There’s something special to be said about Pacific Northwesterners and their fish. We’re scathing when it comes to salmon, we spurn crab from outside of our realm and we don’t like to buy halibut unless it’s lewdly expensive. And our wine? Pff, if it’s not from Washington (exception being Pinot)
A pintxo should not be confused with a tapa. The pintxo, a small plate or snack of Basque Country, Spain origin, is a hobnob – a conduit to socialize at a bar, tavern or restaurant and is thought to be the bedrock of Basque culture. The main difference between the two is simple – a pintxo is more often than not skewered by a toothpick.
The Restaurant: A jaded Northwesterner might view January with disdain for its rotten weather and post-holiday melancholy. Snow threatens closures, rain hisses down with a vengeance and wind chokingly whips in from the Sound. In pursuit of happiness, locals tend to seek out sunnier elements and warmer conditions, such as Mexican excursions and Caribbean island crawls.
This gastronomic geek secretly believes that when the world was created, God saved pork belly for last. Then, he kicked up his feet and rested on Day 7. This makes sense, since eating the delicacy is a divine, glorious act. Light beams down from the sky, encapsulating this moment you have to relish in its sumptuous entirety.
Drinking sparkling wine on New Year’s Eve is a little played out — but regardless, everyone will do it. Most bars include a toast with cover charge, while retailers hammer home their inventory. Realistically, you won’t be focused on pairing your meal this Saturday night — so I’ll throw my hat into the ring for bubbly recommendations, instead.
Some Seattleites might be appalled at the idea of pairing breakfast — the day’s most important meal — with an alcoholic beverage. Sometimes, however, the holidays call for it — the extensive celebration with abrasive relatives where a copious supply of wine is your only refuge, for example.
Traveling in Australia can make an American hanker after Tex Mex like no other. It could have been the three weeks of driving on the opposite side of the road or that it rained the entire time of my visit for the first time in a four year draught, but my time in the Land Down Under was a unique experience overall.
A daylight headache is bound to follow when one often finds themselves face to face with a bottle of wine (or four). A true beverage-fiend knows when you have a fever, the only cure is more alcohol — and its lesser known partner in crime, grease.
In the classic 1991 thriller, “The Silence of the Lambs,” Sir Anthony Hopkins introduced the relatively obscure Chianti to American audiences.
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