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"  &amp;quot;Don&amp;#039;t forget, the Pear people are coming tomorrow morning&amp;quot; Jessica said as she headed out the door. The Pear People as we affectionately call them are not animated characters, they&amp;#039;re from The Pear Bureau Northwest (www.usapears.com) and they represent over 1400 fruit growers in Oregon and Washington. Like other commodity groups and food companies, they make annual visits to our Test Kitchens. Usually a PR visit like this, called a deskside in the biz, is about 15 minutes, full of fun facts, news about the crop, trends, recipe ideas-- and it gives us a real person to work with if and when we do a story. Sometimes these visits include an industry insider be it a pear farmer, a cheese maker, a cattle rancher or a professional ice cream taster (more on these later). I am big on booking the meetings first thing in the morning so I start my day with something that charges me up. Imagine my surprise when I stepped into the kitchens to meet the pear people @ 8:45 and saw a fully set table, flanked by Vitaly Paley, chef of Paley&amp;#039;s Place (www.paleysplace.net) in Portland, Oregon, his wife/restaurant manager Kimberley, as well as the pear folks. Paley&amp;#039;s is known for its use of local sustainable ingredients (and fabulous food!) and Vitaly had set out to showcase pears using a supporting cast of other Northwest ingredients. Thus I was sipping a silky Curried Pear and Winter Squash Soup, which even at 9 am paired beautifully with the crisp Erath Pinot Gris (www.erath.com) as did the Dungeness Crab and Pear Sandwich, on brioche that had traveled from Portland. A very rich tartlet of juicy, sweet (surprise!) pears, bacon, and Opal Creek Cheese was perfect counterpoint to the very lush, cherry notes of Erath&amp;#039;s Leland Vineyard Pinot Noir- such an amazing aroma I wanted to wear it as a scent!). Pears and Blue cheese are a classic combination for good reason. The earthy, saltiness of the cheese paired with the sweet creaminess of the pears (Comice is a favorite of mine for this) is a partnership far greater than the sum of its parts. And of course Oregon makes some great blue cheeses. We got to taste Rogue River Blue from Rogue Creamery (www.roguecreamery.com)-- this crumbly yet creamy blue ages wrapped in grape leaves soaked in pear eau de vie from Clear Creek (clearcreekdistillery.com) in Portland. Now that I&amp;#039;ve had this taste of Oregon, I am ready to travel. A wine and spirits tour during pear harvest, anyone?? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food-recipes/a21960/armchair-oregon-travels-pears/>