During the 23rd annual Les Dames d’Escoffier annual conference in Philadelphia in October, I took a wonderful seminar with my buddy, and Philadelphia Dame and chef extraordinaire,  Aliza Green at the venerable Reading Terminal Market in downtown.

Here’s a photo of some of the unusual spices she described, then cooked with.

The workshop so inspired me that I rushed back to Seattle and went to World Spice Merchants (along Western Avenue, just below the Pike Place Market) and MarketSpice (a venerable Pike Place Market shop that’s been in business since 1911!) to restock my spice rack.

I loved the way at World Spice Merchants that they ground my Kashmiri garam masala (an Indian spice blend), right before my eyes. It’s also neat because they offer five different blends of garam to choose from and you can smell them and compare prices before you buy them!

Also at World Spice, I bought an ounce of Aleppo Pepper, a warm, chocolate-y, chipotle-like pepper with a moist texture. It’s so special, I’ve been sprinkling it over scrambled eggs, soups and stews, and just about everything.

Still on a spice jag, instead of preparing the traditional Thanksgiving turkey this year, I made Madhur Jaffrey’s Silken Chicken, an excellent recipe from “Madhur Jaffrey’s Quick and Easy Indian Cooking” (Chronicle Books, 2007). It combines heavy whipping cream with garam masala, cayenne, ground cumin, paprika, fresh garlic, and fresh ginger to form a marinade that is briefly rubbed (just 10 minutes!) into chicken breasts that have been previously been slit, pricked, and rubbed with salt and lemon juice.

Just before baking the breasts, sprinkle them with a bit more of the spices and black pepper, dried mint (I used fresh), and another sprinkle of lemon juice (I used Meyer lemons for a very aromatic option).

Here’s the dish just before I popped it into the hot, hot oven.

The chicken is roasted at highest oven temperature in the top third of the oven and the result really is silken, velvet-y chicken and sauce, as shown below. Yum!

Three nights later, I tried the dish substituting thin turkey fillets for the boneless, skinless chicken breasts. The dish was still delectable, but the turkey was drier and not as “silky” as the chicken, so I’d definitely opt for that. I feel this preparation would be too overpowering for any type of seafood, other than a hearty white fish, such as swordfish or halibut.

Although we recently enjoyed six whole days in my hometown of Philadelphia, sadly, only two of them were dedicated to sightseeing. We spent one day downtown and one day in the ‘burbs revisiting my old neighborhood, junior and senior high schools, etc.

On our “downtown day,” I snapped this shot at the Liberty Bell, which is housed in a stunning building with lots of historical placards that help visitors from around the world grasp the small bell’s significance in American history. I like the way Independence Hall looms in the background.

Seattleites love our “Porker with a Purpose,” the Pike Place Market’s very own giant bronze piggy bank, Rachel the Pig. She patiently greets visitors from around the world under the Market’s world-famous neon clock and sign, while raising anywhere from $4,000 to $8,000 a year for the Pike Place Market Foundation. The Market Foundation manages the four social-service agencies within the Market–the Downtown Food Bank, Preschool and Child Car, Medical Clinic, and Senior Center.

While in Philadelphia, we visited the Reading Terminal Market and met Philbert, who was modeled after Rachel. Philly’s version isn’t as user-friendly as Seattle’s model–since there’s a sign around Philbert’s neck asking that people NOT climb on his back. Harrumph.

In a prior, post-Philadelphia post, I shared some of my hometown icons with you–cheesesteaks (well, actually chickensteaks, but you get the idea) and TastyKakes.

Today we salute another Philly favorite–the Mummers. For those who don’t know, “Mummers” comes from a Middle English word that translates as “one of a group of masked performers in folk play or mime.”

The Philadelphia Mummers are a musical group who dress up in colorful costumes and play raucous music at the annual New Year’s Day parade and at other events throughout the year. And although they’re usually men of modest means, they also raise money for numerous charities along the way. Here’s a more complete definition from www.answers.com:

“Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, has its own tradition of mummers marching on New Year’s Day. About 15,000 mummers perform in the parade each year. They are organized into four distinct types of troups: Comics, Fancies, String Bands, and Fancy Brigades. All dress in elaborate costumes. There is a Mummers Museum dedicated to the history of Philadelphia Mummers.”

We were lucky enough to have five Mummers perform at one of our Dames events. They made merry with the crowd, dancing with the pretty girls and playing pranks on the few men in attendance.

Here’s my favorite–Frankenstein Mummer–who was so scary he drove me to become a two-fisted drinker. Smile.

We are just back after enjoying six days in Philadelphia, my hometown! We spent the bulk of our time at Les Dames d’Escoffier annual conference and tacked on a day for sightseeing in downtown Philly, then a day to drive around my old neighborhood to reminisce and see how things have changed in the last 13 years (our last visit was in 1996 for the International Association of Culinary Professional annual conference).

Here’s a true highlight (among many) from Monday’s trip, when we rented a car and headed to suburban Philadelphia. Spencer wanted a “real” Philadelphia lunch, so I offered up a cheesesteak (actually a “chicken steak” since I don’t eat red meat) with fried onions and some sort of white cheese similar in texture to Velveeta but tasting more like mayonnaise.

And here I am enjoying every last bite. . .paired with a Diet Coke.

We experienced this at Village Lunch in downtown Gladwyne (the gentle town where I grew up) on what’s referred to as the Main Line. Village Lunch is a modest place that’s won lots of awards for “Best Main Line Lunch” from Philadelphia magazine and other publications. It’s run by a scrappy, sweet woman who knows all her regulars on a first-name basis, and calls everyone, including newcomers such as ourselves, “Honey.”

For dessert? What better than a packet of Butterscotch Krimpets, the traditional snack cake manufactured by the TastyKake company. Sorry for the price tag, but at least it gives you a sense of the value of this tasty, not to mention thrifty treat.

After our inspiring and inspired week-long cruise of Alaska, which ended in Seward, we took a motor coach up to Anchorage to check out that city and spend the night at the world-renowned Hotel Captain Cook. We were expecting a lot, since Anchorage is the state’s largest city, with a population of 277,638 people or 42% of the state’s population, and an area nearly the size of the state of Delaware!

We’d been up early for our 8:15 a.m. disembarkation, and the bus ride lasted about two-and-one-half hours over hilly terrain, so we needed some fortification by the time we had checked in and gotten our bearings.

The hotel’s helpful clerk suggested we try a real neighborhood hangout for lunch–Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse–which bills itself as “An Original Alaskan Bar & Grill for beer lovers by beer lovers.” It’s named for the humpback or pink salmon, which travels up Alaskan rivers each summer.

According to the desk clerk, it’s also known for its Halibut Tacos.

Sounded good, so we strode a few short blocks, passing by sunflowers the size of your head in an atmospheric downtown vegetable patch and cabbages the size of basketballs in an ornamental garden. Guess that’s what 20 hours of summer sunlight per day can do!

We also saw massive yellow and green zucchini and baseball-sized white onions at the Anchorage Market & Festival: A Downtown Summerfest, one of Alaska’s largest open-air markets, open Saturdays and Sundays.

By one o’clock, the dark interior of Humpy’s was hoppin’, so we opted for a table on the sunny patio. Here’s me doing the tourist thing with the menu. A table of townies gathered behind us–note the Sarah Palin look-alike over my shoulder, complete with upswept hair and oversized fashion glasses.

Here’s Humpy’s signature dish–Halibut Tacos. I had one, which was delectable (lots of jalepeños!) and came with a side of chips and freshly made salsa. It was plenty enough for my appetite; Spencer held out for two and finished every last bite. A glass of Giesen Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand for me and two locally produced Midnight Sun Kodiak Brown Ales for Spencer completed our hearty, healthy, and satisfying lunch in Anchorage.

Late Tuesday night, we arrived back from an inspiring and inspired seven-day cruise to Alaska on Holland America Line. We began with a day in Vancouver where we were wowed by the Vancouver Art Gallery’s current exhibition of Dutch masters (including “The Love Letter” by Vermeer) and some amazing modern photography exhibits.

Dinner at Coast Restaurant, part of the Glowbal Collection, was a fabulous experience. Recently relocated from Yaletown to downtown on Alberni Street, the new space pulses with action as the kitchen pumps out dishes and the youngish patrons and hot-pants-clad female servers in the bar add their own form of entertainment.

We had a ring-side seat overlooking the action at the raw-seafood bar, the wood-burning oven, and parts of the dining room. Our server was a real pro, who royally regaled us with seafood galore.

Here are a couple of photos from our cruise. . .the heat waves and high temperatures in Seattle and Portland proved lucky for us, as they brushed aside the clouds of a week earlier and allowed us wide-open vistas of calving glaciers and mountain peaks.

Braiden making the shopping rounds in our first port of call–Ketchikan.

Kayakers in front of Mendenhall Glacier, minutes from downtown Juneau.

Margerie Glacier, the “star” glacier in Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve, in full calving mode. We were lucky to experience this several times during our two hours of viewing this glacier.

And a breath-taking view of the Johns Hopkins Glacier in all its grandeur.

Stunning mountain vistas in Glacier Bay.

In May, during our very first-ever trip to Montana for the Montana State University Wine & Food Festival, we made a point of tasting through as many Montana-produced wines as possible.

Special thanks to our gracious host, Stella Fong (co-chair of the festival, pictured above at the left), who amassed 17 wines from the state. During a tasting with Idaho chef Tom Atkins, wine merchant Sue Rydquist (owner of Simply Wine), my husband Spencer, Stella, and me, we decided that five of the 17 were good enough to recommend. Here’s a majority of the contenders:

And here’s a shot of the “winning” wines. 

Interesting to note that four of the five winners are fruit-based wines, and four are from the same winery. These include Ten Spoon Flathead Cherry Dry ($15), Ten Spoon Sweet Mountain Cherry Dessert Wine ($21), Ten Spoon Paradise Dry Pear Wine ($16), and Hidden Legend Huckleberry Mead (honey/huckleberry wine–$20). Ten Spoon won again for its Range Rider Montana Red Wine ($16), made up of interesting Montana-grown varietals including Leon Millot and Frontenac. With 13.89% alcohol, this wine retails for $15 and is reminiscent of a good-quality Beaujolais. 

We’ve been remiss in writing much about our four-day stay in Carmel-by-the-Sea last Christmas. So when a good friend and colleague from British Columbia spilled the beans by telling us he’d scheduled his wife’s 50th birthday celebration there, and asked for restaurant recommendations, we couldn’t help but jump in. Following are the highlights from a very long e-mail we shot back to him with places to be sure to go (and some to skip).