BlatherMangia

Food as Art

by Stephanie

It has been a long time since we have attended any food events. Last night we enjoyed dinner in a roomful of well dressed, handsome people. If you think Seattle never dresses up, attend the Central District Forum's Food as Art  event. The 4th floor of the Bell Harbor International Promenade (fancy way of saying convention center) was filled with round tables set with white table clothes, yellow flower arrangements, and plenty of silverware and bottles of wine. Stationed around the perimeter were tables staffed by cuisine students from the Art Institute and local chefs, serving a wide variety of small bites.

VIPs (we were not among them) were treated to drinks mixed by Tavern Law's David Nelson, accompanied by hors d'oeuvres from Donna Moodie. Her restaurant, marjorie, is getting ready to open at its new location on the Capitol Hill/Central District border. I wonder if the turntable and vinyl records will reappear in the restroom?

• Wayne Johnson of Andaluca scooped a portion of seafood risotto onto my clean plate, topped with feathery dill and sided by a sliver of lemon. 
• That Brown Girl Cooks served up 3 types of hummus including one made from black eyed peas. 
• A small bite of miso poached salmon on savory cheesecake with a drizzle of cherry blossom liquor was provided by The Golf Club at Newcastle. Later in the evening they also passed out boxed leather fobs - are they to use to decorate your golf club bag? 
• Chef Daisley Gordon served up my favorite dish of the evening - Quenelle De Poussin au Creme Ecrevisse - poached dumplings in shellfish cream. I thought they were fish, but that translates to chicken. And I typically don't respond all that favorably to French food. Go figure.
• Our old haunt, Tempero do Brasil brought in Feijoada - black bean and meat stew, served along with rice, collard greens, and their killer green sauce. Michael went back for seconds. Time for a repeat visit. 
• Absolutely Cookin's Debbie Hatfield served up braised short rib on potato-celery root puree dished into fillo cups. A close second for me.  
• Osteria La Spiga's chef Sabrina Tinsley spooned up portions of Farrotto with Cannellini Beans and Tuna. Hot tuna - never a favorite for me. I preferred the small non-wheat cookies they also served.  
• St. Clouds' Michael King made chicken skewers - I missed the tequila-lime sauce, unfortunately.  
• Harissa Lamb meatballs with couscous were hot little bites from Pan Africa Market in the Pike Place Market. Haven't had their food since they catered the Matt's wedding (the original Matt's in the Market. Matt is working on the lease for a new restaurant; his place is owned by others and he has not had a place of his own for two years.) 
• I wish I had missed the citrus-blackened chicken salad. It tasted about as it looked. I didn't realize when I told the culinary students that I did not need a personal chef at home, I really meant I did not need this one! 
• We both missed the nicely plated savory ricotta-filled pears with basil custard sauce served by Plum's Makini Howell. Kept meaning to go back and get a plate, but it just didn't happen. Plum is a vegan restaurant on Capitol Hill, with lots of style and plenty of flavor.
• We missed the jerk chicken from Island Soul - the table looked shut down by the time we got there. Lucky for us, the restaurant is close by. 
• We missed the salmon wraps from Culinary Creations, but enjoyed their dessert - Rum Ice Cream with Toasted Marshmallow and Chocolate-Caramel Popcorn. The scoop of meringue was torched on the spot and the popcorn was extra crispy. The chocolate was chopped and on the side. There were also small tarts presented at the table - I did not see who made these, guessing they may have been by Culinary Creations as well. 
• We also missed the tea service from T(ea) Gallery and Coffee from Coffee Rwanda, but tried the juniper berry and the rhubarb sodas from Dry soda. 

As dinner service was ending, the thank yous and a bit of social commentary began. Quickly followed by a lively round of live auction bidding. First up were desserts by Sachia Tinsley, Sabrina's sister and pastry chef for Wild Ginger. A single salted caramel chocolate tart sold for $1000 (or a bit more)! Glad I was already sated. 

Tempted as I was by some of the other items, I am always frightened by the pace of live auctions. I had hoped there would also be a silent auction - I can manage to participate in those, even if I come away empty handed. The night continued with music and dancing, but our coach turned into a pumpkin long before the good byes. Thank you sponsors, and most especially, Northwest Stir, for a delicious night out.
  

Fana's cuisine

The bases of my worst fears about the Obamenon are memories of George McGovern, the last inspirational Democratic presidential candidate who was hoisted up in 1972 on the shoulders of fired-up students and other inspired (or clearly stoned) grassrootsers.                                                   
Unfortunately, after all the lovely change-election winds had blown, the kids forgot to vote; wandering off instead to a "happening" or some damn thing, and Richard Nixon landslid into a second term despite his felonious manipulations, 5 o'clock shadow, and tin ear for being a human.

I was pretty disappointed, and utterly convinced the Republic would never survive; so me and the little woman packed up our bell bottoms and styling jel, and headed off to Africa; where, eschewing common comforts, toilet paper, primal beef cuts; and regular bathing we led a life on the open road.

We'd been out nearly a year when we reached Ethiopia, that ancient, mountainous country in the Horn of Africa still ruled at the time by the oppressive monarch, Haile Selassie whose public relations efforts obscured those of his human rights.

But after Selassie was overthrown in 1974, thousands of Ethiopians were given political asylum in the US.

And what's the near universal act of all emigrants? Making restaurants serving the food of the motherland. God bless America and pass the injera!

Picking though the maze of Ethiopian restaurants in Seattle has always been a bit confusing, which is why we were so happy to find Fana's.

Natives of the now independent northern neighbor Eritrea, the Asress family arrived in Seattle a decade ago. Asress Araia, the patriarch, was an Ethiopian Airline pilot (now retired); his wife Fana Estifanos, (women don't take their husbands name in Eritrea) who cooks, was a flight attendant. Their grown children, Sabrina, and Vahid help out in the restaurant which is located in bottom of a new apartment complex on Rainier Avenue at Courtland Place.

Eritrea has Italian colonial history, and Fana cooks the cuisine with Italian sensibilities, and flavors. There's a pasta (penne) with tomato-ey sauce; and a pizziti. We loved the sauteing of the thin-sliced beef or chicken in the Kilewa/Nech Tibs rather than the usual stewed meat that can make Ethiopian dishes seem all the same.

Please try my favorite: the ginfilfil, torn injera marinated in the spicy berbere chili paste with flavorful abnd tender Ethiopian beef jerky and served with buttery cracked wheat.

There's the traditional Doro Wat, the saucy, spicy chicken with boiled eggs and a homemade cheese reminiscent of Mexican cotija.

There's foule, those long-cooked beans with peppers and eggs that are the staple of northern Africa and the Arab peninsula.

Fana cooks a burger and a burrito, and a Philly cheese steak, but we haven't tried 'em, so involved have we gotten with such as the Zesty Spinach Chicken with rice; or Fana's chicken wings, that we hear literally fly out the door.

The family are members of the universalist Bahai Faith; it's a gentle,inclusive,19th century Persian religion and a sweet spiritual grounding for restaurant service, let me tell you!

The bases of my worst fears about the Obamenon are memories of George McGovern, the last inspirational Democratic presidential candidate who was hoisted up in 1972 on the shoulders of fired-up students and other inspired (or clearly stoned) grassrootsers.                                                   
Unfortunately, after all the lovely change-election winds had blown, the kids forgot to vote; wandering off instead to a "happening" or some damn thing, and Richard Nixon landslid into a second term despite his felonious manipulations, 5 o'clock shadow, and tin ear for being a human.

But after Selassie was overthrown in 1974, thousands of Ethiopians were given political asylum in the US.

And what's the near universal act of all emigrants? Making restaurants serving the food of the motherland. God bless America and pass the injera!

Picking though the maze of Ethiopian restaurants in Seattle has always been a bit confusing, which is why we were so happy to find Fana's.

Natives of the now independent northern neighbor Eritrea, the Asress family arrived in Seattle a decade ago. Asress Araia, the patriarch, was an Ethiopian Airline pilot (now retired); his wife Fana Estifanos, (women don't take their husbands name in Eritrea) who cooks, was a flight attendant. Their grown children, Sabrina, and Vahid help out in the restaurant which is located in bottom of a new apartment complex on Rainier Avenue at Courtland Place.

Eritrea has Italian colonial history, and Fana cooks the cuisine with Italian sensibilities, and flavors. There's a pasta (penne) with tomato-ey sauce; and a pizziti. We loved the sauteing of the thin-sliced beef or chicken in the Kilewa/Nech Tibs rather than the usual stewed meat that can make Ethiopian dishes seem all the same.

Please try my favorite: the ginfilfil, torn injera marinated in the spicy berbere chili paste with flavorful abnd tender Ethiopian beef jerky and served with buttery cracked wheat.

There's the traditional Doro Wat, the saucy, spicy chicken with boiled eggs and a homemade cheese reminiscent of Mexican cotija.

There's foule, those long-cooked beans with peppers and eggs that are the staple of northern Africa and the Arab peninsula.

Fana cooks a burger and a burrito, and a Philly cheese steak, but we haven't tried 'em, so involved have we gotten with such as the Zesty Spinach Chicken with rice; or Fana's chicken wings, that we hear literally fly out the door.

The family are members of the universalist Bahai Faith; it's a gentle,inclusive,19th century Persian religion and a sweet spiritual grounding for restaurant service, let me tell you!

The bases of my worst fears about the Obamenon are memories of George McGovern, the last inspirational Democratic presidential candidate who was hoisted up in 1972 on the shoulders of fired-up students and other inspired (or clearly stoned) grassrootsers.                                                   
Unfortunately, after all the lovely change-election winds had blown, the kids forgot to vote; wandering off instead to a "happening" or some damn thing, and Richard Nixon landslid into a second term despite his felonious manipulations, 5 o'clock shadow, and tin ear for being a human.