Seattle’s Cascina Spinasse is turning four this August and is celebrating this milestone with a month of special menus starting August 5, with new menus releasing on August 12, August 19 and August 26!

Anniversary dinners are $65 per person for food with a wine pairing at $30 per person and a grand wine pairing $55 per person. Reservations here.

Here’s a sneak peak of what’s to come (menu subject to change depending on availability of ingredients)!

Week 1:
Cured salmon with ozette potatoes and dill pollen
Poached egg with zucchini and Toreggio cheese
Chanterelle and apricot lasagna
Roasted lamb with braised olive, basil and cherry tomato bread salad
Summer trifle with blackberries, caramelized white chocolate cake, rose cream and raspberry sorbetto

Week 2:
Scrambled egg with sea urchin
Crespelle with fresh cranberry beans and radicchio
Trenette with green beans, new potatoes and mint
Roasted quail with polenta, sweet corn, chanterelles and basil
Black pepper pannacotta with melon

Congratulations! –Kathy

Seattle is well-known for being innovative; a city that is a great launching pad for the new and unique. It’s no surprise that so many talented craft distillers have popped up all around the city. And they are the star of the 2012 Northwest Distillery & Cocktail Festival!

From August 8^th – 9th at Herban Feast’s Sodo Park, distillers, mixologists and cocktail enthusiasts of all kinds will gather to celebrate all things spirited.  Spirit tastings, cocktail competitions, and drink seminars are just a few of the events that will be taking place. Some of the participating distilleries include OOLA, Sound Spirits and Hilliard’s Beer as well as nibbles provided by local faves like Ethan Stowell Restaurants, Demitri’s Bloody Mary Seasoning and Taste! Seattle’s top bartenders will also be competing as well for numerous top honors and prizes as well as for the people’s choice award.

Make sure you get your tickets in advanced and taste responsibly!

To get in the mood for this upcoming spirited festival and definite crowd pleaser, make a batch of my Whisky Spiked Iced Tea Punch. Woodinville Headlong White Dog whiskey mingles well with the iced tea, mint, citrus juices and brown sugar. Perfect for summertime sippin’!

Get ready to shake, sip and nibble your way through the first annual Northwest Distillery & Cocktail Festival! It’s going to be libatious fun! -Kathy

Whisky Spiked Iced Tea Punch
Punch is the perfect party cocktail!  For a more-spiked interpretation, let guests add a little more whiskey to their individual drinks. For summertime sipping add in a few slices of fresh peach or nectarine. For a demo on how to make this drink, check out this episode of Kathy Casey’s Liquid Kitchen.

Makes about 8 cups, enough for 10 to 12 servings

20 cloves
1 orange
6 very large sprigs fresh mint
3 tea bags black tea
3 cups boiling water
1 cup ice water
1 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups Woodinville Headlong White Dog Whiskey

Poke the cloves into the orange, then cut it into 3 slices. Put the orange slices, mint, and tea bags in a heatproof pitcher or bowl. Add the boiling water, let steep for 1 hour, then remove the tea bags.

Add the ice water, juices, and brown sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, add the whisky, and chill until ready to serve. Serve in ice-filled glasses. Garnish as desired.

Recipe adapted from Kathy Casey Sips & Apps, Chronicle Books

It’s been roughly a week since Tales of the Cocktail 2012 and there’s much libatious news to dish. Here’s a little review of one of the events that I attended: the Marie Brizard USA Cocktail Challenge! Held in the fabulous Bienville and Iberville Rooms at the swanky Hotel Monteleone, six finalists competed for a chance to be on the U.S. Team to compete at the annual Marie Brizard International Bartender Seminar and Competition in Bordeaux, France this November. The guest panel of judges definitely had their tasteful with creative cocktails (as seen to the right) like the Desirer Tropicale (Marie Brizard Cassis and Essence liqueurs, cachaca, lime juice, ginger-infused simple syrup and mango foam) and the “Made” Cocktail (Marie Brizard Anisette, Cynar, marachino liqueur, espresso and egg white).

For the full post and see the winning recipe, continue reading on Amazon’s Al Dente blog.