It took me far too long to get to Marmite for dinner. I, like much of Seattle, was thrilled when news of Bruce Naftaly's rebound from retirement was announced a couple of years ago, having closed his beloved Le Gourmand in 2012. Okay, maybe I was a little more thrilled [...]
I’ve had this rice pudding recipe on my brain since a September trip to France, during which dinner one night in Paris included a dessert of riz au lait with a salted caramel sauce. Egad, it was amazingly delicious and reminded me of a recipe from many cookbooks ago: Jim [...]
This article posted on Bon Appétit's website yesterday sheds some interesting light on the job of ghost-writing and co-authoring books with chefs and other celebs. It was fun to see a number of friends included in the piece! I've never ghosted a cookbook--contributing to the book's content without direct attribution--but [...]
Hmmmm, such a dilemma it was. Toward the end of dinner last night, someone at my table asked which of the four outstanding seafood dishes we'd just eaten was our favorite. How to choose? Particularly with chefs the likes of Thierry Rautureau (Luc & Loulay) and Branden Karow (Culinary Director [...]
Whidbey Island is one among many beloved destinations for folks in the Puget Sound area, popular for day-trip escapes from the city, second homes and get-away weekends with friends. Walking the beaches, visiting lighthouses, biking country roads, kayaking, fishing, whale watching, catching crab....that's what we tend to associate with a [...]
One of countless beauties that have passed through my kitchen in recent weeks. Testing, testing, testing those recipes. So, first some news. Things have gotten pretty briny around my house, and that's not just because the Puget Sound is a brief stroll from here. I hadn't anticipated that [...]
It's sad but true -- as a Washingtonian, I am most decidedly a wet-sider. I've lived pretty much my whole life here on the damp, evergreen west side of the Cascade mountains. And while we get over to the Yakima and Tri-Cities area every year or so to visit friends, that [...]
Sure, I got caught up in the groundswell of interest in Downton Abbey after it got so many friends yammering about it in that first season. I dutifully caught up on all the episodes, watching that last season in real-time, able to commiserate and grouse along with them (really? a [...]
My husband and I still remember that first meal we had at Rover's. It was August, 1988. We were both having grumpy weeks, didn't like our jobs, whatever the grievance. So we played hooky that lovely sunny day and walked onto the Bainbridge ferry to escape a bit, wander Winslow, [...]
I love living in Seattle for just a huge range of reasons...... But one that's standing out for me right now is its simple geography. Not that it's on the Puget Sound, or framed by two mountain ranges or in the Cascadia zone that creates a distinctly lush environment for [...]