On last year’s trip to the Oregon coast, my mom and I visited the Lincoln City Farmers Market and came across the largest zucchini I’d ever seen. This year, we headed to the source, Barking Dog Farms, just south of Lincoln City at the base of the Siletz River. This was perhaps the greenest, lushest little farm I’ve ever seen, clearly benefiting from the cool, damp climate. The toddlers snacked on watermelon and picked dandelions while the rest of us checked out the offerings.

My sister-in-law chatted with the owner about their heirloom seed supplier as we drooled over the beautiful tomatoes, zucchini, and cut-to-order herbs and greens. I brought back a large, freshly harvested leek, garlic chives, romanesco zucchini, black russian tomato, pluots and some local goatzarella cheese from Fraga Farm. The leek and chives were used in my oven-roasted salmon, and I made a roasted zucchini, tomato and goatzarella salad to serve on the side. Just two of those hearty zucchini fed the entire family of 10!

Hitting the road soon? Check out Culinate’s “Local 50: Good things to eat in every state.”

This week I had the opportunity to be in the audience for Martha Stewart’s blogging show. I wasn’t one of the cool kids live blogging in the laptop section, but it was a fun experience nonetheless. One of the guests, Eddie Ross (also a Martha employee and Top Design contestant), blogged from backstage, for a different perspective. Matt Armendariz of Matt Bites was the featured foodblogger, who cooked up a batch of cookies with Martha.

I made the most of my day in New York with a foodie tour of the city. I keep a running list on del.icio.us of places I need to visit in NYC, and since I only had a couple hours after the show, I had to narrow it down to a few highlights. In the spirit of Martha, here are my “Foodie Good Things, NYC.”

1. The Martha Stewart set. The kitchen is even more drool-worthy in person. And then there’s the prep kitchen to the side, which I would love to actually get inside of one day.

2. Hot dogs. I have far too many restaurants on my must-visit list, but with limited time I figured I’d stick with a classic fast food option, the hot dog. Little did I know we were going to have to sit through Martha tasting 27 hot dogs for a hot dog competition to air next week! Some of them were pretty spectacular (macaroni and cheese on top?!) and others Martha and her judging partner literally gagged on. I was vicariously hot dogged out by the end, but as I walked through Chelsea in search of a lunch spot, F&B Gudtfood caught my eye with a “healthy hot dog” claim. I settled on the Farm Dog, a chicken sausage on whole wheat bun topped with sweet corn salsa. Yum. Of course I countered the healthy selection with a helping of truffle fries. Can’t wait to see who wins Martha’s hot dog challenge next week, to add to my list for our next trip up.

3. Cupcakes. This is the city that started the cupcake craze, after all. I headed to batch nyc to check out their offerings. I was tempted by the chocolate matcha green tea, but couldn’t resist the salted caramel carrot cake. It’s hard to judge a cupcakery on a carrot cupcake, rather than something light and fluffy like basic vanilla, but this one was outstanding. Moist, dense, and full of fresh carrot without seeming overly healthy. The salted caramel frosting was scrumptious.

4. Cheese. Now that we have a cheese/gourmet shop in our neighborhood and an Italian store not far away, my pantry-stocking list is a little shorter when visiting NY. But that wasn’t going to deter me from visiting the cheese mecca, Murray’s, in the Village. They claimed to carry more of the Wine Spectator 100 Great Cheeses than anyone else, but I failed to count them to see how Cheesetique measures up. I found one of those 100 that I don’t believe my shop carries to bring home, La Serena, which was excellent.

5. Cookbooks. Bonnie Slotnick’s vintage cookbook shop is a treasure trove of food history, and if it were a little roomier, I could easily move in. The friendly owner hands out chocolates of the day, making the shop even more irresistible. I picked up a Peter Rabbit cookbook I’ve been searching for for years, for my kids’ cookbook collection.

6. Kids shops. Of course I couldn’t spend 24 hours away from home and not pick up a little something for the toddler. Doodle Doo’s is a hair salon-slash-boutique with cute toys, onesies, books and games. What’s the food connection? The 1, 2, 3 New York counting book has apples, pizza and hot dogs, of course.

7. Gelato. Another NY must eat, my gelateria of choice was Grom. I had the flavor of the month, Noce, made from walnut oil from Sorrento. Grom uses all-natural ingredients, many from Italy, and supports the Slow Food Presidia project. And it was tasty, too. Rich, creamy and flavorful.

8. Greenmarket. Union Square’s Greenmarket is one of the largest in the country. I love seeing what’s in season in other parts of the country, though New York’s crops are fairly similar to ours. A couple vendors still had strawberries though, and there’s some definite NYC sticker-shock when stumbling across $5 per pound heirloom tomatoes. My $3 brandywine a couple weeks ago seems like a bargain now! I picked up a couple New Jersey peaches to snack on on my drive home, and to add a seventh state to my list of peaches sampled this year. (MD, VA, WV, PA, OR, WA and NJ.)

9. Bialys. We love the bialys from Slim’s over in Queens, and my in-laws were kind enough to pick them up for me to have ready for breakfast.

10. Pizza. Okay, it would be wildly inappropriate to write a Good Things NY list and not include pizza. We usually just eat at one of the perfectly acceptable places in Queens, where my in-laws live, but my personal favorite is in Brooklyn. I’m only a New Yorker by marriage, so please consult the experts before choosing a pizza joint for your own visit.

My biggest foodie craving left unsatisfied this visit was brunch at Balthazar. Would love to hear your NYC cravings or suggestions to add to my must-visit list!

I grew up in the hills northwest of Portland, Oregon, just up the river from Sauvie Island. This 33 square mile island is a quiet retreat just 20 minutes from Portland and split between farmland and Sturgeon Lake’s bird sanctuary. My family still fishes and kayaks on the island, and the sandy north shore made for an easy “beach” trip when I was a kid. The tug boats, barges and cargo ships were added entertainment, making their way up the Columbia’s ship channel to the ocean.

My brother spent a few summers working the peach stand at Sauvie Island Farms, and the sweet, dusty smell of the orchard is still the essence of summer for me. This year, we took my son and niece peach picking on a beautiful August day that started with a drizzle, but turned sunny as we walked through the orchard.

The kids had a blast pulling each other in the wagons and the toddler was mesmerized by the massive peaches that somehow kept finding their way into his hands.

These incredible peaches were the Veteran variety, about the size of a softball and oh so sweet and juicy.

We were lucky to also catch the tail end of blueberry season, but as the kids seemed to be putting far fewer into the box than they were picking, we had to drag them out of the bushes and restrain them back in the wagon

Now, if you aren’t from the Northwest you may not appreciate the depth of the rivalry between Oregon and Washington (go Ducks!) … but if you do find yourself out that way and venture on to the Island, beware of the big red barn farmstand at the foot of the bridge. We sent my brother and sister-in-law over to get some peaches for Sunday dinner, and they stopped there since the usual place was closed. And brought home Washington peaches. Now, it is a nice farmstand and has some local produce, but it also has the same things you could find at Fred Meyer. I bought some lovely California avocados there last year. So if you’re looking for a more authentic experience, continue down the road following the “u-pick” signs to Sauvie Island Farms. (You can consult the farmer’s wife to see what’s in season.)

Oh, and what to make with fresh picked peaches and berries? Peach Blackberry Cobbler, of course!

In my previous wrap-up of our vacation, I mentioned the fabulous North Portland coffee shop Random Order where we had locally-roasted espresso and pies featuring locally-grown ingredients. I have a few more food highlights to share from our trip to the Pacific Northwest, where everything is big and bold, from the mountains to the coffee, the produce and the rain!

We spent a rainy morning at the midweek Portland Farmers Market downtown. Located just a few blocks from my old alma mater, this relatively small market was still a total sensory overload. So much variety and unique items, such as the Picklopolis stand, fresh Columbia River salmon and one of my favorites, Rogue River Creamery cheeses. We only bought a few things for dinner that evening as we were headed to the Coast the next day, so settled on some glorious baby artichokes, padron peppers and morels.

We were also blown away by Hot Lips’ local berry sodas. The label even specifies the farm where the berries were grown. How’s that for knowing where your food comes from?! Hot Lips is a local pizza joint where my classmates and I, after turning in all the soda cans we could round up (Oregon’s refundable cans, the husband couldn’t understand why we had to save all our cans), would fork over our change for delicious pizza. Now they make this awesome soda and in addition to the flavors at market - blackberry, blueberry, marionberry, strawberry, each with just a touch of real cane sugar and carbonated water - they serve a black raspberry from the tap. Sadly, we didn’t make it into the store to try that one.

We also bought some fresh tamales, mine was artichoke and peppers, and devoured them right there in the rain, while the toddler made his way through a pint of blackberries.

That night, we simply steamed the artichokes, sauteed the morels in butter, and fried up the peppers according to the instructions provided by the vendor. Each was remarkably fresh and flavorful and a great compliment to my Dad’s spaghetti.

I’ll post a weekly Pacific NW feature for the rest of the month, so check back every Monday! And on tap for the remainder of this week, a special series on Preserving the Tastes of Summer.