Season kicks off with planting the tender new heirloom tomato plants, onions, peppers, garlic... the season will yield our Salsa Garden & Pesto Garden for class demos, and the visuals we all enjoy

Dough rises with the aroma of bubbing apple butter to create the perfect bread and spread combo!

Going to the source of Food & Fun in Costa Rica, Belize & South Florida

Well, I thought it would be fun to at least sample the snowbird life since I have chosen to be in denial that winter has actually arrived here in North Central Washington.

Always in search of new destinations and heart warming experiences, nourished by foods that touch the soul, shared with family and friends. Our holiday destination included Costa Rica pineapple, banana, coffee plantations, mountain meanderings, jungle cruise on Tortuguero Canals, coastal beaches, a backdrop by which the most is accomplished. Our personal guide from Euvangie's Tours gave us opportunity to personally hold a sloth driving the back roads, while creating a beautiful bouquet of flowers for our daughter.

As we walked into the port searching for our “red umbrella guide”, having made our own personal arrangements, we were hopeful we had made a safe decision. Thankfully our personal guide Roy & tour planner/driver Eugenie were attentive country hosts. We were treated to a full tasting tour where 1400 acres of pineapples grew, stretching beyond our eyesight. A carefully tended demo garden provided visual education to the process from flowering to first & second year harvest from the same plant.

The Costa Rica agriculture is plentiful and includes bananas, sugar cane, cacao beans (chocolate), cashews trees, multiple varieties of trees & flowers we pay hothouse prices back in Washington, grow wild, fuchsia, ficus, star fruit and more. The conveyors out in the banana fields cut large blue bags filled entirely with banana colonies from the tree to the processing plant. The Tortuguero Canals gave us insights to Costa Rican culture with private canoes trapping crabs to sell, multiple sloths sleeping soundly in the trees, blue herons , and many more bird varieties at home in the jungle.

Savoring raw, unroasted coffee beans, much like the texture and similar taste of pomegranates, floating by raw sugar cane during our real jungle cruise, Roy showed us how to peel it with our teeth and sink into pure raw sugar; almond & cashew trees growing wild, star fruit shows up to brighten the sidewalks, where fuscias spread like weeds, and ficus trees last a lifetime. 

To contact a personal Costa Rica guide from Euvangie Tours www.euvangie.com  or email: tours@euvangie.com ; Just be sure to watch for the red umbrella!

The love of agriculture  moved to Belize as I held an allspice leaf, a corner crushed to release the full scent, traveled past miles of Valencia orange & grapefruit groves, where small towns give way to villages, with herbs and spices not just a purchased addition to life but the absolute essence of lifestyle. Our guide reminded by our status, showed us the "Tourist Tree", with red, and always peeling bark.

Crossing the river by a hand cranked government worker, a country in transition, from politics to private choices, independent from Great Brittan only since 1981, while being the youngest nation in Central America. Our hike to the top of the abandoned temple, we beheld their amazing Mayan Ruins, Xunantunich still partially overgrown by years of jungle growth.  The view into Guatemala while looking down from a 10 story height, without hand rails gave a brand new perspective to the fear of heights.

Back in the US, our family experienced kayaking the everglades termed as "true Florida" through John Mc Arthur Beach and Preserve; with such shallow water anyone would feel safe. We explored the secret canals of Munyan Island that gave way to white beaches, and secluded picnic grounds while observing frolicking dolphin pods.

Compare all this nature to the lavish mansions and millionaire vacation getaways as we traveled by water taxi along Fort Lauderdale’s intercoastal version of Venice, the night  holiday lights were such a contrast as was the exorbitant display of wealth.

Our family pictures along the intercoastal beaches will make the memories live long, our time in 2009. So the return to Washington State comes with so much more perspective, the ongoing love of true cultivation of the land and soil, in this case comparing apples to oranges makes perfect sense.

Discover Heirloom Cuisine offers amazing winter wonderland culinary tours in North Central Washington. Join us to create your very own heirloom apple butter with fresh bread baking, fun cooking classes, or cider tasting of the newest aromatherapy Lady Lavender artisan cider made by Cashmere Cider Mill.

Snow came early so snowshoeing was a wonderful experience through the orchards..custom trips may be arranged for your group in January, February, & March so contact us for your custom group arrangements.

Reservations Online www.discoverheirloomcuisine.com  email: info@discoverheirloomcuisine.com; Toll Free: 1-877-459-9686  

We share as we go through our seasons, spring, summer, fall, winter, rain or shine.
Our Discover Heirloom Cuisine program has many treasures from the season..be sure to enjoy our pictures, from cooking classes, to fresh herb harvest and tasting, to indulging in tree ripened apricots and peaches.

Discover Heirloom Cuisine Harvest

Farm Feast Dinner Series in the Cascade Foothills....

This should be a great night for a fund raiser for Cascade Foothills Farmland Association benefiting Culinary Tourism.

Heres to get your mouth watering... be sure to make your online reservations @ www.visitwashingtonfarms.com

First UP: Oct 4, 2009  6-9 PM   $95 pp. Dinner Reservations for future events also available, plan on 1st Sunday of each month through April 2010, excluding January.

Full course Farm Feast Dinner Series includes all beverages, regional wine, & artisan cider. Just to get you ready, we share a bit of the mystery menu...we believe in allowing the chefs to show off their freshest and best seasonal selections, with that in mind, the menu is subject to change.

The menu features primarily Gibbs Organic Produce fruits and veggies.   Highlights Alpine Lakes Creamy Bleu Cheese & walnuts top Roasted Beet salad  

Thundering Hooves pork belly with a cider glaze original Cashmere Cider Mill blend ; pardina lentils from the Palouse, and an apple parsley garnish

Northwest Wild Salmon with Bluebird Grains farro, Chard, and braised leeks

Rustic Cpple crostata with roasted cinnamon ice cream and cider syrup, Heirloom Blend from Cashmere Cider Mill

Peach Perfection Sustains Summer

In North Central Washington, hot summer days yield fragrant, fresh peaches from Tontz Orchards. The kind that drips down your elbow with the first luscious bite! Our travel guests indulged in peach pie, peach cider, and fresh peach milkshakes. Somehow, being deprived for nearly a full year, makes it the orchard freshness taste so much more divine!

There is something to be said about planning your menu around seasonal selections. This is really not a new idea, the world has gone around for centuries by the garden clock. How is it we somehow tout the "new trends", tradition has known all along. 

Grilled peaches here we come, peach salsa, and peach cobbler....kissed by the hot days of summer.

Reds...Whites...my absolute favorite is light and sweet, Chanin Blanc from La Toscana Winery in Peshastin Washington, made by vintner Warren Moyes.

Warren and Julie Moyes, both gentle spirits and gracious hosts, share their Italian style of winery and bed and breakfast. Their love affair with Italy having lived, and worked, resulted in their creating artisan batches of wine in their retirement. Summer months produce large thick clusters of table grapes overhead in their vine covered arbor, perfect for sitting for a spell with cheese, crackers, and discussing the finer points of how your favorite wine was made.  Discover Heirloom Cuisine definitely stops here!