fred Meyer, a department/grocery store chain in OR (now owned by Kroger), has a 5 cents off if you use your own bag deal, so my bags have probably paid for themselves by now. I shop there sometimes although the bulk of my food shopping is done at the co-ops, w/some done at the farmers' markets or u-pick for a few kinds of produce in season. I bring my own containers/bags to the latter two as well. Neither co-op has a similar policy although at the larger of the two co-ops, you get a "bean" (dried bean) for every cloth/reusable bag you bring with you (not including the plastic produce bags), and near the exit there's a stack of containers or boxes each w/a hole to drop a bean through. Each is labeled w/the name/title of an organization. The co-op will donate so much of its revenues to each organization per bean dropped into its container/box. The list of organizations changes, I think right now it's a boys' and girls' club, local wildlife refuge, a couple other entities.

Learned by cutting a few fingers & grating raw the same place twice on my index finger (did it the second time just after the skinned area had almost healed), that it's best to concentrate on what I'm doing and NOT replay in my mind whatever frustrating incidents might've occurred that day while I'm slicing & dicing veg or grating a chunk of Parmesan. Had to grab the handle of a hot iron skillet a few times before it sunk into the more primitive parts of my brain that the handles of cast iron skillets get much hotter, burning hot as it happens, than that of my other pots, pans, skillets, so keeping something w/insulating properties (silicon pad, whatever) between my hand and the skillet handle is advisable.

River's Edge Chevre http://threeringfarm.com/ Alsea Acres goat cheese http://207.55.114.76/goats/index.html , Walker Farms http://www.walkerfarmssiletz.com/ for eggs, chickens, other types of meat (I think they might be trying to do some sausage too) and there's a local business that sells canned salmon & smoked salmon but I can't remember the name. There's a local seafood restaurant run/started by the daughter of a commercial fisherman (she used to fish too) http://localocean.net/ The restaurant includes a fish/seafood counter if you want to buy local fish/seafood--for a variety of reasons it's not possible to buy everything caught by fishermen operating out of the local harbor(s) directly from the fishermen. You can buy crab and tuna direct, maybe halibut if you get there fast enough (the commercial season is quite short), sometimes salmon. Not quite so local is Rogue Valley creamery http://www.roguecreamery.com/ probably over 150 miles away. If yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream, and kefir & some soy products can be artisanal, then Springfield Creamery (Nancy's yogurt)in the Willamette Valley is http://www.nancysyogurt.com/ I think Nancy's yogurt is available nationally, I know I've seen it in both a supermarket and a health food store on Long Island (NY). I usually make my own jams, marmalades and fruit butters, but I think there may be a few local people who sell those as well. At one time, the south & central/north central Oregon coast and inland up to the west side of the coast range, had a number of creameries, i.e, lots of dairy herds because sometimes the soil & often the growing season wasn't good for growing grains or other cash crops (Willamette Valley is better). One of the state parks on the coast was a successful dairy farm for years, I think until WWII. Most of the creameries have disappeared. It's been interesting to see a few of them return (Rogue Valley, Tillamook Dairy Cooperative is still successful and bought the Bandon Creamery--made Bandon cheddar--some years ago) and small goat dairies start & seem to do ok, some of the cheeses have won awards, etc. http://www.nwcheese.com/or.htm Tumalo Farms (in Bend, OR, so not particularly local for me) won some more awards (American Cheese Society) in 2010.

I have some concerns about use of sludge on fields--heavy metals, antibiotics, etc. All of that is ending up in rivers, no reason to believe a certain percentage of the same compounds aren't ending up in the sludge. I've never understood why landfill methane was regarded as a bad thing when it can be used as a source of energy. As far back as 1981, I remember reading an article stating that NYC was going to be building tertiary treatment sewage plants and that they'd be powered by landfill/sludge methane and no more worries about summer brown-outs & blackouts when the sewage plant gates open and let sewage flow into the LI Sound, etc. because of the lack of electricity. Guess that hasn't happened, not a surprise I suppose. The local landfill where I live now (small town) was closed several years ago and has pipes to release the methane. What a waste. There's still a recycling and drop off center there, so any electricity generated could be used.

The Kiva in Eugene, OR, in the early-mid 1980's. First time I saw foods sold in bulk, outside of a farmstand or farmers' market. It was small, but pleasant. Several years ago I was in that part of Eugene, & the store was still there. Next place I went to was Sundance Foods, a little bigger, and I think sold meat as well, plus a good wine section, iirc, some OR wines-there were not nearly as many wineries in OR then as there are now. I think it still exists, and is in the same location too, but I'm not sure about that. It was visiting those stores, plus going to the Saturday Farmers' & Craft market in Eugene (I could walk to it) that got me interested in organically grown produce, why it might be better for the soil & water, if not for me.

"Tolerance"--yes, I was a fairly picky or at least small/light eater as a child. It was partly a textural issues, I hated (still do) the mouth feel of some kinds of fat. My mother was great about letting me choose what to eat, chances are, if my father had had more say in the matter (& been around more) I might have been pushed harder. From my mother: schnitzel, wilted cucumbers, stuffed peppers & potato salad. Nussbrusel (sp? a small meringue w/nuts). Maybe pancakes from my father, although mostly I remember watching him, he'd always make a figure pancake for my sister & I. When we were small, we often had pancakes for Sunday breakfast (which we ate all together), and he always made them. From both of my parents: enjoyment of fresh fruit & veg. My father had a good-sized garden when I was small, so we had fresh tomatoes, cukes, apples, pears, lettuce . . . and my mother used to buy other seasonal veg at a downtown covered farmers' market. She made applesauce from my father's apples. I remember sitting w/her & helping her shell peas, popping a few in my mouth every so often--so tasty. Seems like we feasted on fresh corn on the cob every year until I was perhaps 12 or 13 (we'd moved by then, to a different state & didn't have a garden). We used to go to northern MI for a few weeks in the summer, often right around sweet cherry harvest time, they tasted so sweet, and I could have as many as I wanted even if I made myself sick. Now that I think about it, my dad grilled a tasty hamburger or hot dog. My mother was a good cook--although I don't think she enjoyed it greatly-- she rarely cooks now. She had better nutritional knowledge than quite a few other people around & had worked in the lab of a MD research scientist who worked on a couple of vitamins (learning about the structure, perhaps synthesizing it). Since she had been raised in Vienna, Austria, chocolate was not candy, but a food. My grandfather (I only knew one of my grandfathers) used to construct a variety of finger foods or hors d'oeuvres, that was it. I think my grandmother had had a cook for much of her married life (at least before they came to the US) so I don't remember much about what she cooked, if she did--I do remember that she would always have petit fours & Sachertorte or some other kind of torte, that came from the Eclair coffeeshop & bakery, that was just down the block from her building (apartment building). Because, when she gave dinners (family & friends), she used complete settings of tableware, I became familiar fairly young in life, of the uses of all those extra spoons & forks. My grandparents had some interesting friends, some of them had been through alot (as had my mother & her parents). I still have some of the individual small salt shakers my grandmother used to set the table with, glass w/a sterling silver screw top. One for each diner. The person who is truly got me started cooking was my college roommate. I couldn't stand the school meal plan, so got exempted from it (1st years in the dorms were supposed to be on the meal plan) & was trying to cook. I think she was at least partly a self-taught cook (possibly her mom had shown her some stuff) as her mom worked. She's certainly a very good cook, and she was, she told me years later, horrified with what I was doing, so she showed me the basics of stir-fry or Cantonese cooking (she's ethnic Chinese, born in Hong Kong, came to the US when she was 8) and I went from there. The basics I learned were very well suited to the restrictions of dorm facilities. Learned almost everything else from books.

Eclair (Viennese coffee & pastry shop) on the upper West Side--just down the block from my grandparents' apartment. NY delis-there are only a few left on the Island. Real bakeries-- in MI (where I lived as a child) and in NY (where I lived as a teen & college student)-- my mom was not much of a baker, but she didn't need to be when those bakeries existed.

I shifted from buying (in bulk from a local co-op) Guisto's organic baker's flour to buying flour not certified organic grown by some eco-conscious (not the term used) farmers in eastern WA or MT, can't remember which (I'm in the PNW). It could be the latter flour is "organic" but that the farmers don't want to pay to be certified, or not--but for sure it's less expensive. I was ordering 25 lb bags of the Guisto's through one co-op, but when I joined a different (larger one), I got a call from the person in charge of grains telling me I wasn't saving any by special ordering a 25 lb bag but that I should just ask a clerk to fill up a bag w/20 or 25 lbs, whatever I want. I think this co-op, because it's larger, is ordering 50 or 100 lbs at a time itself, so I get the cost benefit of the co-op's larger unit purchases. I stopped buying a local soft goat cheese I really liked when the seller simultaneously decreased the size of the container & increased the price. If I buy it at all now, it's for a special occasion. My ability to perform mental arithmetic is improving as I do much more of it (and I love unit price labeling)--I've spent more time than I have in years calculating whether I can save and by how much by buying in bulk or not. Whether it's bringing my own containers to the co-op or special ordering in bulk. Being a member of this co-op helps, as I can order in bulk through the co-op. If they can get it through one of their wholesalers, I can order it. I do have some budget flexibility so I can save by buying a case or however much I have to buy to do a bulk purchase. Sometimes. I save quite a bit on dried catfood that way. I used to buy a sausage made from free range whatever, but did some price comparison and realized I could save a significant amount of money by buying X amount of ground (free range) pork when it was on sale, and mixing in some spices myself. Not sure how it'll taste (I guessed at the spice/herb amounts), I divided it up into the portion sizes I generally use and froze them. It's for tomato/meat sauce for pasta and I haven't felt like eating that lately--I don't eat much meat anyway. For the past few years, I've gone to a local u-pick place for blueberries. Last year I picked about 12 lbs, that seems to be lasting fairly well, and they freeze well. A friend has a fair amount of land, and while her fruit crops last year were pretty poor (late wet spring), usually I help her pick fruit and berries and take home some of what I pick. Some of it gets eaten, some frozen for later eating, some turned into chutney or jams (for presents as well as home consumption). I plan to expand my veg garden this spring and perhaps buy a bare root berry bush (raspberry or marionberry or loganberry). The local climate limits what I can grow, but for the past two years, I've been able to overwinter kale (it's an amazingly hardy green) so I no longer buy lettuce or other salad greens, either I grow it myself during the growing season, or I'm using kale as the salad green. This year I bought corn salad (mache) seeds to try out as a second winter green. Maybe I'll get brave & try to build an unheated 1/2-1/3 greenhouse (all I have room for in the south-facing part of my yard) and be able to grow a few fruit/veg that require more warmth then normally exists. Working w/wood/old windows is something I have no experience doing.

Tumeric is thought to be useful, I think as an anti-inflammatory, it's the curcumin in it. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/662.html Ginger supposed to be good for you (forget just why, although I think it's used against nausea), thyme contains thymol which I believe is supposed to have some antibiotic and disinfectant properties http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thymol. Garlic is supposed to have some mildly antibiotic properties (I've read that the Russians/Soviets used a garlic compound for that reason during WWII)as well as other useful properties (both external & internal use) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic, such as helping to regulate blood sugar levels. I've seen some health claims for oregano & others in the mint family. Sage is also supposed to have some healthful properties as is rosemary.

Farmers' market on Wednesday on the coast? Where? Corvallis has a Wednesday farmers' market whose last day is the day before TG, but I wasn't aware of one on the coast. I really only keep track of Newport's as that's the closest one to me, but I thought that the one in Yachats was also on Saturday or Sunday (but it's not like I couldn't be wrong). Glad you were able to find a sufficient amount & quality of food. Agree that the Rogue doesn't have particularly good food (I don't drink beer so can't speak to the beer).

I'm responding way too late, but: there's a local organic foods co-op that is pretty good, the name is Oceana, it's definitely listed in the phone book, no idea if it has a website. Can't recall the phone number off hand, and it's not in the tourist areas but across the street from the city's recreation center (a bit east of or behind Newport's City Hall), that would be the north side of the recreation center, SE part of town (Newport is split into East & West by route 20, and west & east by highway 101--w/a few addressing anomalies due to age & road changes). Every year, the co-op orders organic and free range turkeys, you make a small downpayment, select the general wt. range you want, and then you pick up your turkey 3-4 days prior to the holiday. You don't have to be a member to buy a turkey and the co-op usually has a few left over in case someone walks in & wants to buy one a day or two before TG day. You don't have to be a member to do any kind of shopping at the co-op. Crab season doesn't open until early December, Local Oceans would be your best bet for seafood, as the owners sell "locally caught" which can mean fishermen who go all the way to Alaska and then return to Newport or fish closer) fish, and crab in season. Sometimes JC Market (NW corner of 101 & west Olive) has good deals on salmon & local shrimp (a small shrimp) because the buyers some times buy from the local fishermen. I used to buy Italian sausage meat at JC Market (still do sometimes) because I think they make it themselves & it's loose, it's not stuffed into sausage skins (or whatever they're called), and I prefer sausage in that form if I'm putting meat into a hot pasta/spaghetti sauce. There is a custom butcher in South Beach, it's a bit difficult to find as all there is a kind of largish wooden sign on the east side of 101. You have to drive down a bit of gravel road into an area of light industrial structures to find it, although you don't have to drive far. They are doing custom smoking now, I am not sure how much they have in the way of inventory for retail sale. I haven't been there since a little while after they opened, which is over a year ago. The Saturday Farmers' market in Newport closes at the end of October. If you want to go to a Farmer's market for produce you'd have to drive to Corvallis (it has two, one in downtown Corvallis on Wednesdays, another out at the Fairgrounds on Saturdays, the downtown market has its last day the day before TG, the other may stay open over the winter). There is/was also one held in Wren (a short bit off of route 20, so somewhat closer than Corvallis. I have never been to that market, I think it's on Saturday, and is held in a Grange or community center building. I don't think it's still open, although I don't know when it closed or ended for the season. Generally, what's in season will be cole crops and winter squash, other produce comes up from CA. The co-op has a very good selection of bulk spices, it is definitely worth a visit. Overall, the bulk good selection is good and there's a good variety and range for a relatively small (Newport's population is about 12,000) population. There is also a small Asian market, Mai's Asian Market or Mai's market, on East Olive (turns into Route 20 as you drive east & out of Newport--so Mai's is about 3 blocks east of the intersection of Hwy 101 & route 20), not much in the way of fresh but a good supply of Asian ingredients, Chinese & Indian, canned, bottled, in packets (noodles, etc.)as well as items like frozen curry leaves, etc. She has some frozen ingredients, probably pot stickers, etc. Mai's Market is about 2 blocks north of the co-op. The Safeway & Fred Meyer in Newport (both at the north end of town) also carry some organic produce, Freddie's has more than Safeway. You can buy mushrooms at the co-op, in season you can find chantrelles, etc., that have been picked locally, the co-o usually has at least two mushroom varieties. If you feel like a drive east (or if you are driving to Corvallis to go to the Farmers' markets there (60-70 miles from Newport), you will go by a certified organic mushroom grower in Eddyville. He sells retail at his place, you will see a wooden "open" sign placed along side Route 20 if the place is open for business--although sometimes even when it's posted as open, it's not. There's an intercom w/a button to push (there are instructions posted) to try to reach someone at the house. If someone is there, you can buy mushrooms. I think they grow about 5-6 different varieties and all the ones I've bought have been good. The co-op has some reasonably priced wines & microbrew beers. Rogue Ale brewery is in South Beach & Rogue may still have a place on the Bayfront that served beer & food as well. In the having to do w/food but not food, there is an excellent used bookstore in Lincoln City, Robert's books, about 25 miles north along the coast, from Newport, that has a good cookbook selection. Their prices are good, the staff are pleasant and at least one of them is very knowledgeable. A very interesting selection of cookbooks & many other book categories or subject areas. Great place to spend a few hours on a rainy day. Sorry I didn't see and respond to your e-mail sooner, by now you must be back in SF.

The coca leaf is natural and might be organically grown, I'm sure it can be organically grown (but don't know how it's usually grown in Peru, Bolivia or Columbia), but cocaine is the result of processing w/a variety of non-"natural" or organic chemicals such as: sodium carbonate (might be found in nature, in combination w/other carbonates), sulfuric & hydrochloric acid, potassium permanganate, ammonia water, acetone. I wouldn't categorize cocaine as "organic", at least, not within the meaning of the term as it's used in the US (defined by the USD) it's a product that requires fairly extensive processing to manufacture.

One of the early Moosewood cookbooks has a recipe for Cream of Broccoli soup that I like--I made it again recently (planted broccoli this year in my garden & it's done well) & still liked it. I made a few substitutions but no major changes to the recipe.

If you're willing to drive to Albany, Sybaris, in Albany's old downtown is pretty good. http://www.sybarisbistro.com/

One of the issues w/GMO crops is that a single corporation owns genes in essential food crops (Monsanto is the only corporation, but it is dominant in the US and has bought a number of other seed companies in the past 5-7 years). Monsanto has been very quick to sue farmers for alleged breaches of its patents and to sue those who have not bought seed from Monsanto, but have had pollen from Monsanto corn blow into their growing corn. Monsanto successfully sued such a farmer for patent infringement in Canada, years ago. As someone else noted, farmers cannot save GMO seed (violation of patent, among other issues) and saving seeds is one way that farmers everywhere (and especially in poorer nations) have saved sparse cash and have also developed varieties of food crops that are well suited for their particular climate or microclimate. There is growing evidence that something Monsanto initially claimed would not happen has happened-the Roundup Ready gene (gene or genes that make the plant resistant to RoundUp)--has spread from rapeseed (canola) to a related weed. Who knows if that gene will eventually migrate to other related plants? Is it a good thing for farmers to say they need to use now banned herbicides (because they're dangerous) because RoundUp is no longer effective? There's evidence that organic growing practices lead to less soil loss through erosion and less water consumption. The reason is that the soil is in so much better shape that it retains water better. In 1974, there was a massive failure of much of the corn crop in the US, because the market was dominated by one particular type of hybrid seed for corn--which just happened (a little mistake by the people who'd bred it) to be susceptible to some kind of fungus. Scientists/plant breeders, were able to go to Mexico, where corn originated and find/use this reservoir of genes ("heirloom" corn/maize) to find a more resistant corn & start again. This reservoir of ancient genes is now being contaminated by GMO corn pollen. Have to wonder which will happen first--Monsanto lays claim to all of the corn there because all of the corn varieties have some of the genes that Monsanto owns, or that it turns out that the new wonder corn has a weakness, which will be quickly exploited by whatever insect, fungus, virus, or other pest it's susceptible to--and where will we got then to start over? I believe Monsanto has been sued successfully for the failure of its cotton seed/crop to perform as advertised--I remember reading a case or two 5 or 6 years ago. It's my understanding that GMO crops tend to perform well for the first few years, and then yields drop and pest resistance goes down. Too many expensive inputs are required for GM crops to really help hungry nations. For quite a few nations, the food problem is at least partly related to transport & supply issues. Some nations have, at least in the past, pretty much been forced to stop growing local/native food crops and plant cash crops instead. For lack of other exports, that's almost the only way they can pay off loans (IMF, World Bank, etc.). Some have difficulties for political reasons (Zimbabwe, for example) and have gone from being self-sufficient in major food crops, to having to export. As a home gardener, who grows some veg w/mixed success (and no greenhouse), I can't imagine any one seed for broccoli, sweet corn, wheat, lettuce, potatoes (or tubers, etc), spinach, kale, cukes, melons, doing well everywhere. As far as susceptibility to pests, etc., it's asking for trouble (see 1974 corn crop).