All the Buzz in Seattle

All the Buzz in Seattle

October 2008

Our merry band moved north to the city center of Seattle and surrounding vineyards. The city has distinct little neighborhoods with their own styles and cultures. The first thing that comes to my mind when I think about the city is the flying fish market at Pike's Market. But the market has so many more layers with vendors selling homemade huckleberry honey, amazing macaroni and cheese, tiny doughnuts and of course-- the original Starbucks Coffee.

And what goes best with coffee? Doughnuts. Hey, it's your birthday, live a little.

Downtown we shopped and enjoyed observing the "rugged chic" inhabitants. In DC a casually nice restaurant calls for a black dress and kitten heels. In Seattle it is apparently alright to roll out in cargo pants and an under armor tee. Cool. Break dancing and flannel are still abundant here too, giving a fun rebellious streak to the city. One of the trendy spots we visited was the Dahlia Lounge. They have locally famous doughnuts that come paired with fresh huckleberry jam and a whipped marscarpone-vanilla creme.

Dahlia Lounge Doughnuts (apparently doughnuts are a thing in Seattle?!)

We grabbed a great breakfast at the Portage Bay Cafe. This cafe is organic, locally grow, and yummy, living up to their slogan "Eat Like You Mean It". However, when the weather is nice in Seattle it is important to take advantage of the vitamin D boost. So we headed north to the vineyards. (Did I just pin that decision on weather?! Yeah, weather.)

The most picturesque, Chateau Ste. Michelle, was the perfect place for a mellow afternoon picnic of wine and cheese.

Irene insisted that we make one more high-caloric stop at Molly Moos Homemade Ice Cream. (Serious arm-twisting ensued.) This neighborhood joint scoops up flavors like lavender honey, green tea, salted caramel, and Ba'rocky road. Being from DC I tried to distill a greater political platform in the chunks of fudge and, homemade marshmallow. But I couldn't come up with anything. Maybe I should have stayed for another bowl to ponder it some more...

The landfill friendly non-plastic spoon and paper bowl did not escape my eye. The really do care about the environment. It was a discernible leap from the "maybe we will recycle that one glass bottle we sell" attitude of east coast establishments. Plastic spoon or not, this ice cream was indulgent. Yet another reason to move to the left coast.

Hello, Tacoma!

Hello, Tacoma!

October 2008

I'm thinking about moving from DC to Washington State. Wow, what a place! This last trip out to Tacoma and Seattle was a whirlwind of friends, food, and fabulous weather. I have been told that the Seattle area is not always 74 degrees and sunny, but my research says it is. My research also indicates that is a region of GOOD EATS. My tour guides Melanie, Anssel, and Irene know where to go, and my travel companions Erin and Laura take their eating very seriously. I was really taken by how fresh the food is in the Pacific Northwest. Restaurants talk about locally grown or organic, not because it is trendy marketing, but because they really believe in sourcing the best ingredients.


This philosophy of "best" surely factored into the deliciousness found at Hello, Cupcake. This Tacoma cupcakery is nestled on a campus of UW and has a comfy Donna Reed's kitchen aesthetic.




The towers of vanilla, chocolate, red velvet, and mocha are irresistible. The chocolate on chocolate has a thick, dense, not-overly-sweet frosting that is the best I've ever tasted. However, when I think of Seattle, I think of my other love--- COFFEE. So I had to go for the mocha with coffee frosting, topped with a chocolate coffee bean.

Yum. Definitely worth the trip.

After getting hyper and sugared up, we thought we should go somewhere quiet, with lots of breakable stuff, where we could be inconspicuous. Luckily the Museum of Glass is across the street. The giant aqua columns on the bridge kinda reminded me of rock candy. Guess that sugar-buzz was still in effect.

A few rolls of candid photos and an injury or two, and we had thouroughly experienced the Chihuly glass exhibits and the gift shop. Who says our generation doesn't appreciate culture?

We ended the day by enjoying local salmon with huckleberry puree at a great resyuraunt near the water (CJ Shenanigans). Since we were celebrating double birthdays (Mel and Laura) the waitress brought us a rack of cake shots. Yup, cake shots.

Someone brilliant found a way to serve EIGHT types of cake at once. Ours included (left to right- to the best of my memory...) banana bread pudding, chocolate mouse cake, oreo parfait, something coconut (?), strawberry shortcake, something else choclate, mudpie, and tiramisu. Happy birthday indeed.

DC's First Annual Cupcake Contest

DC's First Annual Cupcake Contest

September 2008

I had a fabulous time at the 1st Annual DC Cupcake Contest in October. It was a great evening of meeting cupcake fans, sharing my favorite flavors and generally enjoying the cupcake craze in the city.

Jenni from Blonde's I-View organized the event for the young professionals group at the Washington Club, but it was also open to the public for a small admission charge which gave you access to the display samples and more cupcake samples than any one person should consume in an evening. Whew! Several local food bloggers judged the three categories:

#1 Chocolate and Vanilla -- #2 Vanilla and Chocolate -- #3 Wildcard.

These guys are heading off to the judging room.




The Honeybee Bakeshop submissions included:

#1 C/V: Classic chocolate with my favorite vanilla buttercream




#2 V/C: Vanilla cake with milk chocolate frosting (like creamy hot chocolate)


#3 Wine & Cheese: Red wine and dark chocolate cupcake with goat cheese frosting and pine nuts



It was so much fun to talk to people as they stopped at the table and really see the excitement as they tasted the mini cupcakes from the display. Since most of my baked goods go off to parties without me, it was fun to reconnect with the pure sugar-rush that folks were enjoying.

The wine & cheese cupcakes were definitely a hit and we had several repeat samplers and a lot of word of mouth buzz. I ran out of the samples and ended up using my remaining goat cheese frosting on plain chocolate cupcakes, and then handing it out plain as frosting shots because people wanted to grab a taste. Jay even offered to pipe some directly into a guest's mouth-- and for a minute, I thought they were going to say yes! Flattering, but ewwwww!! All in all, those are definitely going into the cupcake rotation. Sometimes its good to have a wildcard challenge that gets the creativity in motion.

All I know is that I COULD NOT have gotten this done without a lot of help from "the Hive".

Amy for the "architure" of the tablescape
Andrea for allowing me to commandeer the kitchen and ice about a bazillion tiny cupcakes
Erin for putting a rush on getting the website up
Jay for braving the craft store to buy supplies
Suzanne for preparing the signage and color theme
And to everyone who came out to the contest with friends and co-workers.

I am so thankful to each of you for your support and friendship!

Oh!!! I almost forgot a very important announcement. The contest winner in the professional category was Sharon from Nostalgia Cupcakes , a newly opened shop in Annapolis. Go there immediately and buy a cupcake. The caramel filled chocolate fudge is particularly yummy.

And if you want to try the Honeybee Bakeshop Wine and Cheese for yourself, they are available for order by the dozen.

Still Stalling...

Still Stalling

October 2008

I'm still stalling on the photos, but here is a great baking blog from Sur La Table. And don't foget Cakewrecks, which is still my favorite.

Time out for cupcakes

Hi friends-

Sorry I have fallen a bit behind. With a wonderful trip to Seattle and a the pics from the DC Cupcake Contest I have a lot to tell you about. Unfortunately my obsessive tracking of the Dow is cutting into my photo editing time. But I'll be back soon. Promise. If there ever was a time to eat chocolate--- this is it!!!

Tide yourselves over by reading about the five weeks of DC "Cupcake Wars" that the Washington Post held.

Thanks!
The Queen Bee