A couple of days ago, I woke up excited for my morning run and there was no mistaking it- autumn had decided to rear the drizzly tendrils of it’s rainy mane.  In Seattle especially, this comes with a touch of bittersweet irony every year since our summers are just so painfully short.  Because that particular run happened to be 9 miles, I felt justified in eating to my heart’s content when we were able to snag a last second reservation later that night at Cascina Spinasse - best seats in the house at one of the hottest newer joints in town.

I ordered the Tajarin al ragu(Tajarin being Piedmontese dialect for tagliolini) as my primo piatto, and it was without a doubt divine, but it got me thinking about what I truly love to ruminate on when it comes to steaming plates of pasta, and that is the element of fai da te or, do it yourself!

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Having a baby significantly diminishes most parents’ capacity for dining out, at least in the types of establishments they likely used to frequent.  When Bentley Danger was born a year ago, Jonas and I were excited to take him to all our favorite haunts.  One day when he was about two weeks old, we were strolling about downtown trying to get the hang of not ramming people with the Orbit  and we decided to pop in for a quick early evening chat with our favorite bartender and friend Murray  at the Zig Zag Café.  Imagine our surprise when, in pushing through the door we had so often breezed past in years past, we noticed for the first time the “No Minors” sign and briefly wondered “Does that apply to babies too?” 

Murray sadly let us know that babies are indeed considered minors despite the fact that they can’t even hold their heads up, much less try to sneak cocktails when mummy and daddy aren’t looking, so we chatted with him outside for a bit, walked away with our tail between our legs, and have been back exactly twice in the last year.  We tried to keep doing the restaurant thing for a short while, but it’s a little disconcerting to the waitstaff when you show up for your 8pm reservation at 8am because you have days and nights mixed up due to the somnambulism that occurs during life with a newborn, so we decided to take a brief pause on the dining out stage. 

We’re over a year in now and we don’t exactly have to twist Grandma’s arm to get her to spend the evening with her perfect grandson, so we’re officially back on the dining circuit.  In an attempt to fill the gaping, year-wide hole in our must-try cache, we decided to start at the top of the list: Cascina Spinasse  est. 2008- Capitol Hill’s answer to the call of Seattle’s Piemonte-philes.  Read more

I am often inspired to create a menu based on what’s fresh and seasonal at the local market.  Alternatively, I may come across a recipe in a cookbook, on David Lebovitz’ blog, or via Cook’s Illustrated that is just too tantalizing to pass up.  It has happened in the past that I have been inspired to serve or make a particular beverage by the aquisition of new and interesting glassware. Case in point the four glass jugs of different batches of limoncello currently distilling in my library.  My thumb still hurts just thinking about peeling all the lemons that went into those, but who can resist adorable little vodka shooters peeking innocently out from the freezer beckoning “fill me, Linda, fill me with ginger-kumquat infused limoncello!”

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