My Fave App: The Hipstamatic

April 21, 2011

A couple of months ago, I started to become interested in plastic cameras, inexpensive cameras that offer unusual effects when you take pictures with them.

I was going to get a Holga or a set of Lensbaby lenses that diffuse the light, produce light leaks and color shifts, and shoot off center.

But, recent convert to Apple’s amazing iPhone4 that I am, instead I discovered an app called Hipstamatic that automatically creates these rather wonky images.

At first I thought I’d use the Hipstamatic iPhone app only to take photos in my other life. But one Saturday afternoon, over lunch at Bambuza Vietnamese Cuisine in downtown Seattle, I started playing around on some food shots.

Here’s one of the first ones I took. A simple shot of our tea cups and pot, striking against the vivid grains of the bamboo tabletop. And you just gotta love the 1960s-era ivory edges!

Below is my Vietnamese Crepe taken in a lot of natural light with the regular iPhone4 camera.

Same photo taken with the Hipstamatic! I love the way the crumpled napkin in my lap becomes part of the photo. . .like some sort of weird white sculptural element.

Over dinner at Vito’s on First Hill that evening, I took a photo of my Angel Hair Pasta with Calamari using the regular camera.

And the Hipstamatic, which created a warm and romantic shot, like something from another era.

Sunday evening, during dinner at the ever-romantic and long-running Andaluca in the Mayflower Park Hotel, I couldn’t resist playing around with the Hipstamatic once again.

Here’s a shot of our wine bottle and glass. . .love the frayed edges and rich, warm, crimson tones created by the seemingly magical Hipstamatic app.

I’m continuing to experiment with this very HIP(stamatic) app, and will post more food shots from time to time, so please stay tuned!

Celebrate Saint Pat with a Bacon Whiskey Maple Cupcake

March 17, 2011

On March 1, the good folks at Cupcake Royale, whom I profiled in a Seattle Times Pacific Northwest article last year, rolled out their latest monthly cupcake in honor of St. Patrick’s Day: Bacon Whiskey Maple Cupcakes!

This delicious twist on Irish whiskey features moist vanilla butter cake made from local ingredients like milk, eggs, and butter from Medowsweet Dairy, and specially milled Shepherd’s Grain cake flour from Shepard’s Grain farmers in Eastern Washington.

The cake is hand-frosted with Irish Whiskey Maple Buttercream. Made with Jameson Irish Whiskey and real maple syrup, this malted maple swirl truly takes the edge of. . .a sweet tooth, that is.

Meat eaters will enjoy the real bacon bits from Zoe’s Meats that perch atop the icing; vegetarians can opt for a dusting of organic maple sugar and shamrocks.

Irish eyes will be smiling through the end of March, when Bacon Whisky Maple Cupcakes exit the cupcake case.

So visit any of the five Cupcake Royale locations in the Puget Sound area, including Bellevue, Capitol Hill, Ballard, Madrona and West Seattle for a taste. Or order up a batch for delivery today–St. Patrick’s Day–or any day until month’s end by calling 206.883.7656. You can also order online at cupcakeroyale.com.

Martha and Me

March 9, 2011

Last weekend will go down as one of the worst in recent memory, since early Saturday morning I fell and cut the base of my pinky finger on the sharp metal edge of a heavy-duty tape dispenser.

It was a pretty deep gash, but I toughed it out for four hours (even enjoying the always-amazing Oyster Stew and Beet and Arugula Salad at Place Pigalle) before the throbbing pain became too much.

Figuring we would not overload the United States health-care system, we opted not to go to our local emergency room, but rather to a nearby Urgent Care Clinic.

There, the doctor suggested he glue the wound back together versus stitches. Sounded good to me, as I hate needles or anything having to do with the sight of blood.

About an hour later, we were back on the street and ready to pick up our day, more or less where we had left off.

Things didn’t go well that night, as we could see blood coming out from underneath the bandages. The pain intensified.

First thing Sunday morning, I was all ready to go back to Urgent Care and get them to fix me up (again).

“No you won’t!” Spencer said. “We’re going to a real ER this time!”

And so we did.

Once there, a very nice doctor, originally from northern England so he had a pleasing Scots-like accent that reminded me of Scotty from the Star Trek television series, said the finger never should have been glued.

After several minutes of irrigation with warm saline solution (which felt wonderful!), he gave me two shots down the nerves in my finger (which hurt like hell!).

Next, he draped the wound with a blue cloth with a hole in the center,  then inserted four stitches made from blue nylon (or whatever stitches are made of).

He said I’d need to be in a splint for about a week, to stabilize my pinky and keep the stitches from pulling out.

So I am now doing all my typing with a splint and four stitches. NOT easy, and so other than for my blogs and articles, I’m sticking to lowercase as it’s too hard to shift.

I found out that Martha Stewart recently had to go to the emergency room for stitches, too, after her dog accidentally butted her in the lip, resulting in a bad split. Here are her gruesome photos, which certainly rival mine.

Get well and heal up soon, Martha!

Meanwhile, I will try to do the same. Splint off on Sunday; stitches out next Tuesday, if I last that long, sigh.

In an Oyster State of Mind

February 7, 2011

January is a prime month for enjoying raw oysters on the half shell. And I love nothing better than partaking of them myself and shooting a photo or two both before and after (better to see the beautiful shells)!

Here is the gorgeous plate served up at TASTE Restaurant in the Seattle Art Museum (currently closed until February 15 as part of the furlough imposed on all SAM properties to help save money).

And more bounteous beauties from Shuckers restaurant in the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. Varieties (left to right) are: Hunter Point (kind of bland–almost meat-like!), Kumamoto (a bit watery, but always a favorite), and Penn Cove (very briny).

Nothing this good ever lasts long enough. . .

Here’s the lovely oyster service at Cafe Campagne in the Pike Place Market.

And just for fun, a duo of oysters at Blueacre Seafood. . .a bit of lagniappe from the resident expert oyster shucker at the seafood bar that evening.

A Gorgeous Edible Diorama

January 13, 2011

On a recent visit to South Seattle Community College for lunch at the Alhadeff Grill and a tour of the culinary, baking and pastry, and wine facilities, I happened upon this incredible Washington-themed diorama made by one of the college’s talented pastry students.

As someone who’s terrible at baking and crafting, not to mention working with chocolate and marzipan, it really spoke to me with its whimsy and utter charm.

A Fun Culinary Discovery for the New Year

January 6, 2011

Right before we left on our nine-day odyssey through Carmel and San Francisco, I made a pilgrimage to Pacific Place shopping center in downtown Seattle–specifically the Williams Sonoma store there–to look at some interesting items I’d marked in the venerable company’s December (holiday) catalog.

Now Spencer and I have a weakness for fried-egg sandwiches. And so here are the Heart-Shaped Egg Fry Rings (nonstick, no less!) that I just couldn’t resist. Of course, being married (for 29 years!) to a great guy like Spencer, I love anything romantic, especially when it perks up breakfast.

Here’s what the eggs looked like once I’d lightly buttered the inside of the rings and broken the eggs into them. (Love the little wood-tipped handles that stay cool for easy handling!)

And here’s what the heart-shaped eggs looked like once released from their holders. A little rough around the edges–I’ll use this as an excuse to use more butter next time.

Since I didn’t have any English muffins on hand, I placed the eggs atop leftover latkes, topped them with chunks of Pure Food Fish’s  smoked salmon (best in the Pike Place Market!), and made a “heart”-y salad of assorted bibb lettuce, carrot coins, and Thompson pears.

A bottle of Champagne, and we were good to go for Sunday brunch!

Happy New Year from Northwest Wining & Dining!

December 30, 2010

Braiden and Spencer’s fun, if unconventional, Christmas tree!

With 2011 on the horizon, I’d like to thank all of you for being fans of this Web site, reading my Northwest Notes blog, as well as my articles in The Seattle Times Pacific Northwest magazine, Wine Press Northwest, and Amazon.com’s Al Dente blog.

Cheers to more intriguing food- and wine-related research, reporting, and writing in the months to come.

Happy and prosperous New Year to us all!

Cookbooks We Can’t Live Without

December 16, 2010

Last week, a dear friend of mine (we are so close, we call each other, “Sis”) sent an e-mail to me and a handful of other culinary types with the following question that really piqued my interest.

Sis was trying to find the most indispensable cookbook to give to her daughter for Christmas. And she wanted our opinions!

Her daughter had already asked for three good excellent tomes, including “The New York Times Cookbook,” “The Joy of Cooking,” and “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”

But Sis knew there were others, so turned to us for help. Here’s how the e-mail string went that day:

From Braiden:

What a fun question to begin the day with. Of course, I turn to my own books quite a lot (J) and don’t really use a lot of cookbooks any more.

That being said, earlier on I relied on “The New Basics Cookbook” (Julee Rosso annd Sheila Lukins) quite a bit!

From Friend #2:

I turn to cookbooks more for ethnic cooking such as Indian or Thai food. II use” Joy” as a basic reference, but not as inspiration! I cooked many recipes from “Mastering the Art”…as a teen but don’t cook that way today. Since your daughter is living in California, she might enjoy the new Sunset cookbook. For years, the recipes in Sunset magazine represented California’s evolving approach to food and entertaining and informed culinary trends.

From Friend #3:

Hmmm…. I don’t use a ton of cookbooks anymore either. I just recently was very excited to buy “The America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook,” after talking a hiatus from most of them. I have truly enjoyed every recipe I have tried and find the layout, recipes, and food photos to be very appealing and user friendIy. I also love their approach to healthy cooking, complete, of course with the nutrition analysis. It’s my new fave.

A Date in the Desert

November 1, 2010

A big field of artichokes

One of the highlights of our trip to Palm Springs for Les Dames d’Escoffier 2010 annual conference was a pre-conference farm tour. A big bus took Spencer and me (plus 37 assorted Dames and spouses) from our hotel headquarters at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort and Spa in Indian Wells (one of the nine towns that make up the resort area) to the unincorporated parts of the city that form the heart of the growing area.

It was an educational four hours, as we visited Agri Service, Inc., a high-tech composting operation that makes compost from landfill (!); a citrus, date, and table-grape farm right next door that uses the mulch from the composting company to nourish its crops; Ocean Mist Farms, a third-generation grower in business since 1924 and the number-one producer of artichokes in the U.S.; and a stop for lunch at the world-famous Shields Date Garden.

Along the way, we learned that a total of 250 crops are farmed in the Coachella Valley, and something is growing an impressive 365 days per year! Temperatures are so hot in the summertime (upwards of 120 degrees) that the crops are picked and bagged at night.

Special highlights for me were eating leftover table grapes that had shriveled on the grapevines to become raisins, straight from the vine (!). We also picked beautiful fresh lemons that had fallen off the tree straight from the ground.

Shields Date Garden

A stop for lunch at Shields Date Garden was like stepping back in time, from the vintage signage out front. . .

Date crystals and milkshakes at Shields

To the soda fountain inside the gift shop where you can buy the company’s famous Date Crystals and Date Milkshakes (a steal at $3.75). Or just wet your whistle with a fresh-squeezed lemonade or grapefruit juice.

Shields has been in business since 1924, and has a great backstory about the family who founded it.

Dates growing on the tree and bagged for protection from predators and rain

Right outside you find acres and acres of producing date trees. White cloth bags are wrapped around the parts of the trees where the dates grow to protect the precious fruit from predators (such as birds) and the desert’s rare rain shower.

Shields’ Date Milkshake in all its golden, creamy glory

Here’s the famous Date Milkshake, one of the best things I’ve ever put into my mouth. Calories and carbohydrates took second place to sheer joy and goodness here.

Just one last bite!

Another decadent spoonful, as the shake was so thick, it was almost impossible to sip it through the pretty pink straw provided!

The Golden Arches in Russia

September 23, 2010

We had to chuckle during one of two day excursions we enjoyed in St. Petersburg during our Baltic cruise this summer when we spotted this McDonald’s sign prominently placed right across the street from St. Isaac’s Square, a must-see for all tourists to that great and beautiful city.

In that same area was the Hotel Astoria, which our tour guide told us was built by the American family of the same name and opened in 1912, and a popular place for visitors from around the world to lay their weary heads.

We also enjoyed seeing the Monument to Nicolas I equestrian statue (a bronze horseman).

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