Food

Which would you rather mix up some cake or waffle batter in? 

My birthday present, that stoneware beauty pictured above, or some soulless plastic thing?

Some people come over and you love ‘em, but you have to hide the plastic bags, Tupperware and the Teflon pans just so you don’t have to “go there” with them.

Some are organic only (especially with children), limited or no red meat, fish only or vegetarian or vegan (all by choice and principle). And now for a growing number of potential dinner guests, it's locavore, too.

In this week's Food for Thought Seattle Times food blogger Nancy Leson rhapsodizes over New York style cheesecake. Who knew there were so many other kinds?

The Bulgarians top it with smetana, not the composer but a soured heavy cream. Ancient Romans made it with honey and a cheese similar to modern-day ricotta. The Bavarian Quarkkuchen is put together with quark cheese, not the elementary particle but a cheese made from soured milk. 

It seems almost every nation on Earth has its own version of the waist-thickening wonder.

We've just about reached the end of the season for home-grown tomatoes in these parts – to which Nancy Leson says yes. But to supermarket tomatoes Ms. Leson says "Blah." I say "blechh" to all tomatoes and will not willingly eat one.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington health officials say five people in the state got sick from eating raw oysters that were harvested from an area of Puget Sound's Hood Canal and distributed to 23 states.

RICHLAND, Wash. – Northwest wineries are working harder than ever just to keep sales flat. That's what winery owners and market experts are saying as wine lovers gather this weekend for the Columbia Valley's Catch the Crush event.

"We pay our bills," one winery owner told me. "There’s a lot of extra wine out there," said another.

I think I've found the secret and it's just two words:

Baking powder.  

PORTLAND – Starting over in a new country as a refugee can feel like landing a new planet.

It’s hard to understand daily life, much less face the challenges of finding a job. One movement in refugee resettlement pioneered in the Northwest helps people put down new roots – literally – through agriculture. But learning to be an American farmer can be a tough row to hoe.

Buy pork bellies! 

I've always wanted to bellow that phrase into a two-piece antique telephone while dressed up with top hat and money bag like the Monopoly millionaire.

But this time I really mean it.