Bellingham is an easy stop-off for I-5 travelers, and it’s not hard to find great bites to eat. On our three recent visits, we wandered downtown for lunch, where you’ll find all of the places mentioned here.

Rocket doughnuts; artwork inside Pel’Meni Russian Dumplings; a mint espresso doughnut.

Rocket Donuts was our first stop in December (well, Eric’s, as I shopped for pretty papers at Stampadoodle). We still had donuts on the brain after we’d stopped at Countryside Donut House on our way out of Seattle and sadly found them closed for the holidays. But once we’d arrived in B’ham, we realized there was still an entire half hour before lunch. Plenty of time for second breakfast!

Eric picked up my favorite, a plain cruller, along with an apple fritter and their donut of the month, mint espresso. The fritter had more apples than any I’ve eaten, and would have been a contender in our doughnut taste-off. The cruller was eggy and delicious, but the two of us fought most over the last bite of that mint espresso doughnut. The combo worked perfectly, and it may have been the moistest cake doughnut I’ve tasted. Oh, and they serve a pretty respectable espresso here, too.

Locals hanging out inside Old World Deli; pel’meni dumplings; waiting for the dumplings to boil.

Half an hour later, we were ordering Russian dumplings for lunch at Pel’meni. The colorfully painted restaurant has exactly two choices at the counter: potato or beef dumplings. We ordered one of each then watched the owner fiddle with the vintage turntable to fix a broken needle while our dumplings boiled. It wasn’t long before the vinyl was playing again and our dumplings were done. They were finished with a healthy dusting of yellow curry powder, some sour cream, cilantro, and the critical squirts of rice vinegar and hot sauce that transform the dumplings from good into the absolute perfect lunch. The beef version was by far my favorite.

Why can’t we have this in Seattle, I thought then. But wait. Not a month after our visit, they opened a location right here in Fremont. Swing by for your dumpling fix 5 pm until late in the night.

We loved the dumplings so much that we went back on our return trip the next day for an appetizer-sized reprise of the meat pel’meni. Not knowing the future, we figured this was our last opportunity to try them again for a while. It was tempting to have more, but we still wanted to try Old World Deli across the street.

The deli imports meats and cheeses, available hand-sliced or served inside one of their deli sandwiches served on Breadfarm bread.  My parma cotta (ham and mozzarella) panino was melty and delicious, particularly with the house-made mustard. It’s a comfortable hangout for the locals, with artwork pinned to the walls and casual chairs where you might kick back and read the paper one morning. I might do that sometime, since the breakfast panini menu looked worth trying.

Pretzel sticks are one of over a dozen forms of pretzels at Ralf’s Bavarian Bakery; truffles at Chocolate Necessities; farm fresh eggs at the Bellingham Farmers Market.

It was a frigid December day outside, and ice cream should have been far from our minds, but we’d heard that Mallard Ice Cream serves up some creative flavors. While they certainly have the standards, like strawberry, chocolate, or cookies and cream, you can also choose avocado, yerba mate, or White Russian.  After waffling over the extensive list, we settled on two: vanilla black pepper, and cider cheesecake. While it’s nice that they’re always experimenting and rotating through seasonal flavors, I am sad that I’ll need to wait months for another cold winter day to have that cider cheesecake ice cream again. It was heavenly.

Chocolate Necessities was our last stop on this visit. Almost an institution in Bellingham now, they have been making handcrafted truffles and chocolates for over 20 years. The location we stopped in also serves gelato, which we eyed with interest but there was no way we could fit in another bit of ice cream. Instead, we opted for a couple of truffles. The white chocolate peppermint truffle was a creamy version my favorite holiday treat (peppermint bark, of course!), and the scotch truffle was rich and boozy.

Mulunesh serving up her Ethiopian stew; 30 flavors to choose from at Mallard Ice Cream; the Bellingham Farmers Market.

In early April, we made a return trip to the Willows Inn, and found ourselves in Bellingham again on a Saturday morning, this time coinciding with the second week of their seasonal farmers market. What a lovely market! Larger than most in Seattle, the Bellingham Farmers Market sits under a series of permanent open-air structures, rather than tents. There’s a great mix of farmers of all sorts, crafters, and ready-to-eat food, with lots of open space, so while it’s lively, it doesn’t feel elbow-your-neighbor crowded. Street performers drew crowds, who were munching on soft pretzels from Ralf’s Bavarian Bakery and drinking homemade Chai from India Grill.

For lunch, we grabbed plates from one of the vendors, Ambo Ethiopian Cuisine. The owner, Mulunesh, was serving either chicken or lentil stew with beets, carrots, potatoes, and cabbage, along with the spongy slightly sour Injera bread to sop it all up. Delicious, and in itself worth a stop.

So what’s next on the list for Bellingham? I’d like to try La Fiamma Wood Fire Pizza, or maybe we’ll check out one of the breweries like Chuckanut or Boundary Bay. But what I’d really like to know is, what are your favorite bites in Bellingham?

Rocket Doughnuts
306 W Holly St, Bellingham
(360) 671-6111

Pel’Meni Russian Dumplings
1211 N State St, Bellingham
(360) 715-8324

3516 Fremont Place, Seattle
(206) 387-1702

Old World Deli
1228 N State St, Bellingham
(360) 738-2090

Mallard Ice Cream
1323 Railroad Ave, Bellingham
(360) 734-3884

Chocolate Necessities and Gelato
1426 Cornwall Ave, Bellingham
(360) 733-6666

Ralf’s Bavarian Bakery
207 E Maple St, Bellingham
(360) 733-3066

Ambo Ethiopian Cuisine
Bellingham Farmer’s Market
(360) 756-1627

Clockwise from top-left: Bottega Italiana, D’Ambrosio, Fainting Goat, vanilla gelato from Gelatiamo (we were unable to obtain pistachio from them this weekend, so didn’t rank this one), and Talenti.

After we’d stuffed ourselves with bánh mì at our January taste-off, we moved on to gelato. For an even playing field, we stuck with just one flavor, pistachio. With the same set of judges and ranking method as our sandwich taste-off, and only four gelati (hm – gelati, gelatos, gelatoes – nothing looks correct in an English sentence…), the best possible score was 9 and the worst was 36.

	4th place: This high-end grocery store gelato was a bright, almost fake green sitting next to the others. Talenti gelato tasted a bit artificial, too, and the texture was icy. While it had the biggest chunks of pistachio of the bunch, which initially seemed like an advantage, the nuts were soft and mealy. More than half ranked this at the bottom, giving it an overall score of 30.
	3rd place: Bottega Italiana’s gelato was creamy in texture but sweeter than our ultimate favorite. The primary complaint here was that it doesn’t taste much like pistachio. Instead, it’s more like brown sugar in flavor and color. Yummy, but pistachio should taste like pistachio. Score: 26.
	2nd place: It was basically a toss-up between the middle two gelati, with Fainting Goat Gelato garnering just one point more than our 3rd place choice. Fainting Goat’s version was not nutty and not particularly distinct, and some felt they’d be hard-pressed to identify it as pistachio in a line-up.
	1st place: The title of D’Ambrosio Gelato’s web site says “Seattle’s Best Italian Gelato” and we agree. Unanimously. It’s a rare occasion when nine of us agree on a winner (9 points!), so we can definitively say this is the best of the bunch we tried. Intense nutty pistachio flavor, with a great texture and tiny pieces of nuts throughout. Some detected a hint of salt that enhanced the flavor of the pistachio. I personally would recommend any of the flavors at D’Ambrosio and highly recommend a trip over to Ballard (or Casa d’Italia!) for a sampling.

For a bit over a month now, Max has been doing late night (9 p.m. to 3 a.m.) pie deliveries by bicycle on Fridays and Saturdays.  All you have to do is send a text message with your order and location, and The Piecycle will be at your door, too.

Did you catch that it’s raining tonight?  This guy bikes around in the rain, and the dark, delivering pies to the hungry masses.  That’s dedication.  It’s only $3 a slice, or $20 for a whole pie.

So what’s the catch, you say?  Well, he’s on a bike, so the delivery area is limited (and luckily, my house is included!).  He delivers all over the U-District and surrounding neighborhoods.  Send him a text to find out if he’ll deliver to your location.

Tonight we tried the cheesecake, which had hints of lemon and orange and disappeared in no time.  And the blueberry pie is delicious, too.  Max frequently has vegan offerings, and let me tell you, I’d have been hard pressed to guess that this blueberry pie is vegan.

And with a day or two notice, he’ll even bring you a gluten free pie if you need one.  Custom orders are no problem.  Just let him know what you’d like.  How’s that for service?

The Piecycle
9 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays
Delivery to U-District and surrounding neighborhoods
Text your order to (425) 923-6655

Shuksan strawberries

My first taste of a Shuksan strawberry was last year, when our friend Lorna shared with us some of her harvest from her day of strawberry picking with Jon.  These large glossy berries are a beautiful red color all the way through the center, unlike your typical white grocery store strawberry.  And they are the sweetest berries I have ever tasted.

They have a brief shelf life, deteriorating in only 24 hours, so they are difficult to stock in stores.  However, for a very limited time, lucky Seattleites can find Skagit Sun’s Shuksans at Whole Foods (Roosevelt Square, Interbay, and Westlake) and Metropolitan Markets (Queen Anne, Sandpoint, and Kirkland).  Shuksan season only lasts for about three weeks.

Jon Rowley helps Mike cut strawberries for shortcake; fifth-generation farmer Chris McKnight; kids and adults listening to Chris talk about the farm

First pick of this strawberry field at Thulen Farm

Sixty of us met at Thulen Farm in La Conner to pick the first of the season berries.  Fifth-generation farmer Chris McKnight first talked to us about how they grow strawberries at his farm, a very small operation.  He said that the Shuksan plants are in very high demand, and they have to purchase new plants to keep the berries growing strong.  He pointed out a sparse field behind us where the plants were four years old and barely producing fruit.

He then had us grab empty flats and showed us to the field, where the Shuksan berries were hanging heavy under a canopy of green.  In no time, everyone had filled their flats to the brim with the brilliant red berries and stained their lips bright red, babies included.

Empty flats waiting for picking; Dawn in the field; unpicked Shuksans

Devouring a strawberry; strawberries awaiting jam and shortcake; Eric and Ian picking together

Strawberry face

As if we hadn’t eaten enough berries in the field (pick one, eat one), next up was a side-by-side strawberry tasting of five varieties.  The Shuksans and the Hood strawberries were our favorites, although we also enjoyed the Puget Reliance, which reminded Eric of the berries from his childhood.

Kids lined up immediately when Jon started handing out heaping plates of shortcake.  They waited patiently as the architectural masterpieces were assembled: half a biscuit, a spoonful of whipped cream, a heap of berries, the other half of the biscuit, more berries, another spoonful of whipped cream, and finally a few artfully placed berries with a drizzle of juice on top.  And before Jon handed the plate over, he asked each kid if they would be able to eat the whole plate of shortcake.  They nodded solemnly with hands outstretched, and carried it away with a smile.  There wasn’t a speck of shortcake left on those plates.

Jon Rowley hands out huge plates of shortcake to the kids, who devoured every bit

Anticipating shortcake

Licking the fork clean; I want more berries!

We spent that afternoon hulling and processing all those berries (remember that 24 hour shelf life?).  I churned a batch of my favorite strawberry frozen yogurt, and finished the first step in my three-day strawberry balsamic Ferber jam.  In the morning, we made blintz soufflés with strawberries, which were so yummy that we plan to make them again this weekend.  We also assembled our own architectural masterpiece of shortcake, using David Lebovitz’s three-seed shortcake biscuits.  Those seeds add just the perfect crunch and texture.

For the remaining few pints, I tried a recipe for pickled strawberries that my friends Michael and Robin had recommended to me.  I recommend you do the same.  Sweet and tangy, with a touch of spice, they are a unique way to preserve the sweetness of summer in a jar.

Spiced Pickled Strawberries
Adapted from The Complete Book of Pickling, by Jennifer MacKenzie

6 pints strawberries, hulled (preferably small and just a touch under-ripe)
3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
2 cups cider vinegar

Puncture strawberries with fork tines and cut any large ones in half.

Combine remaining ingredients together in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar and salt are dissolved.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly.  Pour over prepared berries.

Cover berries and let stand at a cool room temperature for at least six hours or overnight.

Prepare canner or water bath, jars and lids.

Re-heat berries, gently stirring occasionally until strawberries are heated through but still hold their shape.

Gently spoon strawberries and hot pickling liquid into hot jars, leaving ½ inch head space.  Remove air bubbles and adjust head space as necessary by adding hot pickling liquid.  Wipe rim and place hot lid on jar, screwing band down until fingertip-tight.

Place jars in canner and return to a boil.  Process for ten minutes.

Turn off heat, remove canner lid and let jars stand in hot water for an additional five minutes.

Transfer jars to a towel-lined surface or a cooling rack and let stand undisturbed until completely cool, about 24 hours.  Check lids and refrigerate any jars that are not sealed.

. . . . .

The pickled strawberries are lovely on their own, but here are some other tasty ideas from folks on twitter:

• @mbruchas: Blue cheese and pickled strawberries tossed with summer greens, or pickled strawberries on ice cream
• @tanukipdx: Chopped chicken liver with whipped ricotta and pickled strawberries on grilled bread
• @jessamyntuttle: Salmon with pickled strawberries
• @hhlodesign: Foie gras with pickled strawberries
• @voraciousgirl: A salad with pine nuts, feta, and pickled strawberries

We retrieved doughnuts from all ends of the city and convened on Father’s Day morning for a taste-off of epic proportions.  If you thought four dozen croissants was excessive, try eleven dozen doughnuts in the same room.  Perhaps it was an ambitious plan.

The Contenders

Family Donut Shop.  An unassuming strip mall shop in the Northgate area is where those in the know stop for their sugar-rush, whether it’s a fritter, cruller, or a basic raised.

Frost Doughnuts.  Open for less than a year, this is the youngest doughnut shop in our taste-off, offering sophisticated creations out of their boutique shop in Mill Creek.  The shop is so popular that they are rumored to be looking for a second location closer to Seattle.

King Donuts.  They sell teriyaki and doughnuts next to a Maytag Laundromat in Rainier Beach.  Needless to say, we were curious to see what kind of doughnuts are baked in a place like this.  Teriyaki doughnuts while you wait for your last load to finish spinning?

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.  The Original Glazed Krispy Kreme was popular across the country before they opened three stores in the Seattle area, including the SODO location where we picked up fresh glazed doughnuts for our taste-off.

Mighty-O Donuts.  Organic vegan doughnuts might make you imagine a tofu ring covered in glaze, but you would be hard-pressed to identify their doughnut as vegan in a line-up.  While the bakery is situated in Wallingford, you can also find these doughnuts in high-end area grocery stores like Whole Foods and Madison Market.

Original Bakery.  Open for decades, this neighborhood favorite in West Seattle is our oldest taste-off contender.  They sell no-frills doughnuts and other home style bakery items to go with your coffee at this friendly family-owned shop.

Top Pot Doughnuts.  Top Pot’s “hand-forged” doughnuts are in such demand that they’ve now got six brick-and-mortar shops, along with an Airstream mobile unit, plus a presence at our own Qwest field and in Starbucks across the country.  The doughnuts for this taste-off came from their original location in north Capitol Hill.

Lara Ferroni’s homemade doughnuts.  How do homemade doughnuts stack up against the very best doughnut shops in Seattle?  Lara made us a few batches from her soon-to-be-published Doughnuts cookbook, which is scheduled to hit bookstores this fall.  No fancy, professional bakery equipment here; just a stovetop pot and thermometer.  We should note for our taste test that only two of the twelve people judging knew that there were homemade doughnuts in the mix, so the doughnuts were judged as if they were from a professional bakery.

The Judges

Six couples, three kids, two babies, plus one on the way gathered after some self-imposed carb fasting.  Those with voting rights were our hosts Kye Soon Hong and Eric Vigessa, along with Catherine Reynolds and Ken O’Hara, Laurie and Matthew Amster-Burton, Rebekah Denn and David Dickey, Michael and Robin Bruchas, plus yours truly.

Revealing the results

The Ranking Method

This was a blind taste taste, with an arbitrary letter assigned to each doughnut for identification.  Each person independently stack ranked them, from their most to least favorite.

A doughnut was given one point when it was the top of someone’s list, a second choice doughnut received two points, all the way on down the list.  So if there are seven doughnuts, the best possible score is 12 (i.e. when everyone ranks it top on their list) and the worst possible score is 84 (all twelve people rank it 7th on their list).

The Categories

We decided that the only way to make a fair comparison between shops was to compare the same kind of doughnut from each place.  However, it was tough to whittle the playing field so that we could avoid each person having to eat dozens of different doughnuts on a single morning. (I know, you’re asking, how is that a bad thing?)

To focus our attention on the doughnut recipe, we stuck with the quintessential plain cake and glazed raised doughnuts as our categories.  This meant we’d only have to try around a dozen different doughnuts, which should be no problem, right?

But then we got tempted by all of the other doughnut possibilities.  Apple fritter?  Buttermilk bar?  Bismark?  How could we ignore each doughnut shop’s specialty?  In the end, we decided a third category might be disastrous, but we would allow a specialty doughnut flavor from each shop, which people could taste, but these doughnuts would not be part of the judging.

The Plain Cake Doughnut

A plain cake might not be the doughnut that you choose when you’re distracted by chocolate, maple glaze, sprinkles, and jelly.  But it’s an important doughnut because it tells you a lot about the bakery.  What is the flavor of the oil they use for frying?  Is the cake dense or light?  What kind of crumb?  Is it fried with a crunchy or soft exterior?

And besides, sometimes a plain doughnut is all that will do for dunking into your coffee.  And in case you’re wondering, no, Dunkin’ Donuts was not a participant in our taste-off, since they closed all west coast outposts a couple years ago.  Krispy Kreme was the only one of our contenders that didn’t participate in this category, because let’s be real here: which doughnut do you buy when you go to Krispy Kreme?

	7th place: A majority ranked Mighty-O’s doughnut dead last, due to the off-flavor (excessive baking soda and the taste of corn oil?) and lack of crunch to the crust.  With a uniform texture throughout, it was uninteresting and bland, garnering a score of 74.
	6th place: Top Pot was all over the map, landing everywhere except in the number one spot on the stack rankings.  But the median score was 5, giving it an overall rating of 53.  The texture on this doughnut was bready with no crunchy crust, and some felt that it was oily, with a strong nutmeg or clove flavor.
	5th place: With only a point advantage over 6th place (52), Frost had a score distribution similar to Top Pot.  This is a very sweet doughnut that seemed bland to some, and like Mighty-O and Top Pot, it had a soft exterior with no crunch.
	4th place: The rankings for Family Donut ran the gamut.  It might have placed better if it hadn’t been fried in slightly rancid old oil, since it was crunchy with a good open crumb.  Overall, it received a score of 48.
	3rd place: Homemade doughnuts did well in our taste-test, yielding two first-place votes and an overall score of 46.  The crust was crisp, which was an important criteria for most in the cake category, and there was a good crumb with a subtle nutmeg flavor.
	2nd place: The sweet, cakelike doughnut from King Donuts made it into the top two slots in half of our stack rankings.  Its score was 35.  The nutmeg was well balanced and while many liked the texture and crunch, a few felt that it was a bit too fluffy.
	1st place: Original Bakery was the clear winner with a majority voting the cake doughnut as their favorite.  The crunchy crust and light interior made this the perfect doughnut for many.  This doughnut had a slightly unique (some called it citrusy) flavor to it, unlike the customary nutmeg flavor.  Was it cinnamon?  However, there were a few who didn’t go for the non-traditional flavor of this doughnut, resulting in a score of 28.

Raised Glazed

Raised dough is a canvas for many people’s favorite doughnuts: jelly-filled, maple bars, bismarks, and the ever-classic raised glazed.

This category was harder to judge than the cake category.  A few people mentioned that they thought only the top few cake doughnuts were worth eating, whereas they would be happy eating any of the raised doughnuts, including the lower ranked ones.  The rankings here were based more on subtle nuances, although the highest ranked tended to be doughnuts that had an airy soft interior with a touch of crunch on the edges.

Mighty-O doesn’t make a raised glazed, so didn’t participate in this category, and we were unfortunately unable to include Top Pot’s ring for this tasting.  Next time.

	6th place: Homemade doughnuts did not fare as well in this round as in the previous round.  Raised doughnuts can be tricky to make without professional equipment like a proof box, and some felt that they tasted a bit yeasty and not as sweet as the others.  The overall score was 69.
	5th place: Half ranked the Frost Doughnut fifth on their stack ranking, but the rest placed it higher.  The resulting score of 44 put it marginally behind the next couple doughnuts.  This doughnut was more cakey than the higher ranked doughnuts, and some felt that it, too, was yeasty.
	4th place: With a very sweet dough, Krispy Kreme’s Original Glazed doughnut was no one’s favorite, rating an overall score of 42.  It was uniformly soft and had a shiny thick glaze.  And yes, our Krispy Kremes were eaten at room temperature, just like all the other doughnuts.
	3rd place: Family Donut had four first place votes, but the rest of the votes spanned the entire range, pulling it down to a score of 39.  This doughnut was fairly sweet and if it didn’t have a slight old-oil flavor similar to their raised, it might have placed higher.
	2nd place: Half of the people placed Original Bakery’s doughnut in their top two, and a couple said this was a clear winner above the rest.  This sweet doughnut had a strong nutmeg flavor and a bit of a crunch to the edges that people liked.  The overall rating was 35.
	1st place: The King Donut was far and away the favorite, with nearly everyone placing it into their top three, and five ranking it their favorite.  It came in with a score of 23.  The doughnut had a good all-around flavor and sweetness, plus a great soft texture.  With so many favoring this doughnut, it makes me wonder if their teriyaki is as good.

Specialty Doughnuts

As a way to showcase the best of each bakery, everyone brought in a specialty doughnut to taste.  The red velvet from Frost was beautiful and with cream cheese frosting to boot.  Mighty-O’s raspberry lemon poppy seed was soft and tangy.  Lara supplied cute sugared twists and doughnut holes that were the perfect small bites.  And we could see why the bismark from Original Bakery has a loyal following.

I even tried my own hand at doughnuts, using Lara’s German chocolate recipe, and for my first homemade doughnuts ever, I was pretty pleased with the results.  Since they were easy to make, and I saved the used fry oil in my fridge, I’d like to try her banana doughnuts next.  Or maybe the ricotta fritters.

Then there were the apple fritters.  Nobody knew who was bringing which specialty doughnuts, so we didn’t plan to have four different apple fritters.  But perhaps it shouldn’t be much of a surprise, with this being a classic favorite.  So we set up the plates for a spontaneous third taste-off.

Apple Fritter

One of our judges almost defected from her job when she heard that she would need to judge another round, but she rallied for the last four doughnuts.

There seemed to be two camps to the apple fritter lovers: some like the crunchy edges and others prefer the soft inside.  Since the fritters were each very different from one another, this resulted in voting being pretty scattered among the fritters, with one clear favorite.

	4th place: The fritter from Top Pot Doughnuts was very traditional-looking in shape, with quite a bit of soft interior and a thick coating of glaze.  The edges were somewhat crunchy, and several thought the whole thing was too sweet.  As with every doughnut in this category, the votes spanned the whole range, although the Top Pot fritter was last on half our rankings.  The overall score was 34.
	Tie for 2nd place: The two fritters taking second could not have looked and tasted more different from one another.  The one from King Donuts was a regular-shaped soft puffy square, with lots of apple bits, while the one from Frost Doughnuts was a crunchy maze of crazy-shaped dough drizzled with caramel.  Nearly everyone gave these two fritters a 2nd or 3rd place ranking, leaving them with a tied score of 31.
	1st place: The flattest fritter with the crunchiest edges was from Family Donut Shop.  This one was a deep caramel-colored brown, and preferred by a majority of our judges, coming in with a score of 24.

Our conclusion was that doughnut judging is a lot more difficult than croissants.  With so many variations on even the standard recipe, not to mention the toppings and flavors that we didn’t even touch, the type of doughnut you like and consider the “best” may very well be quite different from mine, or our judging here.

But we did discover two things.  One: there are a lot of good doughnuts hiding in nooks and crannies of this city, certainly more than we tasted on this morning.  Any suggestions for other favorites we should try?  And two: we will never again try to taste 22 different doughnuts in a single morning.

The carnage

What should we taste-test next?  Cupcakes?  Baguettes?

So for our second tamalada last week, I came armed and ready with the ingredients for more sweet tamales. After we finished wrapping the savory tamales for dinner (spicy mushroom, chorizo, Mexican collard greens, duck confit with salsa verde, roasted poblano with queso fresco, and smoky pheasant), we set them to steam and got to work on dessert, with our orange margaritas in hand.

Sweet tamales are made using the same method as savory tamales, by spreading the masa batter across a corn husk or banana leaf, adding the filling, and then closing the husk or leaf and tying it shut. See our post from last year for the savory recipe. The difference is that sweet tamal masa is made without the savory components like chicken stock, and instead, a sweet liquid like juice, or in my case coconut milk, is used to moisten the batter. With some sugar, cinnamon, and butter, you have the perfect vehicle for some rum-soaked raisins in the middle, and a sweet ending to a tamalada.

Sweet Tamales
Makes about 18 tamales

Corn husks
½ cup rum
½ cup dark raisins
½ cup golden raisins
5 ounces shortening
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup sugar
1 pound fresh masa
¾ cup coconut milk
½ cup butter, softened

Soak the corn husks in very hot water for a hour or so, until pliable. Drain.

Put the rum and both kinds of raisins into a small saucepan. Heat just until it comes to a boil, then remove from the heat and allow to cool.

With a stand mixer, beat the shortening, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until light in texture, about one minute. Add the sugar and half the masa, and beat for 3 minutes. Add the last half of the masa, and beat for 3 minutes. Reduce speed, add the coconut milk, and then beat for another 4 minutes. Add the butter, and beat for 4 more minutes.

Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the masa batter into the center of a corn husk, and spread it with the back of the spoon. Add about a teaspoon of raisins in the middle. Fold in the sides, fold up the bottom of the husk, and tie.

Steam the tamales over simmering water until they are cooked through and easily pull away from the husk when opened, about 1½ hours. Enjoy!

Eric and I are just off the plane last night from our vacation in France and now recovering from jetlag.  Our typical routine when we return is to awake by 4 or 5:00 a.m. (since it’s impossible for us to sleep any longer) and head out to breakfast somewhere.  Last time, we discovered that Seattle breakfast places don’t open until the oh-so-late hour of 8 or 9, which is no good for hungry people wandering Seattle at 6:30 a.m.  So this time we headed to The Original Pancake House, which we were certain was open.  Nothing like a good American breakfast to welcome us back!  This afternoon, we’ll finish up the last of our bag of Parisian pastries we delicately hand-carried on our return flight – canalé, financiers from Maison Kayser, macarons from Pierre Hermé, and my favorite bite of the trip, an Ispahan croissant from Pierre Hermé, which is filled with their signature rose-flavored almond creme, raspberry gelée, and studded with red flecks of raspberry on top.  The croissant is only one delicacy from the famous Ispahan flavor family from Pierre Hermé, which includes Ispahan macarons, Ispahan bûche de Noel, and more.

Standard parallel parking distance in Paris; breads at Maison Kayser; cheeses at Fromagerie Laurent Dubois.

Now it’s back to reality, work, unpacking, and getting our photos downloaded to our computer.  We’ve found that putting together our photo album and writing our travelog usually takes a few weeks, and even more so this time around since we’ll be busy attending the first International Food Bloggers Conference next weekend.  So hang tight for a little while, or if you can’t wait, go back and read about one of our past trips here (note that we typically only write travelogs for the trips of two or more weeks – try clicking on one of the European links).

In the meantime, I encourage you to pick up a copy of David Lebovitz’s new book, The Sweet Life in Paris.  We headed over to WH Smith just to get a copy while we were in Paris, where their window display was plastered with copies of his book.  The lady at the checkout reminded me that he would be there to sign books only a week later, which would be after we’re back in the U.S. – what I would give to get my book signed!

Les Papilles bistro; our Paris kitchen; Pierre Hermé pastries.

I read it cover to cover, sitting on the Metro, and while giving our feet a break in our Latin Quarter apartment.  We dropped everything to try out his mouth-watering recommendations, which for a lucky week were just a Metro ride away, and we were laughing on every page at his accurate descriptions of Parisians.

Case in point was this excerpt:

“Oh, you were waiting in line?” more than one person has said to me when I’ve busted them for trying to cut in.  “No, not really,” I want to come back with, “I was just standing here in the supermarket with a basketful of items at the register, since I had nothing else to do today.”

One dame who stepped right in front of me at the busy Ladurée on the Champs-Elysées actually turned to me when I spoke up, and said, “Is there really a line?”

To clarify it for her, I pointed out the ten people in single file in front of me and the twenty people waiting behind.  I don’t know how her definition of “a line” differs from mine, but I gave her plenty of time to ponder that as she skulked back to the end of it.

Eric witnessed this in action at the airport on our way home.  He went to purchase a bottle of water for our flight and was standing in line directly behind the tallest person he’d ever seen (Eric didn’t even come up to this guy’s shoulders), with a clear line of people behind him.  This guy was wearing NBA gear and didn’t look like someone you’d want to mess with.  So a Parisian steps in front of him and starts to get out his change to pay for his Perrier.  The basketball player says in a low, deep booming voice, “Hey, this is a line.”  The Parisian looks at him, pauses, and says, “Sorry.  I did not see you.”  What!?  There is no way you could walk into this store and not see this tall guy dressed in bright white.

Page after page in David’s book are hilarious real-life stories like this.  When I’m feeling nostalgic for Paris in a month, I definitely plan to re-read this book.  In the meantime, I’m going to pretend I’m still in Paris as I eat my Ispahan.

Ah, I love springtime.  Days are longer.  Birds chirp happily in the morning.  There are hints of nice weather to come.  Everyone seems to be celebrating their birthday, including me!  And birthdays make me think of cupcakes.  While I’d never turn down birthday cake, I’ve had a thing for cupcakes ever since childhood.  I consider myself quite lucky that my favorite cupcake is made just down the street in Wallingford at Trophy Cupcakes.  The only downside is that I have to wait all year for it to return!  The magic flavor: Chocolate Guinness Stout with Bailey’s Buttercream.

Our friend Arathi likes to bake, even more than I do, which I hadn’t thought possible.  And anyone who’s lucky enough to work with her husband (like me) benefits from when she bakes too many cookies and he brings a batch to share.  After I tried her rusks, I had to get her recipe.  Like biscotti, they are twice-baked dry cookies/biscuits, not too sweet, and perfect for enjoying with your morning coffee or dipping into tea.  We also found that they go nicely with a glass of eggnog!

Greg’s Favorite Rusks
From The Farmhouse Cookbook, by Susan Herrmann Loomis
Makes about 80 rusks

2 cups whole almonds
2 cups sugar
5½  cups unbleached all purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350F. Place almonds in a baking pan large enough to hold them in a single layer, and toast, stirring once, until they give off a toasted aroma, 10 to 15 minutes.

Raise the oven temperature to 375F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine the almonds and 2 tablespoons of the sugar in a food processor, and grind to a fine powder.

Sift flour, salt, and baking soda together onto a piece of waxed paper.

Cream butter and remaining sugar in a large bowl until pale yellow and light. Add the sour cream and the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the flour mixture and the almonds until just incorporated.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and pat it out to form a 13 x 4-inch rectangle that is ¾ inch thick. Cut the rectangle in half lengthwise, so you have two pieces of dough measuring 13 x 2 inches, and transfer them to the prepared baking sheets. Bake in the center of the oven until golden, puffed, and firm, about 35 minutes. Slide the parchment paper onto wire racks, and cool the strips until they are lukewarm, about 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 300F.

Slice the strips crosswise into ½ inch thick slices, and lay them on their side on the parchment. Return the paper to the baking sheets, and bake slices until they are golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Turn and bake until golden on the other side, another 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer the rusks to wire racks to cool.

They offer three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and a flavor of the day – today’s was cookies ‘n cream, and Sunday’s was egg nog.  The vanilla is pure vanilla goodness, and their proprietary chocolate custard is rich and perfectly chocolaty.  Served up in a waffle cone, waffle dish, or compostable dish with compostable spoon, you can eat it plain or with any of their long list of toppings (that’s marshmallow on chocolate above).  Um-yum.

If that’s not enough to convince you to eat frozen custard on a cold winter day, I don’t know what is.  Well, I was actually wondering, how is a new custard place going to hold their own in a floundering economy in the middle of winter in gray Seattle?  They’ve got this figured out, too.  They’re really a coffee house in disguise, using coffee to lure you in to the custard temptations.  This neighborhood has a dearth of good independent coffee places.  There’s Bus Stop, which is well, meh, the usually burnt coffee at Whole Foods across the street, or the Starbucks above that.  Starbucks is about the only place with comfy chairs where you can kick back, though, so that leaves no options for independent coffee.  Peaks is kicking up the competition, with Lighthouse coffee, a roaster out of Fremont that we love.  Not only that, but they’ve got comfy chairs and a fireplace to boot.  I expected a sterile fluorescent place, probably because it’s in a new condo building, and was pleasantly surprised when I walked in.  They’ve even got a kids nook, complete with wooden rocking horse and storybooks.

To top it all off, Theresa bakes an assortment of pastries daily.  She gets in at 5am to make cupcakes, quiche, cookies, bundt cake, brownies, and more.  We detoured past there this morning on our walk to the park and ride, and were impressed with her sherry nutmeg bundt cake which was served right out of the oven.  Above, that’s our fellow vanpooler, Ben, who we ran into inside, enjoying his own slice before we all headed off to work.

Peaks Frozen Custard
1026 NE 65th Street, Seattle
(206) 854-2351