Tuesday, September 8th - Angel Hair pasta w Vegan Bolognese

I don't often crave pasta, even less often I don't crave spaghetti type noodles. I couldn't shake my craving for Angel Hair pasta. We were watching this episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on Food Network where Guy went to this place called Bizarro in Seattle. We were in Seattle this past weekend but we didn't get a chance to visit. It make insanely good looking pasta. It's all homemade and autentico! Not your typical red sauces. Anyhoo, all the home made stuff looked so chewy and fresh I was half tempted to make it. I decided with all the reno dust around the house, I didn't want to roll any dough out on the counter.

So I just pulled out my Barilla Capellini pasta. Mmmmm. The finer the better. I love angel hair but only in really clingy sauce. The sauce is actually from the previous Friday but I've not updated the blog on that night. On that night we had the sauce with some squid ink fusilli.

Vegan Bolognese w Squash.

1 small/med butternut squash cubed and parcooked (if you're in a rush)
1 tin of italian tomatoes, chopped
1 half onion chopped
1 zuccini chopped
2 fire chilis
7 crimini mushrooms (brown button or white button if you can't get brown. The brown taste better)
2-3 cloves garlic chopped
1 T fresh oregano chopped
1 T fresh rosemary chopped
1/2 T fresh thyme pulled off stem
salt and pepper
pasta water
1 package italian or plain vegan mince.

In a large pan or large pot, heat some olive oil. Sautee the onions, squash, zuccini a few minutes. Add the mushrooms and let brown slightly. Add the mince and break up. Add the herbs and garlic. I add the garlic later to prevent burning. After a few minutes, add the tomatoes. Add a ladle of the pasta water you're boiling the pasta in. It'll loose it up as it cooks. It will enrichen and thicken the sauce. Season as desired. It keeps well in the fridge in a sealed container for a week. I ate it for lunch as a stew. MMMMM

We had a nice Italian Tommasi Romeo Rosso.. MMMMM

Sunday, September 6th - Bumbershoot in Rainy Seattle - Pike Place Piroshki

We spent LabOUR day weekend in Seattle at the Bumbershoot Music festival. It really is much more than that and I'll be more prepared next year. There are loads of comedy, arts, film and other shows. That said, on the gated off Seattle Centre grounds, is your typical Fair Ground foods. We, therefore, did wander off to get food when we could. For breakfast, we went to Pike Place. My favourite portable food in Seattle is the fresh fresh Piroshky across the road to Pike place. They're fabulous. The dough is rolled right there on the spot and filled with a variety of fillings. I was tempted to try something new with a carrot and saurkraut but went to the puffy, mushroom one that came from the onion while I was standing in line! I highly recommend you go there if you're visiting.

Piroshky Piroshky
www.piroshkybakery.com
1908 Pike Pl
Seattle, WA 98101-1013, United States
(206) 441-6068



For dinner, it was your typical group maylay. For most of the day D and I wandered around on our own. For dinner we met up with our five other friends. Two of us had already eaten and yet for some flipping reason we were following them around the dark cold streets of Belltown. Hello? I had suggested a place near our hotel in Queen Anne, which incidentally was also closer to the place the other three people were staying. But M, who was staying in Belltown, winced when I suggested that. Hello? After arriving at a DIVE across from M and J's hotel, I put my foot down and said I'm not walking any further. When we walked into the Panther Room, across the fucking corner from M and J's hotel, I was pissed off. It was supposed to be our one nice dinner out and here we are. all us far from where we're staying except for the couple who is not eating. Fucked up!

I was not impressed by the divey black walls lined with ceramic tigers and panthers and the sticky menus covered with burgers. I was ready to walk out. D had to calm me down. He offered to buy me dinner.

So the tough, inked bartender comes over to tell us the waiter is leaving so he'd take our order. Despite his intimidating appearance, he was very nice and very professional. Poor D had a really pathetic looking chicken quesadilla. I had a pretty nice dish, surprising! It was a vegetarian ravioli with roasted corn and tomatillo filling topped with Mexican cheese. It was a little too rich but the flavour was very nice. The bar itself was gross. Once side looked like a biker bar and the other side looked like TGIFriday's. It was bizarre. We guessed it was because of a recent combination of two separate businesses that didn't bother to redecorate. Weird.

I had a Sagelands Merlot. Not bad. I don't recommend the place for dinner, perhaps lunch.

D and I sped walked to our hotel in the rain. No cabs! WTF! I should have pushed more for the place near ours or closer to the Seattle Centre. We moved on from the first place because it looked blah and ended up at the Panther Room, WTF?! Can you tell from my cursing that I wasn't happy? I didn't twitter about it since one of my friends with us follows me. It totally wasn't DJ's fault though. He was playing the happy, go with the flow guy since he was the common element in the gang.

Had some Boom Boom Syrah to relax with in the room.

Monday, August 31st - Butternut Squash, Leek and Barley Risotto w Sage

Recipe and write up pending. Highlights, riesling, fresh sage, thyme and a smidge of nutmeg. POKE ME in comments to get on getting the recipe up! I keep delaying.