We just got back from visiting Robert’s family in Santa Fe, New Mexico. As usual, we had a great time. We visited the Folk Art Museum, which, in addition to their permanent collection of artifacts, was showing a special textiles and fiber arts exhibit called “Needles and Pins.” Perfect for me! We also went to El Santuario de Chimayó, a famous Catholic pilgrimage site north of Santa Fe, and Las Golondrinas, a living history museum. Las Golondrinas has many beautiful Spanish colonial buildings on site and also hosts special events on the weekends including music festivals and lessons on how to make adobe. This was fun, but what I was really looking forward to doing during the trip was eating as much spicy New Mexican food as I possibly could.

Lucky for me, several of our tourist activities happened to involved food. For example, we stopped by Las Golondrinas during the middle of a bean tasting. That’s right, a bean tasting! Who knew beans had such a wide variety of flavors? When you taste them side by side, you can really tell the difference: some are mild and soft whereas others are meaty and full of texture. We also got to sample homemade panocha, a pudding made from brown sugar and sprouted wheat that is traditionally eaten during Lent. My favorite bite at Las Golondrinas, however, was the fresh bread straight from the horno. An horno is a dome-shaped adobe oven, and it produces incredible, super-crusty bread. We tried samples of whole wheat and a slightly sweet bread flavored with anise seed and orange zest.

In Chimayó, just north of Santa Fe, we happened upon a man selling various kinds of red chili powder. He led us through a tasting and, once again, I was surprised at the differences between the types. I was also quite amused at his very specific instructions during the tasting: sometimes we were given a pistachio nut to eat with the chili powder, other times we were told to chew the powder with the right molar (I think I might have accidentally used a bicuspid, but it still tasted good to me!) We bought a couple of small bags from him, although not nearly enough to get us through the winter. Thankfully, Henry, a friend of the family, was kind enough to offer up a huge part of his red chili stash. Thanks Henry!

We had our red chili, but we still needed green and lots of it. Fortunately, we were in Santa Fe for the start of the green chili harvest season. This time of year, chili roasters begin popping up around town. Grocery stores, strip malls, banks; every business with an outdoor parking lot seems to have its own chili roaster. You buy a bag of fresh chilies and then take it out to that store’s parking lot to get the chilies roasted. We stopped by Lowe’s grocery and, for just $19.95, I picked up a giant sack of chilies (bigger than me, even.) Then waited as our chilies were roasted. Watching your chilies roast is half the fun. Five minutes later, we were on our way home with big bag full of hot, charred chili peppers! We took the chilies back to Robert’s mom’s house and had a chili peeling session out on the porch. It is a messy process—best taken care of outside, with a cold beer handy. After we were done, Robert’s mom filled some corn tortillas with the green chilies for us to eat. You can’t get much fresher than that!

Overall, we didn’t dine out too often during the trip (but, when we did, I made sure to stuff myself completely full.) I had an excellent stuffed sopaipilla with red chili at El Paragua in Española. We also ate at El Parasol, one of El Paragua’s fast food restaurants. I had heard great things about their veggie tacos. Having just had a giant breakfast of Tecolote’s atole-piñon pancakes, I really wasn’t all that hungry. But, when Robert’s mom stopped off to pick up some ice cream and we just happened to be parked right next to El Parasol, I had to go in and order a couple of tacos. They were greasy and delicious! Robert picked up some pork tamales which he went crazy for. By chance, he ended up with one made with green chili and one made with red chili (in Santa Fe, they call this Christmas style!)

Number one on my list of things to do in Santa Fe was a visit to the farmer’s market (shocking, I know.) Much of the produce was the same as what we have here in Seattle, but I saw plenty of things for sale that you can’t get here. For example, you can’t order a zucchini and corn tamale for breakfast at my farmer’s market. Another major difference, of course, is the sheer number of chilies for sale at the Santa Fe market. One popular chili pepper at the market this year was the shisito pepper, a Japanese variety that is light green in color and medium in size. It is very mild and, because it has a thin skin, is great for frying. The nice folks from Romero Farms were frying up samples at the market. I couldn’t help myself; I bought some to bring home along with my other green chilies, and I also picked up two more packets of red chili powder. Lest you think we are only gluttons for chilies, we also came home with dried posole, atole, red chili-raspberry jam, salsa, green chili-peanut brittle, and two flavors of carne seca!

We’ve been watching lots of Olympics coverage at my house so, when I spotted a bottle of Dragon Seal 2004 Unoaked Chardonnay at Uwajimaya the other day, I just had to buy it. Why? Because this Chardonnay is made in China! I wasn’t expecting much out of this wine; after all, China isn’t exactly known for its Chardonnay. But, we’ve been hearing so much about China every night on the TV; if there was ever a time to try a Chinese wine, the time is now! And how cool is it that the grapes for this wine are grown at the foot of the Great Wall of China?

Dragon Seal Winery was formed in 1987 as a subsidiary of Beijing Winery. The goal behind Dragon Seal was to begin producing wine in the European style by importing French vines and utilizing advanced French wine making techniques. French viticulturists studied several vine-growing areas of China looking for the ideal place to plant grapes for the Dragon Seal label. They eventually settled on the area of Hualai in Hebei province, 75 miles northwest of Beijing. The tradition of making wine from grapes dates back thousands of years in this region. The climate in Hualai is very similar to that of France’s Burgundy and Bordeaux (in fact, it shares the same latitude with Bordeaux.) Dragon Seal launched its first bottle of wine in 1988, the year of the dragon according to the Chinese lunar calendar.

Dragon Seal wines are made from imported French vines: Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Riesling are all grown here. Notably, Dragon Seal was also is the first winery in China to make sparkling wine using Methode Champenoise, the technique used for making Champagne. In addition to using French grapes for their wines, Dragon Seal uses traditional French and American oak barrels for aging the wines.

For dinner, I made Grilled Mackerel with Warm Potato & Fennel Salad. Mackerel is one of my favorite types of fish, and it didn’t disappoint with this recipe. It was so decadently oily, and the bits where the fish touched the grill were nice and crisp. To make the salad for this recipe, you boil new potatoes and toss them, still warm, with thinly sliced fennel and red onion. A mustard and lemon vinaigrette brings the whole dish together. Instead of parsley, I seasoned the salad with lemon basil from this week’s CSA box. The lemony fennel was a great match for the oily fish. Next time, I would probably make the fennel and onions into a slaw for the fish and serve roasted potatoes separately on the side.

The wine was a decent, crisp, full-bodied white wine. It had a pretty strong citrus component which actually worked really well with the flavors in the potato and fennel salad. A good effort from a country relatively new to this style of wine. Who knows, maybe wine making will begin to take off in China. If so, France had better watch out! If there’s anything to be learned from the opening ceremony of this year’s Olympics, if China wants to do something bigger and better than everyone else, there seems to be no stopping them.

Well, we finally made it to Pike Street Fish Fry. I’ve been meaning to try this place ever since it opened back in late April. I’m not sure why it has taken me so long. I’m a huge fan of fried fish, and Pike Street Fish Fry is only a couple of blocks from my apartment. Plus, I just love the term fish fry! It conjures up images of a different time and place. A fish fry is pretty much just what it sounds like: a meal made up of fried fish, usually served with fries and coleslaw. Fish fries are very popular in the Midwest and Northeastern part of the country, especially in areas with significant Catholic populations where fish is traditionally served on Fridays. My mom, who grew up near Chicago, remembers her dad stopping to pick up fish fry every Friday night on the way home from his job at the steel mill. Now, I too can stop by for some fish fry on my way home from work (although, since Pike Street Fish Fry is open every day, I don’t have to wait until Friday to get my fried fish fix in!)

Pike Street Fish Fry is located right next door to Neumo’s in the space previously occupied by Frites, a popular, but ultimately doomed, Belgian frites shop. Everything I’ve read about Pike Street Fish Fry makes a point of describing how exceedingly tiny it is inside. Fully expecting to walk into a space the size of a small closet, I actually ended up finding it to be almost roomy. It is small, but not claustrophobically so (although, if you are very tall, you may feel a bit cramped; unlike at most of Capitol Hill’s new restaurants, all of which seem to be competing to see who can achieve the loftiest space, the ceiling at Pike Street Fish Fry is extremely low.) Pike Street Fish Fry’s small size doesn’t matter too much, though, because it isn’t really meant to be a sit-down restaurant. There is only one small table inside and a few others outside; otherwise, you eat standing up at one of the counters or you order your food to go. Cal Anderson Park is conveniently located two blocks away and is the perfect spot for a fish fry picnic.

The menu is divided up into several categories: Battered & Fried, Just Fried, Grilled and Sauces. The Battered & Fried section lists five or six choices of fish as well as one or more seasonal vegetable (asparagus in the spring, green beans in the summer, etc.) Fish is brought in daily from Mutual Fish, and there is a strong emphasis on sustainable seafood. The Just Fried section includes French fries and “Spanish fries” which are French fries served with a sweet chili sauce and sour cream. Grilled offerings include octopus, steak and fish of the day. Finally, there are the sauces: classics such as tartar sauce as well as more unusual options like smoked chili aioli, salsa verde and curry ketchup. Everything is ordered a la carte, and each individual item costs anywhere from $4 to $10. Anything on the menu can be turned into a sandwich with slaw for an extra $1.

I gluttonously ordered straight off the Battered & Fried menu: smelts, zucchini and lemons. Robert chose catfish and Spanish fries. Our order came up, and we immediately realized that we had ordered way too much. I’ve never had so much fried food in front of me before. It looked like we had joined some sort of battered and fried Olympics. How embarrassing. My smelts were pretty tasty, though. They were fried in a very light batter, similar to tempura. It was nice and crisp and actually stayed crispy the whole time! This was a real treat. I absolutely hate soggy fried fish, and it’s amazing how many places can’t seem to get it right. The smelts measured about 6 inches each, edging close to the size at which I would no longer consider eating them whole. But, I ate my smelts head to tail, taking a slightly sadistic pleasure out of dipping them head first into Pike Street Fish Fry’s delicious salsa verde.

The fish, fries and zucchini were all very good, but my favorite thing was the lemons! Battered and fried lemon slices come with each serving of fish at Pike Street Fish Fry. I had heard great things about these lemons so I ordered an extra helping. I’m glad I did because I only got two measly slices with my smelts. I wouldn’t have thought fried lemons to be very good, but these were tart, sweet, crispy and totally wonderful. I put forth a good effort, but I wasn’t quite able to finish my extra lemons. I ended up giving them away to the people sitting next to us (as fellow fried lemon aficionados, they were more than happy to take my leftovers.) Overall, everything that we ate at Pike Street Fish Fry was really good. The prices and location are pretty hard to beat, and I’m looking forward to working my way through the various types of fish on the menu (the fried fish balls and grilled octopus are next on my list.) I see many, many fish fry picnics in my near future!

Pike Street Fish Fry is located at 925 E. Pike St.

Last Saturday, Robert and I hiked through the fog and snow up to Silver Peak in the Snoqualmie Pass area. I brought along a pretty standard hiking lunch: bagel sandwiches. Because they are sturdy and densely packed with calories, bagels are great for hiking or backpacking. Other than that, though, I rarely eat them. I think I just wasn’t born with a bagel mindset or something. Whenever I buy bagels, I feel like some sort of bagel poser. There are bagel enthusiasts out there that have extremely strong opinions about their bagels, and I’m sure I have probably made the mistake more than once of buying bagels that they would deem totally worthless. In fact, aren’t any bagels outside of New York City supposed to be worthless? Certainly nobody on the west coast knows how to make a proper bagel, right? New York has that special water or something that makes their bagels superior.

When I was a little kid, we used to get bagels from a place called Bagel Boys of New York (long since closed.) Although it has New York in the name, this was a west coast joint. I remember their bagels being really good. I loved helping my mom choose which flavors to include in her baker’s dozen. My favorite was the salt bagel (not too surprising considering that I was also the child who was jealous of my rabbit for having its own salt lick – fortunately, my salt addiction has faded as an adult, although I’ll still take savory over sweet any day of the week.) Sometime in the late 1980′s / early 1990′s, bagels became really popular, and bagel shops started popping up everywhere. The only problem was that these bagels were doughy and soft, and they came in novelty flavors like blueberry and chocolate. I’m no bagel expert but I do know that a good bagel is supposed to be dense and chewy with a browned, slightly crisp exterior. Not soft like a dinner roll! And, I’m sorry, but chocolate is not an acceptable flavor for a bagel.

These days, when I need a bagel, I head up to Bagel Deli on 15th Ave. It is only a few blocks from my apartment, and their bagels are actually pretty good. I think so anyway; I’m sure for the bagel freaks out there, they are just as controversial as any other west coast bagel. They are very dense and have a nice, shiny outer shell. I like pumpernickel the best followed by sesame, everything, and my nostalgic favorite, salt. I topped Saturday’s bagel sandwiches with lettuce and a salmon, shallot and caper salad. They were yummy, if a bit dry (they were, after all, a day old by the time we went hiking.) As an added bonus, I’m fairly certain the act of chewing though these super-dense bagels helped keep us warm on top of the snowy mountain. Do you have a favorite bagel spot in town?

When my CSA box arrived this week containing a beautiful bunch of collard greens, I immediately started craving southern food. I’m not talking about Paula Deen’s mayonnaise and jell-o “salad” version of southern food. I’m talking about the good stuff: greens and cornbread and black-eyed peas. You know, the stuff that is actually kind of good for you (depending, of course, on how much butter, bacon, ham hock, etc. you add to the mix.) Unlike most of the South, I don’t use any meat in my greens, and I don’t cook them to death. I like them plain and simple with salt, pepper and a tiny touch of red wine vinegar added at the end. It wasn’t a huge bunch of collards so I combined it with the dandelion greens that also came in this week’s box. They added a nice spiciness to the dish. I had some cheddar cheese sitting in the fridge so I used that to make cheddar grits (okay, I didn’t actually have any grits so I used polenta instead – close enough.) I also made blackened catfish and a simple succotash using fava beans (also from the box) in place of lima beans. Other than the butter and cheese in the grits, this was a pretty healthy southern meal.

So, what wine can you serve with southern food? The simple answer is probably beer. Since southern food is sometimes quite spicy, particularly dishes of Cajun or Creole origin such as my blackened catfish, it can be a tough cuisine to match with wine. That said, there are certainly wines out there that can be paired with southern food, especially if you, like me, aren’t too concerned with perfect wine-food pairings. One year, for Christmas, we did a Cajun-themed dinner, and the gentleman at the wine shop recommended serving a fruity, spicy Shiraz. That worked out quite nicely. However, with it being summertime, I think the perfect wine to serve with a southern meal right now is a nice, dry rosé. Rosés are known for being extremely food friendly. They are sometimes called picnic wines because they can be served with such a wide range of foods (the nickname also refers to the fact that they are ideal for casual occasions; these are not overly serious wines.)

I picked out a bottle of Domaine de la Petite Cassagne 2007 Costières de Nîmes Rosé from the huge rosé display at my store. This wine comes from the Costières de Nîmes appellation in southern France, an appellation known for having a very distinctive soil that consists primarily of round pebbles. Red wine predominates in this area followed by rosé. Only a very small percentage of white wine is produced. Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Carignan and Cinsault are the primary grapes. The Domaine de la Petite Cassagne Rosé, in fact, is made using nearly all of these grapes: it consists of 50% Grenache, 15% Syrah, 20% Cinsault, and 15% Mourvedre. This is truly a hand-crafted wine. Not only are the grapes grown organically and in small quantities, specific vines are designated for rosé production only and are pruned and picked in such a way as to produce the best rosé possible (unlike at many wineries where rosé is more of an afterthought.)

The wine is a bit darker in color than other rosés, though not quite as dark as the Chateau Ste Michelle 2006 Nellie’s Garden Dry Rosé that I featured last year. I really like rosés that are on the darker side since that usually means that they will have a bit more heft to them; they are still closer to a white than a red, but you get a bit more of the complexity that people normally associate with red wine. Strawberries and sweet herbs, such as tarragon and anise, are the common descriptions used for this wine. Refreshing and gulpable are two words that come to my mind (but, at 13.5% alcohol – higher than you might expect for a rosé – you’d probably be better off sipping rather than gulping.) It was a great wine to serve with my southern meal. The spiciness of the catfish didn’t overwhelm the wine at all and, because it was a slightly heavier rosé, it was able to cut through the richness of the cheddar grits quite nicely. It’s summertime, pick up a bottle of rosé!