I was unemployed and packing for a camping trip when jets smashed into the World Trade Center towers Sept. 11, 2001. I left San Francisco and drove to Convict Lake.

Around a campfire, with my dog in the high dessert of the Eastern Sierra, it felt like Us Against the World. It was one of those moments of definition, of what do we do and where do we go from here.

I poached trout. I decided to go to cooking school and return to writing about food.

Something good happened that day.

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Dessert rarely excites me. Two desserts this weekend still have my tongue wagging.

Wherever Olympic Mountain’s peach sorbet is served, find it. It’s luscious like ice cream. I lapped up two bowls at Asado.

Meanwhile at Pacific Grill, butterscotch budino is Italian for butterscotch pudding. But that’s a simple translation. Served in a martini glass, the pudding was velvety. Caramel laced the surface. Sea salt kissed the caramel. Frisky creme fraiche crowned the dessert.

You know how you hear the ocean in a sea shell? In my tongue’s memory, I’m still tasting and hearing

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VIDEO Peter Twigg talks about Come Hither Cream Ale. VIDEO Janice Twigg talks about Come Hither Cream Ale. VIDEO Janice and Peter Twigg talk about Come Hither Cream Ale.

The winners of the Puget Sound Pro-Am home-brew competition flow this week.

Das Barley Wine,

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A year and a half in the making and four months after the owner says his restaurant was ready to open (parking issues aside), Bombay Bistro will serve its first meals Sept. 13, with a lunch buffet starting at noon.

“We are ready,” owner Kamal Walia told me today.

Walia said Bombay Bistro will serve buffets for lunch and dinner for the first week of operation in order to acquaint diners with chef Parveen Puri’s northern Indian cuisine.

Parveen, a 30-year veteran whom Walia called “a well-polished guy who is versed in everything,” was formerly

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Today’s a deadline for the culinary creations vying for blue ribbons in the Puyallup Fair’s home arts contests.

Are you entering anything? Tell me about it.

I have another deadline this morning, so I won’t be baking any entries today. However, I spent my Labor Day weekend knuckles-deep in dough.

Yeasted Olive Oil Pastry

1 package dry active yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup olive oil

3/4 teaspoon salt

10 ounces all-purpose flour (Note: I weigh flour. Buy scales,

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I’ve worked on the copy desk and in a birthday cake bakeshop. Not a good combination vis a vis the comma, that period-with-a-tail that puts clause, and pause, in speech. If you’re addressing someone by name, a comma is crucial, dude.

(Correct: Happy birthday, Ed. Incorrect: Happy birthday Ed. You can see how I almost got kicked out of cooking school.)

Hello, Cupcake, a new bakeshop on Pacific Avenue

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