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Allen Family Philanthropies giving nearly $7M to Seattle Center nonprofits to boost arts access

✇GeekWire
By: Kurt Schlosser
Audience members during a KEXP Concerts at the Mural at Seattle Center. (Amber Knecht Photo)

A group of Seattle nonprofits aiming to boost exposure to and participation in the arts among young people will receive nearly $7 million in funding from Allen Family Philanthropies.

The organizations — all leading projects on the Seattle Center campus — include independent radio station KEXP, the Museum of Pop Culture, Pacific Science Center and others.

Allen Family Philanthropies (formerly known as the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation) is a charitable entity started by the late Microsoft co-founder and his sister, Jody Allen, in 1988. The philanthropy invests in a number of areas, including arts and culture, science and technology, and research in all areas of bioscience.

The grants are aimed at projects intended to grow opportunities for diverse creators, increase access to arts programming and engagement, and reimagine spaces, according to a news release Wednesday.

Here are the eight nonprofits and their plans for how grants totaling $6,868,990 over three years will be used:

  • KEXP will support emerging artists and cultural workers and enhance audience diversity through extended programs for youth and their families, including the youth DJ programs, all-ages events, expanded youth outreach and programming engagement, and live music events and other activations in the KEXP Gathering Space and courtyard. ($879,700 in funding).
  • Museum of Pop Culture (MOPOP) will develop a residency program that will expand free youth access to interactive, culturally relevant learning experiences ($696,176 in funding).
  • National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) will scale and grow festival programming into year-round, accessible opportunities for film education, mentorship, and professional development for aspiring youth filmmakers at Seattle Center ($480,882 in funding).
  • Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) will unify PNB’s emerging artist efforts into a singular choreographic dance program with more technical training and performance opportunities, increasing engagement for young artists aged 10-26, and expanding the Community Stages program ($1,250,000 in funding).
The Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser)
  • Pacific Science Center (PacSci) will connect arts and culture with science, reimagining spaces with public artwork and cultural installations commissioned by Pacific Northwest Indigenous artists and culture bearers, through a new artist-in-residence program within the Maker & Innovation Lab ($997,632 in funding).
  • Seattle Repertory Theatre & Seattle Children’s Theatre will expand their theatrical partnership model with a multi-year initiative to co-produce one main stage show each season aimed at teens and their families ($1,320,000 in funding).
  • TeenTix will support a new Teen Connectors program in partnership with Seattle Center arts venues to increase access and engagement of teen audiences in arts and culture experiences ($250,000 in funding).
  • The Vera Project (Vera) will launch All Ages / All Access, a new slate of all-ages music and arts programming centered on concerts, gallery openings, and creative workforce development opportunities by and for young people. ($994,600 in funding).

Seattle Center draws more than 12 million visitors annually, and is the most visited arts and cultural destination in the Pacific Northwest.

“By investing in arts organizations that engage young people, we invest in the creators, audiences, and advocates who will contribute to and sustain a vibrant arts and culture sector in Seattle for years to come,” said Anh Nguyen, director of arts, youth and community for Allen Family Philanthropies. “These organizations excel at engaging young artists and young audiences — and know how to ignite curiosity. The grants will ensure youth arts and culture programming can continue to grow and evolve to meet community needs.”

Allen Family Philanthropies’ funding for Seattle Center organizations follows previous arts investments from the foundation, including $9 million to eight downtown arts organizations to support nearly 1,200 public events, and the Community Accelerator Grant Program administered by ArtsFund, which has awarded $30 million in funding to 930 arts and culture organizations across Washington state over the last three years.

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Keep the Fire Going: November Grilling Recipes

✇Barbecuebible.com
By: BarbecueBible.com

The biggest food-obsessed month is upon us, so don’t put that grill away! Whether you’re a veteran grillmaster or a novice, the following cool-weather recipes will burnish your reputation (especially those that use indirect grilling). Several dishes are Thanksgiving-worthy, while others feed you and your family cozy dinners.

November Grilling: Frequently Asked Questions

Can you really grill in November?
Absolutely. Give the grill extra preheat time, keep the lid closed as much as possible, use a windbreak, and cook with an indirect zone for steady temps.
What grill setup works best for Thanksgiving sides and desserts?
Indirect heat at 325–400°F. Use a drip pan, add a small handful of fruitwood for aroma, and rotate pans for even browning on casseroles, stuffings, and baked fruits.
Which smoking woods pair well with fall flavors?
Apple, cherry, and pecan are great with poultry, pork, and vegetables. Add a touch of hickory for depth. For jerk vibes, toss a few allspice berries on the coals.
How do I keep food hot when serving outdoors?
Hold in a foil-covered pan over an inactive grill zone or in a 200°F oven. For transport, place hot pans (covered) in an empty cooler to retain heat.
Any make-ahead tips for holiday grilling?
Smoke-roast sides a day ahead, chill, then reheat covered over indirect heat; uncover at the end to re-crisp. Prep rubs, sauces, and chopped aromatics the day before.

November Grilling Recipes

Bacon Bourbon

An ingenious way to make America’s most beloved spirit even more amiable. The infusion technique comes from chef Megan Neubeck of Terzo Piano at the Art Institute of Chicago. (The smoke flavor comes from the bacon fat.) Manhattans and Old Fashioneds just got insanely better. Better still, serve them with a bacon strip garnish.

Bacon Bourbon - November Grilling Recipes

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Beef and Pork Chili

This chili takes an ecumenical approach, featuring both beef and pork—meats both diced and ground—two kinds of beans, plus plenty of chile powder, poblano pepper, and jalapeño to crank up the heat. Don’t be deterred by the long ingredient list—you probably have most of the aromatics in your kitchen already. And despite the lengthy instructions, you can make it from start to finish in 1 hour.

Beef and Pork Chili

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Herb-Rubbed Smoke-Roasted Turkey Breast

The herb spice rub creates a flavorful crust that keeps the turkey juicy on the inside. Smoke-roasting the turkey breast adds a light smoky flavor.

Smoke-Roasted Turkey Breasts on the Grill

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Smoked Sweet Potato Casserole with Brown Sugar and Maple Syrup

Thanksgiving wouldn’t be complete without a sweet potato casserole. And sweet potatoes wouldn’t be complete without butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup. What sets this one apart is a flavor that’s simultaneously familiar and unexpected: wood smoke. Happy T-Day!

Ember-Roasted Sweet Potatoes

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Burnt Oranges with Rosemary

Argentina’s most celebrated chef can sauce and sauté with the best of them. But Francis Mallmann staked his reputation on a venture so outlandish, only a fire-obsessed South American could pull it off: He taped a TV show based entirely on campfire cooking outdoors on a Patagonian glacier in winter. Chef, restaurateur, TV personality, author—Francis Mallmann uses a curious word to describe his cooking: barbaric. He attempts nothing less than to achieve the pinnacle of flavors through the use of live fire, be it the massive heat of a bonfire or the slow steady warmth of dying embers.

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Smoked Acorn Squash with Parmesan Flan

Perfect for a small Thanksgiving, this elevated version of acorn squash is a scene-stealer, not to mention vegetarian-friendly.

Smoked Acorn Squash with Parmesan Flan

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Brioche Mushroom Stuffing

This brioche mushroom stuffing offers a smoky twist on the classic holiday side, combining toasted brioche cubes with a medley of sautéed exotic mushrooms, scallions, and fresh sage. The rich flavors are deepened with a touch of Cognac (if you like) and the crunch of pecans or chestnuts. Held together with a custardy mix of eggs and cream, the stuffing is smoke-roasted on the grill, giving it a golden crust and tender, savory interior. Prepared in a cast-iron skillet, it’s an ideal dish for the grill, and it can easily be made in advance to keep your Thanksgiving preparation hassle-free.

Brioche Mushroom Stuffing

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A New Baked Apple Stuffed with Sausage and Sage

I’ll wager no one has ever tasted anything like it before. The break with tradition is stuffing the apples with pork sausage and smoke-roasting them on the grill.

apples stuffed - November Grilling Recipes

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Grilling doesn’t have to end when the weather cools down. In fact, the smoky depth you get in November might just be the best of the year. Try one or two of these recipes and you’ll see why barbecue season never really ends.

Related Posts

5 delicious eggless Black Forest Cake inspired desserts … best of summer!

✇Passionate About Baking
By: Deeba @ PAB
Eggless Black Forest Inspired Desserts

The quintessential Black Forest Cake has got easy enough elements to play around with, and takes well to add ins like a dark chocolate ganache etc. And as always, the outcome is always spoon licking or bowl licking if not finger kicking good! Here are a few reimagined eggless black forest cake ideas to keep you busy through summer!

The post 5 delicious eggless Black Forest Cake inspired desserts … best of summer! appeared first on Passionate About Baking.

Eggless Cherry Chocolate Tart Cake … delicious cakes for summer!

✇Passionate About Baking
By: Deeba @ PAB
Eggless Cherry Chocolate Tart Cake … delicious cakes for summer!

This Eggless Cherry Chocolate Tart Cake is a delicious and easy-to-make dessert perfect for hot summer days when cherries are abundant. The tart cake is one I make quite often, and this tart tin was one of my best buys. This versatile dessert can be soaked in Kirsch or cherry juice for added flavor. The raised flan tart tin ensures perfect results, inspiring creativity with various flavor combinations and customizations.

The post Eggless Cherry Chocolate Tart Cake … delicious cakes for summer! appeared first on Passionate About Baking.

Our favorite chargrilled burger recipes

✇J-Top's BBQ Shop
By: John Thompson

Sophisticated dishes can be a wonderful treat, but often the best meals of all are comfort food. It is for this reason that the juicy Chargrilled Burger is such a great option. They are easy dinners to make and delicious to eat, whether you are cooking for a dinner party or yourself. 

Here is our favorite chargrilled burger recipes:

The traditional recipe:

This recipe is arguably the easiest and most common way of creating your own chargrilled Burger, whether you’re creating a cheeseburger or BBQ burger. 

This is because with this recipe, you will be using a traditional grill to make grilled burgers.

Make sure you have high-quality ground beef

The first step is to make sure you have ground beef from the best cuts of beef. If you want to make the best burgers, then you can’t slack off with poor ingredients. It doesn’t matter how good a chef you are – a bad cut is a bad cut.

Create the patties and prepare the buns

The selection of bun size will determine the size of beef burger patties needed for the perfect burger.Size is not the only factor to take into account when selecting a bun. The bread should be high quality to compliment the high quality beef used for the patties.

You don’t have to go overboard with the seasoning – a simple dousing with salt and black pepper will do the trick. For your hamburger buncondiments, you could choose to add a variety of sauces, such as ketchup, mustard, or BBQ sauce for something different. You could even prepare extra additions like crispyred onion, lettuce, tomato and cheese.

Cook patties and serve

Once your beef burger patties are seasoned and the grill is up to temperature, it is time to cook your burgers. 

This cook time won’t take long, so make sure you stick around to keep flipping them and regularly check to see if they are cooked through. You need to check the internal temperature before serving.

After grilling – you will have delicious, chargrilled burgers ready for serving and ready to garnish with whatever you want.

Although any grill will cook a burger to the desired temperature, the best flavor will be imparted on a charcoal grill.

The post Our favorite chargrilled burger recipes appeared first on J-Top's BBQ Shop.

How to cook smoked beef brisket

✇J-Top's BBQ Shop
By: John Thompson

Smoked beef brisket is a fantastic BBQ meal to cook – especially if you have a large dinner party or family to feed. The reason for this is that the Recipe for beef brisket is simple, meaning that you won’t have to spend days trying to source obscure ingredients or invest hours trying to prepare it. 

Not only this, but a juicy smoked beef brisket can feed many people – up to fifteen if you buy a big beef cut – making it the ideal meal for weekend get-togethers. Rather than worrying about various cooking processes and difficult cook time, you can set and forget your brisket, leaving it to slow cook while you spend quality time with your family or friends.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that brisket is a low-quality dish. 

In fact, a smoked beef brisket can be delicious if you choose a good cut of meat, season it properly, and leave it to cook until it’s tender. When paired with any number of sides – such as fries, potatoes, and vegetables – you have yourself a balanced meal for minimal effort. It’s a fun recipe for beginners to try and cook brisket for the first time.

Without further ado, this is how to cook a smoked beef brisket:

Ensure you have the best ingredients

The most important step in any meal preparation is to ensure you have good quality ingredients. Thankfully, you don’t need to spend a lot of money to cook a great beef smoked brisket recipe, so a trip to the grocery store should suffice. At the grocery store, you should be able to pick up any extras you want to try also, such as paprika, garlic powder, kosher salt and BBQ sauce, as well as staple ingredients like brown sugar.  

Pre-prepare the beef

To prepare the beef brisket, place it on a cutting board and start by trimming off any excess fat on the fat side with a carving knife, and remove the silver skin from underneath it. 

Like many beef dishes, you don’t need to worry too much about adding a dizzying array of seasoning ingredients. Place the brisket in a roasting pan and add a generous sprinkle of black pepper and salt – coated with olive oil to seal them in. You can, of course, add garlic powder or kosher salt if you so desire, and mix it in a small bowl before adding to your brisket.

You can also look into creating or even buying in a brisket rub that will have all the seasoning you need for a more restaurant-style quality of smoked brisket recipe.

On the other hand, you could invest in a dry rub that you can purchase from places like Amazon to ensure you create the best brisket for you and your family without venturing out to the grocery store. On Amazon, you can even find ingredients such as apple cider vinegar, hickory, onion powder, and wood chips for however you are smoking your wrapped brisket.

When you have done this, set it aside for an hour at room temperature for resting time. Ensure it is covered, you may want to use butcher paper or aluminum foil to protect it.

Cook the beef

Once you have seasoned the pound brisket, it is time to cook. 

Place brisket in the oven and leave it to slow cook for around eight to nine hours. This total time will ensure it is tender and easy to slice once it is ready to serve. 

If you haven’t got an oven or want to cook it even more slowly, don’t be afraid to use a slow cooker instead. However, do make sure the internal temperature is at the right number before finishing to cook. Always test part of the brisket, usually the thickest part, with a meat thermometer before serving.  

Take the beef out and prepare for serving

This is the easy part. When you are satisfied that your brisket is cooked properly, take it out and carve it in on your cutting board. 

For those feeling adventurous, you can always create a red wine gravy to pour over your meal. To do this, pour the juices from the brisket into a pan and combine them with a healthy dose of your favorite red wine. 

Cook until half of the liquid volume has burned away, and then add butter and, if you have a sweet tooth, honey or brown sugar. 

Keep frying it until the liquid is thick and, well, gravy-like. You can then smother it over the brisket for extra flavor or use it as a sauce for the whole meal. 

Final words On Smoked Beef Brisket

As you can see, preparing a delicious beef brisket is simple, so long as you source good quality ingredients and put aside the time during the day to check on your brisket as it cooks. Soon, you will be enjoying the delicious smoke flavor of a Texas style brisket, with minimal prep time and an easy-to-manage cooking total time. Alternatively, you could try pulled pork instead of a beef brisket recipe, but again, ensure you have a good cut of meat, adhere to the right serving time and always check the internal temperature of the brisket before serving.  

The post How to cook smoked beef brisket appeared first on J-Top's BBQ Shop.

How do you make catfish taste good?

✇J-Top's BBQ Shop
By: John Thompson

Catfish is a cheap and cheerful dish that can trace its roots back to Southern cajun cuisine. Although this can be a healthy meal to add to your weekly intake, many people find the natural taste of a catfish filet to be unappetizing. 

This is understandable because catfish live at the bottom of freshwater rivers and lakes, which often gives them a muddy flavor and aftertaste. What’s more, catfish fillets have been known to taste faintly of their own lunch, which, when combined with the already fishy taste and flavor, can make the fillets an off-putting meal. 

Of course, it doesn’t have to be this way.

If you choose your fish wisely and prepare it properly, you can get rid of the unappetizing muddy taste and make your crispy catfish fillets delicious to eat. 

This is what you need to know to make the catfish you buy taste good, whether you serve it pan-fried or deep fry your fish fillets:

Make sure you choose the right cut of catfish

The Primary way to make catfish taste good is to choose the right example of the breed. When it comes to freshwater catfish, white and firm examples are the ones to opt for. Avoid a fishy smell when choosing your cold water catfish.  

You should also make sure the best catfish is as fresh as possible. This is obvious because the longer it has been sitting around, the worse it is going to taste. Be sure to choose an angler who provides as fresh as possible white fish.

How to cook catfish properly

The Secondary way to make it taste better is to ensure that you cook it properly, add the right seasoning, and eat it alongside complementary foods, including additions like coleslaw and lemon juice.  

Fried catfish is a great dish to cook. After all, it is a staple of soul cajun food, which must tell you something about how well this recipe improves the taste of the fish.

To make this, heat oil in a cast-iron skillet (although you can also fry catfish in an air fryer or deep fryer) and bring your oven up to temperature (200 degrees Fahrenheit), laying a baking sheet inside as you do so. 

At this point, you need to create a dish full of buttermilk, which you should proceed to lay the fish in. While it is soaking, create a mixture of cornmeal, flour, and spices (usually a teaspoon each of cayenne pepper, black pepper, paprika, and garlic powder) in a bowl. 

Lift the fish out of the milk, smother it with the flour mixture, then lay it in the skillet full of hot oil. 

Given the high heat, the fish will fry quickly with the skillet lid closed (usually taking around three to four minutes on each side) to provide a golden brown crust.

Once the catfish is fried, you are ready to serve it with a much-improved flavor. Be sure to have paper towels handy for any oil or seasoning you spill!

Indeed, to add an extra zing to the catfish recipe, you could drizzle lemon juice and accompany with tartar sauce or even hot sauce .   

Another staple catfish dish is catfish creole, which can be prepared using a Dutch oven. This makes a good alternative to fried catfish, especially if you are looking for a lighter meal.

Try fried catfish with delicious hush puppy or collard greens as sides

Of course, as with any great meal, you can always make the fried catfish far better by combining it with some delicious sides, which both complement the existing flavor and give the dish more depth.

For example, you could easily prepare hush puppies alongside the catfish, given that they will both be fried and battered. If you are thinking of incorporating hot sauce, this is a good side to dip in it.

Alternatively, you could prepare collard greens, a southern staple, that pair incredibly well with a fried fish dish. 

The post How do you make catfish taste good? appeared first on J-Top's BBQ Shop.

Delicious NYE Eggless Dessert Recipes To Wrap Up 2022! #HNY

✇Passionate About Baking
By: Deeba @ PAB
Delicious NYE Eggless Dessert Ideas

Delicious NYE Eggless Dessert Ideas

Delicious NYE Eggless Dessert Ideas. Can you even believe we've gone through another year? Adieu 2022, you went by in a heartbeat. I baked a ton through the year, went completely eggfree and did a load of no bake desserts too. Here are a handful you can try and recreate for NYE.

The post Delicious NYE Eggless Dessert Recipes To Wrap Up 2022! #HNY appeared first on Passionate About Baking.

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