Kathy Casey writes The Book on cocktail parties

You know when something trendy gets around to hitting the masses it has pretty much jumped the shark. Take mini burgers. Several years ago, when the now closed Belltown restaurant Cascadia first introduced them to local foodies, we oohed and ahhed over their cuteness (and deliciousness).

Now that fast food giant Jack in the Box has introduced its take on the diminuative slider— along with that goofy song I can't get out of my head ("YIPPIE-AY-O, MINI SIRLOIN BURGERS...") they aren't that cool or cute any more (though who am I kidding, it hasn't stopped me from eating them).

But as I flipped through Kathy Casey's gorgeous brand new recipe book, Sips & Apps, a page of scrumptious little burgers—Lamb "Sliders" on Homemade Rosemary Buns, to be exact—caught my eye and I was in love all over again.



Kathy, owner of the Dish D'lish outpost in the airport, purveyor of cocktail mixes and one of the city's go-to recipe developers who has helped launch many of the hottest food and cocktail menus around town, has done cookbooks before. But they have merely been a prelude to this gorgeous, 204-page purse-size tome with page after page of full color photos by local food photographer Angie Norwood Brown and Kathy's inventive recipes for drinks (sips) and apps (appetizers). 

I first got to know Kathy when I moved here 12 years ago. I met her at her Ballard Ave food studios as she was finishing up a meeting with a young chef who was opening a restaurant. She was doing cocktail recipe development for him and I was the lucky recipient of their leftover concoctions (that chef was Scott Staples of Zoe and Quinns, who went on to become one of the agenda-setting chefs of our city.)

Cocktails have always been Kathy's thing and we've included many of her recipes in Seattle Bride magazine over the years. They are always as tasty as they are beautiful. And in this month's summer guide story in Seattle magazine, we feature receipes for her Strawberry Shag, Blue Thai Mojito and Peach 75 cocktails. Yum.




My favorite parts of the book, though, are the two placeholder ribbons bound into the book--one for sips and one for apps. It's cookbook chic that only Kathy Casey can deliver. (Now if she can only get that dang song out of my head.)

It's been a great month for Kathy. She was also just nominated as one of the finalists for the Nellie Cashman Woman Business Owner of the Year awards. We'll be there cheering her on.