Hi everybody. Well, our Christmas dinner was a great success! As usual, we starting making plans for next year’s dinner over breakfast. Could be a Greek theme or we’re even toying with the idea of Chinese although none of really cook Chinese food that often (but that would make it even more fun!)

One of my Christmas gifts this year was “Seattle Kitchen” by the famous Seattle chef, Tom Douglas. I’m really enjoying reading it. The recipes, of course, all look great. Perhaps a bit labor-intensive for the home cook but very inspiring and certainly adaptable to my style of cooking. It also completely nails down Seattle cuisine - what other cookbook has an entire chapter devoted to the art of bento and another all about crab? The best part about the book, though, is Tom’s guide to shopping in Seattle and all of the little asides about our fresh seafood and produce and wines and beers. It reminds me of why I love living here. Now, after reading through the book, I am dying to go to Mutual Fish for the freshest fish in Seattle and to seek out the little hidden places in Pike Place Market that I normally walk right on by. Just yesterday, thanks to this book, my friend and I went for pho at a little lunch counter neither one of us had ever noticed before. Perhaps next weekend, I will take a trip over to the Bainbridge Island winery for a wine tasting or maybe I’ll eat my way through the International District. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to cook with more fresh, local ingredients and this book will surely come in handy as my guide to Seattle’s great food!