A Baby is Born- How to Cook a Wolf

Put your resto-radar on because there is a new restaurant in town.
How To Cook A Wolf or Wolf is the new addition to the trendy Queen Anne Neighbourhood. Chef Ethan Stowell and business partner, Patric Gabre-Kidan have opened this new place with room for a little more than twenty guests and a bar with room for ten.
Chef Ethan Stowell is father of both Union and Tavolata so you can kind of get an idea of the feel of the place.
There are over a dozen small plates that are between $5 and $15.
Grilled Venison with Controne Bean and Shallot Salad, Ahi Tuna
Crudo with Chilies and Lime, Prosciutto di Parma, Hard Cooked Eggs with
Anchovy Mayonnaise, Panini with Mortadella, Provolone, and Watercress
Salad, and Grilled Branzino with Broccoli, Garlic, and Chilies.
House made pasta ranges in price from $12 to $14.
Spaghetti with Garlic, Chilies, and Shaved Tuna Loin, Pappardelle with
Rabbit Bolognese, and Farroto with Lamb Shank, Celery Root, and
Braising Jus.
Location: 2208 Queen Anne Avenue North (at
Boston Street) atop Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill.
Hours: Dinner from 5pm to 12am Thursday –Monday
It is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. For more information,
call (206) 838-8090 or visit www.howtocookawolf.com (coming soon).
Wolf does not take reservations.
I can't wait to check it out. Will you beat me to it?

Brush Up on Your Food Writing Skills

Do you want to learn how to write about food? Do you want to start your own food blog? Check out this online food writing class offered by award-winning travel and food writer Candace Dempsey.

The Knish is Delish

It's about the time of the year where everyone is sniffling. No shaking hands, no friendly hugs, perhaps a wave from from across the room. Everyone around me is sick. What does one need?
Chicken soup with matzo balls, the ultimate comfort food.
Finally there is actually a place to get some in the Pike Place Market. I Love New York Deli
The kosher style New York deli is a small little place with lots of appetizing choices. Hot corned Beef, hot Pastrami, beef Brisket or other huge piles of meat. All this is served in dark rye, club roll, onion kaiser, sourdough or honey wheat bread. Did I mention the New York pickles? Oh yeah, those too.

I only tried one item so far because the last time I went it was 10 A.M. I ordered the knish. A Jewish doughy square or circle filled with potatoes, kasha(buckwheat), meat, onions or any other filling that is tasty when hot. I figured that I would try a few bites and finish the rest later. HA! I devoured the gigantic knish in a few seconds. It was hot and perfectly flaky with heaps of filling.
This knish is delish!

Cranberry-Cornmeal Quick Bread and other Thankgiving Stuff

I attended a potluck yesterday and this is what I brought.
Tomato with pine nuts salad
Sweet potato pancakes(actually yam pancakes)* Yam should be used instead of sweet potato. This was the success of the evening, not one pancake was left!
Cranberry-Cornmeal Quick bread.( This came out amazing!)
Wild Rice Dressing with Roasted Grapes and Walnuts. This turned out okay Not as great as I expected but I would make it again. I forgot to chop the walnuts!

What did you make?

Tomato With Pine Nuts Salad

Here is one of my favorite salads. I love soaking my bread in the leftover sauce.



Cherry tomatoes or other smaller version of tomato(cut in halves or quarters)
Pine nuts(a handful)
Lots of basil
olive oil
salt

1. Toast pine nuts.
2. Place tomatoes in a bowl with basil and pine nuts.
3. Add olive oil and salt.
Voila, the pleasure of simplicity!

Seattle Food And Wine Festival

Yesterday I decided to stop by the Seattle Food and Wine Show. The teacher traits in me suddenly emerged. I felt like saying " you have so much potential. Too bad you are not fulfilling your potential". This city is packed with foodies just looking for some new food ideas. Unfortunately, there were not enough products to taste, not enough booths and just not enough of anything! I have to admit that the list of
chef demos was pretty impressive though.
Some interesting finds..........

1. Poggio la Noce, A great tasting organic olive oil. It can be found at McCarthy and Shiering .
2. Tasty and cute handcrafted chocolates from Cantare Chocolate Company.
3. Kagome Juice- A sweet tasting juice that is made with veggies. Try the Yellow Mango Orchard.
4. New cooking videos by Sizzleworks cooking school. Formerly known as Rain City Cooking school. Instructional videos like poultry 101.
5.Oil and Vinegar- Interesting flavored oils and vinegars. All the oils and vinegars can be sampled at the store in Bellevue square.

Michael Ruhlman at the The Art Institute of Seattle

Michael Ruhlman visited the Art Institute this week to answer the culinary student’s questions and sign copies of his new book, The Elements of Cooking. Michael charmed the students with his direct personality, his culinary experience and his sincerely straightforward manner of sharing his food adventures. He made a strong point about salt being the most powerful ingredient in the kitchen. This he discovered from a conversation with Thomas Keller. He explained that one must know how to salt and when to salt. Never did I realize that such an important part of cooking is also the area in which I am the weakest. I am definitely lacking salting capabilities at this point. He kept sharing personal experiences with a passion that could only inspire one to get off their behind and write, write, write or cook, cook, cook.
After such a whiff of inspiration, what does one do first? He also answered personal questions about career choices individually asked by the students in line. He answered with sincerity and made sure to stress that if you want to be a food writer then you have to write everyday. I ran home to decide whether I should write or cook. I decided to read his book which inspired me to write and cook. Each page is filled with so much information that a bubble tea straw wouldn’t be big enough to slurp it up.

For more about this experience, read the Wine Wall.

Seattle's Food and Wine Festival

It's here again. The Seattle Food and Wine festival. Three days full of food tasting, chefs and wine.

Nigella on Northwest Afternoon

My day started in the audience of Northwest Afternoon. I knew Nigella Lawson was going to be there so I thought that it would be sweet to start my day with some cooking inspiration. Her smile was just as beautiful as it is on all her book covers with a magical nuance to it. She made a salad with halloumi cheese. Halloumi is salty with a firm tofu-like texture and it tastes great lightly fried. She also made a chocolate dessert which I will not reveal since all of you can catch the segment on Northwest Afternoon this Friday. Maybe you'll catch me drooling in the audience.
Nigella breezed through the cooking with a poise that would make any chef blush. Everything went by so fast and the segment was over before I could even digest what was going on. I was hoping that at one point we would get to sample the food but they took the trolley of goodies away. I was left intoxicated with a dominating chocolate aroma that is stuck in my head like the lyrics of song that I am unable to forget.
My day only got better. In the evening, I went to see Michael Rhulman, author of "The Elements of Cooking "who left me with enough inspiration to keep me motivated for the next few years. I will post about it tomorrow because such an interesting experience deserves a
post of its own.

Attention Seattle Food Bloggers

What do foodies do? They eat!


I will be organizing a Seattle Food Blog dinner sometime soon so please send me
an email if you are interested. kerenlovestocook@gmail.com

Nigella in Seattle

Hey foodies,
Just a reminder: Nigella Lawson will be signing books in Seattle tomorrow. November 13. If you don't have time to go then you can catch her on Northwest Afternoon.

Correction: The taping will be tomorrow but the show will air another day. You can call and still get tickets to see the taping.

Does Meat Make You Stink?

Spending two weeks with yogis taught me a lot about food. Most of the people in the yoga course were vegetarian and some were vegan. The other day I spoke to one of the guys and he mentioned that some other guy smells.
"He smells because he eats meat" he remarked in such an assertive but nonchalant manner. Thoughts ran through my head. Do I smell like a walking hamburger? Do all meat eaters need extra deodorant?

I did the odor test. You know, the one where you put your arm up to scratch you head and gently place your head near your armpit. Nope, no smell. Even after 3 hours of yoga. Would I give up meat if I noticed a smell? No, probably not. Not even if I could smell like basil! We continued walking until we got to Fremont Coffee where I ordered my favorite turkey sandwich with some adjustments. The turkey sandwich has cheese and mayonnaise so I always ask them to put lots of basil instead of these ingredients. The sandwich is served grilled with a side of those kettle-like chips. Great place to bring your laptop and surf the net for articles about meat and
body odor. Does meat make you stink?

Ommmmmmmmm. I Mean Mmmmmm

I want to explain why I haven't been writing as much lately. I am taking an intensive yoga course with practices at 6:30 A.M. and lectures all day long. Instead of making mmmmmmm sounds I have been making ommmmm
sounds.
Yoga? A foodie who does yoga? Do they go together? I always get this question. Now I have a question. Does peanut butter go with carrots? Do scrambled eggs go with ketchup? In my world they do. Yoga gives me balance in life. Yoga has taught me how to enjoy my food more. It has taught me to sit down, breathe and then take a bite. It has taught me that every food that I eat is blessed. It has taught me that my body deserves more than pizza pockets. Yes I deserve huge market tomatoes and fresh basil. I deserve creamy risotto and Osso Bucco too. I enjoy my food more when I take the time to savor it. I especially enjoy my breakfast after two and a half hours of yoga. Yoga enhances my sense of taste.
My course is over in a few days and I will have more time to write. I will still be doing yoga and obsessing over food. Namaste.

Dine Around Seattle

The Seattle restaurant promotion is back again this month. You can enjoy a 3 course dinner for 30 dollars. Last time it was 25 dollars! I guess the 5 dollar difference won't hurt anyone.
Plus, this time there are more restaurants to choose from.
Some of the places have lunch for 15 dollars as well.
The promotion started November 1st and ends Nov 29 th(Sunday through Thursday).

Bahama Inspired Holiday Recipes

The holidays are slowly approaching which means it's just about time to turn our recipe radars on. Did you hear that? Now hunt down your recipes and start practicing. Trying the recipes first is a great idea. I believe that this will save guests from having to fake wrinkle producing smiles and uncomfortably gulping down your little mistakes.



Here are some interesting recipes from the Bahama Breeze Restaurants. What do you think?


Creole Baked Goat Cheese
Serves: Two to Four (Great for sharing)



INGREDIENTS:

1 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Tbsp Garlic, fresh, minced
½ cup Sweet onion, ¼" diced
4 oz wt Fresh chevre goat cheese
1 each Vine-ripened Roma tomato, seeded and diced ¼"
1 Tbsp Fresh cilantro, chopped
1 TbSP Fresh parsley, chopped
¼ tsp Hot pepper sauce
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Roasted red pepper cups (see recipe below)
Garlic croutons



PREPARATION:

Heat olive oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat, then add the garlic and onions and sauté just until the onions become translucent. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
Transfer the onion-garlic mixture to a mixing bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Mix with a rubber spatula to thoroughly blend. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper to taste.
Fill roasted red pepper cups with goat cheese mixture and bake in a 350 ºF preheated oven for 10 minutes. Now, place the garlic crouton rounds in the oven and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer the pepper cups to the center of a serving platter and arrange the baked croutons in a circle around the pepper cups. Serve with a fresh tomato salsa on the side.


Note: When eating this dish, we recommend cutting the pepper cups into wedges for the full experience of eating the filling with the red pepper.



Roasted Red Pepper Cups



INGREDIENTS:

1 Medium sized red bell pepper 1 Tbsp Olive oil as needed Salt & pepper



PREPARATION:

Cut red pepper in half to form a top and bottom. Remove and discard the seeds and trim the stem to allow the top half pepper cup to stand up. Rub the inside of the pepper cups with olive oil and season them lightly with salt and pepper. Place them in a pie plate, cut side up, and bake them for 5 minutes in a 350 ºF, preheated oven. During this roasting step you will be just slightly softening the pepper. The final cooking will take place after the pepper cups are stuffed. Allow the cups to cool upside down to allow the excess juice to drain out prior to filling with the goat cheese mixture.

Crab Claws St. Thomas

Serves: 2



INGREDIENTS:

12 oz wt Blue Crab Claws
¾ cup Passion Fruit Butter
1 loaf Cuban or French Baguette



PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 500°F.
Place crab in a baking dish.
Melt passion fruit butter in microwave and pour over the crab.
Slice the loaf of bread into desired size.
Place crab and bread in to the oven.
Remove from oven when bread is golden and crab is bubbling hot. This should take 4 -5 minutes. Enjoy!!!


Passion Fruit Butter



INGREDIENTS:

4 oz wt Butter, salted
¼ cup Passion fruit pulp or nectar, no seeds
1 Tbsp Sugar
½ tsp Cajun Seasoning, your favorite



PREPARATION:

Heat butter in the microwave in 10 second intervals until the butter is softened but not melted.
Combine all the ingredients in a small mixing bowl and mix well using a wire whip until evenly combined.
Use immediately or refrigerate until needed.

Here Comes the Bride Eating Sorbet

After months of preparation the day finally arrived. It was a day like no other. The happiest day of my life, the way a wedding day should be. As nauseating as this may sound, it was perfect in every way.
The day started with a picture field trip with the photographer. We even stopped for some good old lemon sorbet. Lipstick can be easily be reapplied but the tangy lemony texture of sorbet lingering on your tongue can not be neglected, not even for my own wedding.
Chandeliers and white flowers were placed on top of silver and black tablecloths giving the hall a ballroom flair. There were many square shaped vases filled with fluffy banana shaped candies, color bursting gummy worms and other colorful sugar confections. Candy at a wedding might sound slightly bizarre but I knew it was just perfect when I saw women with updoes elegantly slurping worms into their mouth.
What would you expect from a foodie?
The food was served Asado style. I of course didn’t have time to eat. I was too busy puckering up for the cameras and dancing with the guests to the D.J’s tunes which were mostly hit songs from the 80’s and 90’s.
The hilarious part of the night was when my relatives put us up on chairs and swung us in the air. A crazy Jewish tradition that gets everyone dancing. I shook with fear when the chair raised up in the air. Just as I started to relax my face muscles, they tipped me over and I slid down the chair hitting my chin on the other chair and falling smack in the middle of the dance floor. Mind over matter, I picked myself up and pretended that everything was fine until the end of the song when I met my mom at the bottom of the stairs to count the teeth in my mouth.
Did I mention the walking down the aisle part? My nervousness had some negative effects on me.
I got sick to my stomach right before I had to walk down the aisle. I can’t imagine what the guests were thinking. Finally I made it out and put on a cool, relaxed face. To this day, a lot of people don’t know why it took us so long to walk down the aisle.
I can't imagine a better wedding day, a day full of smiles, happy people and a few
endorphin releasing laughs.