Yesterday's Grand Tasting at the Gateway (the first event of the three-day Harvest on the Harbor) was a wine/beer/food tasting frenzy. A wee gluttonous? Sure. But a little gluttony never hurt anyone.

Actually that's not true at all. Gluttony hurts lots of people. Gluttony is actually kind of a jerk, come to think of it. But I didn't intend on writing a PSA here guys, so let's put gluttony on the back burner for now..

My chum Avery wrote a nice round-up of the event so I'll keep redundancy to a minimum and simply say it was a sampler's feast.

Edible contrivances of all kinds (though most seemed to lean toward the seafood variety) and wine, wine, wine. Peak Organic and Shipyard brought the beer, along with Nappi Distributors.

Our stomachs so enjoyed the event that we decided to recreate it back at the office this morning. Our office chefs may be slightly less prestigious than those in charge last night, but I'd venture to sat that today's tortellini salad and apple cinnamon sausage rivaled the creations of Portland's culinary kings.

I made apple bread - the recipe courtesy of my colleague Karen who insisted the bread was easy to make (read: even a kitchen dolt like myself could figure this one out).

She was right. I made a loaf and ate it. I was so filled with pride that I made another loaf and brought it into work to share. But I ended up eating most of that one, too.

In just over two weeks I've made four loaves (because I still have a load of apples from apple picking). They've all been delicious. If this routine continues I'll need an apple-product intervention before the month is out.

But the success of the apple bread means I now have two (that's TWO) food items I'm able to prepare and bring to a potluck: Apple bread or a meatless taco dip I perfected in high school. I can also make mashed potatoes, but they're not as potluck friendly.

Thus I move forward into the land of grown-up people who can prepare foods for office parties instead of stopping off at the CVS on the way in for a box of Fiddle Faddle.

So yea, I'm kind of feeling on top of the world with my new baking skills. I'm sort of an apple bread master - and it just feels right.

Harvest on the Harbor continues through tomorrow. I had planned on taking part in the Wine Flight 5K tomorrow morning, but then realized that the Culinary Marketplace is essentially the same thing, only without all that pesky exercise.

I think I'll make some more apple bread and slyly slip it onto the Fore Street exhibitor's table tomorrow. See if anyone notices.

Photos from Grand Tasting at the Gateway (some even with a well-executed "overkill flash!")