Some people like to say that I have a way with words. But if I hadn’t gone into food-and-wine writing, I might just as easily have gone into flower designing. There’s something so creative about buying a big bunch of blossoms from John & Lita’s Produce & Flowers, my favorite flower farmer in the Pike Place Market (in the spring/summer), or Corner Flowers (at other times), coming home and perusing my vase collection, and figuring out the “perfect” seasonal bouquet.

Here are a couple of my creations, which are always placed atop a glass etagère that is lighted from below. 

And here’s another:

And here’s a memory from late-summer, made from John & Lita’s Teddy Bear Sunflowers:

Barry Foy, Seattle-based proofreader and copy editor extraordinaire, has worked with my articles and books over the years. So I was thrilled to learn about, then receive my very own copy, of his just-released book, The Devil’s Food Dictionary: A Pioneering Culinary Reference Work Consisting Entirely of Lies (Frogchart Press, $17.95).

It’s already received national press in the food section of the Washington Post and in The Onion, will soon be featured in Gastronomica. More good reviews will undoubtedly follow, since Barry signed up with my agent and public relations dynamo Lisa Ekus, owner of The Lisa Ekus Group, to help him promote the self-published tome. 

You’ll laugh out loud when you read “dictionary” entries such as “Cocoa nib: By far the most sensitive area of the cocoa bean.” Or “Chinese cuisine: A generic term applied to any FOOD eaten with sticks. see CORN DOGS and POPSICLES, also COOKING.” 

Foodies and winos should run, not walk, to their nearest bookstore or visit Barry’s Web site to get their hands on a copy of The Devil’s Food Dictionary.  

My friend and fellow wine columnist, the ever-sassy, ever-savvy Teri Citterman, recently launched a fabulously fun new blog with the same name as her Wine Press column, Urban Sips. Check in often for Teri’s unique observations on life and wine. She’s been nicknamed “Teri Bradshaw,” for her similarity to Sarah Jessica Parker’s character on “Sex and the City,” so you know you’re in for a good read every time. 

Thanks to all of you for your concern and positive thoughts during the recent water intrusion into our condo. Good news is that, as of Wednesday, all the machines were removed, cleaners came in to do a deep cleaning (you couldn’t believe the thin film of white grit that covered everything!), and we returned to sleeping in our own bed in our bedroom vs. the living-room floor. 

Next step is for a hardwood-floor expert to assess the damage and cure. We are hoping that caulking the large, dark cracks that have formed between the planks will suffice, as opposed to resanding and resurfacing, which is a lot more involved process. 

After that, the baseboards can be restored, touch-up paint applied, and we are (almost) to back where we were on the evening of July 4. 

On July Fourth, my husband Spencer and I celebrated in our usual way—out to dinner and with a good bottle of wine. You’ll be reading about that amazing evening at Steelhead Diner in a future post.

After dinner, we found a special spot to watch the Fourth of Jul-Ivar’s firework display along the Waterfront. When we got back to our condo, we noticed water coming in around our washer/dryer and figured the washer hose had sprung a leak. After mopping up the mess, we went to bed.

The next morning, our elderly next-door neighbor called to say he had left the plug in his kitchen sink, turned the water on to do the dishes, forgotten about the water, and gone to see the fireworks display.

Two hours of gushing water later, the damage was done to our condo, his condo, and two other condos below us. The Servpro reclamation team (experts in water damage who did a lot of work during Hurricane Katrina) arrived early Saturday morning to assess the damage and put up their equipment–huge wind blowers and a dehumidifier that now dominate our bathroom and bedroom. Spencer left Saturday afternoon for a week in the Middle East, and so for the past several days I’ve been living with the blowers and dehumidifier to try to dry out and save our maple floors and drywall.

I have been alternatively angry and depressed by this total turning upside down of my life, especially since I not only live here, but work out of my home office.

Yesterday, I just had to escape from the (very nice and concerned) workers and from the fans for a few hours, so I went to work out at the gym and run a few downtown errands, then took a stroll through the Pike Place Market. Living the bachelorette life for the past four days, I had let my larder grow empty, about as empty as my drooping spirits.

And, for once in my life, I didn’t even really want to go to my beloved Market.

But once I got there and picked out my fresh produce (including Oh My God! peaches), and shared my saga with produce monger and food-and-wine photographer Mark at Sosio’s Produce, I began to feel better. Side note, and please don’t tell his boss, Susie Manzo: Mark, dear man that he is, gave me a box of local strawberries—my favorite fruit—for free, he felt so sorry for my plight.

After I bought a loaf of Grand Central Campagnolo Bread—still my favorite artisan loaf about town—at Three Girls Bakery from the happy guy who looks like Groucho Marx, treated myself to some Plugra European Butter at The Creamery, and chatted it up with Walt and the boys at Pure Food Fish, I realized yet again that this little slice of heaven, our very own farmers’ market in the heart of downtown Seattle, is a special place not only for the fine fish, produce, dairy products and cheese, specialty-food shops, and plethora of interesting restos, but for the very special people who work along the cobblestones.

For my solo dinner last night I steamed thick asparagus and slathered it with low-fat mayo, chopped a yellow heirloom tomato and sprinkled it with Australian Sea Salt, and sautéed a quartet of fist-sized, super-succulent sea scallops seasoned with nothing more than Al’aea Hawaiian Pink Sea Salt and Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese Seven Spice) to soothe my senses. For dessert? Some of those baby strawberries with whipped cream and brown sugar, of course. 

My simple summer supper made me smile, filled my belly, and sent my spirits soaring. A coupla glasses of winemaker extraordinaire Virginie Bourgue’s SBS–Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon from Cadaretta, a brand-new winery in Walla Walla, helped dull some of the pain. 

The pretty bouquet of pristine white sweet peas I purchased from my favorite flower farmer in the Market, Carlita (Lita) Mendez, of John & Lita’s Produce & Flowers, sent me off to sweetly scented dreams on the living-room couch. 

And I awoke early this morning, refreshed and restored, ready and eager to face a new day.