A pig, a winery and the farmer's market

Sounds like the beginning of a joke, but let me tell you that porchetta, braised fennel and an arugula salad accompanied by a bottle of 2005 Cantina De Negrar Amarone was no joke.  Another find at the PSU farmer's market was a boutique porkery called Tails and Trotters.  This purveyor of hazelnut finished pork caught Mike's eye on our first pass by their tent.  After a semi-lengthy period of indecision on whether to purchase the hand-rolled, sausage stuffed porchetta roast for a fancy home-cooked meal, we went back to buy the pig portion and he was SOLD OUT!  By this point we had fixated on how delicious this meal would be.  Not to be denied, we drove their shop in NW. The meal was delicious and Mike had a pork-belly sandwich with leftovers the next day.  Not healthy, but so good.

Oven ready porchetta, just bake and bask in the glory of hazelnut fed, sausage-stuffed hog.

I am including a couple more farmer's market photos that Mike took because they almost look fake, they are so beautiful.  Enjoy.

Groupon  provided us with an opportunity to visit Ardiri. A boutique winery nestled in the Chehalem Mountains AVA of the Willamette Valley.  We tasted several of their varietals and enjoyed an picnic basket lunch we had packed on their beautiful grounds.

The vineyard.

Gorgeous tasting room and wine enjoyment area.