Here’s a lovely blog that posted recently and features my Pike Place Public Market Seafood Cookbook. I am so happy that when I updated the original book in 2005, I chose to highlight only seafood that wasn’t (currently) endangered. Now everyone is paying more attention to the overfishing of our seas, thankfully.

The Pike Place Public Market Seafood Cookbook makes a lovely holiday gift, hostess gift, or stocking stuffer. Loaded with 50 recipes and 50 photos, plus seafood shopping tips, Cook’s Hints, and Fun Facts, it sells for just $14.95, and measures six inches by six inches, so is easy and economical to ship.

My friend, colleague, fellow Seattle Dame, and Seattle celebrity chef extraordinaire, Kathy Casey, is opening her fab Food Studios in Ballard for a holiday open house. There she will sign her latest tome (her ninth!), Sips & Apps, and sell all manner of her delicious specialty foods.

Here are details straight from Kathy’s press release:

“Mark your calendars or leave Santa a note for the Kathy Casey Food Studios Open House on Saturday, December 12th, 11:00 a.m. to  7:00 p.m. Make sure to drop in!

“There’ll be delectable delights to sample plus gift items for sale. And I’ll be signing copies of my latest book, ‘Sips & Apps.’ You’ll have a chance to sample some tasty tidbits from ‘Sips & Apps’ like my Bacon, Blue Cheese & Pecan Cocktail Cookies, Lamb Sliders on Homemade Rosemary Buns, and Croque Monsieur Puffs!

“There’ll be lots of goodies to fill your favorite foodie’s stocking. From delicious oven-pretty packaged little Spiced Apple Cakes, bags of crunchy Fennel-Roasted Walnuts, housemade candies and our always-popular Maker’s Mark “Over 21” Fruitcake. And that’s not all!

“We’ll also have our Dish D’Lish® specialty products: seasoning salts, Cocktailor® cocktail mixers, and limited-edition preserves, including Fig, Fennel & Orange Chutney, Blackberry Lemon Verbena Jam, and the always-festive Sugarplum Preserves! Well also be offering housemade Hot Buttered Rum Mix, locally made Ballard Bee Honey, and incredible candied pumpkin in syrup from Argentina!”

Kathy Casey Food Studios® Holiday Open House

Saturday December 12th
11:00 am 7:00 pm
5130 Ballard Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98107
206-784-7840

Over a glass of wine late one afternoon at Purple Café and Wine Bar I had the pleasure of meeting Enzo Schiano, a former Microsoft marketing heavyweight turned olive-oil producer and winemaker in Tuscany. Schiano and wife Claire Beliard (a native of France) make Poggio la Noce extra virgin artisan olive oil at their hillside estate in Fiesole, Italy.

Schiano, a native of Naples, Italy, who studied in the United States before joining Microsoft, has been making olive oil in his groves (2,000 trees farmed organically!) situated above Florence since 2001. This year I tasted his “olio nuovo,” or “new” oil that had been pressed just a week or so before he returned stateside.

As you might expect of a just-pressed extra virgin oil, it was a vivid green color, redolent of aromas and flavors of new-mown grass, fresh herbs, and a bit of pepper, yet still smooth and satin-y. Yum!

The oil, which sells for $24.99 for a stylish 500-ml bottle, is sold at Whole Foods Market, some Metropolitan Market locations, DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine, QFC, and online at the Poggio Web site, so you should have no problem finding it.

Enzo is also a winemaker, and his delightful Gigiò wine, a Sangiovese blend, is available locally at McCarthy & Schiering Wine Merchants (which also carries the olive oil). I’d buy it for the whimsical label alone, not to mention the lovely wine inside.

This time of year, these Italian treats with a Northwest tie would make lovely holiday or hostess gifts.

In mid October we were lucky enough to be among a cadre of local media, trade, and restaurateurs who were invited to experience a Spanish olive-oil tasting and dinner at Spur Gastropub in Belltown.

There we learned that Spain claims to be the first producers of olive oil in the world, and that Spain produces 25 percent in the world, with production of 1.2 million tons of the extra-virgin variety.

Southern Spain is home to 300 million olive trees (!), and 24 varieties are used to make Spanish olive oil.

Here’s a shot of the four oils we sampled (left to right). They included Arbequina, which is described as “clean and green with fresh-mown grass, green apple, and green almond notes.” The soft, delicately flavored oil produced from this variety is lovely with boiled potatoes or roasted fish or salads garnished with orange segments.

Hojiblanca extra virgin olive oil looks cloudy because it is unfiltered. It has “dry-grass and hay notes reminiscent of a summer day.” It works well in pastries, pasta, and for bread-dipping, as well as for frying.

Cornicabra (a.k.a. “the heart of the goat”) is more bitter and peppery–a more rustic-style oil than the others in the group. Try it with barbecue.

Picual is the most produced oil in Spain, as well as the most intense of the four we sampled. Use it to add a distinctive flavor atop vegetables, soups, and stews.

Spur chef/owners Brian McCrackena and Dana Tough created a six-course tasting menu highlighting each of the four oils. Pictured above is our first course of Slow-Cooked Butterfish (a.k.a. Black Cod or Sablefish) with Potatoes, Pearl-Onion Confit, and Hojiblanca Olive-Oil Foam.

I’m not much of a meat eater, but the Poached Pork Loin won me over with its buttery texture, wilted arugula, thin crostini, and Picual Mayonnaise. Truly a perfect dish.

Even dessert featured olive oil–the Arbequina variety in Olive Oil Ice Cream with Sponge Cake and Lemon. While you might not think of using olive oil in baking, it can make cakes lighter and more healthy than butter-based versions.

Spanish Albariño and Verdejo wines paired perfectly with these outstanding dishes.

Mark your calendars, one and all!

On Friday, December 11, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., I’ll sign all my recent book titles, including “Pacific Northwest Wining & Dining,” at Parkplace Books’ Annual Holiday Bash in Kirkland, Washington! As the press release says:

“Mingle with some of our favorite children and adult Pacific Northwest authors, imbibe in holiday wassail, sample delicious holiday treats. . .and get a jump on your gift-buying.

“This has always been a fantastic time to come together with friends, family members, and others from the Kirkland community. As in the past, we will be accepting donated food items, and our sleigh is waiting for donations of children’s books that will be given to Kirkland Interfaith Transitions in Housing (KITH) to be handed out to children in need.

“So join us for an evening of Holiday Cheer and Good Conversation that also benefits our neighbors in need.”

From November 1 through December 1, Ryan Witcher, pastry chef at ART Restaurant and Lounge in the new Four Seasons Hotel Seattle accepted recipes for The Ultimate Holiday Cookie Recipe Search and Showdown. Purpose of the Showdown? To choose three recipes for the best holiday cookie to be served in the restaurant and hotel during the holidays.

Happy to report that I’ll be among the judges to choose the winning cookie (from among the top three entries) on Sunday, December 6, at the first annual Holidays with HeART, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Holidays with HeART is a family event with a lunch buffet, cookie decorating, and judging of the Ultimate Holiday Cookie recipe, with proceeds benefitting Treehouse.

Here’s a photo of ART’s executive chef Kerry Sear manning the grill at Party on the Plaza, another fun holiday event that was held on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, to welcome holiday shoppers and guests.

Last week I found out that my talented Web designer and whiz kid Christopher Prouty, founder of Studio 99 Creative, has launched another exciting venture that will be of interest to anyone fascinated by vampires and the whole “Twilight” phenomenon.

Veinom.com offers photos of gorgeous young vampiresses in various states of undress and degrees of vitality. Chris describes it in two simple words: Vampire Photography. Most appropriately, it launched last Saturday–Halloween!

Here’s a shot of Chloe looking wan and inviting.

And here’s Julia looking beautiful, but a bit “drained.”

Chris reports his new site took 48 hours, three models, and 600 photos to launch.

But it’s out of the gate like a thoroughbred, having attracted 85 fans on Facebook during its first three days in existence. You’ll definitely want to “taste” this jaw-dropping site often and become Facebook friends, “forever”. . .

I’ve been thrilled with the recent redesign of my Website to include a wider, more modern-looking layout; simplified graphic elements and content; new photos; an enhanced Puget Sound Cam; a totally new photo album; and an integrated Content Management System throughout the entire site.

And although I don’t always understand the techie lingo, here’s a lovely explanation by my ever-creative Web site designer, Chris Prouty, on exactly what he did to update my site. Thanks again, Chris and crew at Studio 99 Creative!

I’m off to my big wine event this evening at 7 p.m. at The Grape Choice in Kirkland. We’ll sample four NW wines, I’ll lead a discussion of my book and q/a, with a book signing afterwards. Hope to sell a lotta copies!

A few seats are left if you are looking for something fun to do this evening, but reservations are required. Please call Parkplace Books (this evening’s bookseller) to reserve: 425.828.6546.