Bite of Seattle 2012

As usual, the Bite of Seattle was a tasty, tasty blast!  The Bite of Seattle is always my favorite festival of the year.  There are plenty of food vendors to choose from, there's a comedy stage, and they even have cooking demonstrations! 

My favorite part of the event is always the Alley.  It's a program hosted by Tom Douglas, and it benefits Food Lifeline.  For $10, you get a plate with one featured sample from 7 local resterauteurs.  They do vary the menu day by day, and they had 15 total restaurants participating this year.  We always make sure to stop by Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  96% of the proceeds go straight to the mouths of those who need it the most here in Western Washington.  Last year, funds raised by The Alley allowed Food Lifeline to provide nearly 86,000 nutritious meals to hungry people.  That's a huge benefit!  This really is a great cause, so I strongly encourage everyone to participate again next year and beyond.  Beyond that, it's a tasty, tasty charitable event, and it's a great way to try out 7 local restaurants in one sitting!  If find yourself at the Bite of Seattle and can't figure out what to pick for lunch or dinner, keep it simple and just go with the Alley!  There are always clear "winners" (and sometimes "losers") on the plate, so you'll be able to find out which restaurants you want to visit later on.


The Bite Cooks (sponsored by Viking) was wonderful too.  Oh, how I want one of those stoves!  She will be mine.  Oh yes, she will be mine...  As usual, Thierry Rautureau did a fantastic job as the emcee.  If you want to learn more about cooking, this is a great opportunity to learn some tips in the kitchen.  Thierry and some of the local chefs provided some excellent cooking tips (including some I covered in my video).  This is also a great opportunity to get out and meet some of your talented local executive chefs, sommeliers, and mixologists.  They also do audience give-aways if you pay attention and answer some questions at the end, and we made off with a nice little bonus!

Speaking of Thierry, don't forget to watch Thierry on the Top Chef Masters, Wednesday night, July 25th (tomorrow!) on Bravo.  Good luck, Thierry!  We're rooting for you!  Thierry is a simply amazing chef!  This is going to sound like a very "mom" thing to say, but he's already a winner in my eyes!  We would go to the viewing party at Luc tomorrow night, but it would be very late for us.  Of course, Thierry already knows the outcome, but he's under contract to not tell anyone who won. 

I was kind of surprised to find out they didn't have a camera crew filming the Bite Cooks event this year, so I'm significantly less bummed about losing the competition :)  But hey, budget cuts happen!  Fortunately Festivals Inc gave all of the contestants $50 in Bite Bucks due to their flawed voting system.  Hopefully they will fix the voting system next year.  Even though I truly don't care about the money, I don't think I'll bother with it again next year since the payout just isn't worth the effort.  But who knows, maybe one of these days I will start including video demos here on my blog.  Instructional video blogging is a lot of work - especially when you don't have a camera crew!  I did get a chance to meet Bonnie, one of my fellow contestants, and she was super sweet!  She would have been a great presenter too!  Oh, and yes, I did make my video private.  If you ever want to see it, you will need to send me a private message or put a comment on this page. 

A few of the featured chefs at the Bite Cooks have items featured on the foodie 100 list!  The Stumbling Goat has the Anderson Valley lamb T-bone on the Foodie 100 list.  We spoke to the executive chef, Joshua Theilen, at Stumbling Goat about this dish since we haven't had the opportunity to try it just yet.  We found out they are sourcing their lamb T-bones from a different place than Anderson Valley.  Obviously it's still a lamb T-bone, so it still counts!  We will have to go check them out sometime this week.  Incidentally, Joshua won the Bite Cooks Cook-off competition on Saturday, and he won $200 for his favorite charity.  Congrats, Joshua! 

Thanks to the Bite Cooks, I also found out about a wonderful winery called Sozo.  Sozo is a winery that helps provide anywhere from 1-25 meals (per bottle) for orphans, widows and homeless who lack basic needs.  The name "Sozo" is a greek word that means "to save."  Each bottle has a number on the front part of the label, and that number tells you how many people will be fed with your purchase.  That's right, you can drink wine *and* save lives, people!  I'll totally toast to that!  I know what you're thinking: "A charity wine?  It probably tastes like swill!"  You're dead wrong.  They had some wine to sample at the wine garden, and I tried a bottle of the Pinot Noir.  That was a fantastic Pinot Noir!  Their goal is to sell only quality wines while saving lifes, and they have a very talented and well-renowned vintner working for them.  When they go to restaurants to sell their wines, they don't even lead with the "This wine saves lives" bit.   They have the sommeliers and restaurant owners try the wines, and then they tell them what they're all about.  The only downside is that you can't just go out to a grocery store and buy their wine.  You can find it on their website (link above) and at some local restaurants.  They also had some bottles for sale at the wine garden, so I picked up a bottle.  That's right, I saved 10 lives by adding a bottle to my wine fridge.  Everyone's happy!  If you want some great quality wines with an even better excuse to drink - check them out!

I couldn't help but notice there were significantly less vendors this year than there were last year.  Out of sheer curiosity, I looked up the booth prices.

$350 for a Hand-crafted or specialty food product booth (not too bad)
$1700 + 16% of sales for a 10x10 Restaurant Booth (16%?  ouch!)
$2975 + 16% of sales for a 20x10 Restaurant Booth (dang!)
$3175 + 16% of sales for a 20x20 Restaurant Booth (double dang!)

I get that the festival doesn't charge admission, so they have to make their money somewhere.  I was really astonished to find out how much they charge the food vendors!  Wow.  So get out there and support your local food vendors!

The Comedy Stage also had a few talented comedians ... and they had a few "eh" comedians in my opinion (but hey, I'll be nice and won't name names!).  Kermit Apio was a hoot!  With a little bit of self-deprecating humor combined with some very important life lessons for the gentlement out there, he had a great routine!  You should definitely check him out if he ever tours through your area.

All in all, it really was a great festival!  If you didn't get to check it out this year, you missed out!  There's always next year!  It will probably be July 19-21 2013, so mark your calendars!

Foodie 100 List - Altaye Ethiopian Restaurant

Since the Alligator Soul is now closed, I officially move to replace the crawfish etoufee with the Altaye Special at Altaye Ethiopian Restaurant on the Seattle Foodie 100 list.  I've already had one person second the motion, and several have been in favor.  There.  It's a done deal.  You're welcome!  Sadly, I have not yet figured out how to have the owner of the list update it with changes like this.

Simply put, Altaye is one of Seattle's best hidden gems.  Located at 8135 Rainier Avenue South in Seattle, you will find one of the most welcoming restaurants in all of Seattle.  It's in a rather small and unassuming building, but do not be deterred by appearances.  The owners, Essa and Titi, are incredibly friendly, and they serve up some spectacular food for great prices!  If something were to happen to this restaurant, I would pitch an unabashed fit!

If you've never had Ethiopian food before, you need to head over to this place.  Fair warning though: you might not like Ethiopian food at other restaurants once you've tried this place!  I make no apologies for the fact that knowledge of this restaurant's food will ruin other Ethiopian food for you!  I've had Ethiopian food at other establishments, and it was just not good at all.  NOT good, I tell you.  We're talking the  "Wow, dinner last night just wasn't a good idea" kind of not good.  No, I won't publicly name names, though you can probably figure it out if you do some hunting. 

Where you're going: you don't need forks. Since you will be eating with your fingers, just wash your hands (they do have a restroom available), and get ready to be dazzled!  To describe Ethiopian food, I would say it's similar to Indian food, but there won't be any rice or naan. If that description turns you off - don't be misled.   You will love this stuff!  Hey, you never know if you like or dislike something until you've tried it, right?  Eat it!  It tastes good, I promise!  Let them know that you've never had Ethiopian food, and they will guide you through the process.  If you are a vegetarian, they will provide some wonderful lentils and a wide array of vegetable sides. 

If you decide to stop by just for lunch or dinner, you should order the Altaye Special.  For $12.95, you will receive a huge plate of food with a side of unlimited injera bread.  The special will feed 2 easily.  That's right, for less than $7/person, you will leave feeling as happy as a stuffed tick at a nudist camp!  Their sambusas are great too, though the Altaye Special will be more than enough for you.  The first time we went here, we ordered 2 sambusas and 2 specials, and Essa reined us back in since that would have been way more food than we needed.  I give them mad props for not trying to upsell us on food!

What is injera, you ask?  Injera is a crepe flat bread, and the pores that form on the top of the bread help soak up some of the yummy goodness on your plate.  Titi makes the injera herself every day, and she even grinds the flour herself!  It is made from teff flour, so for those with Celiac disease, yes it is a gluten-free bread.  It does have a slightly sour taste, though it's not nearly as sour as sourdough.  A friend once had enjera bread (from somewhere else across the world in England) that tasted like dirty dishsoap.  Let's suffice it to say - they didn't do it right.  Some places don't use true teff flour, so if you've had bad injera experiences at other Ethiopian restaurants, that might have been part of the culprit. 

I mentioned you don't need forks, right?  Basically the way you eat Ethiopian food is you tear off a piece about the size of 2 to 3 of your fingers, and you scoop up the food with the injera.  Think of it like a mini-taco.  Once you've started to clear some space on your plate, eat some of the injera at the bottom of your plate.  It will be even tastier than the other injera since it has all of the food flavors thoroughly soaked into it.

When we order, we usually get the Altaye Special plus an order of the chicken tibs (pictured in the bowl), and we specially request them to be extra-extra spicy.  For those of you who enjoy spicy food, this is one of the few places in Seattle where you can request some spicy and delicious food!  Those chicken tibs are superb!  My stomach doesn't handle spicy food very well, but I am unable to control myself when Titi's chicken tibs are at stake. 

When you order the Altaye Special, you will notice some white cottage-cheese type of stuff on the platter.  That is the eyeb (also known as aib, ayib, iab, etc).  Save that for last.  Basically it's very similar to a dry cottage cheese, and it's to help calm your stomach down after you throw so many foreign spices and flavors at it.  If you're lactose-intolerant, I can't help you there.  If you have a particularly sensitive stomach like I do, feel free to ask for a little extra eyeb.  Just make sure that is the last thing you toss down your gullet!

A few times a year, I host a group event here for some friends through the Yelp and Meetup crowd. For $10 per person (the group rate), you get all of the food you could possibly desire.   She usually serves a few extra options than you will normally find on the Altaye Special.  If you would like to join us for one of our group events, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email.  Just let me know if you require a vegetarian meal or if you have any food allergies.  The picture on the left is a platter for 4 people. 

Never once have any of my guests said "Eh, it was alright" when they were done.  Don't let the surrounding location deter you.   We've parked on the street hidden our valuables (be smart, people - you should never do this anywhere!), and we've never had any issues.  Sure, it's not in the most desirable part of town (by Seattle standards), but it's still not bad.   The food is at a great price, service is superb, and the food is simply the best Ethiopian food in town!

In summary, there are a few staples at every Ethiopian restaurant:

1) Tasty, fresh injera bread = Altaye gets a check in this category.
2) Warm fuzzies from the restaurant owners = Altaye gets a check-plus-plus in this category.  This place is also very kid-friendly.  Titi just loves children, and they adore her!
3) Tasty, tasty noms = Altaye also gets a check-plus-plus in this category.  The flavors might be a little foreign to those with limited food experiences, but they're great!

Foodie 100 list - Chicken and Asparagus Risotto - Il Terrazzo Carmine

At Il Terrazzo Carmine, there is a chicken and asparagus risotto on the Foodie 100 list.  I scoped out their menu online, and I noticed only a mention of the risotto of the day.  So I decided to call ahead and ask about the chicken asparagus risotto.

They said since the risotto changes daily, we should specifically request the chicken asparagus risotto with a little bit of advance notice.  When I made my reservation for the next day, I requested the dish.  They happily obliged!

The restaurant itself was a little difficult to find.  Signage is a little odd from 1st Avenue since a lot of the pictures are from the main entrance from the patio area.  To reach this restaurant from 1st street, you go through the building lobby, through the restaurant's back door.  The ambiance is very nice, and the wine menu is very extensive.

We were seated promptly and offered some bread to nosh on.  We also ordered some bruschetta as an appetizer.  It was kind of mediocre.  The tomatoes should have been mixed with the basil a little better.  The bread was also incredibly tough, and the olive oil messily seeped through the giant holes in the bread.

The chicken asparagus risotto was very well prepared.  It is a rather large portion.  The risotto was cooked just right, and it had a great flavor to it.  Though the flavor was a one that I grew tired of before the plate was finished.  If you're craving a risotto, I would still recommend it since it was so well prepared.

I ordered the cannoli for dessert.  They were a bit gritty and also mediocre.  I've made cannoli's before, so I know it's not easy to get rid of that gritty texture.  Perhaps a little more investigating is needed?

Service was prompt, friendly, and very attentive.  Prices weren't completely unreasonable.  It's a lovely Italian restaurant, and I would still go back to try some of their other dishes! I certainly enjoyed it much more than the Pink Door.

Foodie 100 list - Theo Chocolate

Since we are still working on knocking out the last few of the items on the Foodie 100 list this week, we decided to go do the Theo Chocolates tour today.  The name "Theo Chocolate" originates from the Greek name of the cacoa tree - Theobroma Cacao. 

For $6 (credit cards accepted), they will give you about a 1 hour tour through their little factory.  You will need to reserve your tour in advance, though there isn't a way to pay for the tour in advance online.  You can reserve your tour on their website at: http://www.theochocolate.com/.

We arrived a bit early for our tour, so we decided to stop by the storefront.  They had about a dozen different samples of some of their chocolates.  That's right, you can cross this foodie item off your list for free!  My favorite was the salted almond milk chocolate.

When we paid for the tour tickets, they handed us some hairnets for obvious sanitary reasons.  They asked if we were wearing sandals (which we weren't), though they will give you little booties for your sandals if you are.  They requested to tuck every bit of hair possible and any dangling earrings into the hairnet.  For the gentlemen with beards (or for any ladies with hypertrichosis!), they will hand you a beard net.

You would think there are more chocolate factories out there, but in fact there are only about 20 other chocolate factories in the US.  Sure, there are plenty of other chocolate "melters" in the US, but Theo is one of the few chocolate makers in America.

The tour guide walked us through the process of harvesting the cacoa bean and getting it to their factory.  Did you know that cacoa pods grow on the trunks and lower branches of the tree?  They are also hand-picked since an automated machine would probably damage any new growth from the cacoa trees.

She passed around samples of the chocolates while she spoke.  She explained that we were going to experience the chocolates in order of dark chocolates to milk chocolates so we wouldn't experience palate fatigue from the sweetness of the milk chocolates.  I am a huge fan of milk chocolate, so I had to be patient!

I was quite surprised to find out exactly how many cacoa beans it takes to make just a 3 oz chocolate bar.  It was a lot - enough beans for about 3 pods!  They also use only organic products to make their chocolates, and they only participate in the fair trade program.  Basically the fair trade program is for giving the cacoa farmers a liveable wage, access to healthcare and education for their children, and they don't allow child labor.  That's pretty much awesome!

Our tour guide then walked us through the factory and explained what each machine does.  She also showed us the shell coating of the cacoa bean that they sell as mulch.  That was the best selling mulch I have ever smelled in my life!  When I buy my own house and start doing some flower beds, I'm coming back here for some mulch!

She then took us to the kitchen where we sampled some chocolate covered caramels and ganaches.  Most of the people working in the kitchen came from a culinary background, so they had some very interesting combinations stuff going on in there. 

After the kitchen portion was over, the tour was pretty much done.  They do offer the tour patrons 10% off of the fresh treats behind the glass pane.

All in all, it's an interesting tour.  I would recommend it.  It would be fun to do as a date thing, though fair warning: you and your date are not going to look very sexy with your hairnets.  There just isn't a way to get around that!

Foodie 100 list - Gnocchi alla Romana - The Pink Door

I had such high expectations with the Pink Door restaurant.  Nestled in the middle of Pike Place Market, this little Italian restaurant has built up quite a good reputation over the years.  People on Yelp rave about the patio and the food.  The views might be nice, but it seems they have based their success on their location in the famous market and the effects of flowing wine.

The item on the foodie 100 list is the Gnocchi alla Romana.  Translation: Roman Gnocchi.  Roman gnocchi ... using gorgonzola cheese ... that originates from a town named Gorgonzola in Northern Italy.  *in my best Dr. Evil voice* Riiiiight.

They were the biggest gnocchi I've ever seen in my life!  They weren't struck on a gnocchi board, and they had a char on the top and bottom of them.  I have never seen gnocchi charred before.  As you can see from the picture, they were quite large.  All of these traits were the "alla Romana" part, and I can't say I was a fan.  I couldn't even finish the dish.  As you can see from the picture, there is a lot of gorgonzola sauce.  It was too much for me to clean my plate.  

There were only 3 gnocchi to the plate.  Three was more way more than I could handle!  The gorgonzola and walnuts completely over-powered the dish.  The older I get, the more I lose a taste for marbled cheeses.

For the best gnocchi in town, skip the Pink Door and head over to Salumi's on Tuesdays during the lunch hour.  Wait through the line.  It's totally worth it, I promise.  Some Tuesdays aren't gnocchi days since it depends on when their aunt can fly out to make the gnocchi fresh that day.  They will sell out!  They won't serve it to go either, so you should get there as early as you can.  You can try calling ahead to see when they will be serving gnocchi next.

All around, I don't get it.  I was thoroughly unimpressed.  They do have a Yelp check-in deal for a free glass of house wine, so that was a plus.  The rigatoni pasta was under-cooked.  Their "Mama's meatballs" were also pretty good.  Though if I don't say so myself, mine are better!  Maybe one of these days I'll get around to posting my meatball recipe.

The only time I'd go back would be to show any out of town guests a nice view of the Puget sound .. if they wanted Italian food .. and free wine.  If you can read between the lines, you can probably figure out I won't be going back.

Like I said before, the foodie 100 list seems to have a 2/3 success rate.

Sunset Supper - my favorite item on the Foodie 100 list!

Once a year, Pike Place Market holds their annual Sunset Supper fundraising event.  All proceeds support the work of the Pike Market Medical Clinic, Senior Center, Child Care & Preschool and Food Bank – vital services utilized by thousands of Seattle’s low-income and elderly residents.  The Pike Place Market zoning regulates that the vendors all have to sell a certain percentage of their items at very affordable rates to accomodate the local residents within the zone, so their prices are not all "incredibly overpriced" like one might think.  The Pike Place Market is definitely one of Seattle's greatest treasures, and they absolutely deserve your support!

This year, the Sunset Supper falls on Friday, August 17th, 2012.  It's usually held on a Friday.  Trust me when I say this, folks: this is not an event to be missed!  It is absolutely my favorite item on the Seattle Foodie 100 list!

At this event, they have about 60+ food/wine/beer vendors with samples galore. 

If you leave this event feeling hungry: you didn't do it right. 
If you leave this thing feeling sober: you didn't do it right, though that's probably okay...
If you leave this thing without a food baby in your stomach: you didn't do it right, though maybe that's a good thing too...

You really need to bring a designated driver and your fat pants to this event.  I wore an a-line dress, and I left this event with a noticeable food baby!  Even my dude said "Wow, I am not gonna lie, babe... it *is* noticeable."  I wasn't even sorry!  As one of my good friends from Texas would say: you will leave this place feeling as happy as a stuffed tick at a nudist camp!

Some of the best of the best restaurants in all of Seattle participate in this event.  If you don't have the budget or time to get out and try all of these different places, this is your big opportunity to have little samples from everybody.  This way you get to discover the establishments you want to visit again!

Be sure to bring about $10 cash in order to "upgrade" your plate to one of the plastic plates with a wine notch cut out in it.  They didn't charge $10 last year, but it's always good to have a little bit of extra cash in case they have similar additional offerings .  It will make your evening so much easier to avoid having your hands so full!  Also, if you really like some of the wines, write them down.  You won't remember them the next day ;)  Though you don't want to completely blow away your palate by trying too many wines.  Consuming that many tannins will work a number on your tastebuds.

Also, be sure to bring your CC to this event for 2 reasons:

1) They offer little spin the wheel raffles, and you are guaranteed to get at least your money back - usually doubled - in certificates and prizes.  It goes to a good cause, so why not?  If you get a certificate you don't want, ask someone in line behind you if they would like to trade.

2) Last year they also offered Seattle Celebrated Chefs cookbooks if you register one of your credit cards to the Dine Around Seattle program.  The program is for participating restaurants to donate a small portion (somewhere between 1-2% if I recall correctly) of their proceeds to a great cause.  They had some of the published chefs onsite to autograph the book.  I'm not sure if they're going to do the same thing again this year, though I'd imagine they will.

For more information about this event and for ticketing information, check out the Pike Place Sunset Supper webpage here.

I do recommend going at the Patron level if you can.  I heard a rumor that they were going to offer a gift bag of some sort, though I haven't been able to substantiate that rumor.  If you ask me, it's worth the money for the extra 1 hour of non-cattle-call selecting of food items.  It gets super crowded when they let everyone into the event.  Sure, people might give you the "stank" eye for being there ahead of everybody, but you earned it with your financial support.  Enjoy it!  Personally, I wouldn't recommend going the "reserved" route over the "general admission" since you will be able to find a place to enjoy your food in solitude.  Or really, you just might eat the sample as they are given to you. 

Make sure you get your tickets before 7/16!  The prices will go up significantly if you wait too long!  Also, don't count on getting last minute tickets.  This event usually sells out, so now you have two reasons to get tickets in advance.

Foodie 100 list - Tom Douglas' Triple Coconut Cream Pie

Long before I even knew of this Foodie 100 list's existence, the very first item I ever had from the Foodie 100 list was Tom Douglas' Triple Coconut Cream Pie.  My grandma used to make a coconut cream pie that was pretty good.  I'm sorry grandma, but Tom's got you trumped!

I first tried this back in September 2008 during my very first visit to Seattle.  Chance took me to the Dahlia Bakery, and he ordered 2 slices of the pie to go.  I'm very glad he ordered 2 because I probably would've stabbed him with my plastic fork to get the last few bites.  Since it was in the early part of our relationship, that could have made things awkward...  I licked that cardboard after I was done, and I wasn't even sorry!

I get that coconut is one of those polarizing foods - people either love it or hate it.  Most people who hate it hate it for the texture.  Up until the first time I came to Seattle, I had never even seen the wide coconut flakes.  They always just sold shredded coconut at the stores in Texas, so I guess I could understand why people wouldn't like the coconut shreds getting stuck in their teeth.  This pie uses mostly coconut flakes, and only some shreds in the actual filling, so that would negate most of the arguments against coconut.

In all seriousness, this triple coconut cream pie... it's just so.. so.. beautiful.  It's like Mary Poppins.  It's practically perfect in every way.  It has most definitely earned its spot on the Seattle Foodie 100 list!

They bake coconut shreds into the crust.  They top it with coconut flakes and white chocolate flakes.  It's a very high pie, and it's just delicious!  They sell it in little bites if you just want a little taste because you're diabetic or you hate coconut.  They sell it by the slice, a half-pie, and a full pie.  It is pretty expensive to buy the full pie, but it's SO delicious!

Even if you're not after this pie, you can still get other things in this bakery that will still give you that cooking show O-face (except this time it would be genuine).  If you see something that looks tasty and appealing to your senses, get it.  I'd almost guarantee that it will live up to every fan-tasty filled thought you would have about it.

Plus this bakery is 1/3 of the leg in the Bermseada triangle (get it?  Berm-SEA-da?) of my biggest weak points: gourmet pizza at Serious Pie, crab cakes and cocktails at Dahlia Lounge, and the triple coconut cream pie here.  Oh, Tom.  You complete me.

It's dangerous territory.  You've been warned.  Even so, it's worth the venture.  My significant other drove 4 hours to Seattle to buy me a whole pie for my birthday 2 years ago.  His sacrifice was greatly appreciated, and I did not let one single crumb of that pie go to waste.

Tom does publish his recipe, so if you're not in Seattle and want to give it a go: have fun!  Another food blogger put together a blog when she made Tom's recipe.  I've personally never tried it (though I've threatened to many times), so I really can't help you out if you have issues with it.  It does look a bit complicated.

Mary Cook's Blog - Tom Douglas Triple Coconut Cream Pie

I will say one thing: I see two ways to greatly increase the aesthetics and ease of making this pie.  There is a simple and cheap solution to forming pie crusts available on Amazon.  I seriously don't know how someone didn't come up with this idea years ago!

It's called a Pie Crust Bag.  Basically it's a clear round bag with a zipper along the side.  You just lightly flour it, close the zipper up, shake, toss your ball of crust dough in the center, zip, and roll it out until the dough fills up to the edges.  That's it!  They sell them in 11" and 14" sizes.  I have both, though I've only used the 11" one since I only have 9 inch pie dishes.  I don't know too many people who have 12" pie dishes (aside from Martha Stewart).  So if you're unsure of your pie dish size, go with the 11" one.  I have only found two down sides to these things:

1) Cleanup is kind of a pain since the butter, milk, and shortening in pie crust tend to get caked on the plastic.  Though it is much less of a pain than cleaning up after rolling out a crust the old-fashioned way!
2) Since the zipper doesn't fold on one side of the package, the edge of the crust will have a small line in it.  This isn't really a huge deal if you crimp my pie crust with a fork.

I also recommend getting a silicon pie crust shield to keep it from burning the edge of the crust.  The one I bought from Amazon worked really, really well.

Of course every pie-maker needs pie beads.  Sure, you can use pinto beans to hold down your pie.  Though really, if you're going to make lots of pies, just get the beads!  I put down a round circle of either parchment paper or aluminum foil on the bottom of the pie crust before putting the beads down.  I prefer using aluminum foil because I can press it on the bottom of the pie pan and form a nice round shape.  I then cut the foil around that circle, and voila!  When I'm done, I run the beads through a metal colander to cool them off before I put them back in a bag. 

I even included a handy little link for finding these items below. They're very affordable. If you mouse over the links, I included some helpful comments for each item. Enjoy!

Seattle Foodie 100

A few years ago, Seattle Yelpers got together and created a list of the top 100 dishes in Seattle.

There are a few variations of this list out there.  The most accurate list is here:
http://apps.facebook.com/seattleonehundred/

Another food blogger created a page with pictures of some of these foods.  Though whoever created *this* list has made some changes to it.  For example, they removed Salumi's from the list!  This is completely, and totally unacceptable!  So really, this page is only good for the pictures.
http://www.foodspotting.com/guides/84-the-seattle-100/memberships/716

About a year and a half after starting on this list, we are over 75% through the list.  That's right, we've had over 75 of the "best" dishes in Seattle in a year and a half.  Most of what is left are beverages and things we aren't really into.  But we are bound and determined to finish this list!

For anyone who is looking to take on this challenge, I have a few warnings for you:

1) This will not be cheap.  Plenty of the dishes are very affordable and easily accessible, but finishing the list will not be cheap.
2) It will not be easy to finish this list, period.  So many of the places have limited hours, date/time restrictions on the food items, cash only accepted, etc.
3) I have to say that only about 2/3 of the list is legitimately tasty.  Sure, a lot of this is a matter of personal taste.  Regardless, I have no earthly clue as to why about 1/3 of these items are even on here.  I would like to demand a recount on several items!

I have posted a lot of my thoughts on this list through my Yelp account.  I plan on posting some more details on these adventures here on this blog.

So keep your eyes and salivary glands open for more info to come!

My favorite Seattle sandwiches - Salumi's!

About a decade ago, I almost never ate sandwiches.  I had that stereotypical 5 year old's taste in sandwiches: bread (preferably wheat), mustard, meat (preferably ham).  The end.  I know, this is pathetic.  The good news is I can't even recall the last time I ate a sandwich like that.  I am a changed woman!

Since moving to Seattle, I lost access to some of my favorite sandwich places like Jason's Deli.  Get the turkey muffaletta half sandwich.  It's nomful.  Since I can't get that sandwich up here, I had to start trying out some other places.  Here is one of my favorites:

Salumi's Artisan Cured Meats
located in Pioneer Square
309 3rd Avenue South Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 621-8772

This place is to die for!  Salumi is the Italian word for salami, so as you can probably guess, they sell their own cured meats.  Mario Batali's father is the owner.  He worked for Boeing for 30 years.  After retiring, he went to Italy to learn to cure meats.  When he came back, he created Salumi's.  This is one of my absolute favorite places in all of Seattle!  My "dude" is the Yelp check-in duke at Salumi's.  He is the person who showed me this place.  I am so glad he did!

You do need to know a few things about this restaurant before coming in.  They are only open Tuesday-Friday, 11 am - 4 pm.  That's it.  They don't need to be open on the weekends.  There is a line out the door every single day, and they sell out of stuff FAST!  I have an insider's tip that I won't share publicly, but you'll have to reach out to me personally if you want to hear it.  To find the place, just look for the line of people and the orange penant flag with the picture of the pig on it.  They do accept credit cards, and they only have street parking available.  They do host private parties, though I've never done one myself.  I am very tempted to do so one of these days. 

If you are never able to make it here during their operating hours, fear not!  You can find some of their sliced salami at Metropolitan Market near the deli section.  Delaurenti's in Pike Place also sells some of their salamis.  Also, several restaurants in the Seattle area use their cured meats in their dishes.  One of my personal fav's is Pagliacci Pizza.  They serve Salumi's spicy pepperoni.  I always order their grand salami primo, and I have them substitute the regular pepperoni for Salumi's pepperoni.  I also add onions to it.  It is a superb pizza!  They used to sell Salumi's San Marino salami on their pizzas, but they are no longer able to obtain enough salami for their demand.

Usually, every Tuesday is gnocchi day, and they fly one of their aunts in to make it.  It is definitely worth the trip on a Tuesday.  It's best to call a few days in advance to find out when they will have it next, because sometimes she can't make it.  They vary the sauces with each day's serving of gnocchi, so you could order it every time and not grow tired of it.  They only have a few tables with about a total of 20 seats in the restaurant, and they will not serve the gnocchi to go.  If you don't eat the gnocchi fresh, it will just congeal and stick together.  I truly appreciate their dedication to quality food, though some days I wish I could take my chances and take my order to go!  Otherwise you're just going to have to sit at a table for 10 and get used to the fact that you will be sitting at a table with other patrons.  Don't worry, you already have one wonderful thing in common with them, so conversation topics will be easy to find.

Every day they vary their specialty items on the menu (soup, pasta, veggies, sandwich of the day), but almost every time, I get the muffo sandwich.  It's become a comfort food for me.  It has a wonderful olive tapenade, genoa salami, regular salami, provolone cheese, and it's served on a type of ciabatta bread.  They have their bread delivered fresh every morning.  They only offer their sandwiches on 2 types of bread - sticcole and giuseppe.  If you like olives - even just a little bit - you will LOVE this sandwich.  I would probably request it as part of my "last meal"!

A few times I've visited, I've seen people in line wondering what they are going to pick.  They look so puzzled and anxious.  It's like they're on the game show "Let's Make a Deal" and they don't know if they should keep the $500 in their hand, or if they should go with what's behind door #1, door #2, or door #3.  The thing with Salumi's is: pick anything.  You'll win.  There are no zonks at Salumi's.  Or you could just get the muffo and you'll be safe.

They also sell their salumi chubs and small bags of sliced salami to go.  Additionally, they sell pancetta, coppa, culatello, prosciutto, lomo, and guanciale to take home.  Sure, it's not quite the same as having a sandwich ready to go.  If you want to bring a treat back home to family on the other side of the planet, there you go.  Make sure you ask them for tips on storing the cured meats.  They won't last forever, but they will last a little longer if they're still in "solid" form (vs. sliced).  They do ship, so that's an added bonus!

You can also visit their website to find about more information:
http://www.salumicuredmeats.com/

Last, but most definitely not least, I found this little gem.  I was doing research for this blog post, and I found this recipe (link below) as a tribute for the Batali's family beloved Aunt Izzy.  She passed away in 2008, and she used to make their gnocchi.  Though I never had the opportunity to meet her, I sure wish I could have met such a woman who could make gnocchi like nobody's business!  Her years of experience may not be easy to mimick, but it's definitely worth trying.  I personally haven't tried it, but I will come back and provide an update when I have the time.

Enjoy!
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