I just spent the past weekend in Portland, Oregon. Officially I was there to attend a wedding but my not-so-secret mission was to check out the food. I had the best French toast of my life, some very tasty pastrami, scintillating creole Cuban food and outstanding local lobster mushrooms and potato gnocchi that I can't get out of my mind. Portland is also known for artisanal brewed beer, and I am particularly fond of Willamette Valley wines, especially Pinot Noir.
If you'd like to get closer to the great food, wine and drink of Oregon, there's a contest you should enter. Between now and September 18th, 2009 you can win one of seven all-expense paid "cuisinterships" to Oregon. That's roundtrip airfare, six nights lodging and $1000 cash, for a five-day, six-night apprenticeship as an Oregon chef, cheesemaker/chocolatier, craft brewer, distiller, rancher, fisherman or winemaker.
Learn a bit about what makes Oregon such a fascinating culinary destination on the Oregon Bounty web site, then choose the category or categories you are most interested in, and enter to win. Upload a video of up to 2 minutes on why you deserve to win (even a cell phone video is fine), submit a 140 character Twitter-style statement to bolster your case and finally your name and contact info and then it's up to me! Ok, only if you choose Fisherman, but still, when the say "tell it to the judge", that would be me. Right now there are hardly any entries posted online so I'd say your chances are pretty good at winning. This is an amazing opportunity. Here's wishing you the best of luck!