May 2012

Cascade Escapes: Small-town Getaways

Cascade Escapes: Small-town Getaways

Climb up to these nearby mountain towns for a getaway with a Western flair.

Bow Edison { Population: 133 }Be hungry. That’s the first rule of any visit to darling Bow Edison, a pair of tiny twin towns about a half-hour north of La Conner and a quick detour off farmland-scenic Chuckanut Drive. Bow is actually marked just by the turnoff to Edison; you’ll see the Rhododendron Cafe and the…

Small Towns, Epic Adventures

Small Towns, Epic Adventures

Editorial director Rachel Hart reflects on the big discoveries we can make on even small side-trips

Sometimes in the process of producing an issue, our editors inadvertently create a “word of the issue”—a word (or words) that we are suddenly, unintentionally in love with, so much so that it pops up repeatedly throughout a story (if not the entire issue). This especially happens in stories with multiple writers, such as this…

Summer Road Trips: 14 Small-Town Getaways

Summer Road Trips: 14 Small-Town Getaways

Leave the city behind for a weekend (or longer) and explore one of these tiny Northwest towns.

For many of us, it’s not a tough trade: swapping a reliable cell signal and ubiquitous WiFi for a sweet slice of small town heaven. Tucked away in all corners of the Northwest are tiny backwater hamlets, perched seaside, on idyllic bays or in mountain clefts, brimming with character, friendly locals and a peaceful main…

Statement Pieces Perfect for Springtime Entertaining

Statement Pieces Perfect for Springtime Entertaining

How to bring classic spring touches to your outdoor oasis

Here comes the sun! Kick off the spring entertaining season with a fresh take on elegant outdoor style. A neutral palette of black, white and gray comes alive with pops of soft, sunny yellow. Want to add some panache to your patio? Start with the beautiful basics, like Summer Classics’ Plaza loveseat and chair, featuring…

Inside Chihuly's New House of Glass

Inside Chihuly’s New House of Glass

The new Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit - opening Monday, May 21 - showcases the work of the world’

In 1961, while studying interior design at the University of Washington, an arty kid from Tacoma experimented with melting and fusing glass. Today that kid is a world-renowned glass artist of tremendous influence—and as of this month, Dale Chihuly can boast an entire museum devoted to his career. (Tacoma’s Museum of Glass features his work…

How Seattle Became the Epicenter of Glass Art

How Seattle Became the Epicenter of Glass Art

While local glass art has Chihuly at its core, for certain, Dale himself would be the first to say t

The first thing most seattleites think about upon hearing the phrase “glass art” is Dale Chihuly. And with good reason; the history of Northwest glass has Chihuly’s name woven throughout, from its earliest beginnings to right now, as the museum honoring his work is poised to open at Seattle Center. But Chihuly would likely be…

Take a Power Trip to Wild Horse Wind Farm

Take a Power Trip to Wild Horse Wind Farm

The Wild Horse wind farm near Ellensburg turns a small-town road trip into an eco-educational advent

From the moment they come into view as you climb the rolling hills just east of Ellensburg, what strikes you first about the turbines of the Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility is their scale. Structures that looked like tiny black pinwheels on toothpicks stuck into the dry earth from just a few short miles…

Mt. Townsend's Seastack Cheese

Mt. Townsend’s Seastack Cheese

Made of local cow’s milk in small batches in Port Townsend, Seastack is like two cheeses in one.

In my house, Mt. Townsend’s Seastack Cheese is a mainstay. It’s not an everyday cheese—a bit too pricey at $12 for an 8-ounce wheel—but when the occasion allows for a small splurge, a few crackers, a pot of fig jam and we’re in business. Made of local cow’s milk in small batches in Port Townsend,…

Kouign Amann Pastries

Kouign Amann Pastries

The sweet and salty darling of the pastry set.

What is the bronzed, round, impossible-to-pronounce pastry that’s lately popping up in the finer artisanal bakeries? Kouign amann (pronounced queen-ya-mahn) is a Breton pastry that has it all: tons of butter, sweet caramelization and a good bit of salt, like a salted caramel in pastry form. Honoré, in Ballard, makes a sensational version, with a…

Butter Me Up: Seattle's Best Croissants

Butter Me Up: Seattle’s Best Croissants

Food editor Allison Austin Scheff goes in search of the Seattle bakery with the best croissant.

There are people whose jobs require them to wake before dawn, pound cold butter and fold it into chilled dough, and then fold it, roll it, chill it, fold it, roll it, and chill it again and again until the butter is but a whisper-thin memory between weightless layers of pastry. The perfectly “laminated dough”…

Manhattan Drugs is More Style Than Substance

Manhattan Drugs is More Style Than Substance

The power couple of Seattle's nightlife score a rare miss with Capitol Hill's Manhattan Drugs.

With a half-dozen stylish boîtes under their belts—Po Dog, serving luxe hot dogs in the $7 range; Grim’s, a bar; and The Social, a nightclub; along with a Ballard project in the works—it’s clear that Laura Olson and Chris Pardo’s collection of edgy hot spots attract the young and hip like bees to a hive….

Café Parco: Warm and Comforting Italian

Café Parco: Warm and Comforting Italian

Madison Park's new Cafe Parco is like visiting your Italian grandma.

In the tidy, snug dining room where Madison Park Café lived for 30 years, Café Parco now thrives (all those displaced Sostanza fans needed somewhere to go for the saucy Italian food they love). Parco’s chef and owner, Celinda Norton, is a pro; she’s owned eight restaurants, so she knows well the flavors—garlic, butter, meats…