Seattle Chocolate Salon

Just a quick note to say that I'll be on the tasting panel at TasteTV's first annual Seattle Chocolate Salon. It is Sunday, July 13th at the Bell Harbor Convention Center, on the waterfront. I imagine it will be a fun event. There are certainly some great chocolatiers coming to town. I'll be there at least from 2:00 - 4:00 PM (unless our baby comes early), so by all means come by and say hi!

Herbivoracious Dinner Party #1

Buckwheat blini with creme fraiche, asparagus caviar, and black salt

Last Sunday was my first "underground" dinner party - a chance to bring together a group of friends who love food, to give me a chance to test dishes and practice this kind of service. I plan to do more of them in the future for a wider audience.

The idea of this dinner was an asparagus tasting menu. Asparagus has been enjoyed since ancient times as a symbol of spring. There is even a recipe from Marcus Apicius, in the oldest known extant cookbook. One of his variations is for a sort of a asparagus fritatta which sounds pretty good.

You can see my menu below (click on it for higher resolution). Most of the dishes came out well. I was happiest with the panko-crusted egg, and the grapefruit/shiso sorbet, which I'll blog about in more detail soon. Less successful was the risotto (overcooked, probably shouldn't have tried to do it for 16 people at once), and the ice cream (forgot it wouldn't be frozen at 32 degrees).

I loved the communal table aspect of this dinner. You could just sense the happy energy in the room, which looked beautiful in candlelight.

Keren at Savvy Savorer was there and blogged about it too. Thanks Keren!

If you are interested in being on the list for future events, drop me a line at herbivoracious [at] gmail.com.

The menu

The room looked beautiful

New Restaurant Review 360 + An Unexpected Surprise

Naomi over at Gastrognome has kindly volunteered to host the next Restaurant Review 360. (What's a Restaurant Review 360?). Her choice is excellent: Jasmine Provincial Vietnamese Cuisine. It has been on my list to try, and I'm looking forward to reviewing it along with her and my fellow bloggers. Deadline is May 20th, so if you write about food in Seattle, be sure and participate!

And, wow, Naomi told me in her email that there would be a surprise. The "360" concept has won me the inaugural SFBA (Seattle Food Blogger Award). I'd just like to thank my wife, my daughter, my 5th grade teacher (Mr. Peake), and of course the members of the Academy. No, seriously, thanks Naomi!