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Halloween Food: Piggy Coffins!

October 14, 2012
Coffin Empanadas

I’m a little competitive. Or, you know, a lot. Like to the point that when I meet another competitive person, I sometimes get really defensive that I’m the more competitive person. And that’s probably happened more times than I’d like to count. So where am I going with this? Our office Halloween party is also a potluck with awards for best tasting and most creative food. Clearly, I need to win. Preferably both categories with a single dish. So I came up with what I’m calling Piggy Coffins. What they actually are is my Holy Shit Pork Cheeks, wrapped...

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Where to Eat in White Center

October 6, 2012
PuffPastry

I’ve repeatedly explained to people that some of the best eating in Seattle is in White Center. Which technically, isn’t Seattle, so perhaps that’s why people are so scared to venture down there? Formerly a piece of unincorporated King County, recently annexed by the city of Burien, White Center picks up where West Seattle leaves off, at the south end of the city. Culinarily, White Center holds much of what Seattle lacks: authentic, cheap foods from all parts of the world. Having worked in West Seattle for over two years, I’ve spent a lot of lunches dining on the...

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Mexico City: A dive into street food

September 10, 2012
Barbacoa tacos and sauce

Part 2 of my food blogger’s guide to Mexico: Street food and Casual restaurants in Mexico City Did you miss part 1 of my food blogger’s guide to Mexico: Eating well in Mexico City (aka D. F.)? Street food is nearly synonymous with Mexico City’s food scene, and for good reason. Everywhere you turn, there’s another stand making something else delicious! I know many of us Gringos are scared of street food and hygiene and what not, but honestly, I carry a little cipro with me, choose carefully, and dive in. What you’ll find below here are 5 days...

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Eating America: The Best Food in Chicago, Part 1: Budget Restaurants

May 21, 2012
Eating America: The Best Food in Chicago, Part 1: Budget Restaurants

Consider this the food blogger’s guide to Chicago. As I say on my About Page, being a GastroGnome is not about sitting idly on the front lawn of culinary cottages. Each year I tell my stories of trips to Beijing, Hanoi, and Mexico, but sometimes I leave out my favorite places right here in the U.S. No more! This is the latest installment of my ‘Eating America’ series, featuring the best eating around our fine nation. In my few trips to Chicago, I’ve mostly had the chance to eat at only a few places while passing through the city on the way to...

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Little Nibbles: Challah, Chocolate Wine, New Dim Sum

October 31, 2011
ChallahWine

Warm up a chilly fall Monday morning with the scent of bread baking, the sound of wine pouring and the taste of dim sum on your tongue. A quick round up of all things delicious, in my kitchen, in my city and around the world… First and foremost: It’s all about ME! I have a new column on the Seattle Weekly’s Voracious Blog: On Monday mornings, you’ll now find my recommendations for where to eat on Monday nights (when everything else is closed). Check out my first column, up today, on the Leary Traveler. Fresh Baked Challah The recent...

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[Contest] Where to Eat at Pike Place Market: A Local’s Perspective

August 24, 2011
[Contest] Where to Eat at Pike Place Market: A Local’s Perspective

Like Eloise in the Plaza, I ran about the Pike Place Market as a child; ducking into stands and around tourists. If I were lucky, there was a post-swim-lesson lunch courtesy of my parents, maybe at the Turkish deli. Other times, my friends and I would slunk about, mixing in amongst older, more experienced vagrants. We’d laugh at the tourists, posing outside the wrong (not the first) Starbucks. Today, I’m no different, no less a kid in a candy store. I sneak through the market at 8am, on my way to work, when only the useful stalls–the fish, the...

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Mushroom Festival and a $75 Giveaway Contest–about Mushrooms

October 8, 2010
Mushroom Festival and a $75 Giveaway Contest–about Mushrooms

The prize for this giveaway is kindly sponsored by the folks at CSN, who run a number of websites where you can find everything a good eater needs from a dining table to cookware. Details about the contest are at the bottom of this post. Ever since I started mushroom hunting about two years ago, I’ve been inundated with people wanting to know where I go, how I do it. My only answer is to try to explain just how much work it was. Hours of classes, studying, walking around in the damp, drizzly local woods, driving around, hoping...

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Chanterelles with Rosemary: A Foraged Feast

September 13, 2010
Chanterelles with Rosemary: A Foraged Feast

Seattle has a reputation for constant rain. Natives such as myself know that isn’t true–it only rains in fall, winter and spring, and even then, just a light drizzle. Regardless, we natives also know that the rain brings us treasures in the form of chanterelle mushrooms. As our short summer wound down last week, I watched the rains begin–along with the complaints from those who have moved here from cities with summers that go past labor day. As others complained of the wetness, my head danced with visions of the reward we Seattleites get for enduring the rain. Freshly...

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L’Shana Tovah and Happy Shakshouka Season

September 8, 2010
L’Shana Tovah and Happy Shakshouka Season

A glass of wine, thick, crunchy bread and a pot full of shakshouka is all a girl needs to get through fall. I hadn’t timed my serving of this Israeli (breakfast) stew to match with the Jewish new year, the holiday of Rosh Hashannah, but perhaps it was all on my mind, so I’ll embrace the timing as I tell you the story of this delectable stew. Shakshouka is a soul warming dish, a centerpiece to a table around which strangers or family can gather and dip their bread together. One of those dishes that can call people to...

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An Event, A Thought on Cheese, A Product and A Recipe

July 20, 2010
An Event, A Thought on Cheese, A Product and A Recipe

There is a back log of things I want to post on and I’m just going to let them all go right here, for your enjoyment: a fun event this weekend, murmurs of what is being called a ‘burrata crawl’, a new product I love and the recipe for a dish that I’ve eaten for 4 straight meals. Farm to Table Food for Thought The Kitsap public library was kind enough to invite me out for this ‘gourmet picnic’ and I’m actually really excited about it. In addition to talks by a number of local food writers (Molly of...

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