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A Productive February

February is an important month. It’s often a defining time where resolutions either loose steam or pick up their pace. At Nooks & Cranberries, we stayed busy, kept our momentum and came out with a lot of inspiration to share.

We introduced you to some destinations from our visit to San Francisco, including 21st Amendment with great brews and the mouth watering pastries of Tartine.

Tartine Pastry Case

We took on challenges by trying to add a little romance to our writing with the Valentine’s Day Special and stamina with Christina Katz’s 21 Moments writing challenge.

Romance and Roses

Finally, in the Writer’s Kitchen, we explored the delicious possibilities of asparagus and quick meals for the writing life.

Roasted Vegetables

Another productive month! We hope you’ve had great momentum as well and we look forward to sharing more inspiration next month.

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Destination Inspiration: Barking Dog Alehouse

Barking Dog Exterior

Now that the holidays are over and the new year is in full swing, we’re settling back into a routine. As much as we love checking out potential Destination Inspiration spots in other parts of the country, including the San Francisco series we just wrapped up, we’re enjoying frequenting some local places once again. What better place to start than the Barking Dog Alehouse, a truly family-friendly spot that’s perfect for a writer looking for a place to relax and unwind while working on a story draft?

Barking Dog Bratwurst

Food and Beverages

Known for its selection of Belgian and micro beers as well as their Scotch, the Barking Dog is a great place to discover a new brew. If you prefer wine, they also have a carefully-chosen selection that’s sure to fit your palate.

The menu at Barking Dog doesn’t change much, but it has great variety (and the specials are always unique and seasonal). Always rich and filling, the selection runs from hearty salads and hand made, stone baked pizzas to burgers and gourmet meatloaf and brats.  As often as we visit this restaurant we are never tired of the menu. In fact, we have found that the reliability of the menu tends to create cravings. One afternoon you may find yourself saying, “I could really go for a Barking Dog chicken quesadilla right now!”

Barking Dog Meatball Sub

Location and Atmosphere

Located in a residential area that could be called northeast Ballard, west Greenwood-Phinney, or whatever you like, this truly is a neighborhood hangout.

When there is a great family-friendly restaurant, word gets out. Come dinner time, this place is bustling with patrons and their families. Sarah has used the Barking Dog as a writing location many times and has found that the best time to get work done is just before the rush, then put away the laptop and pull out the pen and pad for character notes. The atmosphere is very comfortable and easy to relax in and stay a while. There are several small tables by the windows and a few booths that are easy to tuck into for a writing spell.

Writeability and Purchased Presence

The relaxed atmosphere makes a writer feel at home. As long as no one was vying for a table, we’d have no qualms sitting at one of the tables against the walls for a few hours with a laptop and notebook, drafting an early outline for our novel or doing research for an article. Of course, we’d make sure to keep ordering snacks or an additional beverage throughout our stay to be polite.

Barking Dog A-Frame Sign

Price: $$

$4 for an imperial pint (20 oz) during happy hour ($5.50 regular), which is about average and $6 buys you a very healthy pour of their house red wine. Entrees range $10 to $12.

Parking

Located in a neighborhood, there’s plenty of street parking around, as long as you don’t mind driving a couple of blocks to find a spot.

Barking Dog Interior

Writer’s Tip

As we mentioned above, this place can get very busy. So to really get down to business, come during lunch time or before the rush on a Saturday and cozy up in a booth or by the window with your laptop. Order a nice glass of wine or a cold beer and stay a while. Another perk to the Barking Dog is the awareness of their staff, they are really good at sensing when they are needed and when you need to be left alone. So get comfortable and dive in, you may be surprised at how much you can get done before the rush!

Find It
705 NW 70th Street
Seattle, WA 98117
Website

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Destination Inspiration: 21st Amendment Brewery

21st Amendment Draft Beer List

Having home-brewers for husbands means that we’re never in danger of being in a new city and not knowing where to find good beer. Take San Francisco, for example. Until a few weeks ago, Daytona hadn’t been there in five years, and although Sarah still visits her family in the Bay Area from time to time, it’s been over a decade since she moved away. Yet on our recent weekend together, as our first afternoon in the city drew to a close, our husbands whisked us over to 21st Amendment Brewery in the city’s historic South Park neighborhood for a pre-dinner refresher.

Food and Beverages

We’ll be honest, we came here for the beer not the food, even though it is a brewpub and we could have eaten if we wanted. But having enjoyed a great lunch earlier at La Boulange and having dinner plans with Sarah’s family, we stuck to our mission and ordered beverages. That is, after all, what 21st Amendment Brewery was founded upon.

Daytona’s choice, the South Park Blonde, was refreshing and light yet flavorful, with a friendly wheat profile. The Red Dwarf IPA, which both of the men ordered, was described as “A red IPA with caramel and Munich malts combined with Simcoe and Amarillo hops, like peeling an orange in a redwood grove.” Sarah chose a cider from the Two Rivers Cider Company.

Location and Atmosphere

Near the financial district and San Francisco Giants baseball park, we can only imagine that 21st Amendment is a favorite stop before and after work and games. The atmosphere is light and almost lodge-like with lots of wood and warm colors. The chalk art on the walls and the menu is also really impressive!

21st Amendment Brewery Interior

Writeability and Purchased Presence

It takes little than a pint apiece to add a sense of camaraderie to a gathering, which makes 21st Amendment a great place to meet your writing group after a day at work. Sit back and enjoy the convivial atmosphere as share your successes and what you’re writing on at the moment. As long as no one’s waiting for your table, feel free to linger.

Price: $$

The price is just what you’d expect from a brewpub, with draft beers ranging from $5.50 to $6.50 for a pint of most beers.

Parking

We had no problem finding street parking, on what seemed like a pretty slow afternoon. It was New Year’s Eve, after all, and at an hour too earlier for dinners and parties to begin.

Looking outside from brewery

21st Amendment Brewery Interior Horizontal

Writer’s Tip

There is a history behind 21st Amendment that makes it a ripe place for brainstorming with your writing partner, possibly about a story that could be set during Prohibition. Whether or not your story has anything to do with historical references, there’s nothing like gathering with friends over good beer. (http://21st-amendment.com/the-company/)

Find It

21st Amendment Brewery
563 2nd Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
Website

21st Amendment Interior

 

 

 

 

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Destination Inspiration: Full Sail Pub

Full Sail Brewing

By the time our beer-tasting weekend in Bend, Oregon, came to a close, none of us was ready to leave. Our husbands, babies, and the two of us had had a wonderful weekend together, and heading home just didn’t seem right. So we took the long route, heading toward Hood River, which would guarantee a scenic drive with a great destination–Full Sail Brewing Co. That was a perfect consolation to the fact that we weren’t ready to return to normal life back home.

Full Sail Brewing

Food

From classic pub fare to more original summer delights, Full Sail is a sure shot when you are unsure where to eat. Here’s what we enjoyed that day.

Summer Vegetable Pesto Pasta zucchini, broccoli and cherry tomatoes tossed with rigatoni in our housemade pesto sauce. Topped with parmesan cheese.

Salmon Fish and Chips Session Lager battered wild Alaskan salmon with house made coleslaw and lemon caper tartar sauce.

The veggie salad was perfect on such a hot day! Fresh, firm (not overcooked) vegetables had the perfect coating of pesto. The pesto was light and had just enough flavor to be noticeable but not take over the flavor of the veggies.

The salmon is just what you’d expect. Strong, juicy flavors let you know that the pub didn’t skimp on quality. The Session Lager batter lightly coated the salmon almost more like a tempura than a beer batter. We both appreciated that they didn’t overdo the batter. It’s not uncommon to get a fish and chip plate where the fish is outweighed by the batter. Not at this place!

It may seem strange this far into our brewery trip to not get a beer, but we felt that the best accompaniment to our selected meals would be a glass of wine. And since we are in Oregon, why not try some of the local fare?

A personal favorite part of this meal definitely was the wine.

2008 Winemaker’s White Blend by Maryhill Winery, Goldendale, WA

2008 Peace, Love & Chardonay by Springhouse Cellar, Hood River, OR

Both wines were cool, crisp and refreshing with slight, but not overpowering fruit notes.

Full Sail Brewing

Location and Atmosphere

Overlooking Hood River, the location is definitely part of the restaurant’s charm. With windows for walls in the main dining area, the sweeping view of Hood River is breath taking. The atmosphere is busy, however, and seating can be snug. So come with an expectation that you might make some new friends!

Full Sail

Writeability and Purchased Presence

Come with a notebook and a pen–and ideally a writing partner. You could bring a laptop, but come with a fully charged battery and we suggest doing this only during the off hours as it gets really busy during the rush. This is a great place to gather and brainstorm with friends while enjoying tasty food, quality drinks and a beautiful view of Hood River.

Price: $$

Expect to pay around $5 – 11 for a shared plate, or $10 – 15 for an entree. This is pretty typical of this style of pub and the portions are more than reasonable. This is a brewery, so keep in mind that the drinks are most likely where your money may disappear to.

Parking

Street parking is often available along Columbia Street. But be warned, the street is on an incline, so depending on where you park, you may have an uphill hike ahead of you.

Full Sail

 

Writer’s Tip

There are some restaurants that are great for writing and some that are great for resting. While we always advocate having a notebook on hand, this is one of those restaurants that can be a nice place to just relax with friends, food and a nice drink. A rested writer is a productive writer!

Find It

Full Sail Tasting Room & Pub
506 Columbia Street
Hood River, OR 97031
Website

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A 2012 Retrospective

Wow, it’s already 2013. The first day of the new year is always an exciting time, and we’re looking forward to what’s ahead. But before we get ahead of ourselves, we’d like to take a moment to look back on a wonderful 2012.

2012 was the year of Nooks & Cranberries, to us. We had gone on hiatus for a while, but when we returned last summer, there was no looking back! We’ve been posting daily for months, giving you writing prompts and inspiration, glimpses into the writing life, and, of course, some fantastic Destination Inspiration. The latter is the backbone of Nooks & Cranberries, so we want to take you along on a look back to some of our favorite recent destinations.
For a Seattle writing space, we love Belle Epicurean. Tip: Order a brioche and take a seat at one of the marble-topped window seats.

Belle Epicurean Brioche

We also got out of town quite a bit, giving you some Destination Inspiration from some other great Northwest places, including Walla Walla’s Brasserie Four

Brasserie Four Macarons

Monteillet Fromagerie in Dayton, Washington, …

Monteillet Cheese

…and Whoopemup Hollow Cafe in Waitsburg.

Whoopemup Hollow Gazpacho

We also had a great trip to Bend, Oregon, with our husbands and sons, where the focus switched from wine to beer (as seen from our sampler, below, at 10 Barrel). There’s nothing like getting out of our natural preferences to expand our palates–and our inspiration!

10 Barrel Sampler

 

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Destination Inspiration: Sunriver Brewing Company

Sunriver Brewing Exterior

 

Having experienced plenty of beer on our recent trip to Bend, Oregon, by our last night there it was time to sit back and relax. For that, the Sunriver Brewing Company was a good fit. They have it figured out. After visiting many breweries and the restaurants that go with them, the brewhouse restaurant of Sunriver Brewing Company was a lovely way to cap off our day.  On a summer evening we sat out on the deck, wrangling kids and discussing the menu (on which everything looked good).

All the brewing happens off site and the restaurant is tucked into the pocket of the town just outside Sunriver Lodge. The restaurant also has a lodge-like feel with mostly wood interior, and warm tones used in decorating.
Sunriver Brewing Beer

Food and Drink

First things first, we ordered beverages. They have a full bar in addition to serving beer and wine, but since we were in the Oregon to discover the beer, we kept our focus. Having just opened in July, they were still determining what their ultimate lineup of beer would be, but they had a nice selection representing their approach to beer and giving a taste of what’s to come.

Sunriver Brewing Hummus

Location and Atmosphere

Upon arrival, we were taken back to our table that was tucked away back in a corner of the outdoor eating area. It was perfect for a party of six, with four adults and two babies (who, we must add, had obliged our every beer stop for a couple of days). The server brought water in little plastic cups with straws for the little guys while we sat back and relaxed and perused the menus.

There’s something about the setting here that seemed just right for us at this particular moment in time. Having embarked on a beer-tasting trip with babies–something we conquered admirably, if we might add–this place seemed quite family-friendly.

Writeability and Purchased Presence

This is a good place to bring a note pad and some friends. If you decide to stay a bit longer than your meal, order another drink or appetizer and be aware of the crowd. We always advocate being aware of the wait, just in case.

Sunriver Brewing Interior

Sunriver Brewing Play Area

Price

Starters begin at $5 and entrees start at $10.

Parking

Plenty of parking in Sunriver Village, though you may have to walk a little depending on how busy things are–we were there on a busy weekend evening.

Writer’s Tip

The atmosphere here is spectacular for character watching. Watch the families at the tables around you and pay special notice to what the kids say. Kids always say the funniest things…especially at restaurants.

Find It

Sunriver Brewing Company
Building 4, 57100 Beaver Drive
Sunriver, OR 97707
Website

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Destination Inspiration: Deschutes Brewery & Pub

Deschutes 11

We hope you’ve been enjoying our Destination Inspiration series on Bend, Oregon. Possibly the most talked about brewery in Bend, Deschutes was a must on our itinerary. We couldn’t miss stopping in their brewery and restaurant to see what all the fuss was about. We got the full Deschutes experience, starting with a tour of the brewery and ending with dinner that evening at the pub.

If you’re a beer drinker, chances are you’ve enjoyed a bottle of Deschutes brew at some point or another. Maybe you even have a bottle or two in your fridge right now. Before we get to the nuts and bolts of our Destination Inspiration analysis, here’s a quick look at where the beer is made:

Deschutes 2

Deschutes 3

Deschutes 4

Deschutes 5

Pretty great, huh?

Food and Drink

Before going on your tour of the brewery, which overlooks the Deschutes River, be sure to eat lunch, because you’re going to be walking around a lot. The tour then ends with a beer tasting, and you don’t want to be there on an empty stomach. By the time the tour is done, you’ll be ready to drive off to downtown Bend to the pub for a snack or dinner.

A few of the items we enjoyed include the pretzel, chips and artichoke dip, burger and mushroom ravioli. While the food was good, naturally the beer was our focus. Needless to say, we tried all the brews but the one that sticks out for this time of year (besides the traditional Jubel) is the Black Butte XXIV. Its rich deep dark chocolaty flavor is complimented by hints of date and fig, with a light tobacco finish. It has an all around great flavor to compliment the crisp winter weather.

Deschutes 6

Location and Atmosphere

The pub in downtown Bend is bustling. We arrived at the peak of dinnertime and took a seat outside in the sun while waiting for our table. Inside the place is huge, though it’s broken into several different areas so it feels more manageable.

Deschutes 8

Deschutes 7

Writeability and Purchased Presence

This is one of those places that’s great to bring a notebook and pen for notes, but your main focus will be on the great food and friends you’re surrounded by. There is a lot going on during the dinner rush, so it’s easy to get caught up in the bustle and conversation. Jot down a few ideas and then let yourself take a break and enjoy a tasty meal and cold beer.

Price

Entrees run from $13 – $21 and beer snacks start at around $6. Beer pricing varies by season.

Parking

While there’s a small lot available, you might want to budget in some time for driving around to find a street spot if all the spots are taken.

Deschutes 10

 

Writer’s Tip

Try your hand at writing a short story. After you place your order, write as much of a story as you can (without self editing!) and see how far you get before your food arrives. For added fun, make it a group effort and everyone at the table contributes at least a paragraph or two. Dive in and see where your story goes!

Find It

Deschutes Brewery
901 SW Simpson Ave
Bend, OR 97702
Website

Deschutes Brewery Bend Public House
1044 NW Bond Street
Bend, OR 97701
Website

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Destination Inspiration: Crux Fermentation Project

Crux Exterior

When it comes to picking a place to go to write, coffee shops are the typical choice. But sometimes it’s nice to get off the beaten path and get a change of scenery. Sometimes the new setting can also help give you a fresh perspective on what you’re writing.

On our recent trip to Bend, one of the highlights was Crux Fermentation Project. Having opened in June, Crux is one of the newest craft breweries in the area.

Crux Larry Sidor

 

Food and Drink

While the babies napped, we sat down with our husbands to talk with Crux co-owner Larry Sidor, who is former brewmaster of Deschutes Brewery. Our husbands are home-brewers, so they were starstruck getting to talk and share beers with Sidor. Sidor shared with us a sampling of the beers before showing us the facilities.

They have food too but we had just come from lunch at 10 Barrel.

 

 Crux Sampler

Location and Atmosphere

Crux earned it’s namesake for being literally at the crux of Bend, OR. From this point you are about equidistant from anywhere in Bend.  Spacious new facilities, big and open, are accented with large shiny brewing equipment. You can look up from your pub fare and see Larry himself checking on the next batch.

One of our favorite parts of the facility is the patio. Hops growing up tall lattices and tables shaded by umbrellas and trees make a nice retreat with good friends and a cold beer.

Crux Hops

Crux Interior

Crux Equipment

Crux Equipment

Crux Patio

Crux Larry Sidor

Writeability and Purchased Presence

If it’s a sunny day, then order a beer and a snack and head out to the patio with your writing buddy and work on your screenplay plot.

Parking

You’ll have no trouble finding a spot in the parking lot that’s just as spacious as the building itself.

Crux and Beer Tour

Writer’s Tip

If you’re lucky enough to be there as one of the local beer tours shows up, use this as an opportunity to eavesdrop on snippets of buzzed conversation for dialogue practice.

Find It

Crux Fermentation Project
50 SW Division Street
Bend, OR 97702
Website