Interestingly, it was Bob’s idea that we go for the menu degustazione on Saturday night. He’s definitely not a picky eater but for health reasons has to be a little selective about what’s on his plate. Maybe he was just feeling indecisive. Or adventurous. Or maybe this was just one of those rare occasions when literally [...]
Entries from February 2009
February 22, 2009
Doing Good: Support Yukon Salmon
These days more than ever, it’s nice when you can make a dollar spent go farther. If you’re a fan of wild Northwest salmon and have an interest in supporting the livelihoods of the people who work to bring food to your plate, here’s a delicious opportunity for you to do good by eating well. Thursday [...]
February 17, 2009
A Love for Endive
I fell in love with endive while at cooking school in France, one of many ingredients I’d had little interaction with before embarking on that adventure. Among salad greens, endive has a bit more character and flavor than everyday lettuce, not as bitter as radicchio, and is more versatile than many other greens. As I [...]
February 16, 2009
Artisan Cheese Festivals
One of these years I’m going to make it down to the Artisan Cheese Festival myself, though this probably won’t be the year. I first learned about this cheese-lover’s dream weekend when doing research on Sonoma County food events for a magazine article. I’ve actually done a couple of articles on Sonoma County, both very much making [...]
February 11, 2009
Open That Bottle Night 2009
This wine “holiday” has become one of the highlights of the year around our house. For me and my friends, it will be Open That Bottle Night number three, though the occasion is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. I was just slow to catch on!
Open That Bottle Night is a celebration of wine developed by [...]
February 8, 2009
Dinner at Home: Freestyle Portuguese
“Come over for dinner tomorrow night, why don’t you?” I asked a friend Friday. “Sure, sounds great. I’ll bring the wine, I was recently at a tasting of Portuguese wines and have a couple of bottles to share,” she tells me.
Oooh. Portuguese. That sounded like fun.
My plan for dinner had been simply to follow whatever [...]
February 5, 2009
Seattle Chefs Table dinners
I don’t think anyone will complain about there being too many chefs in the kitchen for this upcoming dinner series. The brainchild of Thierry Rautureau, chef and owner of Rover’s restaurant (with whom I wrote the Rover’s cookbook!), at these dinners the same six chefs will collaborate on the meal, each of them hosting one of [...]
February 2, 2009
Northwest Food Treasures
A couple of weeks ago I gave a talk at the University of Washington as part of the Pacific Chef Net Conference, which convened college and university chefs based at schools from Vancouver, British Columbia to San Diego. My subject was Distinctive Food Traditions of the Northwest, an hour and a half that gave me a chance to [...]
