Leaving Seattle

Th

Ivar's and Anthony's are both at SeaTac. Ivar's has clam and salmon chowders on special for 75c a bowl, so of course I had to have some.

Wed

Chocolate University at Theo, part two. Didn't eat quite as much chocolate as last time. Tried 100% cacoa liquers (Ghanaian and Venezulean). Blech! Tasting 100% cacao is only for the professionals.

Tues

Uwajimaya has whole albacores for $3.79 a pound. I was tempted to buy one to try cutting it up (tuna is built fundamentally different than other fish, doesn't have two fillets, but four loins). Didn't want to stink up Jon's kitchen though.

Chocolate

Th
Jon made me and his wife a great dinner with produce from nearby Metropolitan Market in the U.
I also picked up a Beecher's cheese and truffle butter sandwich there. I may have to get another.

Wed
Facebook feed:
went to chocolate university at theo in seattle last night, taught by the COO, brilliant phd biochemist/ops engineer/angel investor. it was a phenomenal discussion of chocolate history, biochemistry, taste, culture, politics, food production, business. i'm thinking of flying back next wed for part 2. i was also on a theobromine bender from all the chocolate.

Seattle Pics

Sorry, you have to be on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036729&id=1443656174&ref=nf

WA Mainland

Monday

I'm in Bellevue now. I was looking for a favorite spot of mine, Koot's Green Tea cafe, but it closed. I'm staying at Vasa Lake Resort on Lake Sammamish in Bellevue (look up the history of Sweden's infamous Vasa) for the next night or two. The camping is warm and easy. I can see a mansion up on the hill over the lake -- it might be Ichiro's house.


Sunday

Drove back to Seattle. Got a hotel near the airport so Edita could leave early the next morning. Amusing incident, on the way back, Edita needed a coffee, so we stopped at one of those uniquitous road coffee shacks. Turns out it was called Baristas Gone Wild, and the barista was in a bikini. We kept an eye out for other coffee shacks on the way back, and quite a few of them had these girlie themes. I guess one started as a novelty and the others in the area decided they had to compete.

That evening we went to Seattle, stopped by Ballard locks (saw a few salmon), went to the Portlock store (Edita bought a few salmon) stopped by the Fremont market and (stay tuned for a picture of a fascinating six-person orthagonal bike coming soon). We stopped by Theo and tried all their chocolates. I noticed a Theo signature chocolate bar that had pinenuts and basil (in other words, pesto). Chocolate and pesto, two of my favorite things, so I had to have it, even though it was $4 an ounce. It was very good, but I wasn't blown away:


"Our Limited Edition Basilico Pignoli (Basil Pinenut) bar was featured in the recent issue of EVERYDAY with Rachael Ray. This item is available by special order, please contact us for details."

We stopped by the REI flagship as well. To continue an earlier analogy, REI is the Neiman Marcus of Seattle. Having driven to Ranier base camp, I now get a sense now how much Ranier dominates the Seattle consciousness, as visible as it is from Seattle, how nearby it is, and the outdoor opportunities it has to offer. Without Ranier, there probably would be no REI.

Saturday

Earlier in the week, I had noticed in the paper that the Ranier Mountain Festival was this weekend. Edita has a strong interest, because she wants to climb Shasta, Ranier, and eventually K2 (nuts). So we left San Juan island Sat morning and drove to Ranier Base Camp in Ashford, WA, about 3 1/2 hours. The whole base camp area (store, bunkhouse, rentals) is owned by the Whittakers, a famous climbing family. Copper Creek Inn nearby has very good food, especially the blackberry vinagrette.

The children's playground at base camp has a climbing wall for toddlers. I kid you not (see pics, to follow once we upload them). We camped at nearby Alder Lake.

San Juan Islands

Fri - San Juan Island

Drove around the island today. Saw orcas on the west side. Stopped by Roche Harbor Village, which reminds me of the village from the BBC show The Prisoner. Really. About to go salmon fishing. 70F and sunny today.

Th - San Juan Island

Kayaked around Friday Harbor today in a sit-on-top Hobie pedal boat. Rented a crab pot and caught two red rock crabs, which we had for dinner.

Wed - Orcas to San Juan

Packed up Wed morning at Moran State Park (rainy night), then took the ferry to San Juan Island. Our ferry, The Evergreen State, has half-done puzzle out on tables for passengers to entertain themselves with, which Oliver would appreciate. We arrived in Friday Harbor and dropped in on Joyce. One of her neighbors is away, so she let us stay at their house. Very nice! They all live in a secluded development on the west side. We picked apples from two kinds of apple trees, snap peas from Joyce's other neighbor, an Alaskan fisherman.

Tues

Took a six-hour kayak tour out of Deer Harbor, great weather and views. Stopped on a couple of islands along the way. Tried fishing off a pier out of Orcas Village in the eve, just caught some bait and dogfish sharks.

Mon

Took the ferry from Anacortes to Orcas Island. Set-up camp in Moran State Park. The eponymous Robert Moran is a very interesting character, look him up. Last night we did some window shopping in downtown Seattle, went to the Columbia Sportwear and Mountain Hard Wear stories. They almost count as high-end fashion in Seattle, sort of like Armani and Prada.

Urban Seattle - Sunday

We shopped for our trip and spent time in and around Seattle. Went to Uwajimaya in South Seattle, a fabulous Japanese megamart with great produce, Japanese groceries and delis. Also stopped by Fran's Chocolates in downtown -- famous for smoked sea salt caramels, I have her cookbook)in downtown, one of my favorite chocolate places all time, I've spent way too much money there. Stopped by the Bumbershoot music festival. Browsed some Pacifc NW First Nations art galleries. Off to Orcas Islands tomorrow. Pictures to come later in the week.

www.uwajimaya.com
www.bumbershoot.org
www.franschocolates.com

Arrived in Seattle - Puget Sound and Salmon

I've decided to post to his blog again, at least for a little while, so as to not clutter Facebook with too many updates of my trip.

We arrived at SeaTac Sat afternoon. It rained on and off during the day, but it was mild -- 55F at night, 70F during the day. Our campsite is at Dash Point in Tacoma, right next to the ocean. It rained quite heavily at night, but fortunately, we were upgraded to a rental car that is large enough for us to sleep in. That worked out real wekk. We will be able to weather the rain this long weekend in Seattle in the car. Hopefully once we arrive on the San Juans on Monday, the rain will let up. This weekend if also the Bumbershoot film festival in Seattle.

One of the attractions of the Puget Sound area is that is has the urban attractions of Seattle, but relatively pristine nature nearby, including the sound. I took Edita to Point Defiance Park, which has inexpensive boat and fishing rod rentals. We saw people catching Dungeness and salmon there. This got us excited about the prospect of fishing the islands next week. You wouldn't catch me eating a crab or salmon out of SF Bay, but here it's fine.

Another Seattle attraction for me and Edita is Ivar's Seafood Bar. This is literally a fast food joint, but it has wild Yukon river salmon (grilled or fried) as well as other wild fish such as halibut. Also, among other thins, salmon chowder and cioppino. This is kind of the McDonald's of Seattle.

Right now we're waiting out pouring rain at Starbucks in Tacoma. Trying to decide whether to do something outdoors or indoors.

http://www.ivars.net
http://www.metroparkstacoma.org/page.php?id=79