Got Crabs

When E and I first bought Xanadu, we were really looking forward to crabbing in our backyard. After talking to a bunch of folks about it, however, we got a little discouraged as they complained about how bad crabbing was and how you couldn't catch anything. Since the house didn't close until October, we didn't think about it again until this summer.

E's parents came up to spend a month at Xanadu and we visited every weekend. One fine Sunday, we got a wild hair and decided to take our neighbor's crab pot out for a test drive. I went through the freezer and grabbed anything that I could find that looked at all freezer burnt so ended up with a random assortment of bait: turkey bacon, some apple sausages, a sirloin steak, and some flounder bits. We threw it all in the bait box and rowed the Port-a-Boat that Roger gave us as one of our housewarming gifts out a hundred feet from our beach and dropped the pot.

We took a long walk on the beach so that the pot could soak for a hour or so and then we took the boat back out. Given what we had heard from others and since we had absolutely no experience, we had pretty low expectations. Imagine our excitement then when we pulled the pot up to find two crabs hanging out in it! Roger gently pried the two crabs out of the pot with our 16 inch BBQ tongs and dropped them in a bucket. Now I had done some research on the matter (of course!), so I knew that both of the crabs were of the red rock variety and not dungeness. (The claws of a red rock crab are black while those of a dungeness are white.) Nevertheless, we were stoked.

Roger was in charge of cleaning and cooking the crab. First, however, he had to get them into the house. He explained that if you grabbed the crab from behind (the opposite end of the eyes), it wouldn't be able to get to you, but he was on his own there.

Once he got them inside, Roger set a big pot of water to boil and seasoned it with some spices. Once the water was good and ready, he grabbed the crabs and chucked them in the pot. They didn't go down without a fight though, and desperately clung onto the tongs with their big ass pincers, but into the pot they went. After a 15 minute boil, Roger dropped them into a sinkful of cold water to stop the cooking process. We then cleaned them thoroughly, clarified some butter, tied bibs around our necks and proceeded to chow down. Oh yeah.

Poulsbo Wine Tour

For her birthday, E and I bought Margie a wine and appetizer tour in Poulsbo through Northwest Boat Rentals. We got lucky and got a beautiful July day, which had been quite rare up until that point this year. It only got better from there.

We had four in our party and were told that couple would be joining us. They called to reschedule as we sat waiting in the boat, however, so we had the boat all to ourselves. Shortly thereafter, Captain Spencer grabbed a bottle of red and a bottle of white along with a huge appetizer plate and we were on our way. We spent the next hour and a half tooling around Liberty Bay having a blast gaping at some of the gorgeous and huge properties that are built on it. We also loved checking out all the different boats moored in the bay. Who knew that they came in such varied flavors and sizes? The icing on the top, however, came at the end when Captain Spencer slowly motored past dozens of sea lions with their pups. The babies were so freaking cute and tiny that I desperately wanted to put them in my pocket and take them home. Anyway, it was a grand, grand day. We had the sun on our faces, good food and wine in our bellies, and the best of company. It doesn't get better than that.

Toulouse Petit

E and I watch the Food Network religiously. We love to crawl into bed early so that we can ooh and aah over all the delicious food that is paraded across our TV screen. I'll be honest, there is often drool involved.

We don't just watch the Food Network for the culinary eye candy though. We pick up all sorts of tips about cooking techniques, and we sometimes get restaurant recommendations. Since we're lucky enough to live in a town with a lot of great places to eat, Seattle is regularly featured on the network. We recently watched an episode of "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" called "Bang for the Buck" which included a feature on Toulouse Petit. In the celebrity chef's opinion, Toulouse Petit had the best brunch. E and I went the very next weekend, of course, and boy, was he right.

Toulouse Petit is located in the Queen Anne neighborhood, on a corner just down the street from the now defunct Uptown Theatre. The place is always packed so you can probably locate the restaurant simply by looking for the mass of humanity that is waiting outside its doors. The interior is funky with highly textured walls, really cool light fixtures, and a bar top that has inlays of decorative crosses. During the week, they have a breakfast "Happy Hour" where everything on their breakfast menu is only $7.50 until 11 AM. In the spirit of the Big Easy, they also encourage you to enjoy your meal with adult beverages, of which there are many to choose. Select one, go back, and pick another.

I ordered their cajun corned beef hash and immediately fell head over heels in love with it. It has the perfect combination of potatoes, andouille sausage, and diced peppers that are exquisitely sweet and tangy at the same time. As with most hashes, it also comes with a couple of eggs in the flavor of your choice. I always have them put the eggs on a separate plate though as I prefer my food neatly and firmly segregated. I feel that I am the best judge of exactly what ratio of egg to hash constitutes the perfect bite of food.

E and I also shared an order of beignets. Caution: do NOT ask for a large order unless you are dining with a small village of ravenous people. A small is perfect for a table of four if you are also ordering breakfast. E's parents, who have been to New Orleans several times, have assured us that the beignets are authentic so try them, they're good. Hell, try everything in the joint. We haven't gone wrong yet!

Birthdays Galore

E's mom, Margie, was in town this year over her birthday so we decided to throw a big birthday bash to celebrate our favorite July babies: Margie, Monica, Huck and Scarlett. We had a lovely chocolate cake with butter rum frosting for the two legged party attendees and a couple of big birthday bones for the four legged honorees.

E whipped up some of her famous burgers and Monica brought a Caesar Salad with homemade dressing. Added to a a side of baked beans and some Ruffles, we had ourselves a fine meal. Speaking of Ruffles, am I the only one who thinks that they are the perfect potato chip? I'm a person who has a pretty good handle on self control, even when it comes to food. I may mentally obsess over food, but I can almost always prevent myself from eating it. This is not the case when it comes to Ruffles. Something about that magical combination of starch, salt, texture and oil makes them irresistible to me. I do my best to stop at a handful of chips but the need to have more eats at my brain until I can't think of anything else. Yes, Ruffles have ridges, but do you know what else they have? Crack inside them. Nothing else explains it.

Anyway, much wine was drunk, tons of laughter was issued, and lots of love went around. It's a damn shame that each birthday brings you one step closer to death, because the parties are just a freakin' blast. Hope you had a great birthday, Margie, Monica, Huck and Scarlett!

Oh, Polenta

E and I started seriously eating polenta about a year ago. It is some seriously good stuff. We started off with buying the stuff in tubes that you just cut off into lovely little slices but we could never use the whole tube before it was done for. We just discovered the mix a couple of months ago and while it makes a really nice polenta, we are still trying to figure out how to reliably fry it. (To make it, you basically just add water and stir. It couldn't be easier.) Fried polenta, don't you know, is the bomb. We had it for dinner recently with some stuffed sole and rice pilaf. It was good eats.

Bar del Corso

E and I first moved to Beacon Hill in '98 and we never left. Things have changed a great deal in the intervening years, most of them for the better. Amazon.com came and recently left, the neighborhood continues to gentrify with more and more young couples moving in, and now we have the blessed light rail. As far as we're concerned, the Hill is pretty damned great, but we were missing a couple of things: a pizza joint and a good pub, both within walking distance. Well, one out of two is a pretty good start.

We first heard about Bar del Corso some time back and have been anxiously following their progress via blogs. We decided to head on over a few days after their grand opening but got discouraged and left after hearing that the wait time was over an hour. Not to be defeated, we tried again a week later but left again after facing another hour+ wait time. Without much optimism, we attempted another visit a week later and I guess the third time was the charm because within 5 minutes of our arrival, we found ourselves sitting at the bar. (Please note that the bar is not free sitting and you will need to be on the waiting list.) We are so glad we kept pounding at the door because it was well worth it.

Bar del Corso used to be the Beacon Pub, which was the local dive bar. We actually always had a great time at the bar because it was always filled with the greatest mix of people and personalities, who all shared extreme friendliness in common. But it was a DIVE. We could not have been more shocked, therefore, when we walked into the open, light, clean lined and airy space that Bar del Corso now occupies.

E and I ordered two pizzas, a bottle of very lovely white wine, and an appetizer of Suppli al Telefono, which is Roman street food that consists of fried risotto balls and mozzarella. All I have to say about the appetizer is Holy F'ing Crap, my mouth is delirious. The plate came with three balls of gooey, chewy, fried loveliness.

The pizzas both came at the same time. We had ordered a Salame Piccante and a Fiore di Zucca. The first had salame, tomato, mozzarella, roasted red bell peppers and grana (an Italian hard cheese). It tasted like a wonderful pepperoni pizza and we absolutely loved it.

The Fiore di Zucca was outside the box for us in that it was completely vegetarian, in other words, completely SANS BEEF. This pie came with basil pesto, grilled zucchini, zucchini flowers, caramelized onions, mozzarella and grana. Wow. This pizza just exploded with flavor and texture. It was so good that we will be ordering it again and again despite it's being the v-word.

So, to sum it up, the experience was all we had hoped that it would be. The appetizer was great. The pies were wonderful with very thin crust and great flavor. And the ambiance was just right. Ultimately, the food at Bar del Corso is amazing but what pushes it up yet another notch is that it is also a feast for the eyes.

Shut Up and Drink It

We love to entertain and entertaining, of course, goes hand in hand with wine. We don't discriminate between white and red and believe that they each compliment different foods, seasons and moods. In the summer, for example, we usually gravitate towards a buttery or crisp white that will refresh and invigorate, while in the winter, a comforting and rich red brings a much needed warmth to a dark and gloomy evening. Red meat is enhanced by a heavy red while white meat and seafood play better with a white.

We weren't always such equal opportunity drinkers, however. When we first got turned into wine, we drank only red and scoffed at white drinkers because they obviously didn't know the first thing about wine. That was also when we thought that sharing one bottle of $5 wine between the two of us was going balls out so that just shows you that we didn't know nothing about anything.

The one thing that hasn't changed about us, however, is our insistence upon using the right glass for the right beverage. Just as white and red wines each enhance different foods and situations, using a glass designed for the particular wine, brings out the best in them. Red wine glasses tend to have wide and round bowls that help the drinker bring more air into the wine. This helps to mellow out the flavors and smooth out the tannins that generally exist in red wine. In contrast, white wine glasses tend to have smaller mouths to decrease the rate of oxidation in order to keep the wine beautifully clean and crisp.

Our friends are terrified about being yelled at for a potential incorrect choice of glassware at our house, so they very wisely ask us each time what they should use. Well, they can tease us all they want for being crazy and anal as we have only their best interests in mind. It's all about having the right tools to do the job after all.

Taco Madness

E and I are traditionalists when it comes to our tacos. We think that tacos should consist of a lot of meat sitting in the middle of a shell, with some coarsely chopped lettuce and shredded cheese for garnish, and a little bit of spicy taco sauce for that fiesta flavor. We prefer to use a flat iron or flank steak for the protein and lately, I've taken to marinating the meat for a few hours before. For a marinade, I've lately just been using dry taco seasoning dissolved in some water and oil. It seems to coat the meat really well and just enhance the taco experience.

We've always been flour tortilla girls, but just recently, we have discovered an appreciation of corn tortillas. (This is not like the dark v. white meat debate or cilantro. This is more like whether you are more fond of the uncle who bought you a Pound Puppy for Xmas, or the one who gave you a Cabbage Patch Kid, because in a pinch, you'd play with either one.) We buy the white corn ones and E lightly fries them in some oil while bending one half of it into the other, to create a something that is not quite a hard shell and yet not altogether a soft shell either. It is just perfect.

My biggest challenge is trying to avoid the dreaded overfill. I am a CHRONIC overfiller. There never looks like there's enough filling in my shell. It isn't until I try to close the taco and actually have to dislocate my jaw to get my mouth around it that I realize that oops, I've done it again. Oh well. This is just one those things that one must endure to be a true taco artist.

Main Street Ale House

Where does one start when talking about the Main Street Ale House in Kingston? Let me provide you with a detailed guideline.

Step 1, wipe the drool that has dribbled down your chin from the mere thought of the Main Street Ale House. It will be there, I promise.

Step 2, decide on a beverage. The alehouse has a ton of microbrews on tap and Lara whips up a fantastic margarita. Consider trying a pint of something made by one of the locals, the Silver City Brewery (Silverdale) or the Hood Canal Brewery (Kingston). You can't go wrong with the Silver City Ziggy Zoggy, which is one my my favorite summer ales.

Step 3, decide on a meal. Nearly everything we've had there has been just awesome but we have particular fondness for the fish and chips. Now, I know it's unorthodox but I sometimes substitute the fries for the ale house's delicious onion rings. E frowns heavily at this practice because she says that without fries, it's no longer fish and "chips." I usually don't respond to this criticism because I'm so busy trying to sop up every drop of the amazing sauce that is served with the onion rings. It can be really hard to focus when one is endeavoring to move food from a plate to one's belly as quickly as possible.

Step 4, gorge yourself. The food is seriously good. We've done both breakfast and lunch and very much enjoyed both. In addition to fish and chips, the cheese bread is so decadently rich and gooey chewy (it's a technical term, look it up) that you can't really eat more than a slice though your mouth will beg you to do so.

Step 5, sit back and enjoy the ambiance. The ale house has an open floor design so it's light and airy, and is right by the ferry terminal in Kingston so from the back deck, you have a great view of the water. They also have karaoke every Friday and Saturday night, and Sunday is open mic night so go then if you want to indulge your inner diva.

Step 6, unbutton and loosen your pants. You know why.

Dark v. White: The Great Debate

This week, E's parents came to stay at Xanadu for awhile to help us get the place into uber tip top shape. They arrived midday on Friday and we headed over to the Peninsula after work. During our trip over, E somewhat sheepishly informed me that her mom was planning on having dinner ready for us as soon as we arrived (certainly nothing to be abashed about, lucky us!) BUT dinner would consist of chicken breasts and corn. I assured her that I was not raised in a barn and would thus choke down as much of the offending white meat as I could. And I did.

Ok. I know that white meat costs a helluva lot more than dark meat but I sure can't figure out why. I think the chasm between eaters of dark meat and those of white spans nearly as wide as that between lovers and haters of cilantro. (In case you ever find yourself in the position of making us dinner, you should know that we both fall into the intensely dislike camp when it comes to cilantro. In fact, we are often tempted to tell servers that even just a hint of cilantro is enough to elicit in us seizures.) The debate between dark and white meat has existed since probably as long as man has been eating meat and will likely last until we're all just sucking Tang through our tubes on the international space stations. Perhaps this is just one of those things that we're just never going to agree upon? I will always think that breast meat is tasteless and dry to the point that the back of my throat feels dangerously deprived of moisture no matter how well it is cooked. In contrast, E will never get over dark meat feeling too wet, chewy, and visually too dark like living flesh. Oh well. It's a helluva lot more interesting than arguing over whose god might or might not actually exist.

El Quetzal

Let's start on a brief linguistic note since "quetzal" is not exactly a word one hears everyday. The quetzal was the most sacred symbol of the Mayas, whose civilization once spanned from present-day southern Mexico to the northern Central American region, including what is now Guatemala and Belize, and parts of El Salvador and and Honduras. To the Maya, the quetzal symbolized both freedom and wealth. Cool, huh?

We first visited the restaurant El Quetzal in 2006, not long after it moved into the neighborhood. I remember being relatively unimpressed by it's humble exterior with really only a painted window and a sandwich board on the sidewalk to mark its existence. A friend who worked in the Sodo district highly recommended the restaurant and it was within walking distance of our Beacon Hill home so we gave it a shot. The food was okay and the offerings limited so nearly a year went by before we tried it again.

In 2007, we decided to go to El Quetzal again. The place was still there a year after opening and Mexican is one of the few cuisines that E and I could eat just about all the time. Well, thank goodness we went back because the kinks had been worked out and the food was not only awesome but cheap. It had been a long time since I was last in Mexico, and in truth, I was in college and just a wee bit inebriated (read: my friends carried me across the border), but everything at El Quetzal tasted so authentic. We made it one of our regular haunts and ordered from them at least once week for some time.

Well, success is often a mixed bag for the consumer, especially where restaurants are concerned. While we celebrated the fact that the restaurant was often quite occupied and thus felt good about its continued presence, we did note with some alarm that the prices slowly but surely crept up. When the quality seemed to drop in relation to their near downtown equivalent prices, however, we finally decided that it was time to take a break. Now, this was more of a Rachel rather than a Ross kind of break as we always thought that we'd get back together again after the offending member of the pair sorted through its issues. The break lasted a lot longer than we both probably imagined that it would, but ultimately, the world did right itself.

We stayed away for well over a year and only tried them again by accident. We were actually trying to nosh at a nearby restaurant but got discouraged by their projected wait of over an hour. Not being folks who wait that long for much, we thought we'd give El Quetzal another shot. We are so glad that we did. The restaurant was completely remodeled and expanded, and now served alcohol. The space had morphed from claustrophobic to airy, and holy moly, their sangria was the best I've ever had at a restaurant. I ordered enchiladas that were so spicy that the back of my head was sweating profusely in the most lovely fashion, and man, was it good. E had fish tacos which, she too, thought were the best that she had ever had. El Quetzal, we're going to just forget about our time apart, during which you probably became too close with the copy shop girl next door. We look forward to the next chapter of our relationship.

Summer Leaves, Revisited

We are not fans of leaves. They seem bland and a little too close to the dirt. In the interest of maintaining an acceptable waistline, however, we endeavor to consume leaves at least once a week. It feels like a chore and often an uphill battle, but we do try and that's all that truly counts, right? I wonder how many calories one burns from merely mentally debating about something?

When E and I decide that we are at our debaucherous consumption limit and thus need a salad to flush all of the fine living right out of us, our minds go immediately to the protein that should accompany our meal. Leaves without any protein, afterall, is just a plain salad and are, therefore, a meal in clear violation of the Geneva Convention which spells out what is acceptable in instances of international warfare.

With the last salad that we ate, we decided that shrimp would be the most fetching accessory. I marinated the peeled shrimp in an olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt, and red pepper flake concoction and let all the ingredients mix and mingle for a half hour. I then slid them onto metal skewers so they could be easily grilled. E has a like well enough/intensely fear relationship with shrimp so when we ever so infrequently have it at our house, it is usually served heavily seasoned and bearing the marks of a grill. You see, she thinks that shrimp has the texture of human flesh. Now, I'm not quite clear on how she came to this conclusion, but let's hope that it wasn't through trial and error. Anyhoo, the shrimp came out impressively spicy and delicious and made lifelong vows with its soul mate, chevre. Absolutely delightful, I mean for leaves and all.

Buenos Aires Grill

We're always reading about, hearing about, or seeing on TV things that happen to other people. Now, we know intellectually, that these things could just as easily happen to any one of else...well, except for the fact that it doesn't, ever, happen to any one of us. That is, until now.

E and I bought a Groupon some months back to an Argentinian BBQ joint that we had never heard of before, the Buenos Aires Grill. To be honest, the only reason we bought the Groupon is because we had eaten at a local Brazilian BBQ restaurant, Ipanema, and simply loved it. Guys dressed in black looking like some version of a Latin mafia bringing around big skewers of various flavors of meat to your table and slicing pieces off with a very sharp knife, what's there not to like? So, when Groupon advertised a deal for the Buenos Aires Grill, we were all over it. It turns out, however, that Brazilian and Argentinian BBQ are not the same thing. Who knew?

Buenos Aires Grill is in the heart of downtown Seattle, just around the corner from the Whiskey Bar. It has a separate bar area and a good combination of two-tops and tables for larger parties. The waiter had originally wanted to seat us in the front right by the front door, but we passed because it was getting chilly. It was the middle of July but, you know, summer decided not to visit this year. We were instead seated in the back right next to a very tall man sitting by himself. I made special note of how his knees were pressed tightly against the bottom of the table.


E and I began with a glass of Pinot Noir and dug into the bread that was brought us. It was very focaccia-like, chewy with a nice fluffiness to it. I am no connoisseur of bread and other carb forward foods, but E is, and she assures me that it was very tasty. The two dips were very interesting and like nothing we've ever had before. One was a herby deal and the other some onion, bell pepper and celery mix. In the end, we just preferred the bread by itself.

As we munched on our bread, we overheard our tall neighbor next to us struggle while ordering his meal. He spoke in a heavy accent and very obviously had a difficult time expressing himself. It went something like this:

Tall Guy: I want big steak.
Waiter: A 12 ounce or 15 ounce steak?
Tall Guy: (Gesturing in the universal way for something large) Big steak.
Waiter: Well, our Buenos Aires cut of the New York steak is the biggest at 32 ounces. It's about the size of a small football.
Tall Guy: (Gesturing again but with a bit more frustration) Yah, yah, big steak.

Our neighbor then sat back, wiped his brow, and sipped on his beer.

E ordered filet mignon medallions and I ordered a NY strip steak. With our beefy dinners, we knew that we needed something heavier and bolder than the Pinot we had been drinking so we each got a Malbec. Our dinners came and they were wonderful. Each had its own lovely sauce and some beautifully grilled veg. The Malbec was a great complement to it and we happily tucked into our dinner.




We couldn't help but notice when our tall neighbor received his meal because it was the size of my head, which is not insubstantial. It came on this very, very large sizzling plate and the waiter seriously wasn't kidding when he had warned that it was as large as a small football. We of course had to start chatting with the man because, damn, who can stay silent in the face of so much beef? We learned that his name was Claudio and that he was from Croatia. He worked on a cargo ship that had just pulled into Seattle that day that had originally departed from China. His ship was Indonesian and had an Indonesian cook whose fare was "garbage." As a result, he sought something different for dinner and wandered into the Buenos Aires Grill.

We chatted a bit more and helped him Google directions to the closest Army/Navy surplus store. When the waiter came by to pack up our leftovers and drop off the check, Claudio told the waiter to "put it together." At first, we thought he meant for us to take his leftovers, of which there was a shockingly small amount given the size of his steak. To our enormous surprise, however, he wanted to pay for our bill in addition to his own. We were flabbergasted and protested but he insisted. We kind of just sat there with our mouths open thanking him all the way out the door. E and I couldn't stop talking about what happened for the rest of the night, and I think we're still experiencing a high from the evening. We have vowed to pay in forward, though maybe the spirit won't strike while we're in a steakhouse?

Thanks again, Claudio!

Fighting Off the Scurvy

I am not a big one for fruit so must rely on vitamins and other sources for my vitamin C. I've discovered that one of the best delivery methods is the consumption of fruity cocktails. By merely adding fruit to a spirit, one finds oneself with a health beverage. This is the perfect example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. You've all heard that tired old saying about an apple a day keeping the doctor away? Well, a pomegranate martini kicks the apple's butt.

Circling Back to Circa

E and I are constantly in W. Seattle. We absolutely love that neighborhood. If the commute off the W. Seattle bridge wasn't so miserable, we'd probably live there. As it is, we are just a ten minute hop to nearly all it has to offer. We frequent a ton of restaurants in the area, and one of our hands down favorites is Circa in the Admiral district. It is a cozy little neighborhood joint right down the street from the Admiral Theatre. It doesn't seat too many so there is sometimes a wait but it is well worth it. The service is warm and friendly, and the food is excellent. I always go into Circa with an open mind and I listen to all of the specials and pore over the menu, but I inevitably order the grilled skirt steak. The dish comes with a lovely Asian style BBQ sauce, mashed potatoes, and whatever fresh veggies they're cooking up that day. I usually ask for a side of gorgonzola cheese to fold into my hot mashed potatoes so that it melts into a blob of utter savory deliciousness.



Circa also has a chocolate cake that E dreams about. It is one of those dense chocolate on chocolate type dealies that is served warm with a smattering of powdered sugar and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. I'm not a dessert kind of girl. Now, I'm not an appetizer kind of girl either. I'm of the opinion that nothing is worth consuming if it competes for room in my stomach with beef. So, sadly for E, we don't order this dessert very often. But anytime we go to Circa with normal people who do eat dessert, she almost always gets them to dig in with her. No one ever regrets it.

I Have a Tapeworm when at Xanadu

There must be something in the air that wafts off the Puget Sound because whenever we are at Xanadu, we want to eat and drink like lords. No joke. E whips us up a gorgeous breaky every morning often including her newly famous Rae-Cakes. Mind you, E and I are NOT pancake people. My damage could possibly lead back to the first time that E made me pancakes for breakfast when they were raw in the middle and the Bloody Mary's didn't have any vodka in them, but I don't want to point fingers. Whatever the root cause, until we got Xanadu, we ate pancakes about twice a year. Ever since the keys exchanged hands, however, Rae-Cakes have been on the Xanadu menu at least once a weekend. We still don't eat them in Seattle. (I know these aren't Rae-Cakes but you gotta love the golden brown croissants!)



It doesn't end with breakfast. We usually have lunch sometime during our outings into Kingston, Poulsbo, Silverdale or Port Gamble. Our current favorite lunchtime joint on the Peninsula right now is the Main Street Alehouse, but we'll talk more that that some other time.



We always try to get back to Xanadu by 4-ish because we need to have time to prepare for Happy Hour at the End of the World. What is that, you ask? From mid-April through the end of September, five different cruise lines (Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Princess, Celebrity, and Carnival) steer their ships nearly daily through our backyard. E whips up a batch of margaritas and I set up chairs and a table on the very edge of our property overlooking the Puget Sound. We then take bets on which cruise lines will be making an appearance and simply take in and enjoy our Happy Hour at the End of the World.

Bella Luna

On our way from the Bainbridge ferry terminal to Xanadu, E and I drive through Suquamish tribal lands. We've wanted to stop there for a bite for some time now because of some good buzz we've heard about the Agate Pass Cafe and Bella Luna Pizzeria. We originally planned on eating at the Agate Pass Cafe but changed our minds when we checked out the digs and the menu. It had the dressings of a higher end restaurant with linen table cloths and a pricey menu. Just not what we were looking for on a Friday evening after heading over to the Kitsap Peninsula straight after work. The Bella Luna Pizzeria, however, totally hit the spot. They have a great beer selection, offering our current favorite seasonal beer, the Ziggy Zoggy by the Silver City Brewery. We split a pepperoni and garlic pizza and it was muy tasty. The pie was a smidge oilier than we prefer but the pie had gorgeous crispy parts and the pizza crafters did not skimp on the garlic which, in my opinion, shows that they are quality folk in possession of great character.


This was only the second time we have actually stopped in Suquamish. Our first was in December 2010 when we visited the grave of Chief Sealth, for whom Seattle was named. Chief Sealth who was born in 1786 and died in 1866, was the chief of the Suquamish and a confederation of Duwamish bands. The Suquamish, which means "people of the clear salt water" have lived in the Central Puget Sound area for approximately 10,000 years. It's a pretty cool place with nice parks, a great view, some good restaurants, and the final resting place of a major player in Pacific Northwest history. If you're ever in the area, consider taking the time to check it out.

Thirsty Thursdays

E and I joined our first wine group 12 years ago. We had so much fun that when the Wednesday Winos broke up in 2003, we assembled another group post haste. We largely kept the same format of monthly meetings and rotating hosts who provide the wine and nibblies, but did move to a different day of the week and thus the Thirsty Thursdays was born. These get-togethers are about a whole host of different things, including learning more about wine in general, tasting different wines, examining the relationship between food and wine, and catching up with dear friends.


Our most recent tasting was at Monica's. We always try to schedule her turns to take place in the summer because she shares her house with two cats and E and I are DEATHLY allergic to felines. Her eyes water so much that she can't see and her throat starts to close up. I sneeze nonstop and my skin itches from the inside out. Suffice it to say that unless we are outside, we can comfortably be at Monica's house for no more than 15 minutes before I start to head towards the light. It helps that Monica has a back patio that is made for entertaining. She has an assortment of cozy and colorful outdoor furniture and fun decorations and lighting. Mon also has great taste in dishware and sets a really beautiful table.



There's just nothing better than laughing with good friends over the rim of a wine glass.

Columbia City Alehouse

One of our absolute favorite places to eat is the Columbia City Alehouse. We end up in Columbia City quite a bit. It just has this super cool feel about it and the fact we live minutes from it doesn't hurt. We really only traverse three or so blocks of the neighborhood, but in that small space, we frequent seven restaurants/bars and one movie theatre (well, that is until it recently closed its doors). The one we probably hit the most is the alehouse. On top of a really solid menu, they have daily specials, soups of the day, and an excellent beer selection. Every Monday, they have a different south of the border taco, and each Wednesday, they feature a new cask condition beer. The patrons are pretty diverse ranging from older couples, to lesbian couples, to groups of boys, to a lady who sits by herself reading her Kindle over a pint of cask beer. The special last week was a spicy sausage sandwich that sounded so good that we both ordered it. It was freaking awesome.

Salad and Leaves

Salmon is huge in Seattle. During Copper River salmon season, the restaurants charge obnoxious amounts of money for dishes because they can. Until this year, however, I've been pretty lukewarm about salmon. I always thought it was too fishy or too dry or too over-hyped. Well, I finally got on board with the salmon love this year. We found Copper River salmon very reasonably priced because, according to a fishmonger with whom I spoke, they had a really good fishing season. So, that prompted us to buy a whole fish which we cut up into fillets, vacuum sealed, and froze. Man, the first meal we made with it was so buttery, tasty, rich and not fishy that I had a total hallelujah moment. I am such a fan now that I didn't even mind the fact that I was consuming a big plate of leaves. That speaks volumes.

Mamma Mia, Pizzeria!

Mioposto is a cafe and pizzeria nestled away in Mount Baker. It is about a 3 minute drive from our house and while we could walk it, the humongous hill that is McClellan dissuades us from doing so. Going up a steep hill with a belly fully of pizza and beverages just sounds like a formula for disaster. We LOVE this restaurant and visit at least once a month. This place has so much going for it. Mioposto has my favorite pizza, a butternut squash & goat cheese number, that has caused me to desert my wife after years of peaceably splitting pepperoni pies. They have a great airy and sunny space, and a wood fired pizza oven. The beer is pretty good and if you don't see anything you want on the wine menu, pick something up at the wine cellar a few doors down and have it with dinner at the lowest corkage fees in town. While we usually only go for dinner, they also have some really interesting things on the breakfast menu and they make a strong cup of joe. If you go and order a pie, be sure to ask them to salt the crust. Trust me!

Winner, Winner, Pizza Dinner

E and I rarely win contests of any sort. While we are very lucky in life, we just don't walk away from giveaways and raffles as winners even when the odds are 3:1. That is probably why I was so inordinately pleased to win a gift card to Mioposto on Facebook. They asked their fans to choose a number between 1-100 and since I can count that high, I figured I'd throw out a number. Fortunately for me, mine was the closest to their randomly drawn number! If I were a betting woman, I'd say that there is a pizza in my near future...

All Hail Hale's

We've lived in Seattle since 1997 and have somehow never made it to Hale's Alehouse in Fremont. For no good reason, I assumed that Hale's was as uninteresting a large alehouse as Pyramid but I was wrong. We went to Hale's in Silverdale after a day of shopping on the Kitsap Peninsula and had some great beer and food. Between E and I, we had a total of 4 Hale's beers (El Jefe Weizen, Cream HSB, Kolsch and Supergoose IPA) and 4 guest beers (Firestone Walker's Union Jack IPA, Alpine Bohemian Pilsner, Firestone Walker's Red Nectar and Battenkill Brewing's Summer Rain Pale Ale). Man, Hale's makes an excellent traditional hefeweizen. We enjoyed it so much and we got a growler of it to go. The food is great as is the service, and they have outside seating which came in real handy for the brief hint of summer we've had thus far. I highly recommend the chili, though I've rarely met a bowl of seasoned beef that I didn't like. Maybe we'll even make it to Hale's in Fremont at some point!

Black Chicken

We started drinking wine in 1998 and our house wines retailed at $5 a bottle. Man, those were the days. When we discovered zins, the 7 Deadly Zins became a rapid favorite. As our palates continued to change, however, we found the wine to be too heavy and sweet and being the fickle imbibers we are, we abandoned zinfandels altogether. This dry spell lasted without question for a good five years until recently. E had this wine not too long ago and thought it was the bomb so when she heard that it was on sale at Pete's in Bellevue recently, she raced out to buy a bottle. I am so glad that she did. Zinfandel, let's be friends again, shall we?

Finger Lickin' Good

We've been wanting to try out this BBQ joint in W. Seattle for a long time now. We purchased a Groupon to try to push us gently towards this goal and it wasn't until it was nigh 'til expiring that we finally did it. We are very glad that we did. The Brickhouse BBQ was very Texas, and I say this without ever having ever stepped foot in Texas. The Dallas Cowboys have been my favorite football team since I was a wee child, however, so perhaps that counts some. Anyhow, we immediately felt at ease with the velvet portraits on the wall and the posters that sought to celebrate both Husky and Cougar. Our server, Coach Bill Dozer, was an absolute hoot and he was definitely Johnny on the Spot. Now, we are by no means BBQ experts but we are certainly no virgins. This BBQ was very solid. The brisket was good but could have used a bit more moisture from the fat and the connective tissue could have broken down just a wee bit more. The cornbread, both traditional and jalapeno, was delicious, and the pea salad was muy interesante. E ordered a margarita that was made in the back room and passed even her high standards and I ordered a hard cider. It's not every day that one can find a Strongbow at all so I was pretty thrilled even though it was bottled and not on tap. Overall, a very decent BBQ joint with great service. We will be back.