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Little
House, Big Flavors
Zalaya
serves up Spanish-style sophistication.
By
Lance Sparks
Editor's
note: Formerly "Zelaya," this restaurant has changed the spelling
of its name to "Zalaya."
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| Sara
Chinske, Patrick McKee and Pamela Mathis of Zalaya |
You might have heard by now that Zalaya was savaged
by the restaurant reviewer for The Register-God ("needed salt,"
twice, "lack of salt," once — so sad, nasty sign). My response:
Good.
Eugene is a boopy little burg, true dat, and we don't
do nearly enough to support our best restaurants, especially the small,
non-corporate, privately owned and operated places serving interesting
food with exciting flavors — special, charming spots like Koho
Bistro, Chef's Kitchen, Zenon, Soriah, and such. But when one gains
popularity (think Beppe and Gianni's), it becomes nearly impossible
to find a table on a weekend night.
Until recently, Zalaya's name was whispered among
fanatic food-lovers, a message strictly between friends. The joint
is teeny. It's the latest incarnation of the historic Pennington House,
built in 1897 and moved in 1903 to its present location, at 839 Lincoln
Street, about a half-block south of the WOW Hall. The house is architecturally
dull, plain, with high-piched gable roof, no Victorian foofraw at
all, a working-class home that simply survived the crushers and modernists.
But inside ....
Pamela Mathis, Sara Chinske, Chef Patrick McKee and
his wife, Madeline ventured into remodeling the place and managed
to shape interior space for about 25 seats at smallish tables and
a miniscule bar, with a beautiful outdoor patio (stone flooring, a
garden of herbs and flowers, shade trees and grape arbor) with room
for another 28 diners. "Cozy" and "intimate" would be the usual adjectives;
"cuddly" might be a better term.
Even with white tablecloths and nappies, Zalaya's
feels homey and relaxed. The natural wood floors exude the charm of
age, and tasteful art on the walls draws the eyes from the chintz-trimmed
windows and the street-scene view. Feels like we just dropped in at
Mom's house at dinnertime. Most nights, diners recognize each other,
the town's known foodies and flavor-fiends.
Having been deeply involved with the glory days of
Red Agave, Patrick is committed to the flavors, textures, colors and
spicing of Spanish cuisine, so the menu and wine list emerged as a
melding of influences. In both, the range of diners' selections are
modest in length but deep in quality.
Take beverages: In Spain, common dining practice would
be to sip a sherry aperitif while scoping the bill of fare, so Zalaya
offers a nice, dry fino, a demi-sec Amontillado and a dry Amontillado
(each $4). How civilized. The rest of the list is dominated by Spain,
for reds (12, priced from $21 to $73) and whites (7, $17 to 32), with
a sprinkling of other sources, mostly Oregon, as it should be (our
vins de pays). But each wine has been carefully vetted, chosen
for matches with the food coming out of Patrick's kitchen.
On our most recent visit, we automatically opened
with thin slices of bread and the house-marinated Spanish olives ($2),
lovely while nipping sherries. Could have gone big for any of the
five appetizers, especially potato and manchego (cheese) with fresh
herbs and saffron aioli ($5), or the sopa del dia, a cold carrot pureé
($5), but we had to test Patrick's Caesar salad with baby romaine,
croutons, special dressing — yummy, delicate, distinctive. We
also opted for a half-order of the day's special pasta, squares stuffed
with potato, served in a butter sauce with sliced shiitakes and fresh
shelled peas ($9), simply delicious, cooked al dente, pasta firm but
tender. Just curious, we searched the tables for salt shakers: uh-uh.
But Angela, our affable and super-competent server, assured us, blushing,
that salt cellars were available. We declined, but took Rumsfeldian
comfort in the knowledge.
For entreés, we had to taste fresh halibut ($18)
and Moroccan mixed grill ($24). Both, when they came so timely to
table, proved outstanding. The fish was seared a light gold, finished
in the oven, moist, tender, as close to perfect as we get on Earth,
served prettily on a bed of roasted potatoes and fresh veggies, topped
with a sauce of parsley, oregano, thyme, minced capers, a sassy melody
of flavors and aromas. The mixed grill was comprised of marinated,
locally grown rack of lamb, a thick-cut lamb chop, and a tangy merguez
sausage bedded on almond-currant couscous and vegetable tagine with
a side of harisa sauce for a zippy dash of pepper-fire. The lamb was
delish, but the couscous leaped to the top of the charts. Wow, indeed.
Desserts at Zalaya are tasty, but chocoholics deserve
fair warning: That little chocolate pie kills — omigod. Add
Full City coffee, call it supper.
Okay, that's how Zalaya really plays out. No tacos,
no burritos or refrieds, no nachos, the essence of Spain, old and
new, with new dimensions in flavor.
But don't believe me. Stay home. Plenty of seating
at McGrath's. I could be lying. Certainly take all this with a large
grain of salt.
839
Lincoln St. 349-9181. 5:30 pm-10 pm T,W, Th, Su; 5:30 pm-11 pm F-Sa.
Wheelchair accessible
'Tastes
Like Chicken'
Greener
Pastures Poultry: The new age of poultry farming
BY
BOBBIE WILLIS
Vegetarians out there may insist that no meat is good
meat, that omnivores perpetuate a distinct kind of mistreatment of
animals and the environment that can happen only in the void known
as large-scale meat farming. Even as an omnivore myself, I won't argue,
because there are definitely some ugly, irrefutable facts about such
farming and processing methods.
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| Aaron
Silverman with his daughter at Creative Growers in Noti. |
But I would argue that there are more conscientious
and moderate ways to be an omnivore, if it's the food route you choose.
Mostly, it's a matter of not buying blindly into the idea that chicken
and salmon and halibut come from the grocery store, that beef and
pork come from the butcher department, that these foods appear magically
from thin air to be purchased, unwrapped and enjoyed for Sunday supper.
Thinking about where food really comes from
accomplishes two things: It makes us more careful about purchasing
high-quality meat, fish, poultry and dairy foods, which in turn makes
us more moderate consumers of such foods.
The truth is, if you are buying meats and dairy products
that are produced and processed on a smaller, more sustainable level,
it is oftentimes going to cost you a bit more (see sidebar). You buy
better meat — better flavor, better texture, better meat-to-bone
ratio — but you keep things economical by maybe buying less
often. This is actually good all around, as far as being omnivorous
goes, flying right in the face of large-scale meat farming and processing.
Such large-scale operations are fueled by the demands of consumers
who, oblivious to the ramifications of large-scale meat farming techniques,
want to buy greater quantities more often.
High-quality, locally raised meats are available throughout
Lane County. Of particular note is a group called Greener Pastures
Poultry, a co-op that has been selling chickens and turkeys through
Lane County Farmers' Market the last three years. GPP made the move
this past spring to sell instead through longtime establishment Long's
Meat Market, now located at the Southtowne Shops on 28th Avenue just
off of Willamette.
The GPP motto is, "Tastes Like Chicken," which plays
on the cliché that chicken is bland, taking on only the flavors
it's cooked with. Through meticulous feed and care of its chickens,
GPP aims to create poultry that has its own distinct, delicious flavor,
that does, in fact, taste like chicken.
West of Eugene and Veneta in Noti, Aaron Silverman
and Kelly Rooney-Silverman are the young proprietors of Creative Growers,
a farm on an idyllic plot of land just south of Highway 126. Besides
producing herbs and produce, Creative Growers operates in partnership
with two other families, along with a couple of non-owner families,
in the co-op called Greener Pastures Poultry. GPP growers raise chickens
and turkeys cooperatively in a small-scale farming environment. Birds
from the various farms are processed collectively at a very small,
licensed facility in Noti, north of Creative Growers. Aaron functions
as both a GPP grower and manager, overseeing production of all birds,
as well as the processing of those birds in preparation for market.
Silverman, originally from Florida, studied plant
and soil science at the University of Vermont in the mid '90s. He
says both he and Kelly "come from food driven families, where sitting
down together for meals every night" was important. He "came into
farming as an offshoot of social activism," he says. When asked what
keeps him farming he says, "I enjoy the aspect of solving problems
in a holistic, system-wide way."
|
Excerpted
from "Frequently Asked Questions of Greener Pastures Poultry."
What
is Pasture-Raised Poultry?
Pasture-Raised
Poultry is the practice of raising birds for almost the full
duration of their lives in the open air, on the ground, with
room to exercise, forage, and live in a comfortable and natural
setting.
Does
Pasturing differ from "Free Range?"
Yes!
This is the crux of how we're different. Pasture-Raised birds
live a reasonably natural life in the open air and with the
freedom to express the normal behaviors of a healthy bird. Pastured
birds breathe fresh air circulated by the wind, drink fresh
water, eat grass and insects, and rest or exercise as they see
fit. Most so called "Free Range" birds are grown in high-density,
indoor sheds with stifling ammonia rich air, on floors with
shavings that go unchanged for the duration of the birds lifetime,
and with access only to small "outside" areas denuded of vegetation.
Can
you tell the difference between GPP Pasture-Raised birds
and "Free Range" or other "inexpensive" poultry?
Yes!
Pastured poultry tastes better and is of superior quality and
health. This is not an empty claim — customers can tell
the difference even before eating one. GPP's chickens and turkeys
have far more meat on their frames, and lack the bruising and
off-odours typically associated with commodity poultry. They
are simply superior to "free range" poultry, and without comparison
to birds raised in the sad model of factory-production which
allows for cheaper prices. Our customers are smart: they can
tell the difference or they wouldn't pay the price for our birds.
How
are GPP birds housed?
GPP
produces all its poultry in open-air shelters that are mobile
and provide the birds shelter from extreme weather.
How
large is the GPP pasture area?
GPP
birds are raised with a density between 1000 to1200 per
acre, or over 36 square feet per bird, compared with one square
foot per bird required for "free-range" production.
How
are GPP birds processed?
All
GPP birds are processed at our licensed facility in Noti,
by hand, and only after all birds have passed through both field
and processing facility inspection to guarantee its health and
quality. GPP processes small batches, ensuring meticulous
care that industrial-scaled facilities simply cannot achieve
through their automated systems.
How
long does it take to raise a GPP bird?
Times
vary depending on the desired size and species, but for chickens
the average time is 6.5 to 8 weeks; turkeys are raised for 24
to 28 weeks, depending on breed.
Why
raise poultry seasonally?
In
order to give our birds access to high quality pasture, we must
respect the climate in which we live. Pastures need time to
re-grow, and harsh Fall and Winter conditions are not favorable
to growing healthy poultry in the Northwest.
Why
is GPP poultry more expensive than other poultry?
As
with any other high-quality food, costs are greater when you
insist on only the best. Exceptional care is taken at all levels
of production: from farm settings to quality feed, impeccable
processing facilities with meticulous quality control, and a
dedicated and knowledgeable staff. Even at its higher price,
GPP poultry is one of the most economical sources of
protein available today. |
This problem-solving knack is clear upon first sight
of the Creative Growers farm site. If you've ever even just driven
by a large-scale poultry farm or processing plant, you know the first
thing you catch is the smell — not good. But there's none of
that at Creative Growers. The air is clear and the land is open; the
farm is tidy and organized; it seems like a perfect place to raise
a few hundred clean, healthy chickens. And just to make a point, there
are actually a few hundred clean, healthy chickens that the Silvermans
tend to, rotating movable tents/coops for the chickens, both to keep
the birds comfortable and to protect the farm land from the impact
of the birds and coops. If you are purchasing a GPP chicken, this
is, in fact, one of the farms where your food comes from. And it is
the elements of clean air, open space, and well-tended land and diet,
according to Silverman, that make Greener Pastures Poultry's chickens
unique.
When the birds from each of the co-op farms are six
to eight weeks old, they are taken to a small processing plant, which
looks simply like a small, white farm outbuilding, just north of Creative
Growers. Suffice it to say that this part of things, between when
the chickens are chickens and when they are food, is handled with
fastidious care and immense humaneness. During processing and packaging,
either Aaron or Kelly is generally around to oversee operations. Not
only do the birds get sold to individual consumers now at Long's,
but GPP has been supplying upscale northwest restaurants with high-quality
poultry for some time now.
There is something very old fashioned about the way
GPP raises and processes its birds, something like the farm life that
was prevalent in these parts not so long ago: You raise animals as
part of your work; you tend to them and care for them; and eventually
a few of them become part of your food supply. You're involved in
the whole operation, and you know exactly what you're getting in the
end.
An Organic Valley-Roper Poll of 1,000 adults this
past spring shows that "Americans overwhelmingly say that smaller
scale family farms are more likely to care about food safety than
large scale industrial farms." The poll also showed that 85 percent
of Americans trust smaller scale farms to produce safe, nutritious
food.
Long's Meat Market owner Mike Wooley says of GPP that
Aaron is involved every step of the way. "I'm talking to the guy who's
doing all this," says Wooley, "and stuff gets done." And that's true
for the customers as well. Says Wooley, "The [GPP] product is huge
… You couldn't find anyone even eight or ten years ago who's
doing what Aaron's doing … It gives you the ability to look
someone in the eye when you deal with them. You just can't beat that."
So for you omnivores out there who are (hopefully)
thinking about a more conscientious, community-minded approach to
food, there are options for you. You can support not only your
local vegetable and fruit farmers, but also local, small-scale meat
farmers, cheese-makers, fisherpeople, vintners, brewers, etc. This
is a way we can all enjoy and be a part of a more locally focused
food community.
Food
for Thought
Eugene
restaurants profit the community.
BY
ALETA RAPHAEL-BROCK
Organic is everywhere. In fact, the U.S. organic market
is projected to reach a value of $30.7 billion by 2007 according to
a Datamonitor report and organic food and beverages are the fastest
growing categories of the food industry. Organic foods are understood
to be more nutritious, better tasting, safer, and less treacherous
to the environment than conventional foods. This growing popularity
is especially notable here in Eugene where several restaurants are
serving mostly or only organic ingredients and are opening their doors
to activities that support a conscious lifestyle, through great food
as well as informational incite.
Here are three Eugene restaurants that support local
produce and uphold the ideals of conscious consumerism, profiting
both business and community:
COZMIC
PIZZA
With all organic ingredients, fresh produce and an
extremely creative menu of pizzas, calzones, focaccias, soups, and
salads (not to mention free delivery), Cozmic Pizza has become
a favorite among Eugenians. Pizzas range from $10 to $20 and are also
sold by the slice.
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| Donald
Morales of Cozmic Pizza |
At their 8th and Charnelton location at The Strand,
Cozmic Pizza hosts a variety of political gatherings and conferences as well as live entertainment and community gatherings. Informational events, such as the Fahrenheit 9/11 community discussion with Michael Moore and a speech about the construction of the Israeli wall in the West Bank, are just a few of their most recent events. "Our intention is to provide a community gathering space," said owner Joel Thomas. "It's a way of connecting to the politically active community." Thomas opened the location at The Strand in 2003 since the 1433 Willamette location was too small to host events and entertainment. The space comes free of charge to presenters and community groups and, since Cozmic Pizza doesn't take a percentage of the profits, entertainment covers are low and go directly to the performers. Community groups such as literary guilds and jazz society are also welcome to use the space. Many events are free of charge. (Check local listings for event schedules.) Also located at The Strand is Theo's coffeehouse and Internet café, contributing location as an informational site with a hospitable philosophy.
199 W. 8th Ave. 338-9333. 11 am-11 pm M-F, 4 pm-11 pm Sa-Su. Wheelchair accessible. PLANET GOLOKA  | | Planet Goloka manager Ginger Thompson | Just around the corner at 675 Lincoln St. is Planet
Goloka, a vegetarian restaurant and raw juice and kava bar that aims to serve Eugene organic, high-vibration food and provide a community space for lectures, benefits, and healing workshops. The Vedic word "Goloka" refers to the universe that Krishna or God embodies, thus "Planet Goloka" refers to the earth as the home for the spirit. Planet Goloka hosts free weekly events including live music, poetry nights, spiritual films, and Kava circles. Owners Bhavatarini and Nrihari Das operate an organic farm in Hawaii and harvest all the kava used at Planet Goloka. The roots of the Kava plant contain kavalactones, which are known to relieve anxiety, relax muscles and promote a mild euphoria. Planet Goloka serves the kava with juices or as a concentrate. Menu items range from Coconut Kava Waffles ($5) to Dolma Plates ($4). Prices are reasonable considering their all-organic ingredients. Manager Ginger Thompson credits the low prices to the non-capitalistic agenda of the owners and the café. Planet Goloka also offers resources, such as the journal of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psycadellic Studies and The Entheogen Review, containing research on visionary plants and drugs. Gifts, literature and videos about Vedic teachings are also available for customers. "I think it's important to provide people with an altered-state of consciousness, whether offered through high-vibration foods or mind exploration," said Thompson. Planet Goloka will host a community lecture series in August focusing on exploring consciousness Friday evenings at 7pm. Speakers will include herbalists, astrologists and writers.
675 Lincoln St. 465-4555. 5 pm-8 pm M-Th, dinner; 5 pm-9 pm F; 11 am-4 pm Sa, brunch. LAUGHING PLANET The newest addition to Eugene's family of organic restaurants opens its doors quietly next week at 760 Blair Blvd. at what used to be BabyCake's Café. Laughing Planet Café will hold a grand opening in late August once they settle into the area. Owner Richard Satnick of Portland originally started Laughing Planet in Bloomington, Ind. and decided that the Northwest was the best place to continue his vision of alternative, healthy and quick cafes. "Eugene is clearly progressive and well ahead of the curve in these things," he said of his newest location. Satnick also runs a café on Belmont in Portland. Laughing Planet will offer "burritos, bowls and beyond," including international wraps coined "portable nutrition devices," rice bowls, soups, salads, vegan and vegetarian options, as well as raw juices and smoothies. "Our intent is to close the circle of supply by going more local, healthful and organic when possible," said Satnick. "Our underlying mission is built around nutrition." Laughing Planet will also offer poetry slam evenings and film showings. "We try to create a space for people to describe alternatives to the corporate industrial food realm," he said. The Eugene Laughing Planet Café is co-owned by Steve Mertz, a local cyclist and former Laughing Planet employee. The menu was originally built around nutrition for cyclists, being whole, unprocessed and available on the go.
760 Blair Blvd. 868-0668. 11 am–9 pm Su-T, 11 am–10 pm F-Sa.
Oregon's Eco-Wines
Wine labels of the future tell more than year and vineyard.
BY CHRIS AMMON Far away from the fluorescent-lit glow of the supermarket wine aisle, there was a time when Italian and Swiss immigrants lugged their glass jugs to the local winery to have them filled with table-wine. It's a rather homespun image — plain glass jugs, filled straight from the source — one that suggests a life where consumer and producer might be linked by eye contact and shared anecdotes, the vineyard in plain view. But outside of vineyard tours, more a novelty than norm, firsthand familiarity with the land and its tenders is rare. As the Oregon wine industry grows — acreage has more than doubled in the past ten years and sales have increased 331percent — consumers are now demanding a more intimate look at the state's winegrowing practices, asking questions about growing methods and impacts on the surrounding eco-systems. To answer these questions, winegrowers are relying on the wine label to communicate with the consumer. "It's huge," says Laura Lotspeich, owner of Pheasant Hill vineyards in southern Oregon. "The label has got to tell your story." The challenge for eco-friendly growers is squeezing all this information onto the label without it looking like a bottle of Dr. Bronner's All-One soap. The proliferation of third-party certification programs for Oregon wine has helped to solve this problem by assigning "eco-labels" to wines that meet specific standards of sustainability. At best, eco-labels instill confidence in the consumer, ensuring them that the product they buy has been made responsibly. But they can also be problematic. Eco-labels are sometimes ambiguous, exploited or misunderstood. Fortunately, when it comes to eco-friendliness, Oregon wine ranks well; the state's vineyards have been spared from the pests that have afflicted California vineyards, such as phylloxera and Pierce's disease, making pesticide-use less tempting. Also, Oregon wineries tend to be small, family-run operations, begun by people who moved to the state to get away from corporate farming. This "green culture" makes growers especially receptive to eco-labels. In all, Oregon winegrowers have embraced four different eco-labeling programs: LIVE: Adopted in 1999, the Oregon LIVE (Low Input Viticulture and Enology) program offers certification to growers who make a substantial effort to incorporate sustainable practices into their vineyard management strategies. LIVE stands out through its connection to the International Organization for Biological Control (IOBC), a global certifying body used in Europe since the 1940s. To attain LIVE certification, winegrowers attend training sessions to learn how to minimize irrigation, reduce pesticide use, prevent stream erosion and, at the same time, maintain grape quality. Their vineyards are then inspected and evaluated using a point system. Proponents laud the program for its flexibility, viewing it as a practical alternative to the restrictive requirements of organic certification. But critics feel the program is too broad; growers who use no pesticides receive exactly the same label on their bottle as growers who use controversial pesticides like Round-Up. This caused one of Oregon's largest wine producers, King Estate winery, to drop out of the program. King Estate general manager Brad Biehl explains that "we were basically in a pool of people that were still, what we consider, using chemicals that weren't necessary." Instead, the winery opted for organic certification. SALMON SAFE: Founded in 1995, the Salmon Safe program promotes agricultural practices that protect water quality and salmon habitat. The agency offers its label to growers who prevent stream erosion by planting cover crops and planting trees along banks. Without these efforts, silt covers salmon eggs, preventing them from spawning. According to executive director Dan Kent, the Salmon Safe labeling program benefits not only the salmon, but the winegrowers, too. "When the Salmon Safe label appears on a bottle of wine as part of, say, a month long campaign in a Wild Oats or in a Whole Foods market, we see wine sales increase by 15 percent to 20 percent, so it really does work." In 1999, Salmon Safe partnered with LIVE in a joint certification program. LIVE certified growers automatically receive Salmon Safe certification. As with the LIVE label, Salmon Safe certification does not guarantee that the vineyard is organic. CERTIFIED ORGANIC: The Certified Organic label offers guidelines aimed at controlling pesticide and herbicide use. Aside from being one of the oldest and best known eco-labels, it is also a prime example of how difficult it can be to nail down meaningful requirements for labels. As recently as April, the Department of Agriculture weakened the requirements for certification, permitting the use of antibiotics in dairy cattle and synthetic chemicals on crops. The move was rescinded after much protest, but served as a reminder that even after the first federal organic standards were put in place in October 2002, the definition of organic hasn't fully solidified. Biehl wrestled with this issue as King Estate recently underwent organic certification. "Words are easy," he says. "but the definition and details of how they actually mean something … that's a lifetime's work." For this reason, when Biehl talks about "organic," he refers to it as "the spirit of organic" to capture the more elusive values of the term: family, community, land, longevity and land stewardship. He laments the increasing exploitation of the term: "There's a lot of people who use organic as an excuse to have a very ugly vineyard infested with weeds, mildew, and fruit that doesn't taste good and does not make good wine." Which is why, until recently, many winegrowers shied away from using the term on their label, even if they were organic; there has been a widespread impression that quality was sacrificed in favor of environmental concerns. But as large reputable operations, such as California's Fetzer winery, go organic, consumers are realizing that the term "organic" no longer means bad wine. DEMETER BIODYNAMIC: The strictest and most comprehensive of all growing methods, biodynamic farming was founded in 1924 by Austrian scientist/philosopher Dr. Rudolf Steiner and is based on the premise that the earth is a living organism corresponding to activities of the cosmos. Biodynamic methods have a reputation for being esoteric; when it comes to winegrowing, vine cuttings are planted according to the phases of the moon, herbal/silica preparations are sprayed on the grape leaves, and a manure-filled cow horn is planted in the vineyard each season to make an energy infused compost. But Jim Folmer, executive director of the Demeter Association, is quick to demystify the practice, insisting that "99.9 percent of it is just good organic farming." Folmer sees the Demeter biodynamic label as merely representing what the organic label used to mean before the Department of Agriculture began diluting the term. Cooper Mountain Vineyards, outside of Portland, is the only biodynamic winery in Oregon. Vineyard manager Dewey Weddington says, "People in the U.S. don't understand biodynamics. It's not very common. But in our area that is starting to change. I'm surprised by how many people say 'Oh, I've heard of that. Can you tell me more of what that is?' We try to keep our explanation very simple." For many people, forging a personal relationship with growers and producers isn't realistic. This is where eco-labeling comes in. It's not a perfect system, but it's getting producers and consumers thinking about the effects of the food system and the choices they make.
FOOD PLAY
CREATIVITY AND IMAGINATION CAN TURN FOOD INTO ART.
BY MINDY INMAN For most, food is a means of nourishment. There are good tasting foods, and bad tasting foods, depending on your personal preference. Yet for others, food contains possibilities that many miss. Children for example, often seem to refuse to see the meals placed before them as anything other than a medium that begs to be created into art. For them, clouds are fluffy bunnies and mashed potatoes are volcanoes.  | The book Play With Your Food encourages not only children but people of all ages to reconnect with their childlike innocence and artistic visions. After reading this book, food is no longer one-dimensional, and your eyes will be opened to the fact that vegetables, fruits, and foods of all types hold the possibility within them to be enjoyed in more ways than one. A green pepper becomes a camel with peppercorns for eyes, a lemon becomes the face of a baby bear with folded flaps of rind for ears, and an upside down banana peal becomes an octopus. Play With Your Food shows us how, with small manipulations, food's other dimensions can be uncovered, just for the fun and creativity of it. Produce shopping will never be the same again. I know that after reading this book my weekly produce runs are now filled with aisles of artistic vegetable possibilities staring back at me. I can't walk past the watermelons without thinking of how it makes a great turtle shell, or how apple stems make great legs for a string bean grasshopper. This book inspires us to open our imaginations to the individual characteristics of each piece of produce — an oddity, a growth or any distinct feature — and allow our youthful creativity to take over. The techniques discussed in the book are easy and imaginative. Using only simple household items, one can create an entire zoo of food animals. In addition to colorful pictures of example creations, the book guides you through the steps in fashioning such creatures. There is a section for suggestions on how to create effective ears, eyes, mouths and legs that, added to a simple item of produce, can create an expressive individual. Every year in October millions of Americans can be found perusing supermarkets and crop fields, searching for that one special pumpkin. We take them home with us and, armed with our playful imaginations, we unleash the hidden personalities within the squash. Some become witches with a crooked stem as a nose, some have cutout smiles or grimaces with triangle eyes — we are inspired every year to see food through different eyes, and it is this point of view that the book Play With Your Food encourages us to adopt, not just once a year, but any and all days of the week. Beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder, and with a newly enhanced perception and creativity from this book, our everyday food no longer has to be monotonous; adults and children alike can share the beauty of nature's creations. May we lay on our backs and stare at the clouds until we see the fluffy bunnies, and may we play with our food like children at the dinner table. Happening Server: Lyn Burg  | "Performers are drawn to this industry," says Lyn Burg, one of several artists who wait tables at Marché Restaurant. "It's a performance every night." A Eugene native and a UO Theater grad, Burg is known as a "triple-threat performer" — a singer, dancer and actor. Her first CD as a jazz vocalist, Good Morning, Heartache, came out in January. (Catch the Lyn Burg Quartet at Café Paradiso Friday, July 16.) She played Miss Adelaide in last summer's OFAM musical, Guys and Dolls — this year she serves as assistant choreographer for My Fair Lady. She teaches dance at the DAC and the Eugene School of Ballet. "It's hard when you're a mom, too," says the mother of two. "I try to do one theatre show a year — if I don't, I feel itchy." Burg started restaurant work at age 15 as a dishwasher at Casa Toltec. She served food at Poppi's, then at Anatolia, and for 10 years at the Excelsior. "I've been here for six years in September," she notes. "What I love about Marché is that it's a seasonal restaurant — we serve local meat, local fish and local organic vegetables. I've been counting the months until I could have a tomato salad!" — Paul Neevel | | |