salted caramel cupcakes at cupcake royale are my new crack. except it's better than crack, because it comes on a moist chocolate cake. also, crack is not something i actually partake in, so i should probably find something else to compare it to. or you could just go try one yourself. 

vietnamese sandwiches made their way into my life today, and i get the feeling that they are here to stay. i went to a little shop on the ave, and i left with a crispy baguette filled with barbequed pork, cilantro, carrot, cucumber, and a little jalapeno. yummers. colonialism never tasted so good. now i know what to do when i crave a little baguette box, and i am too far away...

Saint Cosme Cotes du Rhone is by far the most enjoyable rhone that i've had in a long time, perhaps ever. rasberry flavors, will probably go well with any meal, a little less dry than most rhones that i've had. Pike and Western wine shop, available at an enticing 14.99. run that shit. 

on a side note, i expanded my culinary horizons with...green vegetable. 

i sauteed a shallot and a couple cloves in olive oil, then threw some red pepper in. i then added swiss chard, which i simmered for ten minutes, whilst dusting some turmeric on top, and a little salt. mmmh. i'm trying to eat more of those healthy foods that keep making an appearance in ny times articles. 

things i'm excited about:

hemp milk. it's so nice.i'm dying to make a latte out of it. mmhh. so much better than soy milk. 

quinn's. aaron and i had a sweet date at quinn's. we had the gnocchi with rabbit. so fluffy. so light. and yet so rich. and the duck. the duck was really well prepared, on a bed of bacon and cabbage. friends, let's get one thing straight here. the combination of duck and bacon is nothing to scoff at. 

i also had an old-fashioned and a glass of red wine. pretty decadent. the homemade whoopee pie, wrapped in tin foil, did not disappoint. 

uhm...new years. i kind of forgot to post about it, due to the days of mayhem and hungoverness which followed. 

calder roasted a duck. he rubbed some oil and herbs(rosemary, thyme, sage) into the duck, which was then roasted. 

raz made salad and roasted veggies. 

we drank a california pinot called "angeline", which was quite nice, though the details are a little hazy at this point. a bottle of cms quickly followed. 

dessert was deemed unnecessary, so we opted for turkish coffee. mmh, turkish coffee. 

after much other alchohol being consumed, we popped open a bottle of bubbly rose. 

on a side note, some motherfucker totally swiped the beer i had bottled out of the pantry. the beer that i was waiting for to ferment. as if there wasn't enough alchohol in the fridge. f'realz. i'm just glad i didn't have any nice bottles of wine in the pantry, 'cause lord only knows. 

the countdown....

oh man. i don't even know where to start.
two days ago i more or less ate my way through fremont.
my family planned an outing to theo chocolate factory, where we took the tour. among many interesting facts, i learned that there are only 8 chocolate factories in these here united states, and man, i think we're pretty lucky to have one here in seattle, because apparently the climate...not conducive to chocolate factories!
we started off the tour seated in a windowless room, wearing blue hairnets, and getting the facts on bean growing, harvesting, fermentation, etc. i kind of want to be the person who travels around, looks at farms, and then nods approvingly to signify that they meet usda standards for organicism! i don't think organicism is a word!
the factory itself, very warm, and the smell of cacao.....just inhabited the air. the machines are mostly second-hand, sometimes old, and really cool looking. i was disappointed to not see them in action. the visit ended with a stop in the confection room,by which point i was done with sampling chocolate!
at ay rate, the take home message of the visit was cacao+cane sugar+fair trade=awesome!

lunch was at the baguette box. mmmh. they serve various sandwiches made with le panier baguettes, and i ordered a sandwich with tofu, avocado, other veggies, some kind of delicious garlicy sauce, and a little sprig of cilantro. yum!

dinner...my friend nathan smith and i went to via tribunali. pretty traditional italian pizza, thin crust, delicate mozzarella, etc. it was a pretty pleasant eating experience, but no real surprises to be had. needless to say, after a day of eating chocolate, dessert had little appeal!

christmas eve spectacular

christmas eve sara and i walked into pike and western wine shop, and informed our trusty winesellers that we were having lasagne. 

The woman assisting us proclaimed, "well then you must have italian!", and proceeded to show us some dolcettos. 

On the basis of the attractive label and the attractive price, we selected a dolcetto d'alba from podere ruggere corsini, distrb. Cavapatti. 

Wine was light-bodied, very subtly fruity but not sweet, tiniest bit spicy, and oh so drinkable. my dad says, "it was so good i could have guzzled it all."

first entry

hi, my name is heather. 

i go to grad school, work in a french bakery, and live in the prime meridian. 

the other day, my coworker calder and i roasted game hens stuffed with pieces of pear and onion, and placed slices of blood orange under the skin. we also placed a good amount of pears slices in the pan to roast with them. mmmh. 

we roasted a side of potatoes that included blue potatoes, fingerlings, and those little red ones.

calder whipped up some beurre blanc.  

the accompanying wine was a white burgundy (joseph drouhin, saint-veran). it was very enjoyable. 

basically, this meal was an excuse for me to incorporate blood oranges into my meal, and i think it succeeded! all materials were purchased at the pike place market, and the wine from pike and western wine shop.