I’ve already introduced you to Horses Cut Shop but what I haven’t told you about is their first of the month Sunday Brunch. Great food followed by several rousing rounds of Chicken Shit Bingo!

That’s right, first Sunday of every month the gang is slinging hash and cooking eggs to order on old fashioned cast ironed grills. You wanted bacon? Well, you’re getting sausage now go have another Bloody Mary and get over it!

Name your poison! There’s also beer but if its a cup of tea you’re wanting you are definitely in the wrong place sister! Place your order – nicknames are preferred, grub is cheap and thank God abuse is free!

Labor Day Literal – hard at work!

Easy on the Tabasco Sauce this time!!!

Satisfied customer

Log Cabin boycott

Someone’s gotta foot the bill

When everyone’s eaten it’s time to play Chicken Shit Bingo! Our contender gets some words of encouragement (or just a cuddle) from his coach!

How does it work? Easy! Just place the chicken in the cage on the large bingo board.
Now comes the exciting part. Wait for it to poop! Fortunately it seems this does not take very long and if it happens on your number then you win the kitty! ($1 per square can add up you know!)

Children of the Corn? A classic Cut Shop detail…….

Horses Cut Shop is a work in progress. In the bathroom they remind you of what they still need. They just enclosed part of the outdoor area and have plans for a fireplace.
See, even Horses want to be Cozy!

Hope everybody had a great Labor Day weekend!

Is summer really over?
Only “officially” as far as I’m concerned! (Which sounds a bit crazy for someone who is as big of an Autumn nut as I am!)
Still, I believe in milking it and for as long as the days are still long and warm I want to have a few more picnics and those few final glasses of Rose before the first leaf falls!

And I wouldn’t mind sipping one of those Rose’s on this porch which belongs to the Blackberry Farm located in Walland, Tennessee.

Huffington Post did an article on farm to table restaurants and listed a handful, Blackberry Farm’s “The Barn” being one of them. Here’s what they had to say:

“Blackberry Farm’s restaurant, The Barn, is hailed for its seasonal, farm-fresh meals. The restaurant serves both food inspired by its Smoky Mountain location and haute cuisine. Located at Blackberry Farm, a worldclass inn and farm, a sampling of the menu includes: white beans, globe artichokes, pickled onions and caramelized bean puree, Painted Hills Farm beef strip, and local honeycomb and brandied fig jam.”

Brandied fig jam? That sounds scrumptious!!! The good news is that the farm to table movement is huge and is the essence of cooking with fresh, local ingredients. I am learning how important this movement is in the state of Washington with all its farms and can’t wait to really delve into this movement.

In the meanwhile, here is a great link on American Farm to table restaurants. Check out restaurants and news in your own area – no matter what the season is!

I’d love to hear the story of how they came up with this name for their farm!
At the end of Queen Anne Ave. North is a neighborhood market called Eat Local. It is fabulous and filled with mostly prepared meals hand-made in their kitchen from scratch using all local, organic products served in biodegradable or reusable glass containers.

They also sell lots of other yummy things like handmade ice cream, honey and chocolate. While buying a Stumptown latte I couldn’t help but notice a beautiful bouquet of flowers including the fresh combination of sunflowers and cherry tomatoes by the register and then on the wall the photo from above. Upon inquiry I was told that all the flowers at Eat Local are provided by the Jello Mold Farm. Their website is beautiful and lists what is growing and available for each season as well as how they grow their flowers – the true meaning of sustainable is to them.

More on Jello Mold farm (hopefully I’ll get to go there!) and Eat Local – some of their stews look insane and it is getting to be that time of year!

Wow, what a Saturday we just had! It had so many layers, so many adventures, it’s hard to recount them all!
(But I will of course!)

It started out as a day with really no specific plans. Then a quick text exchange and we are meeting Gavin and Kimberly for coffee down the street at Cafe Fiore.

Kimberly and I are decadent and run across the street to Top Pot Doughnut for a little “addition” to our coffee! These really are the BEST doughnuts I have ever eaten!

The next thing I know we all jump into Gavin’s car and head off to the Apple store so Kimberly can take her computer to the Genius bar. Thank God the JCrew store is right next door (I’m not sure who to thank for that but somebody was thinking!). I didn’t buy anything but I’ve got my eye on a few things as always…

I probably will NOT buy these sequin sweat pants!

So whats next? It’s a beautiful day – hardly a cloud is the sky and temps in the high 70′s. I want to be in nature! We head off to nearby Magnuson Park which is right off of Lake Washington.

The water is so clear and the shore is lined with all kinds of smooth pebbles perfect for skipping. I hunted for flat ones and Kimberly was the Champion skipper (she got several rocks to jump 5 times!).

The path we hiked along went mostly along the shore but it did cut inland a bit where there were nothing but tons of blackberries bushes loaded with berries ripening in the sun!

Afterwards we jumped back into the car heading towards Ballard but got sidetracked when we realized we were driving by the famous Gas Works Park which Marc and I had not been to yet – we had to stop!

The old “Gas Works” factory, what remains is a cool old rusted factory which really is impressive in its antiquity. Especially since it sits perched on Lake Union and is surrounded by a beautiful green park. People seem to like to get married here. Lots of sailboats and people just relaxing. I guess you could say (or sing) “Saturday, in the park…”
It’s past 4pm and you know what that means – HAPPY HOUR!!!!!! and if there is one thing I have learned after being in Seattle for almost 2 months is that they have GREAT happy hours!

Hey! Fu Kun Wu to you too!

We started out at Thaiku in Ballard. Thaiku is super cool. Styled in what I’m gonna call Asian Apothacary you’ll definitely want to help yourself to an elixir or two at their dark and mysterious Fu Kun Wu Lounge.

Exotically cozy (thats a new one!) there’s a great assortment of unusual and delicious drinks to choose from 3 of which you are only allowed to have one of because of this special ingredient. Leading this list is the Radiant Flower.

I had the Oolong tea martini which is made with sweet tea vodka and being a tea addict this is right up my alley! Fu Kun Wu Lounge also has great appetizers of which I ate too many!!!!

I just wanna say how much I LOVE Ballard! Seriously, there are so many fantastic bars and restaurants I want to go to there and all are in walking distance in this charming old town. Take that Los Angeles!!!! That said, we decided to head on over to this amazing French Bistro called Bastille where Gavin’s niece Em works.

Em was able to get us great seats at the round window table with the small fire pit in the middle (this is large shared window table great for people watching inside and out!). Here we took Gavin’s cue and ordered the Vesper – straight out of the James Bond movie Casino Royale, it is an elegant clean concoction of gin, vodka and Lillet. A long twist of lemon and voila! Delicious!

Hmmmm, it was getting a little late, well, not really except we knew we had screaming cats at home begging to be fed.There was no getting around that. So that’s what we did. We fed the cats. That is until ten minutes later when our phones were ringing and it was the dynamic duo suggesting a neighborhood walk concluding our adventure at Via Tribunali for their 10:00 happy hour. No need to twist our arms, off we went! The walk felt good and we passed by Kerry Park to see the usual array of tourists snapping away at one of the great views of the Space Needle. Then down to Marshall Park for a moonlit view of the Sound which is always beautiful. Minutes later and around the corner we’re already at a booth at the Trib ordering $5 happy hour wood burning pizzas and carafes of red wine.

Standing at the bar are some of the neighborhood Comstock boys – buddies of Gavin’s we had met at their Horses Cut shop Party. A few seats down is Molly and Chris. In walks Gabe. Oh, and there’s the guy who I have a video of dancing on my iphone (because he’s really good swing/country dancer). Yes, I’ll email it to you right now! Our waiter is the usual John Paul who tells me he saw me at the Apple store today. Who is not here? It was like a bit of a Fellini film but not quite so weird!

We didn’t close the place down and we didn’t get thrown out but our long wonderful day full of parks and walking and nibbles and cocktails and friends was over.

Good night Seattle – until next time (but lets not plan it, lets just let it happen!!!)

Wow, Ralph Lauren really raises the bar on their Fall website!( Can’t wait to see how JCrew will counter!)

They say the future of online advertising is all about video and here it is! And how dang cute! Although a little long, they certainly show a lot of merchandise all layered up in that Ralph Lauren way along with a really charming story. Of course getting Harry Connick. Jr. was a nice touch too! Personally I think they could have done a slightly better job at casting but that’s just my opinion.

I’ll be keeping my eye on their website to see what else they come up with – after all Ralph almost invented Cozy (in a most elegant way!).

On the back of my cereal box – VERY useful information for Seattle!
I like the idea of having an indoor picnic and I have just the place to do it (my new attic!)
Now if only it would rain! (I know, be careful what you wish for!)

Apparently Martha Stewart recently had an unusual bit of spare time on her hands so she quickly left New York city and headed out to her farm Cantitoe Corners in Bedford, NY to check on things and have a bit of “me time”!

Martha’s first stop, the stables where she keeps her horses.

Martha has 5 Friesian horses from Canada named Meindert, Martyn, Rinze, Rutger and Ramon. Nothing ordinary for our Martha, Friesian horses are solid black, tall and quite powerful. Popular in the film industry they have been used in films such as Eragon, The Mask of Zorro, Alexander and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Martha gives Rinze some luv!

Put on the kettle? Gimme a break! Martha says she stopped by the “stable kitchen” (what is that, where they cook for the horses?) and was happy to see all her copper that she bought in Paris (like where else?) was highly polished. Can you imagine the heads that would have rolled had there been a speck of patina? Ouch!!!

Oh….this explains the stable kitchen – so she can host her elaborate and fabulous dinner parties!
I’m just so bored of my dining room!

Below the apple espalier. An espalier is defined as a way of training and pruning a tree or shrub to grow flat against a wall or free standing trellis.

The Chicago Botanist.com tells us “Espalier has a great deal of ornamental value — few garden scenes are more stunning than a blooming apple tree growing against a brick wall — but it’s also an effective technique for producing an ample crop of fruit in a small space. You don’t need an orchard to grow apple trees. A sunny wall, a special pruning technique, and patience are all you need to espalier an apple tree”.

But don’t worry, seems Martha additionally has an orchard full of “ancient apple trees”…

And plenty of not so ancient raspberries

So, a day on the farm with horses, apples, raspberries and chickens.

If that doesn’t help you to forget the big city I don’t know what will! I’ll be sure to keep you updated on Cozy Cantitoe Corners as Fall is around the corner and I can’t wait to see what Martha will be up to then!
(I sure hope these two chickens aren’t talking behind Martha’s back, they outa know better!)