Beth and Doug were headed to Vietnam for a year. To wish them fair winds and happy travels, we put on a little dinner party. It also happened that I had just come back from Yakima with a fresh side of pork, along with some pork "accessories" (bones, head, some inside bits, etc.) which was a great excuse for some fun cooking. What follows was my attempt to say Goodbye with a pig. But first, cocktails: the Bees Knees, a prohibition era cocktail with gin, a honey simple syrup

The winter Foragers Dinner Club dinner does not disappoint. Persimmons are largely to blame. Winter is a tough season for the forager. Winter foraging often means freezer foraging, or otherwise reaching for preserved foods foraged and found in an earlier season. Dried goods hold up well, along with pickled, cured, and otherwise preserved foods, but even in November there are still late fruits and nuts, and herbs from the garden. My contribution was an embarrassing richness

Labor Day weekend is often a real beaut here in the PNW, and for the last few years Gabe and Dave have taken full advantage by having their birthday celebrations that weekend in Woodland Park, a lovely bit of acreage adjacent to the always popular Green Lake in north Seattle. Woodland Park contains a number of covered picknicking facilities, and a couple of remnants from the civic and community minded past: a lawn bowling green and a huge lane of covered horseshoe pits. Th

In which an undersea adventure yields tasty treats at moderate risk to life and limb. Lessons are learned. I visited Paul and Hillary out on Vashon Island early in September. Vashon Island is a beautiful, agrarian-feeling place a very short ferry ride from West Seattle - an easy way to get an island outing as a day trip from the city. Paul and Hillary have a little walk-up place right on the south west shoreline of the island. The weather was great and Paul suggested we t

Foragers Dinner Club, in which snails are introduced as a locally foraged protein, alongside salmon, pheasant, and crab. The gardens don't dissapoint either, with cauliflower tabouli, zuchinni fritters, and many other delights. A group of friends gather four times a year for the Foragers Dinner Club -- a meal that features ingredients grown, caught, killed, found, foraged, bartered, or which otherwise come to the the table with a story a little more interesting that "I got t

Every season or so a group of like-minded friends gathers together for a unique shared meal. We call ourselves the Foragers Dinner Club, and the meals feature ingredients foraged, grown, caught, or killed. We also like bartered, traded, or gifted foodstuffs, as these usually come with a great story attached. Every one of these meals has been unique and entirely pleasing, and this season's evening was no exception. Not only are these meals a treat to attend and consume, b