Rock n Roca

We like to rock out at our house so I was excited to take the kids to their first concert today. Technically, they had seen this band play before at the library but this was a real show, and one where the kids would be a part of the next album (there's not much that annoys me more than kids music where kids are actually singing the songs but kids have a very minor role in these songs so it's okay). Ben would have loved to have go but had to work so I was happy that Sarah A. was also husbandless for the weekend and wanted to go. The band is Recess Monkey (made up of three Seattle elementary school teachers) and I recommend their album Field Trip (you can listen to samples here on Amazon or watch a not so good recording taken by yours truly) if you are looking for fun kids music that doesn't suck.

We hit up Randy's Restaurant on the way home - the diner I had planned on visiting the week previous with my mom. It was about what was to be expected. Sassy service, kitschy aviation decor, okay food. Not a bad place to take kids though or if you want a cheap but good pancake (with fake syrup) served 24/7.

If we hadn't had enough fun already, Sarah led us to the Almond Roca Factory/Outlet, which is a local treasure I had heard of but never visited. I ended up scoring a large assortment of Roca's (macadamia, almond, cashew, candy cane, sugar free) some nuts and some other chocolate for $5.

More local eats.

My mom came for a quick visit last week and I got two categories of things done - exams (eyes, teeth, real estate) and eating. I have a long list of eating establishments to try and only a few years left to do it in so I definitely appreciate the help. Plus considering the portions at some locations it is nice to have someone to split things sometimes - especially when you have a baby sitting on your stomach.

Monday - Harmon's Brewery and Restaurant, Tacoma. This place is below where I get my hair cut and I've always wanted to try it but I'm not much for dining alone and parking in this part of town is limited so I've never had time to check it out. We went for a late lunch so parking wasn't too bad and we ended up sharing an Ortega Turkey Melt and Parmesan Fries. I don't usually love fries but these were exceptional. Miles had a burger, tater tots and Oreos. This would be a great place to go with a group especially during happy hour when some of their large appetizers (including a pizza, burger, a giant hummus platter) are $5. (Mon 3 to close and T-Fri 3-6)


Tuesday - The Bread Peddler, Olympia. We always drive by this place on the way to the farmer's market and it is always full. When Sunset magazine featured it it only made me want to try it that much more. The place had more patrons than seating and when you did get a seat the tables were teeny tiny. I might try it again when I am not third-trimester huge. We got a croque monsieur and clam chowder. The food was tasty. It just wasn't an altogether pleasant experience.

That evening Ben got in on the gluttony fest when he and I escaped for a quick date which took us back to downtown Tacoma and landed us at El Gaucho steakhouse. A place he had heard good things about. The atmosphere is very cool - dark and fancyish - with live piano music and meat and desserts being flambed all around. Luckily we arrived during happy hour which gave us the chance to order off of the "bar bites" menu which was half price. And when a sandwich is $28 you can definitely appreciate the discount. We ordered the steak sandwich and the scallops and prawn linguine. I would get the sandwich again but not the pasta - it was just okay - but I forgot all about it when we ordered the most delicious banana bread pudding.


Wednesday - As masculine and swarthy as El Gaucho was, the place we tried today was all sugar and spice and I don't think Ben would dare enter Steeped in Comfort - "a quaint tea room and gift shop", although he might want me to bring him home a scone - they were super light and delicious with devonshire cream, fresh lemoncurd and raspberry jam served along side it - not dry at all. My mom noticed that Miles became much more "male" when we went here. An involuntary reaction to the flowers and lace I guess. I had soup and a sandwich and a pot of tea complete with a cozy and although I wasn't blown away it was a very satisfying and comforting meal that I would enjoy experiencing again. It would be a fun place to take a group of girls (young or old) for a proper tea experience.


Thursday - On a recommendation from my dental hygienist we headed to Marcia's Silver Spoon cafe for breakfast - a diner known for it's ultra large portions. I'm pretty sure they used an entire bag of potatoes for our hashbrowns. Because I was feeling brave and wanted to try their special, I ordered the oyster omelet. It was good. If you like oysters. We also got a side of biscuits and gravy, one of my favorite things. They were decent. I would go here again once my appetite returns, if it ever returns. Service was great especially considering there was one waitress for the entire diner.

Thurday evening we took the kids to the Burke museum at UW. It was a toss up between the Museum of Flight and Burke as both are free on the first Thursday of the month. If we went to the Boeing museum I was hoping to try Randy's restaurant - and I still want to - but I just couldn't do two diners in one day after the giant breakfast at Marcia's. So instead we just took the kids to Beechers at Pike Place for some mac n cheese.


Friday - This is the day I had been waiting for all week. I woke up at 4:45am and couldn't get back to sleep in anticipation. The restlessness probably had more to do with needing to study for my real estate exam but I was very excited for the burger I was going to have at Lunchbox Laboratory in Ballard. I was so glad it wasn't a disappointment. I ended up ordering the Dork (duck, pork and I read somewhere a little pepperoni) 101 which had grilled onions, gruyere and I'm not sure really what else. It may have been the best burger I have ever had (and for $14 it had better be right?) but I'm not going to claim that until I have tried it again. I also had a smores shake which was pretty good but mostly I got it for Miles. Here's a fun photo collection someone has of each of their visits to the restaurant. Don't go there if you are hungry though. It is tortuous.

Photo by Drew McKenzie, The Stranger

Saturday - We finished off the week with a trip to Mama Stortini's and where we have had a couple of good meals before and unfortunately this time we just simply ordered wrong. We did the family feast for four intending to taste a variety of pastas and entrees. The salads that came with it were probably the best part but the rest was not up to par with what we had had before. Miles ate his weight in bread and butter though so it was worth it. Plus we had leftovers.

Sky-High Santa

photo credit "Scott Beale / Laughing Squid"

The Space Needle is perhaps the most famous Seattle landmark and one I had resigned to never going up because they charge you $15/person to go to the top (for a ride that is not nearly as cool as say the St. Louis arch) but a local home builder was giving passes for four to anyone who donated food to their drive. I donated three times (or rather broke up one large donation into three smaller ones) in case we had time to go up when Ben's family was in town for Thanksgiving. We didn't so we were able to share some passes with friends and even a few strangers.

We have had unusually sunny winter weather here (freezing, but sunny - a fair trade as far as I'm concerned) so we knew we would have good views and we wanted to catch the sunset (which is pretty much 4:15 this time of year) to maximize our visual pleasure. A bonus was that Santa and his Space Elves were at the top ready to hear the kids secret desires for Christmas. I brought two cameras with me but batteries were out on both (I thought this might be the case so I even had at least a dozen batteries in my case and I'm sure I looked idiotic trying one combo of batteries after another to no avail. Santa can bring me a new pack of rechargeable batteries if he is listening) so I missed the most precious picture in the world of the kids beaming while sitting in Santa's Spaceship. Trust me, it was darling. But not darling enough for me to pay $20 to pay for it. Or even darling enough for Ben to let us stand in line to even view it (Santa can bring him patience). Avery told Santa that she wanted a Barbie (I was really really hoping it wasn't $150 Biscuit the Dog again this year because it would be a shame to not get what you wanted two years in a row. A Barbie we can swing.) Miles asked for socks. Done.



They also got to decorate little spaceship sugar cookies with frosting and candies so we defiantly got our money's worth on this adventure.

photos of family, city and sunset by Meka Manchak.

Seattle Sweets (and a little Salt)

I've just recently started exploring Seattle beyond Pike Place Market and what I have suspected is true - it is a very tasty city. Of course one can't just go explore on their own with only a three year old for company which is why I love visitors. My mom is particularly good for exploring with and often times she will do a little vetting on her own then let me know what is worth seeing, doing or eating. Everywhere we have lived she has found some of the best places. (And she is a human mapquest which is nice) So far the memorable eats we have had together are sandwiches at Salumi - a tiny restaurant owned by Mario Batali's parents. It opens at 11 with a line already formed well before that on most days. Basically it's a cured meats shop and they slap that on some good bread with some good cheese and voila you have a cult following. Seating is limited and you just file through and order at the counter. It's one of those places that intimidates you because the line is moving and you just keep staring at the menu on the wall without a clue how to pronounce most of the things, much less what to order. The first time I had...well...I myself ordered a spicy soppressata sandwich with fresh mozzarella and some thin, salty but delicious spread of something - garlic, anchovies? I don't know for sure but that's the sandwich I've ordered the last two times I've gone as well. The first time I also ordered the kids a meatball sandwich which I delightfully got to eat half of and my mom ordered the Porchetta at the recommendation of someone in front of us in line. Eh. It was a bit underseasoned for my taste. But that unfortunately didn't stop me from eating half of that one too. But enough about meats.

After seeing Food Network's Best Thing I Ever Ate, Fried Food Episode we had to go to Lola on Giada's recommendation and have the doughnuts. (Different day than the Salumi trip - by a couple of months actually) I am not a doughnut person. Occasionally I'll have an old-fashioned or a chocolate cake variety but Krispy Kreme or doughnuts like that I don't enjoy. These are kinda along the lines of those - light and fluffy - but small and served hot and shook up at your table with cinnamon and sugar on it. The doughnuts, while o-kay, were merely a vehicle for what accompanied them. Vanilla-Marscapone sauce and fresh seasonal (this time huckleberry) jam. Those parts were yummy. I would have them again yes, but I would go across the street and order them at Tom Douglas' bakery for a dollar less. I do want to go back to Lola though and order their Octopus Hash for breakfast. At least I think I do. In addition to the doughnuts we split a regular breakfast plate (eggs, bacon, toast, smashed potatoes) that was very yummy. Our intention was to hit up another Douglas restaurant across the street Serious Pie which was also featured on the Food Network for it's pizza. But we weren't quite hungry enough an hour later. So we went to Dahlia bakery and ended up with the Triple Coconut Cream Pie bites - I really really want a whole one but it's over $30. And the mini one at $16 just doesn't seem like the greatest deal either. But they might be worth it. The macaroons are super good too.

There is another place in Seattle that I have been having dreams about ever since I went there. This time it was with my sister-in-law Alise who was in town for a brief visit and our friend Meka who is lucky to live very near all of this culinary action. The place - Theo Chocolates. I had really wanted to go on one of their tours because it sounds like fun. But they were booked up when we went even though I called a week in advance, however, a visit to their storefront was not disappointing. It was pretty much an all-you-can-taste chocolate fest. Between my kids and I we probably ate...I don't know in weight but at least 20 dollars in chocolate. In addition to the usual milk and varying degrees of dark chocolate they had some wacky flavors like coconut curry, chai, ghost chili, etc. My favorites were the mints - peppermint and spearmint I believe, the cocoa nibs and the bread and chocolate which I had never heard of but was the best - a little sweet a little salty and a lot chocolaty. And Theo chocolate I guess is the only organic/fair trade chocolatier in the U.S. which should probably mean more to me but I just really like their samples.

Hopefully I'll get some more visitors after this.