VANCOUVER, WA – 110 years ago, the English Family traveled from Michigan in search of a new life and began potato farming in Southwest Washington. Now the Estate is still farmed by the English Family – growing, harvesting and producing a unique selection of wines. The public is invited to enjoy their wines and hospitality, on April 20 from 12-6 p.m. April 20, as English Estate celebrates 110 years of farming in Vancouver.

The day will be filled with events, including tours at 1 and 4 p.m. conducted by Carl S. English, fifth generation. Live music throughout the day will be provided by local musicians, Northwest Pan Man and Tom Mann.

Visit www.northwestpanman.com and www.myspace.com/tommanncountry . Tasting will be conducted in two different tastings rooms, the Pump House and the Loafing Shed, which is located in the Barn built in 1915 by the English Family.

English Estate Winery will also be celebrating 10 years of marketing its Bag-in-a-Beautiful Box, with a contest for designing or decorating a “beautiful” box to dispense your English Estate boxed wine. Carl D. English, founder of the winery, started boxed wine for the tasting room in 2003 to slow down waste. Eventually the customer’s demand created a whole new way of selling wines out of a tasting room. Boxed wine, BIBB as the English Family calls it, is now 80 percent of the Estate’s wine sales.

English Estate Winery is located at 17806 SE 1st St., in Vancouver.

Clark County’s oldest winery is known for its pure Estate Pinot Noir and their sweet fortified desert wines.  English Estate’s The Loafing Shed tasting room is open Friday, 12-9 p.m. Sat-Sun 12-6 p.m. and Mondays 4:30-7 p.m.

In 1980, the late Carl D English planted Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon vines on the gravelly ridge located at the mouth of the Columbia River.  The Gorge winds keep the vineyard dryer and sunnier than the Pinot growing lands to the North and South. This unique micro climate gives the grapes a character all of their own. The wines are now being crafted by Carl’s children Carl S. and Jennifer English Wallenberg.

English Estate
The English Estate Winery celebrates its 110th anniversary
with celebrations on April 20.

 

 

Box
Boxed wine, or BIBB, is now 80 percent of the
English Estate Winery’s wine sales.
 
Wine enthusiasts
A tour group sees the grounds of the English Estate.
 

The Camas Educational Foundation is preparing for a major April event called “Taste of Camas.” As part of this fun event, CEF is preparing to publish a Kids Cookbook, with profits benefitting the organization and local schools. CEF is currently accepting recipes from the public through March 21. To submit your recipes, print off the attached form and send it to [email protected]
It’s a great opportunity to share a great recipe and be published.
Jordan Tortillas
Jordan plans on submitting his family’s flour tortilla recipe
for the CEF Kids Cookbook. Making flour tortillas with a freshly-made pot of pinto beans is one of his family’s favorite meals.

 

This Friday, visit Downtown Camas businesses for chocolate delights and wine tastings (at select locations) and a chance to win the Valentine gift basket.

The City of Camas has also just given consent to closing one block downtown for S’More roasting in front of Navidi’s.

The events begin at 5 pm and last until 8 pm.

Special First Friday Features include:

  • Navidi’s hosting S’More roasting in the street in front of their shop at 322 NE Cedar St. We are hoping for a special visit from a Camas Fire Truck for kids to climb on.
  • Caffe Piccolo, 309 NE Birch, is hosting Truly Scrumptious treats and selling Choffey, which is distinctively flavorful ground cocoa beans prepared in a French Press. Stop in to try some! You can pick up a complete February First participation list here at Caffe Piccolo. 
  • Camas Antiques is having a Vintage Fastion show at 7pm.
  • Enjoy “Have a Heart” mini concert by special guest GraceLyricMusic, sidewalk music by a songbird to benefit the awareness of child abuse.

Some locations will also have a container of candy for you to guess the amount to win the candy! Guesses will also be entered for a Valentine themed basket. (Need not be present to win.) Begin your stroll at Caffe Piccolo, 309 NE Birch St, to pick up a participation list.

Downtown businesses will also be selling wonderful chocolate delights and other romantic gifts so you can take care of your Valentine’s Day shopping early.

First Friday Camas
 
 

 

The Seared Prawns speciality plate is one of many exquisite meals offered at the Hearth Wood Oven Bistro in downtown Washougal. The two-year-old restaurant is one of Clark County’s restaurant treasures and is a must-stop for foodies.

Stay tuned for an upcoming video feature and article about the Hearth. It’ll be an experience.
The restaurant is located at 1700 Main Street, Washougal. 360.210.7028.

Prawns

 

By Seth Sjostrom

Choffy.

Jason Vanderhoven awoke one morning following a vivid dream. He wasn’t being chased by a serial killer, he hadn’t inserted himself into a spy thriller, he wasn’t even waking in a start from that horrible falling kind of dream. Nope. He dreamt of cocoa beans. Roasted cocoa beans. At the time, he wasn’t entirely sure why.

Perhaps his subconscious had worked its way through the complex networks of his REM state brain. As an athlete training for the Olympics (Jason was highly competitive in the luge), he and his compatriots were well-versed and disciplined in nutrition. Yet, he was taken aback by how many of his fellow athletes downed caffeine-laden drinks before an event. This flew in the face what they had been taught of performance nutrition.

Coffey

 

As he mused about his dream, Jason couldn’t help but wonder if the concoction would actually work. His initial attempts, sheet pans of cocoa beans roasted in his oven, produced less than ideal results. Handing a cup of his brew to his father-in-law, he waited eagerly for a response. After a few sips, a glance across a mug was followed with, “Hmmm. You’ve made a bad cup of coffee.” Undaunted, Jason forged ahead with tweaks and trials. Three years later, he arrived at the selection, roast and grind of a delicious cup of Choffy. While the Aztecs and Samoans have Jason beat by a millennia, Choffy is certainly a ground-breaking invention as the modern roasted coffee bean drink.

What does Choffy taste like? When you have your first sip, you need to exorcise any pre-conceptions of what you think it might taste like in your head. It is not hot cocoa, it is not coffee. It is a slightly bitter, slightly creamy, genuinely satisfying flavor that hits upon a unique combination of taste buds. It satisfies the bit of sweet-tooth as well as the warm, invigorating yearn for coffee.

Why Choffy at all? First, the cocoa bean (correctly cacoa) has tremendous potential health benefits with very few of coffee’s detriments. Let’s start with what it does have. The cocoa bean has been revered for its high antioxidant content. In fact, a serving of Choffy has nearly the antioxidant power of two cups of superfood blueberries. Cocoa is packed with theobromine (similar, yet different than chemical cousin caffeine), a mild stimulant that increases heartbeat while acting as a vasodilator, actually reducing blood pressure. This buys you a boost without the crash.

Almost as important as what cocoa beans have in them is what they don’t. A cup of Choffy has less caffeine than a cup of decaf coffee. Courtesy of its other properties, you get the lift without the addiction and jitters of coffee. Choffy comes with only 20 calories and 3 carbs, with the reduced need for creamer (if you are so inclined), your diet is going to mind less too. In fact, Choffy is safe for children to drink, pregnant women and diabetics alike.

I love a cup of coffee, but I have been perplexed with the split reports on the praises and evils of my beloved cup of joe. For every positive article, I read a negative. With Choffy, there aren’t the confounding  reservations. Choffy is 100% premium cocoa bean. That’s it. Have yours straight up or with a splash of vanilla creamer (a little goes along way here, not like your old latte!)

How do you make this yummy (is it a stretch to call it health food) drink? The folks at Choffy recommend French press style. This simple process extracts the perfect amount of cacoa goodness in your drink. No press in your cabinet, no worries. You can use a regular drip coffee maker too. Serve it cold or hot, on its own or with a splash of cream.

Choffy is based right here in Vancouver. Inventer Jason Vanderhoven called up longtime friend Jason Sherwood to help develop and market Choffy, while Jason S’s wife, Andi, implemented the distribution strategy. A direct selling guru, Andi has enlisted a small army of Choffy lovers to not only distribute Choffy to consumers and independent businesses, but to create a viable business for their families. As Jason S. says, “Choffy’s purpose is to champion healthy living – beyond the product, but to impact life overall for families.” Utilizing independent distributors allows them to nurture a Choffy family that likes to share “Try this great tasting, healthy drink” to the world.

While a local phenomenon, Choffy has found success nationwide, being highlighted on the Dr. Oz show and in several food and health publications. Haven’t tried Choffy yet? It is worth finding. I am nearly a coffee to Choffy convert myself. Love it already? Become a distributor and make an extra few bucks a month for your family.

Choffy is located in Hazel Dell. You can get more information at www.drinkchoffy.com

About the contributor: Seth Sjostrom is  local resident and author of the thriller Blood in the Snow and holiday title Finding Christmas. Seth is also co-producer of children’s magazine Kids Ink NW. For more information on Seth or his books, visit www.wolfprintpublishing.com.