I’m currently in the airport waiting for our red eye back to Boston and feeling literally stuffed to the gills from days and days of fabulous food, coffee, and booze. In fact, CK and I just had our last Seattle dinner at Serious Pie which ended up being one of the places we deemed fabulous enough to warrant a repeat visit on our week long trip.

Serious Pie is one of the many local restaurants spearheaded by Seattle Chef Tom Douglas.  CK and I managed to fit in meals at almost all of his establishments with the exception of Ettas. Over the course of our two dining experiences we consumed the following amazing pies: buffalo mozzarella and san marzano tomato, cherry bomb peppers and sweet fennel sausage, roasted squash, garlic, and gorgonzola, and finally my favorite: roasted chanterelles with truffled cheese. I could have eaten there every single day. The restaurant is very relaxed and cozy, the service is exceptional, and the unique pizza left such a positive impression on me that it will definitely rank in my top five pizza pie list.

If you want to see the restaurant for yourself check out this video of Tom Douglas explaining the Serious Pie concept. The “serious” adjective isn’t being used in exactly the manner you might think.

It’s no secret that I’m a pro Apple all the way kind of girl so I absolutly love this new “Get a Mac” ad that features PC having a bake sale in order to raise funds to fix Vista. Obviously they need all the help they can get for that task…
[Link via TUAW]

On Sunday a wave of ambition overcame me and I decided that I would make homemade ravioli. Keep in mind that this was after I’d already made french toast for breakfast, and baked cookies for CK’s office. Really I should have just laid on the couch in my pajamas watching Lifetime movies like a normal person.

A year ago I impulse shopped this VillaWare Ravioli Maker from Williams-Sonoma and promptly stashed it in the cupboard right next to the Atlas Pasta Machine that my mother gave me several years ago for Christmas, and which I’ve used a total of two times. Are you beginning to see a pattern here? Obviously, both of these kitchen gadgets were sorely in need of some kitchen counter face time so I bravely pulled out the ingredients I’d need to mix up a batch of pasta dough. And that’s when all of my excitement flew right out the window…

As soon as I began to combine the eggs and flour together I got a very ominous feeling. Initially I shook it off, but I called in CK for back-up, just in case, and he and I got to work. I showed him how to roll out the dough while I set-up the ravioli form. I layered my first sheet of pasta over the top. Made little indentations with the plastic form, filled in the pockets with a ricotta and Parmesan mixture, and carefully placed another sheet of pasta on top. Then I rolled the tiny rolling pin over the tray until the seams began to show. At this point you’re supposed to be able to flip the whole thing over and pretty ravioli tumble out all over the table. Of course that didn’t happen. My ravioli were firmly stuck in place.

Layer & Press	Wet the Dough
Fill	Roll to Seal

So I sulked and pouted. Then I started to read the reviews of this product online at Amazon. Across the board almost everyone mentioned that you need to oil the metal plate before layering your pasta on top or it will stick. Now the instructions mention this helpful little tip, but not until the end after you’ve already filled and sealed everything. In my opinion it should be the first step in the manual, preferably in bold red letters and underlined. Meanwhile, those cheese filled pasta pillows definitely were not coming out anytime soon. Thankfully CK thought to put the ravioli plate directly into the freezer. We left it there until the pasta hardened a bit, then we were able to carefully pry them out. It’s a good thing they were cute…

Of course, when we made the next batch, this time oiling the ravioli plate, they fell right out on the counter. I tried really hard not to hate them.

So was it worth it? Homemade pasta is awesome. Everyone knows that. We ate the ravioli last night with a red sauce. It was tasty, but I think I was too full of gadget resentment to truly enjoy it. I also think it’s best if l stick to the spaghetti mold on the pasta maker from now on.

With all of the buzz circulating lately around the importance of eating local I wondered if perhaps a little emphasis might also be spared for the preservation of local recipes? So many of us, myself included, are cookbook addicts, rushing out to pick up the next shiny new title from Ina Garten or Nigella Lawson at the drop of a hat. And if you’re like me you flip through the book once or twice, ogle the highly stylized pictures, make one elaborate recipe and promptly place it on a shelf only to forget about it for two years.

My grandmother didn’t have four dozen cookbooks in her kitchen. She had around four. They consisted of The Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, Betty Crocker’s Cookie Book, and the Marjorie Standish titles: Cooking Down East, and Keep Cooking the Maine Way.

It was these last two titles that instantly came to mind when I first received P. Ann Pieroway’s two cookbooks. Pieroway’s books, Taste and Tales of Massachusetts and A Taste of Cranberries and Some Tales too both offer colorful collections of local Massachusetts recipes and history.

In Taste and Tales of Massachusetts you’ll find recipes for familiar New England fare such as Boiled Dinner, Blueberry Jam, and Boston Brown Bread. If you’ve always wanted to have your very own New England Clambake in your backyard then you’re in luck! Although authenticity isn’t for the faint of heart. This recipe begins with the cook digging a 2′ by 4′ long hole in the sand that’s 1 1/2 feet deep! You’ll also learn why Rockport was a dry town for over a hundred years and get the lowdown on “Boston Cream Pie.” Is it a pie? Is it a cake? Pieroway will set the record straight.

While the cranberry harvesting season is coming to a close, the holiday season is just starting to whirl into gear. Soon enough cranberry sauce will be on the table and perhaps you’ll even string some ruby red berries on your Christmas Tree, but what else can you do with cranberries? Well how does a Cranberry Mojito sound to you? Or how about mixing it up a bit and dipping some of those game day chips into a bowl of Cranberry Salsa?  I’m even beginning to wonder if the holidays might not be complete without a batch of “Merry Merry Meatballs” which appear to be a traditional meatball recipe with the additions of cranberries, brown sugar, chili sauce, and lemon.

Local cookbooks, such as those that author P. Ann Pieroway has produced, are really the staples of our own personal and regional culinary history. They evoke a simpler more relaxed time, and let’s face it, we could all use a little more of that mentality these days. Pieroway is currently hard at work on her third title in this Massachusetts based series: Taste and Tales of Cape Cod and the Islands.

In college I worked at a video store and had to wear this really ugly red polo shirt that proudly declared me an employee of the Movie Gallery. An awful screener tape of movie previews would come in once a month from corporate and we were forced to play it over and over throughout our shifts. Needless to say this was total torture. When The Family Man was released on DVD the Talking Heads Song “Once in a Lifetime” played in the commercial. Whenever that segment would queue up my fellow unhappy co-workers of the day and I would yell out, “how did I get here!” along with the television.

That loop of new releases was maddening and eventually everything would begin to look like absolutely fascinating cinema. When Dude, Where’s my Car starts to look like an appealing rental you have to get a little suspicious about the potential of possible subliminal marketing ploys…

There was one perk to my nightly “your DVD is late” calls and re-shelving drudgery — we received a lot of advanced screener copies of films before they were released to the public. Once upon a time one of the movies I took home was Ginger Snaps. I’d categorize it as a coming-of-age anxiety film with werewolves. It’s dark but actually pretty clever for a horror film. In fact, one of the professors I work with just showed it in a class, which is how the memory of this little film (and my video store stint) was initially jogged in my mind.

Obviously the film Ginger Snaps has nothing to do with the cookies called Gingersnaps. My personal gingersnaps memories are mostly of eating them out of the brown paper bag packaging that they came in at the grocery store. Those cookies are always hard as rocks though and since I’m a chewy cookie girl I opted to under cook these a bit for a softer texture. My favorite part of this recipe is that it calls for white pepper which is a spice I love and sadly rarely use. The flavor it gives these cookies is off the charts! So go watch that scary movie (it’s available on iTunes) and eat a plate of sassy snacks. Tis the season.

Gingersnaps (makes about 5 1/2 dozen cookies)
Originally Published In: A Field Guide to Cookies by Anita Chu

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup softened unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 egg
1/3 cup molasses
Extra sugar for rolling

Sift flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl and set aside.

In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars on medium speed for several minutes until smooth, light, and fluffy. Add spices and mixed until combined.

Add egg and mix to combine. Add molasses and mix to combine.

Add flour mixture and mix to just combine.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll dough into a 12-inch log and wrap in parchment or plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes or until firm enough to slice. Dough may be refrigerated up to 2 days or stored in the freezer, wrapped airtight, for two weeks (thaw in refrigerator overnight before using).

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease several cookie sheets. Fill a small bowl with the sugar reserved for rolling.

Using a sharp chef’s knife, cut slices 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick. Coat slices in sugar and place on sheets about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 6-10 minutes; for chewy cookies, remove from oven when each cookie is just holding its shape when nudged. For crispy cookies, bake until edges are set and center is slightly soft. Cool sheets on wire racks for a couple of minutes before transferring cookies directly ontp wire racks with a spatula to finish cooling.

CK and I will be spending a week in Seattle at the end of the month. I can’t even begin to express how excited I am about this trip. Truth be told I’ve never been to the West Coast so I’m hoping that you’ll have some fabulous suggestions for our Fall excursion. So clue me in: what are your favorite restaurants? Where are the must-see sights? Or you can even just point me in the direction of your favorite Seattle area bloggers and I’ll do my own research. Of course, how I’ll possibly tear myself away from Pike’s Place Market for even a moment remains to be seen, but I’ll do my best. In the meantime I’ll be watching Sleepless in Seattle, Mad Love, and 10 Things I Hate About You to prepare.