Chili Roaster Returneth

Ah, holiday weekend. By law in Oregon; possibly it’s more of a custom, but in any case the grill needs to be fired up at least once this three day weekend. If you’re staying in town this weekend or grill-less, let Westwind Gardens do the fire roasting for you. Westwind brings dozens of chilies to our market and you can buy the chilies whole or let Westwind drop them in their fire roaster and buy a bag of spicy, smoky goodness. The bags are good for immediate use, also freeze well, because it’s never too early to start planning for your BCS Championship party (Go team!) or NFL gamedays. Westwind is at the market for a limited time in the fall; okay late summer. (That didn’t make me feel better, where have you gone summer?)

Also this weekend Oregon’s own salt makers, Jacobsen will be at PSU. Jacobsen sells their salt from the seaside, but they are also working with some of the area’s brightest culinary stars in a series of dinners highlighting the bounty of the Pacific NW. You can learn more by jumping to this article.

Labor Day is on Monday. Because of the holiday, there will be no Pioneer Square Market. Plenty of Kenton, King and PSU, but Monday is Market free. Don’t worry I’ll repeat this again by the end of this post.

Buckman, Thursday, Ruby Jewel will be at Buckman. Your wee ones can help make ice cream and they can burn off the calories before they even take a bite. Totally shaken, each batch of ice cream needs about 20 minutes of shaking, so bring the little hands. 3-7 in the kids play zone.

Oly Kraut is at King. Sausage needs kraut, this is really the law. Maybe your grilled foods need a little sauce. Marshall’s Haute Sauce has your back. For the cuisine-bending cooks and grillmasters, Choi’s kimchi on a burger, sausage, or as Dave at Bingo taught us, on a hot dog is about the most awesome thing ever.

Deck family farms offers meats worthy of your grill/smoker. Visit them at King. Hot Mama salsa makes chips an event.

Cathy Whims of Nostrana will be cooking at PSU and Portland Magazine will have free copies of their magazine as Cathy works her craft. Less than 50 feet away, Greg Perrault will be hanging with the Bairds grilling peaches.

**PIONEER SQUARE MARKET CLOSED ON MONDAY**