( Editors' Note: We have completed the labor of love in this the third post from Tom McKenna. We encourage you to read all three - for what they say about Tom, his friends and friendship.)
Nick's Fammous Coney Island Nick's Coney Island is a throwback, a neighborhood bar in southeast Portland, something like the one in Cheers was pretending to be. I drop in , a regular for the past 25 years. It's like stopping home for lunch, except that there are always thirty people waiting for you. I'm welcomed by the booming voice of Frank, the owner: "Hey, look who's here." At Nick's, the special sauce is the ubiquitous homemade chili. Since 1934, they've been splashing it over the foot-long dogs and slathering it with shredded cheddar and raw, sweet Walla Walla onions. I go to Nick's for the company and the "pick-'er-upper": a Coney Island dog with only a little chili on it. "My dream," Frank confides, "is to get the goddamned menu down to one item before I go. A coney, that's it ." Beer, Brats and a Tailgate
It's one of the best times of the year for sports fans: Boston just won the World Series and the Ducks are in contention for a national championship. Along with hours of sports viewing come hours of sports connected eating. And what better place to start than with brats, beer and a tailgate. Editors' Note There are certain responsibilities that come with editing and certain prerequisites as well. We take the former as seriously as possible and the latter as often. With these in mind we have added links to Tom's post and a few pictures. We have never been to a tailgate and sought to get the flavor of one via Google - discovering thereby that official University of Oregon ducks tailgating supplies include along with the folding chairs, etc.,the "Oregon Ducks 'Bottle Opener' Hitch Cover". We now feel that the true spirit of tailgating is open to us. We also found, much to our delight, that there are at least two reputed 'Bratwurst Capitals of the World' - Sheboygan, Wisconsin and Bucyrus, Ohio, along with any number of competing titles throughout Wisconsin. The nation's largest bratwurst manufacturer, Johnsonville Foods, is located in Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin, holds the 'World's Largest Brat Fest', without, we should add, making any claims to capitaldom. The Amana Colonies are among many utopian communities founded throughout the United States during the 19th century. Utopianism at Amana was rigourous - "All decisions concerning the colonies, including what work an
individual would do and which of the seven towns he would live in, were
made by the brudderrath - the Council of Elders of the Amana Church
Society. Church services, attendance mandatory, were held 11 times a
week, and more often around holidays. German was compulsory in the
colonies' schools. Paintings, photographs and unnecessary ornamentation
were disapproved of. Each of the villages was almost self-sufficient,
with its own general store, bakery, slaughterhouse, blacksmith and
other specialties, and contact with outsiders, beyond what was
necessary for trade, was kept to a minimum." We suspect that is why "Communism is one of two subjects on which residents will get politely
edgy; they will go to some lengths to put distance between the
villages' communal structure and Soviet Communism."
Beers Brats and a Tailgate
A Toast to an Organized Man
Editors' Note on Remaining Faithful
Nick's Famous Coney Island - 3746 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503.235.4024
The chili dog stains your face orange, burns on the way down, and warms you in some deep place. When my mother died, Frank attended the service. Her picture stands among the memorabilia behind the bar, like the photos of starlets at Hollywood bars—only this one's of Helen McKenna from Rutherford, New Jersey. At Nick's, you're in America as we all ant it to be. – Tom McKenna
"Eggs of an hour, bread of a day, wine of a year, a friend of thirty years." - Italian Proverb
Food is our common ground, a universal experience. - James Beard
We
take pleasure in being reminded by our friend, writing of his friends,
that food is so much about occasions of love and friendship. We are
humbled to present the first two of three posts by Tom McKenna.
Tom Pollock moved to Portland 3 years ago from Madison, Wisconsin. 
"Even though Portland is a wonderful place, one of the things Portland doesn't have that I miss the most about Wisconsin, are the tailgates. There really is no other way to experience Lambeau Field (Packers) or Miller Park (Brewers) than getting there two hours before game time, parking your car, getting out the lawn chairs, opening up some beers, and firing up the grill with your buddies and all the other tailgaters. There are no tailgates like the ones in Wisconsin.
The components it takes to make a tailgate successful are relatively easy. It's
not a complicated procedure on the whole, but one of the keys is good brats. I've never not been to a bad tailgate, but having solid brats is pretty key. And it's good to bring positive brat karma into the game for the hometeam too."
In the spirit of the pre-game brat fest, Mr. Pollock generously shared his time honored recipe for the perfect bratwurst. If you are looking for a good place to buy brats in Portland, I suggest two places. The first is a Portland landmark. I go there when I know it will be crowded just to thoroughly indulge in the atmosphere. It's Gartner's, the red building on the SW corner of NE Killingsworth and 74th. They've been feeding Portland meat for over 40 years and make their brats themselves.
Place number is a bit more obscure. It's the Old Country Sausage deli on NE 106th and Sandy in the heart of lovely Parkrose, one of the few un-hip places left in the metro area. Word is that employees have to be fluent in German. The brats are home made and quite a treat.
Here's Tom's recipe.
Wisconsin Beer Brats
Dozen brat recipe / serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
Decent brats (or not)
2 big cans of sauerkraut (I like Franks)
Four or five onions (White is good, or yellow)
Brat buns (I like the cheap ones)
6 or 12 pack of beer (an ale or an amber) or more if anyone else is cooking with you. It’s good to share beer.
Instructions (these need not be followed to the letter)
Open a beer and start drinking.
Slice three onions. Largish slices. Can be thin, just not diced.
Open the sauerkraut, put in fridge.
Get a large pot to boil the brats. Fill with one gallon of water and bring to boil. Add half of your sliced onions while bringing to boil.
Once at a boil, bring down to a slow simmer. Slower the better. Add in three or four beers (depending on supply) and add in your brats.
Add the rest of the onion.
Let simmer for at least 20 minutes or up to 60 minutes. Add some kraut at this point too.
While simmering, get a container to hold your brats in, and make a layer of kraut at the bottom and add some kraut juice to the container.
Take out brats after done simmering and put into kraut container. Add some of the water from pot if the kraut juice isn’t enough.
Put another layer of kraut on top of brats.
Put in the fridge until you need to serve them.
Drink remaining beer.
Serving
Condiments include mustard, sauerkraut, ketchup, and onions (use the one you have left over), and whatever else you like.
Weber kettle or charcoal grilled. Brats may explode, poke with fork if you don’t want this to happen, but I like to let the brats do whatever.
Brown slowly on each side, maybe 5-7 minutes a side.
Once brown (a little blackish is fine) serve on toasted bun.
Add condiments remembering “after brat”. The right concoction of condiments will leave a tasty leftover when you’re brat is done that’s good to eat with a fork. (lots of kraut and brat juice is key).
Bon Appetit.. 
Toast to an Organized Man
Joe Simpson is an organized man. His life is documented by his calendars. He keeps two a year and then files each in a safe place at year's end. If you want to hang out with Joe Simpson, plan well in advance.
Twice a year, Joe provides a bus for 50 friends to tour wine country with him.
On a cold October morning, everyone meets at the Hometown Buffet in Tigard, a place chosen for convenience rather than cuisine. A warm greeting and a big hug start the day.
Joe's been organizing wine tours for the past 12 years. Today's adventure is number 24. "We've been to 84 different wineries over the years."
This year’s fall tour presents challenges. "The northern wineries are in a rush to do the crush. It's getting tough, man. Had one cancel on me on Wednesday. Now, how they gonna do that? They had to crush early and I had to find a new winery." You can't help but feel his pain. This is a man who doesn't like to change the calendar. "But, I found one."
Our first stop is Apolloni Vineyards just outside of Forest Grove. Their sign advertises "Pinot Noir and Italian Style Wines." As we disembark the bus, a fellow traveler comments, "This place looks like Italy." An impressive looking manor sits atop a hill overlooking straw colored rolling hills ripe with grapes.
Apolloni's proprietor is Alfredo Apolloni. "My family had a winery in Italy for 150 years. In 1976, I decided it was time to move. I looked around in California and eventually found this property in Oregon. We sold the winery back home and made the move."
Alfredo's dream is to make a good Italian sangiovese. "Right now we're praying for some sunshine and warmth." He has a Thanksgiving release planned for his first bottles of the sangiovese. He looks outside to the gray sky and gathering rain, shrugs his shoulders and hands me a an '05 pinot noir to taste. It's delicious.
Before long, most of the tour is standing together out in front of the tasting room, passing around wine, laughing, surrounding Joe who is holding court in the middle of the crowd. Standing next to me Bob who is on the tour for the first time, looks to me and smiles, "It's just a good time."
Our final stop is the Elven Glade Winery. It takes awhile to find, a little bit longer to get in (a truck is blocking the entrance) but the wait is worth it. One of the requirements of a Joe Simpson wine tour is that everyone bring a favorite dish to share which we all devour at the third stop. Participants take the request seriously. Joe is always impressed, "Folks will throw down, won't they?"
A long table is filled with appetizers, salads, main dishes, desserts, hot food, finger food, finger lickin' good food that puts the Hometown Buffet to shame. Elven Glade pinot noirs pop open and are spaced along the length of the table. Joe moves into the red section of the joke folder. The noise level rises, the party ascends to a feverish pitch.
The favorites of the days are the pinot noirs from Elven Glade and Apolloni and the dessert wines from Shafer. Cases of the stuff are loaded onto the bus. It flows freely from toast to toast as everyone hangs on to the last minutes of meager sun.
It's always hard to leave but a steady rain hastens the decision. Time to head home. Another tour behind us.
Joe slumps into his seat. "I'm tired, man." He uses a white towel to dab beads of sweat from his forehead. "This is getting to be too much like work and you know that I am retired from that."
The bus is alive with song, animated conversation and wine. "But, I guess, it's worth it." The broad smile across Joe's face makes it clear that its worth the work, the headaches and the number of times he has to erase an entry in his beloved calendars.
It's Joe's world. Every now and then the rest of us are lucky enough to jump on board, if only for a day two times a year. 
Finally, of greatest interest we found the postcard pictured above, apparently displaying traditional bratwurst manufacture in the Amana Colonies - seven small towns in eastern Iowa, where "small signs on the cornfield fences announce that the land is
owned by the Amana Society; founded 1854, when a
German group called the Community of True Inspiration, an offshoot of
Lutheranism, bought 25,000 acres of prime Iowa farmland and set up a
religious communal society. They named the first village Amana, a word
derived from the Song of Solomon meaning ''remain faithful.'' West
Amana followed, then South Amana, High Amana, East Amana, Middle Amana
and finally Homestead, purchased in 1861."
It's still Apple and Pear Season in Hood River
We are uploading this photo essay as a tribute to Hood River and why we go there and what is at stake in Measure 49:
Even
with, maybe even, especially because of the wind-surfing related
tourism, Hood River has a downtown. It remains charming and
accessible. When we first started going we discovered Annz Panz and
continue to go back, particularly for their huge and delicious Club
Sandwiches.
Most of all, however, we love the valley. This photo is taken from
mid-valley looking north toward Mt. Adams.
When we continue out Highway 35 toward and past Parkdale, we always stop at Draper's Farm for the cider.
Apple and pear sorters at Mt. Hood Organic: 
The view from Mt. Hood Organics.
