Seattle Eats

Image by conjunction3 via Flickr

We just got back from an anniversary trip to Seattle. Because the kids were elsewhere we had the unusually delightful pleasure of being able to eat whatever we wanted. If you've been cooking for picky kids for over a decade then you understand just how remarkable this is.

We decided that, given our relatively limited funds for this adventure, we'd rather spend less on fancy lodgings and more on good food and that was a brilliant decision! We stayed in a little studio apartment in an old building right downtown. I was a little hesitant to rent it sight unseen but when Google maps showed its location to be directly across the street from the Dahlia Bakery, out came my debit card and a reservation was made!

What I didn't realize until we arrived was that our budget studio was located right in the middle of chef Tom Douglas' Seattle dining empire. We stayed two doors down from Lola, across the street from The Dahlia Lounge, around the corner from Serious Pie and a block away from Palace Kitchen. We'd planned to have a fancy dinner at one of these well-reviewed restaurants but when we arrived in Seattle, ravenous after a 3+ hour train ride and with time to kill before we could check in to our rental apartment, we decided it was a perfect time to try Lola.

This was probably the best of many good meals on this trip. It may have been due to our hunger after the long train ride or the playing hooky feeling of ditching the kids and skipping town or maybe just plain fantastic food--whatever, this was a meal to remember. Lola's menu is Greek inspired but features fine local ingredients. We started with freshly baked pita served with skordalia, a delicious potato garlic spread. I had amazing grilled salmon kebabs served with more pita, a lovely, tangy tzatziki and amazing "smashed" potatoes which were like no potato I'd ever eaten: golden and crunchy outside with creamy insides. Unbelievable. We were unnecessarily tempted by dessert and probably and ended up overstuffed and not nearly as delighted as we'd been by the meal itself but overall it was fantastic.

We spent the afternoon and evening wandering and, remarkably, ended up hungry again after hiking up to Capitol Hill hours later. There are plenty of restaurants along Broadway but none really caught our eye until we came to Galerias Gourmet Mexican Restaurant. A quick scan of their menu showed that this is definitely not your average burrito bomb Mexican place but a place that had a variety of interesting looking, unusual dishes. We stepped inside to some truly fabulous, over the top decor: bright colors everywhere, huge paintings of intense Biblically inspired scenes, and the tallest fake flower arrangement I've ever seen. We were seated in the shadow of the awe-inspiring monster bouquet but quickly forgot it once our food came. The trio of salsas which came as a starter was delicious. Each was distinctive, well balanced, and clearly made with care. The giant, tasty margarita was quite good and a definite bargain. My entree was poblano chiles stuffed with cheese and grilled veggies and wrapped in a light, buttery pastry which was an vast improvement over the usual soggy, eggy batter found clinging to chiles rellenos.

Other great meals included an egg and asparagus sandwich on a homemade English muffin at the Dahlia Bakery, delicious chai and kheer at Traveler's Cafe, salted caramel ice cream at Molly Moon's, a delightful brunch at the Dahlia Lounge (scrambled eggs with asparagus and Cougar Gold cheese and a bing cherry margarita), and some super simple but fantastic roasted corn from a cart. All so good!

20

Today is a typical day: lesson planning, kid schlepping, laundry...pretty much the usual with one notable exception. It's also our 20th wedding anniversary. Twenty years! I can't believe I'm old enough to have done anything for 20 years but there you have it.

We decided to celebrate with a getaway to Seattle last weekend. The kids went off to stay with my wonderful, fabulous mother-in-law while we caught the train and headed north for a few days.

On of the frustrating parts of planning this trip was the outrageous prices for hotels in downtown Seattle. Even the simplest ones are shockingly expensive and, we imagined, probably completely lacking in charm in our price range. I kept searching and searching for something that didn't require a second mortgage and one day up popped airbnb in my search results, where we found a very inexpensive studio perfectly situated for our visit. We stayed on the second floor of The Virginian Apartments, overlooking busy 4th avenue:

We didn't really head out with much in the way of firm plans but we had a guidebook or two for ideas. We ended up at both the Olympic Sculpture Garden and the Ballard Locks on the same surprisingly beautiful day.

We walked for miles, we ate fantastic meals, and truly had a marvelous time.

Here are a few favorite photos:
And perhaps my favorite of all:
Here's to the next 20 years!

Back Home

Oh my! Did I really let the whole week fly by without writing?

What a grand vacation we had! Now that we're back in cold, rainy Portland it seems like ages ago that we visited the farmers market, ate bhel puri and visited the Hindi multiplex for a movie starring not one but two of my favorite heartthrobs, and visited both Golden Gate and Corona Heights parks in San Francisco. I took the photos below in The Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park, a lovely glass paned structure filled with all manner of exotic plants and intriguing foliage.

Even with all the activity, there was lots of time for cooking, eating, knitting, and catching up. With another visiting family, the house was full of kids but surprisingly calm. Our hosts were gracious and generous and saw to it that we had a fine vacation. The drive home was interminable and we arrived to chilly rain which is bothering more than it usually does. Bad news as it look like anything resembling pleasant weather is still weeks off. I'm having a hard time shaking off the vacation groove--re-entry is proving difficult--but I'm only hours away fomr a new term and Passover is fast approaching so it's time to get busy.

I've never thought of Redding, California as much more than a convenient stopping place along I-5. There's food, gas, and lodging, and not a whole lot else, or so I'd always beleived. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that Redding contains a design treasure in the form of The Sundial Bridge, designed by world famous architect Santiago Calatrava. We decided it was worth a visit this morning before heading south and we found a fascinating structure full of interesting angles and surfaces. It's a stunning cantilever foot bridge with cables running from a curved tower on one side. Its asymmetry makes for a surprisingly graceful structure which looked lovely spanning the river and provided lots of interesting photo possibilities.

The drive to San Jose was interminable, but thankfully uneventful. We are settling in and looking forward to the rest of the week.

Road Trip!

I'm writing from our luxurious wi-fi enabled room at the Super8 in Redding, California. We left cool and damp Portland early this morning but by the time we stopped for ice cream in Ashland the skies were nearly clear. Overall the trip has been quite enjoyable. We're enjoying listening to Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country. The boys have mostly kept their squabbling under control although at one point they were going at it and I pulled over a rest stop, got out, and simply refused to get back in the car until they promised to stop. It's a tactic I haven't had to use in ages, but it made the remaining 150 miles infinitely more pleasant.

We had a lovely dinner and then retired to our motel room where the boys were delighted to find The Princess Bride on cable TV. We're thinking about getting up early to explore this very unusual bridge before continuing our journey to San Jose where we will spend the week. It's such a treat to be able to spend this time with my kids and take a break from real life.

The Love Boat

My husband and I were recently offered an all -expenses paid, kid-free 4 day getaway by my very generous parents. It was by no means a private getaway. Rather, we shared a Very Large Boat with my parents and over 2000 other vacationers, ranging from drunken frat boys and their scantily clad girlfriends to creaky old ladies in wheelchairs, all of whom appeared to be thoroughly enjoying their time at sea.

Since I rarely go anywhere or do anything out of the ordinary, this whole experience was quite a production. We awoke very early Friday morning when my parents arrived and the four of us took a taxi to the airport. I haven't even flown for over 10 years so the post-911 experience of being treated like criminal sheep at the airport was new to me. On the other hand, I guess I am still pretty much like a little kid when it comes to flying as that magical point where the plane tops the clouds is still thrilling for me.
We flew to San Francisco and then to LA where a very affable Armenian cab driver drove us to the dock blasting The Gypsy Kings all the way. Definitely the cab driver you want when going on vacation as he was determined to get the party started in his cab!
Arrival at the cruise ship was a great deal of standing in line, showing ID, and going through metal detectors. We were quite exhausted when the very peppy cruise ship photographers started snapping photos which they would later attempt to sell us for outrageous prices.

The photos of the ship gave no real sense of size but standing alongside and looking up I was astonished. There are 12 floors, 2 pools, a fitness center, numerous bars and lounges, restaurants, and hundreds of staterooms. The ship holds over 2200 passengers and 800 crew members. It's rather mind-boggling.
Once settled on the boat, we had our first experience in the bustling and diverse all-you-can-eat lunch buffet at the top of the ship. We weren't the only hungry ones so it was a bit overwhelming but my Nicoise salad was tasty and welcome after little more than airplane pretzels for most of the day.

We left LA at around 5:30 pm. I was up on the top deck at the front of the ship as we left the harbor and had a great view of everything including pelicans. I love those gawky yet graceful birds and these were the first of many we'd see.

Our dinners were delightful. We were seated during the first of two seatings in one of two enormous dining rooms but our window table was cozy and it didn't really feel as though we were eating with 400 other people though I think we were. The food was delicious and I was delighted to find Indian food included in the very diverse menus. One evening we were delighted to look out and find dolphins leaping through the waves beside the boat. Dolphins! A first for me and definitely one of the most memorable of moments.

We spent a few hours in Ensenada on Saturday. This was my first visit to Mexico after living there 20 years ago. We only walked through the waterfront area which was geared entirely toward separating tourists from their money. We picked up some little gifts for the kids and strolled about but it wasn't my favorite part of the trip. I looked everywhere for the big jars full of aguas frescas but there were none to be found. Lots of booze, though. Every little cantina had someone at the door urging us to come in and drink. Judging by the beer and sex-themed T-shirts on display the folks in Ensenada must have a rather dim view of English speaking tourists. I was happy to leave all that and retreat to our floating palace where we retired to deck chairs to read and enjoy frothy, fruity drinks while grubby, skinny kids continued to pester tourists back on land. A very weird juxtaposition indeed and one that wasn't at all comfortable for me.
I had similarly mixed feelings about the very servile staff on board the ship who seemed willing to cater to our every whim. These folks came from all over the world but I noticed that the Caribbean islands, China, India, Hungary, and The Philippines were all amply represented. These folks served our meals, cleaned our rooms, made the food, ran the ship, manned the various shops, and more. In addition, they would creep into our rooms when we were out to tidy up, leave chocolate on the pillows, and renew our linen supply by delivering cleverly sculpted towel creatures.
I am sure these were good-paying jobs for these folks and I was hoping they weren't too horribly abused by either the management or the passengers. I wondered if it wasn't payback from the dining room staff after the final dinner when dessert was served:
One night The Spouse and I dressed up, had another great meal, and danced to salsa and cumbia songs in the Latin lounge until the band quit playing. There were some truly fine dancers there and it was great to watch them strut their stuff. Dancing was followed by a late night stroll on the deck under the stars--very luxurious indeed. The remainder of the trip was spent in very deliberate relaxation as we alternately sat in deck chairs or strolled about taking in the endless view of the ocean. I missed my kids pretty much as soon as we left but it was very nice to have some interrupted time with the man I love.

It seemed to take forever to get home yesterday but we jumped right back in to normal life. It's very hard for me to believe that only 48 hours ago all I had to worry about was avoiding sunburn.

Go By Train

With an early morning blood draw, the loss of my bank card, a mammogram, and endless Passover cleaning and prep to do, this isn't turning out to be such a great day. So let me procrastinate further and tell you a bit about yesterday, which was quite delightful.

We joined a bunch of other homeschooling families for a day trip to Seattle via Amtrak. This required being downtown and fully awake before 8 am which was slightly traumatic, but we pulled ourselves together. The Dark Lord had yet another day off school so he joined us. I don't get to do so many things with all my kids anymore and I was delighted to have him along.

The train ride itself provided many hours of enjoyment for the kids, especially the little ones who enjoyed traveling without the restrictions of seat belts and car seats.

Once in Seattle, we decided to visit the central branch of the public library, which is a truly stunning structure. The Spouse is the real architecture enthusiast in our family, but I found the building absolutely breathtaking and had a field day taking pictures. After the library we walked down to the Pike Place Market. We failed to locate one particular vendor from whom we'd hoped to purchase a bar mitzvah present for MonkeyBoy's dear friend, but we had lots of fun wandering and eating piroshky and crumpets.We were pretty well worn out by the time we walked back to the train station for our return trip. I thought it would be quieter on the train what with all those worn out kids but they seemed determined to get the most out of every minute and they played hard until the train pulled into the station back in Portland.

Day 3--and a Mosaic for Monday

It's a little odd, all this blue sky and sunshine.

But we're adjusting.

We headed west to spend the day at the beach. It was an easy drive to Santa Cruz where we went to the boardwalk. I'm not a ride person but The Princess and I did manage to sail above the crowds in a mercifully slow overhead tram. The sun was shining, the sea was sparking---this was clearly not Portland in March.

Leaving Santa Cruz I got a happy honk and a wave for my John Edwards bumper sticker which made my day! We drove north along highway 1 and (yes I know I'm repeating myself) it was breathtakingly gorgeous. We spent a couple of breezy hours on the sand at Half Moon Bay, flying kites and collecting shells--a perfect beach visit.

Day Two

I confess to being slightly horrified at climbing into the driver's seat once again this morning but there really weren't many other options. The sky was a brilliant blue as the kids and I headed south into the Sacramento Valley. We made a stop at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge clearly not at the best time of year for birdwatching. The majority of the migratory birds had left but there was still plenty to see including rabbits, lizards, and lots and lots of egrets. I've always considered egrets to be lucky and I think we saw enough of them to ensure a safe journey.

Further south we Oregonians thrilled to the magic of palm trees and orange groves. The Dark Lord took the photos as I drove.


Our leisurely sightseeing came to an abrupt end when we left I-5 and veered off towards San Francisco. The traffic increased, the freeway lanes multiplied, and the road surface became unpleasantly rough. Things were a bit tense as we attempted to navigate the East Bay and when I was sure we were hopelessly lost suddenly all the highway numbers began to make sense and our exit magically appeared before us. We arrived safe and sound at our friends' lovely home in San Jose and have been making plans for the next few days while eating Soan Papdi, surely one of the tastiest things ever. I'm hooked!

Day One

We did it! We got out of the house on schedule after packing the van full of clothes, cameras, at supplies, books, and snacks. MonkeyBoy was picked up from his Hebrew lesson and of we went. The Dark Lord sat in front with me and acted as an able assistant, manning the iPod and pouring chai from the thermos as necessary.

It's so much easier to travel now that no one needs running around time evey hour or so. We drove to Medford, gassed up and got a bite to eat, and headed south to Redding, with a brief stop for photos near Mt Shasta. It's lovely and warm here and our room at the Super 8, while completely lacking in charm, does have a large TV with thousands of TV channels. After a dinner that was more about size than finesse, we retired to our lodgings so that my TV-less children could watch odd cartoons and bizarre reality shows in which cocky Brits eat maggots in the Amazon, all the while mugging for the camera.

I can't think of the last time my three children and I spent so much time so closely together. There's been mercifully little squabbling and lots of joking and silliness. All that's missing is The Spouse who we hope is enjoying the peace and quiet of our nearly-empty house.

Almost Outta Here......

What a whirlwind this week has been! I managed to do almost everything: we've all got clean clothes, the mighty minivan's been serviced, I've filled ziplock bags of trail mix, found and filled water bottles, purchased fresh batteries, and printed out pages and pages of activities to keep The Princess busy. I got all my final exams graded, paperwork turned in, and certificates handed out. I've got a bag full of knitting projects, library books, and binoculars for our visit to the wildlife refuge. What I didn't get around to, and now I'm feeling quite remorseful, is doing anything for Purim. Not only did I not make it to the synagogue for the service tonight (since I was at our end-of-term ceremony) I didn't even bake hamantashen for my family. I am a bad, bad Jew.

The plan is to pick up MonkeyBoy from his Hebrew lesson at 10:15 tomorrow morning and hit the road. We'll drive to Redding and stay in luxury at the Super 8 (hopefully free of tweakers) followed by some bird watching here Saturday morning. The it's on to San Jose to stay with very dear friends for as long as they'll have us.

I'm praying that my van runs without incident, my kids don't squabble too much, I can handle Bay Area traffic, and that I don't miss my my sweetie too much. Unfortunately The Spouse has to stay home and work next week. The schleptop is coming along with us so hopefully there will be lovely photos and fascinating interludes to share.

Getaway

We've just returned from a few days visiting family in Anacortes. We made plans thinking The Spouse would need to work and that I would be driving the kids up there alone but, happily, he ended up free this week so we could all go together.

We drove north through gray skies and occasional drizzle but the sky grew clearer as we headed west off the interstate towards the sea. We were welcomed with multi-recipient birthday celebration (all our birthdays fall between May and August) which included two lovely bakery cakes and a generous amount of spending money for the kids.My aunt's house is on a hill overlooking the state ferry terminal and the westernmost San Juan islands. It's a lovely location and we were blessed with mild, sunny weather while there. We spent one day wandering around the town of Anacortes. We walked through the lovely city park and took in the views. It's pretty much all about the water and the boats, both of which proved endlessly fascinating. We also managed to find both the yarn shop and a lovely bookstore.

We spent another day visiting Friday Harbor on San Juan Island which allowed for an hour of ferry time each way. The ferries seem so grand to me--they're spacious and comfortable and you can wander freely at different levels. We traveled on a gloriously sunny day, but I think it would be wonderful to spend a stormy wintry day on the ferry as well, with some friends, perhaps, and a hot cup of coffee and some knitting. It sounds perfect to me.

That's The Dark Lord and me in the photo above, with our shadows on the water. Pretty cool shot, I think.
Friday Harbor was lovely as well. We had an OK lunch, visited more bookstores, ate ice cream, wandered about and enjoyed ourselves quite a bit.

We left fairly early yesterday and made a stop at a produce stand in Mt Vernon where we bought some of the best cherries I've ever eaten. I'm deep into reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle right now and was happy to shell out a small fortune for the locally grown fruit. We arrived home to find all the cats well fed and happy to see us.

I spent a great deal of time on this vacation doing...nothing, really. Reading, knitting, taking photos, and not much more than that. What luxury! I'm trying to hang on to that vacation vibe before gearing up to think about the rapidly approaching summer term.

Weeked Getaway

I feel like the luckiest person in the world as I got to spend the weekend at the beach with a lovely group of women. There was great food, new music, lots of yarn, and much conversation. I took a long walk on the beach, soaked in the hot tub, visited a new yarn store, played with a new technique to share with the refugee knitters, and had a marvelous, relaxing time. I thought fondly of my family but wasn't gone long enough to actually miss them.

I think the most decadent part of the whole weekend was when I woke up early yesterday morning. I'd planned to take another brisk walk but it was raining steadily. So I closed the windows, snuggled back down in bed, and picked up my book for a long, luxurious read. The best part? I've read the book a number of times before so I know just how good it is! I can't think of the last time I got to lie around in bed in the morning and read . What pleasure! Of course, I owe it all to my dear sweet husband who was a single parent for two days so I could have fun. I am indeed lucky.

An Outing

The Spouse was able to rearrange things at work and I am still desperately trying to deny Passover's imminent approach so we decided that a trip to Seattle sounded much more pleasant than cleaning kitchen cupboards.

We packed up the kids after a long debate about bringing laptops along. Needless to say I found that issue less urgent than my boys did and, to punish me, they spent the first 30 minutes of the 3 hour drive squabbling loudly. Then, praise God, they fell asleep. The Princess kept busy with a bag of amusements I'd packed for her so "when-do-we-get-there?" wasn't repeated too many times.

It wad a gorgeous, sunny day and we were blessed with very little traffic and an easy entry into Seattle despite its mind boggling freeway system which includes numerous mysterious offshoots and exits off both the right and the left sides which strikes me as particularly demented and makes for slightly stressed out day trippers. After wedging the mighty minivan into a tiny underground parking space with a whole 4 inches to spare on either side, we walked out down to the Pike Place Market, a Seattle institution that I loved visiting as a kid. There's enough going on there to keep everyone interested and amused for the day.

We met up with good friends who were also visiting the city this week. The Princess and her best buddy posed for pictures with the pig:We did a little shopping, lots of browsing, and lots of eating (which is described in detail, with photos, here). I enjoyed showing my children some of the things I remembered from childhood visits to my beloved aunt including the original Starbucks, the crumpet shop, and Market Spice tea.

We gave each of the boys a little spending money to play with and they'd brought a bit of their own. MonkeyBoy spent a few dollars on tooth destroying candy and then gave quite a bit of money to the street performers. As we were leaving the market and walking back to the car at the end of the day a woman who was clearly needy asked us for a little something. I gave her a couple of dollars and then noticed MonkeyBoy reaching for his wallet once again. He was a bit troubled but gave the lady the $5 bill that he had left. He actually hesitated because, he later told me, he'd planned on using that money as his contribution to the MS Walk in 2 weeks. Maybe it's easy for him to give away money because he's rarely ever earned it, but I was very proud of his generosity. Given what an absolute pill he can be much of the time, it does me good to know he has such a giving and non-judgmental nature.

The Dark Lord seemed to have a fine time despite spending a fair amount of time showing us the teen attitude he's perfecting these days. (I've recently stumbled upon the term bershon which pretty much sums it up.) What amazes me is how the kid manages to retain the bored/cool/whatever look while chowing down on a giant cookie! His observations on the day in Seattle can be found here.

It's not such a long drive, really, and The Princess travels well as long as I have the foresight to burn through a bunch of ink downloading enough things from Enchanted Learning to keep her entertained, so we might make the trip more often. A change of scenery is good.