The feasting of Fourth of July has become its own beast, known worldwide. The sheer amount of hamburgers, fruit, potato salads, hot dogs, and chocolate chip cookies eaten on this day is practically unimaginable. While this is the day to go ham on all of these foods, it’s important to make sure that you’re eating all of the leftovers that you can, whether this means having…
Evolve’s Chaicolate good for Easter, Mother’s Day The first rule of comparing sipping chocolate to hot chocolate is…don’t. “It’s incomparable to hot chocolate,” says chocolatier Shannon Fox, co-owner and co-founder of Evolve Chocolate in Bellingham. “It’s an actual preparation of a food product.” The…
As a vacation home for mostly weekend visits, this house not only looks but feels the part. Homeowners live about an hour away in Canada and say as soon as they walk in, they decompress….
It started like so many remodeling projects do, with just a kitchen replacement. Then, like that piece of cake you keep evening out in the pan, it grew, morphing…
Annual visitors to La Conner were in no rush to complete the remodel of this high-bluff waterfront home in Shelter Bay, mulling and tweaking designs…
Greenfab is a Seattle-based developer of modern, sustainable, prefabricated homes. In 2010, it made news for installing Washington State’s first prefab, modular home to earn LEED Platinum certification. Since then, it has built affordable, energy efficient, and beautiful single and multifamily modular dwellings. It took less than six hours to install this 1700-square-foot home Greenfab completed in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood. The home’s four modules, constructed in the company’s offsite production facility in Burlington, were delivered and then…
Laundry Rooms are the Home’s Hidden Hub It’s the forgotten room of the house: the laundry room. At the bottom of creaky stairs in a spooky basement, part of the mudroom or tucked in a closet, it’s not a room that’s usually included in the guest tour. The best part of a laundry room is usually the door—so you…
While our Salish Sea coastline gets a lot of deserved attention here, our freshwater lakes are the jewels of Bellingham’s interior. Not only can the views be just as pretty, but playing in the water—warmer than the year-round frigidity of Bellingham Bay—is one of the best things about living lakeside when the weather heats up. This Lake Samish garden remodel, on the heels of a…
Kitchen Renovation This 1960s-built home hadn’t had a remodel since the 80s, so it was ready for a facelift. My clients enjoy family, cooking, entertaining and sports—not necessarily in that order. During our first consult, we discussed their desire to redesign with some traditional aspects, but also contemporary flair. The biggest concern was “kitchen claustrophobia” when…
When you walk into someone’s house for the first time, what do you notice? Bookshelves? A great backsplash? The way the cabinets complement…
Ken offers suggestions for Trumpcare Is it just me or does anyone else question whether the federal government is serious about health care,…
One of the many great things about living in Bellingham and the Whatcom County area is the “small-town feel” the region carries despite its close proximity to two major metropolitan areas. With Vancouver, B.C. to…
INGREDIENTS: • 7 oz filet mignon (USDA prime, aged, center cut) • 1 oz Rogue River blue cheese • 2 oz Bordeaux…
INGREDIENTS: • 2 oz fresh Dungeness crab meat • 4 oz macaroni pasta • 6 oz heavy cream • 1 oz…
On February 9, guests braved the slushy roads to attend our Meet the Chef event. Held in the test kitchen of Mount Vernon’s Judd & Black, we nibbled, sipped, and learned a thing or two about choosing the ideal steak and why chocolate needs to be melted in a double boiler. Chef Dan Van…
Galloway’s Cocktail Bar Galloway’s Cocktail Bar has taken over the space Daphne’s once held in Fairhaven, across from the village green. The new bar has retained much of Daphne’s old-fashioned feel but without the feminine vibe. The small space is dark and romantic with intimate booths perfect for a date night with that special someone. Soft lighting illuminates the charcoal walls and creates a pretty glow behind the well-stocked bar. The cozy setting lends itself to…
Tasty Break for Shoppers, Travelers on I-5 Drive As the upscale, fish-scale version of popular partner Outback Steakhouse, the Bonefish Grill is well-positioned to meet the appetites of shop- and traffic-weary consumers along the Marysville-Smokey Point retail corridor on I-5. About midway between Seattle and Bellingham, it’s a good recharge stop. Smokey Point got its name in sleepier times, when a popular 1950s barbeque…
Enter a land that is in the process of returning to its primeval origins. The former dairy farm is now grassland, and the peat mine is gone. Portage Creek Wildlife Area is gradually reverting to wetlands wilderness after years of commercial use. Even the foot trails are disappearing. What is emerging is a habitat for migrating birds, deer and other small mammals, reptilian creatures, amphibians, and aquatic life such as the Coho salmon. “Bring…
Local Food Boxes make for a Healthy You and a Healthy Community When spring comes in northwest Washington, there seems to be a communal sigh exhaled across the land. More rain ahead, yes, but the occasional…
As a young child I loved ballet and dreamed about becoming a ballerina. Fast forward to adulthood, and I have found the next best thing. It’s called the Booty Barre® method. I was so inspired by this workout that I went from being a student to a certified instructor. Booty Barre was created by fitness expert Tracey Mallet in 2009. It has grown from a hot trend available at only a handful of studios to being featured in…
THE SHOP When Katherine Khile bought the Scott Milo Gallery in 1994, it served the community as a framing shop. They still offer…
In just two days, I’ll be headed out of town, taking the redeye to New York City. In between sitting down to write this article and penning the last of my emails, I’ve been frantically running around trying to pack and figure how I’m going to fit my entire bathroom cupboard into my carry-on. I’ve never been a good packer (Don’t…
Sugarfina is a luxe candy store that caters to adults with a taste for the finer things in life. It recently launched a boutique inside…
Arshia Fathali sat at his desk with Oliver, his 11-year-old canine friend, on his lap. Hand-woven rugs decorate the walls, cover the floors, and even the surface…
Tips for early spring One of the best things about warmer weather is vibrant, lush flowers and bountiful vegetable gardens. As with the case of many worthwhile things in life, a flourishing garden needs a little bit of TLC to reach its full potential. The gardening experts at Ace Hardware in Anacortes, Chris Holly, LeaAnn Newman, and Deb Moser,…
We all have our ways of escape, whether it is in a guilt-inducing TV show, a long jog, or maybe a glass of wine. For artist and author Holly Barbo it is writing fantasy and thriller novels that keep her sane in what can seem, especially lately, like an upsidedown world. Her passion for writing started to pick up after the recession hit and the family furniture store fell on harder times. Becoming an…
La Conner Daffodil Festival Did you know there are more daffodils than tulips in Skagit Valley? The Roozengaarde fields alone feature 450 acres of daffodils and 350 acres of tulips. These yellow beauties are a sight to see against a backdrop of deep green-blue rolling hills. In celebration of the flower, equally stunning but less famous than its later-blooming cousin, the tulip, La Conner hosts a Daffodil Festival…
INGREDIENTS: 20 oz white chocolate chips 2 cup heavy cream 2 Tbsp granulated sugar 10 oz fresh cherries, pitted 1 cup sugar 1 cup water 1/3 cup brandy Shaved dark chocolate asdfads DIRECTIONS: Place white chocolate into a double boiler, melt. Add half the heavy cream and…
Bellingham Theatre Guild The Bellingham Theatre Guild celebrated a scene change of sorts with a gala to mark the completion of its $1 million renovation in mid-January. The guild is entirely staffed by volunteers, many of whom gathered in the theatre lobby…
Diet-to-Go, ACME Farms and Kitchen, Salt Pepper & Oil It is no secret that current Americans tend to overload their days with endless “to-do lists.” Whether it’s putting in that extra hour at the office, taking the kids from one sporting event to the next, or attempting to keep the house in order, there’s just never enough time….
Bellingham’s Barb Macklow is not your average 82-year-old. She likes to go the distance. Macklow, a runner with a national reputation—she has been featured in Trail Runner and Runner’s World magazines—finished every race but one last year: a 100-miler. She ran 100 miles before, but in a different decade. In her 70s, Macklow ran both the Umstead Ultra 100 in…
Sure, you could watch the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments from the comfort of your own sofa, but what’s the fun in screaming your fool head off in a quiet house? Go find…
By age 10, Sharon Robinson already knew her career path. After discovering her mother’s Good Housekeeping magazines, she decided to design houses. She grew up in Akron, Ohio, earned a bachelor’s degree in architectural history from Syracuse University and…
