uncle brian's potato salad

With the end of summer came an intense craving for my uncle's homemade potato salad. Labor Day weekend in Seattle was rainy, chilly, and mostly unpleasant, so there were no opportunities to make potato salad for a crowd. Last weekend, however, the Canadian Cowboy and I rented a cabin on a small lake outside of Seattle. I made potato salad and pretended there was a crowd. (Note that this sort of mind game will result in a boatload of leftovers.)

Canadian Cowboy was in charge of the fishing gear. I haven't been fishing in over five years, so I had to relearn how to bait a hook and cast a line. As it turns out, I'm not very good at putting my own worm on the hook -- we saw quite a few of them fly off in the other direction when I cast my line -- but I deserve an "A" for effort, I think. Okay, maybe a "B." I mostly gave up after my fumbling resulted in a squirt of worm guts to the face. (I bet you're hungry now, right?)

mashed potatoes with garlic and chives

Every year we have the same little tussle in our house around the holidays. Mom and Dad -- in their efforts to preserve, save, and protect -- insist that all holiday lights must be turned off when the last person goes to bed. I, however, relish the opportunity to fall asleep in the comforting glow of a Christmas tree. So this is where we butt heads, and the almost ritualistic annual scenario goes something like this: Mom and Dad go to bed. I fall asleep on the sofa next to one of the trees. Mom/Dad shuffles into the room at 3 a.m., turns off the tree, and grumbles something in my direction about sleeping in my own bed. I get up and either turn the tree back on or actually go to bed.

roasted fingerling potatoes

Tom Douglas is a Seattle icon. Even those of you from other parts of the country (or world) might be familiar with him because, in addition to being the driving force behind multiple famed Seattle restaurants, Tom also makes occasional appearances on the Food Network. Having already experienced the glory of his culinary prowess, I couldn't not take Mom and Dad to one of his restaurants while they were in town. Though I truly wanted to try one of his other restaurants, when I was perusing the menus online, I once again succumbed to the tantalizing offerings of the Dahlia Lounge. It was, thankfully, everything I expected. In addition to the highly regarded Tuscan grilled bread salad (which I will soon attempt to replicate), I enjoyed their red dahlia cocktail, which is made with St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur. (For those of you who are a little behind on your culinary news, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur is *the* thing in cocktails these days.) After our outstanding entrées and even though we were really too full, we all sampled the Lounge's most popular desserts: triple coconut cream pie, for which Tom is rather famous, and the doughnuts with seasonal jam. The seasonal jam turned out to be rhubarb, and it was so fantastic that I'm still thinking about how I can make some of my own or...*ahem*...when I can just eat his again.