March GIG Meeting Recap

Our March 8th meeting marked the first meeting in our new location at Portland Providence Medical Center. GIG Mentor Coordinator, Greg Malby, filled in capably for our Branch Leader, Dr. Lisa Shaver, in her absence. Greg did a great job running the meeting and lots of useful information was shared by all. The meeting was well-attended with a number of first-time guests joining us. Hopefully some new memberships as well!

Patricia Harrington who wrote and self-published La Petite Assiste: Simple Gluten Free Baking gave a informative presentation to the group. She had catered for 30 years when she started to experiment with converting recipes to gluten free as a result of her own health issues and family members with digestive issues. Her cookbook offers basic and simple recipes and has a ton of beautiful pictures in her new book. She focuses on golden flax meal as a leavening agent and says the key is getting the leavening agent and starch to work together (rise and stabilize). She is working on a website with a blog and will have it up and running soon. Her book can be found on Amazon. La Petite Assiette

Upcoming April Events:

• 4/5 and 4/6 Food As Medicine Symposium at NCNM Mitchell Hall, Room 310 and NCNM Academic Building Room 107. Both Professional Events and Public Events are offered. For more information, see their website in the links. Food As Medicine Symposium. 

• 4/6 America's Test Kitchen will be at Powell's Books, Inc. with a presentation by Jack Bishop, The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook: Revolutionary Techniques. Groundbreaking Recipes. Sunday, April 6, 2014, 7:30pm Powell’s City of Books (1005 W. Burnside St., Portland)

• 4/12 The Authors from Nosh on This: Gluten-Free Baking from a Jewish-American Kitchen will be at our April meeting to give a presentation on their new book. They will also be at Mittlemen Jewish Community Center on 4/10. 

• 4/26 Our annual fund raiser, The Gluten Free Food Fair, will be at the DoubleTree by Portland Hilton from 11am to 3pm. Posters will be available soon. A sign-up sheet was passed around for volunteers to sign up for 1 or more shifts for the event and to help pass out posters in the community. Event volunteers will get free admission in exchange for their service to help make the event a success.

New Seasons Market offers gluten free classes and tours at their store locations for free. Check with their stores and online for location and availability. New Seasons Events.

There is a Gluten Free PDX group on Meetup.com, a community group self-organizing website, that has local gf restaurant outings and other events for members. Its a great way to try out local gluten free establishments with other gluten free members. Our Gluten Free Food Fair is listed on Meetup as well! A meetup membership is free.

Camp Blue Spruce is a camp for kids with food allergies. Their 2014 camp is August 17-22. Checkout their Facebook page at https: //www.facebok.com/CampBlueSpruce or website at http://www.campbluespruce.org for more details.

Harvester Brewing (Dedicated GF Brewing) and Brooklyn House (100% Gluten Free Restaurant) were mentioned as being great restaurants for gluten free. Members have reported great experiences there.

March 2014 GIG of Portland Meeting

Saturday March 8, 2014

This Saturday we have the honor of welcoming cookbook author Patricia Harrington who wrote The Petite Assiette: Simple Gluten-Free Baking. 

Patricia Harrington is a gluten-free cook and baker living in Portland, Oregon. She grew up in central California in a family of foodies; both her Mother and Grandmother were published cooks known for their recipes. Her Grandfather, also a published chef, was a hot sauce entrepreneur in Santa Barbara, California. 

Over the years Patricia has worked for popular catering companies in Portland, Oregon and in Santa Barbara. She has owned several small catering companies, including an on-site food service for film crews. In her most recent venture, La Petite Assiette, the small plate, Patricia prepared delicious dishes to compliment the weekly wine tasting in a Portland wine bar. 

The chefs and their cookbooks that have most influenced her approach to cooking include James Beard, Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Graham Kerr, Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver and Alice Waters, as well as the wonderful women in her family who always put a fresh tasty meal on the table. 

Travels through France and Spain and a love of the fresh produce of the Pacific Northwest have influenced and inspired Patricia to blend the sophistication of city meals with the ease of country cooking while making it all gluten-free. 

The results are the wonderful recipes in this book! Patricia can be reached at: lapetiteassiette@gmail.com

MEETING LOCATION: 
Providence Portland Medical Center
4805 NE Glisan St, Portland, OR 97213
(503) 215-1111

Still every 2nd Saturday, 10am to noon.

Prov Portland in the basement classrooms #2 & #3
PPMC (Providence Portland Medical Center), Health Center Classrooms 2 & 3 on the lower level (officially: PPMC HCC 2,3)

Park on the 2nd floor of the free parking garage. Walk towards the main hospital (NOT the Professional Plaza with the private practices). Take the pedestrian covered glassed-in bridge over to the hospital to the west. Take the elevator downstairs. We are straight down the hall.