Do It Yourself: Pork Chops to Ham Hocks

Lisbon, Portugal Meat Shop

When we were in Portugal a few years ago we discovered meat for sale did not have to be fattened down in styrofoam trays with clear plastic wrap like in our local supermarkets.  We feel fortunate to be living in the Yamhill County, Carlton and McMinnville, Oregon area because along with the emergence of vineyards and wineries, it has a "foodie" focus.  Food is a big part of our culture here.

Maybe it is our personal experiences as native Oregonians growing up in a time when it was okay and kind of expected that friends and families would cut up their own deer, elk, beef or hog and put it in the freezer, we were excited when we heard the Friends of the   McMinnville Public Library Explore Oregon Series was going to feature a talk by Chef Eric Ferguson of Nick's Italian Cafe  and Fino in Fondo.

We thought Eric was going to give a straight ahead discussion of the Fino in Fondo Italian sausage process.  When we talked with Eric a few days before his Explore Oregon presentation he told us he planned on cutting up a half a pig.  Okay.  The Library was an interesting venue for cutting up a pig.

Eric did a great job of explaining what he was doing and why.  He demonstrated various cuts and he gave advice from holding a knife to where to cut.  He made wonderful suggestions for cooking various cuts.

He was asked if the Italian style sausages he makes a Fino in Fondo are raw.  He explained the sausages are ground meat, spices, good bacteria stuffed into casings and fermented.  The Italian style sausages are not cooked, they are fermented product like wine.

Eric is eloquent in his enthusiasm for food and the need to be connected to the food we eat.

William Stafford, Writing the Australian Crawl

I found a copy of Stafford's "Writing the Australian Crawl" in the Chemeketa Regional Library Service  and picked it up at McMinnville Public Library .

William Stafford

The chapter titled Writing opens with the lines,

It is a whisper, You turn somewhere
hall, street, some great event: the stars
or the lights hold; your next step waits you
and the firm world waits -  but
there is a whisper.  You always live so
a being that receives, or partly receives, or
fails to receive each moments touch.   

Stafford's view of artists and art is "the care of artists is not central to the care of art.  The accumulation of art objects is peripheral to the activity of art, in any area."

Art is in what we do and how we live and how we respond to the world not in the objects that accumulate around us.

One of his concluding points could be considered an almost spiritual  relationship to Art. 

Arts has its sacramental aspect. The source of art's power is one with religion's:  the discovery of the essential self and the cultivation of it thought the act of its positive impulses.

It rings true to me.  Art is what you do, how you interact and how you are in the world.