vignettes

The Boutique

Getting to see you with the freckle on your lip and your almond eyes try on a dress that made you feel right, as we communally crave the frothy foam topped coffees that sit at the front, in refrain from any sticky fingering of silk's lament. I want to thank you.

Cochon555

A culinary tour de Porc. In Seattle for the 555, held at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. 5 chefs. 5 pigs. 5 winemakers. "Created in 2008 in response to the lack of education around heritage breed pigs, Cochon555 is a nose-to-tail competition dedicated to supporting family farmers and educating chefs & diners about the agricultural importance of utilizing Old World livestock." Breeds of Berkshire, Red Wattle, Mangalitsa Wooly, Tamworth, Duroc, Large Back, Yorkshire, Hampshire, Ossabaw, Gloucestershire Old Spot, Mulefoot and Kune Kune. 1500 lbs of Heritage Pig in various welcome bites like - Mitch Mayers of Lark: Piggy Parfait with liver mousse, huckleberry jam, ear gelee, spiced graham crumble and pork fat cracker. The Loco Moco with SPAM headcheese, fried quail egg, black garlic gravy, kimchi sticky rice and micro shiso. Reuben with porkstrami, rye bagel by Ben's Bread, spring onion saurkraut, Swiss, nettle Russian dressing and lardo. Risotto with parm & pork risotto espuma, sous vide loin, peavines, morels, pearl onions and puffed pork shoulder. Huarache with anticucho grilled heart, braised tongue, refried beans, breakfast radish & avocado. Finishing with "one swine sunday," with chicharron crispy treat, blood hot fudge, brown butter ice cream, trotter milk jam, peanut dust & pork fat sprinkles.

Also: the people swarming the pop-up ramen bar like summer gnats on wine, the tomahawk ribeye bar, the la brea bakery pop-up, farmstead cheese, creminelli cured meats, luxe butter, pureed dessert stations, a somm smackdown, boozey punch, angosture swizzle, smoked old fashioned's and rum carts, men carting wheelbarrows overflowing in ice and little metal buckets of gourmet ice cream.

For a while there

We were watching everyone's dogs. The first we took to the spa, got her hair done, the fur between her toes sculpted, her toenails painted blue. Took her on sprint walks and southbound shopping trips. The other she-dog, the perverted one, was as perverted as possible. She got to take ferries and tour islands. This is a sufficient trick - the art of the dog-sit - sidestepping the deception of grass-is-greener, by getting to play with someone else's grass for a little while.

Deception Pass 1/2

I have never seen such fluid brushstrokes against a rooty descent from a self-proclaimed miss-handler of technical.

Bloomsday

With my people. The one's that fill the well, not take from it. Us up all night watching the 2:00 attempt. Him with his pre-race beer and ice cream. Beautiful Bergen crowing like a cat. I was the kind of sick that humbles you, a month long of head pressure, coughing, clogged throat, no sleep. But was obsessed with Bloomsday, with Spokane, with these people. And these people embraced, and I still raced, and I had no expectations and had an incredible time. I was and still am very proud of this accomplishment & thankful I didn't set myself further back.

Cousin's

Their BBQ, out of some kind of beat-generation-acid-trip, with a knife board on wheels, and some kid throwing blades in the black, bean bags with their thick thuds and slippery sinks, cigarette smoke and wine glasses in the bushes, today's caught salmon and glazed chicken and cod and shrimp on the bbq, homemade chile con queso pocketed in deep friend bean burritos. Each of us reaching into a bowl of meat like claw machines to win protein prizes.

Steele

Jed Steel is a dream. I'm proud to know him. His height, his earring, his well of stories. Excited to have been Red's lil bitch when he flew to the islands for the big golf tournament and AARP wine tasting. How we sold a truckload of wine that night, and I, the chronic over-pourer getting section after section taken away, getting cut off from not being able to cut off. How the three of us said our goodnights in a hallway of my favorite b&b, Juniper Lane, just after he gave us thick crew cut socks with the Jed Steele logo. I'm very excited to stay in his condo in Sausalito, to run in the Marin Headlands as a 30-year-old, and to watch the Giants kind of suck it up.

Scotia

http://www.bellinghamdistanceproject.com/2017-scotiabank-half-marathon-by-courtney-olsen/