Rachel Belle

In honor of the Seattle Seahawks heading to the Super Bowl, I give you this photo of me interviewing Richard Sherman when the Hawks were in Phoenix for the 2015 Super Bowl! Thanks Detroit News 😂

What salacious thing did Sherman say to provoke THOSE FACES?? I asked him how he was feeling about becoming a new dad (his 1st kid was born a few days later). 🤷‍♀️

I have ZERO interest in football, so I was SHOCKED when my news director at KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM chose to send me to Phoenix to cover the week leading up to the big game — but it was SO FUN!

🏈 I was right in front of Marshawn Lynch, my microphone inches from his lips, as he famously answered, “I’m here so I won’t get fined.” Over and over, to every question he was asked at Media Day.

🏈 I got to cover the Puppy Bowl!

🏈 I got to interview the mothers of the Legion of Boom, and learned that Richard Sherman refuses to eat spaghetti that isn’t cooked by his mama! (I interviewed Sherman again a couple years ago and he confirmed that he still won't!)

🏈 I learned that any topic can be interesting (even football!) if you’re curious and can find the human stories.

🏈 It was the first time I tried savory oatmeal, at a chain hotel breakfast bar! CORE MEMORY RIGHT HERE!

✨Backpacking the Enchantments!✨

🌲 The first day (Colchuck Lake + Aasgard Pass) was the most challenging hike I’ve ever done — nearly 5,000ft of elevation gain.

🪨 Aasgard Pass is a BEAST — 2,000ft gain, a STEEP 50-70% grade over just shy of a mile of extremely rocky terrain, no defined trail, loose scree, scrambling & climbing over boulders at the top…it took us THREE HOURS to walk a mile!

💎 The Core is a fairytale land — a long string of crystal clear, azure lakes, sharp, jagged, toothy peaks & fluffy mountain goats (we saw 2 babies!). Photos don’t do it justice! THIS makes the hard parts SO worth it.

🌲💛 Early season LARCHES!! An excellent preview of my favorite yellow-needled, deciduous conifers! (This was 2 weeks ago)

🔥 After summiting Aasgard, and entering the upper core, we were met with a frightening mushroom cloud of wildfire smoke that felt WAY too close, but somehow we still had mostly blue skies over our 3 days.

🎟️ We won a permit in the lottery (to camp), but were surprised to see WAY more thru-hikers/trail runners than backpackers. I don’t know how people do the whole trail in a single day!!!

🍦 The Peanut Buster Parfait from Dairy Queen is a flawlessly perfect, elite food and tastes like being filthy rich after three days of camping & hiking!

⚠️Please do your research before embarking on an un-permitted Enchantments thru-hike — folks see pretty photos on social media, underestimate the difficulty & come unprepared for what could be a 17 hour day hike.

⚠️ LEAVE NO TRACE - the trail is overused & there is now only ONE ranger to serve this area. Pack out all trash & stay on the trail to avoid trampling precious plants.

Looking for local folks who have been in a cooking or cookbook club for DECADES for a potential TV story -- is this you or anyone you know? You can email me at [email protected]

My friends and I are attempting to cook dishes from every country in the world in alphabetical order -- Afghanistan to Zimbabwe -- it's taken us more than five years, meeting every month, to reach the Fs! Here's our spread from when we cooked Ethiopia!

Are you signed up for my newsletter (I have 2, this is the new one!)? This week I share some of my favorite meals to cook when I’m camping & hiking! 🥾 🔥 🍳

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Checked off ✅ a square on my 2025 Bingo card: ride bikes to Bainbridge Island & get fish & chips at Proper Fish!

🔥 Hot Take: onion rings > fries 🔥

Getting an e-bike last summer has brought SO much joy to my life — I LOVE RIDING BIKES SO MUCH! 🚲

After lunch we biked to:

📍Sakai Park to meet the Bainbridge Island Troll
📍Grand Forest West trailhead to do a little hike

So lucky to live in a place where beautiful adventures like this are so easy and close to home!