There should be a 12-step group for fans of Autumn Martin’s Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery, which will soon celebrate its one year cake-iversary in Ballard’s Old Towne. I know my trousers are a bit tighter since this tempting sweet shop debuted. I’m especially hooked on those beautiful, boozy shakes, the subject of Autumn’s new book, Malts & Milkshakes: 60 Recipes for Frosty, Creamy, Frozen Treats, released April 9. This book should not be cracked when you’re hungry.
April 22 is Earth Day, and while I strongly suggest you do some earth-friendly activities and think about ways to better help out the planet in the following year on that day, I also think it’s a nice idea to raise a cocktail or two in honor of the day – and the earth. When hosting said cocktails, go organic to keep in the spirit of things.
Gutsy. Very gutsy.
The much-anticipated Radiator Whiskey opens today (April 17) in Pike Place Market and pig head is on the menu. Yup, your dinner has a face. With this bold opening salvo, Radiator Whiskey becomes like no other place in Seattle. Heck, probably no place on the West Coast puts a pig head smack in the middle of the table.
Have you seen the April issue of Seattle magazine yet? Drool!!
Not only do Allison Austin Scheff and Sara Dickerman walk you through the ideal places to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in their fun-to-read Best Restaurants coverage, there’s also the second annual Food Establishment list to devour and debate about.
Lemme tell you, this list was mighty carefully considered.
I know the springtime refrain as well as you: April showers bring May flowers. But the April gloomy skies make it hard to stay chipper, even if May blooms are imminent.
It’s the Seattle Mariners home opener! Hooray!
While hardcore M’s fans like my husband are pumped about seeing the new players – how about The Beast? Slugger Michael Morse is on fire, right? – I’m psyched about all the new food and drinks showing up around The Safe, especially at Edgar’s Cantina and the Home Run Porch. [Check out this slide show of food pics we got from the preview.]
Take it from me: though it isn’t a regular cocktail staple, sake is a versatile and entertaining base to build drinks on.
Made from a special strain of rice—one you wouldn’t want to serve in a stir fry—the fungus Aspergillus oryzae (used during fermentation) and water, sake usually has around 15 percent alcohol by volume (and 18 to 20 percent before it’s diluted), so it’s a stitch stronger than most beer and wines.
Finally! Got to eat dinner at Altura on Capitol Hill, Seattle mag’s Best New Restaurant of 2012, at last and, oh, man, it lived up to the lofty expectations.
During a week when attention was focused on the Supreme Court considering the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and Facebook profile pics and Twitter avatars showed pink-on-pink equal signs in support of marriage equality for all, it seems especially fitting to share some sparkling good news:
Égalité, the first-ever wine created in support of equality for gay Americans, has arrived in Washington, making it the first state on the West Coast to carry the fast-growing French bubbly brand.
I’m a proud Taste Washington veteran, an old salt, you might even say. I was at the very first Taste, held in the cozy confines of the Paramount Theater back in the 1990s.
The industry was just a whisper then, fewer than 100 wineries. Now, just two decades later, it’s well worth shouting: Washington state wines kick booty! We’re more than 700 wineries strong, a growing number of growers are growing world class fruit. Hello, Napa Valley! You all should be shaking in your over-priced Gucci loafers!!
Cody Morris's Sodo nanobrewery, Epic Ales, is a beer-lovers oasis. Tiny, with just a few stools front and center behind which Morris often stands, tasting folks on beer and talking shop, it's the sort of place you really want to succeed, but still don't want to tell anyone about.
Morris makes clever but always tasty brews, many infused with food and inspired by the seasons. Beets, tea, mushrooms, cinnamon, peppercorns, lemongrass; they've all been put to use.
Whether you’re the designated driver (always an honorable role), taking a break from drinking for a particular reason or no reason at all, or just don’t feel like cocktail-ing it up, it’s never bad to have a few un-alcoholic hits available. The following recipes don’t sacrifice any spirited flavor, even if they are lacking spirits.
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