Beerless in Seattle

Pardon the horrible phone-tography throughout this post...

{Over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to pepper in random posts about our time in Washington.  The events will be out of order.  I'll try to link back to other posts so you can keep up no matter where you start, but I can't promise I'll be that consistent!}

Remember Morgan, my Bloggy Bestie from the Foodbuzz Festival lastyear?  Well, she just so happens to live in Seattle, and Sous Chef and I just so happened to be in Seattle a couple weeks ago.  We were in the area visiting my grandparents for the week, and took a couple days to explore Seattle.  We had several things in mind we wanted to see/do while we were there:

1.  See Morgan

2.  Visit the Chihuly Glass and Garden Museum

3.  Sample the elusive, extremely-limited in quantity, and apparently Best Beer Ever, Pliney the Elder (this was Sous Chef's Quest for the week, since Pliney's is only available in a few places on the West coast and, oddly enough, in Philadelphia)

4.  Go to Pike Place Market

During our whirlwind 32 hours in Seattle, we managed to accomplish all but #3, though we did manage to procure a couple of precious bottles of the elixir and pack it very carefully for the flight home.  We sampled it about a week later.

It was wonderful to see Morgan again; our personalities are quite similar: intelligent, funny, sarcastic, and snarky when necessary (or when it's just too tempting not to be).  We managed to sample a few non-Pliney yet still satisfying IPAs, so Sous Chef was happy.  We happened to meet up with them when there was a ginormous parade going by on the street.

I was convinced that we were going to get a ticket for parking in a grocery store lot, until I noticed the police squad was a part of the parade.  They were propped up on their motorcycles, riding around in "V" formation.  We were good to go.

Morgan was really anxious to introduce us to a great vegetarian restaurant in the Greenwood area of Seattle, Carmelita.  The food was amazing.  I don't know if the flavors were augmented by the Malbec wine, the excitement of seeing Morgan again, or the knowledge that I was 3,000 miles away from Everyday Life, but it doesn't matter.  Morgan says that every time she's been there, it's been great.

The restaurant specializes in utilizing local ingredients; the menu changes quite often, reflecting what's in season and available nearby.  Check out the pic of the menu: the picture was taken two days after the menu was selected.  That's seasonal.

We ordered loads of different dishes, including three appetizers: a cherry and beet gazpacho, heirloom tomato salad, and squash blossoms filled with (gasp) goat cheese.  Are you kidding me?!  I was in heaven.

The entrees were just as tasty: summer squash pizza, smoked potato gnocchi, masa crepe, and zucchini roulade.  Scrumptious.

Dessert.  My favorite food group.  Chocolate muck muck cake and house made strawberry shortcake with basil.  Oh my gracious!  I was full and happy and didn't even care that I probably had raging garlic breath and red wine-stained lips and teeth.

Good night indeed!

I loved reconnecting with my fellow foodie and talking about things like San Francisco, quality tomatoes (apparently nonexistent in Washington) and "Surfin' Bird" (don't play that song anywhere near Morgan).  Morgan gave me loads of suggestions of places to go at Pike Place Market the next day; I'm pretty sure we hit all of them.

What a wonderful way to close out our time in the West.

Adventure well.