Blog | Jenny Neill | Writer, Traveler, Sommelier

House Cocktails: The Better Part of Valor

By: Jenny

15-03-2013

What do Scrappy’s Bitters, “Fox Zilla,” and Shakespeare all have in common? Each shares a fondness for the complex. We might never know what the Bard of Avon himself preferred to drink. Surely though, he was fond of his character Falstaff, the cowardly knight who recited the famous line this week’s House Cocktail is named after. Attributed to Allison Webber (aka Fox Zilla), The Better Part of Valor balances bitter, sweet, and herbal notes in one of my favorite sip-it-slow drinks.

Photo courtesy of shotsbystevo. Some rights reserved.

Dunged: That Almost Spring Wormy Smell

By: Jenny

01-03-2013

Non-Fiction

It rained today, the first day of March, in Seattle. Shocker, I know. This morning’s precipitation felt more like a heavy mist than a moderate rain as I stepped outside to take a stroll. No breeze of any significance moved the droplets from their lazy drift downward. Too cool to call it warm, the courtyard air was comfortable and smelled like wet loam and earthworms.

Photo courtesy of Eva Ekeblad. Some rights reserved.

My Turn as Sports Photographer

By: Jenny

25-02-2013

Non-Fiction, Story

My first camera, one I still occasionally take out to shoot with, is the Pentax Spotmatic my father gave me many years ago. He invested in this model with the then brand-new, through-the-lens exposure metering to cover sports events when he was a college student. Dad taught me how to manage the manual adjustments of that old 35 millimeter SLR while taking cues from the needle of the TTL light meter.

Seattle Sounders fans in rival territory

House Cocktails: To Sip with Soup

By: Jenny

22-02-2013

Beverage

A few weeks ago, I was on the prowl for drinks that used lime. I juiced a few too many for the meal I was making and thought, “No way can I let good citrus go to waste!” My aim was to find a libation suitable to sip with the layered flavors of Tom Yam Gai, the chicken version of a spicy soup from Southeast Asia. The one I chose has a name that might offend some.

Classic ingredients for the Oriental Cocktail
Photo courtesy of Mike Russell. All rights reserved.

The Liebster: The Nomination Is The Award

By: Jenny

08-02-2013

Meme

The ever-hilarious Irene of Left of Plumb nominated me for a Liebster Award. What the heck is it? Great question. Liebster is German for dearest and a five-minute search of the interwebs reveals that this award has been around for some time now. I have not unearthed the origins of this meme and see no harm in playing along. (Though, dear readers, I do have some words of warning about these exercises to share.) Thanks, Irene. I accept.

This award badge found at Tiny n Fit.

Seattle and The Number 12

By: Jenny

11-01-2013

Place

Most citizens of Seattle associate the number 12 with a certain sport that involves kicking or throwing an oval-shaped ball made out of pigskin. Having heard the Twelfth Man in action from the field in 2011, I have no doubts the crowd gives the team an advantage when playing at home. Earlier this week, that number took on yet another meaning for one of our neighborhoods. The Pike-Pine corridor in Capitol Hill was named one of America’s 12 Top ArtPlaces of 2013.

Seattle Seahawk Sidney Rice runs onto the field with the 12th man flag.
Photo courtesy of Mike Russell.

Dunged: A New Series

By: Jenny

06-01-2013

Food, Meta

Why am I starting a new blog series called “Dunged?” Perhaps I am keeping company with an immature crowd online. Or, at the very least, a certain segment of my social media buddies prefer scatological humor. Maybe it’s because sometimes in order to re-use the refuse you have to deal with a little feces. So many products we take for granted as coming from factories and labs got their start in the dung heap. And much of how we care for our world and our health has to do with how we deal with our crap.

2012: The Drink was the Thing

By: Jenny

31-12-2012

Meme, Meta

If my blog were to have a birthday, it would fall in June of 2011. That means I’ve been blogging 18 months and have averaged about three posts per month since I started. But that average doesn’t tell the real story of how I struggled to find a rhythm. Nor does it capture how I’ve experimented in long and short compositions, fiction and non-fiction, or including pictures and video as adjuncts to sharing my words with you.

It took several tries for Mike to capture this image of me flaming an orange peel.
If you do decide to try this at home, use a longer match than the one I’m holding!
Photo courtesy of Mike Russell. All rights reserved.

Unconditional

By: Jenny

24-12-2012

Non-Fiction

I hit the road for all sorts of reasons this year: to drum up new business, to meet people, to reconnect with family and friends, and to escape certain realities. This year has been tough. Not for the obvious reasons. I haven’t lost someone close to me and I still have a roof over my head. I eat well and take great comfort in my relationship with my most beloved.

Light shines through icy branches of a tree

Fair Trade: Will Splintering Bring Solidarity?

By: Jenny

11-12-2012

Beverage, Non-Fiction

I interviewed five fair trade activists earlier this year about the meaning of the movement in the coffee sector now, nearly a quarter of a century after the first seal was launched. The split of Fair Trade USA from Fairtrade International and this year’s launch of the Small Producers Seal increased the number of certification bodies to four in North America. Will this increase in the number of players bring a return to solidarity about what it means to trade fairly?

Photo courtesy of puuikibeach. Some rights reserved.

— Jenny Neill

House Cocktails: The Better Part of Valor

Dunged: That Almost Spring Wormy Smell

My Turn as Sports Photographer

House Cocktails: To Sip with Soup

The Liebster: The Nomination Is The Award

Seattle and The Number 12

Dunged: A New Series

2012: The Drink was the Thing

Unconditional

Fair Trade: Will Splintering Bring Solidarity?

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