Work

  • Candy Land: Inside the Chocolate Factory
    Seattle Magazine, May 2006

    The best feature of the Theo factory isn't any of the machines. It's the factory seconds tray, where Martin places any not-quite-perfect chocolates for the staff to eat. When we first started, I was eating about seven of these a day, says Music. I nod, cramming chocolates into my mouth for research purposes.

  • Desperate Measures: Storage
    The Daily Gullet at eGullet.org, April 7, 2003
    Reprinted in Best Food Writing 2003

    I put all my dry goods into an Excel spreadsheet. And it told me a lot about why I needed to update my storage strategy. For example, we have nine kinds of sugar. If you had asked me how many kinds of sugar there are in the entire world I might have guessed eight.

  • Succulent Duck Legs
    Seattle Times, February 6, 2005

    I may not have a 12-gauge, but you can have my duck legs when you pry them out of my cold, dead hands.

  • Come in from the Cold for Seasonal Warmth
    Restaurant review, Seattle Times, December 16, 2005

    It's wintertime. I want preserved things: salt cod, pickled peppers, cured meats. I want root vegetables, squash, cauliflower and wild mushrooms. I want stew, lots of good bread to sop it up with and a pint of dark beer. Dinette is here for me and anyone else who looks forward to the winter braising season.

  • Social Scene Brewing
    Seattle Times, September 25, 2005

    If you want to compete with the Mermaid, you have to be different. Top Pot makes its own doughnuts (which are admittedly now served at area Starbucks). Coffee Messiah cultivates a stick-it-to-the-man aesthetic. Hines Public Market Coffee and Espresso Vivace serve better coffee. But a number of local coffeehouses have hit on an easy way to set themselves apart: Sell beer.

  • Give Me Some Sugar
    Roots and Grubs, December 6, 2005

    Getting along with a toddler isn't always easy, but you can always say, "Hey, let's take a step back and have a cookie," and things will usually look better after that to both of us. Cookies, however crumbly, are the unshakable common ground between child and adult.

    (and other Roots and Grubs greatest hits.)