Category: Tasting Notes   More and more of Washington’s longtime farming families are moving away from traditional crops and into growing wine grapes, and are now seeking the Holy Grail—that chalice filled with their own premium Washington wine. After years of tasting the delicious, award-winning wines other winemakers have made from their grapes, these families—some…

Category: Eat + Drink Articles       The brilliant but short-lived dessert café Coco la ti da might have been ahead of its time (we miss you, Sue McCown!) but sweet tooths and carb lovers can still find plenty of treasures. Blogger, baker and eater extraordinaire Lorna Yee weighs in on Seattle’s pastry scene….

Category: Arts + Events Articles   In 2006 Lyall Bush took over the directorship of Richard Hugo House (hugohouse.org), Seattle’s premier center for writing and reading. Since then, he has revamped the organization’s programming by curating eclectic showcases of nationally known writers, such as Rick Moody, and local upstarts, such as David Schmader, while continuing…

Category: Eat + Drink Articles   When chef Don Curtiss assembles a cured meat plate at Ballard’s classiest Italian restaurant, Volterra (5411 Ballard Ave. NW; 206.789.5100; volterrarestaurant.com), he has a philosophy. “I like artisanal salami, things that are not mass produced,” he says. “It’s meant to wake up your palate, so you drink a nice…

Category: Arts + Events Articles   In 1993, Stuart Smithers, a professor of Buddhist studies at the University of Puget Sound, began work reinventing an old dairy farm near Arlington as a 360-acre arts utopia. Fifteen years after its inception, Smoke Farm (smokefarm.org; named after the original owners) is now a place where local artists…

Category: Eat + Drink Articles    

Category: seattlepi.com teaser headlines   Instead of filling up on mass-produced Halloween eats, opt for our favorite locally made caramel, licorice, and chocolate. Jonboy CaramelsOur staff is going ga-ga over these locally made Jonboy Caramels. Made of organic sugar, Skagit Valley cream and fleur de sel, this bite-sized sweet and salty treat will have you…

Category: Arts + Events Articles   Musician Steve Peters heads Nonsequitur (nseq.blogspot.com), a nonprofit dedicated to experimental music and sound art. Since moving to the Pacific Northwest from Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2004, Peters has worked tirelessly for countless musicians, artists and poets in an effort to expand the city’s aural horizons. In March 2007,…

Category: Eat + Drink Articles    

Category: seattlepi.com teaser headlines   Makes one 9-inch pie Kate McDermott’s Blackberry Pie FillingIngredients: 1 recipe for double pie pastryThe Pie and Pastry Bible’s recipe on Epicurious.com is a great option.  Filling:6 cups fresh picked (about 1 1⁄2 lbs.) blackberries3⁄4 cup sugar plus 2 tbsp. for sprinkling on top of pieA very small grating or…

Category: Arts + Events Articles   Literary: 10/7 Marilynne RobinsonThe American novelist’s first book, Housekeeping, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and her second, Gilead, won one. Not too shabby for a literary get-go. She’s just published a third book, Home, a companion novel to Gilead, from which she’ll read at the Seattle Public Library….

Category: Eat + Drink Articles   From an ultimate frisbee tournament to a logging rodeo and Duran Duran, here are our top to-do’s for this Friday, Saturday and Sunday FRIDAY, JULY 3Redmond’s Annual Ultimate Frisbee TournamentIn 1990 a handful of local ultimate frisbee teams gathered for a tournament in Redmond’s Sixty Acres Park. Dubbed Potlatch,…