Just about a little over a week ago I got an email from La Medusa Restaurant in Columbia City (my neighborhood of Seattle) inviting me to an event put on by the Field Trip Society featuring author Langdon Cook and his new book about wild salmon called Upstream.
I immediately bought tickets because 1. access to local food author and 2. access to foraging and foodie experts 3. two blocks away and 4. food and wine pairings. Win! I bought one ticket because I was going to network with foodies and foragers and hopefully learn something, which required going in alone and unfettered.
When I got there I was seated just three seats and a large uncomfortable yelling distance from the author. Just enough to make eye contact but no small talk, only yell really loudly "Hi, my name is Angel!" awkwardly across the table, sigh, so close but so far away. So, I started asking the people around me about themselves – I had to talk to someone afterall. Turns out I was seated next to an expert on Oregon truffles, an editor, a psychologist and a flight attendant. It was quite a mixture.
Meanwhile, many dishes were about to be paraded in front of us. All four featuring salmon, right down to the dessert.
We had salmon crudo, smoked salmon, pan roasted, and finally roe on a souffle. It was the whole list of salmon possibilities from raw to cooked – and everything was served with local foraged things like ramps (wild leeks) and porcini mushrooms, and morels, and herbs that looks a lot like flowers picked nearby.
I ate so much salmon I almost thought I couldn't eat more salmon ever again. But then there was dessert. And there was the reading about salmon from the salmon book by Langdon.
"The Copper [River] is the tenth-largest river in the United States and is known for its broad delta, an important rearing ground for waterfowl and shorebirds. Full of bears, eagles, and salmon, this vast watershed is worthy of the finest nature documentaries, and just knowing that place like this still exists makes people happy." – page 5, Upstream.
Roe on a sweet-ish souffle is a little challenging, but not horrible. It was definitely a valiant effort to include salmon in every course. It was also a phenomenal night with fun people who I need to email to continue our conversations.