It was the perfect refuge for a hot summer's evening. Eight of us gathered on the cool, shaded garden patio of Sambar in Ballard for drinks, some snacks and some wonderful quality time catching up with friends. Few places make me quite so happy, eating and drinking so well in [...]
Just around the corner, on August 23, is one of the best chef-farmer food events in town each year. This will be the 5th annual Incredible Feast, an outstanding chance to visit with farmers you see at the weekly markets around Seattle, in a setting that's not quite as frantic [...]
Oh, to have been in New York City these past few days, where the culinary world has gathered for the annual James Beard Awards. I was there at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center last year for the glitzy festivities--complete with red carpet interviews and celebrity sightings. But couldn't swing [...]
Now that it's actually springtime in Seattle (at least for another day or so), it's hard to remember having been in the snow up in Whistler early last month. But watching a rerun of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations show on Vancouver a few days ago brought back to mind my [...]
Still in a bit of a fog following a very full week in Denver last week for the IACP conference. Much as we have opportunities to get out on the town for meals and excursions, cocktails and random breaks -- it never really feels like I'm able to do justice to a [...]
I count this among the small pleasures in life: flipping through the day's mail, as I did last week, to see that it includes a copy of Seattle magazine's annual "Best Restaurants" issue. Not only because I'm an adamant fan of our local restaurants and love to see what's on the [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Still making it through that too-big pile of papers that accumulated through last year....and found more New York notes that I haven't yet dealt with from my summer trip. I can't recall what the ultimate destination was for the evening, but for starters we gathered at Blue Ribbon Downing Street [...]
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 [...]