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Last month I overheard an extremely true statement that resonated with me and made perfect sense. It made so much sense, in fact, that I wondered why the thought hadn't occurred to me previously. "You don't have to be hungry to eat ice cream," said a teenage boy to his equally
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Tired of outdoor festivals that are centered on people standing in long lines in the sun waiting to eat food made in a truck and sold at prices that would be laughed at in a real sit-down restaurant? Get ready for Saturday's Gig Harbor Wine and Food Festival. In its third
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To preserve is to treat or alter something in order to extend viability. We're talking food here, so preserving most commonly brings to mind jam and jellies made from fruit. I recall my Grandma Johnson's raspberry freezer jam as being better than pie. Now that my adult taste buds know
Food Matters
Barbecue: A noun, an adjective, a verb. I love a good barbecue attended by friends and family that carries you from hot sunny daytime to cool, Smores-mandatory fire pit nights. I love a good barbecued piece of meat that holds smoky goodness and leaks tasty juice that runs down my arm.
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The "Do It Yourself" movement that gained mainstream popularity in the late 1990s with home makeover TV shows has morphed into the food arena. It's a long-armed, straight reach back in time to when the matriarchs of generations gone-by made everything from scratch after doing the growing and raising themselves.
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If there is one skill you should actively cultivate in life it is cooking. Being able to feed yourself is not the point. Any person can buy a six-pack and a frozen dinner and call it good. Yet, as we know, all sustenance is not created equal. Though cooking for
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Gardens can grow in all shapes, sizes, compositions and methods of containment. From a tiny windowsill herb garden to a 50-by-30-foot plot that yielded enough food for two families, I've had one almost every year. There's something so satisfying about working the earth and watching something I planted grow and provide
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Used to extend the life of food, pickling has been a part of many cultures for countless generations. In certain parts of America, hot on the heels of a harvest is canning time. An assembly line of sorts is set-up, neighbors and friends lend a hand to tackle the very-involved
Food Matters
Since the initial changes made by new owner Steve Anderson upon taking the reigns at Tacoma's Maxwell's Speakeasy + Lounge, the reported response has been good. "People are liking what we're doing, I'm going with it," Anderson says. The "it" Anderson refers to is offering a greater variety of dishes at
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A running joke among Pacific Northwest residents is that we only have two seasons: August and winter. Spring, summer and winter might be a bit more accurate. While many restaurateurs and chefs would like to unveil quarterly seasonal menus, the reality is the seasons just don't cooperate in our climate
Food Matters
In May of last year I wrote about Northern Pacific Coffee Company being under new ownership. A switch to Mike's East Coast Sandwiches (a Seattle-based pre-made food company) was not well received, as owner Ed Cedras recently told me. As a new owner in 2011, Cedras was focused first on
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From basic flatbread that's been baked the same way for thousands of years in a rough clay oven, to the $42 colossal cupcake created in a Manhattan boutique bakery last week, people clearly have a love affair with dough and baked goods. For some it's a life-sustaining love of a
Food Matters
Olive Branch Café owner Terry Waller worked in forensics at Western State Hospital for 26 years. Seeking something more fulfilling, Waller volunteered at Java Fusion. There she learned product ordering, cooking, and the art of making teas and coffees – skills that equipped her to open her own business inside
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"A sheriff, a radio show host, an artist and a director walk into a museum." Sounds like the intro to an interesting joke, doesn't it? But the answer is much more fun than a few chuckles from a punch line; these are the judges for the first annual Slider Cook-Off "Shake, Rattle
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Tanglewood GrillWhere: 3222 56th St. NW, Gig Harbor, 253.858.5555Hours: Open daily for lunch at 11 a.m., dinner served at 4:30 p.m. and breakfast Sunday at 8 a.m.Cuisine: Pacific Northwest inspired American dishes of steak, seafood, burgers, meat-topped salads, sandwiches, appetizers and weekend breakfast.Scene: Casual dining vibe, servers on
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Family owned and operated, The Boxcar Grill at Freighthouse Square opened in January. An all-American "blue-plate" breakfast, lunch and dinner menu is offered in a very casual diner environment - though the bright garden green and jet black make for an unusual color scheme not often associated with dining. The large
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Not all fats are created equal. When reading the ingredient list on a package, people's first tendency is to check calorie and fat content. The common perception is that all fatty foods are unhealthy. The reality is that the human body needs fat in order to function correctly. A diet
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The health of the economy and the wealth of the people can dictate how America eats. Less money in the wallet means less money for going out. As consumers have less cash to spend, what that reduced income is being spent on falls under greater scrutiny. Two trends that have surely
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Thrill of the Grill originally opened in 2009 serving American fare like burgers, waffle-cut fries, hot dogs and melts. The downtown Tacoma eatery was purchased by Sarah Slaughter and Gregory Brock in November 2011 and reopened in early January. The co-owners say they are keeping the original name (for now),
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For all intents and purposes, the city of Indianapolis is currently under siege. 150,000 football fans are expected to arrive in time for the big game, Super Bowl XLVI. Forty-four blocks are reportedly going to be closed to car traffic to accommodate fans on foot sporting all kinds of Patriots