Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Chow Down Seattle! I hope 2012 is filled with delicious food, tasty drinks, and great company!

RECIPE: Butterscotch & Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today I decided to bake some cookies. I usually bake my favorite chocolate chip cookies, but I had some butterscotch chips in my cupboard, so I added them to the recipe. I used the chocolate chip cookie recipe from the Martha Stewart Cookie Book. The cookies turned out delicious! I cut the amount of chocolate chips in half and substituted the butterscotch chips. I will be making these from now on. I hope you enjoy the recipe!

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips

 

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

Makes about 3 dozen.

HOLIDAY: Respect the Bird!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love the fact that Thanksgiving is all about being with your family and friends to enjoy a great dinner, and to give thanks for all the good things in your life. It's not about going into debt buying a bunch of useless gifts. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is slowly being overrun by Christmas. Retail stores are putting up their Christmas displays earlier every year. Some stores have their Christmas items out before Halloween!

The Friday after Thanksgiving is known as "Black Friday". This name was given as it indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or are "in the black".  It is typically the busiest shopping day of the year. Retailers open their stores very early on Friday morning. Some open at 4am or 5am, and now this year some are opening at Midnight! That is ridiculous! Now the store employees you have to work that shift will miss out on most, if not all, of their Thanksgiving holiday, since they will need to get to bed very early to be well-rested for their work shift. Where will it stop? Will retailers be open on Thanksgiving Day next year? Is it really worth it? The over-commercialization of Christmas is threatening Thanksgiving.
I'm not the only one who feels this way. Below is a press release from Allrecipes.com.

Allrecipes.com Community Leads Movement to Protect Thanksgiving; Home Cooks Pledge to Savor Day of Food, Family and Thankfulness

SEATTLE, Nov. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Is Thanksgiving as we know it an endangered species? With Halloween's ghosts barely banished, each year retailers push the Christmas season upon consumers earlier and earlier – and all at the expense of the Thanksgiving holiday. But the Allrecipes.com community is out to turn that around. Inspired by community member Doug Matthews' November 2010 blog post lamenting the commercialization of the holiday season, Allrecipes, a Reader's Digest Association (RDA) company and the world's #1 digital food brand, today announced its "Respect the Bird!" campaign: a grassroots movement to savor the true meaning of Thanksgiving and tune out the distractions of Black Friday that have intruded upon Thanksgiving week.

A national survey from Allrecipes found 82 percent of home cooks think Christmas is marketed too early and that the Thanksgiving holiday gets too little attention as a result. Moreover, 42 percent admit being frustrated by Christmas shopping sales that begin before Thanksgiving while 39 percent just try to ignore them.

Allrecipes has created a dedicated site, www.RespectTheBird.com, where Thanksgiving enthusiasts can rally support for the movement. Here, consumers can take the Respect the Bird Pledge, a promise to fully enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday and not begin shopping for the December holidays until after November 24, and get recipes and tips for their Thanksgiving festivities. The site and complementary social media channels (Respect the Bird Facebook community and Respect the Bird on Twitter - @RespectTheBird) will make it easy to spread the movement among friends and family.

"Thanksgiving is an amazing holiday and I believe I was speaking for a lot of people when I wrote the blog post last year about Respect the Bird," said Matthews, leader of the Respect the Bird movement. "I am thrilled that Allrecipes is taking Respect the Bird to a new level with this campaign and I hope it sets a precedence that the holiday be celebrated by sharing thanks and good food with friends and family, not Black Friday shopping!"

With thousands of top-rated Thanksgiving recipes from classics such as Homestyle Turkey, the Michigander Way to exotic side dishes such as Holiday Cranberry Chutney, Allrecipes will be the go-to resource for Thanksgiving meal planning, expecting 28 million visits the week leading up to Thanksgiving day – a 35 percent increase over 2010.

"Allrecipes.com thrives on its vibrant user community of more than 25 million passionate home cooks like Doug Matthews," said Lisa Sharples, President of Allrecipes. "When we saw how our community responded to Doug's blog, we knew we had to help that community express its appreciation for what we all think is truly the best day of the year."

FOOD EVENT: Seattle Center Mobile Feast: Urban Hops & Harvest

Join the mobile food movement at the first-ever Seattle Center Mobile Feast: Urban Hops & Harvest on Saturday, Oct. 29, 11am – 6pm at Fisher Pavilion and the South Fountain Lawn. More than 20 food trucks will be at Seattle Center with a delicious array of cuisines including Mexican, Thai, Indian, Cuban, Greek, American, Caribbean and Fusion. Choose from BBQ, gourmet burgers, smoothies, vegetarian dishes, sandwiches, custom desserts, organic ice cream and more.

Enjoy a beer garden inside Fisher Pavilion, plus eclectic music mixes produced especially for this event. Indoor and outdoor seating will be available, admission is FREE and all ages are welcome – just bring cash and your appetite.

Click here to view the event map and guide.

Participating Food Trucks:

Where Ya At Matt
Big Food

Boyd’s Fuel Truck

Charlie’s Buns N’ Stuff

Dante’s Inferno Dogs

Barriga Llena Torto Mobil

Fusion on the Run

Raney Bros. BBQ

Kaosamai Noodle Truck

Street Treats

Curry Now

The Bistro Box

Athena’s Gyros

Damiana’s Blue Truck Special

Snout & Co.

Veraci Pizza

Big House BBQ

Pretzelwagen

BUNS

Saffron Street Vending

Parfait Organic Artisan Ice Cream

Skillet Street Food

Al's Gourmet Sausage
Taqueria Taco Gol

Net proceeds from the Mobile Feast will benefit Seattle Center Foundation, producer of The Next 50, celebrating in 2012 the 50th anniversary of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair.

FOOD NEWS: Food Day

Food Day seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life—parents, teachers, and students; health professionals, community organizers, and local officials; chefs, school lunch providers, and eaters of all stripes—to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way.

Find out more about Food Day on their Website.

FOOD EVENT: 3rd Annual American Lamb Jam

Bell Harbor International Conference Center

(2211 Alaskan Way, Pier 66 Seattle, WA 98121) Sunday October 23, 3-6pm

The third annual American Lamb Jam produced by the American Lamb Board is coming to Seattle on Sunday, October 23, 2011 at Bell Harbor International Conference Center. This ultimate taste-off will feature twenty top Seattle chefs and their creative preparations of lusty lamb dishes accompanied by award-winning Washington State wines. Media judging will include awards for Best of Show, 1st Place Awards for Shoulder, Leg of Lamb, Shank and Loin tastes. Guests vote and determine the People's Choice winner. People's Choice Award for 2009 and 2010 went to Bobby Moore from The Barking Frog in Woodinville.


FOODBUZZ: Tastemaster with Peet's Coffee

A few weeks ago I received two bags of Peet's Coffee and a travel tumbler from Foodbuzz.com. These gifts were received as part of their Tastemaster program with Peet's Coffee. All participants were asked to pair the coffee with a brunch or dessert item and post about it in our blog.

I decided to create a Pecan Coffee Cake. I paired the coffee cake with Peet's Cafe Domingo Coffee. The coffee is smooth, balanced and medium-bodied. I thought it would pair well with the coffee cake. I decided to add a tablespoon of the ground coffee to the coffee cake mixture to give it a slight coffee taste. The coffee cake is quite delicious and it goes well with Peet's Cafe Domingo coffee.

Peet's Coffee would like me to pass along a coupon worth up to $3.00 when shared with three friends. Click here to take advantage of this great offer!

Here is the recipe to my Pecan Coffee Cake:

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon Peet's Cafe Domingo Coffee grounds
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract                
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 9x13 inch pan with aluminum foil, and lightly grease with vegetable oil or cooking spray. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sour cream, then beat in sugar and Peet's Cafe Domingo Coffee grounds. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. By hand, fold in the flour mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Spread batter into prepared pan.
3. To make the Pecan Topping: In a medium bowl, mix together brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon. Stir in melted butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over cake batter in pan.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack, and remove foil.

FOOD EVENT: The Northwest Chocolate Festival

This year's Northwest Chocolate Festival is being held at Seattle Center in the Northwest Rooms. The festival is Saturday & Sunday, October 22nd & 23rd at 10:00am to 6:00pm each day. Festival admission for one day is $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Festival Two-Day Pass is $35 in advance and $40 at the door.

What should I expect at the festival? Taste after taste of amazing chocolate, hand-crafted fine chocolate, artisan quality chocolate desserts, slideshows and storytelling by chocolate makers, tasting a fresh cacao pod, crushing nibs and tasting freshly conched chocolate in workshops, live music and dj's for entertainment, culinary kitchen demo area with classes and award winning instructors, wine-beer-cocktail garden for the 21+, coffee and chocolate cafes, kids zone! and more tastes of chocolate than you can possibly eat in one day ~ that's why the festival goes for two fun days!

More info: Website, Facebook, Twitter

OPENING: The Local Vine Opens 2nd Location Today at University Village

The Local Vine Wine Bar opens its second location today at University Village! The Local Vine's first location (originally in Belltown) is located on Capitol Hill at 12th & Madison. They offer over 100 wines by the glass, as well as, a selection of small plates for sharing. They have been voted Seattle's Best Wine Bar two years in-a-row. The Local Vine offers a comfortable place to enjoy wine, food and friends.

FOOD NEWS: Five Seattle Restaurants Make OpenTable's National Top 50

Five Seattle restaurants have made it on OpenTable's Diners' Choice Awards for the top 50 restaurants that are "fit for foodies." The list of winners is derived from more than 10 million reviews submitted by OpenTable diners for more than 12,000 restaurants in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Cascina Spinasse, MistralKitchen, Spur, Staple and Fancy, and Tilth made the list. Seattle tied with Boston and New York with five restaurants. San Francisco (with ten) and Chicago (with six) were the only cities to have more restaurants on the list.

REVIEW: Cuoco

Recently I had dinner at one of Tom Douglas' newer restaurants, Cuoco. This Italian restaurant is part of three new eateries in the Terry Building in the heart of South Lake Union. Cuoco sits on the first floor below Brave Horse Tavern and Ting Momo, a Tibetan Dumpling House. Mr. Douglas did a great job fully restoring and renovating the old Terry Building. The restored exposed brick shows off the buildings history, and the beautiful wood work throughout the restaurant add a nice warmth to the setting. When you first walk into the restaurant you have a open view to the kitchen and the pasta work station. All the pasta is made fresh on-site.

To start the dinner, I sampled Cuoco's weekly wine flight. This week's selection included three Italian Reds: Primonero '08, Passamante '09, and Pezzo Morgana Riserva '07. The wine flight menu does a great job describing the taste of each wine. The taste I experienced was exactly the taste they described. All three were very delicious.

For my salad, I went with the Simple salad. This was a perfect start to the dinner as it was very light and had perfect flavor. It contains josh's greens, extra-virgin olive oil, lemon, sea salt, and young goat cheese.

For my main course, I ordered the Lasagna with bolognese sauce, besciamella and parmigiano. I was surprised at the size of the serving. It was huge! The lasagna was very tasty and had good flavor. I wish it came with a little more sauce, but otherwise it was good, that is, until I took a bite from the center of my lasagna. It was very cold. the outer portions of the lasagna were hot, but not the center. It's as if the center of it was refrigerated. I mentioned this to our server. I told him the lasagna is delicious, but the center was surprisingly cold. he came back a few minutes later to let me know that they were not going to charge me for the lasagna. I wasn't looking for any discount or free food when I mentioned it to him, but I was very pleased they were not going to charge me for it. I of course still paid my full amount and left a very generous tip. Just the fact that they were going to take care of it for me, showed me that they care about their food and their patrons. So I was happy to pay full price for the lasagna. It still tasted great!

For dessert, I ordered the chocolate gelato. This was a generous scoop and it was delicious. I would recommend trying out Cuoco. They have good food, good wine, and excellent service!

OPENING: Altura Restaurant opens on Capitol Hill



Photo by Suzi Pratt

Eater Seattle reports the opening of Altura on Capitol Hill. Chef Nathan Lockwood, formerly of The Ruins Private Dining Club, and his wife Rebecca Lockwood have started service at their new Italian restaurant located on North Broadway. Altura Restaurant is open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday from 5:30 to 10:30 pm. Find out more information on Altura Restaurant at their website.

FUNNY: Tricia & Johanna: Yelpers

Tricia & Johanna: Yelpers - watch more funny videos

FOOD EVENT: Seattle Restaurant Week

10 days. Over 150 Restaurants. 3 courses for $28.

Dine out and celebrate the fall run of Seattle Restaurant Week, October 16-27, 2011 (excluding Friday, Saturday and Sunday brunch). More than 150 local restaurants are serving up three-course dinners for just $28 - and many of them are offering three-course lunch for $15.

Find out more info on the event's website, Facebook, & Twitter.

FUNNY: Coffee Snobs

Coffee Snobs - watch more funny videos

FOOD NEWS: Seattle's Best Coffee new Pumpkin Crème Latte

Seattle's Best Coffee introduces their new Pumpkin Crème Latte! It is the perfect accompaniment for any fall activity. The Latte is an irresistible combination of pumpkin spice flavors, white chocolate, espresso, and velvety steamed milk topped with a sprinkle of pumpkin spice.

Seattle’s Best Coffee is offering $1 off a medium Pumpkin Crème Latte at cafes in the Seattle area through November 6.  For additional savings, check in to your local Seattle’s Best Coffee in Seattle on Foursquare to save an extra 50 cents off a medium Pumpkin Crème Latte.

Find a Seattle's Best Coffee café near you at their website.

FOOD EVENT: Mobile Chowdown VI

This Sunday is Mobile Chowdown VI! This time the food trucks are headed West, to West Seattle.

Date: Sunday, October 2, 2011

Time: 11 am – 5 pm

Entry Fee: Free!
Location: West Seattle Junction – California Ave between SW Oregon and SW Edmunds St. (Alaska St will still be open to through traffic)

Food Trucks: A Lunch in Hand, Andrae's Kitchen, Beloved Mexico, BigFood Mobile, BUNS, Charlies Buns N' Stuff, Dante's Inferno Dogs, El Camion, Fusion on the Run, I Want Curry Now, Kaosamai Thai, Lumpia World, Marination Mobile, Maximus Minimus, Molly Moon's Ice Cream, Pai's, Parfait Ice Cream, Pretzelwagen, Raney Brothers BBQ, Skillet, Snout and Company, Street Donuts, Street Treats, The Bistro Box, Veraci Pizza, Where Ya At Matt

More Info: Website, Twitter, Facebook

Bring your appetite and check out all the great Food Trucks!

FOOD NEWS: Happy National Coffee Day!

Today is National Coffee Day! Two national chains are offering free coffee today. You can get a free medium coffee from 7 to 11 am at participating 7-Eleven stores. You can stop by the closest Krispy Kreme store or drive-thru anytime on Sept 29, 2011 for a free 12 oz cup of their new House Blend coffee.

OPENING: Dick's in Edmonds to open before Thanksgiving

Dick's newest location in Edmonds will open before Thanksgiving. The fast food restaurant chain would like its fans to be a part of the grand opening! Dick's will be hiding 12 orange tickets throughout the city of Edmonds. Between Sept. 28 and Oct. 14, 2011, clues as to where and when you can find an Orange Ticket will be posted on the Dick's Drive-In Facebook page and on Twitter. Orange Ticket holders will be VIPs at the Edmonds Grand Opening ceremonies and be among the very first fans to eat at the new Edmonds drive-in. Check out the official rules at their website.

FOODBUZZ: Tastemakers with Peet's Coffee

Today I received this great package in the mail from Foodbuzz.com! As part of their Tastemakers program, I received a bag of Peet's Café Domingo coffee and a bag of Café Solano coffee. Both are medium roast blends. Café Domingo is described as "a blend of Central and South American coffees that is smooth, balanced and medium-bodied with more pure coffee taste."  Café Solano is described as "a blend of African, Indo-Pacific and South American coffees that is lively and aromatic." Peet's experts describe it as a world blend with floral notes and a subtle fruit essence for a lively, yet rounded cup.

I also received a coffee tumbler! Now I need to come up with a good brunch or dessert pairing for the coffees to post to the blog. I'll probably lean more towards a dessert, as I already have a few good ideas. This package arrived just in time for National Coffee Day which is this Thursday, September 29th!