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Seattle Dessert Geek

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Eating the Sweets at Taste Washington 2017

No one really covers the desserts at Taste Washington, so this year I am!

Because even a dessert geek gets amused at the idea of watching Tom Douglas make teeny tiny crab cakes.

I was media this year, which also gave the benefit of VIP access. (Seriously, that extra hour is critical. Thank you Washington Wine Commission for hosting me!)

For those of you who haven’t been before, let me set the stage. As soon as you walk in, you see rows and rows of wine and cheese, bites as far as the eye can see. To the right, more vendors – and a few food trucks. To the left side are most of the desserts, ready for when you need a sweet break. (And coffee, in case what you really need is caffeine.) Now you have 4-5 hours to eat and drink your way through it all – and you’ll do the same thing tomorrow if you booked a weekend pass. You know you won’t try everything, but you also know you’ll have a great time exploring it all. That is Taste Washington.

The dessert space had three different truffle vendors, two ice creams, a cheesecake, doughnuts, coffee, and dessert wine. (The third ice cream maker was to the side, doing its thing.)

A few things really stood out this year. First, the custom ice cream. The fact that you could not only get liquid nitrogen ice cream to order, but grab ingredients for other booths and make custom creations was incredibly special.

Next, the fact that it was basically Truffle Central 2017. We’re talking three truffle vendors ranging from traditional but fun (Dolcetta) to really ridiculous (Intrigue). And Evolve had truffle logs with flavors like guava, in case you hadn’t had enough ganache goodness. And Scarlatta was selling truffles in addition to tasting their sauces, so you pretty much could get your chocolate fill.

Here are some of my top bites from 2017:

  • The cookies and cream mini doughnuts from Frost desserts, which tasted like childhood birthday parties
  • Esca Catering’s Noah’s Pudding, with beans and cinnamon, subtly sweet and probably the most unique dessert of the event
  • The adorable Island Treats NW’s entire lineup
  • Tom Douglas had a super smooth passion fruit mousse tart (check it out above), but you could only get that if you had access to their VIP area

Here are my hopes for 2018:

  • Lighter bites. I wanted something delicate to eat alongside all the heavy bites. Crepes with whipped cream and fruit, or even lime and ginger syrup would have been awesome. Something cheery that you could pair with a sparkling or riesling. (Caravan Crepes would rock this.) I did miss out on RN74’s lemon cake, but more light sweets would be lovely.
  • Asian desserts. Could we have Hood Famous? What about dessert lumpia or turon? Or shave ice? Oh my goodness shave ice would be amazing. And mochi is always welcome. I just wanted to see a greater range of flavors from what diversity Seattle has to offer.
  • Allergy friendly bites. Most things had dairy, same to gluten, and in the lighting allergy notices were hard to spot. (I think Noah’s Pudding and the prosecco sorbet were the lone dairy free items.) Having clear options means everyone can try something.

This is the lighting in the dessert space. It was way worse than most of the areas, so yeah, finding info was fun.

Honestly, my big thing is I really wish they offered a Designated Driver badge. It’s not cheap to go (we’re talking ~$200 for a single weekend VIP pass), but for a food geek like me who doesn’t drink much I’d love the chance to bring friends to go around and nibble. Because there are some epic bites, especially in the savory stuff, and I wish I could make a weekend of nibbles.

The moral here: if you can, go, eat all the tasty things, be in a food and wine coma for days. It’s an experience we’ll all hopefully get to have at least once.

I was hosted as media for Taste Washington, which gave me a press pass for Saturday of the event. All opinions are my own.

Four Quick Tips to Improve your Instagram Photography Right Now

First, announcement time: I’m teaching an Instagram photography course on April 30th in Seattle! More info/how to register at the end of the post. On to the fun stuff!

This is focused on Instagram, but it’s also meant to improve your overall photography. And while there’s no quick way to get a better photographer besides practice, there are tools and techniques you can start today. As in, right now. Let’s get going!

(Note: I am assuming here that you have some comfort with taking pictures on Instagram. I’m going to do an intro to Instagram photography post later, but these tips will still help if you’re just starting out.)

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Drinking the Trend: Talking drinking cacao with Dr. Eric Durtschi of Crio Bru

Drinking cacao, or brewing cacao, is trending. Which makes sense: it’s soothing like drinking hot cocoa, full of antioxidants, and it’s fairly low calorie with a chocolate boost. And I am all in for finding ways for everyone who wants to drink chocolate to enjoy it.

Drinking cacao is what it sounds like: cacao beans, crushed past the nib stage, so you can steep/brew it like coffee or tea. I first found out about it at Intrigue, where Aaron also makes it into cacao au lait. (Which I wish he would sell, because it is glorious, even if it takes a while to steep.) Then last year it felt to me like it was everywhere in bean-to-bar land: Creo Chocolate had a version for sale at the NW Chocolate Festival, and now Crio Bru, the biggest brand, is going the k-cup route with their blends.

So when I was at the Winter Fancy Food Show, I was excited to get in an interview Dr. Eric Durtschi of Crio Bru. After all, bean-to-bar still is barely mainstream, drinking cacao even less so. And Crio focuses its branding on being a coffee alternative, which is pretty fascinating to me. I also don’t drink coffee, which probably explains it, but still.

(I mean, I only now have a french press because ESPRO gave me one this month for a Victrola Coffee collaboration launch. That’s how new I am to actually making this trend at home.)

Here’s the interview! Have you tried drinking cacao yet?…

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Valentine’s Day: Get those plans started!

Hey peeps! It’s nearly Valentine’s Day. Whether or not you celebrate it, I see it as a great excuse to go get some chocolate (and, of course, there are the chocolate sales).

First: I have a giveaway for Seattle peeps on Instagram! Get six eclairs from Choukette for Valentine’s Day so all the work is done for you. Details and how to enter here.

And if you’re in Seattle and feeling stuck, go check out the dessert map! There’s sure to be something awesome for you.

On to the fun stuff!

Local activities:

Chocolate factory tours. There are now two (effectively three) chocolate factory tours in town: Theo, Seattle Chocolates, and watching the production window at Fran’s Georgetown. (You can’t go behind the scenes at Fran’s, but you also don’t have to schedule a tour – and it’s free to view.) At $10/person, it’s a nice way to learn the processes behind different kinds of chocolate.

And, you know, eat some chocolate while you’re there.…

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Trends from the 2017 Winter Fancy Food Show

Yeah, still not sold on cheese fudge.

So! Last week I was at the Winter Fancy Food Show, the biggest food festival you can only attend as press or trade. And boy, do I have trends for you!

First, let me set the stage for what attending feels like. Imagine two Costcos or Sam’s Clubs, squished together, and empty. (If you’re local to San Francisco, it’s the entire floor space of the Moscone Center.) Fill them with rows and rows of trade show booths. Only instead of brochures, they’re offering food, or soup, or drinks. Everyone at each of the booths is important, usually a VP of Marketing or President. And everyone around you is important, from hotel buyers to celebrities.

And did I mention that they feed you? A lot? You’re basically exhausted by day three.

(Because of this, I almost crashed into Duff Goldberg my first year. That was embarrassing.)

It will also change how you view food, because almost all the major specialty products you get in stores, from cheese to cookies, come from this conference. This is both good (“Oh hey! I saw this get released! Cool!”) and awkward (“Yeah, I remember that booth. And that one. Annnnd that one…”).

This was the first year (for me at least) where we were allowed to take samples out of the show. Thanks to that, my physical therapist is currently yelling at me, and my kitchen table is covered in snacks I still need to review with a clean palate. I regret nothing, especially not the afterparties.

Now, the fun part: what will be on shelves coming up.

Brazilian cheese bread. Apparently, pao de queijo’s time has some – with every cute name under the sun, or just “Brazilian Cheese Bread.” (I can so see the marketing decisions that led to the names. I also think we should learn to pronounce the names of tasty foods.) And in every flavor. Lots of pizza options, because they’re probably going after the kids of people who grew up on Bagel Bites. 

WAY more healthy variations of things. Almost every snack had six to nine grams of protein. (But were still plenty high in carbs, making my former dietician cringe without even knowing why.) High protein chips, more granola. If it could have added protein or be made without something, it was happening. Same to Whole 30.

The rise of sesame. Sesame and black sesame both – often along with nori. In everything. Mainly sweet, but I also saw Japanese nori/furikake style popcorn.

More gluten free/paleo options. My friends with allergies are going to be thrilled. (I consider this distinct from ‘healthy’ in that these are dietary restrictions, not reduced sugar/added protein type things.) Lots and lots of paleo baking mixes, gluten free breads. The world is becoming your allergy friendly oyster.

Moringa as the next “superfood.” There were three booths on moringa, calling it everything from the “next kale” to something that belongs in every food, soup to nuts. (Beyond my ethical concerns with previous superfoods like quinoa and their impacts on food equity, it’s a really awkward trend name. Sheesh, beans and rice are a superfood.) And yes, they were putting it in EVERYTHING. I skipped the margaritas, but Thei said they were nice.

Dark milk chocolate. I spotted this at the NW Chocolate Festival last year, and here I saw more of it. I’m most excited for Marana, a Peruvian chocolate maker that’s offering three micro-regions: Piura, San Martin, and Cusco. It’ll make for some fun tastings!

Cheese in everything. I love cheese. I’m still not sure what to make of the cheese fudge I tried that was made with havarti. Maybe they’re trying to cash in on the high protein trend?

Any trends you want to try?

December 5-11 Event Megapost

Normally I post food events up on Twitter. It’s a thing I can’t really put on Instagram, and a bit ends up on my mailing list as well, so you get a bite of what’s going on around town. This week, though, even with pre-scheduling stuff (I’ve been sick for three weeks; you’d do that too) I’m running out of space. There’s simply too much going on to try and keep track of it all via tweets.

So here you go: an event megapost! Rejoice in all the random tasty desserts. There’s even a tofu pudding pop-up at the UW!

(If there’s an event I’ve missed that you think needs to be up on here, let me know! I’m one human wading through event pages.)

Monday, December 5

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