So you’re thinking about visiting Iceland — for the starkly beautiful landscapes, a glimpse at the Northern Lights, or to learn more about the Viking sagas. But Iceland as a culinary destination? Well, you should visit Iceland for all of the reasons above, including some of the freshest and best food you’ll ever eat. Brown break baked in a geothermal vent! (Cafe at Fontana.) You can even get ice cream in Iceland! (Gelato from Valdis) Some foods consumed traditionally in Icela

Washington is well-known for its craft beers, farm-to-table cuisine, and world-class wineries. Everything that makes these industries so uniquely special here — amazing farmland, produce and natural resources — is evident in the state’s relatively young independent distiller’s movement. According to the Washington Distiller’s Guild, there are around 100 craft distillers in the state (a craft distiller must source at least 51% of their raw materials in Washington). In March, I

We all know that the true meaning of Christmas, and the general spirit of the holiday season, is totally unrelated to gift-giving and receiving. But it is a time of the year where we are given permission — even encouraged — to vacate our everyday lives. So this Christmas, in lieu of filling our small house with more “things,” my sweetheart and I decided to fill our souls with some Canadian Christmas cheer by way of a road trip to Vancouver, British Columbia. Vancouver’s West

Maybe it’s a little bit decadent to be sipping absinthe in the afternoon, but absinthe has always had a bit of naughtiness to it, hasn’t it? Besides, who needs Happy Hour when you can indulge in “La heure vert” — the Green Hour — especially if it’s in the Astoria Tasting Room of Pilot House Spirits? Afternoon delight. Owners Larry Cary and his wife Christina started Pilot House (formerly North Coast Distilling) in 2013 as a sort of personal challenge that grew out of Larry’s

If you could name one iconic fruit of the fall, it would probably be that tart, crimson wonder, the cranberry. No Thanksgiving dinner table is complete without SOME version of cranberry sauce (even if it’s a a slice of jellied goo that still bears the rib-marks of the can it came from), but the cranberry is healthy, hardy, versatile and can (and should) be enjoyed year-round. The cranberry is indigenous to North America, and most historians agree that cranberries were part of

My summer solstice ritual for a couple of years now has been to burn away the old and set intentions for the new, accompanied by a fine meal and mind-opening libations. This year was the first I was able to be with my sweetheart on the longest day, so a mutual bonfire was a given (with the hope that neither of us had anything of each others’ to burn). Plus, we had some good friends in town — fun, generous women with fiery souls who are great with food and stories. (I’m not su