Just when you thought you knew where the best pizza in Wallingford was, SHAZZAM!, Zaw Artisan bake-at-home pizza appears on the corner of 46th and Stone Way. Now, I know it feels like you can't take two steps in this town without running face-first into a business claiming to be "artisan", but let me assure you, this shop’s claim is legit. I observed these pizzas being lovingly hand-crafted by a staff who appeared to be not only true food artistes but to take a great amount of pride in their work.

Zaw's owners, Greg Scott and Greg Waring (both Pacific Northwest natives), grew up in similar families, where meals were a social event and the ingredients were straight out of the garden. This appreciation for good food definitely carries through in Zaw's strict adherence to only the finest ingredients, as stated in their mantra: "If it doesn't have a bit of S.O.U.L., then it doesn't go into a bite of Zaw" (S.O.U.L. stands for Seasonal Organic Unique Local). From Alvarez Organic Farms in Yakima for fresh vegetables, to Billy’s Organic Gardens in Tonasket for herbs, to Mt. Vernon’s Draper Valley Farms for free-range chicken, they have continued to develop strong relationships with local farms. Since opening their first store in late 2008, t­hey have even been known on occasion to spend a day at the farmers markets, making pizzas and mixing it up with the vendors.

In addition to great toppings, such as that roasted free-range chicken and fresh organic apricots, Zaw also offers vegan cheese, gluten-free crust options, and get this, a full selection of Northwest wines, microbrews, and small-batch sodas. (Pizza descriptions are helpfully paired with wine and microbrew suggestions). And for those of you who are fans of Autumn Martin’s Hot Cakes Confections, Zaw now features her infamous Dark Chocolate Decadence molten lava cake, another bit of bake-at-home greatness. Large, medium, and kid-size pizzas are made to order and bake in about 10-14 minutes. I’ve found that 11 minutes is the perfect amount of time for immaculately crispy crustiness.

I ingested several of these delightful pies in the name of research and strongly recommend the pig-n-pear (thin sliced prosciutto, pears, and crumbled gorgonzola), and the shroomfest (sauteed portabella, button, and crimini mushrooms, roasted red onion, fresh thyme and garlic, and asiago cheese), in both cases paired with a nice frothy porter. All six Zaw locations can be found at zaw.com
photo courtesy Zaw. 

We've been hearing about some special Valentine's dinners and events planned for the coming weeks. If February gives you visions sexy cocktails, multi-course meals and fancy romantic desserts, read on. 

Dining

For early celebrations with your sweetie, try Portfolio Restaurant at the Art Institute or Salish Lodge and Spa. Portfolio is adding a Valentine's Day inspired dessert menu from February 8-10, including raspberry and chocolate ganache lollipops. Salish Lodge and Spa is offering chocolatey spa treatments and special lodging packages in addition to a 5-course dinner featuring Oregon elk and lamb, and desserts made with the honey the lodge produces on site. Their Valentine's menu is available February 10, 11, and 14.

A few of Ethan Stowell's restaurants are offering Valentine's Day dinners. Staple and Fancy starts with plates to share like shigoku oysters on the half shell (mmm... delicious shigokus...) and pork belly with apples, walnuts, and arugula. Diners choose pasta, main, and dessert courses. $80/person. Anchovies and Olives is serving a multi-course seafood focused menu for $80 per person, and for an additional $15 guests can add three oysters and a glass of Prosecco to their amuse. At How to Cook a Wolf, $80 gets you four Italian-inspired courses including cured escolar with fennel, orange and black olive, and gnocchi with wild mushroom ragu and cavolo nero. 

Ericka Burke has a lovely dinner planned at Volunteer Park Cafe. The five-course meal begins at 7pm and features fondue for two and meyer lemon risotto with a sea scallop. Lots of sweets are available to take home, even a Valentine's treat for your pooch. 

Fresh Bistro's Aphrodite in Love dinner is 4 courses including braised beef short rib en croute with scallops, and passionfruit molten chocolate cake. The price is $75 per couple, with wine pairings available for an additional $30. Reservations are recommended. 

Poquito's Valentine's menu will feature the delicious flavors of Mexico with such dishes as beet and chayote squash salad and a surf and turf plate of two tacos - one lobster and one beef. Their regular menu will also be avaiable, and lunch and happy hour will be on the regular schedule. 

Wineries

Wine and chocolate are Valentine's Day classics, and wineries on both sides of the Cascades are pairing them up for visitors. 

On February 11-12 and 18-20, head to the peninsula for the Olympic Peninsula Wineries Red Wine and Chocolate Tour where eight wineries invite visitors to experience wine and chocolate pairings. Get directions and find the list of wineries on their website. 

The weekend of February 18-19 is the annual Red Wine and Chocolate event in the Yakima Valley. Buy a $30 pass (before February 10 - $35 after that date) and visit any of 50 wineries serving up tastes of their wines paired with fine chocolate desserts. This tour is open to pass holders only. Get your tickets and read more about what each winery has planned here. 

Celebrating at Home

For an romantic evening at home, swing by Melrose Market for some cheese from Calf and Kid, a couple dozen fresh oysters from Taylor Shellfish, and a bouquet of flowers from Marigold and Mint. Marigold and Mint is an organic, sustainable flower farm and retail space, growing many of their own flowers and sourcing others from Floret farm in the Skagit Valley. They are currently taking orders for Valentine's bouquets which you can pick up or have delivered, and have a selection of unique hand-colored cards.

For cocktails at home, these two from Elliott's Oyster House sound cozy and delicious, and take advantage of the artisinal, infused liqueurs of broVo Spirits. 



Elliott’s Oyster House Venus 

3/4 oz broVo+RG Rose Geranium Liqueur
2 tsp Campari
1 tsp Rothman and Winter Crème de Violette
4 oz Chilled Prosecco 

In a champagne flute, combine broVo liqueur, Campari and crème de violette. Top with chilled Prosecco and gently stir. Garnish with an orange twist.




Elliott’s Oyster House Persephone
 
1 1/2 oz Metaxa 5 Star Brandy
3/4 oz X-Rated Fusion Liqueur
3/4 oz Fresh Lime Juice
1/2 oz Aperol
1 tsp Agave Syrup
Mango Fruit Caviar (optional garnish, recipe below) 

In a chilled cocktail glass, add 1 Tbs Mango Caviar and set aside. In a shaker tin, add remaining ingredients, shake and strain into chilled cocktail glass with Mango Caviar. 

Mango Fruit Caviar

In a sauce pan, combine 1 cup mango juice and 2 tsp Agar Agar. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly.  Reduce to a simmer and continue whisking until Agar Agar is dissolved, about 3 to 5 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes and pour into a syringe or squeeze bottle. Gentle squeeze drops into about a cup of vegetable oil. Allow to sit for 1 minute. Strain out oil and gently rinse fruit caviar with apple juice.  Pour fruit caviar into about a cup of apple juice and keep chilled for up to 3 hours.

A couple weeks ago, I went with Jess Thomson (our recipe maven)  and Angela Murray (our social media editor) to a preview of the current exhibit at the Burke Museum, called Hungry Planet. You might already be familiar with some of the images, from the Time Magazine "What the World Eats" photo gallery that's been online for a couple of years. Seeing it in person--really lovely supersize prints, nicely curated--is well worth it. Even better: a curator at the Burke worked with some local Salish folks to do a fascinating companion exhibit about our local food traditions. And PCC is sponsoring a pile of regular events, including health-related discussions and food traditions around the world--that list of events and dates is here. 
The main photos of Hungry Planet are very simple: the idea was to capture what food a family eats each week somewhere in the world. As you might imagine, what makes up a family unit (and their weekly food supply) varies greatly from the US to urban China to the Andes. Some families--like Japan-- have everything in tidy little packages. Others, like Ecuador, have only a giant burlap bag as packaging. One in particular (guess who) includes a lot of fast food from various global brands. 

As Jess, Angela and I wandered around looking at photos and reading the signs, we got inspired to try a little project ourselves; some Burke employees have signed on as well, and I'll be pestering some of our regular contributors to participate in the coming weeks. I thought it only fair that I kick it off myself. What we wanted to see is what Seattle eats in a week, the same way that the exhibit shows--with a photo, and a list of what the ingredients are. As it turns out, arranging a photo of a week's worth of groceries was nearly impossible for me. There are only two people in my household, and we don't do a "weekly" grocery event. I have a pantry filled with dry goods, and a freezer filled with meat from my buying club and frozen fruits from last summer's garden and market. With no kids to plan for, we tend to eat on the fly. And, not surprisingly, we eat out some.

What's not shown in this photo? A birthday celebration dinner at Kingfish and a night out with friends at El Pilon. Two working lunches with contributors--one at Eltana and one at Five Fish Bistro. Three separate coffee dates for me, all of them at the Columbia City Tutta Bella, each with an 8-ounce latte. There are also small portions of things--spices, leaveners for baking, dabs of mustard and hot sauce--that aren't on display.
 
What's overly represented here? Well, my husband and I will not drink the entire half gallon of milk or a quart of half-n-half or the whole bottle of cider vinegar in one week. We will not eat the full 5-pound bag of flour or box of butter or slab of Parmesan cheese. I will turn some of the ingredients into a batch of cookies, and some into a loaf of bread; I will add bits of whole grain flours from the freezer into those recipes. I will eat a pickle or two from our homemade pickle supply. At some point, I am likely to buy a bar of perfectly terrible candy, like a Snickers. I didn't try to estimate how much tap water we'll drink--it's many gallons. 

But even with all these caveats, it's interesting. It looks like so much food for two people! Granted, half the pile is fruit or vegetables, which is pleasing. And again, some of the packaged goods represent more volume than will actually be eaten. But the pile covers about 3/4 of our kitchen table. I'm glad that with the packaging, all but the baking chips have either recyclable or compostable wrappers. I'm glad that all the proteins, almost all the produce, and all beverages but the calamansi juice are WA-grown. 

I've tried to list the ingredients in a way that's similar to what you'll find at the Burke exhibit; I chose to not include my husband and myself in the actual photo, which is different than the exhibit. 

Jill Lightner, Columbia City (Seattle), 2 adults
Dairy: 2% milk, half and half, unsalted butter, cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, whole milk Greek yogurt
Other beverages: ESB beer, white wine, pear hard cider, calamansi juice, black tea
Meats: ground beef, canned salmon, eggs*
Condiments: cider vinegar, olive oil, peanut butter, raspberry jam, honey, sugar cubes
Produce: bananas, apples, onion, lacinato kale, carrots, grapefruit, lemon, crimini mushrooms, canned tomatoes, salad greens
Pantry goods/baking: unbleached white flour, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, semi-sweet chocolate, brown and white sugar blend
Snacks: 1 bag Halfpops

*I include eggs are part of meat because I've always found it absurd that grocery stories include them in their Dairy section. Eggs have exactly nothing to do with dairy products! 

I'll be posting more photos from other folks in the coming weeks--the exhibit extends into early June. If you'd like to participate, we're looking into setting up an online gallery via Flickr, but for now, you're welcome to send images to me at editor @ edibleseattle.com. Be sure to include a list of what's pictured, what neighborhood or city you live in, and how many adults and children are in your household.

Amy Pennington's been a regular in our pages since our very first issue back in 2008. Along the way, she's also written two terrific books (Urban Pantry and Apartment Gardening; the former was an inspiration of her column with us, Modern Pantry), launched Urban Garden Share, designed and labored in countless food gardens, done numerous canning demos around town, been featured in Gwyneth Paltrow's newsletter on two separate occasions, and been a generally wonderful person to have in our corner. Now our favorite queen of condiments is busy getting famous--she's got a new urban gardening column at Food52, was recently interviewed by the Wall Street Journal and--drum roll--has signed on to be the hostess (with the absoute mostest) of Check, Please, a new restaurant show coming to KCTS. 

We're not certain when, if ever, she gets around to sleeping. Along with being crazily talented and the hardest working girl in town, she's a complete smart-ass, makes delicious Italian-via-Long-Island red sauce, and has some of the oddest food likes (raw oats) and dislikes (cheese) of anyone in the industry. She's just enough of a bad influence to be fun to have dinner with, and just enough of a good influence that she'll get you to yoga class the morning after that indulgent dinner. 

We hope our wonderful locavore readers will apply to be on the show. We know you'll have a blast with Amy, and we think it'd be splendid to see some of our dedicated farm-to-table restaurants on television.

As we prance merrily into 2012, one New Year’s Eve discovery still lingers in the recesses of my mind: vodka. Specifically, vodka with bacon in it. Where, do you ask, does one find this genius elixir? And who are the geniuses at work? 

In 2007, three handsome Seattle gentlemen, Stefan Schachtell, Chris Marshall and Sven Liden, embarked on a journey which began--much to the amusement of his wife--with 15 jars of cooked meat floating in various liquors in Sven’s kitchen. After two years of rigorous testing, Black Rock Spirits was born. With a perfected infusion of high quality potato vodka and everyone’s favorite breakfast meat, they brought us “Bakon Vodka” in 2009. 

With a name like Black Rock Spirits, one might assume that these fellows have some origins in a certain fire festival in the desert, and one just might be right. It is with just that Burning Man type of skill set and ingenuity that they set forth to produce their first batch of 140 cases. What started as a tiny Seattle company will soon have their product distributed in 41 states as well as Germany, Denmark, Canada and Japan. 

When asked how one suddenly decides, “hey, I would like to put pork in some booze,” Chris Marshall says, “Well, you know how everyone has that one friend that always brings 3 pounds of bacon camping? Well, we all know that camping leads to drinking, and drinking while camping leads to morning bloody marys and bacon, and well, the rest is history.” He also assures me that, “Bakon Vodka is not another sugary flavored vodka, but has a complex and peppery taste, fit for even the most refined palate.” I would tend to agree.

Bakon Vodka retails for about $29.95 for a 750ml bottle, and can be acquired at your local liquor store, as well as bars and restaurants in your area. Their web site bakonvodka.com is a fun little jaunt through the history of the company, and includes a stack of cocktail recipes. Your bloody mary won’t know what hit it.

Wherever you are in the city, if you want to spend your New Year's Eve eating delicious food and enjoying some tasty beverages, we figure these special dinners are a great bet for welcoming the new year.

West Seattle
Fresh Bistro's Lucky New Year's Eve Dinner is based around six major cultural categories of "lucky foods." The four-course prix fixe menu features a trio of appetizers, choice of Curry Lentil Soup or Waldorf Salad, your choice of Vegetable Torta, Crispy Sole Almandine, Pan Roasted Pork Chop, or a Grilled Painted Hills Tender Beef Loin, and a choice of seasonal desserts. Join them for brunch the next day for a little hair of the dog with $3 bloody marys and mimosas.

Belltown
If bubbles are your thing, Mistral Kitchen boasts one of the cities biggest collections of sparkling wines with around 35 on their list. More then half of their bubblies are Grower Champagnes, small productions in France where the grapes are grown and the wine bottled on the estate, with an emphasis on the region's distinctive terroir. The casual side of the restaurant will offer a New Year's Eve 3-course meal for $75 as well as the ala carte menu, or head to the more formal Jewel Box for a 7-course meal for $125. Wine pairings also available.

Bellevue
Dance in the new year at Pearl Bar & Dining's New Year's Eve Ball. The restaurant is serving a 3-course prix fixe menu for $55, and wine pairings are available for another $30. Dinner service is from 6-8pm at which time the space will transform into a dance floor with a champagne toast at midnight. Tickets for the nightclub event are $30 from Brown Paper Tickets or $40 at the door.

Ballard
Bastille's chef Jason Stoneburner has created a celebratory menu of caviar inspired dishes, duck pate, roasted rib eye, and lots of small plates including gougeres and braised beef cheek, and the Wine Director will be pouring Grower Champagnes. Diners will be treated to a sparkling wine toast at midnight. Reservations highly recommended!

Near the Airport
Copperleaf Restaurant at Cedarbrook Lodge  will be serving a 7-course dinner including such delicious dishes as a cauliflower soup with bartlett pear, pinenuts and pickled red onion and Anderson Ranch Lamb Saddle with Full Circle Farms parsnips, Brussels sprouts, and black truffle beat jam. Dinner is $75 with wine pairings available for an extra $35. Call 206-214-4282 for reservations.

Capitol Hill
At Volunteer Park Cafe, chef Erica Burke is planning a 5-course meal for $75, with wine pairings an additional $20. The menu looks delicious, particularly the prawn and blood orange salad with shaved fennel, watercress and pomegranate seeds, and the meyer lemon chevre cheesecake. There's only one sitting at 7pm, and reservations are required! Reserve your place at the table here.

When looking for a new and interesting cookie recipe to make a name for yourself at this year's holiday party, consider this: chocolate chips and bacon, together as one. This marriage of rich creamy sweetness and salted meat is decidedly not made in heaven—if food can be sinful, then these cookies cover all the seven deadlies in one bite.  I happened upon this recipe thanks to my good friend Jade Owen, mother and baker extraordinaire. Although she admits to “borrowing” the original idea from another lovely woman known simply as “The Mouth from the South”, she believes she has adapted it and made it her own.
According to Jade, this is a surprisingly easy undertaking. She recommends that when first attempting it, you “baby the butter,” watching it carefully, and making sure to take into account that it will continue to brown for a bit after being removed from the heat. Also, larger bacon hunks are apparently the way to go, but note the unsalted butter and lack of additional salt in the cookie dough—bacon is plenty salty enough on its own.

Jade also tells me that since discovering this amazing treat she has developed a severe addiction to brown butter and finds herself making excuses to add it to everything that she eats.  You have been warned.

Browned Butter, Bacon, and Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about 18 cookies | start to finish: 35 minutes 

1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
8 slices bacon
14 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix flour and baking soda and set aside.

In a heavy skillet set over medium heat, fry the bacon as crisp as possible without burning it. Chop the crisp bacon into 1/4” pieces.

In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, melt 10 tablespoons of butter and cook, stirring constantly, until the solids have toasted a light brown. Pour into a large mixing bowl, then add remaining 4 tablespoons butter and stir to melt. Whisk in sugars, salt and vanilla until well blended. Add egg and extra yolk and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Let the mixture stand for 30 seconds, and repeat twice more, to make sure the sugar dissolves in the hot butter. Stir in flour until just incorporated, and fold in the chocolate chips and bacon chunks. Take care to not over-mix.

Form dough into mounds of about 1 1/2 tablespoons, and arrange about 2” apart on lined baking sheets.  Bake 12-14 minutes, until the edges are light brown and the centers are set.

My how time does fly, doesn't it? It's that time of year again when we ask you to show some love for your favorite Washington food producers and advocates. The voting begins today for Local Food Heroes 2011! It's easy - just click the survey link and type in the names of your favorites. The categories are farm/farmer, non-profit organization, beverage artisan, food artisan, chef/restaurant, and food shop. 

Here's a look at previous winners:

2008
Farm/Farmer: Skagit River Ranch
Chef/Restaurant: Maria Hines
Food Artisan: Estrella Family Creamery
Beverage Artisan: Rockridge Orchards
Nonprofit: Cascade Harvest Coalition

2009
Farm/Farmer:  Willie Green's Organic Farm
Chef/Restaurant: Tom Douglas
Food Artisan: Secret Stash Salts
Beverage Artisan: Sweetbread Cellars
Nonprofit: Farestart 

2010
Farm/Farmer: Tonnemaker's Farm
Nonprofit Organization: PCC Farmland Trust
Beverage Artisan: DRY Soda
Food Artisan: Mt. Townsend Creamery
Chef/Restaurant: Seth Caswell, Emmer & Rye
Food Shop: Metropolitan Market

Voting closes on January 15, and we'll deliver the awards in March. We'd love to have as many people vote as possible this year, so be sure to recruit your friends and neighbors to chime in as well! Only four weeks of voting, so don't put it off - we really want to know, who are your local food heroes?  

Sometimes the most beloved treats are actually the easiest to make--which is a very nice thing indeed if you tend to feel overbooked during the holiday season. This no-bake cookie serves three purposes. First, it comes together quickly. Second, they freeze beautifully so you can roll them together whenever you have a moment, even if you don't intend to eat them 'til 2012. Lastly--if you feel stressed out for the holidays, one of these little babies will calm you right down. They are loaded with bourbon. The basic recipe is a riff on the classic Southern bourbon ball--using Famous Wafers instead of the usual Nilla Wafers, and the amazing Holmquist hazelnuts from the orchards near Bellingham. If you haven't had these nuts, you're in for a real treat. They have none of the usual hazelnut bitterness, no need to be peeled, and have an almost raspberry-like sweetness. They sell year-round at the University District Farmers Market and the Pike Place Market. 
If you really want to be more homemade about things, you can use the Chocolate Soil recipe in the Momofuku Milk Bar book (I picked up my copy from Book Larder). Grind the crumbs up finely and replace the full amount of the Famous Wafer crumbs. 

Holmquist Hazelnut Bourbon Balls
Makes about 30 cookies | 15 minutes active cooking time
4 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/3 cup bourbon
1 1/4 cup fine Nabisco Famous Wafer crumbs 
1 cup finely ground roasted, unsalted Holmquist hazelnuts
1 cup powdered sugar
additional powdered sugar for decoration

In a small bowl, stir together the corn syrup and bourbon. In a separate mixing bowl, thoroughly combine the Famous Wafer crumbs, ground hazelnuts and powdered sugar. Stir the bourbon syrup into the dry ingredients, and blend well with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours.
Place a generous amount of sifted powdered sugar into a pasta bowl or shallow baking pan. Roll small (about 1 1/2") balls of the dough, roll them in the powdered sugar, and set aside. While the bourbon balls are ready to eat immediately, the best flavor will develop over a few days. Store in airtight tubs in the fridge, or freeze. 
If made in advance, they'll be prettiest with an additional dusting of powdered sugar right before serving--it tends to soak into the cookies. 

Snack reponsibly! 

As a kid, hot chocolate was a favorite treat. I grew up with packets of Swiss Miss mixed with hot water. These days, hot chocolate has, thank you small producer, gotten sexier and infinitely better. Here in Seattle you can find everything from warm milk with a subtle milk chocolate flavor to rich, dark sipping chocolate you can eat with a spoon. The difference between classic hot cocoa and sipping chocolate is texture -- the former is a milk-based beverage flavored with cocoa powder. The latter is like drinking melted chocolate, mixed with a touch of milk, and sometimes thickened with a little cornstarch. What incarnation is best for you? To help make your decision easier, I spent a tawdry weekend getting down and dirty with the best our city has to offer. You’re welcome.

Oddfellows Café recently introduced 3 varieties of hot chocolate:
• The Classic is made from Guittard chocolate and warm milk. It is sweet, with a mellow chocolate flavor.
• The Frost Reviver #2 is a bold, minty explosion of flavor. If you love mint, this is the drink for you. Made with Dr. McGillicuddy’s Mentholmint Schnapps, the Frost Reviver #2 is a wintry burst of mint with a hint of chocolate flavor.
• The Mexican (pictured below) is spicy and delicious. Oddfellows is keeping the spice a secret, though I’m certain I tasted cinnamon and perhaps ancho chile. The heat hits you in the back of the throat and again in the center of your chest, warming you from the inside out.



From there, I moved on to the Chocolate Box to try their European sipping chocolate. Served in a 4oz demitasse, this decadent treat tasted like melted ganache. Then it was up the hill to Café Presse  for their Chocolat Chaud, a Parisian-style sipping chocolate. The Chocolat Chaud was intense – silky, thick, and bittersweet, it was like drinking custard. It was served with a side of whipped cream to cut the richness.

Still, when I imagine the perfect cup of hot chocolate, I picture something in the middle. I wanted the flavor and intensity of sipping chocolate in a lighter-textured drink. I found the perfect cup at Fran’s Chocolates. Made with 65% Venezuelan dark chocolate, this was my favorite by far. It struck the perfect balance between hot cocoa and sipping chocolate. Get a cup, bundle up in your softest scarf and then walk up to Westlake Center to see the twinkly lights. You’ll be glad you did.

If you're simply too lazy/cold/sniffly/all of the above to venture outside, curl up at home with these recipes for homemade delights. They're decidedly swanky and utterly worth the extra effort, especially in comparison with Swiss Miss. 

Copperleaf Restaurant's Theo Hot Chocolate 

3 oz Theo 70% chocolate
3 oz sugar
2 C whole milk
2 C cream (either heavy, light or half-n-half, depending on your desire for richness and butterfat content)
1 4" vanilla bean
1 3" cinnamon stick

to make the chocolate base:
Combine chocolate and sugar in the upper part of a double boiler. Heat on medium until the sugar is dissolved smoothly in the melted chocolate. Remove from heat, but keep the mixture warm in the double boiler.

to make the vanilla cream:
Place cream and milk in a 1 1/2 or 2-quart saucepan, and set the pan over medium-high heat. Slice and scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean, and add the seeds and the cinnamon stick to the milk mixture.  Heat the mixture just until the milk is scalded, but not yet boiling. Remove from heat and let the spices infuse for 15 minutes.

to finish:
Remove the cinnamon stick from the dairy mixture. Using a molinillo (wooden frothing tool) or whisk, slowly blend the cream mixture into the chocolate base. Whisk vigorously until light and foamy. Add to four hot mugs and serve immediately.

Marshmallows
by our sugar fiend editor, Jill Lightner
This version calls for plain, unflavored gelatin. Two possible substitutions for vegetarians, or pescetarians: Many, but not all, kosher gelatins are made from fish or vegetable sources. Look for these in the kosher food section of your grocery store, but read the label over carefully, as they vary by both brand and season (some brands make special Passover gelatin). As a less ideal substitute is agar-agar; the texture can be a little tough, but it's seaweed based. Telephone brand is available in the baking/dessert section of most Asian groceries in town. 
You really do need a stand mixer for this recipe; alternatives have tiring and inconsistent results. 

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (about 1/4 ounce each) or 3 1/2 tsp agar-agar
1 1/4 C cool water, divided use
2 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla or maple extract; or 3/4 tsp mint extract
dash salt
about 1/2 C powdered sugar

Butter an 8" square pan and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine gelatin and 1/2 cup water. Stir the mixture until slightly thickened, and let stand for five minutes. 
Combine the remaining 3/4 cup water and sugar in a 2-quart saucepan set over medium-high heat. Stir until all the sugar crystals are completely dissolved, being careful to check the sides of the pot. If need be, you can use a wet pastry brush to wash the sides of the pot of any stubborn sugar crystals. Clip on a candy thermometer and cook the syrup to 230 degrees, stirring gently all the while (long sleeves are helpful; hot sugar syrup can really burn). 
Carefully pour the cooked syrup into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, blend in 2 teaspoons of softened gelatin at a time,  beating well between additions, until all the gelatin has been added and the candy is thick and only slightly warm--the total process will take about 12 minutes. Stir in your preferred flavoring extract and the dash of salt, and blend well with a silicone spatula. 
Pour into the buttered pan and let the marshmallows cool for several hours, until they're thick enough that you can cut them. 
The best size for marshmallows depends mainly on the size of mugs used in your house-- 1 1/2" squares will probably work nicely, but it's fine to make them as big or as small as you like. Once they're cut, roll each marshmallow in powdered sugar (this prevents them from sticking, and it looks pretty) and tuck them gently into an airtight storage container (a ziploc bag is fine). They'll store fine at room temperature, for up to 2 weeks. 

PHOTOS BY MYRA KOHN

Cake vs Pie: Which one is better? We answered this question, at least for now, two weekends ago at our "Trouble in Pearadise" bake-off at the West Seattle Farmers Market. We had entries from chefs, professional baking instructors, enthusiasts, and hobbyists, and the competition was deliciously fierce.


In the pies category, the runner-up was a Pear-Cranberry Crumble from Barbara Schwartz who teaches at Pies by Barbara. (Barbara wrote about the event here.) The winning pie was a Spiced Pear Crostata with Vanilla Cardamom Creme Anglaise entered by Stephanie Patterson. 


For the cakes, the runner up was a Chocolate, Pear and Hazelnut Cake made by Paola Thomas. (You can read her write up on the event at her blog, Mirror Mirror.) The winning cake was a last-minute entry from Rachel Seeley, a Pear and Gingersnap Cake.

Once the judges had decided on the winners, the top two went head to head and the judges announced Best in Show. It was PIE, Stephanie Patterson's Spiced Pear Crostata with Vanilla Cardamom Creme Anglaise. Congratulations Stephanie, and all of the winners!

Once the judging was over, the hungry crowd was able to make a cash donation to the West Seattle Food Bank in exchange for tastes of the goodies. We raised $185 for the West Seattle Food Bank--not bad for a bake sale!

Thank you to Catherine at West Seattle Farmers Market for hosting us, to the participants who shared their wonderful cakes and pies, our esteemed and talented judges Jenise Silva, Jessie Oleson, Myra Kohn, and Jill Lightner, and to everyone who pitched in a donation for the food bank. We look forward to the next showdown!

See below for recipes and links to recipes!

WINNING RECIPES:

Chocolate, Pear and Hazelnut Cake by Paola Thomas (cake runner up)
Pear-Cranberry Crumble by Barbara Schwartz (pie runner up)



Pear and Gingersnap Cake (winning cake)
by Rachel Seeley

Crust on Bottom of Cake

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups finely ground ginger snap crumbs
1/3 cup white sugar
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

Directions:

1. Mix ginger snap crumbs, sugar, melted butter or margarine, and cinnamon until well blended. Press mixture into the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch round pan (or pie plate).
2. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 7 minutes. Let cool and place on your cake tray.

 

Cream Cheese Filling & Frosting

Ingredients:
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla and gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Use for filling and icing of cake. Store in the refrigerator after use.

 

Cake

Ingredients:
6 cups grated Bartlett pears
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, combine grated pears, brown sugar and lemon juice. Set aside for 60 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 8-9 inch cake pans.
3. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light. Gradually beat in the white sugar, oil and vanilla. Stir in the pineapple. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, stir into the wet mixture until absorbed. Finally stir in the pear mixture and the walnuts. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.
4. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. When completely cooled, stack layers on top of gingersnap crust, filling between layers with cream cheese frosting.

Spiced Pear Crostata with Vanilla Cardamom Creme Anglaise (winning pie and Best in Show)
by Stephanie Patterson

Guest Post by Graham Kerr


NASH'S FARM STORE, Sequim
Just when we thought we may have seen it all we came across Nash Huber, farmer and ....... what on earth can you call him? Nash arrived in the area in 1968, the year Treena and I began the Galloping Gourmet series in New York. He arrived with only $50 in his pocket (we had much in common!)

Nash had a background as a chemist, a love for the soil and the work ethic on equal footing with those who built the pyramids! Over the years he has made his mark amongst the great farmers of the United States. Nash champions organics and heirloom seed protection but most of all, he could have written the manual on relationships at the grassroots level.



Along with many borderland farmers, Nash is now facing the wholesale retreat of Latino migrant workers. The three border patrol agents have suddenly morphed into 40, and for one reason or another, our Latino neighbors have moved out. The problem is that the “Anglo” alternative worker does not have the work ethic that Nash shared with his workers.

For this area to thrive, one of two things has to happen. Either we deal creatively with the immigration issue and the migrant workers return or we put Nash in charge of reintroducing the early farming work ethic. Exactly how he would do this I don't know, but that he could do it, I have no doubt. If I could still leap over a chair I'd sign on overnight!

THE WILDFIRE GRILL, Port Angeles
High above Port Angeles in a large converted house you will find the Wildfire Grill and an incredibly energetic couple who have created a truly innovative restaurant. Denny is the Chef/Owner and his wife, Lori, has woven the ambiance that has turned a house into a destination.

We had a delicious dinner in the company of Preston Onskt, a local seafood entrepreneur who connects just twelve great restaurants to the very best seafood and wild mushrooms available (www.Wildwestseafoods.com).

We ate the strange Geoduck clam served in a ceviche style, followed by a thick fillet of snow white, absolutely fresh halibut sitting upon a luscious slice of polenta brimming with blue cheese!! No room for dessert as usual.

I went back to meet the kitchen crew and inspect the only other wood-fired oven in the area. In this case they drop the oven temperature by about 100 F and use it to cook most all of the dishes. It works brilliantly. The great surprise was the large screen TV in the kitchen tuned to ESPN. I have always admired a chef’s ability to keep their eyes on the 'game' but this went well beyond anything I have seen ...anywhere!

Our adventure would stop in Port Angeles, whilst I presented at the Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival, one of the top 100 events in the United States where 4000 Dungeness crabs were waiting to be introduced by just one so-called 'culinary icon,' which I have always thought of as an old, seriously cracked portrait with candles on either side..Oh well!

We arrived at Port Angeles’ Red Lion Hotel where we had a lovely room overlooking the water with an inviting (and level) walking trail just outside.

A huge tent had been erected right alongside the hotel with a giant crab painted on the roof. Forget the GPS -- you can smell your way in! Julian and his son Steve McCabe emerged from this cloud of tantalizing aroma to greet me. They are the master crab cookers who oversee the boiling of just on 7,000 lbs. of the broad-shelled Dungeness. At about 1.8 lbs each, that’s 4000 crabs!

It's an art form to get the crabs just right and then to arrest the cooking, remove the legs and rinse the stomach free from the crab “butter” that is used as the distinct flavor base for Toga’s (of Toga’s Soup House) famous Crab Bisque. Of course the “butter” is helped with double cream and Sherry but then, in the midst of this Oktoberfest - styled seafood feast, who (other than me) was counting!



I had the distinct honor of being part of the “launch team” for the event along with Festival Producer Scott Nagel, Mayor Dan Di Guilio, and the most delightful North American Indian elder and story teller, Elaine Grinnell.

For my part, I introduced an omelet that I named for Port Angeles. It was filled with freshly cooked crab (surprised?), green garbanzo beans, and cheese. The odd part was to coat the omelet in a sauce made from steamed local parsnips whizzed for 4 minutes with evaporated skimmed milk until the texture is of velvet. This I seasoned with a mixture of Star anise, dill, lavender, powdered root ginger and cayenne pepper, which is my take on a seasoning typical of the Pacific North West. We shall see if it eventually catches on!

I remain, in the midst of all my innovative ideas, profoundly encouraged to learn recently that Van Gogh never sold a single painting during his lifetime. Let's laugh about this sometime when we run across each other on the Olympic Culinary Adventure route!


The Olympic Culinary Adventure Loop is a project of the Olympic Peninsula Tourism Commission in partnership with SeattleDining! and the Olympic Culinary Loop Association, is a self-guided tour to 16 destinations offering authentic farm-to-table experiences in four Peninsula counties. A downloadable route map and description of each destination can be accessed by visitingwww.olympicpeninsula.org and clicking on the Olympic Culinary Adventure banner.

Guest Post by Graham Kerr

Our Culinary Adventure on the Olympic Peninsula continued with a very full two days using the Resort at Port Ludlow as an extremely comfortable and warmly hospitable base.

FINNRIVER FARM AND CIDERY, Chimacum
Here you will meet Crystie Kisler and should you have that pleasure, you will have a perfect prototype of the sort of politician who would get close to a 90% approval rating (nobody is perfect)! I intend to return and learn from the special people at Finnriver. They greatly value their land and continuously try to make every decision to make a living while doing nothing that does harm to the soil and the river that runs through their property.


We took away a bottle of their Black Currant Brandy and used it to macerate some mixed dried fruit, serving the entire compote over some great vanilla yogurt -- fantastic!

You will find a champagne method cider that won a Double Gold award and great fruit in season at Finnriver. You might guess that I am a fan!

RED DOG FARM, Chimacum
Yes, they do have a reddish dog! They also have a self-service produce stand that works on the honor system. Everyone on this young persons’ farm is hard at work apparently having fun growing and harvesting some truly fabulous food off some quite recently acquired land. That said because nobody is available to take your money . . . you simply tot-up your own bill, pay-up and leave happy . . . and best of all, it works! Isn't that refreshing in our tough old world?

CHIMACUM CORNER FARM STAND
From the outside it isn't that inviting, but inside is a real treat! Here is my really passionate suggestion. No matter how the weather behaves, make a decision to have at least one picnic on your tour. If you do, there could be no better place to find all the trimmings for a very special mobile feast. Great produce and fruit, excellent pastries -- it's almost like being in Paris! The cheese selection is admirable, the breads from a local bakery look splendid, and if all this were not enough, the team that runs the store is both knowledgeable and friendly. My only suggestion would be to invest in a few of those wicker picnic baskets; I wouldn't mind betting that they would start an annual gastronomic pilgrimage to the Peninsula!



PORT TOWNSEND FOOD COOP
I do hope you get the chance to visit with Brendon O'Shea. He is the produce buyer and the most knowledgeable and encouraging man you may ever meet. For small scale local organic farms to survive there has to be a passionate outlet. Port Townsend has largely resisted the big box stores and therefore you can see why the Coop is such a busy, vibrant place. And such a wonderful way to review the quality of the local produce that Brendon so ably promotes.



I even found a Charentais Melon! I haven’t seen one of these superb small sweet melons since a 1972 visit to the South of France. What a treat!

JEFFERSON PUBLIC HOSPITAL
Now I know you might raise an eyebrow (or two?) at including a visit to a hospital, but I really wanted to meet a young chef who was described to me as "a young Graham Kerr!” Chef Arran Stark, had he been around in my days of relative “glory,” would have left me for dead!



Arran is an absolute enthusiast for fresh local food. He would be an asset anywhere, but positioned in such a verdant corner of the world he will flourish and so will everyone that he encourages. This very modern high tech hospital may well become a hospital of choice for folks who want to recover in comfort with a splendid view and truly great food!

ALDER WOOD BISTRO, Sequim
This small restaurant is a must for any culinary tour. Chef/Owner Gabriel Schuenemann and his gorgeous wife, Jessica, will be your hosts and can introduce you to some of their innovative ideas. If we are to see some truly great dishes emerge from this part of the world, then I am convinced that some will have been created in the Bistro’s immaculate kitchen with its built-in wood-fired oven.

If you eat a little late for lunch, Gabriel may let you try your hand at making your very own pizza. I combined good parmesan with figs, prosciutto, and sundried tomatoes somewhat smothered with the Schuenemann’s homemade (and homegrown) basil pesto. Delicious!! ...yours could be even better?

COLETTE’S BED AND BREAKFAST, Port Angeles
I almost don't want to tell you about this treasure! It is already justly famous but it could become so busy that I couldn't get back in for another visit. This charming place is flat out beautiful! Every conceivable way that a Bed and Breakfast could have been designed to delight has been done. Yes, it is expensive in prime season, but some good deals can be found off season, after October. I know because we are coming back later this year.

The garden, which stretches down to the coastline bordering the Straits of Juan de Fuca, is magnificent and the view looks straight across to the city of Victoria in British Columbia. Anyone thinking of starting such a venture should spend a night or two because this is the gold standard for restful hospitality.


...To Be Continued...

Guest Post by Graham Kerr

My wife, Treena, and I are now home in Mt. Vernon and have already booked our return visit to the Olympic Peninsula in mid-December this year. It was there or Hawaii, so you can see how impressed we are with our own backyard!

When very much younger we used to ride elevators (called lifts) in London department stores and listen to the attendant call out what could be found on each floor.  I feel much the same as I try to cover the many visits we enjoyed on our recent Olympic Culinary Adventure!

At TAYLOR SEAFOOD, near Little Creek outside of Shelton, we met with Gifford (Marco) Pinchot III. This man is both a mine of information on the ecology in general and the way that foresters can work together with fishermen. It has not always been so promising!


 

Marco cooked us the best mussel dish I have ever eaten . . . anywhere. Huge, succulent in prime season, garlic, olive oil, basil sundried tomatoes and the pan deglazed with Chateau Ste. Michelle's Sauvignon Blanc, which we drank out of china cups in their carpark! If you want a speaker sometime, try to get Marco -- he is excellent.

It's a short drive to the ALDERBROOK RESORT, located right on the Hood Canal. We stayed there about 20 years ago and were amazed at the transformation.  This is luxury in the grand European style with the benefit of a local staff that greets you as if they own the place.

The rooms are small by some US standards but every inch is beautifully finished. The coffee maker is ultra-modern and even I found it easy!


 

Chef Lucas Sautter cooked our evening meal which was fairly standard and garnished with a very well done couscous cooked with local heirloom beets.  I tasted the locally blended Red Mountain Claret that won a Double Gold Medal at the 2011 Seattle Wine Show. Great color, pronounced oak, and tannin that should keep it well for at least another 10 years.

One small request. Would it be possible to have local grass-fed beef offered alongside the world famous North Dakota corn fed?  I appreciate the tremendous difference in texture, but feel that we need to begin to provide such important choices for a new generation of diners.

The next day we drove for about 45 minutes along the Hood Canal winding up at the HAMA HAMA OYSTER COMPANY where we met Lissa James, whose family has been living and working there for over 100 years. They live immediately inland and take very seriously the local ecology.  In recent times the pH value of coastal waters has been changed by accumulated run off . . . of many kinds. If it keeps becoming more acid then we stand a real risk of destroying this national treasure, which is now the largest seafood producing area in the United States.


 

We tasted Hama Hama’s excellent smoked salmon and oysters and found some wonderful locally produced jalapeño jelly in the small but growing gourmet pantry at the Hama Hama Seafood Store.

Another half hour on the canal-side road brought us to Brinnon and a wonderful meeting with Joe and Joy Baisch who have the lovely ELK MEADOWS B&B about 5 miles inland in the midst of some of the lushest foliage you may have ever seen.

Joe and Joy are local community entrepreneurs who have a real heart for both the young and the mature in their small but growing neighborhood. If you can meet with them, even stay with them, you will leave with renewed hope for the future of rural America. The work they are doing provides a very clear path to a resilient future . . . take the time to listen.  Please!

Yet  another 40 minutes along a road where you may not encounter more than two or three cars (at this time of year) and we arrived at THE RESORT AT PORT LUDLOW. We had been there before when we came by boat and tied up in their excellent Marina.

 

The rooms are large and comfortable; ours had a fireplace and one of those huge jacuzzi baths that you hate to fill in case you contribute unduly to climate change!

The Resort’s Fireside Restaurant is under the firm hand of their charismatic Chef Dan Ratigan, a native Upper New Yorker who has now been in the Pacific NW “long enough to be acceptable.” From personal experience, I think I know what that means!!

Dan is totally committed to finding and using extraordinary local ingredients in his world ranging cuisine.  We had a rack of local lamb that was superb and every vegetable was both tingling fresh and local.  We talked about serving the vegetable 'chorus' in a family-style dish and simply leaving the meat on a clear plate.  Dan did that for us and it was a real treat. I hope that this will become a general method to be used by every restaurant that has such a lively relationship with local suppliers.

I seem to have run out of space so let's carry on with our Olympic Culinary Adventure in my next post!


The Olympic Culinary Adventure Loop is a project of the Olympic Peninsula Tourism Commission in partnership with SeattleDining! and the Olympic Culinary Loop Association, is a self-guided tour to 16 destinations offering authentic farm-to-table experiences in four Peninsula counties. A downloadable route map and description of each destination can be accessed by visitingwww.olympicpeninsula.org and clicking on the Olympic Culinary Adventure banner. 

The problem of anemia in our regional sockeye population got a fair amount of attention over the weekend. We'd like to bring a couple articles to your attention, and note that for now, scientists are deeply concerned but still looking for more information and test results. Right now, we have a huge red flag, but plenty of questions remain while further testing occurs. In a world filled with alarmist media and complex science reduced to a single eye-popping headline, all we can ask for at this point is that our community pay attention to what could be a devastating issue for both our marine habitat and our fishing industry.

First, the Seattle Times environmental reporter Craig Welch gives some perspective on why the anemia-causing virus is so terrifying. It's a fairly scientific piece, bringing in marine biologists to give their perspective. Scary stuff.

Second, Food & Water Watch wrote a guest post for the Slog; this provides a bit more political policy background. Zach Corrigan of FWW succinctly explains how fish farms tend to be much like the sort of large-scale feedlot operations that we don't support with land-based agriculture--and why the possibility of new offshore fish farms on the NW coast is deeply concerning. Read the whole thing.

Third--if you can handle more of this--read the New York Times blog entry posted yesterday. More than anything else, this story serves to underline the critical importance of a rapid and thorough response.

Think about this for a moment: Alaska and NW coast wild salmon are the last populations of wild salmon on our planet. Because we live near them, and our restaurants and grocery stores tend to sell wild salmon, we take them for granted. This is not the case in other parts of the country, and is laughably spoiled in regards to the rest of the world. I had some folks over on Saturday, and served both pink and sockeye smoked salmon. They're utterly different in flavor (and color), and my guests enjoyed both without making a particular deal out of either one. Why would we ever jepordize this naturally occurring food source? Because, of course, salmon farming is a huge global industry, and a tremendous amount of money can be made doing it. Protect our habitat, and our native wild species. Please pay attention to fish farms along our coast, from British Columbia to Oregon. Support your local fisherman, not your global farming conglomerate.

As someone who thinks of kitchens primarily as a place to cook, I have my own ideas about what works and what doesn't when it comes to kitchen decoration. Easily washable, highly durable surfaces are key. Even with a sizable window and a good over-the-range fan, humidity is a given if you use your stovetop, so plants are happy, but art isn't necessarily. Countertops are for work space. So, when I saw this photo from the most recent Goop newsletter, I spent a few minutes both laughing and rolling my eyes.



If you really love a particular piece of art, behind the stove is a terrible place to put it--assuming you actually use your stove. Grease spatters and steam are generally not terrific for paper, even if that paper is behind a sheet of acrylic as the newsletter suggests. Ditto for the vintage wooden sign--alternating dry heat from the oven with a steaming pot of soup will wreak havoc on wood. (Is it in front of glasses, as it appears to be? How sensible. Who need to access a glass in the kitchen?) And a giant stoneware horse in the way of the espresso machine?

In general, it looks like a well-designed work space. But please respect the work of your favorite artists a bit more than this interior designer does! I'll have to take a photo or two of my own kitchen, I guess, just to be fair. Then y'all can criticize my...um, my shelf full of animal skulls. (No joke. And yes, I'll post some photos soons.)

On Tuesday, October 18th, I'll be chatting with Oran Hesterman of the Fair Food Network (the event's at the brand-spanking-new Book Larder; it's free, and gets started at 6:30pm).
It's a revamping of our earlier Edible Conversations series, and it'll include a conversation between he & I about a few topics raised in his book, followed by an audience Q&A. We wanted to give you a quick idea of some of what we'll be discussing, so here are a few bits from an email thread we shared last week. Oran's answers are in bold.

Guest Post by Graham Kerr

My wife Treena and I have completed the equivalent of 28 loops around the world in a succession of culinary adventure tours over the past 52 years.  You need to know this piece of relatively useless trivia in order to fully understand the enormity of my next statement.

Only once have we ever had such an eye-opening experience as we are currently having on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, and that was in Reggio Emilia in central Italy back in 1966. The present day peninsula is a whole new slice of life in the making.

There is no doubt that we are in the midst of considerable change. Issues of the economy, health and the ecology press into every thinking person’s mind but somehow in the sheer speed at which we live, we can only give them a passing nod. That is, unless you give yourself a real break and drive out onto Highway 101 as Treena and I are now doing, and go North in a back-to-the-future trip you shouldn't miss.

In the past four days we have begun to understand our immediate and long term future food in the Pacific Northwest. We have listened to people who come from families that have invested their lives for over five generations in food production. You can call them organic or sustainable, both are often true, but Marco Pinchot III, the great grandson of a famous forester, calls the movement that is most needed: resilience.

We really don't need more of the same, even if it is done a little better. What we desperately need is to run the longer distance race that is set before us and set up goals for the next 100 years.

Today's oyster is now the DEW line (distance early warning radar defense during the cold war) for us as humans. The Ph of our coastal waters is changing, as it gets more acid, due to our collective run off, the oyster and other shellfish and some fish will cease to exist. Eventually we will follow.

But we are a resilient people and always have been, and this is why Treena and I are having the time of our lives on this trip. At every single stop of this Olympic Culinary Adventure tour, we have met world changers on their way to making the Olympic Peninsula one of the world’s most important culinary destinations. This is a vibrant test bed for a collaboration between growers and fishermen and chefs and ecologists, with a small but increasingly knowledgeable customer base.

If you want to see the best of food continue to be produced resiliently, then you need to take this tour as soon as possible. By all means taste the difference that passion makes and listen carefully to the folks who have valued this fabulous slice of our great nation for over 100 years.

They are not going away and you'll find it hard to do so after only a few delicious days in this beautiful, restful countryside.

Keep tuned in, and I'll give you a complete run down of our stop over choices this time next week when we have torn ourselves away. We have, by the way, booked to return before the year is out. This is just too good to miss.

 

The Olympic Culinary Adventure Loop is a project of the Olympic Peninsula Tourism Commission in partnership with SeattleDining! and the Olympic Culinary Loop Association, is a self-guided tour to 16 destinations offering authentic farm-to-table experiences in four Peninsula counties. A downloadable route map and description of each destination can be accessed by visiting www.olympicpeninsula.org and clicking on the Olympic Culinary Adventure banner.

We've put this in our print calendar every year since we started publishing, but this year, the peninsula's Crabfest gets special mention here. Why? In part because ever since Anna Roth's story about local food (and history) on the peninsula, we've been in love with the place. In part because Dungeness crab is crazy delicious (we bet you knew that). In part because now that they've begun demolishing the Elwha river dam, it's a great time to celebrate coastal seafood in their native habitat. And in part because the festival grows every year, and it's the right time to go--big enough to be exciting, small enough that it's not a solid mass of tourists. Last reason: a chunk of the proceeds benefit watershed education programs on and near the Dungeness River. It's this weekend, October 8th and 9th.

Every hour, there's a new chef demo--primarily featuring crab, but you'll also find fresh-shucked oysters, wild salmon, Alaskan sea scallops, and a couple mixed seafood dishes like a Brazilian seafood stew and paella. Non-food-focused fun includes the Grab-A-Crab Tank Derby, a combined air-sea rescue demonstration by the U.S. Coast Guard, a raptor demonstration, a Sunday morning Crab Revival, and hands-on educational activities and exhibits at the Feiro Marine Life Center on the Port Angeles City Pier. Admission to the festival is free. For the complete schedule of events, and useful links to plan your visit, check www.crabfestival.org

Join Slow Food Seattle and sponsors Readers to Eaters, Seafood Producers Cooperative, Snoqualmie Vineyards and Edible Seattle on Monday, October 17 for My fish has issues; it’s complicated – Sustainable Seafood in a Multimedia World.
Broadway Performance Hall, 1625 Broadway, Seattle
6:30-8:00pm, with reception following

Why is farmed seafood sometimes good, sometimes bad? My favorite fish is on the "avoid" list--is there a sustainable substitute? And what the heck do troll, trawl, long line and purse seine even mean? It is complicated, so it's fantastic that there are people in the world who are willing to slog through the muddy waters of sustainable seafood in order to help the rest of us make good choices.

On October 17, local chef, author and Edible Seattle columnist Becky Selengut, and D.C. chef, author and National Geographic Fellow Barton Seaver will join in a discussion about sustainable seafood led by our editor, Jill Lightner. Becky and Barton will talk about how to make decisions as consumers that will protect our own health as well as the health of our oceans and waterways. In addition to their widely acclaimed sustainable seafood cookbooks, Becky's Good Fish and Barton's For Cod and Country, they'll present multimedia resources and tips for choosing, preparing, and eating delicious seafood that you can feel good about. You'll have the opportunity to ask questions of the experts, so be sure to come prepared!

This will not be a stuffy "do this, don't do that" lecture--quite the opposite, in fact! We can pretty much guarantee that the evening will be as entertaining as it is informative. 

Stick around after the conversation for a glass of wine from Snoqualmie Vineyards and a cookbook signing. Their books will be available for purchase, but if you have your own copies at home, bring 'em!

Tickets are available in advance from Brown Paper Tickets for $12, or $15 at the door. We sincerely hope to see all of you there!