Planning an outdoor beer festival in May can be a soggy endeavor in the Pacific Northwest.
When the inaugural Gig Harbor Beer Festival last year collided with one of the first really sunny and hot weekends of 2012, the festival found itself in trouble when droves of people showed up to take advantage of two rare things: hot weather before July 4 and one of only a few craft beer festivals held in the South Sound. Tragedy struck – well, as tragic as it can get at a beer festival. The kegs ran dry before the event was over.
The brunch buffet at Tacoma’s Lobster Shop has a wide selection of seafood. File photo 2012. Peter Haley/Staff photographer
Remember when you could make mom a homemade card for Mother’s Day? It was cute at 4, but not at 40. You need something slightly more grown up – like taking mom out for brunch or dinner. Listed here are some safe bets for Mother’s Day on May 12. Unless otherwise noted, you should assume you need to make reservations. Check back – I’ll update this blog post with more menus as I collect them. Read more »
South Sound already is home to four craft distilleries producing gin, vodka and whiskey. Coming soon are two more distilleries expected to receive their state and federal licensing sometime this summer. The micro distilleries are examples of the next phase of craft distilling in Washington state – niche distilling.
Fish and chips discount alert – buy an order of fish and chips at any Ivar’s Tuesday, March 19, and you can get a second order for $1.08 to celebrate the restaurant founder’s 108th birthday. Read more »
Instead of St. Patrick’s Day, Tacoma’s Parkway Tavern will celebrate St. Pants Day this weekend. Bring a pair of pants on Saturday to the Parkway and they’ll be donated to the Tacoma Rescue Mission. Read the release below for details. Read more »
The Tacoma Buddhist Temple will have its annual sukiyaki lunch this weekend. Temple members will serve the one-pot meal to the public as a fundraiser for the temple from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday March 3. The sukiyaki is cooked in vessels that date back to 1962 when the temple’s minister at the time, Rev. Sadamaro Ouchi, bought the aluminum pans specifically for the annual sukiyaki dinner. Over the years, other pans have joined the service, but the recipes — and even many of the temple cooks — have remained the same. Read more »
Pie is on the menu at this Saturday’s Pie Fest in Olympia. Mmmmm. Pie.
Kathy Kinard loves crafting pie by hand. The volunteer with the Olympia Bakers Guild – yes, there is such a thing – has made countless pies for the guild’s annual Pie Fest. This year’s will be held this Saturday Feb. 23 at The Olympia Center.
Every serious pie baker has a ritual and Kinard’s involves a garage sale find.
“I love finding my favorite bowl to mix the flour and salt, cut in the butter, sprinkling ice water over the pea-like crumble, forming a soft dough. I’m never without my reliable ceramic pie plate and bake directly on top of an old garage sale pizza stone,” described Kinard. She always looks forward to hearing the stories behind the pies at Pie Fest.
This year’s pie fest serves many purposes: It raises money and collects food for the Thurston County Food Bank. It’s a place for bakers to convene and share tips for making pie, or have one judged by a panel of bakers who will give awards in three categories (see accompanying information). Pie Fest’s most utilitarian purpose is to feed pie to anyone with $3 or three cans of food to donate. For big spenders, there’s also a pie auction with whole pies for sale, with proceeds going to the food bank. Read more »
