lala

Really? That's too bad... well, to my mind, it's too bad that those condos are even there. I used to go to the Harbor House fairly often - it gave the illusion of being out in the "wilds", with no neighbors. Sometimes when you're on the deck in the summer now, you get several types of music coming down from the condos, competing with the music at the pub, which to my taste is a bit distracting. Heck, I can get that at home on my own deck with my neighbors! Still, it is lovely to go there...

*sigh* The Harbor House used to be a lovely secret, but since they've built those condos Right On Top Of It, it's always crowded. However, it's a fun place, rain or shine, right on the marina with Seattle Faaaaaar in the distance. You can get there by walking through the park, too, which is nice - as you go uphill from the ferry, turn right at the drive that leads back down the hill, to some condos. At the bottom of the hill, before the condos, turn right onto the footpath. Continue behind the boatyard, over the footbridge, and through the park. You'll have to come out on the street at the other end of the park, by the church, then turn left and walk to the bottom of that hill, to the end, then turn right and go a little uphill, past Pegasus Coffee (very nice), and the Marina buildings. Turn left at the Harbor House parking lot. If you have time, go a little further past Harbor House to inspect the garden of that little house just up the road - it's quite amazing in summer.

Chinook's is good basic food (nothing fancy here!), with that really good chocolate cake for dessert, and the terrific veiw of the fishing boats. FYI: Azteca at Shilshole shut down last year. Guess the nasty food wasn't compensation for the veiw. My out of town non-foodie guests are usually really happy with the Happy Hour (4-6, I think) at Anthony's, Shilshole. Great deck, 1/2 price apps (clams, mussels, shrimp, etc.... nothing too strenuous for the kitchen) and decent brews and wines. I wouldn't eat dinner there, but munchies and a drink hit the spot. Then you can go for a walk at Golden Gardens, and have an ice cream at the burger joint.

My family was always split - Dad and brother hated liver, Mom and me loved it. Whenever I visited the folks after college, I'd offer to make any dinner they wanted. Dad always got steak with bleu cheese, and Mom got liver and onions. Try using sherry or sherry vinegar to deglaze - slightly sweet, yet has that edge you need for the rich liver.

If you go down to Batdorf's, be sure to get some coffee - it's really good!

The Tom Douglas rub is good, but be careful, it has a lot of sugar, so if you're pan searing it, it can burn.

The stock at TJ's varies depending on product availability. I checked my cupboard last night, and I got Du Puy's there in the fall. Apparently, if you can't get them there, just go anywhere in town!

Alki Hotel article Here's an article on that Alki Hotel in the Seattle Times today. What a dreadful idea!

I've seen them at Met Mart on QA and at Trader Joe's.

I used to be a loyal Spud-er, but don't care for their food now that Ivar's owns it. Sunfish is pretty good, though.

I grew up in Michigan, and we always used the back porch for cooling foods and storing drinks for parties. When we had a garage, we then had both an outdoor freezer, and walk in fridge (garage). Really useful during the holidays when the fridge was just not big enough!

Hmmm....no butter.... Well, you could go with just a spritz of lemon, or use low fat mayo to make an aioli or herbed dip. Or do a vinaigrette? Some people use red cocktail sauce, which I've done up with extra lemon and horseradish, which isn't too bad. If I'm feeling guilty about the amount of butter I'm using with a crab, I will just not dip every bite, but only every third bite or so, consuming the other two bites 'naked'.

The general rule is to cook dungies in water that's as salty as the sea. I have no idea what that proportion is, but I put a couple of tablespoons of sea salt into the pot. Here's a question for everyone: What do you eat with your Dungie? Do you dip the meat in a sauce or butter? Are there particular sides that you must have? Personally, I like them warm, or at least room temp as cooled from being cooked (not refrigerated). I melt unsalted butter, squeeze in a good shot of lemon juice and grind in some pepper. Accompanied by a good baguette and white wine (pref. sparkling, though fume blanc is good). Towards the end, I start to dip bits of the bread in the butter, as it has picked up the crab flavor, and little bits of crab that are just delicious on good bread.

I was shown to put the wrapping in the sink and roll them out onto their backs. That way, their claws can't get hold of anything, and after a minute of waving in the air, they just kind of fold up and go quiet. Works pretty well, and they usually stay quiet for the trip into the pot, too. Hmmm.... 'tis the season...maybe I'll run down to Jack's for a crab this afternoon...

When you go grocery shopping with friends and they follow you around the store to put the exact same things in their cart. When everyone at work must look at your lunch, every day. When everyone calls you for cooking advice. When others at the table in a restaurant refuse to order until you do, then say “I’ll have the same”. Every time. When your clothes are basic jeans and t-shirts, but your cookware is Le Creuset, your knives all high end German, and you’d sooner dance barefoot on nails than give up your microplane grater or your Japanese slicer ‘cause they’re so much fun to use. When you just give up and make eGullet your homepage.

When I looked up the planning on the City of Seattle site, it didn't mention a hotel, either. Hope it doesn't happen. And as a frequent visitor I hope that the parking restriction doesn't happen! I understand that it's a pain for everyone to park, though... A friend and I had drinks and apps at the Celtic Swell and while we will go back, we weren't impressed. The sausage rolls were vastly undercooked, resulting in raw pastry, and the Calamari was ok, if nothing to write home about. But, like I said, we'll be back to try the entrees. It is nice to have a pub on the beach!

That must have been me that posted about Jacks... I tout 'em any chance I get. They are the only fish vendor in the market with a tank for live crabs and oysters, and they're the only ones who cook their own . I do encourage you to buy a live one and cook it yourself, for the ultimate in freshness. However, if you do, ask them to wrap it securely. The two live'uns I bought for Christmas eve got loose in the car and were quite peevish when I wrangled them back into the bag. Of course, I was laughing my ass off at the site of crabs running around my trunk...

Yeah, I don't understand that either?

Yeah, and look how long she lived while some of those who adhered strictly to the low cholesterol, low fat, low sugar and no fun diets, died 20 or 30 years younger! ← I'm a good example of the French paradox. I eat a big piece of usually fatty beef everyday, smoke, drink wine, too much coffee... But I don't eat processed/packaged foods (which have alot of preservatives, additives, hidden fats and sugars) . I never get stressed either. Well almost never. My wife says no matter where I am I look like I'm taking a stroll in the French country. I'm 6' tall and weigh 165 pounds. Flat stomach. And I'm not a young guy anymore ← Hey, please don't take my remark as my being a health freak. I love the fact that she was over 90 and still eating/drinking that way. However, for some of us, eating that way DOES put on the pounds. Blame genetics, but we can't all do it. Wish I could

I learned to cook in the 70's and 80's, and watched Julia on Saturday Mornings instead of cartoons. While, at that time, she did teach classical french cooking (How many dinner parties did we throw with Coq qu Vin?), more importantly, she helped to give me (and millions of others) an excellent grounding in techniques that I use to this day. And while Julia is famous for enjoying her butter, meat, and gin, many of us have found that our constitutions cannot take that any more. So... what's up with the new French cuisine?

Well, the storm drain leads to the sewers, right, and then the sewers lead to a waste treatment plant somewhere I'd imagine, so, I can't see how that is any worse than putting it into a can and tossing it (also, I don't have any old coffee cans laying around, and deep fryers make for quite a bit of waste oil when it is time to change. I have played around with the idea of picking up an old MB 300D or some other diesel vehicle and playing with making my own bio-diesel, but as for yet I haven't gotten around to it. And as for Seattle mandatory recycling and waste guidelines: ick. The more I hear about how intrusive the govt. is in your daily life in many west coast communities, the more I realize I could never happily live there. ← I don't know where you live, but in any city that I've lived in, East Coast, Midwest and West Coast, storm drains go directly into the nearest body of water - you might as well take that used, nasty oil with you when you go to the river/lake/beach and dump it right into the water. A quick google for 'storm drain' shows these results - here are three random sites from Chesapeake Bay foundation, Oakland, Ca, and Hawaii that explain what happens to whatever goes into the storm drain: http://www.cbf.org/site/PageServer?pagenam...utdoors_stencil http://www.oaklandpw.com/keep_oakland_beau...ain_stencil.htm http://protectingwater.com/storm-drains.html And recycling is not intrusive for anyone who gives a damn about the environment. Let's do what we can to leave the earth in somewhat reasonable condition for our kids and grandkids!

You Are kidding about putting your oil in the storm drain, right? Here in Seattle, we're phasing into mandatory recycling, which is not a bad thing. This year, if you have 'too much' recyclable waste, you get warnings. Next year, you get fined, and if that doesn't work,they they refuse to pick up your garbage. My lovely landlord also has one dumpster for the entire 20 unit building, and two pickups a week mean that I have to time when I dump the stinky stuff, as the dumpster tends to get full of weekend shopping detrius by Sunday night. There's no recycling bins yet, so I'm curious to see what he'll do when it hits him in the pocketbook.

Ohmygod! A hotel at Alki! How awful!!!!! I wonder what kind of hoops the owner had to jump through to get that approved. I've always thought a B&B would be cool, but that's just too much. I've heard that another grocery store may go into the Alki Grocery space.

I'm plan to go to more wine tastings and seek out wines that are new to me. When the weather improves, I'll do a taco truck tour. And I really need to eat more Dungies...

What year were these? The '96 is a bit young right now; I'm not planning on drinking it for a while. Thanks to the folks who also encouraged me to get well priced other brands. This is what I normally do, and I will definately be stocking up this week, as I always do when everything in the moderate range goes on sale for New Years.