We just came back from a 2-days trip to Whidbey Island, WA. Ah, what a place! So laid back; just what I need/ed.
The first town we visited was Langley. It has beautiful shops, galleries, restaurants, and a public beach… Charming.
It was chilly and cloudy that day so we spent more time on the main street [...]

We got there right on time. One minute before the sun disappeared behind the mountains. Can you see it?
I turned around and snapped this,

and the sun was gone. Sunset has begun.

It was date night. We had dinner—the restaurant was fancy, the food was good, a bit pricy, and overall OK but not worth mentioning to [...]

The United Indians of All Tribes Foundation holds this annual celebration in Discovery Park, Seattle. There’s traditional singing, dancing and drum contests, arts and crafts, food booths and salmon bake. More info here.

Look at this child dance!

***

We moved to WA State 9 years ago. It was summer. August. And it was raining… We were newlyweds, but, really, rain in August? I almost strangled my newlywed husband – we moved here because of him – on the plane. “RAIN IN THE SUMMER? Where are you taking me?”
Nine years later, I know it [...]

Eight years. 8 years since the last time we visited Mount Rainier National Park in WA State. Ahhh, we were younger, we were prettier, and we were kid-less back then. But the kids have grown; grown enough to endure the 3 hours drive (non-stop) it takes to get to the park + the additional hours [...]

On our second day at Lake Chelan, we visited Blueberry Hills farm. For us, a family vacation is just incomplete without a visit to a farm. Especially a farm with a U-pick field! And especially when lil’ kids are involved. I was very much farm-deprived as a kid so I’ve got a lot of catching [...]

 
 
Truly magnificent clouds in this area…

And my lens has some serious fish bowl effect…

Do you remember what you did during Memorial Day weekend?
Sometimes when people ask me on Monday, “How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?” I totally blackout. Zilch. Nothing. My mind goes blank and cannot produce a syllable.
Memorial Day weekend sure seems like it had happened a looong time ago but it’s only been [...]

We spent 2 days in Seattle during Memorial Day weekend and got to eat out 4 times. Back home, I went grocery shopping for ingredients to make dinner. Then, later I went through the receipts from grocery store and the restaurants where we ate. Then I had a little math exercise going in my mind… [...]

Our very own local and amazing, and one of my favorite people and good friend, Keren Brown organized a special event this weekend.

Do you spot anyone who might look familiar to you?
(Hint: She’s sitting on the left side)
Do you know Ree? A.k.a The Pioneer Woman?

Ree is on a book tour and Keren asked her to [...]

Beavers?

The second day of our trip began with a continental breakfast at the hotel’s lounge. Fresh pastries, bagels, fresh orange and grape juice, good coffee… buffet style. I’m not a big fan of the “all you can eat” deal because it makes me eat more then I need, especially when fresh and made-just-right (not too [...]

That was the laziest vacation I’ve ever had.
We went to Portland, Oregon with the kiddies on a 4 days trip. It’s winter, oh sorry, it’s spring already but I haven’t noticed with all this rain and chilly temperatures… So, anyway, there’s spring break and schools are closed and we thought that a little family trip [...]

Gorgeous, luscious, creamy and light Trophy cupcakes, in bite size – dangerously good – were served at today’s food photography workshop.
I still feel “high” after participating in this workshop with food photographer Penny De Los Santos (her web site: www.pennydelossantos.com, her blog, and @pennydelosantos on Twitter.)
The workshop was organized by Viv, a.k.a Seattle Bon Vivant [...]

This is becoming a yearly family tradition. Something fun to do during the holidays, adults or kids, is going to see the Gingerbread Village at the Sheraton Hotel in Seattle where local architects and chefs from the Sheraton team up to design, bake, and build gingerbread houses.
This is the Sheraton Seattle’s 17th annual Gingerbread Village [...]

It was a gorgeous winter day. Although it started gray and cold – welcome winter? – it turned into a sunny warm day with white clouds in the blue sky.

What better way to shut off the constant buzz inside my head – can you hear it too? – than going out on a farms tour?
We [...]

Yesterday turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. It started grayish and rainy but around 10 am the sky became clearer and bluer. That made me happy and at the same time nervous, realizing all of a sudden that summer is coming to an…. end. I had a little panic attack. Then I started [...]

I have a sister.
The first time we met I was 18 years old, she was 9, our brother 7. After that, another 10 years passed by until we met again. We grew up in two different continents, in two separate families, and we have no shared childhood experiences.
Since I moved to the US, about 8 [...]

          
Oh, man, it seems like ages since I made this pie, right after the recent Dahlia dinner. But what can one say about a pie when life is a roller coaster?

8 years ago my husband and I, a newly-wedded couple, boarded a plane to Seattle in the midst of summer and arrived here on an August rainy day. I quickly learned why it’s called Rain City. Needless to say I wanted to choke my husband who was the reason why we moved here. “Rain in [...]

At first, I didn’t want to title the post“Salmon in Seattle”… but then I just couldn’t resist.
Salmon is a big deal in Seattle and there’s a lot of anticipation before the beginning of Copper River salmon season. But I have already mentioned that before so no need to go into it again, right? (If you’re [...]

Seattle is blessed with a lot of good foods (fresh seafood, fresh coffee, great local wines, fantastic chocolate, and so much more) and plenty of good food events. Seattle is also very lucky to have fantastic food writers.
Last night I have attended one of Kim Ricketts‘ Cooks & Books event as a Foodbuzz (an online [...]

 
Today was the first day of the Hunger Action Week. I made a plan ahead of time (see here) – I had to – and a grocery list, I calculated the estimated costs, and went grocery shopping today. More about that in a minute.
We take this challenge as a family so I tried to find [...]

I’m not writing about Weight Loss Weekly today since I’m going to post about the Hunger Action Week in the next 5 days. But do go and visit Bernie, Sunny, and Joie de vivre who are discussing this question: How do your family and friends support you or hinder you in your weight loss efforts? [...]

I don’t know what to begin with. The usual Friday cake collection? Weekly meal plan? Next week’s Hunger Challenge? There’s so much going on…

If I was a queen, I would leave my royal chambers and live in such a kitchen so I won’t have to waste any minute for the fabulous food to arrive to my table.
We love to go to the Palace Kitchen for a late bite and a good drink. It is the perfect place for [...]

On the road from Redmond to Woodinville there’s a cute neighborhood mall, Bella Bottega, where you will find Coho Café. We first dined at Coho before we had kids. We sat at a table by the warm fireplace on a Saturday and had lunch. This is a nice place to go to for either lunch [...]

Being a food blogger is super terrific. But it can get lonely here in front of the computer regardless of how many friends you have online.
This is why I have joined an online community of food bloggers called Foodbuzz a few months ago. Then I discovered that as a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher I can coordinate [...]

A few years ago while visiting Los Angeles I was invited to dinner. The host prepared salmon and I asked her: “what type of salmon is it?” She looked at me somewhat puzzled: ”what do you mean what type of salmon?”. “Is it a Sockeye? A Coho? A Chinook?” I tried again. “It’s salmon. I [...]

If you are looking for something fun to do for the holidays, go see the Gingerbread Village at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel. Local architects and chefs from the Sheraton Seattle team up to design, bake, and build gingerbread houses and creations with a superhero holiday theme.

Time: Mon-Thu, Sat 10am-6pm; Fri 10am-7pm; Sun 11am-5pm. Ongoing Daily [...]

“Enjoy your fat” and “Enjoy your meat on the bone” are the dedications Jennifer McLagan wrote for me in my copies of her cookbooks “Fat” and “Bones. And I say “Halleluyah” and of course I am also Very Happy about my two new cookbooks. However, I do need to buy a new bookcase. And by [...]

Hey, I just realized that this blog exists for almost 4 months and I still haven’t given you a single salmon recipe! How could that be?
Salmon are now “in season”. Meaning, they are swimming back to their home here at the local lakes, rivers, streams, and creeks. We went to see them during Issaquah Salmon [...]

When people hear this words combination “Family friendly restaurants” what comes to mind is big chain restaurants (no need to name names) serving junk food, where the kids can go wild, run around and scream from the top of their lungs, where they learn no table manners, and they get wrong idea about what food [...]

A fantastic and fun way to teach kids about food is to go to farms, and especially to U-pick farm where you can see how vegetables and fruits grow and you can pick them by yourself. This is the freshest produce ever!
Here, in Bellevue, WA, a suburban city near Seattle, there are still a few [...]

Thank you to all the people who attended the session I gave at Planet Kids Bellevue tonight “Beyond Mac & Cheese – Learn to cook a home-made Family-Friendly Dinner every day”!
You asked me about the following:
Cooking schools:
I forgot to mention that I offer private one-on-one, or small group, cooking classes, done at your own kitchen, [...]