All Things Chill

Steak Tartare on Crostini with a Soft Boiled Egg and Avocado Cream

Inspired off a dish that Mark Fuller, chef and owner of Springhill Restaurant, developed for one of our catering events last week. His was a gougere filled with steak tartare with a sous vide egg yolk (I believe it was yolks separated from [...]

Ox Tail and a Raw Sirloin Pho in Homemade Broth
My co-worker Annie’s and I made pho at my place. THANKS ANNIE!
~Spec

I made a flower pot grill. A FLOWER POT GRILL FOR $7! You can find directions to make your own here! It’s 100% easy to put together and you’ll be grilling in no time at all, without taking up a huge footprint in your garage or yard!
The meat skewers were soaked in [...]

New York Strip with a Fried Cornbread, Sweet White Corn, Green Onion Salad on Chipotle Sour Cream
Whenever I have a day to myself to cook a proper lunch, 65% of the time (HELLLOOOO GOUT LOL), I head to a local butcher and pick up a steak. I’m partial to ribeyes because they’re so well [...]

It’s May and it still hasn’t warmed up completely in Seattle. When we DO have nice days, it hails randomly for 20 minutes and gets sunny again. It’s like there’s a schizophrenic controlling the weather from the Space Needle or something. lol.
During one of those crazy days, I hedged my bets on [...]

Simple Dinner: Columbia River King Salmon with Washington Asparagus and Brown Rice Salad

Quick lunch: Asparagus and Salmon with Anne’s Spanish Tomato Pesto on Angel Hair Pasta

Some seasonal notes on Seattle:

Restaurant Week is here and ends on Thursday. We’re heading to Spring Hill tonight!

Asparagus FINALLY is local to Washington and they’re thin, tender and [...]

Takoyaki with Mayonaise, Tonkatsu Sauce, Furikake and Katsuobushi Flakes

There are certain dishes that I LOVE ordering at restaurants: corned beef hash, dumplings, Taiwanese 1,000 layer pancake and carnitas. Most of them ethic, but most of all, time consuming. I find so much value in the “perceived” labor it takes for someone to cook [...]

Tender ox tails with freshly steamed funn noodles in a spicy almond sauce topped with snap peas.

Follow up to my previous video post here! Ox tails are my oldest memory of food. As a child, My mom served them in a peanut sauce with long (green) beans and bok choy in the style [...]

One of my favorite flavors of my childhood was kare-kare, which is a combination of tender ox tails, veggies and a savory peanut sauce. I have no idea what I’m making today, but I know at least I did one part of it correctly! lol.
Blanch 1 pound of meat in boiling [...]

Roasted Center-Cut Pork Chop on a simply dressed Radicchio salad and French lentils.
The inexpensive, “slowly becoming fatty again in mainstream supermarkets,” other white WEEKDAY meat is always a standard. I love pork chops. Before you even cook your chop, head to your butcher and look for a beef ribeye steak and notice the [...]

She LOOOOVES dessert, but I’d rather finish a meal with more of a savory note. Enter: THE CHEESE PLATE.
DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN. lol.
The end to a great meal at home: Raincoast Crisps, Drunken Goat’s Cheese from the Murcia region of Spain and Red Grapes grown in Washington.
Things that would also be great: Renee [...]

Unless your grandmother taught you when you were 3, gnocchi is daunting task. If it wasn’t familiar to you when you were a kid, most elaborate food preparations are. When faced with this problem, do the following:
1. Go to a restaurant you like and ask for gnocchi (or whatever).
2. If it’s [...]

Delicious Easter dinner at Seth Casswell’s Emmer and Rye.
Highlights: the wine, the rye whisky manhattan, the house salad with dried cherries, crispy apple garnish and the BADASS pork belly with heirloom beans. THE CHEESECAKE TOO.
GOOD TIMES, GOOD TIMES.