FoodTrek: Beer Appreciation, Come Rain or Come Shine!

Tom Hanks said there's no crying in baseball. Take that analogy and throw it on a beer festival in Washington -- there's no skipping out on Brewers Festival when there's rain. It's called, put on your Big Boy/Girl Pants, throw on a pair of Wellies, and get your hiney over to St. Edwards Park, as that beer ain't gonna drink itself.

Washington Brewers Festival, complete with liquid sunshine! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

The recent celebration of Father's Day means one thing: BEER. No, not just what dear ol' Dad likes to get crunked on, but the celebration of regional craft beers during an annual three day festival out in St. Edwards State Park, put on by the good folks at the Washington Beer Commission. Despite the adage that if you're a true local, at least in the Western Washington area, you don't use an umbrella, but the skies dumped enough H20 to make people cast aside that waterlogged machismo and pull out a few umbrellas. It was also a great way to see who totally klepto-ed umbrellas from malls or hotels. And bubbles. No, not the ones in the beer glasses -- because this is a family-friendly event, there was a toy vendor selling these bubble wands and guns, and because of the rain-soaked grass, the soap bubbles were collecting on the grass en masse, making for a very surreal place to be. Dudes dressed like beer bottles, umbrellas everywhere and a lawn of bubbles -- it was an episode of The Prisoner waiting to happen.

I've posted about this festival pretty regularly -- it's one of my favorite seasonal activities and of all the WA Beer events, the Washington Brewers Festival is probably the easiest to buy tickets the day-of, since it's a three day event, you can bring your own picnic setup as space isn't an issue, and when the weather isn't so freaky-cold, it's usually a pretty amazing day to spend with a group of friends outside, just eating and drinking the day away. I have to say, despite the fact that it was so cold we could see our breath and my fingers turned purple at one point, this did not dampen the spirits of any beer festival-goers. The startup on Saturday, the day I went, was a little slow, but that just meant you made a run for the favorite beers you knew would either have big lines or just run out early. In general, I recommend this of all beer festivals -- set your alarm, spare those extra sleep-in hours on a weekend, because they're well spent on getting a first shot at good beers. The Black Raven (Redmond) line was, of course, crazy-long, and a few other breweries like Wingman Brothers (Tacoma) and Elliot Bay (Burien) had their own periodic moments of long wait times, but this didn't necessarily mean that these were the only good beers. I was at the festival with a big group of friends, including the fabulous folks at the travel blog, Travellious (they also have a writeup and way better photos of the festival here), and we were saying that one long line just means you head to another booth and try something else. There is no wrong beer to try. The multiple choice portion of this exam reveals that all answers are correct ones. And oh yeah... there is no spoon. (hello, Matrix anyone?)

Bubbles and Beer Dudes for a day at the park - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Instead of listing all the same-old favorites I always list, I did find some additional beers to add to the hit list -- namely Skookum Brewery, out in Arlington. They ran out of their Murder of Crows Bourbon Stout, which I'm sure was a little jab at Black Raven (all in good fun, I'm sure), so I instead went for their awesomely named Effenheffen Hefeweizen, and I also tried their Hooskai Stout, a smoky barrel aged stout with rich molasses notes. Despite the utter lack of sun, the Effenheffen was not only fun to say, but even more enjoyable to drink. Marvelously citrus, unfiltered sunshine in a glass. Another newbie on the Wasabi Favorite list is the Old School House Brewery from Winthrop -- I really liked their Hooligan Stout. I'm sure after having too much of this stout, it will likely turn one towards hooligan-like behavior, but at least it's a delicious transformation. I love an experimental, flavor-packed beer like anyone else, but sometimes a good classic is all you need. I'm more of a dark beer fan, and while the summertime leads me more towards IPAs or Belgian style beers, this crummy weather made me crave winter beers like stouts, and the Hooligan really hit the spot. Full-bodied flavor, nicely balanced without too much of that coffee/cocoa bitterness, but not too strong with rounded vanilla notes; just a really well-made classic. But, so-called girly beer drinker that I am, I still used my last beer token at Northern Lights Brewing Company (Spokane) to do their half/half combo of a Chocolate Dunkel and Blue Berry Ale -- a "Black and Blue" -- their beer cocktail special of the day.

So... what do you think this festival is about...? - Photo by Wasabi Prime

It wasn't until after the festival I realized, Wasabi, you're such a jerk. No, really, I kind of am. I'm talking about all these incredible beer festivals showing off local craft beers, and Big Freakin' Duh -- not everyone who reads this blog lives in Washington. It's like saying, See this amazing, fantastic adventure? Yeah, you can't have it -- talk to the hand, sucka! We are extremely fortunate in that we can go to the actual breweries, if they're close enough, and just buy a growler to take home, or sit in their tasting room and guzzle their beer from the taps, so I thought, Stop the Madness! I went to a grocery store in the hopes that maybe other stores in places other than Washington State will have something from some of these breweries.

After you drink beer... you buy some more! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Me, Sunday morning on Father's Day-proper, at a grocery store all a-bustle with shoppers buying last minute things like steak and bacon for celebratory dinners for Dad. I go to the chilled beer section and take a look, which I realized I hadn't done in a long time. Because Mr. Wasabi brews his own beer and has other friends that do the same, we often just drink homebrew beers, which are marvelous, but it of course reduces my need to buy beer from the store. I was pleasantly surprised to see how many good local beers are available in bottles at a grocery store. Now, this is the big caveat - while I was in a national chain grocery store, I'm still in Washington, and they likely stock more local items, so what I could easily find at the local store, you may have to search out at a specialty wine/beer shop or just hit the local Whole Foods (because it totally gets real in their parking lot, yo).

The microbreweries I was able to find nestled amongst the macrobreweries included: Iron Horse Brewery (Ellensburg, WA), Diamond Knot (Mukilteo, WA), Elysian Brewery (Seattle, WA), Lazy Boy Brewing (Everett, WA), Rogue (Newport, OR), Deschutes Brewery (Bend, OR), and Pyramid Brewery (Seattle, WA). This is just what I grabbed a few 40-ouncers of, there were a few more local breweries, but I was fearing looking like a raving drunk at 11am, filling a basket full of nothing but Forties. I won't get into the nitty gritty of beer styles, as this will be subject to whatever's available, but these are some breweries that are big enough to bottle their beer and get it distributed, so I'd just make note of their brewery names and just see what you can find in your neck of the woods. Some of these beers, like Deschutes' Hop in the Dark, one of the trendy new "Cascadian Dark Ales" (sort of like a smoky IPA), was at the beer festival, and if you can get a hold of it from a local beer/wine shop, it's definitely an interesting find. But likely, the most widely distributed styles of beer from Washington will be IPA, given our Hop Harvest HQ status, and that's always a fine choice. You'll find that the IPA's of Washington are much more punch-in-the-face with hop flavor than IPAs from other regions of the country, so don't always assume beer styles will be consistent from region to region. So, hopefully this lessens my "I'm a Beer Jerk" status and happy shopping!

FoodTrek: Enjoying a Slice o' Heaven in Steveston...and Wanting Seconds

You hear stories from people describing the riches and plentiful nature that is north of the Border. Streets of gold, milk and honey, the whole ball of wax. Oh, what -- you think I'm talking about people making a run for the US Border? Heck no -- I'm talking about the real El Norte, Canada, and more specifically the seaside village of Steveston within the city of Richmond in BC. Picturesque waterfront, a rich seafaring history and all the comfort foods of home (including tasty Poutine). Welcome your new emigre-to-be, Steveston, the Prime wants to make a run for the border and settle on your shores!

Welcome... to Jurassic BBQ Park, at Hog Shack in Steveston - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Is it scary that I'm letting a giant platter of meat be the opener to this post? Well, take a breath, count to three, and think of warm fuzzy puppies to calm your meat anxiety/excitement. Of all the delightfully delicious discoveries one can make in Canada, a good barbecue joint is probably the last thing you'd think of stumbling across. The Hog Shack Cook House is right near Fisherman's Wharf in Steveston, serving up farm critters over ocean dwellers -- pork and beef ribs, beef brisket, chicken, all smoked in-house and done in the Kansas City-style of BBQ, with a slow-cooked smoke flavor, a tomato-molasses based sauce, and generally a little more evenly balanced between sweet and spice. It wouldn't be fair to say there's no seafood on the menu -- they do offer calamari and local prawns, but come on, you're here for BBQ. Invertebrates have nothing on mammals -- Darwinian deliciousness rules. The beef rib "Dino Bones" are epic caveman food, named aptly because they look like someone took the Flinstones' pet, Dino, out for a long walk into a smoker and doused him in BBQ sauce. The real secret treat are the burnt ends from their smoked brisket. It's pretty much that -- the carbon-encrusted nuggets of flavor that usually flavor side dishes like baked beans, but Hog Shack periodically Tweets that the burnt ends are available to order and the thundering hooves you hear is the crowd of people converging on this place to get a plateful of the off-the-menu treat. They're very adventurous souls, putting whatever temps their curiosity into the smoker -- you can get smoked cubes of Spam, which will pretty much rock your world. Another off-the-menu carnivorous delight are the pulled pork pancakes. Shreds of soft pork, soaked in the house BBQ sauce, covering a stack of sweet, fluffy pancakes. Kaboom. Congrats, Hog Shack, you just blew my mind.

Eat, drink, be merry. Repeat. - Photos by Wasabi Prime

They're also big beer nerds, which I can appreciate. They have the benefit of being right in the heart of Pacific Northwest craft brew Beertopia, with the lion's share of good beers to offer, but they know how to pick beers that go well with intensely-flavored meals, so they offer interesting things like the Hitachino Nest White Beer, a Japanese beer done in the Belgian Wit style, a lightly citrus-flavored brew with a little spice of cardamom, and it probably has one of the cutest beer labels I've seen in a while. Owls make things better. This is just a simple fact that you're going to have to accept. You don't see Harry Potter walking around with a cormorant, do you? Owls = Better.

Rocanini rocks my coffee socks - Photos by Wasabi Prime

You need a breather after all that protein. And very likely a nap, but if you take on the Rambo attitude of eating with all-American gusto, you'll sleep when you're dead, soldier, so find the quickest way to get a kickstart of caffeine to keep the food momentum going. I have to say, I was glad there was not a Starbucks on every corner of Steveston and Richmond. Maybe every other-other corner, but not like how it is here in Washington, where the wily and agile Starbucks roam free and multiply in their native territory, a jittery wild herd of half-caf/double-foam cappuccinos. I'm pleased to say there's a charming and lovely specialty coffee shop that would bring a tear to the eye of any coffee nerd, Rocanini Coffee Roasters. Their roasting facility is in Vancouver, but their beautiful, brightly-lit cafe is in Steveston. It reminds me of many places in Seattle, with the smart minimalist interiors, decorated with a mix of modern and vintage pieces.

Cold brew coffee - where even the caffeine needs a chance to chill out for a bit - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I had my usual latte, along with a wonderful buttery almond croissant, but Rocanini gets extra coffee nerd cred for having a cold brew setup, which is this complicated-looking tower of glass and wood on their counter that looks like how Steampunk geeks would want their coffee before jumping on their recumbent unicycle. Cold brew is just another way to extract the flavor from the grounds, but using cold water to slowly absorb the richness of the coffee with less of the acid or bite that heated brewing methods tend to develop. Having a tall tower that lets gravity do a lot of the work to draw the water through the grounds helps speed up the process a little, and let's face it, the equipment just looks wicked cool. While this method takes more time, it yields a more smooth cup of coffee that's all the more enjoyable as an iced drink.

A glass of wine and bountiful treasures of the sea at Tapenade Bistro - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I've been going through all these creature comforts as a reason to leave the States behind, and I could say another reason is seafood, but that would be a little silly as we can get plenty of seafaring meals around here. But not all of them can prepare the food as delightfully as Tapenade Bistro. The menu is Mediterranean-styled, but that's just a quicker way of saying fresh flavors, simply-prepared and being respectful of the local ingredients with a nod towards sustainability. It's very close to the way a lot of Seattle area restaurants treat their food, especially seafood, which benefits so often from a light hand for seasonings and sauces. At the time of this visit, the spot prawns were in season, so it was prawn-a-palooza celebration everywhere, with all the local restaurants offering it on their menus. But Tapenade knew to give the little creatures their due, and served them up steamed with piles of fresh herbs, potatoes, sausage and fresh lemon. A bit like a crawfish boil, but in an elegant way, even if it's not the most elegant way to eat them -- which is to say, dig in like there's no tomorrow. Paired with the prawn feast was a really clean, light crab salad over a crab cake, which, like a Double Rainbow, is Double-Crustacean-OMG good. Everything just felt wonderfully garden-fresh, like no aspect of this celebration of land and sea edibles was overlooked. I was pretty much ready to rip up my passport and say, home is where my full and happy stomach is.

When cupcake mania strikes! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

So all the savory delights of Steveston seemed well-investigated, but what about the sweet? Surely one cannot live on smoked Spam and buttery spot prawns alone... although it would be pretty nice, wouldn't it? Cupcake mania hasn't just stayed local to the US -- the frosted mini-cake craze has jumped the border and invaded Canada with a sugar high as well. Sure, the Seattle area has its share of cupcakeries, but walking through Steveston, there was a moment of comfort to see the sign for Bell's Bake Shop, and its lemony walls with sprinkle-hued polka dots. Maybe it was the wall color that reminded me of my old childhood bedroom, or the vintage chairs that were like the chairs in my grandparents' kitchen, but the place had a worn-in feeling of home. No fussy princess-themed, sparkly maribou-feather wonderland. You didn't feel like Tinkerbell up and exploded the way some cupcakeries doll up their shops. Bell's was like a nostalgic afterschool treat in someone's kitchen, and the seasonal rhubarb cupcake I had sure would have gone well with a tall glass of milk.

I thought about staying. I let my brain stray into the danger zone of, "You don't need a pesky ol' visa -- no one will even know you left the US and never came back...right?" But the drive back across the border to US-terra-firma was a reminder that Richmond, and more specifically Steveston, is not that far away. Its seaside village charm and ample restaurant choices make me think it's a place ripe for invasion by Cher or P. Diddy, so head up there while it's still pristine and untouched by annoying celebrities looking for the next great city to ruin. Hurry. Pack your bags right now. I hear the Diddy is a wily one. And if you want to let fate or luck guide your hand, you can still enter to win a food trip to Richmond -- just head over to Richmond's Ultimate Food Experience to enter for a chance to party and eat like a rockstar.

FoodTrek: From Farm to Sea, to a Table in Richmond, BC

Eating will sustain us, but knowing more about what's on the plate is what truly nourishes us. I visited so many restaurants in and around the city of Richmond, BC in Canada, but it really meant something when you got to see where the ingredients come from. We're fortunate to live in a culture of abundance, but that concentration of selection ends up squeezing out the origin of how those choices came to be. I continued to eat and drink my way through Richmond, but it tasted so much better knowing where things came from!

Terra Nova Farm Share, how does your garden grow? Awesomely - Photo by Wasabi Prime

It's likely the Green Thumb Geek in me, but I was blown away by the Terra Nova Farm Share, which is an impressive community garden at Terra Nova Rural Park, a large public greenbelt right in the middle of residential neighborhoods in the city of Richmond. The farm share is sectored out with rasied garden beds that anyone can rent and plant fruits and vegetables, with open access to visit and tend to their spaces as they please. It's literally cultivated by the public, both financially and physically. It's not just a couple of scraggly fields in the middle of track housing -- this place is huge. It's so big, it doesn't even have an official site I can provide a link to! Terra Nova Farm Share is sort of a nexus of multiple community projects, ranging from school classes and camps, to food banks, and local chefs wanting to be more educated and involved in growing the food they handle every day.

Handmade cob oven, early currants, one of many rented garden beds - Photos by Wasabi Prime

If Terra Nova Farm Share is like a blank canvas of potential, then founder and chef Ian Lai could be considered the artist behind its picturesque vistas. Ian guided a tour through the grounds, showing how vital a project like this is for a community, as it encourages education about sustainability and makes it approachable for all ages. The process of planting something from a seed, watching it germinate and grow, eventually yielding something edible, is a pretty profound thing. Ian's background as a chef is particularly poignant as he described how people in the restaurant industry could work with food day in and day out, but never really understand how these ingredients came to be. As a result, foods become cogs in a mindless network of turning gears, ingredients lose importance and he described the soulless cooking very fittingly as, "angry food." And so he encourages the local restaurant kitchens to get their hands dirty and grow their own ingredients. For the future generation of possible chefs and restauranteurs, the school programs get children involved, showing them how to harvest wheat, make their own flour, and make their own pizzas in the farm share's outdoor "cob" or mud oven, built by hand, decorated with found objects in the fields they harvested the mud from.

Cool bugs, disco chickens, and ah... a field of buttercups - Photos by Wasabi Prime

The tour through Terra Nova showed off other areas, like beehives which produce honey and help keep their orchards and surrounding plants pollinated. There's a chicken coop that had what I like to call Disco Chicks -- young Bantam hens with awesome feather outfits. Ian Lai showed off some of his own personal projects, like a collection of old wasp nests and beehives to show what architectural nerds insects are, and a really stunning and elegant example of the bug world, a dome of silk spun from silkworms when they resided in the half of a globe. We know clothing is made from silk, we know chicken is tasty with the Colonel's herbs n' spices, but to really see how these creatures live and flourished inevitably adds a new dimension of understanding and appreciation.

Fruit wines and honey from Sanduz Estate and out of this world puffed blueberries  - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Education ultimately leads to innovation, and Sanduz Estate Wines is one example of traditional agriculture taking a step outside of the norm. The Sandu family has a long history of blueberry and cranberry farming -- they still harvest a healthy crop of fruit, but they chose to expand and diversify their business, moving into the making of fruit wines. I know, people kind of roll their eyes or get a white-knuckle flashback of one too many wine coolers at a college party, but likely any bad experience with fruity beverages were a result of lesser quality fruit wines that used less fruit, more sugar and ultimately a big hangover. Sanduz Estate's fruit wines are made with just the fruit, generally a single type, like blackberry, blueberry, apple or strawberry, the method is similar as with grapes, using yeast and the magic of fermentation, but with their fruit winemaking process, the finished product is ready within three months, versus grape wines that can take up to a year or more to be ready. The resulting fruit wines are sweet and refreshing, with a pure, intense flavor of the fruit it's made from. I have to say my favorites were their Granny Smith and a crabapple dessert wine, which really retained the tart crispness of a fresh apple, no over-sugared appletini-flavored headache in a bottle.

Even more interesting than tasty fruit wines is their newest innovation -- puffed blueberries. Sanduz Estate has some NASA-like equipment behind the quaint, charming wine tasting area that's transforming their blueberries into delicate crispy snacks that are almost like a round blueberry cracker, but it's 100% berry, baby. No additives or extra flavors, they have this incredible machine that dehydrates the berries in an atmospheric chamber that literally boils the moisture so quickly out of the fruit that the shape remains and you have these funky dried fruits that are intensely flavored but crispy like a chip with a wicked-long shelf life -- two years, they were saying. Puffed blueberries are such a new product, you can't really go online and buy them yet; the best way to get a bag is to go to the winery, or just wait until a celebrity gets wind of it, as this is a trendy food waiting to blow up. It's so sci-fi the way they're made -- I think if MIB's had a favorite snack, this would be it, and they'd have offered puffed blueberries to E.T. who would have liked them way more than Reese's Pieces. He would not have phoned home, he'd have stayed here. Because even his planet didn't have puffed blueberries.

Punch your timecard and hit the line when you're visting the Gulf of Georgia Cannery - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Moving from land to sea, I had the opportunity to experience the past and present of Richmond's fishing industry. In the booming era of salmon fishing, there were over a dozen large canneries lining the Fraser River near Steveston, a maritime neighborhood of the city. One cannery remains, built in the 19th century and preserved as a historic landmark. You can visit the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site and walk through their museum, which is full of exhibits showing methods of fishing, from artifacts once used by First Nation tribes, to commercial vessels like the large-netted seine boats still used today. Restored equipment once used in canneries for the preparation of the fish are set up to tell the story of not only how a salmon went from fins to a tin can, but the people who endured real hardships to keep the cannery moving and ultimately grow the city. There are really sobering exhibits like a set of overalls chemically stained and burned to shreds from the use of lye in the tin can processing, and a gruesome plaster cast of a hand that was mangled by the machines. The most shocking exhibit of all is the old scale that's calibrated to show price per pound of salmon, at least for a century ago, and you can weigh yourself to find out how much you're worth. For all the endless eating I had been doing, let's just say I'm worth a small fortune in salmon. But jokes aside, the museum is as much a symbol of a foundation-building industry as it is a testament to the human cost that  is a harsh price to pay for progress.

Boats in the harbor and ruh-roe, it's urchin! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

People visit the Fisherman's Wharf in Steveston for its quaint, picturesque charm, but I think visiting the cannery is almost a prerequisite, as you appreciate the sense that ghosts of true fishermen persevere along those pier docks that still have locals selling their fresh catch right off the back of their boats. Many of these boats in the docks are independent and family-owned, and they sell their catches directly to the restaurants right by the water. Much like a produce farmers market, this is a fishermans market, with fresh, sometimes still-live catches. The walkways are busy with locals buying fresh-caught salmon, sea urchin and at the time, still-moving spot prawns, which were in season during my visit. They were beautiful, translucent candy-striped little critters, getting ogled by hungry customers taking full advantage of buying what was fresh and in season.

The most fresh and sometimes still wriggling catch of the day - Photos by Wasabi Prime

It was a really enriching experience to take a break from just eating and get into the cultivation of what  ultimately winds up on our plates. Seeing skeletons of industry, the early stages of what could become "angry food," and then seeing the pursuit of traditional, as well as cutting-edge methods and community action persevering today left me with a really hopeful sense of a sustainable future. This is just one picture, in one city in the world, but I do hope it's seen as an example of thriving stewardship that other cities can take inspiration from.

Okay, okay, I'll get back to the tasty eats -- I've got one more post detailing my calculated resettlement into the Steveston area of Richmond, based on three simple elements: cupcakes, coffee, and Spam. Stay tuned! And if you're like, "Shut up, Wasabi, I'll just go there myself," then you're in luck - Tourism Richmond has a contest where you can win your own food adventure.

FoodTrek: Eating Richmond BC - Sharing Plates of a Rich Culture

They say you eat slower when you eat with chopsticks. I say, the Canadian city of Richmond, British Columbia, never knew what hit 'em when Wasabi came through town... Are you ready for an eye-popping edible tour of only a mere nibble of what this city has to offer in terms of Asian cuisine? Ladies and gentlemen... don your comfy drawstring pants. We're goin' in, chopsticks blazing...

Peking duck with all the fixings, from Shanghai River Restaurant - Photo by Wasabi Prime

It had been a while since I'd visited Richmond, much less Canada -- which is a shame, as it's what, maybe a two-hours-and-change drive to the border from where I live? My passport literally had dust (or possibly weird fuzzy mold - ewww) on it, showing how little it had been used. It was a sign to A) immediately disinfect passport and B) make a run for the border and head north for a few days. O, Canada, indeed.

People tend to think of Vancouver when they think of BC -- another city I love -- but I always liked stopping off in Richmond for shopping as well as eating. It's by no means a small city -- Richmond is the fourth largest in BC, about a 20-30 minute drive from Vancouver, and they've got a pretty nice light rail system that avoids the snarl of traffic. They have an Asian population of over 60% and you know what that means -- awesome food! The food definitely reflects the population, so you'll see primarily Chinese and Taiwanese-style cuisine and the majority of the food places are in the four-block radius of what's called the Golden Village, off No. 3 Road, and more specifically, Alexandra Road, aka "Food Street" that has over 200 Asian restaurants all nestled together.

Guided by the Fury through dumplings, bean curd rolls, noodles and a colorful cod - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I'm not offering this as the be-all, end-all eating tour of the city; there's just too much to fit into a single trip and I know I missed plenty of amazing spots. That being said, I brought my stomach around to nearly a half-dozen places, all offering their own specialties on Asian delicacies or comfort foods, and one of the most important things I was reminded of as I literally ate through the city:  have an open appetite and an open mind. One of the best reasons to immerse yourself in a neighborhood like the Golden Village is because it's very genuine -- this is the opportunity to experience the daily rhythm of a thriving community and take its pulse, which is a busy one, so take their energy as a cue to jump right in, appetites blazing. The vibrant pace is demonstrated by a lunch at Shanghai River Restaurant on Westminster Highway -- their xiao long bao or soup dumplings are a favorite (theirs are large; more pork than soup, but a meaty, tender bite), but don't forget to have their handmade noodles. You can tell when you see the slightly irregular shape and definitely by the bite -- a chewy tooth; firm yet delicate, all at the same time. I love the crispy skin of Peking duck, so having theirs was a treat, and I got a chance to nibble on the crispy fried fin from a brightly-colored sweet and sour rock cod dish. Crispety-crunchety fin-tastic, I must say. And bite from the delicate thin end, not the tough end like I did -- rookie mistake.

Crispy daikon cakes, spicy appetizers and mini beef sandwiches with pastry rolls - Photos by Wasabi Prime

It's a flurry of dishes to consider and Asian cuisine is typically family-style, so bring a whole group of hungry friends. Better yet, bring a fearless leader to help guide you through unfamiliar menus -- I was lucky to have the ultimate BC food guide with me at the table, the awesome and lovely Melody Fury of Gourmet Fury and the force of nature behind Vancouver Food Tour. Having someone who can help point out the cultural subtleties behind a meal can make it as enriching as a walk through a museum. The sharing of a meal is sacred in many cultures, Asian countries included, mostly due to the usual suspects -- hardship, war, the general umbrage of the human machine -- but at the table, we are together, we are equals and we work together to help serve and nourish one another as a single people. For all the differences we may have, we sure get peckish around 3pm, so let's share some spicy hot soup, shall we?

Hot, spicy, delicious -- and it only gets better as the broth stews away - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Starbucks has nothing on milk tea, a Hong Kong specialty that's served at Spicy Stage Cafe on Garden City Road. Served both hot and cold, it's a mix of black tea and condensed milk, a creamy, sweet drink that's a mix of East and West, likely a result of British influence in Hong Kong and now a popular cafe drink. Served cool, the creamy iced beverage is a great companion to Spicy Stage's hot eats, like their prawns or the Szechuan peppercorn-spiced hot pot soup, full of chewy tripe, seafood and noodles. The famed numbing effect from the peppercorns is best enjoyed with this soup, as you get this nice warming effect as you eat it. It's not painful, so don't squirm you spicy food wimps! If you're scared of the heat, they have a lighter seafood hot pot, made with their house made fish broth, filled with more subtle but flavorful items like tofu, shiitake mushrooms, meatballs and chunks of cod. Little appetizers like the chilled glass noodles, beef served with sweet pastry buns or the tater-tot like crunch of fried daikon cakes are delicious snacks while enjoying the caffeine rush of a milk tea.

Osaka Market in Yaohan Centre - too...much...good...stuff! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

You can learn a great deal about a place through its favorite restaurants or you can go where they shop. Grocery stores can be a busy place, but an Asian grocery store takes it to Eleven. No one's buying Pop Tarts or Hungry Man dinners at these stores -- home cook-smart people are crowding the aisles to get whatever's the freshest, preferably still crawling/swimming/possibly fighting, so that it makes a dynamo meal for their lucky family at home. Be nice - maybe if you're lucky, you'll go home with them! I wanted something sweet so I stopped by the Yaohan Centre right on No. 3 Road in the heart of the Golden Village. There's a giant grocery store inside this indoor shopping center called Osaka Market. Despite the name, it's a general Asian food store, not just Japanese items, and hold onto your tuques, this place gets wicked-busy with people on a shopping mission. I remember growing up in Los Angeles, where in my neighborhood these weren't Asian grocery stores, they were just grocery stores -- this was just how it was, with the live seafood that could rival a city aquarium, fast food dumplings and sushi (no, you can't have fries with that), and produce of all wacky shapes and sizes. And the Holy Grail of grocery departments -- the bakery. Sponge cakes that are made of clouds captured from the sky, egg tarts that qualify protein as a dessert and little confections that so cute, you almost don't want to eat them. Almost. Sorry, cute little froggy -- CHOMP.

Smile, you're dinner - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Does dessert qualify as an aperitif for dinner? Only in Wasabi World. Stretchy pants, do your magic. An elegant dinner is a really special way to celebrate the cherished specialties of a city. Jade Seafood Restaurant is a mix of traditional and contemporary Chinese cuisine, a winner of several prestigious awards and a local favorite, given the full house of eager diners. I was given the opportunity to sample special dishes, showcasing some of their award-winning menu items like a seared giant scallop with morel and porcini sauce, presented like a rabbit, to commemorate 2011's Year of the Rabbit.

Dishes that evoke the past and present at Jade Seafood Restaurant- Photos by Wasabi Prime

A parade of truly beautiful dishes were brought out, including a delicate fish maw (soup) with crabmeat, slow braised shortrib with beans, clay-pot chicken roasted on rock salt, and tofu with truffle oil-drizzled vegetables. Everything was brought out with a sense of purpose, very deliberate, presenting the most special high-quality dishes first -- usually meat or fish -- followed with noodles or rice secondary, just so you don't get filled up too quickly and your fresh palate enjoys the choice items first. The finish was a plate of beautiful chilled rice cakes filled with frozen blueberries -- a bit like mochi ice cream -- and flaky little pear-shaped dumplings with a sweet red bean paste center.

Specialties like a slow-braised shortrib to comfort favorite Chan Village rice noodles - Photos by Wasabi Prime

All this feasting -- how does one find room for anything else? ...How about the prospect of inner-peace? Heavy, no? The culture of Richmond can most definitely be found in its food, but one of the most stunning things I experienced is probably best left for an empty stomach, not weighted down with too much good eating. A thoughtful visit to Thrangu Monastery is one that should be experienced with an open, unclouded mind. Why include this with a post on food? Because feeling truly satisfied from a cultural experience is as much a journey of spirit as it is body (or stomach, in my case).

Thrangu Monastery in Richmond - you absolutely have to experience this place! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

It's a humbling experience to walk through the first traditional Tibetan monstery in the Pacific Northwest. Construction only recently completed in the summer of 2010, it's taken six years for this magnificent building to be finished, with much of the work done by handcrafted artisans, using materials brought in from Tibet. It's a sacred place of spiritual retreat and a symbol of what it means to live a truly thoughtful life that outwardly seeks peace in all things. I was very fortunate to be guided by Rabjor Dawa, one of the Buddhist monks who resides in the monstery and I must say, is a wise and joyful human being. It was a really fascinating thing to see how modern and traditional ways really intertwine in this sanctuary -- there's an incredible temple that will take your breath away, and surrounding this temple is a nerve system of living quarters, libraries, communal areas like a kitchen and meeting spaces with all the creature comforts of the modern world. It was Rabjor's comment about how it took modern technology to help bring this monstery to Canada, and in effect, to the world at large, and it reminds you that spirituality isn't something that gathers dust. It's something people embrace, like a mindful action, a purposeful sense of awareness, and to a great degree, much like a nonstop food tour, a recognition of a community's heartbeat that flutters in the hurried steps through the market, the steam rising off a freshly-made pot of soup or a simple handmade dumpling offered as a gesture of welcome.

There's more of my Richmond BC trip, if you can believe it -- stay tuned to the Prime's Food Trek as I wander through farms and waters that feed the city, and consider for a moment how easy it would be for me to say, so long, America -- I'm moving to Steveston! And if you can't wait to read more and just want to go to these places RIGHT NOW,  Tourism Richmond is sponsoring a trip you can win that takes you to several of these spots!

OMG a Recipe: Number One with a Bulleit - and Bloody Good

I know what you're thinking -- more Sriracha Bloody Mary? Not even -- mama's got a brand new bag! I got a chance to play around with a couple of different ingredients, and I'm pleased to say they made quite the fetching pair. Move over, Brangelina, there's a new power couple in town -- meet Rye Whiskey and Blood Oranges.

Rye fizzle fo' shizzle - Photo by Wasabi Prime

It's kind of fitting, the comparison with Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie and rye/blood oranges. Rye whiskey, made with a high percent of rye versus bourbon's corn, has all-American charm, but still a little rough n' tumble -- totally Brad Pitt, right? I'm talking Brad Pitt-now, not the prettyboy days of him being shirtless and goofy in Thelma and Louise. This distinction is as important, lest you'll get the impression that Cool World was a good idea. Rye whiskey retains the richness of a spirit aged in oak barrels, but a little more of a sharp, dry profile than the fuller-bodied, sweet bourbon whiskey. As for the yin to this whiskey yang, blood oranges are like Angelina Jolie in that they're exotic and kinda freaky. What was with wearing of blood in a vial around her neck in those Billy Bob years of yore? Regret, that's what that is. Blood oranges are the same citrus you have with your morning toast, they just have super intense red-colored fruit, which apparently (according to Wikipedia, anyways) occurs as a result of low temperatures at night. Maybe the blood orange is just half vampire, sucking the blood of other fruits or woodland creatures at night. Certainly won't see that in Wikipedia.

Get this one, then the bottle with the green label to make it a complete set - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I was lucky to get my cocktail mitts on some samples of rye whiskey from Bulleit, same makers of Bulleit Bourbon, one of my favorites. This was before the bottles were hitting the shelves, but by now I'm sure it's easy enough to find them at your local liquor store -- it's in the same packaging as their bourbon, just a green label versus an orange one, but if you're at the store, what the heck, get both. I was just glad to get apothecary-looking sample bottles to play mad mixologist with. I was also glad to play around with blood oranges, which are pretty versatile ingredients -- more sugar-sweet than other citrus, which can have a little tart bite to it. Despite the fact that it'll stain your cutting board and make it look like bloody murder, when you mix it in a cocktail, the deep red turns more berry or pink, depending on how much you use.

I actually made a couple of different cocktails, using both rye and gin, just to see how the blood orange juice would work with different spirit flavor profiles. For the gin, I used more of the blood orange juice, mixing it with a lavender simple syrup and a little bit of Luxardo maraschino liqueur. The herbal quality of gin balanced out the floral sweetness of the fruit and sugar-sweetness. The jezebel-hued cocktail was a strong little vixen that still needs fine-tuning, but still good. If I had more blood oranges handy, I'd have thinly sliced and candied them for a pretty garnish, but we'll save that for another time.

Views from the Wasabi Mixologist Lab, aka, our kitchen - Photos by Wasabi Prime

The warmer season made me want to take rye on a summer vacation, so I used similar ingredients to put a colorful twist on a traditional Rye Fizz. This version, along with rye, simple syrup and seltzer, uses some blood orange juice, a little dash of the Luxardo, and either fresh lemon balm or lemon juice. I used the lemon balm because we have a plant that is poised to take over the garden, and if untended, the rest of the free world. The resulting drink is what I whimsically like to call a Fizzywinkle. Sort of periwinkle-pink in color, fizzy from the seltzer, and a name devoid of "blood" because something this pastel-colored shouldn't sound so rough and scary. It's summery, happy, and despite the girly color, the rye packs enough of a punch --depending on how much seltzer you add -- to land you on your rump-shaker. Let the happy hour begin!

The Fizzywinkle
(makes one cocktail, but double it, as you'll want another)

1.5 oz Bulleit Rye
.25 oz blood orange juice, strained of pulp
.25 simple syrup
.25 oz Luxardo maraschino liqueur
.5 cup muddled fresh lemon balm or 1 oz fresh lemon juice
3 oz seltzer -- can add more or less, depending on taste

Muddle lemon balm in shaker full of ice, then add all ingredients except seltzer into shaker to mix, then strain into a separate glass filled with ice and top with seltzer before serving. Best served on a sunny, warm day. Repeat as necessary.

Mixed Plate: Suddenly Summer

Seasons change rapidly in the Pacific Northwest, much like a bat out of hell, barreling towards you with surprising fury. Spring sort of sucker-punched us a few times, reminding it was here and gone, and then summer seems to have shown up like Liberace, all decked out, bedazzled and singing, I'm here!! So let's not waste another second and get to enjoying this season while we've got it!

View from Terra Vista - one of the best you'll find - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I had a chance to visit Terra Vista, a restaurant in the Snoqualmie Casino. Their menu has a lot of Pacific Northwest items like salmon and other seafood, but their main draw is their steaks, which most people tend to order. It's a formal, sit-down restaurant in the casino, offering a more special occasion experience if you find yourself in that neck of the woods. Terra Vista is aptly named, as its view is its crown jewel. Light pours into the place, especially on a sunny day. They have terrace dining when weather permits, and since summer has made its presence known, it's probably one of the most stunning views you'll have of the surrounding mountains and forests.

Perfect sunny cocktail party, celebrating the season - Photos by Wasabi Prime

The event at Terra Vista was a cocktail party, giving guests a chance to sample smaller bites from their menu. They had different things like a fruit and cheese platter, charcuterie, baked mussels, steak tenderloin, and a selection of smoked fish. It was a good opportunity to try a lot of different flavors without committing to a single dish. I liked the game sausage that included elk and rabbit -- kind of like eating the whole forest kingdom! Granted, this was a special event, so all their menu isn't served in bite-sized form, but it reminded me how much I do appreciate it when restaurants serve food like this. I only have one stomach and a finite amount of room. If I can just have a little bite of different things, I always feel a lot more satisfied versus committing to a single dish. And that definitely goes for dessert - they had a stone slab with several different desserts laid out. It always makes you feel slightly less guilty about saying, "I had three desserts," when you know they were little bite-sized pieces.

Pictures of food vs pictures of view - hard to choose between the two! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Enjoying the view at Terra Vista just made me appreciate "the good months" in this part of the world that much more. The joke is that summers in the Northwest are the best-kept secret, and the belief that we're all living in a rain-soaked wonderland all the time is what keeps the rest of the world from crowding in on our little parcel of heaven on earth. I admit, there is a little bit of that desire to keep up the misinformation. Sure, we have our grey days, but when the weather is good and the skies are blue, you can't imagine being anywhere else than Washington State. Even if the days get hot, the evenings grow mild, you watch the sun set so late in the solstice-stretched day, and you feel like you could live in the afterglow forever as the stars slowly appear. If I'm not sipping cocktails appreciating an amazing view, I like strolling the late afternoon farmers markets or even just strolling in our own backyard, to check on the status of our garden. With any luck, we'll have our own harvest to enjoy very soon.

Summertime pleasures - open markets and happy gardens - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Mixed Plate: I Ain't Old, Just Well-Seasoned

A month of birthdays reminded the Prime of the pleasures of slowing one's roll and how the benefit of time really does improve things, namely, alcohol. And a white oak barrel doesn't hurt, either. A LUPEC meeting brought me back to the Woodinville Whiskey Company, but it was a previous visit 'wot truly done me in, as I'd visited earlier for a drive-by pickup of one of their age-your-own mini whiskey barrels, but more on that in a moment. Because it's time to sit back, relax, and let the good times pour.

Me and Mr. Peabody Jones at LUPEC meeting at Woodinville Whiskey Company - Photo by Wasabi Prime

So first off, I realize the Seattle chapter of LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails - yes, this group exists, and it is awesome) meeting was earlier in May, but egads I've been backlogged on posts! For all the best reasons, of course -- it's been a buffet line of too much good stuff. And the benefit of belated LUPEC-related posts is, it's a good reminder that there's always a meeting every month if you're in the Seattle area. You can keep up with the ladies on their blog, or get updates via their Facebook page. This last meetup in the Wood-hood of Woodinville was to sample the spirits of Woodinville Whiskey Company, and get a sample taste of an early draw from their barrel-aged whiskey. Jealous yet? You should be.

Orlin Sorensen and the ladies of LUPEC, celebrating good spirits - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Co-owner Orlin Sorensen was on-hand to be master of whiskey ceremonies, giving a tour of the facility, showing off the impressive Wall o' Whiskey, as well as a resident mixologist, pouring tastes of the spirits and mixing up a special cocktail using their unaged Headlong white dog whiskey. Orlin summoned the Wondertwin Powers of Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown, a la Cocktail, and mixed up a drink called the Green Trellis that combined flavors of fresh cucumber, mint and apple -- sort of like a Washingtonian mojito, which went marvelously with their Headlong, as it has a crisp, clean flavor that hasn't taken on the smoky-vanilla notes from a barrel (yet). They serve this drink at Trellis, the restaurant downstairs from the Heathman Hotel in Kirkland -- one of my favorite spots. But Trellis isn't the only place that has Woodinville Whiskey Co's spirits -- next time you take a look at the bar's cornucopia of boozeahol,don't be surprised to see both the Headlong white dog whiskey, as well as their Peabody Jones Vodka, another nicely-made spirit, which I find very smooth and almost creamy. Fine on its own, but plays so nicely with other ingredients in the cocktail sandbox.

It wasn't just drinks -- LUPEC ladies like to be educated, with a glass in hand. Orlin described all the unique aspects of what makes whiskey such a signature spirit and why bourbon is so gosh-darn all-American, given its requirements that include its production needing to be in the States, a grain mixture with a minimum of 51% corn and use of new/charred white oak barrels (which don't have to be American, interestingly enough).

Sampling an early taste of barrel-aged goodness, and a way to age whiskey at home! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

But of course -- what about the real Good Stuff? We saw the floor-to-ceiling collection of barrels aging whiskey, which in my mind, I heard the 2001 Monolith theme in my head. Just needed some monkeys freaking out, beating the ground with femurs. But the payoff was being able to get a little taste of the whiskey, straight from the barrel. Awww yeah. Even though it's not quite ready to graduate and sit on the shelf of liquor cabinets everywhere, the color was a gorgeous caramel, you get a lovely whiff of vanilla, and everything about it whispers great promise. It needed a little shot of water to simmer down the shout of, "Yo, we're still workin' here!" from the alcohol heat that hasn't quite tamed down yet, otherwise it feels like Mr. Whiskey just punched you in the face. But yes indeedy, there's potential in them thar oak barrels, and Orlin said to keep an eye on the cocktail horizon, as they should be seeing an official release in the near future.

Why, yes, that is meat wrapping paper with my baby booze barrel - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Woodinville Whiskey Co wisely created the coolest birthday/anniversary/holiday present ever, the Age Your Own Whiskey Kit, which includes two sipping glasses, a wee white oak barrel, and two bottles of melt-your-face-off high proof white dog that will eventually be tamed into warm, fuzzy, puppy love. I bought one of these fancy numbers for Mr. Wasabi's birthday, which unfortunately had to hide in my car for three days when he was home sick with a cold, before I snuck it into the house and then wrapped with paper printed with meat. When you care enough to send the very best, say it with alcohol and beef-decorated packaging.

Mini cooper(age) - Photos by Wasabi Prime

It's a pretty easy process, as all the complicated steps were taken care of by the distillery, they're just providing the unique tools that let you take over the finishing process of barrel-aged whiskey. Did they contract the Keebler elves to put together a cooperage to produce such ridiculously cute bitty barrels? Possibly. The crafting of these miniature barrels is pretty dang sweet, and the size is what also speeds up the aging process, as it increase the surface ratio of alcohol being in contact with the wood, so you don't have to wait forever and a day to get a roasty-toasty vanilla-y glass of whiskey. The instructions that come with the kit are pretty simple, so just read through it before immediately pouring your precious white dog into the barrel like a fool. Soak the barrel for a few days. Brock let his sit in the laundry room sink for 3-4 days, letting the wood grain swell and create a watertight seal for when the whiskey is added. When the barrel is ready, empty the water and swap with the firewater, and place in a spot where you're not tempted to poke at it or uncork the top every few hours, asking, "Is it ready yet??"

Mini barrel atop fridge says, Ignore me! IGNORE ME! But we can't resist an early sip - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Our resting spot of choice was above the fridge, which has a cacophony of magnets and crap on it to keep one's attention fully focused away from what's sitting atop it. But we couldn't help take a sneaky-peeky at the whiskey two weeks into the process. It's amazing what just two weeks can do. The color was developing -- not a rich caramel yet, but the light amber tones were encouraging. You could already pick up notes of vanilla and it was starting to suggest a creaminess that you knew would only develop further with more barrel time. So what if we peeked at the presents before Xmas, just more to celebrate when the big day arrives. Will definitely do a post when that truly happy hour comes along, likely in another month or so. Stay tuned!

FoodTrek: Once in a Blue Moon, Wasabi Takes a Holiday

It's official, Mr. Wasabi and myself are "one of those people." You know, the kooky couple who treats their dog like their child and insists upon taking their fuzzy friend everywhere, even on vacations. We've gotten to the point where we plan our trips based on the ability to bring the dog, aka, the frap-taculous Miss Indiana Jones, Indy to her friends. While we haven't crossed the threshhold of true pet insanity and come up with coordinating outfits (they just don't make cute argyle-knitted twinsets for dogs of Indy's size... yet), we did manage to discover a fantastic pet find if you're visiting Orcas Island -- make sure to get a barn, er, loft at Once in a Blue Moon Farm.

Life on the farm with Wasabi and company - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Yeah, sure, maybe it doesn't sound appealing at first -- staying in a barn?? It's actually an old carriage house, and the whole upstairs has been renovated into a really charming loft space with a full kitchen, bathroom, and two sleeping areas. Plenty of room for two people and a big, fuzzy dog, and it can easily keep a family comfortably nestled as well. We specifically chose this spot because they are openly dog-friendly -- Once in a Blue Moon's website says it on the homepage that they love pets -- and it's a working farm.

Pet-friendly travel done right at Once in a Blue Moon Farm - Photos by Wasabi Prime

They have acres' worth of gardens, grazing areas for their sheep and alpacas, an impressive section for chickens, geese and a very photogenic turkey, and their harvests help supply the local restaurants on Orcas. Owner, Shana Lloyd, is there to greet you when you arrive, and she's probably the person you'll chat with over the phone or email when you book a room. She's super-sweet and happy to give you a tour of the farm. There's several different spots where you can stay, but we opted for the loft as we definitely wanted the kitchen. That's one of the tricky things about taking your pet with you -- always plan on cooking at least a few meals in the place you're staying at, so making sure you pick a spot that you don't mind spending a bit of time at is worth it. Knowing we had access to farm fresh eggs was icing on the cake!

Farm fresh eggs, the right way to start the day - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Shana was such a doll and gave us a basket of beautiful multicolored eggs, which we used for both breakfast and dinner. We've gotten more accustomed to traveling with Indy and bring some basic groceries that travel well. You know, the important stuff -- a bottle of wine, flask of favorite Scotch, some savory snacks like peppered salami and a jar of sundried tomato-stuffed olives. The basics... right? Slices of hard-boiled eggs served with the bread we got at Rose's in Eastsound, topped with salami was our breakfast of champions, and the eggs were just as good for dinner, served atop a simple spinach salad. A bag of greens, some smoked turkey, blue cheese crumbles and a little jar of pre-mixed dressing is easy enough to bring in a little cooler, and it's easy to add new ingredients like fresh bread or eggs to make the salad even more hearty.

Green Acres is the place for me... - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Shana was so kind to bring us a plate of cookies she made with, of course, the farm's eggs. She was saying when you raise your own chickens you're never at a loss for eggs, just a challenge to figure out ways to use them! One of the things we brought was a container of cocoa. A quick trip to the store for a little carton of milk and we spent one rainy afternoon with hot cocoa and cookies. Sometimes vacations don't have to be about filling the day with tons of activities, but reminders to slow down and enjoy the quiet, simple joys in life. It helps when you've got a view of the farm and can look out onto the field to see the alpacas and chickens wandering about.

Life on the funky farm - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I loved the quirky, vintage country-feel of Once in a Blue Moon Farm. The main house is a bright green-turqoise color that's hard to miss, and the springtime flowers were in full bloom, cheery blossoms covering the trees and tulips and daffodils everywhere. I'm sure the farm changes its look, depending on the season. And there's funky decor everywhere. It was easy to make little discoveries in every corner, so definitely bring a camera to capture everything.

The local residents of Once in a Blue Moon - Photos by Wasabi Prime

The weekend spent here was relaxing and it reminded me of when I would spend summers at my grandparents' home in Maui, in the little town of Makawao. The noise of the modern world falls away, no highway sounds aside from the stray car driving past the gravel road, the cel coverage is spotty so there's no temptation to be glued to your phone. You wake up to the sound of roosters crowing and the morning light pouring in through the windows. It's easy to fall into the natural rhythm of the day's hours. Bring some books you've been meaning to read or a board game. These are the activities we don't often get to indulge in, as other things get in the way. It's almost jarring when you first settle in, the quiet of the place and no typical distractions like ringing phones or checking email, but take a stroll around the farm, watch the chickens scratch around for a bit; you'll settle into relaxation mode soon enough.

Parting views of Blue Moon - Photos by Wasabi Prime and Mr. Wasabi

I have to give a thumbs and fuzzy paws-up to Once in a Blue Moon Farm, and much thanks to Shana for making us feel so welcome. They've done a lovely job of making their farm into a welcoming experience for guests, and you get to sample a little of that sweet, quiet contented life that they're fortunate to enjoy year-round. When you drive around Orcas Island and see so many little farms everywhere, you can't help but wonder what it would be like to live in that little peaceful space, even if it's just for a weekend. This was a perfect escape from the modern world. Something else about farm living and life on Orcas in general -- be mindful of what you bring and what you leave. Many places compost what they can, but anything you can do as a visitor to the island to reduce waste is appreciated, even little things like bringing your own travel mug for coffee. Along with Indy, we're looking forward to another visit to Orcas and Once in a Blue Moon Farm very soon!