Savory Pumpkin Bread Pudding

When I was a kid, June was by far my favorite month. School got out for the summer, it was my birthday, we had that perfect spring weather—sunny and warm but not full on summer hot—and our field was filled with little purple flowers. And did I mention my birthday is in June? Of course I loved summer and also other months with holidays (particularly ones where I received gifts and/or cake and/or cookies), but I didn’t see how anyone could love any month better than June.

Chicken Teriyaki Pizza

In celebration of football Season and the Hawks straight stomping the competition the last couple weeks, I’ve joined a group of bloggers from all over the country — all of whom are big football fans! — to bring you football-inspired recipes this season. Last month we shared our favorite tailgating recipes, and now we are sharing more than 60 recipe ideas for celebrating on game day… all with our favorite cities and teams in mind! 

Tailgate Bloody Marys

It’s FOOTBALL SEASON. SEA … HAWKS! SEA….HAWKS!

Tropical Garden Party Cocktail

HI, it’s me! And I come baring refreshing summer cocktails… because it finally sort of feels like summer in Seattle! These are bright and fresh, a little sweet, slightly savory, and super herbaceous, with muddled shiso leaves and cucumbers, gin (I used Hendricks for that extra floral/herbal kick), lemonade and a splash of pineapple juice (though a muddled chunk of fresh pineapple would be the way to go if you have it!), and a sparkly splash of Serrano DRY to finish it off. 

Vanilla Pineapple IPA Popsicles | #POPSICLEWEEK

It’s that magical first-week-of-summer time. When everything seems possible, when we shed our winter skins and people ride bikes naked through the streets, the sun sets later and later each night, barbeques and beers on patios are plentiful and stretch past our pre-solstice bed-times, camping plans and picnic plans and beach-day plans are dreamt up and mapped out, and here in the PNW, we wear tank tops and flip flops one day, rainboots and jackets the next, constantly unprepared for the heat or the rain. It’s also the time of year when Billy of Wit & Vinegar hosts Popsicle Week!

Fried Chicken Sandwiches!

My mom said that when she and my dad first lived together, practically all she made was deep fried food in a cast iron skillet, because it’s all she knew how to cook. And my grandma, from Oklahoma, has bubbling hot oil running through her veins. But I was raised in the Pacific Northwest, in the 80s and 90s. Back when health crazes were all the rage. In a time when margarine was better for you than butter (although the lower price is more likely what kept that giant tub of Country Crock in our fridge my entire childhood). The days of Slim Fast powder and Jane Fonda aerobics tapes. Back when my mom only deep fried a couple times a year, and usually just to make breaded fried zucchini, and taquitos on Amanda’s birthday. Contrary to my mom’s belief, deep frying prowess is not something you’re born with. It’s not something I was born with. In fact, it’s something that, while brave and adventurous in the kitchen, I’ve always been intimidated by and have failed at every time I tried.

Ready-To-Go TJ Salad

I was eleven or twelve years old, and beyond excited to go to the movie that everyone said made them literally scream and jump out of their seats with fear. Of course my cousin Coco, 13 years my senior, took me. The same cousin who let me watch Candyman four years earlier (I would go on to brag, for years, that Candyman didn’t even give me nightmares, a fact that I wore like a badge of honor and maturity). The same cousin who couldn’t wait to binge on the movie Fear with my sister and me every summer since it came out… in 1990. When I was 5. (While the Marky Mark/ Alicia Silverstone Fear is amazing and the ferris wheel scene taught middle schoolers across the country everything we knew about sex at the time, I’m talking about the earlier movie Fear, starring Ally Sheedy, in which she’s a psychic who uses her powers to track down murderers and ps. it’s the best movie ever). The same cousin who later took us to see The Blair Witch Project… the night before we went on a family camping trip.