Friday, May 11, 2018

How We Spent 30 (Edible) Hours in Seattle

At Volunteer Park {captured by my friend Mary}
A few months ago I asked on my personal Facebook page if anyone had traveled on Amtrak from LA to Seattle. With Mr. Lovebird accompanying me to Mom 2.0 I was thinking it might be fun to extend our trip and travel up the coast. I had done a solo Amtrak trip from Chicago to LA in my early 20s, and I thought a kids-free trip with Uka might be fun. I got a few positive responses on my question, but looking at the timetable, however I realized the trip would limit our time with our friends so we ended up booking our first flights on Alaska Airlines thanks to our Hopper low fare alert combined with a discount code they gave to attendees of Altitude Summit

Mom 2.0 ended on Friday night with the Iris Awards then after spending time with friends and family in LA-metro we flew up to Seattle early on Sunday morning.

Here's how it deliciously played out...



Our friends Mary and Rob, who we last saw in Dallas, are now in Seattle and they were so kind to pick us up from the airport and take us straight to take in some beautiful views. 



From there we headed to brunch at Din Tai Fung where our friend Kami joined in for a delicious brunch. We ordered allllll the things which proudly included plenty of vegetables. 




Afterwards we crossed the street to make a pit stop in the men's shoe department of Nordstrom before heading to our hotel (BTW they don't carry size 17 shoes -_-)...





Shout out to the HotelTonight app for coming through yet again - Hotel Max was amazing : walkable to so much AND cool decor to boot (and thank you to Kami for recommending it)!


The weather really showed out for Uka's birthday weekend so we dumped our stuff and headed out to eat and explore...



Pike Place Market was a 10 minute walk from our hotel
Uka suggested we stop here on a whim before dinner - I'm so glad he did!
Focused determination to finish Beecher's outstanding mac & cheese

The mac & cheese was so good (and rich!) so we kept going to walk it off for a bit...



Thinking of our girl.
On to dinner...

Uka's dinner request?:  MEAT


Parradilla for two

We were feeling ready to head to bed after dinner but decided to check out a local comedy show at Comedy Underground in Occidental Square. There was a showcase of about 5 or 6 comedians and one of the best observations one of them made was that Seattle residents appear to be prototypes of actual humans. Just from our day being out and about and seeing how similarly everyone was dressed in dark colors plus their anti-social tendencies this made me crack up! The local chilly temperament actually reminded me a lot of Boston. 

Occidental Square

The next morning (Uka's actual birthday) he had work to attend to so we headed out so he could take calls at a cafe while I reunited with my friend Kami to eat and explore some more...

I tried my first crumpet at aptly named The Crumpet Shop a Pike Place market staple for 42 years. It was like a cross between a pancake and an English muffin. I decided to go the sweet route and indulged in one topped with maple butter, cream cheese and walnuts.




We picked up some beautiful produce at Sosio's (I brought back two champagne mangoes for Nia which she happily devoured when I got home). 


It was time for Kami to head home, so Uka and I continued on to grab an apple pie caramel apple at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (totally his idea!). I'm usually not a caramel apple fan, but this flavor recommended by the clerk was delectable.



It was the perfect treat to share before...


WOW. We shared the Gritty Scrambled Cheesy Bitch: biscuits covered in grits, eggs, cheese and garlic grits (and yes, we added bacon crumbles at the suggestion of another patron).


A few other nasty sights (besides food!)...

The infamous Gum Wall

Yes, that's chewed up gum.




I felt like this was a (delicious!) teaser trip, and I'm already looking forward to when we can return with the kids in tow.

A special thank you to my friends Kami and Mary who helped make our visit so awesome and for my amazing parents who were back in Boston with the little Lovebirds!

 What's the best thing you've ever eaten in a new city you've visited?

 

P.S.  Shout out to the city of Seattle for its leadership in vacating misdemeanor marijuana convictions.