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 the…
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….
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…
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 on each summer visit over the course of a decade. Dan Nelson of Designs Northwest Architects did a substantial amount of restructuring…
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…
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….
When you walk into someone’s house for the first time, what do you notice? Bookshelves? A great backsplash? The way the cabinets complement the room? Detail work or “finish” work is often where homeowners provide their creative expression. The tone and style of…
Ken offers suggestions for Trumpcare Is it just me or does anyone else question whether the federal government is serious about health care, public safety, and balancing the…
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…
INGREDIENTS: • 7 oz filet mignon (USDA prime, aged, center cut) • 1 oz Rogue River blue cheese • 2 oz Bordeaux demi-glace • 1 ea. orange zest • 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil…
INGREDIENTS: • 2 oz fresh Dungeness crab meat • 4 oz macaroni pasta • 6 oz heavy cream • 1 oz parmesan cheese • 1 oz Stilton cheese • 1 oz crimini mushrooms • 1 ea. shallots (minced) • 2 ea. garlic (sliced) • 1 tsp butter • 2 Tbsp white wine • Salt/white pepper • 1 tsp extra virgin olive…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
Local Food Boxes make for a Healthy You and a Healthy Community When spring comes in northwest Washington, there seems to be…
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…
THE SHOP When Katherine Khile bought the Scott Milo Gallery in 1994, it served the community as a framing shop. They still offer framing services, but the space has grown into much more. The cozy gallery is divided with wall sectionals, creating dedicated spaces for featured artists’…
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…
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 Nordstrom’s Seattle flagship store….
Arshia Fathali sat at his desk with Oliver, his 11-year-old canine friend, on his lap. Hand-woven rugs decorate the walls, cover…
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…
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…
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 to welcome the year’s first blooms, allowing visitors…
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…
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 during the event to relish the improvements, which included a new entrance and…
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…
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…
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…
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…
