FoodTrek: Drinkin' Around Town

Lest you think I'm a total hermit (more like a half-hermit), I do leave the house now and then to explore a little and see what my tastebuds find. My last wanderings brought me back to a favorite spot to try some spirits from a new distillery, and then to downtown Seattle, where a new brewery is making new things in an old space. Let the honorable pickling of my liver... commence!

Some very tasty bites at Trellis to go with the cocktails from Batch 206 Distillery - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I attended an Eastside Bartenders Association gathering at Trellis, one of my favorite places in Kirkland. It's not a typical spot, as it's a restaurant and bar below the Heathman Hotel. Don't brush off a place because it's "a hotel bar/restaurant." In and around the Seattle area, there's several great restaurants below hotels, like The Hunt Club at the Sorrento. Trellis is especially nice, as they take strides to serve dishes that feature ingredients that are locally sourced. For people living here, it's how we roll, but for visitors, it's an added experience for them to say they came to Washington and literally took a bite out of it.

On this occasion, Trellis prepared some really delicious pizzas and charcuterie platters to go alongside a couple of cocktails made from the spirits from Batch 206  Distillery. They're a partner of House Spirits in Portland, currently running their operation out of Oregon, but they're in the process of finishing their distillery in Seattle, as well as opening a tasting room. Their spirits, the Batch 206 Vodka and Counter Gin are available in a few Seattle bars, as well as in liquor stores. At the EBA event, the Batch 206 folks were on hand to pour tastes of the liquors so you could pick up the notes of the spirit by itself, and then they were serving cocktails to show how they stand up to other ingredients. The Batch 206 Vodka is very clean, super-filtered and crisp like a Grey Goose, but a little softer, and slightly sweeter to the palate. You wouldn't notice the nuance of the sweetness once it's mixed in a drink, but if you're a martini drinker, this would be a nice vodka to use -- twist of lemon, no olive. Brine would just bust up the taste, I think. I really enjoyed their Counter Gin. They really took time to mix and balance out the botannicals with care. Too many gins go for the juniper-forward flavor, as it's typical of the spirit, but then you feel like you're drinking Pine-Sol. Not sexy. Their Counter Gin has a lighter touch with the juniper and gives it a more rounded sweetness with things like cucumber, lavender, tarragon -- botannicals that all have their own strong notes, but blended with expertise, they become complex and fragrant.

Pizza, cocktails, sunshine - what could be better? - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I packed up my liver and headed west, to the South Downtown 'hood of Seattle to see what Epic Ales was serving and how their upcoming brewpub, Gastropod, was coming along. It's a new brewery in an old building, the cool R. R. Trigger Building, along First Avenue South. The brewer, Cody Morris, is on hand at their taproom that's open Fridays and Saturdays. I went to Epic Ales with several homebrewers and one professional brewer. Cody had started out as a homebrewer before starting Epic Ales, and the beers we tried run more towards the non-traditional, experimental side. Nothing crazy, just different ingredients and even different yeasts -- the ones we tried were brewed using sake yeast. The beers I tried were summery styles, citrusy like a Hefewiezen (but very tart) and light like a Belgian ale. But again, don't go in with the expectation of traditional styles; they're really playing around with things. I think for people who are really dialed-in to established beer styles and lean more towards a Northwest IPA, they may not fall in love with these beers, but if you go in with the mindset like you're tasting wine or trying something new, you'll be able to get out of your beer-head and appreciate that the brews are interesting.

Have an Epic beverage -- Fuji approves - Photos by Wasabi Prime

If you head over to their taproom, you'll likely be greeted first by Fuji, their resident brewer dog and fierce guardian. OK, so maybe not so fierce -- you'll get a few barks and then a wag of the tail with a pleading doe-eyed stare that begs for a scratching behind the ears. When we went on a Saturday, they were serving some food with the beer, testing out some recipes that will likely appear on their menu when the full brewpub is completed. It's a neat thing to try out a place early on; feels a bit like you're given access to a little clubhouse. The location really can't be beat, there's old neon signs in the main space and in the taproom, the bar is a boat. For reals. It's a decorative boat, you can't go fishing in it, but it's like the half of a big clipper, with the deck as the bar surface. The guys at Epic Ales were saying prior to them taking of the space, the taproom was actually an office and the ship bar was already there. Classy! And ironic that the bar sitting in an office, has now been turned into a taproom. It's like the boat bar knew it needed to just bide its time for the world to behold and admire its awesomeness.

A pretty cool place to have a drink in Seattle - Photos by Wasabi Prime

We finished our Saturday beer experience at a friend's apartment, where we barbecued and admired their crop of hops growing in their little personal "beer garden." We have hops growing in our backyard as well -- funny enough, at least one or two of our main vines were from rhizomes our friend gave us. It's a pretty spot to sit beneath, with twine strung towards their porch ceiling, to the large pots holding their hop plants, letting the long, leafy vines create a natural canopy over the walkway. The hop "cones" or blossoms were starting to bloom -- these are the things picked from the hop vines, which get dried and eventually boiled down in the wort, releasing the bitter, citrus flavors. It was a relaxing way to finish a full summer day, drinking beer and barbecuing with friends.

A true beer garden - Photo by  Wasabi Prime

Mixed Plate: Takin' Care of Bizness

For businesses there are administrative duties -- the upkeep you have to do now and then to keep the ship afloat and running smoothly. The same could be said for a household kitchen. It's nothing major, but it's things that seem to haunt the to-do list and it feels good to just get it all done. Here's to takin' care of business. Or, for those who appreciate misheard lyrics: bakin' carrot biscuits.

Meatless Monday, meet the Wasabi pantry! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

One of my ongoing things on the to-do list is to make sure the pantry goods are always getting restocked. You hate digging through your canned and dry goods, only to discover some ancient container of capers -- totally unopened, but likely holding all the evils of the world like some Pandora's Box, with a pop-top freshness lid. I hate letting food go to waste; it's literally throwing money away and while I sound fanatical about it, I'll do whatever I have to do to avoid waste. I had some stray cans of chickpeas and the last dregs from a jar of plain, unsalted peanuts. I used up my last onion, these pantry finds, some peanut butter, cubed tofu (not from pantry, but that's one of my fridge staples) and when I discovered I didn't have coconut milk, I actually used -- gasp -- condensed milk to make a creamy peanut curry. Let me be clear that it was un-sweetened condensed milk. It was the lowly can that had probably been purchased thinking I'd make a pie or something, but I knew it was now or never for using it. Surprisingly, the sauce was perfectly fine. It didn't have the fragrant floral quality that coconut milk provides, but that's fine. This was a pantry-cleaning meal, designed to clear some shelves for fresher items.

I also made a few other quick-fix meals, like macaroni and cheese or a creamy orzo, just to clean up the last of the pasta and throw odds and ends from the fridge into the dishes. We always wind up with random bits of cheese or milk whose expiration date will hit sooner than us finishing it in morning coffee. It's enough milk to make a creamy sauce and I can justify getting a new carton of fresh stuff.

My big to-do list was getting the knives sharpened. We really only use two of our knives for most of the kitchen work -- a chef's knife and a santoku. I have a carving and pairing knife, which I use, but not with enough frequency for them to be in dire need of sharpening. I don't need to go into it, but yes, it's worth the money to get good knives. I lived with my cheap, serrated college knives for years before saving up for a really good basic set of Henckels knives, and it was worth every penny, as those knives will be with us for-evah. I do have a honing steel, but it's not really a sharpener, just something that helps keep the edge straight. Although if you've got true Mad Knife Skillz, you probably can sharpen your knife properly using the honing steel, but I have not these skills, so I had Sur La Table do it. Right after I got the freshly-sharpened knives back. Mr. Wasabi got a nifty knife sharpening kit that amazingly enough, works quite well, so for future knife sharpening needs, I won't have to wait so long for my sharp, pointy objects to get even more sharp and pointy. Can't wait to run around the house, blade up, pointing towards my face!  Wheeeeeee!!

Sharp knives and lots of wine -- what could go wrong? - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I had sharp knives and a freshly stocked pantry. What to do next? Reward oneself with restocking the wine supply with a few new bottles. Nothing fancy or expensive, just some items that sounded good at the wine store. I'm loving Malbecs these days, along with a nice crisp Viognier. They're like the porridge that's just-right for wines; not too heavy or too light that it's flavor-invisible. Our wine cabinet is like the opposite of the pantry -- more often than not, when I reach for a bottle, it's like I'm serving a dinner party for the Invisible Man's family: the stuff just ain't there! And then I pout and just pour myself a chilled martini, as somehow there's always vodka in the freezer, thank God. Let's call it done and say the to-do list is to-dunzo.

Mixed Plate: Great Balls of Ice

There's a lot of obscure, obsessive niches in the food and drink world -- no edible stone goes unturned or unexamined with a fine-toothed food-a-phile comb. Not even ice. Yes, you heard it correctly. Even the lowly cube of frozen H20 can't escape the high-powered microscope of people with waaaaaaay too much time on their hands.

Ice sphera obscura - Photo by Wasabi Prime

When you talk to hardcore bartenders, they'll kick the cocktail nerd drive into overtime to get that perfectly crystal-clear cube of ice. Why should it be perfectly clear? They'll say it speaks to the purity of the water, that the cloudy haze in the center of the ice reflects the water's impurities and mineral content. It sounds so apocryphal, but sure sounds good when a nattily-dressed bartender tells you the tale while handing over a perfectly-made Old Fashioned with a hand-carved sphere of ice keeping the drink perfectly chilled. And yes, there's some incredibly talented folks who can do that.

Ice gems and baubles - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I have not the Jedi skill to carve a chunk of ice into a perfect sphere freehand -- I wish to keep my hands intact and palms un-skewered by sharp objects, so I went for gimmick ice molds. I didn't even need to buy these -- I received the plastic spheres as a gift and already had the silicone "jewel" mold which was also a gift. I had been looking for a reason to try these out and the summer weather and the need for a cool beverage was reason enough. I don't usually do product testing, and this isn't really official "testing," but I did want to see how novelty molds would work.

I boiled some water that had first been run through a filter pitcher, to remove as many of the impurities as possible. I then let the filtered boiled water cool down a bit in a coffee press carafe -- the glass is heatproof, so it was a good holding spot. I filled the molds most of the way up, accounting for a little space for the water to expand when it froze. I let them sit in the freezer overnight before unmolding. I have to say the silicone jewel tray was somewhat pfail -- the open top probably contributed to it, but the little gems had a lot of cracks which made for unsuccessful removal from the molds. Imperfect gems, to say the least, even for the ones that weren't fractured into several pieces. The circular sphere molds worked surprisingly well, in terms of holding their seal -- you fill it from the top but it's a snap-together mold of two halves. I wasn't sure if the water would leak, but they seemed to hold up while freezing. I was able to unmold a sphere for a drink without issue. There were still a few cracks and despite the boiling/filtering of the water, I think at-home freezers just do the job too quickly. I've heard bartenders mention freezers that chill and freeze slowly do a better job of keeping purified water clear during the freezing process. But I'm not going to split hairs on that -- I will say the notion of a large piece of ice that has plenty of surface area to chill a drink does wonders. It melts slowly, keeps the drink very cold and at the end of the day, that's all we want right? Novelty shapes, optional.

Cold drinky? Wasabi likey! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Mixed Plate: Take Flavor to Eleven

The Prime would never call herself a masterful blogger, nor would she consider herself a particularly knowledgeable culinary whiz, but I do talk about myself in the third person, so I've got that going for me. What I do think I can credit myself with, aside from a borderline case of crazybrain, is an appreciation for kitchen convenience and strong flavor that punches you in the face.

Vanilla beans + cheap vodka = tastebud happytown - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I received a great Christmas present last year, a lovely bottle of vodka filled with whole vanilla beans that had been soaking in there for God knows how long, rendering the once-clear liquid into a rich, marvelously caramelized brown. I believe modern science would call that, "vanilla extract." So simple, so lovely and a whole freakin' bottle of the stuff! My friend who gave it to me recommended I keep re-topping the liquid with more vodka as the levels dropped, plus adding more whole vanilla beans as I come across them, just to keep up the strength of the mojo. I did find myself in the enviable position of having quite a few vanilla beans and the need to make sure they stay well-preserved until eventual use, so I took my friend's lead and had a reasonable excuse to buy cheap vodka at the liquor store. I started to soak a few vanilla beans in a small recycled maple syrup bottle, using Maker's Mark bourbon. It yielded a nice vanilla bourbon that made for a very pleasant addition to cocktails, but was a little expensive to batch-soak vanilla beans for when I'm craving chocolate chip cookies. My friend assured me that the cheap bum-tastic vodka would be fine, given its neutral spirit quality and for baking, the alcohol would burn off, so it's not like anyone would feel the hobo burn in a batch of brownies.

From flower, to bean, to booze bottle - Photos by Wasabi Prime

It's kind of hard to imagine that wrinkly, gnarly-looking vanilla beans come from such a pretty plant like the orchid. Unlike my inability to keep orchids alive and thriving in my house, I do now have a thriving supply of vanilla extract in my pantry. Getting past the occasional trip to the liquor store to pick up a refill bottle of shamefully cheap booze, it's a nice way to keep the vanilla beans well-lit and preserved for future desserts.

Yay to quick, easy garlic paste and Muppets - Photos by Wasabi Prime and Muppet Wiki

My latest kichen shortcut was inspired by a Costco impulse buy. I think the old saying needs to be revisited, because Costco is truly the mother of invention. What exactly does one do with four pounds of peeled garlic cloves, anyway? I didn't really buy four pounds of peeled garlic cloves... without at least a hint of intent. I love the flavor of roasted garlic -- who doesn't? I don't always have the planning time mapped out to roast a head of garlic for a dish, so when I saw the gignormous bag on the shelf, the Wasabi brain said, "oven magic, baby." Spread out across a foil-covered cookie sheet and tossed with about a tablespoon of olive oil, the cloves are then covered with another layer of foil to keep the moisture in, and left to roast in a 350-degree oven for about forty minutes. Depending on how you feel about garlic, it will make your house smell like heaven or hell, but it will absolutely keep the vampires away. For, like, ever. Four pounds of garlic cloves, once roasted to caramelized softness and mashed into a pulp by a fork, fills a couple of good-sized jars. It was probably reduced to about four or five cups' worth of roasted garlic paste, and thanks to Muppet Wiki (my life is complete now, isn't yours?), I had three -- THREE -- jars of garlic paste, ah-hah-haaaaah. I don't expect anyone to use this wealth of flavor all in one week, so once the jars are cooled, throw the extras in the freezer for later use. I probably go through my supply of roasted garlic paste once every one or two months, depending on what I'm cooking, but it works for just about everything and the roasting kills that slightly hot garlic-ness. It's a nice fast flavor addition and I don't add any salt or pepper during the roasting, just to keep it basic, and you can always build the flavor as you cook with it.

UnRecipe: Happy Brunch-Day to You

I don't know who invented the concept of brunch. It was likely some restauranteur who had a fondness for late Saturday nights and equally late Sunday morning breakfasts to cradle the hungover masses with copious amounts of greasy protein. Or maybe it was someone who just likes breakfast for every meal. I'm gonna have to go with option B.

Stick a candle in this mofo and make a brunchy birthday wish! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I'm all for any meal that justifies cake (or coffee cake) as a main course and allows for alcoholic beverages before noon without judge-y stares. It's also a nice way to celebrate someone's birthday. A while back we had a little brunch gathering at the house. It's tricky to get people together, lives are busy and a lot of our friends have young children or new babies, so the days of late-night wine-ing and dining aren't necessarily over, just a little harder to put on the books. So instead of evening gatherings, we do the dine and wine in the morning, under the socially acceptible umbrella of brunch. Mimosas for my homies!

Another nice thing about brunch is it widens the margin for what to serve. Sure, there's the typical eggs n' bacon offerings, but I've done chicken and waffle brunches, and gone the Hawaiian route to locomoco-it with eggs, rice, hamburger and gravy. There's nothing that's off limits, and when in doubt, the old adage of throwing a fried egg on something will convince crowds it's breakfast-acceptible. Brunch is like a bright, wide, delicious future waiting to happen. And so I made pulled pork BBQ over corn fritters for a birthday brunch gathering. And yes, I Put a Bird's Egg on It. Twice. With the lid off.

Pulled pork with pancakes - the only reason to wake up early in the morning - Photos by Wasabi Prime

If you've been following the blog, you of course realize I was inspired by the BBQ pork pancakes from Hogshack in Richmond, BC. It wasn't convenient for me to drive several hours north and leave the USA, so I just paid them homage by this brunch and recommended friends to check them out the next time they're visiting the Great North. As for the birthday cake, it was a coffee cake baked from the Grand Central Bakery cookbook, probably one of my favorite collection of recipes that will totally rock your socks off. I recommend folks picking up this book. I would have included the recipe for the pulled pork and corn cakes, but everything was sort of modified, just due to some dietary needs of guests. I'm trying to learn how to cook with less sugar and salt, finding different ways of seasoning food and just being more conscious of ingredients that have any kind of pre-preparation, which often has a lot of hidden sodium for preservation purposes. I know it sounds really restrictive, keeping salt, sugar and carbohydrates in check, but I do think it's a good exercise to think about food and seasonings as wholly as possible. It doesn't stop  me from enjoying salty, sugary goods now and then, but this meal was a good way to think simply, but not feel like anyone was missing out. That's a good way to ensure many more birthdays and brunches to come.

UnRecipe: Put a Bird's Egg On It

The Portlandia "Put a Bird On It" meme has certainly seen a lot of mileage, but I'd like to start a new, more delicious meme of Put a Bird's Egg On It. Seriously. It just makes food better. See...?

If you liked it then you shoulda put an egg on it - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Truthfully, I welcome any excuse to make pasta carbonara. I rather like saying "pasta carbonara" because it sounds far superior to "eggs n' bacon with noodles." Italians do scrappy leftovers with style, si? I actually made this heaping dish of happiness a while back, using some farm fresh eggs with ridiculously bright yellow yolks. If you ever have the opportunity to get a hold of fresh eggs, do so -- you'll notice the richness of the flavor and just the look of the yolks are eye-popping. Sunshine-yellow, creamy yolk-y goodness. Not that you can't enjoy this dish with grocery store eggs, but yowza, that color. Too pretty, right?

As you can tell, I'm all over the place on these posts in terms of when dishes were made -- the eggs were originally from Once in a Blue Moon Farm, out on Orcas Island, when we made our late spring trek out there. Even as hard-boiled eggs, they were delicious, enjoyed with some cured meat and fresh bread from the local bakery. Not that it's news to anyone, but the simplest high-quality ingredients can be all you need for a really good meal. And it doesn't need a lot of prep time. In the case of hard boiled eggs with some meat and cheese, the most amount of time spent is getting the water to boil, and that's plenty of time to slice up some things and pour yourself a glass of wine. You'll be on glass number two by the time the eggs are done.

Thanks for the nomz, chickens - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Another simple, but tried-and-true meal of enjoyment is, of course, Brinner. Breakfast for Dinner, as coined by the TV show, Scrubs. Maybe this term existed before, but no one relished it quite like the character Turk, who would celebrate with glee when his girl would make it. Maybe it's a guy thing. Or maybe it's the fact that there's a reason breakfast is the one meal that diners and greasy spoon restaurants serve it at all hours -- it just tastes really good. I had made a skillet hash of cubed ham, sweet potatoes, onions and whatever else we had in the crisper, cooked some bacon in the oven, and served it all up with fried eggs on top. All around 6pm on a Sunday night. It's kind of a lazy night. You know you have to go to work the next day and for most people, breakfast is really celebrated on the weekends, since you actually have the luxury of time to either make it or go out for a nice sit-down meal. So having fried eggs with hash for dinner is a nice way of saying, break the rules and enjoy the simple things. All thanks to putting a bird's egg on it.

Sunday Brinner - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Attack of the Razzies

I've mentioned this many times on this blog, to the point where the Betty Ford Clinic may have to get involved -- I'm addicted to sales, coupons and the like when I'm grocery shopping. So when I see a screamin' good deal like buy one package of fresh raspberries and get two free, I lose my mind for a little bit, and when I come to my senses, the fridge is freakin' full of raspberries. It's like The Lost Weekend or alien abduction-related missing time, with only the fruit to bear witness to whatever madness was put forth...

Getting razzed by raspberries - Photo by Wasabi Prime

This is not a bad problem to have, a wealth of raspberries. I'd argue it qualifies under the "First World Problem" header, as I'm sure many folks around the world would rather have a surplus of food versus none at all. Hence the greater pressure to make sure not a single berry went to waste. If you've ever bought these heavenly delicate, velvety, thimble-like berries, you'll know they mold if you just look at 'em sideways. I've literally bought a little container of raspberries on Monday and then have to throw them out by Wednesday because somehow there was one bad berry that just threw the rest into ruin, even in the chill of a crisper drawer. So my objective was clear -- aside from eating them as a tasty snack, which I did in spades, how else do I take advantage of this summery yet fragile fruit, and extend the enjoyment of them beyond the typical shelf life?

Berry overload? Easy, have dessert and a cocktail - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Dessert reigns supreme for raspberries. I made use of a seeded raspberry puree for a salad dressing, but I enjoyed the fruit best when it was made into a fluffy clafouti or mixed with white chocolate and churned into a creamy ice cream. I made a fairly large batch of raspberry puree, which made for really lovely cocktails, as well as a zesty topping for coffee cake. I can thank Martha Stewart for inspiring the clafouti; I get her Everyday Food magazine and while the recipe called for peaches, clafouti is perfect for any fruit, especially delicate berries, since it's got a great textural combination of souffle and custard, cradling the fruit nicely and allowing it to keep its shape during the baking process. I like pies and crumbles, but it's nice to enjoy a baked fruit dessert that lets you maintain the integrity of the fruit, and clafouti is a perfect fruit-celebratory baked treat. While I don't have the exact recipe on-hand, here's one from St. Martha of the Holy Busybody's website, for a basic raspberry clafouti.

As for keeping raspberries the longest, frozen desserts are probably the best way to keep them around. You can freeze the berries on their own, but knowing they'd just turn mushy, I just went for the ice cream gusto to finish off the last bit of berry goodness and keep them preserved like Han Solo in Carbonite. I'm not a big white chocolate fan. I feel like it's some big marketing scam to call it chocolate because it's just sugary sweetness without the complex, smoky, bittersweet goodness of real chocolate. I know, I know, there's cocoa butter in it, but I rarely seek it out. However, I admit that raspberries and white chocolate are a stunning pair and I had some leftover baking white chocolate, which I incorporated into a sweetened, eggy custard and eventually churned into ice cream, adding the raspberries in the last part of the churn. I kept the seeds in, as I think half the charm of raspberries is that pleasant crunch, a reminder that this was real fruit, not just some fruit-flavored jelly. Creamy ice cream with fresh fruit flavor -- not a bad way to enjoy the last few bites of berry goodness.

And then there were none. The crisper drawer for fruit is no longer brimming with raspberries. It's almost a little lonely in there. I only need to wait until the next shopping trip madness takes over and some other seasonal fruit takes over our refrigerator. Stay tuned...

UnRecipe: Suddenly Tacos

You know what rhymes with hasty? Why, tasty, of course. Another whirlwind meal was chalked up to random ingredients delivered in a CSA box and scrounging through pantry and freezer staples. Despite its scrappy beginnings, it was still quite a fiesta to behold. Viva la UnRecipe!

The CSA box said, it's Taco Night - Photo by Wasabi Prime

The truth of the matter is, I just don't know what the hell I'm doing from week to week. Blame it on a combination of doing too many things and too few hours in the day, but I'm never going to have the bandwidth to be a fancy food blogger who regularly spends several days preparing a specialty meal. I'm all about quick-prep foods so that I can spend more time enjoying the meal versus fussing over it. This is compounded by our CSA delivery, which makes for a delicious mystery every two weeks. One of the boxes included a whole mix of random things like radishes, corn, tomatoes and a mango or two. Based on what shows up in the box, I go with my gut instinct, and that day, the gut said: tacos with mango salsa.

Let the season guide your meal - Photos by Wasabi Prime

You should listen to your gut. Aside from the occasional stomach growl and gurgle, it can make for some inspiring conversation. I think my gut was also aware that I always keep dried beans in the pantry and corn tortillas in the freezer. I'm a sucker for bulk buying and I knew I'd never use the five million tortillas in a single dish, so I divided them up into smaller stacks and froze accordingly, knowing I'd have a few stacks ready for future meals. The dried beans were soaked and mixed into a spicy seasoned rice with the fresh corn as a side dish. A bunch of fresh breakfast radishes were the perfect crunch for a spicy taco. Radishes are definitely my favorite for taco toppings; much more character than shreds of iceberg lettuce.

Botannical summer booze - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I couldn't enjoy a summer taco banquet without a frosty beverage, and no I did not waste away in Margaritaville. The CSA box had some oranges and a cucumber. My gut was still ruminating over tacos, but my brain immediately went to fruit/vegetable-infused vodka. The cucumber was a thicker-skinned pickling variety, so I didn't feel bad sacrificing it to the liquor gods. It got pickled all right -- in a glass carafe of booze. I mixed the cucumber slices with orange wedges and let them soak in vodka for a few hours. Using a French Press is great, as you've got a strainer built-in that helps press all the flavor from the fruit that's been soaking away. I took some gin and steeped some Earl Grey tea bags in a separate glass for a short time. It only steeped for about a half hour, as tea can get bitter if it's left to sit for too long. I didn't have a defined idea in mind for these cocktails, except that I mixed the cucumber/citrus vodka with some St. Germain and seltzer for a light-tasting fizz, and mixed the tea-steeped gin with Luxardo maraschino liqueur, some simple syrup and seltzer for a more rich-tasting fizz. Lately my at-home cocktails often look like this -- favorite liquor, a fruit component, light bitter or sour element, simple syrup and fizzy water to liven it all up. I could add more things to it, but that may require more dishes or utensils to wash, and I'm a lazy bartender.

Summertime fiesta at home - Photos by Wasabi Prime

So even though I'm not throwing any wild sexy summer parties at Casa de Wasabi, we manage to eat and drink well enough in the warm, sunny evenings. The fresh produce deliveries keep us on our toes and a well-stocked freezer and pantry shore up whatever we're missing. If I'm very lucky and wish to fully celebrate my laziness, I manage to get away with skipping a trip to the grocery store for a week!

FoodTrek: Rumble in the Thirsty Jungle

What's wrong with a little healthy competition? Especially when it's so delicious. I was glad to attend one of Italianissimo Ristorante's special Beer v. Wine events, where they pit a local brewery's beers against a local winery's vintages in an edible bout to knock the other one out! *Ding!* There goes the bell... let the battle begin!

Italy goes on holiday to Thailand with a spicy lobster and peanut sauce pizza - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Actually, there's no boxing gloves involved. Not even a hint of a scuffle. It's about as civilized a battle as you'll see, and way more delicious than chess. For these special dinners, there's several courses of food paired with dueling pours of wine and beer. This time, it was Black Raven Brewing Company and Efeste Winery -- both locally made products that pack a Mike Tyson punch to your tastebuds. Winemaker Brennan Leighton was on hand, as was head brewer Beaux Bowman, to answer the nitty-gritty about beer and winemaking and generally take the Mickey out of one another for the amusement of a filled dining table. All's fair in love and alcohol, after all.

Brewer vs Winemaker vs Chef - can't we all just get along?! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

It was five courses of food, expertly prepared by Italianissimo owner and chef, Kent Betts, and the event is organized by the fabulous Caylee Betts -- yes, this restaurant is a family affair, adding further charm to why it's such a great place. If you've ever had the pleasure of a meal at Italianissimo, these Beer v. Wine events are an extra treat, as it gives Chef Betts a chance to play around with dishes and ingredients that step outside of the traditional Italian scope. He's given the tricky task of coming up with food that will harmonize the wine and beer. And while the drinks are smartly paired, it's still a challenge as the flavor components of the two libations are complex, especially with hops from the beer, which adds a distinctive bitterness that needs Mad Chef Skillz (yes, that's an official term) to properly compliment the food.

Tummy, are you rrrrrready to rrrrrumble? I think so - Photos by Wasabi Prime

The food of course rose to the occasion with enthusiasm -- guests were greeted with creamy, sweet crab crepes, topped with fried orange zest, paired nicely with the sweet Feral Sauvignon Blanc from Efeste and the high citrus notes of Black Raven's new Belgian Golden Ale, tentatively called Four Play (they may have to change this, as apparently there's a similarly-titled beer in Oregon, but keep an eye out for it!). The second course was probably my favorite, as the strong flavors of Black Raven's Trickster IPA and Efeste's Evergreen Riesling needed something equally bold, and a slice of a spicy peanut sauce pizza covered with lobster was a unique companion -- definitely something you'd never normally get at the restaurant, but people were already making pleading gestures to Chef Betts to add it as a special item. A bonus tasting included the rare and now sold-out Wisdom Seeker, a double IPA that's like a love letter to Northwest beer fanatics who literally want their beer to smack them in the face with hoppy flavor.

Pulled pork with a Northwest twist - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Another special treat was the third course, a slow-cooked pork shoulder, braised for five hours to butter-softness, topped with the sharp sweetness of a Bing cherry salsa and served with sweet potato chips. Sort of like a Washington-themed deconstructed pulled pork sandwich, minus the bread. Served with Efeste's Ceidleigh (pronounced cay-lee) Syrah and the Tamerlane Brown Porter, Black Raven's first beer (simply called "Batch 1 Brown" in its newborn stage), it was an overall bold-flavored course of food and drinks, with heavy flavor on all sides. The biggest flavor punch was the fourth course, with the Final Final Red Blend and Second Sight Strong Scotch Ale served with Italianissimo's signature house made sausage and meatballs. The sausage was mostly wild boar, lending a rich, sweet flavor, and the meatballs were seasoned with rosemary. The menu had a little check box where you could mark off which beer or wine "won" the course, but I have to say the fourth course was an even tie, as the peaty Scotch Ale went marvelously with the sweetness of the boar sausage, and Efeste's red blend had a fruity acidity that balanced the richness of the rosemary-flavored meatball. At that point, I wished I wore my stretchy pants.

Food and wine, introduced by event mastermind, Caylee Betts - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Not that it matters who got the most checkmarks; it really was a case of everybody winning by the time dessert showed up. Chef Betts made a goat cheese gelato, super creamy and drizzled with their caramel sauce that is pretty much the most addictive substance on Earth. He made it a point to say he likes finishing a meal with a strong wine, and I really liked that. He's totally correct -- you've probably gone through multiple courses, your palate has run a gauntlet of flavors and quite honestly, it probably needs something strong versus some light chantilly cream of subtlety that tired tastebuds won't be able to appreciate. So a rich dessert is nicely paired with the creaminess of a Grandfather Raven Redmond Imperial Stout, and equally cut with the acid of a Big Papa Cabernet Sauvignon. The fatherly themed beer and wine inevitably leads one to the ultimate question of: who's your daddy?

Everyone wins! And oh yes, Put a Bird On It - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Who ultimately won the Beer v. Wine battle, between Black Raven and Efeste? For my own scorecard, it was a tie, and in the end, everyone was so happy and full, it didn't matter. The real winner was the idea that beer and wine can be treated as equals, successfully paired with food without the pretense of something being considered highbrow or lowbrow. Beer can be just as complex and sophisticated as wine, just like wine can be as casual and friendly with a slice of pizza. There is no "best" or "worst," just what you like and how you enjoy food and drink. If you live in the area, definitely check out Italianissimo's food and wine events -- they have something going on every week. For special event dinners, definitely get reservations, they tend to sell out. Their next Beer v. Wine event is coming up soon on Aug 11th, with 21 Acres, details here. For smaller weekly things, definitely head over for their Wine Wednesdays. It's a great way to sample several tastes and talk to the winemaker who's usually on hand to talk to people. And when the weather is nice, they open up their patio and you can sip wine and watch the day ebb away into the early evening. Ah, belissimo!

Mixed Plate: Keep Calm and Have a Brown Butter Bar

The health experts usually say it's an unhealthy sign when you have an emotional relationship with food, but sometimes you just need what you crave to get through a tricky time. While the going gets tough, the tough make rich and creamy macaroni and cheese and a tray of brown butter bars. It's way cheaper than therapy, right?

Macaroni and cheese, better than Prozac - Photo by Wasabi Prime

It must be something cosmic or a sign that summer and I don't have the best relationship; I remember around the same time last year, things were so hectic, I had to put a hard-stop to everything and just hole-up for a bit, just to recharge and tamp down that moment of, "What the hell am I doing? Maybe I should've been an x-ray technician." I don't really know what an x-ray technician does, beyond fiddling with x-rays, but it sounds like the sensible sort of job that one takes to make the family feel more at ease than the current answer, which is, "living 'in-the-now' as a graphic designer/blogger/writer/photographer." That's the answer that makes Mom and Dad ponder in bewildered silence: four year university... for this? Self-doubt and personal crisis aside, this latest bout of excitement in Wasabi-World has been a combination of usual workaholic shenanigans, topped with the 1-2 punch of a wee car accident. No major injuries, everything's fine, but it's the Supersized Big Meal Deal of Compounded Crap no one needs that really takes the Mickey outta you. But I had the Power of Carbs to see me through. Glory Hallelujah!

It gets kind of annoying how many recipes for macaroni and cheese are out there. There's a million "ultimate," "best," "greatest," or "most amazing" mac n' cheeses in cookbooks and on restaurant menus, to the point where you want to scream. But maybe it's a case of not blaming the messenger -- there's a good reason this comfort food is so ubiquitous. Maybe we all need a little comfort now and then, and having a bowl of cheesy, noodle-y comfort at every turn makes it a lot easier to take a moment to get centered and eat heartily. While I didn't go out to a restaurant to order this cheese for my whine, I can see why it's such an easy, quick meal to make from scratch, since you probably have the basic ingredients handy: pasta, milk, flour, and cheese. This version had some bacon crumbles, but even without the smoky divine swine, making a basic bechamel sauce and loading it full of different cheeses was a pretty direct route to a happy, calm state of food coma-ville. And at least for a little bit, I didn't have to think about anything beyond the feeling of a full stomach.

Great book and tasty methods for getting to one's happy place (with help of Miss Indy) - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Another big savior for my sanity was this dessert from Keren Brown's new book, Food Lovers' Guide to Seattle. It's a great insider's guide to all the great restaurants, specialty ingredient shops and even a calendar for food events. It's also got the extra bonus of recipes shared by local chefs. Highly recommended by the author herself, I had to try the Brown Butter Bar recipe from Pastry Chef Heather Earnhardt of Volunteer Park Cafe, which is like the classic favorite Blondie Bar, but with a sophisticated twist, browning the butter to give the batter a toasty, nutty flavor. The finished bar is an ooey-gooey sweet treat. The recipe reminds you to not overbake the bar, and I tend to extra-underbake things like brownies, so my resulting Brown Butter Bars were probably heavier on the ooey-gooey factor, but I didn't care. We don't make treats like this to be some impossibly perfect dessert. Much like the pasta and cheese combination, we want our food to mainline Happiness into our system and spare the window dressings.

It was also a delicious reminder over how amazing brown butter, aka beurre noisette is. The toasted, nutty flavor is distinctly rich and hazelnut-like. I tend to use it more in savory dishes, but I forget how lovely it can be for baked goods. Turn off the Calorie Counter Voice in your head as you throw a few sticks of butter into a saucepan, and simmer n' bubble your way to golden-brown deliciousness. But this isn't something you walk away from -- butter goes from brown to yucky-burnt in the blink of an eye. It doesn't need babysitting, it needs P-Diddy/Diva-like attention and nurturing. It's a bit like making ghee or clarified butter, as you're cooking the butter itself, toasting the milk solids, developing that nutty flavor, but you stop the process before the butter is totally separated. The basic stages were captured on-camera: the butter will melt down to a foamy, golden elixir before starting to slowly darken, and when you can smell that nutty (but not burned) fragrance, shut the burner off and take the pot off the heat, as it will continue to cook just from the residual heat of the butter itself. I mean it when it says it goes from brown to burnt in an instant -- when the color starts to develop, it's wicked-fast and you have to make sure you're quick on the draw to remove it from the heat. But the extra step is worth it, and it's what makes the bars from Keren's book so worthwhile for your sanity.

So take a moment when you need it. Keep calm, carb-out, and if you have a fuzzy friend like Miss Indy who will quietly listen to your woes and likely drool for a nibble of pasta or brown butter bar, all the better. And when you see Keren Brown's book on the shelf, by all means pick it up! Get twelve copies and send to friends who may be considering a trip to the Northwest, as there's great restaurants and insider-track notes about what to order or buy when you're letting your stomach be your guide in a city. Whether or not you live in Seattle, the recipes alone are definitely worth it, as I think the Brown Butter Bars speak for themselves.

It's like BUTTAH! - Photos by Wasabi Prime