Food Love

Food Love

June 5, 2013 by · 3 Comments

How lucky am I to live in Yakima?  This unsung, desert-y town makes me happy.  The weather this week has been perfect to a tee, we are surrounded by orchards and farms offering snazzy, fresh produce and we have innovative people creating amazing food & beverage.

I think about food a lot (pretty much mentally on to the next meal once I’ve completed the one in front of me).  Much of what I eat is pretty routine—smoothie for breakfast almost every morning, nuts/fruit/yogurt for a snack, so on and so forth.  Kind of boring, but I’m ok with that most of the time.

When I step outside of the ordinary, Yakima steps up to the plate.

Some recent obsessions:

 Imogene’s—How I love to order my Friday lunch from .  I hop onto FaceBook on Monday and drool over the menu for the next Friday.  I take two seconds to add my order to the FB page and on Friday, between 9 and 12, I have a vibrant, delicious meal delivered to work.  Friday has been my favorite day since I started attending school at 5—now it is my favorite day times 10!

Planning an upcoming event?  Imogene’s caters!

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Copper Pot at the Farmer’s Market—The Yakima Farmers’ Market continues to grow each year.  We love to head down Sunday mornings with the Fam and stock up on fruits, veggies & cheese (yay for local cheese!).  This year we have a really difficult time making it past the new Copper Pot stand without indulging in an ice cream sundae.  Featuring Winegar’s ice cream, homemade in Ellensburg, and Copper Pot’s signature caramel sauce, these sundaes are perfect.

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 Bale Breaker—Enjoyed my first trip to Bale Breaker Brewing Company to celebrate Johnny Roger’s birthday.  I am nowhere near the level of beer connoisseur, but my dad, husband and John definitely fit that bill.  They love the beer and I enjoyed it too.  On top of that, the taproom has a cool, industrial feel and and outdoor area has plenty of seating and room to roam.  There are yard games set up and kids and pups are welcome.  And–great news–Imogene’s will be serving their creative and delicious fare starting Friday’s in late June.

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Photo courtesy of balebreaker.com

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Lights in the taproom

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Sophie & the hops

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Outdoor games

Filed Under: Food Tagged With: bale breaker brewing company, , food love, foodies, , , , , , Yakima food
Tieton Farm & Creamery

Tieton Farm & Creamery

March 12, 2013 by · 4 Comments

March weather in the Yakima Valley can vary wildly. It can be sunny and warm one day and cold and snowing the next. This year has been no exception. Kendall woke up traumatized last week when there was snow on the ground. But her trauma soon turned to joy when the air warmed up to a nice 65 degrees and remained that way for a while.

Saturday was a perfect March day—sunny and warm with the smell of spring all around. It was an ideal day to visit Tieton Farm & Creamery. The Creamery hosted an open house from noon-3 p.m. for anyone who wanted to see the newborn goats and sheep. Mandi and I rounded up the girls and headed out for the afternoon.

The first thing we saw when we arrived at Tieton Farm was a girl holding a tiny goat born just the day before. They named her Lisa. We made our way into the barn to see goats and sheep aplenty. There were still some pregnant goats ready to burst. But the majority of the kids were drinking milk, cuddling with their mamas or lounging in the sun just outside the barn.

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After cuddling on the goats for a while and snapping too many photos, we made our way to the cheese table. We washed our hands, as you should any time you pet or hold farm animals, and then began tasting the delicious cheeses they had on display. They make their artisan farmstead cheeses right on site—it doesn’t get any fresher than that! Sophie, Kendall & Taylor participated fully. Mandi and I were surprised at how willing they were to taste the different varieties and they liked almost everything. Mandi and I loved it all!

We made our purchase selections—Bianca with lavender and black pepper, Venus bathed in cider from Tieton Cider Works and extra-large goose eggs.

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We then walked around the rest of the farm. The girls visited geese, chickens, turkeys, bulls, piglets and this sweet guy (or girl).
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At the end of our visit we were standing by the full-grown pigs—not a pretty site! It was at that time Taylor said “Can we get out of this place?! It smells worse than I expected”. Okay, farm girl, let’s go. And that’s when we headed out. What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon!

I know I’ve said this before, but we are so lucky to have amazing people and products in this beautiful valley of ours–very lucky indeed.

You can find Tieton Farm & Creamery cheeses at local restaurants, PCC Natural Market, Deep Sea Deli and at the Yakima Farmer’s Market.

Filed Under: Family Topics, Food, Fun with Kids, Local Attractions, Things we Love, Third Places Tagged With: baby goats, Bianca cheese, deep sea deli, goat cheese, PCC Natural Market, sheep cheese, Tieton Cider Works, Tieton Farm & Creamery, Venus cheese, Yakima farm,