"seattle" news and stories

• Contrary to popular belief, Champagne prices are apparently dropping; here's how to buy.
• If beer is more your style, here are some suggestions for what to pair with your Thanksgiving dinner.
• And turkey basics from the USDA allow for more drink and less think next Thursday.
• A columnist offers three steps to "fool-proof" gravy.
• Local chefs share their favorite Thanksgiving recipes.
• The Pacific Northwest Cheese Project, a blog about local cheeses, is now a book.
• The Thomas Street Bistro runs more like a dinner party than a restaurant.

When Slashfood saw these cute 8-ounce cans of limited-edition Halloween flavors, we had to try them. Every year Seattle's Jones Soda puts out four flavors suitable for trick-or-treaters -- and this year, they're tempting us with Buried Pomegranate, Spooookiwi, Candy Corn and Lemon Drop Dead.

We cracked open each so you don't have to. See how they stack up after the jump.

Über Tavern in Seattle. Photo: uberbier.com.

A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars nationwide.

Even at the best beer bars, boredom can occasionally set in. Sometimes the draft list just doesn't feature brews that fit the day's mood. Or maybe a keg of your favorite suds just got kicked.

Well, world-class beer bars, like Seattle's Über Tavern, are always looking to remedy such afflictions. Smack dab on the front of their website, patrons can check out what's recently been added as well as an extensive selection of "kegs in the cellar" featuring what's about to come. "We update every time there needs to be a change," said manager Charlie Wedbee. "It works out to about four times a week."

Über's been doing this "forever," says Wedbee (in real time, about three years). They seem to have their act together, so don't worry about trekking all the way to this tavern just to find a slew of unfamiliar taps. It'd be swell if similar craft concoction-proffering pubs could offer this sort of full disclosure about what brews to expect upon arrival.

Which of your favorite watering holes are web-savvy with their draft lists? Let us know in the comments! After the jump, Über's Monday draft list.

'A Homemade Life - Stories and Recipes from my Kitchen Table'
Recipes by Molly Wizenberg
Simon & Schuster -- 2009
Buy it on Amazon

Molly Wizenberg, the woman behind award-winning blog Orangette, has become a literary heroine of the food blogosphere, with a writing voice suffused with a clear-eyed intelligence about -- and tender affection for -- food. Her fans adore her simple and complicated recipes alike, since they come with a side of her lush but earthbound prose: "Lately, I've been thinking a lot about cake. This is not an unusual condition for me, but it happens particularly often when I'm feeling frazzled or tired or harried, right around the same time that I start listening to the easy listening station on the car radio and feeling genuinely soothed by it."

Since Molly (whose old-timey photos we also admire) just announced a break from blogging to help her husband start his new restaurant, those seeking a fix could do worse than her new book, 'A Homemade Life.' A memoir shot through with recipes, it tells how she fell in love via her blog (with a New Yorker, and she lives in Seattle, but we won't go there), chronicles the food-loving life of her late father, and has all the hallmarks of a bang-up cooking memoir.

See what we tested, whether you should buy it, and Molly's incredible French toast recipe after the jump.

It's Monday morning, and we're right there with you. While propping your eyes open waiting for the coffee to kick in, do sneak a look at Orangette. It's the literary equivalent of falling asleep curled around a novel or sipping hot milk to stave off insomnia. Strangely comforting and nostalgia-inducing at once, it leaves one poised between appetites, unsure whether to roast a rack of lamb for dinner or ride a two-seater bicycle through the French Quarter taking snapshots while drinking gin lemonade.

That's how disorienting Orangette's (aka Molly Wizenberg) prose is. If you find her beautiful polaroids, winding tales and dreamy recipes (like this adapted dish of asparagus with pecorino and pooled walnut crema) insufficient, you might pop out and buy her new book. Now back to work.

[Via Orangette]