Summer Slaw with Hot Honey Shrimp

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Summer was made for this main dish salad that's full of crunch and flavor.
Summer was made for this main dish salad that’s full of crunch and flavor.

This salad has it all — honey and spice, and everything nice.

Not to mention an excuse to crumble up tortilla chips to use like croutons.

“Summer Slaw with Hot Honey Shrimp” is just what you want to tuck into at this time of year.

It’s from “Salad Seasons” (Rizzoli), of which I receive a review copy.

It’s by Sheela Prakash, a food and wine writer who is the senior contributing editor at The Kitchn.

As the title implies, this cookbook is chock full of savory and sweet salad recipes to take you through the entire year.

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Exploring Southern Oregon: Visiting Reustle-Prayer Rock Vineyards, Meadow Estate Vineyard & Winery, and Paul O’Brien Winery

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Say hello to my new big friend -- the playfully decorated concrete fermenter at Reustle Winery.
Say hello to my new big friend — the playfully decorated concrete fermenter at Reustle-Prayer Rock Vineyards.

Umpqua Valley, OR — Wine-growing here dates back to the 1880s, when German immigrants who once worked for St. Helena’s Beringer Vineyards (the oldest continuously operating winery in Napa), planted the first wine grapes in this valley.

More than 30 wineries now make their home here, producing more than 40 varieties of wine.

On a recent trip to Oregon, I had a chance to visit three of them, courtesy of Travel Oregon.

Reustle-Prayer Rock Vineyards

Few wineries in Oregon boast their own wine cave. Reustle-Prayer Rock Vineyards in Roseburg does, and boy, is it a sight to see.

The wine cave built on the side of a hill, one of the few such winery caves in Oregon.
The wine cave built on the side of a hill, one of the few such winery caves in Oregon.
Part of the cave's ceiling.
Part of the cave’s ceiling.

Stephen and Gloria Reustle, husband-and-wife owners, added theirs in 2008. It was built by the same man who made the Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland, which gives a hint to its Old World-style taken up a big fanciful notch.

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All Hail Caesar — As In Popcorn

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You won't be able to stop eating this Caesar salad-flavored popcorn.
You won’t be able to stop eating this Caesar salad-flavored popcorn.

There’s something fishy about this popcorn.

And lemony and cheesy, too.

That’s because it has all the great taste of Caesar salad.

“Caesar Popcorn” is a fun recipe from “Tin to Table” (Chronicle Books), of which I received a review copy.

Written by New York’s Anna Hezel, senior editor of Epicurious, this book contains more than 50 recipes that highlight tinned fish and seafood, that most versatile of pantry staples.

With tinned seafood on hand, a snack or a meal can be ready in a flash with recipes such as “Smoked Trout Dip,” “Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs,” “Sardine Banh Mi,” and “Spaghetti with Fancy Clams and Fancy Ham.”

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Cook’s Ilustrated’s Easier, Faster Version of Stanley Tucci’s Spaghetti with Zucchini (Plus Winner of the Food Gal Giveaway)

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So thankful to come across an easier yet equally delicious version of this Stanley Tucci favorite.
So thankful to come across an easier yet equally delicious version of this Stanley Tucci favorite.

You may not remember that last year I made Stanley Tucci’s famed “Spaghetti Con Zucchine Alla Nerano,” the captivating dish spotlighted on his CNN show, “Searching for Italy,” and in his memoir, “Taste: My Life Through Food.”

But I sure do. How could I forget every minute of carefully frying batch after batch of zucchini slices in a big pot of oil over a hot stove in summer for what seemed an interminable hour?

Don’t get me wrong; I absolutely adored the resulting pasta dish. But I haven’t made it since, even though, I’ve longed for its taste again. Heck, can you blame me?

That’s why I’m so happy to have discovered Cook’s Illustrated’s version that I could have hugged and never let go of its 2022 July/August issue that it published in.

In this rendition, there no deep-frying involved. Let me repeat that: No. Deep. Frying.

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Exploring Southern Oregon: The Steamboat Inn

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Dining on beef tenderloin tips and gnocchi overlooking the river.
Dining on beef tenderloin tips and gnocchi overlooking the river.

Idleyld Park, OR — It’s here that you’ll find the proverbial secluded cabin in the woods.

Albeit one with history, famous guests, a fabulous wine list, and homemade pies that truly tempt.

The Steamboat Inn sits perched on a bluff above the North Umpqua River in the middle of the Umpqua National Forest. It is a true mecca for fly-fishing, especially for steelhead.

Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalyn stayed here to do just that, as did Jack Hemingway. Just look for the framed black and white photos of them hanging in the lobby.

Step inside the bar-lounge-library to find a map of the world with pins affixed to indicate where guests have hailed from. Indeed, they’ve come from every state in the United States, as well as every continent, even Antarctica, when a group of scientists stayed here seeking some R&R.

The Steamboat Inn.
The Steamboat Inn.
The view from the deck of a cabin.
The view from the deck of a cabin.

From Roseberg, it’s a 38-mile drive to get here, a road flanked by majestic towering trees that take your breath away.

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