Looking for something fun and different to do with the kids (big or small) this weekend? Something that says spring is in the air?

Then venture out to local farms and pick out this year’s bedding plants and garden starts for your garden. This spring on the Red Rooster Route, Garden Treasures Nursery & Organic Farm is introducing its newest farm festival–The Happy Soils Festival–on Saturday, April 16, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Happy Soils Festival allows youth and adults to learn about the key ingredients to building up tilth in the soil.

Free demonstrations on the farm show how adding compost and the right fertilizer creates an organic space that defends itself from disease and predators. Farm walks will also be organized throughout the day, allowing visitors to learn how a system of food production and distribution promotes healthy living and nurtures the environment.

“Our farm is committed to organic food production and promoting a sustainable lifestyle,” owner and farmer, Mark Lovejoy says. “The goal of our Happy Soils Festival is to take the mystery out of organic gardening and natural soil health.”

Not only does Garden Treasures Nursery & Organic Farm celebrate spring with a variety of nursery items and organic vegetable garden starts, but a host of seasonal produce such as spring mix greens, asparagus, and spinach are available. The farm also features a gift shop, garden center, nursery, CSA box program, and organic-only farm market stand.

This third year of the annual Red Rooster Route will also host a variety of upcoming spring and summer festivals including The Flower Festival during Mother’s Day weekend on May 7 and 8 at Foster’s Farm, The Strawberry Festival on June 18 and 19 at Biringer Farm and Garden Treasures Nursery & Organic Farm, Red Rooster Route Days on July 16 and 17 at all the farms on the Red Rooster Route and The Blueberry Festival on July 30 at Bryant Blueberry Farm & Nursery.

Offering a self-guided tour through the greater Arlington area, the Red Rooster Route is rich with pastoral views and plenty of recreational and u-pick opportunities. To learn more about the farms on the Red Rooster Route and to download a tour map, visit the group’s website.

Additional Information:

Happy Soils Festival, April 16 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Free Admission (donations gladly accepted).

Garden Treasures Nursery & Organic Farm located at 3328 State Route 530

Open Daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Red Rooster Route, off Exit 208 on I-5, is a non-profit association of small, family-friendly farms in the Arlington, Washington, area of Snohomish County. The farms are open to the public during the harvest season.

For more information and to learn about individual farms visit the website.

Photos Courtesy of The Red Rooster Route

My latest blog post for Amazon.com’s Al Dente blog features Seattle chef and caterer Lisa Dupar’s new book, “Fried Chicken & Champagne: A Romp Through the Kitchen at Pomegranate Bistro.”

This terrific tome has been nominated for two International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) awards: First Book and American.

It includes Lisa’s recipe for Fried Chicken, which she’s been making since her high-school years.

In the mood for a little weekend travel?

The third annual North Willamette Wine Trail Weekend is set for this Saturday and Sunday, April 9 and 10.

The self-guided weekend tour is hosted by North Willamette Vintners, a nonprofit organization comprised of wineries, vineyards, and other wine-tourism partners in Oregon’s North Willamette Valley.

With stops on the tour in and around Washington County (just minutes from Portland), the weekend’s events are designed to appeal to wine enthusiasts of every level.

Twenty-four wineries will host tastings exclusive to the Wine Trail Weekend, including offerings of reserve labels, new releases, and barrel tastings. And in keeping with Oregon’s food (and foodie) culture, wine pairings with food will be a major emphasis of the event.

Just a few of the many event highlights that will occur alongside wine (and food) tastings include: an exhibition of canvas paintings by Robert Schlegel at Apollini Vineyards, concerts by “Portland’s French Troubadour” Eric John Kaiser at Montinore Estate, “Mystery of the Bottle” discussions at Oak Knoll Winery that discern why certain bottles are used for different varietals, and cooking demonstrations at Helvetia Vineyards hosted by Chef Dave Clark.

The event is priced at $45 ($10 for designated drivers). All guests will receive a reusable wine tote filled with a commemorative wine glass and a variety of special discounts and offers. Designated drivers will receive the same tote–with a stainless steel water bottle instead of the wine glass–along with snacks and non-alcoholic beverages.

Tickets for the North Willamette Wine Trail Weekend are available online at the North Willamette Vintners website until the event sells out, and in the tasting rooms of participating wineries through March 28. When purchasing tickets, guests are asked to decide at which winery their tour will begin, and then are instructed to bring their receipt to that location on April 9 or 10 to pick up their ticket, wine glass or water bottle, and their map/brochure.

Click here to download an online brochure, the perfect starting point to help plan your weekend journey.

Photo courtesy of North Willamette Vintners

A recent press release touted an interesting sounding concept: Find it on First, a new urban scavenger hunt created in partnership by BOKA Kitchen + Bar, Fonté Café & Wine Bar, Japonessa, TASTE Restaurant and The Pike Brewing Company.

The five restaurants united to showcase a revitalized First Avenue in a fun and tasty challenge for Seattleites.

“Find it on First” began on Tuesday, March 1, 2011, and will continue on the first Tuesday of every month.  Participants who complete the challenge will earn free menu items and exclusive discounts available throughout the rest of the month.

Upcoming hunts will take place on April 5, May 3, June 7, and July 5, 2011. Here’s how it works:

Pick up a “Find it on First” Stamp Card at all participating restaurants or download from any participating restaurant’s website. Here’s how to begin…

1.       On first Tuesday, visit any of the Find it on First restaurants.

2.       Answer fun trivia questions or find hidden treasures to earn a stamp. (No purchase is required to participate.)

3.       Collect stamps from all five restaurants to receive exclusive discounts and FREE menu items.

• April 2011: Enjoy $3 off cocktails and $1 off beer
• May 2011: Complimentary dessert with purchase of entrée after 6 p.m.
• June 2011: Enjoy $1 Bloody Mary cocktails before 1 p.m.
• July 2011: Complimentary appetizer with purchase of entrée after 6 p.m.

In addition, those who participate in “Find it on First” are invited to take part in a monthly drawing for a grand prize that will be announced at the end of each month. Prizes will range from dining certificates to hotel stays and other prizes from participating businesses. For March, the grand prize was a “Spa Lunch for Two” at Spaahh at Hotel 1000.

We have been VERY remiss in welcoming a lovely new tasting room and event facility to the Pike Place Market neighborhood: Patterson Cellars.

Grand-0pening events took place the last week in January, when we finally marched ourselves down the hill to sip some wine and sample some apps from Volterra Restaurant.

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Folks in our ‘hood, lucky locals and travelers to the Puget-Sound region no longer have to venture to Woodinville, where Patterson Cellars is based and still operates a second tasting room. For now the winery is bringing its value-priced, award-winning wines to Seattle!

With wines such as 2010 Rosé and Chardonnay, 2008 Forbidden Red, 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2007 Syrah, there’s plenty of good stuff to choose from!

Cheers, Patterson Cellars, and welcome to the ‘hood!

Coordinates:

Patterson Cellars Seattle Tasting Room

1427 Western Avenue, Seattle (on Western Avenue below Pike Place Market adjacent to the Pike Street Hill Climb)

More about the winery: Patterson Cellars offers two exciting places to try their wines, an urban tasting room located near the Pike Street Hill Climb, on Western Avenue, below the famous Pike Place Market in Seattle, and at the Woodinville tasting room and winery in the wine warehouse district. Both venues offer a unique space and experience for tasting their approachable new world style wines, and for parties and events. Crafting wines for over 12 years, from crush to cork, Patterson Cellars focuses on producing wines as unique as the grapes themselves sourcing grapes from Washington State’s Columbia Valley, Red Mountain, Lake Chelan, and Horse Heaven Hills AVAs.

Sea Scallops with Spiced Carrot-Dill Sauce

Varietal: Riesling

Serves 4

Chef Jerry Traunfeld is a James Beard award-winning chef and owner of Poppy restaurant in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. For years he served as executive chef at The Herbfarm restaurant in Woodinville, Washington, and is also the author of two cookbooks. He very generously gave me this recipe for inclusion in “Pacific Northwest Wining & Dining.” When asked about a wine pairing with this vibrantly colored, gently herbed and spiced seafood entrée, Jerry quickly replied, “Without question, this is a Riesling dish!”

2 cups fresh carrot juice (available at health-food stores, juice bars, and select grocery stores)

1/2 cup white wine

1/4 cup diced shallots

One 2-inch piece cinnamon stick

2 star anise pods

2 whole cloves

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning

Freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 pounds fresh or thawed untreated (dry pack) sea scallops (See Cook’s Hint, below)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-tablespoon pieces

1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh dill

1. Pour the carrot juice and white wine into a medium saucepan and add the shallot, cinnamon stick, star anise, cloves, the 3/4 teaspoon salt, and a few grindings of pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until it is reduced to about 1 cup, 25 to 30 minutes. Set it aside while you cook the scallops.

2. Pull off the small white piece of muscle that is attached to the side of the scallops (some may not have it) and discard. Pat the scallops very dry on paper towels and season with salt and pepper.

3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Swirl in the olive oil and carefully add the scallops, flat side down, in a single layer without crowding. Cook, without turning, until the bottoms turn a deep brown color, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn and brown on the other side, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer the scallops to a warm plate and let them rest while you finish the sauce.

4. Bring the sauce back to a simmer over medium heat and add the lemon juice. Whisk in the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. Place a fine-meshed sieve over the top of a blender container, and strain the sauce, pressing the solids with the back of a large spoon to remove as much of the sauce as possible. Discard the solids and blend the sauce for 30 seconds, or until smooth. Pour the sauce back into the saucepan and stir in 3 tablespoons of the dill.

5. Arrange the scallops on 4 warm serving plates. Ladle the carrot sauce around them and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon dill.

Cook’s Hint: Whether using fresh or previously frozen sea scallops, it is important to use “dry pack” scallops, or the scallops will not brown (caramelize) properly, and will instead steam in their own juices. Scallops that have been treated with phosphates during processing absorb water. Not only do they not cook properly, but they lack the fresh, sweet, and briny sea flavor of their dry-packed cousins. Sea scallops that are uniformly white in color, or that are displayed surrounded by juice, are most likely treated.

Recipe reprinted from “Pacific Northwest Wining & Dining: The People, Places, Food, and Drink of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia” (Wiley, 2007, $34.95) by Braiden Rex-Johnson.

Our longtime friend and colleague, Michael Teer, owner of Pike & Western Wine Shop in the Pike Place Market (where we buy lots of our vino thanks to its convenient location right near our condo and excellent selection of both Northwest and global wines), recently opened a second location in the hottest new neighborhood/work area in Seattle: South Lake Union.

A couple of Saturdays ago, braving frigid blasts although the skies were (blessedly) sunny, we hopped aboard the SLUT (South Lake Union Transit) and stopped off near SoulWine.

The gorgeous corner-location shop is in the same complex as Seattle celebrity chef Tom Douglas’s second location of Serious Pie and the Dahlia Workshop, a casual take-out biscuit and breakfast/lunch/brunch spot. Both venues were well populated for lunch the Saturday afternoon we visited.

Photo of SoulWine interior courtesy of Reiner Perry, KPIS

“Pike & Western is like a first born that I have grown and nurtured,” Michael told us. “It was one of the first wine shops in Seattle and has a long history of supporting Washington wines. It has afforded me long-lasting relationships with premium wineries domestically and internationally, many of which find their way to SoulWine.”

Here are some snippets from the press release that went out shortly after SoulWine’s soft opening in early January:

*SoulWine features retail wine sales, a tasting bar and a private event space.

*The name, SoulWine, is rooted in Michael’s lifelong appreciation of wines with soul – wines that reflect a sense of place and a sense of the people who made them – and his love for old-school soul music.

*The collection of wines reflects Michael’s passion for supporting the growers and small, handcrafted producers that put their “soul” into the dirt, the grapes, and the wine they produce, with an eye to unique quality and value across the price spectrum.

*Michael thoughtfully selects every bottle that is offered at SoulWine, many of which reflect his strong ties with Italy, France, Germany and Austria as well as wines from Washington and Oregon.

*The 1600-square-foot space houses a careful selection of both high-end and value wines, a tasting bar that seats six, a window counter for casual tastings that seats six and a private-event space that seats up to 20 and can be used for casual gatherings and educational wine events, complete with wine reference materials.

*SoulWine is open Mon. through Sat. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Visit the website at www.SoulWineSeattle.com.

Taste Washington, the largest single-region wine and food event in the country, returns for its 14th year on Saturday, March 26, and Sunday, March 27, in Seattle.

The weekend kicks off on Saturday, March 26, with a series of seminars at Bell Harbor International Conference Center. These fun and educational panels feature renowned wine experts from across the country leading in-depth explorations of Washington State wines. This year’s panelists include Dave McIntyre, Wine Columnist for The Washington Post; Chef Michael Mina of Bourbon Steak and RN74; Leslie Sbrocco, contributor to NBC’s “Today”; Sara Schneider, Wine Editor for Sunset; Bruce Schoenfeld, Wine Editor for Travel + Leisure; and Jason Smith, Master Sommelier and Wine Director at Bellagio Las Vegas.

The highlight of the weekend is the Grand Tasting on Sunday, March 27, at Qwest Field Event Center, with more than 200 Washington State wineries and the region’s top restaurants sampling their latest releases and newest creations. The Grand Tasting also features celebrity chef demonstrations; dessert and coffee bars; and a vineyard tasting area, allowing guests to compare and contrast the wide variety of wines that are made from some of Washington State’s most sought-after vineyards.

“Featuring more than 200 Washington State wineries and the Northwest’s leading restaurants under one roof, the Grand Tasting makes Taste Washington the largest single-region wine and food event in the country,” according to Robin Pollard, executive director of the Washington Wine Commission.

First I lost the splint. . .

Now the stitches are gone, too! Amazing how quickly the human body can heal.

Thanks to all who expressed well wishes for a quick recovery.

On the mend and brushing on ScarGuard (a nail-polish-like substance that purports to diminish scars) twice a day.

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.