Home sweet home, Sundays at Orenco

Couldn't have had a better day at the crepe booth. We had good food and good people all coming together. Yesterday I served at a slower event downtown, so waking up to do the morning hustle of crepe prep at Orenco was like a homecoming. For some reason, the flavors speak to my neighbors as much as to me. I got a few people asking me if I knew of this or that crepe place (most of the places yes; I'm obsessed!) and some chit-chat about the motherland of food (France).

Best of all, we got to play around with a new flavor: lavender. I'm excited to serve this one at Mountainside farms in July so I decided to get the concept started a little early. I added lavender syrup to the whipped cream today (I'll add more next time! It was almost undetectable!) and some ground up lavender buds to sugar. Here's the shot from our menu:


Flavor is comprised of taste and smell, and I love getting a full nose of flavor before I take a bite. In fact, this is one of the best parts of making fresh lemon curd in the morning at Orenco. The sharp lemon zest scent even carries across a parking space to where the Gyro people set up. Cooking anything you get hit with these full flavors, as strong as they can be. Think of the power of raw onions. The trick is taming down the noise of the food and presenting it in the best form for the eater. For lavender, I think we nailed it. Sweet and light, this crepe had a delicate punch like you get from smelling uncut, fresh lavender under the hot sun (from a few inches back!)

What ingredient flavors do you like to smell when you're cooking? Tell me in the comments!