Seattle, represent!

I got my copy of America's Best Food Writing 2008 yesterday. I enjoy it every year (some years more than others), but 2008's is special: Two of Edible Seattle's regular contributors are included.

Bethany Jean Clement is the genius behind Icebox, a favorite of many of you, based on the email I recieve. Her piece "Pie Time" was written for the Stranger news weekly.
Jess Thomson, listed on our masthead as "recipe maven", is the source of the brilliant Cooking Fresh department. All those recipes you love--especially that salty, caper-filled potato salad from July? Those are hers. She also tests recipes we get from chefs, and takes gorgeous photos to boot. The piece she contributed to the book is "Waiterly Conduct" and it was originally written for her blog, Hogwash.

And as a surprisingly timely way to bring Bethany's pie and Jess's blog together: Jess recently blogged about my pie crust, which I had her test for our October issue. She has lovely things to say about it, and comes up with a brilliant addition to the tart apple pie in the issue: fresh cranberries.

According to Elliott Bay's website, they have copies of the book in stock now. Seeing our local talent on the same cover as Michael Pollan, John Thorne, Calvin Trillan and Alice Waters is tremendously gratifying. Congratulations to Bethany and Jess.