Author: Rachel

A group of food Enthusiasts here in Seattle hit up a different burger place monthly and share their exploits online. They don’t always go in a big group, but they make the effort. I’ve known about them for years and last Thursday night, one of the prime instigators offered to head to Pig ‘n Whistle with me. And so tonight, we went along with Mr. T and a friend who I knew from my Cookbook group/club. As it happened she is already pals with the BOMC instigator who invited me in the first place.

My burger was great, Mr. T’s fried chicken was fantastic, I was thrilled to get sweet potato fries as a side and I finally got to try Smelt (can’t recall having eaten it before). Thumbs up on all food counts…except for the Sazeracs — sugared rims and shaken have no place near them, and I’d never seen one in a martini glass before.

Here’s a snap of the smelt:

And the fried chicken:

Mr. T’s parents visited this evening — we all went out to the Latona Pub, a place close to ours and a favorite of the Mister’s. His mother brought a few more things for Mr. T’s ongoing safekeeping and one was his elementary school yearbook. I especially like the hand-drawn map with the turkey/star denoting their hometown base, along the large “West Germany” across the back. How often do you see that now?

I wonder if my Mom still says West Germany. (My parents and bro spent time there before I was born.) She lived just 30 minutes north of the turkey.

Our very good friend Toad is up another year. His wife, Cynthia, planned his party for Chanterelle in Edmonds. I was just there last week for the Iran lecture, but I love Edmonds and its city center so I was excited to head right back.

We all started with Tomato Bisque: fantastic. I was worried about ordering chicken, but was drawn in by the prosciutto and gouda sauce that came with. My dish was FABULOUS. We also tried carrot cake and a few other things, but the main was my standout of the evening.

Weekend nights in Pioneer Square are usually not my bag. But, some of the kickballers & bowlers were headed there and I took their offer to join and show our bowling captain C’s friends from NC a good Seattle time. We started at Marcus’ Martini Heaven. C filed for divorce last week and laughed when I told her the last time I was at Marcus’ was the month my divorce began. Four years ago now?

Ah, breakups, such a process.

Around 11ish, we went to Trinity where C had reserved VIP for us. And all that that entails. I hung out for a bit, until I was summoned via text around 12:30 to see Shanda & Mik at Goldie’s in Wallingford. Mr. T then joined up with us for darts but later we both declined the after-parties.

I missed photographing my favorite highlights for today. Quick rundown anyway:

Porchetta sandwich from Skillet — oh my heck, so much oil. The first bite was divine, despite the fact that I’ll never order this again.

Wine-tasting on the clock, which meant there was excellent cheese and fruit for that late afternoon snack.

Dinner at a friend’s, met some new Louisiana expats.

Met up with Traca and her gang of 6 in Columbia City after the Secret Stash Salt Party at Gather. We convened at El Sombrero and now I’m on this salsa bender. Have a feeling this’ll go for weeks. Made more plans for joining up for their Burger of the Month excursion next week…can’t wait, these people are good times.

Why yes, I am annoyed by getting a ticket while out for trivia. When we parked it was raining and I thought I was good. With a flash picture, of course now I see the hydrant–this area has a silly number of hydrants and zones. It’s been two years since my last ticket; a “neighbor complaint” for my car being in my driveway, “impeding the sidewalk.” People do it constantly (from my observations while running) but our streetwatch sidewalk vigilante was inconsistent after our first 6 months here. I’m still bugged about that mostly unresolved mystery which occurred right around the time we also heard one complaining at the street block party about new folks moving in with their fancy salaries and raising their property taxes. (We wondered, oh, has your house value not gone up in 10 years?)

Whew, I feel better. For the record, 98% of the people on my street are very, very cool people.

Well, we won first place. $1 per person, our team of 6 (the max per team) won back $43. This week’s miscellaneous round was Bull Durham. We are brushing up on our gangsta rap for next week’s misc round.

Tonight we’re going to neighborhood trivia and I hope to use that for today’s true POTD, but I hate leaving the 11th blank. Some things conspired to knock me out of a photo state of mind yesterday. On the plus side for the day, we visited friends in Redmond after dinner where we watched the Inside Man. That coulda been a picture opportunity, somehow. Especially the part where the cat ran off with the fancy gouda from the dining table. We’d been preoccupied with Denzel and Clive before we saw them circling the large hunk on the floor.

The distractedness continued from yesterday into today and I semi-remedied my state mid-afternoon with caffeine and sugar. Still no Chocolate Ginger Cookies resurfaced at el PCC, but they had these “Hawaiian” cookies. The coconut and papaya are the only Hawaiian characteristics I see and those are not the first food items I think of when I think of the hula state thanks to my Hawaiian compadres. I guess incorporating spam and rice would disqualify the veganness. (I did not get these. Snickerdoodle with butter, instead.)

I wish I was in Hawaii. Soon, my pretties. Soon.

Monday, Monday, Monday.

A few years back, I whipped up a batch of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese one wintry afternoon. It was a let-down. Well, the other day, this caught my eye during a trip where I’d broken the “Never go to the grocery store hungry” rule. It was a buck, and PREMIUM! I sprinkled some frou-frou Fleur de Sel de Noirmoutier on top, along with fresh cracked pepper. End result: met my expectations perfectly. Perfect Monday Night Dinner. I followed it up with Daymented’s Hello Dollies.

This month, I hosted our discussion of Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer. Around 5 PM, I made the trip down to the Trader Joe’s for provisions. My favorite find of the night: veggie gyoza.

The book was okay and we had a full dinner-table discussion. Note to self: get a few more chairs or stools.

I’m already well into next month’s selection (Shopgirl) and am loving it so far.

Saturday night, I headed up to Edmonds to check out Rick Steves’ lecture on his recent trip to Iran. I’d followed his dispatches from that trip, and have enjoyed his speeches before. I was not disappointed. The lecture was packed, and capped off his semi-annual travel festival that typically covers most European regions and practical subjects such as “Packing Light and Right.” Check it out sometime, if you’re a traveler, it’s a horribly useful way to spend your Saturday. Rick Steves doesn’t teach all classes, but for the ones he does, he is much more political & passionate in speaking engagements vs. his PBS shows.

Afterward, it was off to Celeste and Ian’s for birthday week’s end with Rock Band and Scene It. This greeted upon arrival.

Another annual motomotoyama birthday week tradition: karaoke at the Kona Kitchen. Here is her former roommate and fellow Hawaiian, assisting with a sax solo.

Today was BUSY. Post-work outing at the closest pub (rhymes with Dead Boar and I’ll point out that I did not spend any of my own pennies, so my dear friend who nearly had a legal war with them can rest assured) to celebrate a productive week, homemade pizza-pizza at Geraldine and Rand’s with folks I hadn’t seen in nearly two months since the wedding, and a stop at Kona Kitchen karaoke to close down the night.

You should have gathered by now that I live to eat. Hell, I run marathons to eat in the style to which I’ve become accustomed.

Last week, I had this phenomenal meal from Skillet. It made my week. I set the bar way too high when I saw the grilled gouda would be available all over again. Oh, well, expectation readjustment was probably a good idea. By the time I’d walked back to my desk from the trailer, it’d been 10 minutes and the sandwich had started the sog. Things just weren’t as crisp and bright. Grilled cheese, imho, can be hard to get right. Last week’s experience benefited from a sad rendition the week before, at Jules Mae’s Saloon. GC holds a special place in my heart, as my father used to make them for me at lunch on weekends. He had his greatest hits.

(I got the poutine, as a side. Also good, but not what it was.)

What a gray day. Seattle’s other season has arrived.

One of motomotoyama’s birthday week traditions is the Wednesday Night Dinner at Santa Fe Cafe, for about 6 years running. I believe this started due to $1-off margarita specials, but am not 100% sure it’s still true. I remember asking out of vague curiosity, but I am easily distractable.

We got the backroom, which quickly filled up. Throughout the evening, Jonas surveyed the crowd for Mad Libs. Here, he’s sharing his latest findings.

Moto got her birthday wish, and now birthday week celebrations can begin properly.

The rest of us can finally exhale. Don’t stop, believing.

A perfect way to spend Election Eve.

Tonight, my friend Traca coordinated an amazing dinner with her friend Naomi of Villa Victoria. (Edited to add: She wrote about it here.) There was a fantastic mix of people there, thus great conversation. I had Mr. T at my left, Andrea the photographer at my right, and sat across from Robin, most recently of Crave. All that dynamic energy = contagious, and an antidote to these hibernation tendencies.

I love, love, love Mexican food. I was thrilled to get to take home two dozen tamales (one with Oaxacan mole, the other cheddar and jalapeno) after missing out on making my own final order a few Saturdays back before Villa Victoria switched over to catering only (mostly). There are still plans brewing at VV, but darn this economy.

After last night’s good times, we spent most of today around the house. Around dinnertime, I walked to the grocery and snapped this just before the heavy rains. I’d brought an umbrella. I know, that’s unheard of around here.

Later, we’re heading to moto’s for some Rock Band with a few of Mr. T’s colleagues.

We spent the evening on Capitol Hill, on a scavenger hunt designed by Captain Amy and the Butcher. There were about 60 different things all over the hill for us to find, in which to document ourselves. Lots of places, lots of costumes but there were a few which were serendipitous and didn’t count towards our final score. But I saved ’em for here.

The flower was an early favorite costume sighting.

Later we saw Beaker not too far from where we’d begun.

Another great Skillet Street Food lunch today. I ordered the fresh baked ziti with spicy fennel tomato sauce, meatballs, and grana padano. Mr. T advance-ordered online for us and chose the grilled cheese — smoked gouda and prosciutto on rosemary bread. It was WOW. Wow, people. We topped lunch off with lemon icebox pie. I have since requested that this be served at my final meal.

This Piaggio scooter was parked close by, near the Electric Scooter shop. It’s yours, provided you haul.

I’ve been very heads down all week, for a variety of concerns. Today, I even ate my homemade Moors & Christians lunch at my desk. Around the snacky hour, Ian texted he was in the hood. I decided it was high time to take a break and test my cookie luck at the granola PCC. I frequently mock their baked offerings, but I am a bit of a lazy gambler. Only in the sense that I’m too lazy to walk further at that hour so I’m willing to chance it. More times than I care to admit, I’ve mindlessly grabbed a treat there only to later realize its vegan status. No offense to vegans, but your cookies leave me wanting on the whole. I know there are exceptions. I gather if I gave up the tasty stuff it wouldn’t offend once my palate changed, but it’s painful for an omnivore.

I digress. At PCC this month, I came across these ginger chocolate chip cookies. No vegan labeling! They are quite like a soft gingersnap studded with chocolate goodness. Lawd, I love them. They were my first thought for snacktime today. Sadly they did not surface in my bakery section scavenging. I made do with a nearly equally fantastic non-vegan cranberry and orange oatmeal cookie. PCC, you are 2 for 2. Good on ya.

So long story long, while Ian & I walked the block, I spotted this Dino Rossi Mobile. I was curious about its ultimate destination for about 2 seconds and then went back to my grindstone.

Weeks before the current international financial crisis, I got consumerism burnout due to unintentional fall fashion overexposure. I had a Strategy, yet ended up being mildly disgusted by all the consumption in one fell swoop despite personal affordability. I am recovering, lessons learned. Oh, the limits to my Americanism. It’s cool if you like shopping. We can still be friends and there’s a good chance I’ll go with you. No doubt, I’ll still dabble.

This burnout coincided with the advent of the U-Village H&M — I’d been waiting for years for its Seattle arrival. I love it and make a beeline when traveling elsewhere, always a foreign travel perk if there’s ever additional need for one. Mr. T the anti-shopper is always patient with this; it is another thing I love about him, item #2237. He has apparently become an anti-consumer Influence.

I’d showed up at U-Village to return something elsewhere on Friday and never made it past H&M. I finally had the option at an H&M to buy/return, so I picked up some “maybes.” Yes, genius on the part of American retailers, cause it gets ya back in store again. And again. Onto Tuesday night, today. I had a return tonight on my way home. This caught my eye, but I held off. Only $12, but Winter White! I’d kill it.