Food & Drink

Entering the new Cascade Culinary Institute (CCI) building is like walking onto the set of a TV cooking show. As CCI instructor and chef Thor Erickson is preparing lamb in one of the brand new kitchens, close-up footage appears on a large flat screen TV above, creating a complete sensory experience for viewers as the smells waft through the theater-like classroom.

Nate Bettger bounced and patted his newborn son on his chest as he relayed the story of his involvement with Common Table. The familiar tale of idealism put into action, the hope of building community, took a sudden twist when Bettger and the entire paid staff of the one-year-old social enterprise venture were laid off with six days' notice late this summer.
Whether this is a story of broken dreams or growing pains for a nonprofit in its infancy, is yet to be determined. In an 11th hour move to keep their doors open, the steering committee and an interim executive director are restructuring Common Table, which has among other services, offered vouchers for free meals to those in need, shifting to a model that relies more heavily on volunteers and simplifying their menu.

My boyfriend and I participate in a CSA program – a weekly delivery of fresh produce from Mt. Angel farm.

Bend beer aficionados now have yet another place to call home. This place, however, is like no other. The Bend Brew Shop has moved their Division Street store to that stubbornly antiquated former church building on the 3rd Street strip, affording them enough space to have a pub.
The Brew Shop is upstairs, meeting all your home brewing equipment and supplies needs in addition to offering over 500 bottled beers organized by state and country of origin. A side entrance with an awning leads you down a set of stairs into the Platypus Pub where you will find a carefully chosen selection of 15 beers on tap along with standard pub fare.
A group of friends and I eagerly visited the Platypus on their opening day last Monday. The pub is nice and cavernous, but with a somewhat stale feel; maybe it's the antiseptic green color of the walls, bare, with sparsely placed framed beer posters. The bar itself is slight, but the room offers ample seating for groups and pairs, a couple of dart boards at one end and the seemingly mandatory flat screen TV with a black leather couch at the other end. At this pub, the selection of beer trumps atmosphere.