OMG a Recipe: Holiday Eats and Treats on the Move!

I admit, I'm remiss on the holiday hoopla on the blog this year, not that we haven't decorated the house or put up a tree -- the house is festooned with festive-ness! I just haven't had a chance to take proper photos and post accordingly, but feel free to peek at our holiday shenanigans on my Instagram feed. I will share some of the resources for my holiday eats -- this year has been busy with making treats that can be mailed, and pre-made items easy to bring to others' houses, so that's why I call this Holiday Eats and Treats on the Move!

Homemade chips n' dips - an easy make-ahead/portable party snack - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Mixed Plate: Holi-DIY and Resource Guide

Well, it's official - it's December and you just can't escape the fact that THE HOLIDAYS ARE TOTALLY EFFING HERE (and they're calling from inside the house!). Nevermind the fact that Costco has been selling Christmas wrapping since August. I'm here to help you on this whirlwind of Holiday Madness by sharing my Jedi Master Wasabi DIY Gift-Making Tips, as well as a resource guide for where I purchase a lot of the base materials on the cheap. (Hint: the Interwebs.) So let's get crack-a-lackin' my little Elves and Elvises -- there's gifts to be made!

Gift wrapping - brought to you by Pinterest and being a scrap-hoarder - Photo by Wasabi Prime

FoodTrek: Tis the Season... For Dessert!

I know everyone's in the countdown planning stages for Thanksgiving, but I've already got visions of sugarplums dancing in my head. Sorry, Turkeyday -- I'm all about Christmastown! Holidays are equivalent of having dessert first, and there's nothing more fitting than an entire post about --  you got it -- DESSERTS!! And even better, wine paired with desserts, at Seattle's very own Fairmont Olympic Hotel.

Become a Honey Veil devotee -- you won't be sorry - Photo by Wasabi Prime

OMG a Recipe: Ho-Ho-Holiday Home Stretch

Can you believe we're almost through the holidays? Through the YEAR, even? Thanksgiving flashed by before our eyes. Christmas -- here and gone in a flash. And New Years Eve...?! Sure, you can go out, but many gatherings are with family and friends, so you're expected to bring something else a little more festive than a sixer of High Life and a bag of chips. Wasabi to the rescue, with an easy make-ahead dessert and Avengers-Assemble! appetizers.

Be fancy, schmancy and effortless with pancetta-wrapped persimmons - Photo by Wasabi Prime

OMG a Recipe: Ho-Ho-Holiday Gift Emergency? Don't Panic, Have a Cheese Cracker

I'm interrupting my Germany/France posts for a couple of weeks because I realized, holy crap, it's the holidays! And I'm sure you've been like me, doing all the frenzied last-minute buying, baking, wrapping of gifts. Or maybe not. Maybe you, too, are only now realizing, Holy Crap It's the Holidays, and that you do not want to commit the same gift sin as last year's Chia Pet/Pajama Jean debacle that everyone has vowed silence over, never to be spoken of again. Ever. So, why not give a gift that's not only tasty, easy on one's schedule, but you can say it was homemade? Because no one's going to believe you knitted those Pajama Jeans, you big ol' liar.

Bust out the baker's twine, it's the holiday season, bitches - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Mixed Plate: Hello, My Little Petite Sweet...

Tis the season for sugary sweets and decadent treats.. and then wondering why the pants don't fit come New Year's Day. It's so hard to resist all the goodies around this time of year! Especially when you work at an office and every week someone brings in something homemade or clients are sending gifts of thanks like fancy chocolates. And don't get me started on the day one of my office mates introduced me to the entity known as The Kringle. And it's definitely the season for making at-home treats, both to give away and hoard for yourself, and therein lies this bloggy sweet tale...

Deck the halls with... shiny stuff! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I don't have an office break room anymore to indulge in communal sweets, but I do get into a baking mood when the holidays come 'round. I was decorating the house, pulling out Christmas stuff one weekend and it just didn't feel like the holidays until the house had the smell of fresh baked goods perfuming the air. And just doing a run-through with a cinnamon/vanilla scented candle wasn't going to cut it. 

I had been meaning to try the recipes from the new Petite Treats cookbook, from the wild n' crazy gals over at Mini Empire Bakery. It's their newest book, as adorably cute and petite-sized as their first book, Mini Pies, which I enjoyed baking from as well. If you haven't already done your holiday shopping, it's one of those cute, charming cookbooks that make for easy gifts, since it's full of photos, the recipes are for familiar desserts, and there's a lot of good options and suggestions for making things vegan, gluten-free and just a more natural way of enjoying your sweets. And the best thing is, the desserts are MINI, so you can EAT MORE. This logic of mini desserts is brilliant.

Petite Sweets from the Mini Empire Bakery team gives you a reason to eat your beets! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I wanted to try their Red Velvet Yippee Cakes, which are a mini version of whoopie pies. Having made whoopie pies before and seeing how large they can be, and how much butter goes into the icing, you get a little of that reality shock. As wonderful as they taste, it's the Thing That Cannot Be Unseen, remembering how many sticks of butter had to be sacrificed for a healthy slathering of sweet, iced filling. Making a mini version of whoopie pies was much easier for my brain's calorie counter to handle, plus the recipe in Petite Treats uses beets to give the red velvet cake it's signature hue. Traditionally, beets were part of the original recipe, the ingredient that gave the cake that distinctive color, but thanks to the popularity of this vintage recipe and the need to play up the red hue for TV Land and Food Photography-ville, most recipes suggest using a scary amount of red food dye. Granted, the dye is safe and it's not like the crazy tumor-growing stuff we all drank down in iced Cherry Squishee form back in the 80s, but that red color really is quite alarming, especially in the large amount required to make today's expectation of red velvet cake.

Their recipe called for canned beets, which has the benefit of the beet juice -- nature's food coloring! And don't get it on anything, it stains like Bloody Murder. I used roasted beets, just because I had them, but don't worry, whether home roasted or canned, you're not going to take a bite from the cake and say, "Mmm... borscht-y!" I've baked with beets before, even blended them into chocolate brownies to keep it moist -- they're ideal to bake with chocolate, as the bitter cocoa goes nicely with the slightly earthy, but sweet beets. You don't taste them at all, and for this recipe, they lend their color in a more natural way, more of a burgundy color. While the cake won't have that blood red look that you usually see, it's a truer red velvet cake. And hey, burgundy is one of the hot trend colors of the year, so consider your dessert extra fashionable.

I didn't have a special pan to make each little yippee pie that perfect mound-shape, and I wasn't sure if the dough would run on the pan, so I made square yippee pies. As Huey Lewis and the News would say: It's Hip to be Square. The cake batter is stiff enough to where you could pipe or carefully spoon each half onto a prepared baking sheet, just being mindful to keep each dollop as uniform as possible. I basically made a red velvet brownie, then once it was cooled, carefully sliced it across the middle and added frosting to the center before slicing into smaller pieces. I personally love cream cheese frosting, so I used that as the filling, but the recipe comes with a great buttercream icing recipe, which is more true to whoopie/yippee form.

Something sweet to give - lavender sugar - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I saved our mini red velvet cakes for ourselves, as the cream cheese frosting made it a little harder to mail out to family and friends. We have to save a little something sweet for ourselves, right? But while I was in my baking/decorating mode, I managed to make a quick batch of lavender sugar, something sweet that's very easy to package up and give to friends. In the final stages of homemade gifts, I had some dried lavender from a friend's garden and plain white sugar. I buzzed the lavender buds and sugar in a food processor until they were as chopped up as possible, and then divided up the fragrant sugar into those quaint little Weck jars, which are all the crafty rage these days. A pretty blue-lavender bow, and these little darlings were ready to gift to friends who like to bake or drink tea. A little sprinkle of this in tea is wonderful, it sweetens and perfumes the drink beautifully. You could probably incorporate it in cocktails as well, but again, using it sparingly as the lavender is strong. I used this sugar in this year's lavender shortbread cookies, cutting the regular sugar with some lavender sugar to make the cookies extra special.

A sweet finish to a productive holiday weekend - Photos by Wasabi Prime

And so I managed to cross off several holiday to-do's on my list, while enjoying a house smelling like sweet cake and lavender. It's a rare moment of holiday heaven when you can both feel productive and be rewarded with a delicious dessert afterwards. Don't forget to put Mini Empire's book on your holiday gift list, or for any dessert fan in your life -- everyone deserves to have a little something sweet now and then.

Mixed Plate: My Own List of Favorite Things (Take THAT, Oprah!)

We're in the terrifying thrall of X-Days Till Christmas and it's barely the second week of December. I felt my chest start to tighten the moment I had to change the calendar over once November croaked out its day. Despite the fact that Santa's laws-of-physics-breaking visit is at the end of the month, the hard truth is, the gift-gathering should be mostly done because you know it's going to take the whole month to track people down for a holiday meetup to actually give them that glorious Chia Pet you so lovingly selected last minute from the drug store bargain aisle. Gift giving has become less of a thoughtful art, and more of a mad dash to some imaginary finish line with gift-wrapped Snuggies in our clutches. Just Say No to a Pajama Jean Holiday. Instead, how about thinking outside the box, making gifts more about use and less about clutter, and most importantly: Shopping Local.

Unique cutting boards made with salvaged Big Leaf Maple wood - pretty AND useful! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

This post was inspired by Oprah, or rather, to counteract her demigod-like status. I remember when she first started doing her Favorite Things list around the holidays, showcasing hidden gems and artisan products that she would package up in a well-produced yearly episode. She's given a lot of great press to small companies and changed a lot of lives, and for that I appreciated her efforts to give people an alternative to Big Box Store gift buying. Then, after a while, the Favorite Things turned into too many high-end, designer items, and then there was the car thing where everyone in the audience literally got a car, my eyes rolled into the back of my head and I turned the television off. But I still appreciated the heart of what Almighty Oprah was trying to do and I wanted to come up with a few of my own Favorite Things that I've discovered this year.

My Favorite Things are just a handful of items; they're just a few items I thought were showcase-worthy because at the heart of all great gifts is a story, whether it's in the product itself or the way you as the gift-giver came to discover it. And yes, they're all food-related, which makes sense for a food blog, but makes better sense for a recipient because heaven knows we all don't need more decorative dust-collectors. It's nice to get something we can consume and enjoy the experience without wondering where to put the thing, or if it's an object, it should be something you can use regularly, and kitchen-related items can be both artful and useful. 

Which leads me to one particular item that I think brings a little beauty into your everyday life -- handmade cutting boards made from a local Northwest native species of tree called Big Leaf Maple. These are really special items because the particular tree that was used to harvest from was a massive 60 year old Big Leaf Maple tree in Olympia which fell in that huge winter windstorm back in 2009 -- if you lived in the area at the time, you probably recall that insane storm. We were without power for a week, so I sure as heck remember. But from the wreckage comes beauty, as the salvaged wood was made into cutting boards all shapes and sizes, with no board being exactly alike, given the nature of the reclaimed wood. The boards are cut down and left to dry age in a method called spalting, which enhances the wood's grain and develops unusual coloring patterns. They're sanded and treated with food grade mineral oil and are safe to serve items like cheese, crackers and prepared meats. It's not recommended to cut raw meat or chicken on, but that's fine because I would consider these boards more presentation serving ware than something you'd hack up a side of beef on. They're finished with a custom brand in the corner, the initials ML, which stands for the mother who owns the property, and the son who crafts each board. 

Display your favorite winter fruits on a schmancy Pacific Northwest cutting board! - Photos by Wasabi prime

I was introduced to these boards by my friend Jameson Fink, who you probably know as the man, the myth the legend behind Wine Without Worry, wine writer for magazines, as well as the author of Beginners Guide to Wine. And also just a very cool dude. Jameson's a friend of the family in Cooper Point who makes these beautiful cutting boards and along with good taste in wine, he has great taste in gift ideas. These are handcrafted boards from a single tree, and given the artisan nature of the items, it's a limited supply, so get 'em while they're hot. Think of it as art you can use because they're lovely conversation pieces and a great gift for someone who likes to entertain. Believe me, you can never have too many serving platters, boards, etc. If you want to know more information about the boards and where you can get one of the Preciousses, contact Jameson directly. He's volunteered to be the point person for this very boutique family operation, so send Jameson a ping through the various networks of interwebs he has on his contact page.

The boards would make a perfect Big Gift for someone special. What about stocking stuffers or little goodies to add to gift bags? Instead of one big centerpiece gift, I usually opt for a mishmash-melange of little finds that I've collected throughout the year like handmade soaps and lotions, flavored salts and sugars, cute mittens -- all wonderful finds that you can typically find at farmers markets. But, OH SNAP -- most farmers markets have closed up shop since it's off season. Luckily there are small craft shows that open for the holiday season -- find one and go to it, you will find all the little affordable gifts and stocking stuffers to your heart's content, and you'll be buying items from the person who made it, so they can tell you all about each piece. My favorite place to see what's going on locally is the bulletin boards in coffee shops -- the Starbucks has become the Town Hall for the 21st century. While you're waiting for that peppermint mocha with whipped cream and sprinkles, take a gander at the bulletin board for upcoming craft fairs in your neighborhood. 

A funny thing happened on the way out of the hardware store... - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Shop creatively and in unexpected places. Be open to discovery. Skip the Ninth Circle of Hell that is the shopping mall during the holiday season, because it's just full of people with the glazed-over look of Black Friday regret, junkies looking for that next bargain/red tag discount hit. My biggest discovery this year was, of all places, at the local True Value hardware store right in Duvall. I needed something random like wreath hangers and as I was leaving the store, my eye caught on a small display full of locally harvested raw honey. Jackpot. I actually left the store, thinking of the honey, then ran back to buy a few bottles. It was Kismet, swarmed by bees. The honey was bottled by a local beekeeper who knows the owner of the hardware store; he up hives all over the Cherry Valley, and then collects the honey to sell at a very affordable price. I picked up a couple of bottles of blackberry honey and one called knotweed, which sounds less than sexy, but the honey was a gorgeous caramel color, darker than the golden blackberry variety. It's pretty sweet stuff, ideal for tea drinkers or anyone who wants something sweet on their morning toast. Once I packaged the bottles up in a more festive way, they went into gift bags and boxes knowing the recipients would literally have a taste of the Cherry Valley, and the place I call home. It's not just honey in a jar, it's personal, a treasure discovered, and something I know the recipient will use and enjoy.

Granted, not everyone lives near Duvall, much less in Washington. Maybe raw honey isn't your thing, but the point is to always keep your eye open for discoveries. And small towns are perfect for these unexpected treasures, since shops are willing to sell unusual items like handcrafted jewelry and yes, food items. I guarantee you'll find more amazing treasures and trinkets shopping five small shops along the Main Street of a little town than you will browsing the mega aisles in a single Big Box Store. Think on a bigger level -- just by diverting a few of your holiday gift budget towards small, local businesses, you're a part of a growing collective that supports creating more jobs. It's holiday cheer that is priceless. 

That's one big, hot... rooster - Photos by Wasabi Prime

But of course, it's the holidays, which means -- who the hell has the time to be out driving around, making precious discoveries in quaint Small Town America? We all have busy schedules and for as much as we pine for a leisurely holiday season, everything turns into Murderball in December, and I still shop online like a madwoman. As tempting as it is to use the hell out of that Amazon Prime membership this holiday season, take a second to see what else is out there in Retail Interwebs-landia. One of my tastiest finds this year was during breakfast at our neighborhood spot, the Duvall Grill. You get your delicious plate o' food, and they bring out the typical array of condiments: ketchup, Tabasco (red and green), Cholula and/or Tapatio, aka, Spooky Blue-Eyed Creepy Uncle sauce. This time, it was a funky bottle of hot sauce with a dapper, suit-wearing rooster on the front. A clever ode to our Other Favorite Rooster Sauce, which I would argue is the Unofficial State Condiment of Washington, this new spicy little devil was simply called DeMars's Rooster Sauce. It wasn't dying-of-spice hot, just a really satisfying touch of heat, but with vibrant sweet pepper flavor and vinegar-forward -- a bonus to Tabasco fans. It's all natural, vegan, gluten free, so no junk, and by god, it's flavorful. It made an already good breakfast wicked-awesome mo' bettah, and I was hooked. I looked up the company and DeMars is based out of Olympia and sold in a few stores, so keep an eye out for them on the shelves of small grocers, or if you're impatient like me, go to their website. 

Hot sauces are perfect gifts for people who love their food to bite back, and we have a lot of family and friends who I knew would dig this rooster the most. I went ahead and bought a case of the smaller bottles from their site -- 12 bottles = 12 mini gifts. Bazam. And how cluckin' awesome is that, when they included a nice little handwritten thank you note from "The Rooster Crew." Love it. And given its in-state proximity, I received my order within two days, no express shipping needed. I was able to dress up each bottle with a little gift tag, noting their delicious local-ness, and add them to gift bags and boxes full of homemade cookies or other goodies like local chocolates.

You don't have to run out and buy each item like on Oprah's Favorite Things. In fact, I hope you find your own Favorite Things this year. I wanted to highlight some discoveries I'm quite proud to show off, because they're a piece of home, they all come with a story, and no matter where you live, I know there are treasures waiting for you to discover and share with loved ones this holiday season. So keep a watchful eye out, whether you're in a hardware store or just having breakfast at your favorite neighborhood diner -- you can avoid the typical shopping snarls this year and never have to buy another Chia Pet again!

OMG a Recipe: There's No Crying in Baseball and It's Never too Cold for Ice Cream

I think that's pretty much my double-mantra for life: a stubble-faced Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own, screeching to a weepy Racine Belle player that there is absolutely positively no crying in baseball, and no matter how many inches of snow are piled atop the ground, it is never too cold for ice cream. Not ever!! Also, it's never too late to enjoy the flavor of peppermint, especially when you've been saving the best of the holiday candy for last!

The last of the Christmas-themed posts (I swear) - Photo by Wasabi Prime

This is one of the biggest challenges of blogging, which is notoriously known for getting backlogged with posts: getting holiday-sensitive material posted somewhere near its relevant holiday. Nobody wants to hear about a Christmas roast in the middle of June. Sure, I could plan all the holiday festive eats and treats ahead of time and have tinsel-festooned posts appearing all throughout December, but that would mean kicking off the holidays a month or two earlier, and frankly, I just don't wanna be decking the halls with Christmas cookies in September. All that being said, yes, this is a peppermint chocolate ice cream, using a holiday-specific candy, to boot. But I hold my belief to be true -- ice cream knows no season, and that goes for its flavors, too.

Keep Christmas in your heart, or your freezer, it sets up real nice - Photos by Wasabi Prime

We received a lovely bar of Theo peppermint and dark chocolate over the holidays. Score, right? Theo Chocolate is amazing, both in flavor and principle. They're local, organic, free trade -- it's like the trifecta of goodness and quality that Portlandia loves to make funny-but-true skits about. And it also becomes such a precious thing that I get all Gollum about it and don't want to just eat it, I just sit in a corner, all hunched over, petting it like the One Ring and the Mister asks if I'm gonna share that thing or what? Fair question. So my solution, much like the Lord of the Rings story: destroy The Precioussssss! Well, pulverize the heck out of the chocolate bar and spread its tasty goodness across several portions by making ice cream out of it. Portlandia, are you listening? After you've Put a Bird on It, decided We Can Pickle It, you can now Make Ice Cream Out of It!

How Wasabi rolls when making ice cream at home - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Along with the Precious Chocolate Bar that I was in danger of hoarding like a house full of cats, we replaced our old n' busted ice cream maker with a fancy-schmancy version that gets tacked onto a KitchenAid mixer. Happy Boxing Day to us! Yes, the KitchenAid attachments are great, with the one teensy drawback that you have to spend a small fortune or pre-sell some organs to get the KitchenAid mixer itself. I admit, we are fortunate to have this mighty appliance, but if you want to make your own ice cream, don't feel like you have to buy a bunch of extra crap. A smaller, less expensive ice cream mixer works dandy (which was what I was using before) -- it's all about having a good-sized freezable container that gets super-cold and either an electric mixing attachment or even a hand-cranked paddle to churn the ice cream as it freezes. I have to admit, the KitchenAid attachment's maiden voyage had it working almost too well -- the freezable container is big, so more surface area than other smaller ice cream makers; after it's had a couple of days to get super cold in the freezer, it makes the ice cream mixing super-fast. As in, don't let the paddle idle for one second, because the motor will just get stopped in its tracks by the rapidly thickening ice cream. It doesn't freeze solid as a brick, but enough to where the mixer's motor gets stuck and that's a bad thing, so just keep all the parts moving.

But back to the good stuff, the ice cream itself: it's not rocket science and once you start making your own, you'll think twice about buying the mass market stuff because you can really customize the flavors. The way I make ice cream is like how I cook -- I make things based on the ingredients I have. The holidays left us with extra heavy cream, plenty of eggs and holiday candy, so my brain went: Ice Cream. I love peppermint ice cream, but I also love chocolate mint, and that's where the Theo candy bar came in -- I melted down half the bar into the ice cream batter/mixture and bashed up the other half with a candy cane to make a crunchy texture to add to the churned ice cream. When I make chocolate ice cream, I prefer a bittersweet chocolate flavor, so I always add a small bit of finely ground coffee -- like, just a scant half teaspoon's worth. It just gives it a little more depth. It might feel too strong for some, but that's just my personal preference. You don't have to worry about large grounds getting into the ice cream, as I always strain the ice cream batter before it's chilled -- a metal strainer is the best thing and it's probably one of my favorite kitchen tools, since it can work for hot and cold uses.

For the basic ice cream batter, this is my base recipe -- it starts off with less sugar, in case you add extra ingredients or flavorings that are sweetened, and you can always add more sugar to taste as you simmer it. It's basically a frozen custard base -- eggs, sugar and milk/cream. It's your choice to add vanilla, chocolate or any other flavorings, which usually are added in small increments if it's strong like vanilla. If you're wanting to make chocolate ice cream, I melt down about a cup and a half's worth of chocolate chips into the heated milk and sugar. It's also fun to mix things, like vanilla with orange zest, to make a creamsicle flavor. Or in this post-holiday batch of ice cream, I melted chocolate and added more crushed chocolate and peppermint. If you decide to add some crushed bits of something into the ice cream for texture, sprinkle it into the already-mixed batter, layering it with the churned ice cream as it's poured into a container (preferably glass) to finish setting up in the freezer. As you scoop the finished ice cream, the bits will mix itself into the ice cream and it's less hard on the motor of your ice cream maker if it doesn't have to churn chunky solid bits like nuts.

Wasabi's Ice Cream Base

Ingredients:
3 cups whole milk or 2 cups whole milk, 1 cup cream if you want it extra-rich
3 whole eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Special tools: ice cream maker, metal strainer, whisk, silicone spatulas

Place a medium-sized pot on the stove and set it to medium. Add the sugar and milk/cream, warming to a simmer, whisking to make sure sugar is melted. At this point, add whatever custom ingredients you wish to the mixture, including the salt, whisking to fully combine and spend a few minutes to develop its flavor. Drop the heat to medium low.

Take the lightly beaten eggs and add some of the heated cream and sugar liquid into the eggs and whisk to temper them; this helps bring the temperature of the eggs up gently. Add the egg and liquid mixture slowly into the pot, whisking steadily to incorporate and keep the eggs from scrambling. This will thicken mixture and it will start to resemble a loose pudding. Check the temperature to make sure it hits 160 degrees - this ensures that the eggs have been cooked. Keep whisking until it gets to that temperature and then remove from the heat. Pour the mixture through the metal strainer, using the spatula to help move any of the solid bits around to get any excess liquid from them. There's going to be little chunks from the egg, plus any solid bits from the flavorings you may have added, so it's good to not skip this step -- no one wants unpleasantly chunky ice cream!

Let the mixture cool and chill in the refrigerator overnight or at least six hours so that it's fully chilled before churning in your ice cream maker.

FoodTrek: Christmas in Seattle

I know we're not supposed to say "Merry Christmas," because we're supposed to be nondenominationally-sensitive to all cultures, religions, etc. At the risk of turning the holiday spirit upside down - forget that noise, Christmas is here, and I'm ready to jingle bell rock-it all the way till December 25th.

Grrrawwwwrrr - It's Christmas, so deal with it, Political Correctness Police! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

The holidays have a special place in my memory because over ten years ago, my first view of Seattle was right around early December, touring the city with my mother, wondering if this would be the place I would call home. The Space Needle had the string of lights atop, making it look like a big Christmas tree, and Macys hadn't co-opted the local department store yet and it was still the Bonmarche Star that continues to hang all bright n' twinkly on the building corner in Westlake Center. All the halls were decked, all the streets were merry with holiday decor, and it really felt like a city ready for festivities. And it was a welcome sight for someone who was parting ways with family, off to a strange new place with an unknown economic future. Not too far from where a lot of us are today, I suppose.

A very sweet and edible Christmas in New Zealand - Photos by Wasabi Prime

But current affairs notwithstanding, Christmas in Seattle continues to hold a little piece of my heart, so despite the total stressball I become during the holidays, I try to take a day to at least enjoy some of it, walk the main downtown blocks to relive some of those decade-old memories and take in the city's way of celebrating. I recently used an afternoon to join the masses of holiday shoppers and muster up some Christmas Spirit patience as I dove into the fray. If you're unfamiliar with Seattle's main downtown area, there's a pretty concentrated block of shopping and large retailers, all near the Westlake Center area, pretty much smack-dab in the middle of the Needle and Pioneer Square/South Downtown. I mostly wanted to admire the store window displays and see the special decorations that come out for Christmas, like the gingerbread house displays at the Sheraton Hotel on 6th Avenue. This year's theme was trains and railroads, with each of the gingerbread structures representing stations from around the world, as well as imaginary ones. The display is open to the public, benefitting a local charity, so do remember to drop a few bucks into the collection box, as it's all for a good cause.

If only travel by rail could be this sweet... Photos by Wasabi Prime

The one from Britain had, of course, a Harry Potter theme. And then some were just too cute for words, like the New Zealand station swarming with adorable wide-eyed kiwi birds wandering around, and little lambs singing carols at the doorstep. For whatever reason, Grand Central Station had been overrun by the weird little cyclops creatures from that animated movie, Despicable Me. Maybe if I'd seen the movie, I'd have gotten the reference, but hey, the kids seemed to love it, and the cyclops creatures were cute, so who am I to complain?

I get a sugar high just looking at it - Photos by Wasabi Prime

It was a lot of walking about, and looking at all that sugary sweetness helps towards building an appetite, so it got me thinking about nearby spots to get a holiday nosh or two. I wound up at Sullivan's Steakhouse on 6th and Union, really close to the shops, but not right in the thick of it to where it's too busy to get a seat. They're in a great location since they're close to the retailers but also nearby the theaters, so it's a good spot to drop by before or after a show. The Mister and his workmates have dropped by here for happy hour before -- they do these crazy-good specials every Thursday, where their signature cocktails and bar food is $6 each. The place gets super-packed, but they run the special until closing, so if you're a happy hour-crawler and work in the area, you need to put that on your list of places to visit on a Thursday.

Tastebuds are partying it up at Sullivan's - Photos by Wasabi Prime

It was totally cocktail-o'-clock for my friend and I, so after a day of holiday wanderings, imbibed several of Sullivan's holiday-themed offerings, along with a big plate of their spicy-sweet calamari, which is one of my new favorite snacks. I have to say the most refreshing was the pineapple-vodka Knockout, and the Merry Berry, which had several different fruit juices like strawberry, pomegranate, lemon and lime juice, with Chambord. The most rich and holiday-decadent was the Chocolate Christmas, which is a perfect Seattle cocktail with its use of espresso liqueur. With the cream and chocolate syrup-decorated glass, it's dessert in a glass, to be sure. It was an indulgent way to spend the day, since these aren't drinks I'd normally have outside of a party, but hey, it's the holidays, and sometimes the best gifts are the ones you give yourself. In my case, it was a day to enjoy the pretty decorations and time to enjoy some pretty cocktails. Consider this your list of to-do's the next time you're on a holiday shopping mission in downtown Seattle.

What about you? What are some of your favorite things you like to do when the holidays come a-calling?