Homemade Gin — an experiment

And no, to answer your first question: a bathtub was not involved.
Having written and spoken as much as I have about gin in recent years, it seems somewhat sacrilegious to suggest that I “made” gin. I’ve been to too many distilleries, sampled too many quality gins, and studied too much the art and science of gin-making to believe what [...]

Dreaming of a White Vegas

This past week has served up some serious Winter Wonderland material. Not only is our West Seattle home nestled in a good foot or so of snow, but we were in Vegas for its newsworthy snowfall last week. The green glow the snow took on in the lights of MGM Grand was something to behold!
For [...]

Dinner in a Flash: Sausages

A few days ago it was Just One Of Those Days. Never catching a break, feeling always behind the 8-ball, a sense that if I just grasp my head firmly enough alongside each ear I can hopefully keep my head from exploding. You know those days, right? Couldn’t even muster any enthusiasm for going out [...]

More Delicious Holiday Cheer

If gelato, below, isn’t quite the right gift for the culinarian on your list, perhaps briny treats from the sea will be? I just received the annual reminder from Jon Rowley that homegrown Taylor Shellfish is once again offering holiday packages of oysters fresh from their Puget Sound beds.
Each of the two options  includes Olympias, Kumamotos, [...]

Visions of Gelato

Just got one of those press releases that makes me want to yell “stop the presses.” If only someone actually used presses any more? This news is perfectly timed to help those in need of securing the ideal holiday gift for the food-lover (more specifically gelato-lover) on their list.
Holly Smith, celebrated chef of Cafe Juanita (she [...]

Seattle-Portland Synergy

I know the whole “sister city” concept is meant to bridge different cultures and countries that share a common thread. In fact, I was pretty active in the Seattle-Nantes Sister City Association back in college. But in reality those civic relationships seem more cousin-like than sisterly. Particularly after thinking recently about the great synergy that [...]