The temp has dropped here in Seattle and now it really feels like fall. I am learning how to build a proper fire and chop wood. The wood chopping needs some work but it is super satisfying. I snapped this shot on my way out yesterday…
You can’t see them well in the photo above but my super cool Vans are these from Hedley & Bennett…
We have this beautifully simple, made-in-Seattle Filson log carrier to haul all that freshly chopped wood…
Over these last several months at home, I lost the desire to drink alcohol. I didn’t make any big decision, it just happened. And when I thought about it further it became clear that my desire for a cocktail to mark the evening or enjoying a beer after working all day in the yard was about the ritual or celebration and not the alcohol itself. However, most non-alcoholic beverages seem to lack that special something that a proper drink has when it comes to marking an occasion.
With perfect timing, Julia Bainbridge’s excellent book Good Drinks came out last month…
She writes in the introduction: “It can be difficult to snap a backbone onto a mixed drink without wine or spirits. Alcohol provides structure and complexity, and it’s often pleasantly bitter and bracing. Remove it from a cocktail, and you’re left with sugar, acid, and some cold water…Until recently, nonalcoholic mixed drinks have been treated as afterthoughts. A higher level of effort and care anoints them as proper drinks. Good Drinks.”
She also wrote Pleasantly Bitter and Thoroughly Grown-Up, No Alcohol Needed for the NYT this summer. Mentioned in the article is For Bitter For Worse out of Portland. My favorite evening cocktail fireside these days is this negroni style deliciousness…
4 oz The Saskatoon
1 oz simple syrup (or juniper syrup)
1/2oz - 1oz lemon juice
Shake over ice in a shaker, and as the bottle states “serve over ice with style and intention.” (I like a big ice cube like this.)
Another one to add to your bar cart are the SOM vinegar cordials created by Andy Ricker of Pok Pok fame…
“You get something sweet, tart, in some cases savory, and in some cases tannic, all in one pour,” says Ricker. “You don’t have to make a simple syrup or add a botanical to it or muddle anything.” SOM and soda make a fantastic savor-worthy beverage…
A few other things bringing me joy these days…
YNAB! You Need a Budget. I wrote about YNAB here four years ago and have mentioned it a few times since. I am an unabashed YNAB pusher and think everyone should use this amazing life-changing tool…
We are going through a lot of soap these days and this everyone foaming hand soap is our favorite for the bathroom…
I like this liquid version in the kitchen. Their lemon coconut hand sanitizer and wipes are great as well…
The Dream Pant from Everlane is really good. Soft, midweight fabric and an excellent cut makes for great loungewear that is really pulled together and smart looking…
Over the summer we made a lot of pizza. We’ve had a little Ooni pizza oven for the last few years but only really pulled it out one or two times a year which was a shame. It is so easy to use and we really put it to work this summer. Even with the cooling temps we plan to keep her firing all through the fall and winter.
We have an older model but this Ooni Koda is comparable…
And Joe Beddia’s Pizza Camp is my pizza bible. The perfect dough, sauce, and technique are all found here. In fact the technique he teaches uses a standard home oven so if you don’t have a pizza oven definitely don’t let let that stop you. We use both the Ooni and our kitchen oven with excellent results.
One of the many restaurants to close in our city due to the pandemic is the acclaimed Tilth. I thought chef Maria Hines’ words in The Seattle Times were beautiful…
But Hines also holds hope for the future. Of “the heart and soul” of an enterprise like Tilth, she says, “My love and my creativity and my desire to share happiness with the world through my craft - all of that still is there. It’s just that the vessel is going to change. Whatever form that takes, you can’t take that away.”
Seattle fans who’d like a last taste of Hines’ shared happiness in its current incarnation can still try for takeout or day-of patio reservations, weather permitting, through Oct. 30. Then Tilth goes dark. But Hines calls the restaurant’s last days a celebration. She continues, “There’s this sense that it’s ending - that there’s a finality to it… we really need to look towards the light, and think about all that light we still have in us. Don’t let the temporary darkness block that out.”
Ken Lambert - The Seattle Times
And I’ve been thinking about this quote…
“Hard times are coming, when we’ll be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now, can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies to other ways of being, and even imagine real grounds for hope. We’ll need writers who can remember freedom—poets, visionaries—realists of a larger reality.”