Friday night, Robert and I headed over to Metro Cinema to see District 9. Since we were already in the University district for the movie, I thought it would be nice to grab a pint & a bite at my old stomping ground: The College Inn Pub. This dark, windowless basement pub is a haven for UW students. It is laid-back and unpretentious and attracts a good crowd (read: no obnoxious fraternity types.) The pool tables, dart boards and rotating taps provide plenty of much-needed distraction for college kids. As a geology student, I spent a good portion of my time “studying” at the College Inn Pub.

The menu consists of standard pub classics including some of the best nachos in town. For $6, you get a big pile of hot corn chips topped with melted cheese, chopped fresh tomatoes, black olives, spicy jalapeño peppers and a huge dollop of sour cream. Salsa is served on the side. For an extra $1, you can have some of the pub’s delicious black bean chili added to your nachos. The jalapeños and black bean chili make these nachos truly awesome, but perhaps even more important is the fact that the nachos are well-layered. I hate it when all of the cheese is stuck on the top layer of chips and everything underneath is dry and devoid of toppings. There certainly isn’t anything fancy about this food. Still, as I sat there reminiscing about my college years, washing my nachos down with a nice, cold Old Seattle Lager, I couldn’t help but feel like it was the perfect way to top off a movie night.

The College Inn Pub is located at 4006 University Way NE. Nachos are half price on Mondays!

Robert was recently given a gift certificate for two to attend the Bon Vivant School of Cooking. Bon Vivant is a local cooking school which offers series courses such as “Mastering the Basics” as well as individual cooking classes. Individual classes focus on specific regional cuisines, cooking methods or types of dishes (desserts, salads, etc.) There are also occasional field trips to foodie locales around Seattle such as Pike Place Market.

After browsing through the class listing, I finally settled on the “Saveur Cooks: Spanish Classics” class. Spanish food isn’t my favorite cuisine, but the menu for this class sounded irresistible: Tortilla Española (Spanish Potato Omelette); Espinacas con Garbanzos (Spinach with Chickpeas); Alcachofas en su Salsa (Artichokes in Their Own Sauce); Paella de Mariscos (Shellfish Paella); Patatas a la Riojana (Potatoes Stewed with Paprika and Chorizo); Gelat de Crema Catalana (Burnt Cream Ice Cream); Carquinyolis (Catalan Biscotti).

Despite being a pretty popular school, Bon Vivant is definitely a small operation. If you are picturing a big classroom with individual cooking stations for each cook, think again. Most of the classes are run by Louise Hasson out of her home in North Seattle, and the cooking is all done in her single - albeit large - kitchen. It is much more of an intimate experience than you get in other cooking schools. Twelve students in one kitchen gets cozy real fast!

We arrived to find two rows of folding chairs set out facing Louise’s kitchen; on each chair was a printed booklet featuring the recipes we would be preparing that day (all of the recipes for this class come from Saveur Magazine.) Once everyone was seated, Louise briefly went through the recipes with us, noting any quirks or special techniques to watch out for. A sign-up sheet was passed around, and each student signed up for the dish that they were interested in making. Then, we started cooking!

Things were a little chaotic at first. Fortunately, it wasn’t enough to cause anyone to lose a finger and, after a while, everyone settled into a nice rhythm. I had signed up for the artichoke dish. I’ve always been intimidated at the prospect of trimming artichokes down to their hearts, but it proved to be rather easy if somewhat labor-intensive. Once trimmed, the dish was a breeze to prepare. The artichoke hearts are braised very simply in a combination of water, sherry, olive oil, garlic, scallions and parsley. My dish was part of the tapas menu for the day. Robert worked on the other two tapas: the tortilla and the spinach with chickpeas (yes, he pulled his weight in the kitchen much more than I did.)

With the tapas out of the way, our work was done. Robert and I got to sit back with glasses of red wine and champagne and watch the other students prepare the rest of the meal. Seeing the paella being made was a highlight - paella is always a stunning dish to look at and, since it is cooked in a huge, wide pan, it was easy for everyone to watch the entire process. The flavor didn’t disappoint either. The mussels and prawns were cooked perfectly, and the rice was enjoyably chewy and flavorful. I also particularly liked the stewed potato dish and the artichokes (and not just because I made them - it was just a really tasty dish.)

We were sent home with Saveur-inspired goodie bags, and Robert was the lucky winner of a $25 gift certificate to igourmet.com! If you like cooking or are just looking for something fun and a little different to do, check out the Bon Vivant School of Cooking. Louise really knows her stuff. I’ve been cooking for a long time, but I still picked up a few tips here and there. Now that Robert and I are experts, it has already been decided that the theme for my family’s Christmas Eve feast this year will be Spanish Classics!

St. Germain - a French liqueur made from elderflowers - is undoubtedly the current darling of Seattle’s cocktail scene. Coinciding with the movement toward hand-crafted cocktails and speakeasy-themed lounges, this exotic French spirit is popping up on cocktail menus all around the city. Despite its popularity, St. Germain is available in limited quantities. Elderflowers have a short blossoming season and do not keep well once picked making mass production difficult. Each year, 40 or 50 farmers head out to the French Alps to pick the elderflowers used to make St. Germain. The flowers are carefully packed into sacks and carted to market on bicycles. Whatever the farmers are able to collect over a several day period is what will be used to make that year’s supply of St. Germain. St. Germain is produced using old-world techniques dating back to the 1880’s. Although it is a relatively new spirit, it’s now wonder why fans of retro cocktails are flocking to St. Germain. The traditional harvesting and distillation process, the beautiful chiseled bottle - everything about St. Germain just seems old (take a look at their website, and you’ll know what I’m talking about.)

My liquor store seems to be perpetually out of stock. After weeks of searching, I finally got my hands on a bottle of St. Germain. I was immediately entranced by its complex aroma: part grapefruit, passionfruit, pear, lychee, and, of course, flowers. The flavor is sweet though not nearly as sweet and cloying as some liqueurs. I wouldn’t drink it straight, but I could see myself adding a small amount of St. Germain to nearly any cocktail. It mixes amazingly well with most types of alcohol. Gin, rum, bourbon, tequila – you name it. It adds a light sweetness and just the right amount of that alluring aroma to any drink you put it in. Use it in place of simple syrup for an extra deluxe cocktail!

So far, I have made two different cocktails using St. Germain. First, I decided to try the signature drink: The St. Germain Cocktail. This super-easy recipe calls for 2 shots of champagne or dry white wine (preferably Sauvignon Blanc), 1½ shots St. Germain, and 2 shots sparkling water. You simply stir the ingredients together in a tall, ice-filled glass and add a lemon twist garnish. I used a dry Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. It was still a little sweet for me but proved to be very refreshing on a hot day. Robert described it as tasting like “the world’s most delicious sprite.” I thought it tasted like a Gewurtztraminer spritzer. I’d be curious to see how it is made with Champagne instead of Sauvignon Blanc.

For my second drink, I attempted to recreate the St. James Cooler Robert had at Knee-High several weeks ago. For this drink, I placed in an ice-filled cocktail shaker: 4 to 5 mint leaves, 1 shot of bourbon, ½ shot of St. Germain, 1 teaspoon freshly-squeezed lemon juice and a dash of angostura bitters. I shook it up and poured it into a short glass filled with ice. Then, I topped it off with 1 shot sparkling water and a fresh mint sprig garnish. This recipe required a bit more effort than the St. Germain Cocktail but was much more my style of drink. Robert and I spent a lazy Sunday afternoon reading our books and sipping on St. James Coolers. If that’s an indication of things to come, I’m looking forward to sampling my way through many more St. Germain-inspired cocktails over the remaining weeks of summer!