Dishing with Kathy Casey: The Newsletter
Some things change … and then they change again!
Sometimes the best laid plans can change and that is just what happened. As many of you know, we were deep in the works to move our Food Studios across the bay to a fantastic new space on Salmon Bay, but issues with landlord permitting and usage put a kink in our plans … so we ARE NOT MOVING. The Food Studios is remaining at our great digs in historic Ballard! Sometimes things just aren’t meant to be … and we accept them for that.
And what about our Ballard Dish D’Lish location? YES, it’s staying, too! And the “out back” garden patio is open for summer lunches and of course you can order up Food T’ Go Go from our Sous Chef and Ballard Manager Travis Childers. There’s all kinds of yummy things—like Picnic Potato Salad, “Ballard Style” Baked Beans, Greek Vegetable Salad with Feta & Olives, and Crunchy Cucumber Salad—for great picnicking and patio parties all season long.
And it just keeps getting busier!
Work at Kathy Casey Food Studios continues to be crazy busy! We are immersed in many fun projects and events … a menu-makeover for a client in Bend, Oregon; super-fun recipes for our friend Cheryl Kroupa at the National Cherry Foundation—can you say Shirley Temple Cupcakes? (I’ll be posting this soon on my blog for a great kids cooking project); and shaking up lots of great drinks for Beam Global for their fantastic new (ri)1 rye whiskey. Also this summer, I will be cooking up some wonderful recipes to pair with Columbia Winery and Covey Run wines. (Hear more about this on the radio air waves!)
In May I was a speaker at the first International Food Blogger Conference. Those of you who love to surf food on the internet will for sure want to check out the site to see what went on. And I hope you are checking my blog often for lots of great foodie info, events, recipes and more. Also, I am blogging for Amazon’s Al Dente blog—with musings on cocktails, appetizers and more.
Speaking of Sips and Apps
Sips & Apps, my new cocktail and appetizer book, is getting some great blog and print mentions—in Paper Palate, January Magazine, Rowley’s Whiskey Forge, Drinks Magazine, and Seattle Magazine as well as examiner.com. Plus I was featured in a fantastic article in USA Today by Kelly Carter.
Wow! Thank you to everyone who has been purchasing my new book. I am pleased to report that it is selling really well. Thank you, thank you!
USA Today Readers Pick Dish D’Lish
It seems no matter where I go I run into folks who mention Dish D’Lish at the Seattle-Tacoma airport and how they appreciate good hand-crafted food with healthy options when flying. Thanks so much to all you hungry fliers! I, too, have been flying A LOT lately and, when heading out on long flights, here is what Jill, my executive assistant, and my Dish D’Lish faves are: Fat-Free Yogurt Parfait with Northwest Berries for breakfast/lunch, and this super-spread “smorgasbord” of cut-up fresh pear, hummus, goat cheese spread, and sexy olives—accompanied with a glass of red wine of course! Yes, everyone peers at us with the “where did you get that?” look! And I am thrilled that the USA Today Road Warriors panel—nearly 1500 frequent travelers—named Dish D’Lish as one of their favorite restaurants at Sea-Tac airport! Yea! By the way, at both airport locations (pre-security and post-security) we will be featuring Northwest fruits like local strawberries and cherries as they come into season throughout the summer!
Summer Travels…
Tales of the Cocktail—In July, I’m off to New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail, a five-day celebration of the history and artistry of drink making. Now in its 7th year, this festival of cocktails, cuisine, and culture is jam-packed with lunches, dinners, demos, tastings, seminars, book signings, tours, parties, and competitions.
I will be on a couple of panels and then attending and sipping my way through the week—yes it’s my job! New Mixologist Associate Keith Waldbauer will be there as an official Tales Blogger as well as Associate Chef Cameo McRoberts, who will be blogging and twittering throughout the week with me. Cameo and I will also be doing some posts for Al Dente. Follow us on Twitter at KathyCaseyChef and LiquidKtchn to hear firsthand what’s happening at Tales.
And best news of all at Tales is my being a finalist in the Cocktail Bitters Contest!—Back in February, Tales of the Cocktail and TRU Organic Spirits, a line of organic vodkas and gin, announced a Barmade Bitters Challenge, with the final taste-off to be held at this year’s Tales. Bitters are those fragrant infusions or distillations of herbs, roots, bark, fruit, etc. that are used—generally just by the dash or the drop—to add an elusive flavor with a bit of rounded complexity to cocktails.
An inveterate concocter of things aromatic and adventurous, of course I jumped right in! The contest included fruit, spice and herb categories, and 3(!) of my entries are among the 5 finalists in the fruit category! I am very excited! Finalists will be presenting our bitters personally—in cocktails of course—to a panel of judges, and one winner per category will be selected. TRU Organic Spirits plans to put the winning bitters into production; the maker’s name goes on the final product and he/she will share in profits from the total sales of the bitters. So be sure to “root” for me! (Chef Cameo will be doing a fantastic slide show of how the bitters were made—stay tuned for a post on the blog!)
NOLA, again—A week later I’ll be back in The Big Easy as a judge for the Great American Seafood Cook-off. (Well somebody has to do it!) I’ll keep you all posted on the best of the nation’s seafood recipes and chefs. Stay tuned!
Dishing with me on KOMO Radio
Remember to catch me on “Dishing with Kathy Casey” every Thursday on Seattle’s KOMO AM 1000 radio or 97.7 FM—or hear it streaming live—at 4:15 and 6:15 PM Pacific Time. And be sure to check my blog Dishing with Kathy Casey frequently for new recipes and the latest tips.
Here’s to a D’Lish start of summer … Kathy
