Every year, like clockwork, the warm July weather awakens my south-of-the-border taste buds, and I don’t have a choice: I must have fish tacos. And, though I’ve strayed through the years, sneaking off to newer, younger restaurants to taste their seafood offerings, I keep returning to Christine Keff’s venerable Flying Fish for the simple pleasure of…

Category: Tasting Notes   Cheese and wine is a match made in heaven. The only thing better might be enjoying some of our best local cheeses that are actually made with wine—washed in wine, to be exact. Kelli Estrella of Estrella Family Creamery (Montesano, 659 Wynoochee Valley Road; 360.249.6541; estrellafamilycreamery.com) makes several washed-rind cheeses by…

There are those who’ll swear up and down that the only thing they care about when it comes to their favorite restaurants is the food. I am not one of those people. To me, it’s about much more than that. The lighting matters, the warmth of the service matters, the music, where my table is,…

Category: Eat + Drink Articles   Frustrated with the area’s dearth of delicious late-night eats—the kind you wolf down on your tipsy way home from the bar—Campagne alums Taber Turpin and Michael Pitts decided to fill the void by opening Taco Gringos (Capitol Hill, 1510 E Olive Way; no phone; tacogringos.com), a takeout-only taco shop…

Category: Eat + Drink Articles   Baker Jenny Christensen paid her dues in the kitchens of Le Pichet, Campagne and Brasa before launching Pies by Jenny last winter. Now a year-round regular at the University District Farmers’ Market (University Way and 50th St.; Sat., 9 a.m.–2 p.m.), Christensen has created a triple threat with her…

Category: NW Home Articles   The newest player in downtown Seattle’s bustling shopping and financial district is the 5th and Madison condominium tower. With a targeted gold star LEED rating, the 24-story eco-friendly building sports a plaza level green roof outside and, inside, energy-efficient Bosch kitchen appliances, wool carpets for easy breathing and water-saving solutions,…

Category: NW Home Articles   This summer, junk those frayed, seen-better-days lounge chairs for a splashy new outdoor wardrobe. The Scoop Bronze Nest (starting at $6,160) from Terris Draheim (Seattle Design Center, 5701 Sixth Ave. S, Suite 258; 206.763.4100; terrisdraheim.com) is a stunning woven all-weather wicker piece featuring gorgeous curves. Each of One Earth One…

Category: Green Living   Summertime is painting time, both indoors and out. Lead paint may be a thing of the 1970s past, but that doesn’t mean that today’s paint isn’t poisonous. Open up a can of standard paint and VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, come fuming out; inhaled, VOCs can really do a number on…

Category: NW Home Articles   With the days of consecutive  glorious sunshine around the corner, when the winter clouds roll back and that broad canvas of blue sky emerges, I’m reminded that it is time to bring the indoors out. In early summer, of course, Pacific Northwesterners still need to cuddle up when the sun…

Go here if: you enjoy dune buggies and antiquing—and don’t mind a bit of a trek. Travel time: about six to seven hours from Seattle Feed Seymour at Darlingtonia Botanical Wayside A roadside preservation five miles north of Florence showcases one of southern Oregon’s rarest curiosities: the native carnivorous (it just likes insects—don’t worry) plant…