Seattle

I've never done a weekend getaway, but we did one this weekend to Seattle. It was my first time there, and I was pretty blown away by the city: temperate, clean, friendly, great seafood. What's not to love?

Well, the flight isn't really one to love. I don't like to get up on flights, even long ones. That means a minimum of drinking and eating. It's not a very exciting flight. I got up at 7am, ate a side of Popeye's mashed potatoes with gravy, and got on the plane. When we arrived in Seattle around 1pm local time (4pm eastern!) we were starved. We checked into our hotel (the Renaissance downtown) and looked around for places to eat.

One place seemed super easily accessible, Ivar's Acres of Clams, which probably should have been a hint, but we were starving and the menu sounded okay. So we walked down to the pier and got a table. I started off with a dozen oysters which they didn't run through with me, but they were very pacific-y and very creamy. They were served with a very disgusting strawberry mignonette. I was surprised that they didn't serve clams raw with name that has "acres of clams" in it, but who am I to judge? Then I had a bowl of their "famous" clam chowder. In their menu, they described the chowder as "northwest style" so I had to ask the waitress how it would differ from my beloved new england clam chowder. I was amused that she said they are the same and didn't know why it was referred to as northwest. Anyway, the chowder was heavy on the bacon, but the palate adjusted quickly. It was okay, a little on the thinner side, but not too thin. As Tracy later described it, it was average.

Then we had to walk back six steep blocks to the hotel. Let me tell you: I am out of shape. Also, I need new shoes. Ouch.

For dinner, Tracy had made reservations for us at Poppy (poppyseattle.com), in Capital Hill. I like the concept at Poppy which is a menu of a few different 7- or 10-item thalis. Some are vegetarian, and some are not. Apparently you can also switch dishes around even though it doesn't say that on the menu. I get the feeling Seattleites are high-maintenance from the conversation with the waiter, but it mostly reminds me of those blonde women who go to dekalb farmers market and ask for three chicken breasts, each in its own bag.

I got the 10-item thali which was very good. The only thing I lusted after on the menu that I didn't exchange (fearing to be high-maintenance) which was the goat cheese-stuffed zucchini blossoms on a quinoa cake with a tomato salad. (Tracy later said the tomato salad was the best thing she had.) Anyway, each thali has an anchor protein, though for the 10-items, there are two anchors. It's hard to remember everything I had but... there was some king salmon and some lavender duck breast. Two salads, one of radishes and one with watermelon. There was a peach and blueberry pickle. A carrot cardamom soup (which was the weakest on flavor of all the dishes). A poppy-nigella naan. A zucchini gratin. Some beets. And snap peas with morels (a little overcooked). All in all, a good meal.

For dessert, decaf coffee, some tasty ice cream and a hot date cake (not that great) and an assortment of petit fours. I wasn't too into dessert except the ice cream.

On Saturday, we headed out to the University District farmers market, the largest of the markets and one of the only two year-round ones. It was amazing. There were several meat producers plus a salmon stall with an assortment of fresh salmon plus several smoked and canned varieties. There were a few cheese vendors as well as milk and chicken/duck eggs. The selection of produce was impressive. Bing and rainier cherries (Josh's favorite) were everywhere. Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries were everywhere too. A wide selection of heirloom tomatoes. One stall had a selection of different wild plums. I saw piles of zucchini blossoms. Oh, and a shellfish vendor! With oysters, clams, and dungeness crabs. A great market.

Then we headed over to the Pike Place Market. I saw the famous fish-throwing fish stall, though they weren't throwing fish when I was there. They do famously all call out though, which is cute the first time, but quickly gets old. Most of the crowd loved it though and there were a lot of pictures. I moved in and out close to the stall, examining the fish, which did look to be in excellent condition. I was really impressed that most of the vegetables seemed to be local and organic though I would have to ask if I were going to buy. There was a dried pasta vendor that seemed to be very popular. And the flowers! Such gorgeous arrangements at reasonable prices.

We met up with some friends at Pike, and they took us to the World of Spice (worldspice.com) which had a simply amazing collection of spices available. They also took us down the street for some piroshkies (we had the chicken and dumpling and the beef n onion). They were okay. I also snapped a picture of the first Starbucks.

After that, our friends drove us around, looking at all the cute neighborhoods of the city. We stopped at a place called Lock Spot Cafe which is renowned for its fish n chips. I had a bowl of mediocre clam chowder and wasn't too impressed with the fish n chips. It is probably for this reason that I later got sick.

We also went to Uwajimaya (Uwajimaya which is the big Asian grocery store in the International District. Not bad, but not as much stuff as either Super H or Buford Highway Farmers Market. Still, I would like to check out the I.D. some more at some point. They had an impressive fish counter and such gorgeous tuna. I guess I don't need to tell you how awesome all the salmon roe looked.

So it's a sad story that we were going out for sushi at my request and our friends made reservations at Maneki (manekirestaurant.com), sushi house that is over 100 years old. I was so sick that I could only have a bowl of miso soup. I couldn't even eat the agedashi dofu that I ordered. I watched as my friends tore into some gorgeous bluefin tuna, luscious salmon, along with some sprat, live spot prawns, and hamachi. The only surprising thing is that the rolls were very haphazard. The tuna roll that Lynn ordered was definitely the mark of an amateur. Perhaps they have someone junior doing the rolls, and the true chef handling the nigiri and sashimi. Well, I would love to go back and try some of that gorgeous bluefin, that's for sure.

My flight was 7am today, so I got up at 4.35am. Even though it was later than I get up in Atlanta for a work day, I was exhausted. I slept the first half hour of the flight, before we even took off. I'm still exhausted now, but I hope that I'll be able to sleep at a normal time tonight.