May 2016

How to Make Douglas Fir-Infused Vodka

How to Make Douglas Fir-Infused Vodka

Forager Langdon Cook makes a toast to the trees with Douglas fir–infused vodka

I like to kick off my dinner parties with a celebratory elixir. Before tucking into any food or wine, I serve my guests shot glasses filled with a luminous green spirit. It’s really more chartreuse in color, with a viscosity less than that of syrup, but slightly thicker than water. We toast the trees. The…

Four Weekly Fresh-Meal Delivery Services to Try

Four Weekly Fresh-Meal Delivery Services to Try

Here, we break down the keepers

On-demand dining apps such as UberEATS and BiteSquad have saved me from succumbing to day-old office doughnuts. Now, a slew of meal delivery kits—complete with dinner recipes and fresh ingredients, often chopped and premeasured—take it a step further for folks who still want to cook but are short on time. Add to that the onslaught…

Sip on The Carreras Cocktail at Artusi

Sip on The Carreras Cocktail at Artusi

A mix of Peruvian pisco and French spirits, this drink takes you on an international journey

Cocktail: The Carreras    This delightful springtime drink uses the Campo de Encanto brand of pisco—the much loved brandy made in Peru and Chile—as its base. It’s a little odd that pisco, an amiable and mixable grape-based spirit that’s also available from a number of other brands, isn’t used more often in cocktails, although its…

Vegan Ice Cream Sandwiches at The Cookie Counter

Vegan Ice Cream Sandwiches at The Cookie Counter

The Cookie Counter makes the best in town

Chelsea Keene and Chris Olson of The Cookie Counter make the best vegan ice cream in town. If you haven’t experienced their creamy, organic, coconut-milk-based ice cream sandwiches sold from their roving (June–September) blue 1974 Volkswagen bus named Mavis, take heart: You can now customize your own sammie ($5) at the couple’s new 850-square-foot café,…

Author Lindy West Talks About Her New Book 'Shrill'

Author Lindy West Talks About Her New Book ‘Shrill’

Lindy West discusses fat, feminism and her new memoir, Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman

Columbia City–based writer Lindy West got her start as an arts reporter for The Stranger, and now focuses on topics that include pop culture, social justice and body image for GQ and The Guardian. Her first book, Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman (Hachette Books, $26) is released May 17. Why did you decide to…

The Top Home Decor Shops in Seattle for Pacific Northwest Design

The Top Home Decor Shops in Seattle for Pacific Northwest Design

These natural surroundings impact the decorative decisions we make within our homes

From lush evergreens to sparkling Puget Sound to, yes, skies that display every possible shade of gray, the Pacific Northwest is a uniquely beautiful environment to live in. These natural surroundings impact the decorative decisions we make within our homes, so we’ve broken down these regional design influences and matched them with our favorite stores…

What's Being Done to Keep Restaurants Safe for Diners?

What’s Being Done to Keep Restaurants Safe for Diners?

With a number of bacteria outbreaks at local eateries, is it safe to eat out in Seattle?

I’m standing on a corner in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood on a sunny afternoon, waiting for Chris Skilton, a health inspector and trained epidemiologist with the food and facilities program of Public Health–Seattle & King County. In the wake of recent health scares like the E. coli outbreak at several Chipotle restaurants, I’ve arranged to shadow…

The Malheur Occupation and the Evolution of the Wild West

The Malheur Occupation and the Evolution of the Wild West

What the Malheur occupation in Oregon says about living today in the Pacific Northwest

The occupation of eastern Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by right-wing extremists is over. Bird watchers are eager to reclaim their right to access this beautiful locale, which hosts rare migrating birds, such as sandhill cranes. Flocks of binoculared birders will descend this spring in a show of support for public ownership, conservation and cooperation….

Sneezin' Season: Seattle's Seasonal Allergies

Sneezin’ Season: Seattle’s Seasonal Allergies

An integrative approach may be the best one to take when allergies take hold

If you’re experiencing itchy eyes, a runny nose, coughing, sneezing and brain fog, you probably have seasonal allergies. Local pollens are typically sky high in spring; this month, blame pollens from cedar, maple, oak and ash trees, along with pollen from grasses, just hitting its peak, and weeds. The timing of your symptoms may hold…

Staying Connected With Hollow Earth Radio

Staying Connected With Hollow Earth Radio

A new frequency means Hollow Earth Radio will reach a wider audience

In September 2014, Hollow Earth Radio (hollowearthradio.org), the nonprofit, community-run, Internet-based music station located in Seattle’s Central District, was one of about a dozen stations granted licenses to acquire low-power terrestrial signals by the Federal Communications Commission. After streaming online for eight years, Hollow Earth would be allowed to broadcast its diverse programming as KHUH…

Artist Creates Mural Using Signature Dot-and-Lozenge Technique

Artist Creates Mural Using Signature Dot-and-Lozenge Technique

An age-old technique becomes a new calling for a designer-turned-artist Olivia Knapp

Used by 16th-century masters of engraving, the dot-and-lozenge rendering method begins with a single point, followed by another, then another, ultimately becoming part of an elaborate, crosshatched composition. Seattle artist Olivia Knapp, who taught herself the technique four years ago, one step at a time, has gone through a similarly painstaking process in her creative…

Catching up with Bellevue-Based Author Richelle Mead

Catching up with Bellevue-Based Author Richelle Mead

A local vampire series author takes a bite out of a new genre

Many of us dream of one day writing a novel. Bellevue-based author Richelle Mead acted on that dream years ago. In less than a decade she’s churned out 26 novels, and she shows no signs of stopping. “I expect to be writing books for many, many years,” Mead says of her work, which most notably…