FOODday is the food section of the Oregonian and comes out on Tuesday. It used to be my favorite part of the paper but a couple of months ago they hired a new editor who comes from Connecticut.

I'm not sure why they felt the need to hire someone from back east. Don't we have lots of talented and interesting locals with a unique regional insight?

Instead we get a lady from Connecticut who can't stop telling us how she just moved here and is just figuring it all out: "I've been in Portland for only six weeks and haven't yet traveled around the state, but it's quite apparent that there's something different about this region ... ." You're journey of discovery is more interesting to you than it is to us, Martha.

This week she tells us that when her friends call they all want to know: Is she happy? Does it really rain all the time? How's the shopping. Turns out: Martha says our food shopping is "as good or better than anywhere I've ever lived." I hope she tells her friends we have paved roads and ATM machines, too!

Or maybe not. If people from back east realize there's civilization out here they might all want to come.