About 25 years ago my family went on a glorious ski trip to the Italian Alps, our hotel room nestled at the base of the stunningly spectacular Matterhorn. We heard you could ski across the border into Switzerland, so my brother and I, being the daring teens that we were, took the various lifts and gondole up to the top of the mountain and swooshed our way, miles and miles down the other side, into the charming little town of Zermatt. We plunked our skies into the snow and entered a cozy little tavern where the wooden floors were dented from years of ski boot traffic and the tables and benches were smooth and shiny. Being under 21 we enjoyed the freedom of sipping fine European beer and nibbling on bratwursts in a quaint Alpine beer haus. Needless to say, many trees were visited on the trip back up and over the mountains.

There’s a new German-style tavern in our West Seattle neighborhood called Prost! that reminded me of that little pub visited years ago in the Alps. In addition to Prost!’s fabulous beers (Franziskaner being my favorite) they have a selection of “brats and wursts” that are, in a word, outstanding. We sampled the Landjager, a German dry and smoked sausage, that was served with both a spicy and a grainy mustard. I don’t know which I liked better: the sausage or the mustard!

Reminiscing over that memorable trip and consuming the good beer and sausage at Prost! prompted me to make my own mustard at home.

Grainy Stout Mustard
Adapted from a recipe found in Saveur, January 2009

12 ounces stout beer
1 ½ cups brown mustard seeds
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground allspice

Combine all ingredients in a non-reactive mixing bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 24-48 hours. Transfer mixture to a blender or food processor. Process until seeds are coarsely ground and the mixture becomes thick. Ready for use immediately or store refrigerated in jars for up to 6 months.

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Don’t you get bored with plain old white rice? It can be a bit tiresome, can’t it? The other day Tracy told us about her kim chee rice dish, and I thought I’d also share one with you.

I like to call it rice confetti, but in Japanese this popular condiment is called furikake (pronounced foo-ree-kah-kay with a little roll on the r). Furikake is a brightly colored, flavorful mixture that you sprinkle on rice. It typically consists of tiny bits of dried fish (although there are veggie versions), seaweed, sesame seeds, salt, and a wee amount of sugar. Some of our favorites are salmon (sake), black sesame and salt (gomashio), pickled plum (umeboshi), and wasabi (Japanese horseradish). Check Amazon.com or your local Asian market for more delicious flavors.

Kinda like throwing a party for your rice, huh?

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