James Beard Awards

Clockwise from top: pierogies, garlic honey biscuit, escargots and cauliflower

Madison chef selected as semifinalist in James Beard Foundation awards

Pharr is one of three Wisconsin chefs up for the award

Sean Pharr, the chef and owner of Mint Mark on Winnebago Street, was selected as a semi-finalist for the James Beard Foundation Award.

Best American cities for Valentine’s Day

Best things to do in Seattle

Rewind to 1971, when Seattle was an isolated backwater. Boeing, the area's largest employer at the time, had sliced 60,000 jobs and the unemployment rate skyrocketed to 13 percent. A now iconic billboard appeared near the airport: "Will the last person leaving Seattle -- Turn out the lights."