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One of the good things about winter is that the Gratin Lyonnais is reliably on the menu at Le Pichet (1933 1st Ave, Seattle, WA 98101). Its bubbly, cheesey, oniony goodness will warm your chilly cockles and make you feel that all is right with the world even as horizontal rain and gusts of icy wind howl right outside the door to this lovely French bistro. When I first moved to Seattle I came here every cold weekend for a month because it was the first place that I felt at home, due largely to this soup.

Here's the thing, though... It's not always on the menu! Come spring, (which let's face it, is just about as chilly as winter here), it disappears. However, If you love it as much as I do, you can eat it year round thanks to the owner posting the recipe, available here.

[eatwellseattle]

When most people think of Ballard they think up the bustling Ballard Ave and Market Street as the hub of all Ballard life, but up on 70th you will come across the original Ballard. It’s the area where your parents and grandparents grew up and it’s just as precious today than it was then. The small…

[crescentkatie]

Don’t miss this Ballard brunch gem! Enjoy this little spot tucked away in the neighborhoods of Ballard - grab a coffee, sip it while you wait for your table out front, and then tuck into a great breakfast of whatever’s fresh. You won’t be sorry.

[eatwellseattle]

My parents came up to Seattle for the day and like any broke college student, I used this as an opportunity to try one of the places I’ve been eyeing for a while. Quinn’s Pub, owned by Scott and Heather Staples (owners of Zoë and Uneeda Burger), is a laid back, self-described “gastro pub” with…

[crescentkatie]

Quinn’s Pub is one of my favorite spots in Capitol Hill. Without fail, I order the soft pretzel, the fancy frites with the veal demi-glace and fontina fonduta, and usually also some salt cod fritters. But they have so much more… great cocktails, great beer selection, a fine roasted chicken, and a treatment of foie gras that changes with the seasons. It’s a treasure.

[crescentkatie]

I had the pleasure of attending Kinfolk Magazine’s first Seattle-based community gathering this weekend. The theme for this gathering was “Freshen Up” - a guide to making natural cleaning supplies using kitchen ingredients. 

When we arrived, our host, Amber Moss Ek, owner of Oakmoss, gave each of us a beautiful basket with some items she’d made ahead of time including a hand-poured candle and some “wood butter” for seasoning our wood cutting boards and spoons at home. Also included in the basket were little recipe books with all the necessary instructions for making each of the products that we would make that day.

After some nice introductions, we got down to making some cleaning supplies ourselves using wonderful smelling ingredients like fresh lavender, lemons, vinegar, water, castile soap, and essential oils. We made all kinds of good stuff from all-purpose cleaners and scrubs to air fresheners and sachets and even a luxurious sugar scrub for our hands. I’ve been using it all weekend on my hands and legs and they’re as soft as can be, and my house smells like a spa right now as a result!

After we finished concocting all our supplies (by which time our work area was smelling heavily of heady lavender and citrus essential oils), it was time for a lovely luncheon of cheese and fruit, homemade focaccia, chicken and bread salad with a green goddess dressing, and a beautiful lemon cake made by Amber’s mother on Whidbey Island and delivered by ferry to the mainland just for the event (!!!).

Watch for more Kinfolk dinners and gatherings each month in Seattle and come join us! Our first event was lovely and I am betting they’ll get better and better. Next up for June:

Charcuterie, butchery, and/or fish-cleaning, with accompanying cheese & charcuterie smorgasbord to follow!

[likealocalblog]

Seattle has begun hosting Kinfolk gatherings, starting with May's Freshen Up spring cleaning event. Watch for more Kinfolk dinners and gatherings each month in Seattle and come join us!

[anniesoga-deactivated20190421]

interior of Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, Seattle, WA, ca. 1900-1910

(from Wikipedia):

The shop was founded in 1899 by J. E. “Daddy” Standley (born February 24, 1854, in Steubenville, Ohio). He had already traded somewhat in curios and Indian goods as a grocer in Denver, Colorado. When he moved to Seattle in 1899 because his wife’s health required a lower altitude, he encountered a boom town supplying and benefitting from the Klondike Gold Rush. He founded the business in 1899. An exhibit at the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (A-Y-P Exposition) in Seattle drew tourists, scholars, anthropologists and collectors and was enormous publicity for his already somewhat famous shop. It also won Standley a gold medal in the category of ethnological collections.

Standley’s shop presented a jumbled mix of curiosities and significant art objects. He collected and sold what came his way, but also had local Native American artists make objects to his specifications. He sold genuine Tlingit totem poles, but also replicas by carvers descended from the Vancouver Island-based Nuu-chah-nulth tribe, who were living in Seattle, and even inexpensive souvenir totem poles made in Japan. A flair for the bizarre and grotesque led him to include items such as shrunken heads from the Amazon (some of them definitely genuine, others probably not).

[likealocalblog]

Ye Olde Curiosity Shop puts the OLDE in Old! This place is crazy and tacky and fascinating. A claustrophobe's nightmare, but a nicknack and weird stuff lover's dream.

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Without a doubt the very best biscuits in the northwest are hand crafted by the two gentlemen who run Seattle Biscuit Company. Who are they? In their own words:

"We make biscuits with our hands.  We use a combination of local ingredients and our Southern roots to bring you a truly unique biscuit experience."

Sam Thompson and David Hanson know what they're talking about. First they're Southerners (and when you're talking biscuits, that seems to make a difference. I think that folks' grandmothers' grandmothers pass that stuff along on yellowed recipe cards and through their very genes). They're from Mississippi and Georgia respectively. David even today told me that his family (generations way back) are the folks who lived in the yellow brick house at 19 East Battery in Charleston. So they hail from the land of good ass biscuits. Secondly, they source all their ingredients locally - Ballard Bee Company honey, Beechers cheese, Carlton Farm pork, Oola bourbon, and more - farm to biscuit they called it. Third, the biscuits themselves are pretty much clouds of edible heaven. See above the "Nuptial Flight," a marriage of butter, honey, and rock salt and flaky fluffy biscuit.

When these dudes are in your neighborhood, do not hesitate. Cross the street and walk right up and request a biscuit. And then thank these gents for bringing the real deal to the northwest.

And Sam and David, if you ever read this, do me a favor and fry up a slab of chicken, please, and lay it on that Nuptial Flight for me.

[likealocalblog]

Took a stroll through Pike Place Market this morning and visited new market vendor Britt’s Pickles. They make delicious pickles (duh) and kimchi and preserved lemon and all kinds of good pickled things. They’ll let you try it all including a pickle brine shot. This stuff would make an incredible dirty martini or a damn good addition to a bloody Mary. As they say, “Nickel, nickel, gimme that pickle!” They probably don’t say that much, but you can at Britt’s and they’ll just clink your shot glass and give you a smile.

[penelopesloom]

EMP Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1.1.10

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Even though I think this is a pretty gnarly bit of architecture, these photos of the EMP are beautiful! Enjoy the curvy shapes and the Nirvana exhibit and the Sci-fi museum while you're at it.

[ianmacleodphoto]

georgetown trailer park mall, seattle.

[likealocalblog]

While on a a whirlwind trip to Chicago, wonderland of amazing hot dogs and home to Hot Doug's a veritable hot dog mecca, I had a late night conversation at a hot dog stand with another hungry hot dog enthusiast in which we debated which was better - the Chicago dog with its crazy salad of fixins or the Seattle dog, a symphony of sausage, cream cheese, and grilled onions. I hadn't had a Seattle dog until I moved to Seattle and I have grown quite partial to them. The video above was taken the first time I ever tried one. It was real real good, as you can probably guess from the expression on my face. 

Seattle's seemingly going Seattle dog crazy right now. Seattle Weekly, in their current cover story, recounts the history of the Seattle dog. And if you want a real treat, go to Canon and grab a foie dog, their uptown take on the Seattle dog with foie cream cheese.

[likealocalblog]

The Barrio Cafe in Phoenix, AZ is the place for not only a delicious meal but also a FEAST for the EYES!

[builtbycivilization-blog]

Vashon Island, Washington

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This is SO Vashon Island...

PS - You can totally rent and stay in a beautiful lighthouse keeper's cottage right next to this beautiful little lighthouse! Find out how to "be a keeper" at Pt. Robinson Light Station here. Talk about a completely magical (and affordable!!!) vacation rental.

[archiemcphee]

Seattle is home to an awesome food truck known as MAXImus/MiniMUS that serves up incredibly delicious pork sandwiches from a pig-shaped truck that looks like it could be from a [sadly] deleted scene of Mad Max.

MAXImus/MiniMUS was founded by Kurt Beecher Dammeier. The pig truck was created by a local designer named Colin Reedy, “part artist, part engineer and part pig aficionado.”

Photo by Joe Mabel

[likealocalblog]

Trust me, the pulled pork that you get out of this big metal porker is amazing!

[crescentkatie]

Getting touristy in Seattle (Taken with Instagram)

[likealocalblog]

i lived in Charleston many years, and I go back on occasion. I love that place!

Oh man, I love that city too, and I try to get back any chance I can get. Many many good memories from my ten years of living there. I think I may have left my heart in the harbor.

Thanks for reaching out, and I hope you enjoy the blog!

[likealocalblog]

Best theater ever - Central Cinema. Tonight: nobody puts baby in a corner.

[likealocalblog]

The incredible onion pancake at Chungee’s