Author: Mark Petruska

It’s officially springtime in the Pacific Northwest, which means our nonstop rain is gradually giving way to mostly nonstop rain. Plus, a fresh bounty of vegetables (and a few fruits) that thrive between March and May. You’re probably familiar with standbys like asparagus and radishes, but have you tried garlic scapes? Garlic scapes are the flower stems […]

Today is Fat Tuesday, which may mean nothing to you unless you’re an expat from The Big Easy. But this blog celebrates regional cuisine, and nothing is more regional than New Orleans during Mardi Gras. So this week we’re taking a 2,500 mile journey to Louisiana – from the comfort of our own kitchens. If […]

Up until a year ago, I never liked oysters much. I thought of them as slimy, and the idea of ingesting something raw – not just raw, but still alive – was too much to bear. Sure, you can deep fry them, and pretty much anything tastes good coming out of the fryer. But why […]

You might have noticed that our region is obsessed with bacon. I blame it all on a little doughnut shop called Voodoo. They were the first to combine swine with pastry, and the Bacon Maple Bar has been a smash success ever since. Then Bunk Sandwiches came out with a Pork Belly Cubano, and the […]

When I first moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1994, I knew I would experience some new things. I expected to encounter the following: A lot of rain. Some serious coffee aficionados. Tall trees. An obsession with recycling. Lots of hazelnuts and berries. Sure enough, all of those stereotypes were real. But there was one […]

If there’s one thing the Pacific Northwest is well known for, it’s mushrooms. I guess that’s because we’re all a bunch of fun guys up here in the upper left corner of the country! Or maybe it has something to do with our soggy climate and plentiful forests. Either way, wild mushroom harvesting is a […]

I’ve been buying frozen turkeys for Thanksgiving my whole life. This is a tradition handed down through the generations. My mom always bought frozen turkeys for Thanksgiving. HER mom always bought frozen turkeys for Thanksgiving. And on and on. My family is more the gathering type than the hunting type. My ancestors were sheep herders, […]