Seattle Bon Vivant

Lefse, Rice and Frybread: A History of Washington Through Food

Just in case you missed it, KUOW's website has available the program audio files to the award winning special report  by Ruby de Luna titled Lefse, Rice and Frybread: A History of Washington Through Food.

This program traces the food history of our state, from the Makaw tribes of Neah Bay, the Scandinavian and Vietnamese immigrants to Washington up to the trailblazer that was Ruby Chow. With recipes

It has been said that food is not just nourishment, but an expression of one's culture. When they come to America, immigrants are likely to shed their native language and traditional clothing to blend into their new home-but food is typically the last to go. This month on KUOW, we look at our local history through food. Reporter Ruby de Luna brings us stories from some of the native and immigrant groups in the Puget Sound region. Come explore their rich cultures…and their foods.

While you are at it, check out another great little report: Food for Thought: Farmed Salmon and the Future

Die Walküre: First intermission

2002 Château Bonnet Bordeaux and a Turkey & Sundried Tomato Wrap. Yummylicious!

On Angelo Pellegrini and The Unprejudiced Palate

Henry Miller, Louis M. Martini, Robert Mondavi and Thomas Wolfe were fans. Before Alice Waters in Berkeley and Carlo Petrini in Italy, there was University of Washington English Literature professor Angelo Pellegrini in Seattle.

This week the city's papers, from the Weekly to the PI are featuring stories and podcasts on this maverick of the original slow food (seasonal, sustainable and locally grown) movement.

Pellegrini's 1948 book, The Unprejudiced Palate has just been republished by Random House, edited by Ruth Reichl, with an introduction by Mario Batali.

"When soulless minute steaks and quick casseroles were becoming the norm, The Unprejudiced Palate inspired a seismic culinary shift in how America eats. Written by a food-loving immigrant from Tuscany, this memoir-cum-cookbook articulates the Italian American vision of the good life: a backyard garden, a well-cooked meal shared with family and friends, and a passion for ingredients and cooking that nourish the body and the soul."

This is a Seattleite you should definitely know about...

Café Impromptu: Ring Cycle III Menu

Seattle Opera's final 2005 Ring Cycle starts tonight. McCaw Hall's Café Impromptu will be opening at 3:30 today and for the next three performances, it will start dinner service at 4:30pm.

So whether you consider yourself a Ringhead or Wagnerite (thank you Chuck Jones!) here's the scoop on the appetizers, dinner, dessert and wine offerings so you can plan ahead, place your order early and nosh without rush. Enjoy the show!

Market Pastrami Sandwich

Fuel to keep me going until tonight's Café Impromptu dinner on what promises to be a very busy, exciting and long day of errands (manicures and pedicures and hair, oh my!) in preparation for Ring Cycle III, that--at last!!!- starts tonight with Das Rheingold. Essential Bakery's toasted rye (with plenty of caraway seeds, Richard, and chopped, tender onion, for a change), hot house cured pastrami (they make their own) and a generous coat of spicy brown mustard. Served with coleslaw and a Kosher dill pickle spear. $7.75.

At Eats Market Café in West Seattle

Shopping in Seattle...

A great little article I just fished out while googling fish in Seattle (via Detroit Free Press):

SEATTLE IS FOR SHOPPERS: From pottery to perfume to antique tiles, the Emerald City's funky neighborhoods have it all

Neighborhood guide to offbeat shopping in Seattle

Cooking Class

About 20 of us neighbors gathered together for a cooking class by a local personal chef. The menu was a sort of cooking for dummies, an exercise in simplicity and fun rather than a cooking challenge or foodie snobbery.

So while some volunteered for prepping and assembling and the chef supervised, others, like me, mostly observed, had a cocktail (Pomtinis!), mingled and noshed. I walked away with great tips on how to properly filet salmon and wrapping the perfect spring roll.

Dessert was simple, refreshing and utterly fragrant: melons (honeydew, canteloupe and watermelon) in an orange blossom water syrup that was so intoxicating I wanted to bottle it up and wear it as fragrance.

As a parting gift from the chef, beautiful Borage sprigs and the recipes print-outs. Good times!

Monsoon: Dim Sum Brunch

Chef Eric Banh has been serving dim sum for brunch since August 6th (Saturdays and Sundays, 9am- 2:30pm). Traditional, French inspired breakfast items are also available such as Potato Gruyère Gratin in Chicken Stock with Nem Nuong ($9.50), Organic Eggs en Cocotte with Crème Fraîche and Herbs($7), Scrambled Duck Eggs with Shallot and Chanterelles ($11) and beautiful Quiche ($6.50).

Today we had the Brioche Vanilla French Toast ($8.50), Organic Fried Eggs with Parisian Ham (it is usually served with Nem Nuong, a grilled pork & Shrimp sausage ($8.50) but by the time we got there they had already sold out of the sausage) and from the Dim Sum menu, the Steamed BBQ Pork Buns (basket of 3 pcs $4).

Weekends at Monsoon are very relaxed and the restaurant feels and look very different from the sexy, Vietnamese minimalist, busy and at times very noisy room that it becomes at night for dinner service or even for lunch.

Menu items may sell out during the day so you may find different things being offered or same items with alternate ingredients. Servers will give you plenty of options. Best to go early.

Everything is served family style. We shared sweet, savory and very hot (side of red chili paste for me, please!), had a great time lingering over our bottomless cups of Victrola coffee, animated food conversation with our friendly server (who hails from Rover's) and after a long while left with very happy tummies.

Monsoon August Dim Sum Menu
($4.00 per basket)

Shrimp dumplings
Vegetable Potstickers
Pork Shu Mai with dried Shiitake Mushrooms
Steamed BBQ Pork Buns
Pan Fried Daikon Cakes
Wrapped Lotus Leaf Pork Sticky Rice
Crispy Shrimp Chinese Chive Wontons
Crispy Shrimp and Taro Spring Rolls
Assorted Dim Sum (6 pieces for $9.00)

Live from Chateau Ste. Michelle

Super sweet Yakima canteloupe, Skagit blueberries for nibbling, cheese, pears, chilled Muscat Canelli, Children of the Revolution (Seattle band) and a very lovely Pink Martini.

Chantico, my way

Seattle is coffee central. That's a fact. However, when it comes to getting my daily doses of caffeine, Starbucks is not my bag. I'd rather go for Victrola, Zeitgeist, the comatose Torrefazione on Olive and my favorite of all, Eastlake's--soon to be in Belltown--Hines Public Market, whose Honey Macchiato is a scrumptious and always satisfying work of art.

But...whenever I crave chocolat chaud for breakfast and I'm not home to make my own (melting or grating dark chocolate bars --Spanish or French chocolate--with milk and Strauss cream) I go for Starbucks Chantico. But it has to be my way or it's the cloyingly sweet highway. "Chantico, inch of milk, in short cup, please".

After much trial and error I've found my happy medium: intense chocolate flavor with enough milk to cut down the sugar without making it too thin. So I'm at Georgetown's Starbucks (love this neighborhood!) with The Times and a not so stellar croissant to complete this Friday morning trifecta, listening to Madeleine Peyroux.

The sun is shining and I'm happy as a clam. Mr. C is back in town and we are going to see Pink Martini at Chateau Ste. Michelle this afternoon. The picnic basket and blanket are all ready to go.

Have a great weekend everyone!