Seattle Espresso

Now, I'm sure all of you know Starbuck's and how it started in Seattle. In my mind, it's the company that brought coffee fame to the Northwest. It introduced my generation to real coffee. We did away with percolator coffee and found out how fresh, strong, bold coffee tasted and we liked it. It set the stage for really great coffee that you now find here and there in cities across the United States.

What I didn't know at the time was that great coffee culture existed elsewhere. It wasn't until I traveled to Italy that I understood what great espresso was and how integral it was to a culture. A morning cup of espresso or cappuccino, whether slugged back alone or accompanied by a roll or the sweet and delightful bomboloni was and is a ritual for a great portion of the population, if one goes on observation of cafes and train stations. Isn't bombolini a great word? Say it three times and doesn't it just make you smile? When we travel today, we frequently try local coffee shops and judge the coffee by ordering the espresso. What we found was that espressos at Italian train stations were better than 95% of espressos you can get in the USA, but we keep trying.

I had to let you know today that Seattle, the ubiquitous home of Starbuck's, has a coffee shop that will transport your senses to Italy and will leave you scoffing at other coffee shops. If you love true espresso or espresso-based drinks, this is the place for you. Cafe' Senso Unico is located on Olive Way between 6th and 7th (622 Olive Way). It's run by an Italian man, Mario, with fabulous character and a skilled hand at the espresso machine. Each espresso has the perfect crema on top and the flavor is perfectly balanced and well-rounded - not bitter or burned, which I find most common in coffee shops that think they know what they are doing. They serve the coffee in beautiful Italian pottery and have various nosh to accompany your stop, but alas, no bombolini. I loved hearing Mario banter with customers in Italian. You could tell he had a following of fellow countrymen that were local to Seattle now. If I lived or worked in Seattle, I would come here every morning. Yelp reviews also rave about their lunch time sandwiches. We didn't have a chance to try those out, but if you do, please let me and others know what you think! 

Milanese Herb Blend

It's been ages since I last posted. Where does the time go? While there are many things that should be on my list to do today - all those overgrown bushes and pesky vines need taming - all I want to do is get into the kitchen and make something up. I have been craving to find the next perfect recipe. I read recipe blogs, surf epicurious.com, religiously peruse the NYTimes dining section, obsessively read my childhood magazine - Sunset, to help spark an idea. One year it was flavored shortbread cookies - I still love those - and I'd be obsessing over desert jam, jelly, marmalade and curds if I was still living in Tucson. My mother makes a fabulous kumquat marmalade from the fruit off our tree in the yard and some year I'm going to be there at the right time to help her out. But, Nashville does not inspire me so. I feel more condiment-y or spice blend-y here. Maybe it's time to make another batch of a Milanese herb blend that friends of ours gave us on our visit with them ages ago. I just have a few dregs of the last batch I made. Our friend, Chiara, made us a beautiful Italian dinner at their home in Milan years ago - I gasp when I recount that it was over 10 years ago. One of the courses consisted of fresh marrow (zucchini) sliced thinly, sprinkled with oatmeal, the herb blend, and a generous dose of high quality olive oil. It was baked until the zucchini were cooked through. Ever since that visit I have been recreating versions of that dish over and over again. For those of you growing zucchini, this is one more option in your ever growing need to find new recipes to use that abundance.

The recipe that follows probably comes nowhere near the original, but it's my best guess based on a flavor memory. If you ever find yourself in Italy and can find a "mixed grill seasoning" you might pick up a package (insaporitore per grigliate), let me know if you love it. I know we did!

Milanese Herb Blend

1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
7 dried juniper berries
1 dried bay leaf, approximately 2 inches
1/2 teaspoon dried coriander seed
1/2 teaspoon dried fennel seed
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried parsley

Grind the juniper, bay leaf, coriander and fennel seeds together.  Blend with the salt.  If any of the other herbs are large pieces, slightly grind so they are more uniform and blend well with the salt mixture. You do not want a fine powder, but you do want everything about the same texture so that when you are sprinkling it on your dish you get an even balance of the flavors.

Now I must go contemplate those bushes and vines again. Or, maybe make a batch of shortbread.

Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is best known as a blending grape in Bordeaux blends. While Cabernet Franc on its own is underrated to me, my husband is of the opposite opinion - he does not much care for it - too much cigar flavor for a wine. There is a fabulous South African wine, Ondine, that tastes like someone soaked grapes in leather and tobacco. I love it and well, let's say, he does not exactly care for it. The general American palate must agree with him, which must be why we have a tough time finding a wide variety in our local shops. Nevertheless, we were undaunted and gathered a few friends together to taste a small selection. We tasted 6 wines - 4 from France, 1 from Chile, and 1 from California. We had two of the same wine and, since we did a blind tasting, it was fun to find that they tasted different. We suspect it was mostly due to the temperature difference between them.  The French ones were restrained and took some time to open up and we thought they were better with food than by themselves. Coming out on top for many of us was Soda Rock from Alexander Valley. I was pleased, as we had brought back this wine from our recent trip to Sonoma County, California, where we try to visit a wide variety of wineries, but never miss the great wines from the Wilson family wineries. The Wilson wineries have two outstanding winemakers (and 8 boutique wineries) that completely fit my palate, whether it's their Pinot Noirs from the Matrix winery or the Zinfandels from the Mazzocco winery, to the Cabernets from Soda Rock. While you can't buy these wines in our state stores, wine can finally be shipped to our state!