Katelyn is airborne, on her way to Turkey (!!!) for the month. This weekend, she'll be exploring Istanbul by her lonesome. She plans on geeking out over all the religious history and food-related sight-seeing she can pack into four days before she flies down to the Mediterranean coast for the next leg of her adventure. more ›

We know that Seattlest Katelyn usually handles your daily blog roundup, but she had to dart out for an emergency meeting of the Black Socialist Unicorns Justice League, leaving us in charge for today only. You won't mind if all your local news is about folk music and cute puppies, right? West Seattle blog cares about puppies as much as we do, so don't judge. CHS is calling for a CD swap, which we think is bound to turn up some old timey banjo music somewhere. Okay, that's all the puppies and folk music we could wrangle out of this. Meanwhile, MyBallard has Elvis, Slog has pie, and B-Town Blog is impressed with Obama's speaking skills. It's all connected in some dreamy way, we're sure. Speaking of dreamy, we wish the Unicorns a good meeting, and Seattlest Katelyn a speedy return. more ›

Seattlest recently challenged our culinarily inclined friends to a chili cookoff, which will take place this Sunday at Seattlest Katelyn's house. Last time we participated in a chili challenge, we were vegetarian and mostly interested in picking the right kind of bean and filler. (Tofu? Nutritional yeast? Fake beef?) But, chili is one of those things that everyone has a secret ingredient for. This time around, we're confident with our selection of pork, and are just looking for that special surprise kicker. Suggestions we've received in the last week range from peanut butter to molasses and chipotle peppers. What's your secret killer ingredient? Would you dare follow the Texas Chilli rules and make chili with no beans? more ›