Food

I was eager to hear all about the fabulous high-end chow I knew Nancy Leson had been scarfing in New York City's hottest dining spots. Instead we took a detour to Jersey. You got a problem wit dat?

The first planeload of fresh Copper River salmon from Alaska arrived Tuesday morning at Sea-Tac Airport where chefs were waiting eagerly.

The Alaska Airlines pilot carried the first 45-pound fish off the plane and handed it to Frank Ragusa of Ocean Beauty Seafoods who gave it a kiss.

You can hear me attempt to pronounce that headline at the end of this Food for Thought. It's the Polish for Bon Appetit, literally "eat well" and we certainly did.

Wouldn't it be great to have chocolate Easter octopuses instead of bunnies?

Just think -- eight legs to bite off  instead of just a couple of measly ears.   But of course we're not talking about dessert today.  Today we're talking about main course holiday eating for  Passover and Easter.

What kind of kid prefers crepes to pop tarts for breakfast? 

Northwest milk industry leaders are hustling to allay fears about radiation in their products. The Environmental Protection Agency found small amounts of radiation in a milk sample taken from a Spokane-area dairy last week.

The agency has stepped up its monitoring program earthquake and nuclear plant disasters in Japan. Blair Thompson is the spokesman for the Washington Dairy Products Commission. He says Northwest dairies are concerned about the findings, but there is no immediate risk to residents.

The headlined question can be further refined -- and refined is the word -- to "Light, Tex-Mex, Salsa Con Queso, or Italia?"

One of Washington's oldest and most recognizable wine brands, L’Ecole, is growing up a bit with a new, sleeker label.

L'Ecole is French for "the school" and that's because the winery operates out of a nearly 100-year-old school house. The old label was a child's colorful drawing of the facility. The new label sports a sepia-toned oil painting of the historical school house soon after it was constructed in 1912.

It's a giant veg-out!

And for good eats call his Aunt Vera.

What a great time Nancy and I had hanging out with Pizzarelli and talking about food, food movies and his aunt Vera's cooking -- immortalized in song in this segment.  One of the food movies we discussed, Big Night, about an Italian restaurant in the '50s, features a deliriously over the top multi-course feast prepared for an expected visit from Louis Prima. 

The only difference between John Pizzarelli and a real ham is...

And the winner is...

I like it straight out of the bottle, no ice, no glass.  And with apologies to Fast Eddie Felson, I don't mean JTS Brown bourbon.

Created for a Medici, it was the dessert of choice for Venetian working girls.

Our diets lay bound, gagged and locked in the trunk as Nancy and I sped toward our date with Wretched Excess.

The shrink-ray is insatiable. First it came for our donuts. Now it focuses on pies. These days you can get ‘em so small they should come with postage stamps instead of napkins.

In this Food for Thought, Nancy Leson tells about two of the new mini-pie joints recently opened in Seattle: Pie, located in city's Fremont neighborhood, and High 5 Pie on Capitol Hill. 

They’ve looked in the mirror, and the mirror’s not only looking back, it's talking back. Dick “The Big Eater” Stein and Nancy “All You Can Eat” Leson both say it’s time to diet. In fact, they've already started.

Have you noticed your local grocery clerk asking you more personal questions of late? "Plastic or paper?" is giving way to "What are your weekend plans?"

This wicked turn toward what they call a 'charade of intimacy' doesn't sit well with Dick and Nancy. They've had it up to their squeaky shopping carts with faux familiarity!

And what about those frequent shopper cards that populate your wallet? Are they really 'saving' you money, as you're told at check out?