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As Greg briefly mentioned, and Carl also did, a few of us have reinvigorated PubNight, which is really just a blast from the past (where past is defined as about 7 years ago).

The backstory is that, during our college days at WashU, a few of us decided that we needed to start checking out different bars every Tuesday evening. So in the model of the original New York Pubnight, we started choosing and tracking the various bars around St. Louis. For a while, we even got noticed by the original pubnight crew – in fact, as of 2006, we were still listed as a defunct group, even though we never "officially" affiliated. Kevin even went so far as to keep all sorts of stats and attendance, but alas, google’s archive seems to have lost it all (as far as I can tell – Kevin – do you still have the data?). Thankfully, we never went as far as the New York crowd did (see here and here) – they are crazy.

The Seattle variant of us is primarily WashU, but not exclusively. Carl, for one, is a regular, as is Clodagh (though technically, she sort of counts, since she married in). While we haven’t yet made it to a place that’s new for all of us, it’s been a great way to see some old friends on a regular basis, while having some good beer; which is really all I can ask for. We’re "old" now, so we can’t commit to meeting up every week, so we’ve been joining together every 2 weeks or so…

Places we’ve visited (and yes, Greg, we can still hold to the no-webpage, no-stats rule, but might as well do some reviews):
(using Judy’s Book as the website guide where possible, since they are across the street from Pure; might as well throw them some love).

• Pubnight 0: Capitol Hill: Stumbling Monk and Elysian - This wasn’t actually an official pubnight, but it got the idea going. Greg, Clodagh, Joelle and I were supposed to hang out, and Kevin and Erin happened to call Greg saying he wanted to check out Stumbling Monk. As I love this place (great belgian beer), we all joined up and got talking. While they all drank Belgians, I actually stayed away from the Belgian stuff though; there was a Polish beer on the menu (can’t remember the name), and I was a bit intrigued, so went with that order. We tried to then walk to Frites for fries (yummm!), but it was closed, so to the Elysian we went for food (which is one my favorite brewpubs in the area)
• Pubnight 1: Fremont: Brouwer’s Cafe. While I like this place, I sort of felt like "been there, done that", since I have been there a few times. Huge beer selection, so you can never go wrong. All around a solid bar.
  
• Pubnight 2: Ballard: People’s Pub: A cozy place, there was a bit of a conflict with the Oscar’s. Good German beer selection, and I had this pretty darn tasty stuffed beets dish. I’ve also been here before, but well worth a re-visit.
• Pubnight 3: Issaquah: Rogue Brewery: Interestingly enough, the second straight night Joelle and I had ended up in Issaquah. Great beer selection – Rogue knows it’s stuff. If it were closer, this might be my new favorite place.
  
• Pubnight 4: Pike Place: White Horse Trading Company. Wasn’t able to make it, I heard it was closed down due to a vaction, so they hit the old standby of Kell’s instead. Not my favorite place in the world, so I guess it was good I didn’t go. White Horse is great though; we should try and go back.
  
• Pubnight 5: Ballard: Jolly Roger Taproom University District: Big Time Brewery. Turns out the Jolly Roger is closed on Sunday, so switching locations… Happening this Sunday. Gots to get me some beer before Passover!
  

One of the more confusing Kosher for Passover issues is salt; only non-iodized salt is accepted by Conservative and Orthodox authories. Finally found an explanation on why, from http://www.kashrut.com/articles/saltpepper/

"Salt, however, may not be entirely pure. For example, it may be used as a means of delivering a necessary, but unrelated, nutrient. Goiter, a disease of the thyroid gland, results from a deficiency of iodine in the diet. Fifty years ago, nutrition experts developed iodized salt. Today most table salt contains this nutrient in the form of potassium iodide. Potassium iodide, however, tends to degrade in the presence of moisture; in order to protect the iodine, a small amount of dextrose often is added to the salt to prevent oxidation. While not generally a kashrus concern, dextrose is derived from corn (and sometimes, wheat) starch, and therefore poses an issue for Passover use. It is for this reason that we purchase non-iodized salt for Passover. Ironically, it is the preservative – and not the iodine itself – that poses the problem."

Now why corn isn’t allowed is a completely different discussion, but worthy of further investigation.

We’ve been doing some research into Sephardic haroset recipes; there is almost never kitnayot issues, it just comes down to which fruit you focus on (The Sephardic haroset Joelle made for a sample uses dates, for example). Because of the fruit usage, the sephardic version ends up a lot thicker, and is often rolled into balls instead of the big bowl of mush the Ashkenazic versions are.

Well there’s a better idea: a pyramid… it fits the theme and symbolism perfectly.

An image from someone’s flickr site:

There’s a secret restaurant in Eastlake, apparently no more than a block away from me. This very much makes me want to eat there. The code is being cracked…

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/383873

As an aside, I had heard they are moving into the Loft building at one point across the alley from us, but that may have just been a rumor, as they are already pretty close.

I am so confused!

Passover is next week – which means I desperately need to do some shopping, as it has a pretty complex set of food laws invalidating nearly everything in my kitchen over the eight day period. To the QFC in U-Village or Albertson’s on Mercer Island!

Looking up some links, might as well post them here for others to check out (and so I can find again).

• Conservative Movements Passover Guide – http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/docs/Pesah Guide 2007.doc
• Seattle Va’ad Passover Guide (Ashkenazi Orthodox) – http://www.seattlevaad.org/PassoverGuide031207.html
• Seattle Va’ad Passover Alerts – http://www.seattlevaad.org/PassoverAlerts.html
• Passover Guides,  Haggadot, Song books, and Haroset recipes – http://www.jewishfreeware.org/downloads/folder.2006-01-07.0640323187/

There is a disagreement between Ashkenazi Jews (historically from Eastern Europe) and Sephardic Jews (from Spain/Portugal) around the use of Kitnayot (often translated as legumes). For Sephardic Jews, you can eat these on Passover. Ashkenazi Jews are forbidden. I had a conversation about this the other night, and here’s a good list of the food at issue (by the way, I am Ashkenazi):

(from http://www.seattlevaad.org/PassoverGuide031207.html)

"Kitniot is popularly translated as legumes – but this is not precise.  The Shulchan Aruch in Orach Chaim 453 defines Kitniot as those seeds and grains that can be cooked and baked in a fashion similar to the five true grains that can become Chametz: Some examples are rice, corn, peas, mustard seed, and the whole bean family (i.e. kidney, lima, garbanzo, etc.). The Torah term for the fermentation of barley, rye, oats, wheat, and spelt is chimutz.  The term given for fermentation of Kitniot is sirchan."

Some Common Kitniot and Kitniot Derivatives (and possibly Chametz)

 

Anise  Ascorbic Acid  Aspartame  Beans  BHT (in corn oil)  BHA (in corn oil)  Buckwheat  Calcium Ascorbate  Caraway Seeds  Citric Acid (possibly Chametz))  Coriander  Corn

Cumin  Dextrose  Emulsifiers  Fennel  Fenugreek  Flavors (may be Chametz)  Glucose  Green Beans  H.V.P. (possibly Chametz)  Isolated Soy Protein  Isomerized Syrup  Lecithin  Malto-Dextrin  MSG  Mustard Flour

NutraSweet  Peanuts  Peas  Poppy Seeds  Rice  Sesame Seeds  Sodium Erythorbate  Sorbitan  Sorbitol  Soy Beans  Stabilizers  Starch (commonly Chametz)  Sunflower Seeds  Tofu  Vitamin C