Jeff Mayor ad I visited with Nita Bariekman for a while last week. She was great! You would never guess her age after visiting with her. She still get's to her shop at 7:30 a.m. every weekday to make soups ad pies for the lunch crowd. I tried the lemon meringue pie and it was fantastic.
You can read Jeff's story here and I have added the video to this post.
Enjoy,
Joe

Patience Estrella, left, stirs milk in her family's cheese-making operation in Montesano. Her mom, Kelli, is at right.

The cheese-making Estrella children are featured on Biz Kid$, a public broadcasting program that airs at 7:30 p.m. tonight on Tacoma's KBTC and repeats at 2 p.m. March 2 on Seattle's KCTS.

"I heard that the part where the baby goats were jumping on the trampolene with Faith and Ruth is not to be missed," Estrella matriarch Kelli Estrella said. (The proud mom also noted that "the show is airing in 80% of America, Israel and Korea."

The Estrella kids are a unique story. Here's an excerpt from a story I wrote about the Estrella's in April:

The sun had been up for 30 minutes. The six Estrella children had already milked the animals and begun the day's cheesemaking and farmstead chores.

"It was part of my vision," Estrella said. "What if we raised kids with a work ethic? How would that be?"

It would be pretty much as it was one morning last month: Ernest, 12, milked goats and cows. Patience, 14, stirred milk in stainless steel vats. Ruth, 16, and Faith, 8, bathed wheels of cheese in beer and wine. Melody, 9, fed animals. Samuel, 13, helped his dad search for a stray pregnant heifer. Home-schooling would begin in a few hours. If this had been Saturday or Sunday instead of Thursday, some of the kids would have been at farmers markets selling cheese.

Estrella answered the question a reporter stumbled to ask.

"They all have black heritage," Estrella said. Three were adopted at birth. Three were adopted two years ago from an orphanage in war-torn Liberia.

"These kids have seen stuff," Estrella said of Ruth, Patience and Ernest. "Ruth wasn't going to get out of the country. They said if she didn't get adopted really soon that she was too old. People don't like to adopt older kids. Ruth was praying for a family. I thought, 'Why not?' Then they said, 'Do you want to adopt two more?' "

Did she ever.

"Sometimes people say, 'Why did you adopt a bunch of black babies?' We just wanted babies," Estrella said. "I remember specifically looking at the dinner table one day and there were all these empty chairs. It was like, 'Something doesn't seem right. How come we have so much and some people have too little?'

"For us, adoption meant we could have children. They all came to us. You find out the heart can stretch further than you know."

So, too, stretches Estrella's dream of being a real farmer.

"If our kids want to run this farm, we don't ever plan to sell it," Estrella said. "We hope that all these years of making these cheeses should not be lost. If nobody wanted to take it over when we die, then the cheeses could be lost. In many parts of the country, a lot of cheeses have been lost because the next generation didn't want to learn it."

Tom Pantley, chef/owner of Toscano's Cafe and Wine Bar in Puyallup, with martini clams.

Chefs from restaurants in Puyallup, Gig Harbor, Port Orchard and Bremerton will perform live cooking demonstrations Saturday in what Seattle public broadcasting station KCTS dubs its “13th and newest restaurant recipe special.”

KCTS 9 Chefs 2008, which includes demos by 9 other Puget Sound chefs, in airs at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Tom Pantley, chef/owner of Toscano’s Wine Bar and Café in Puyallup will make martini clams and orange chicken. Dan Hutchinson of Brix 25 in Gig Harbor will make chicken marsala. Grant Matsuno of Amy’s on the Bay in Port Orchard will make crème caramel with poached pears in pinot noir and lavender. Bryce Lamb of La Fermata in Bremerton will make honey-balsamic roasted duck breast.

Of course, it’s pledge-drive time.

"Of course, we have a brand-new cookbook and DVD to go with the show," KCTS' press release says. "The KCTS 9 Chefs 2008 Cookbook is a one-of-a-kind collection, packed with more than 200 recipes from our viewers' favorite local restaurants – everything from starters to desserts.”

The program (repeats 3 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday) also includes highlights from past years’ shows, including Seattle culinary kingpin Tom Douglas making his signature triple coconut cream pie.

Click below for the full roster of chefs.

=> Read more!

Inside Doyle's Public House in Tacoma.

Yesterday, it was Charlie McManus in the New York Times. Today, it's Parkway Tavern and Doyle's Public House in Esquire. The Tacoma wateringholes are featured in the magazine's Best Bars in America guide.

Long considered Seattle’s ugly stepsister, Tacoma is now undergoing the nip and tuck of urban redevelopment. Cranes swing over the skyline, and century-old buildings are bandaged with Tyvek—courtesy of a massive gentrification campaign designed to buff the saltwater stains from this port town. But the Tacoma renewal works because it preserves the best parts of the city’s tracks-and-timber origins. ... And on the street out front, cars sport the popular bumper sticker, "Admit it, Tacoma. You're beautiful." After a few hours lifting pint glasses at the Parkway, you’ll get it. Tacoma may never be waxed and polished like Seattle, but this salty old broad cleans up well.

Way to go, Tacoma bars.

By the way: I'm lobbying Seattle restaurant critics to review Tacoma restaurants. Stay tuned...

Chef Charlie McManus prepares to roast a whole pig grown and slaughtered specially for Primo Grill.

My dream of reading my name in the New York Times remains unfulfilled, but I was pleased to see the name of a Tacoma chef in the paper of record today.

For those who can't get past celeb cook Jamie Oliver talking about killing his own chickens, here's what Charlie McManus, chef/owner of Primo Grill, says about what the Times calls chefs' "new intimacy with the animals they cook," and the "ewwww" factor that turns off some diners.

"For years, all I saw in kitchens was Cryovac steaks, chops, never anything to remind you that this was once an animal," said Mr. McManus. "It's our responsibility and our privilege to educate our customers. A lot of them don’t want to hear it, but that’s just sticking your head in the sand."

McManus is quoted not because he kills his own animals, but because of his relationship with Cheryl The Pig Lady, who raises pigs that McManus roasts.

McManus told me last year: "One of the most dramatic things that's happened at Primo Grill is bringing almost-warm pigs straight from the slaughterhouse. A lot of younger cooks have never seen a whole animal before. It's important that our staff understand that it's not just a piece of meat. It's a life that's given that day."

Thierry Rautureau, chef/owner of Rovers in Seattle, told me recently that he kills his own chickens at Rovers. If I ever get up to Seattle for dinner, I hope to watch him slaughter a bird before he watches me devour it.

I'll be on Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen radio show today, from 4:30-5p.m., KIRO 710 AM. The topic's farming. You may even hear my song about tamales.

Here's a story Editor & Publisher magazine wrote about "My Lady of Tamales".

I'm working on a story about coffeehouses and entertainment (and food) and discovered something cool: You don't have to leave your house to enjoy the shows.

Every Friday night at The Mocha Moo in Lakewood, singer-songwriters take the stage for an open mic and featured performer series.

The shows are recorded digitally. Later, video clips of some performances are posted on The Mocha Moo's MySpace and YouTube pages.

Recently, I caught a live show featuring Barfield, my favorite band from Lake Tapps. Later, I caught Barfield's video.

I also enjoyed a hero sandwich and a "veggie" sandwich stuffed with cheese. But more on that in the Aug. 3 GO section.

Until then, here's Barfield:

Here's another cool coffeehouse thing: A six-ounce pour of Sandeman's port is $6 at Northern Pacific Coffee in Parkland near Pacific Lutheran University, where I sipped a glass of grapey nectar during an acoustic open mic (Wednesday nights, and Saturday mornings). The same port, at half the size, costs $6 at Doyle's. Ah, the perks of college hangouts.

Three South Sound home cooks will be featured in KCTS Cooks: Breakfast, premiering 11 a.m. Saturday on the Seattle-based public television station.

Darla Brashers of Spanaway will make Valencia crepes with raspberry filling; Yasuko Tischler of Auburn will make green tea muffins with white chocolate chips; and Nancy Warren of Des Moines will make bacon and tomato frittata.

They'll do it live, along with 10 other home cooks from throughout Puget Sound. The program will also include pro chefs in pre-taped segments.

The four-hour show repeats repeats Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

I've been keeping my eye on a culinary kerfuffle involving a New York restaurant owner and the New York Times' restaurant critic.

Now there's a local angle.

But, first, the backstory.

Frank Bruni wrote a less-than-positive review of Jeffrey Chodorow's pricey steak-and-swords palace, Kobe Club. Bruni liked the steak. He didn't like the decor -- thousands of samurai swords hanging upside-down from the ceiling.

Chodorow bought a full-page ad in the Times last week, at a price that's been estimated at up to $80,000. Chodorow's gripe boils down to this:

1) Bruni's review was a personal attack;

2) Bruni's review hurts innocent employees ("you should have critics on your staff that celebrate and support the efforts of people who work in New York");

3) Bruni, formerly the newspaper's Rome reporter, has no experience (or not the right type of experience).

Bruni's response, as reported in The New Yorker:

I certainly do not consider it a badge of honor. I really don’t feel like, "Ooh, wow." I have the privilege of getting guaranteed space in the paper to say what I think. If someone wants to spend the money, then it’s fair, I guess. I totally understand that he’s disappointed in the Kobe Club review, but I can assure you—I can assure him—that it’s an utterly honest, if ultimately subjective, assessment.

And now for the local angle, also from The New Yorker:

Bruni promised that he could review future Chodorow projects with “a completely open mind,” but that may be moot. Chodorow said that his next restaurant will have a Pacific Northwest theme, and added that he was offering a trip to Seattle to any employee who blocks Bruni from its premises.

If you're watching TV today -- say, KIRO at 3 p.m. -- and need a little snackie-poo, Rachael Ray recommends Honey Roasted Peanut Roca, one of Brown & Haley's Tacoma treats. Peanut Roca is the snack of the day on the Rachael Ray Show.

Three South Sound residents will be among the home cooks demonstrating their recipes in a live broadcast of KCTS Cooks Favorites—10 Delicious Years, at 11 a.m. Saturday (repeats at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday).

Phyllis Tellari of Tacoma will make Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie. Janis Orton of DuPont will make Chicken and Goat Cheese Tamales. Kelley Davidson of Federal Way will make Sage and Caramelized Onion Chicken Roulade with Marsala Sauce.

The companion cookbook will include all of the recipes featured in the Saturday’s special, plus more than 500 additional viewer recipes. The cookbook will be offered as a pledge premium during broadcasts of the program.

Did you miss "GRUB" author Anna Lappe's appearance at PLU Wednesday night?

That's OK. Here's the video, shot for the News Tribune by PLU student Jessica Lupino.