Recipes used to be something we treasured; passed down through families, through friends, a small piece of oneself being shared with each scribbled card sent out into the world. And each card became a sort of diary, a chronicle of what was happening over the years. The stain from when someone knocked coffee over on it, the phone number jotted on the back when you couldn’t find anything else to write on.

The perfect start to any morning.

These little cards, quietly, reminded us of something, of someone, of somewhere. Continue reading

Recipe: Salted Caramel Sauce

Our Elegant Five Course New Years Eve Menu was good. Really good. So good in fact that we never got to the fifth course. It’s not that we didn’t want to…or that we didn’t truly believe that after a brief reprieve by the fire and a round of Cards Against Humanity we would feel ready. We truly did believe. But it never happened.

Turning the beautiful amber color you’re looking for.

The Cheese Course that followed the Foie Gras, that was hot on the heels of the Arugula Pear Salad, that burst in after the Canlis Prawns were each more spectacular than the last and left us sitting around, laughing as we shared highlights and lowlights of 2012 (only I would literally force guests to do self evaluations at a dinner party). Continue reading

New Year’s Eve is a tricky holiday if you ask me. You’re either single, in which case you might get all dressed up, go out, spend lots of money, and possibly be left awkwardly checking your phone or having to pretend to go to the bathroom around midnight, or you’re in a relationship in which case after all the holiday mania the thought of staying up until midnight in a crowded bar with a lot of strangers holds little appeal.

Peter Canlis Prawns: Sauteéd in dry vermouth, garlic, red chilies, and lime.

2012 has been a year of many firsts for me as it relates to my culinary adventures. There was my first blog redesign, my first column with Seattleite Magazine, my first spin as the Seattle City Editor with the Daily Meal, and my first foray into reality TV as a contestant on Kitchen Circus.

Seared Scallops with Carrot Ambrosia and Winter Pesto

As such, it should come as no surprise, that I will be closing out the year with my first Guest Blog post on one of the first food blogs I fell in love with: KatherineMartinelli.com Continue reading

It is an interesting practice, getting to know one’s parents as adults. Seemingly innocuous acts become windows into these people, who whether we like it or not, we are often incredibly similar to ourselves.

Learning to cook, and lots more, with my Dad, Big Tim.

I possess many traits akin to my father, some good, some bad, and many teetering on the fine line in between. Ambition balances impatience, confidence steadies ego, and hard work fights to find an equilibrium with making time for those people and things that matter most. Continue reading

Recipe: New England Lobster Roll

When one returns to the seaside town of their youth the question is not, “Will you have lobster?”, but “How much lobster will you have?”

Beauties thanks to Brother Ben.

Yesterday morning I arrived in Boston and was promptly scooped up by my Mama and brought back to my magical childhood home where life is simpler and just feels right. A delicious breakfast was followed by an even more delicious nap, and the afternoon brought calls from my Big Brother Ben that he would be arriving with lobsters for dinner. Continue reading

Recipe: Toasted Nuts

The Christmas countdown is officially on, and despite it being a wildly busy time of year, it is also one of my favorites. Short days give way to long nights, tucked around a fire with a glass of good wine, and a chance to get together with loved ones, near and far, new and old, to celebrate the changing of the seasons and this year’s solstice.

Toasted Nuts…a perfect and easy holiday gift. Photo: Emma Shultz

Christmas crafts have been a part of our family tradition for as long as I can remember, beginning with clothespins turned into reindeer, evolving into melted crayons and wicks, formed into candles mysteriously the shape of the school mini carton’s of milk, and last year some pretty epic English Toffee. Continue reading

It begins with a flicker. An idea momentarily hatched and then pushed away by years of practicality and pragmatism. It returns, stronger now, a small flame, dancing and climbing higher, buoyed by the notion, “What if?”. Something happens, you get lucky, you meet the right person at the right place at the right time, and the wheel begins to turn. Things get moving faster, and faster, and faster and you have to slow down and remind yourself why you love this, why you’re chasing this dream. Continue reading