The Forest Storytelling Festival

Charlotte Blake Alston will tell stories at the Forest Storytelling Festival.

The 17th Annual Forest Storytelling Festival takes place in Port Angeles, Washington, on October 14, 15, and 16, 2011.

Five professional storytellers will be featured this year: Charlotte Blake Alston, Michael Reno Harrell, Patrick Ball, Paul “Che oke’ ten” Wagner, and Ingrid Nixon. Each brings their unique perspective and experience to their tales. They will also each lead a Saturday afternoon workshop, guaranteed to enlighten and entertain.

Tell your own stories while in Port Angeles, on stage during the festival or during a break, over a glass of Washington Wine made on the Olympic Peninsula. Four of our member Olympic Peninsula Wineries are located in Port Angeles: Harbinger Winery, Camaraderie Cellars, Black Diamond Winery, and Olympic Cellars. Try their wines at individual wineries, and bring a bottle or two back home, to enjoy with friends while sharing stories about your weekend at the Forest Storytelling Festival.

All festival events take place at the Peninsula College Little Theater. For a complete schedule, please see the Forest Storytelling Festival.

Photo credit: Annie Cameron.

There’s a Crustacean for Everyone

New England has lobster. Baltimore has blue crab smothered in Old Bay. The Olympic Peninsula has Dungeness Crab.

Lobster is lovely and blue crab delicious, but there’s nothing like Dungeness Crab. Celebrate this delectable crustacean during the 2011 Dungeness Crab and Seafood Festival in Port Angeles, WA, October 8 and 9.

Eat crab and drink Washington Wines made on the Olympic Peninsula at the Dungeness Crab Festival, October 8-9, 2011.

Olympic Peninsula Wineries will be there, pouring selected Washington Wines at the Wine and Beer Garden at Crab Central. Drop by anytime between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. to sample our wines. Feel free to ask the pourers which wines they think go best with Dungeness Crab. You may be surprised by how many options there are.

Dungeness crab can be prepared as many ways as there are chefs to cook it. It is amazing on its own, and it makes a wonderful ingredient. As in past years, cooking demonstrations are a highlight of the Crab Festival. This year, see:

  • The Galloping Gourmet (aka Graham Kerr) demonstrate how to make his famous crab cakes.
  • Chef Les Chan from Victoria, B.C. prepare Imperial Crab Spring Rolls.
  • Chef Jon Unruh of Wildfire Grill in Port Angeles prepare Dungeness Mac & Cheese – the ultimate comfort food.
  • Chef Kaleb Walace of Michael’s Seafood and Steak Restaurant in Port Angeles prepare Fresh Pasta with Chanterelle Mushrooms and Dungeness Crab with Olympic Cellars Chardonnay Butter.

The Dungeness Crab Festival is also a Seafood Festival, and several regional chefs will demonstrate how to make some of their favorite seafood dishes. See:

  • Chef Arran Stark from Cultivated Palette Catering and Brassica Restaurant in Port Townsend show people just what can be done with Salmon.
  • Chef Gabriel Schuenemann of the Alder Wood Bistro in Sequim prepare Scallop Ceviche with pickled Chanterelle Mushrooms.
  • Chef Ron Anderson of Etta’s Seafood in Seattle prepare Cider steamed Blueshell Mussels and smoked hamhock.

Even more chefs will demonstrate how to prepare even more dishes. For a complete list of the Dungeness Crab and Seafood Festival Chef Demonstrations, please see Crab Fest.

You’ll come away from the 2011 Dungeness Crab and Seafood Festival well fed and armed with new recipes and Washington Wines to enhance them. Now that’s a weekend well spent.

Please see Dungeness Crab Festival for additional information.

Have an Olympic Culinary Adventure

Why do we travel?

We travel to see new places and have new experiences. We travel to encounter different cultures and interact with unknown people. We travel because leaving home makes us appreciate home.

Two of the best aspects of travel are food and drink. Every region in the world has its own dishes, specialities, and twists on the familiar. Every region has its beverage. We drink Scotch in Scotland, wine in Bordeaux, and beer in Munich. We discover what it’s like to siphon beer in a cafe in Vietnam and drink strong coffee mixed with sweetened condensed milk in Thailand. We drink emoliente in Peru and Chai in India, and we discover something about the people of these lands as we sip what they sip.

It’s possible to encounter the unfamiliar in our own backyards, as well. It’s possible to see something we’ve never seen or try something we’ve never tried just a few miles from home. We just have to keep eyes open, ears alert, and noses sensitive. With this in mind, we invite you to travel to the Olympic Peninsula for a Culinary Adventure.

Embark on a culinary adventure across the Olympic Peninsula.

Follow the Olympic Peninsula Culinary Adventure to a variety of restaurants, markets, and Washington State Wineries on the Olympic Peninsula. Circle the Olympic National Park, from north to south or south to north. Along the way taste locally crafted artisan cheese in Port Townsend at the Mt. Townsend Creamery, shop for fresh produce grown in the Dungeness Valley at Nash’s Organic Produce in Sequim, and visit the Hama Hama Oyster Farm and Seafood Farm in Liliwaup.

Dine at the Geoduck Restaurant and Lounge in Brinnon, the Olympic Timber House in Quilcene, and the Ajax Cafe in Port Hadlock (where you can have great fun trying on an assortment of hats while waiting for your meal). Save room for locally caught seafood at Linda’s Wood-Fired Kitchen in Neah Bay, local clams at the Wildfire Grill in Port Angeles, and the creative fare at the Alder Wood Bistro in Sequim.

Most food is best enjoyed with a glass of Washington Wine or Cider. OPWA members Finnriver Farm & Cider and Olympic Cellars Winery are participating in the Olympic Peninsula Culinary Adventure. Other member wineries are an extra bonus, and well worth visiting when on the Olympic Peninsula.

If you embark on an Olympic Peninsula Culinary Adventure between September 1 and November 30, 2011, you’re eligible to win all sorts of interesting prizes. Email adventure@seattledining.com for more details. Additional information is available at Olympic Culinary Loop.

Seattle Cider Summit

Finnriver Farm & Cidery and Eaglemount Cider will pour their ciders at the Cider Summit N.W. in Seattle on Saturday, September 10, 2011. Artisanal Ciders from around the world will be represented at the South Lake Union Discovery Center from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Come try them all!

Finnriver Cidery and Eaglemount Cider will be at the Seattle Cider Summit.

No two ciders are alike. The upcoming Cider Summit is a unique opportunity to taste ciders from Washington State, Oregon, California, Michigan, British Columbia,  France, and the United Kingdom. You’re sure to find distinct differences, and your sure to want to bring a few bottles home with you. The good news is, you can.

Owners and cidermakers will guide guests through the samplings, which will be poured in 3-ounce and 6-ounce portions. This event is for folks 21 years of age and older. Dogs are welcome.

Live music and a great variety of food vendors will round out the Cider Summit N.W. in Seattle:

  • Alan Hager and James Miller From Portland: 12 – 2 p.m.
  • Drummerboy, featuring Kimball Conant on guitar: 2 – 4 p.m.
  • Drummerboy, featuring Eric “Two Scoops” Moore on piano: 4- 6 p.m.

To purchase tickets and learn more information about this event, please visit Cider Summit Seattle.

Please see Eaglemount Cider and Finnriver Farm & Cidery for more information about these Olympic Peninsula, Washington State Cideries.