Hello, Seattle.

In keeping with the tradition of this season’s unusually cool weather, it only made sense to end our summer on a high note- in rainy Seattle, of course. In town for a lovely wedding, we used our four-day adventure to stuff ourselves silly with the city’s culinary delights, explore a couple “must see” spots and pay homage to one of our favorite fellow bloggers.

Flying in with Kyle early Friday, Elizabeth got a bit of head start on Linds (who didn’t join until later that evening). With her in-laws and husband in tow, E made her way to Pike Place, a legendary outdoor market that has not only been around for more than a century, but is also one of the nation’s oldest continually operated markets (thanks, Wikipedia!).

Naturally, Elizabeth obsessed about the ridiculously gorgeous and insanely cheap flowers, and has decided that should she ever reside in Seattle, her home will be filled to the brim with arrangements (in every room! Even the bathroom and maybe the garage!).

Continuing our tour of the market place, we stopped by the first Starbucks, the first Sur La Table (yes!) and ended up grabbing some hot, fresh donuts from one of the little stands. The cinnamon sugar combo was hands down our favorite, but the powdered sugar topping was nothing to scoff at.

Dinner commenced at a restaurant that is easy to miss while you’re trolling the market, but definitely worth seeking out if you’re in the mood for an unpretentious, sumptuous meal. In order to get there, look for the golden pig, then head directly through the alley behind it. 

Place Pigalle serves up Northwest cuisine with a French flair, and while E didn’t get to indulge her francophilia as much as she would have enjoyed, the drinks and dishes alone were enough to satiate her. As you know, we appreciate any cocktail that’s made from freshly pressed fruit juice, and the bourbon citrus concoction the waiter brought out was a delight to say the least. Sometimes, when restaurants present too many intriguing appetizers, Elizabeth forgoes an entrée and picks a selection of smaller offerings, which is what she did at Place Pigalle. She split a roasted beet salad with her husband, as well as some bitter greens and beans, before moving onto onion soup gratinee and steamed Mussels Pigalle (cooked with bacon, celery, shallots and balsamic vinaigrette… drool). There was a random appearance by a magician, which we won’t go into, but even with the trick wielding performer and his satchel of cards, the restaurant was sublime. The rest of the night was spent uncomfortably, complaining about the pain in our overstuffed bellies (as well as picking up Linds from the airport!), but well worth it.

Before Saturday’s nuptials, we headed back to downtown Seattle and took part in Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour. We should mention here that Bill Speidel is dead. Don’t worry; he lived a long life before he kicked the bucket, and helped Seattle preserve many of its historical buildings while he was alive. Not delving into the history of Seattle (because our adventures are already taking up quite a bit of space), let us just mention downtown Seattle was built on a mudflat (way to go, Seattle founders from the 19th century!), burnt to the ground in 1889 and rebuilt itself 30 feet above its original grounds. We got to walk through parts of the remaining underground “sidewalks” and while our favorite tourguide, Emily, was unable to show us around (she was at Bumbershoot, after all), Ray was a delight and very informative.


We also had a delicious, quick lunch at a stand inside Pike Place. Grilled fish with Cajun seasoning, clam chowder, vegetables, grilled garlic bread and brown rice done up with grilled onions, soy sauce and sesame oil (a worthy combination to try in your home)… Ummm, fresh, fast heaven. Yup. Heaven.

The wedding, the wedding! In the interest of time and your attention span, we’ll break it down for you, sweetly and quickly:

1. We love weddings where the bride and groom almost kiss each other multiple times before they’re supposed to during the ceremony. 
2. We hate car rides that should take a total of 5 minutes, but end up taking an hour (we’re looking at you, Google Maps). However, we did love the laughs it provided. Thank goodness for exercising our frustrations with props:

3. The botanical gardens at the University of Washington… WOW.
4. Spectacular, magical, romantic send off with hundreds of lit candles. And dancing the night away...
5. Congratulations, Genevieve and Andrew!


Sunday came around lazily, as it sometimes tends to do, and we didn’t get a move on until early afternoon. We attended a lovely post-wedding BBQ hosted by the bride and groom’s families at Lake Washington, featuring pulled pork sandwiches, lakeside breezes and bursting blackberry bushes.

Eventually, the Seattle chill sunk into our bones and we headed down to the Ballard Locks before dinner. Without going into a detailed discussion on physics and biology, the Locks provide a connection between salty Puget Sound and the freshwater lakes in Seattle. Boats can parade about in the sea; then, when they’re ready to come back to port, they shoot into a canal, which closes off, fills with water, and puts them back into the lake.

There’s also a fish ladder and, though we never thought we’d find ourselves cheering on a group of wild salmon, crazier things have happened (the photos turned out terribly, so you’ll just have to use your imaginations with this one).

And finally, yes, finally, we were off to the meal we had been waiting for all weekend.

Delancey is the love child of husband and wife team Molly Wizenberg and Brandon Pettit. To say we have a crush on these two is putting it mildly. Molly is the writer of one of our favorite food blogs, Orangette, and the author of a book we both happen to own, love and use often (buy it; you won’t be sad you did).  She’s been chronicling her life with food since 2004 and managed to meet, date and marry through her blog (Brandon had a major crush on her, too, apparently). 


They opened Delancey last August and serve up some of the most delicious pizzas we’ve ever tasted (and we've eaten a lot of pizza in our time). Brandon’s at the helm of the wood-fire oven, skillfully churning bubbly, melty pies out all night, and the simple, seasonal menu’s offerings made it difficult for us to hone in on a few selections.

We settled on the marinated olives, burrata salad and Billy’s Summer Gem Tomatoes salad to start. All were painfully tasty. Since there were five of us, we thought splitting four pies would be a good call, and ended up ordering their fennel salami, house-made sausage and crimini mushroom pizzas, in addition to their White Pie (housemade ricotta, fresh and aged mozzarella, garlic and Grana). All were fabulous, but the winner was by far Mr. White. Elizabeth had to order a side of the Padron chiles as she’d read about them in Molly’s July write-up in Bon Appetit (oh, did we forget to mention that she has a monthly column in one of our favorite publications as well?). The chiles, it turns out, are for people who like SPICE, and luckily E does.

Dessert… well, what can we say about dessert? Their chocolate chip cookie with gray sea salt was delicious, but honestly, didn’t hold a candle to the nectarine, honey mousse and bourbon caramel angel they created. Often times, we think it’s hard to improve on a perfect piece of stone fruit (and these nectarines WERE perfect), but we have been dreaming about this concoction since we returned home.  

Also, Molly wasn't at the restaurant that night, which was a bit of a disappointment, but the girl clearly has a lot on her plate (pun most definitely intended). We'll just have to have our copies of A Homemade Life signed the next time we stop by. 

Which we hope will be soon.   

So Seattle, it was fun. It was delicious. 

We can't wait to do it again.

Happy Travels (and eating...),

Elizabeth and Lindsay

Huckleberry

This weekend Elizabeth and I switched hoods, and I found myself in LA.  As I always do when I am visiting another town, I talk to the locals to find the best places to eat.  Per Elizabeth’s suggestion I tried Huckleberry in Santa Monica—what a suggestion it was!  The breakfast menu is full of scrumptious eats.  I LOVE the idea of eggs over quinoa or veggies, but when I saw “Green Eggs & Ham” my mind was made.  I’ve always been intrigued by dishes with catchy names; it didn't just sound nice, it sounded amazing!

When you walk up to the counter, you pass a gold mine of fresh, homemade pastries.  I usually don’t have dessert for breakfast, but when the selection is this good, it’s impossible not to.  One of my favorite foodie friends Katharine joined me on this epicurean endeavor.  She has a keen sweet tooth and often talks me into sweet things. We settled on a peach and blueberry crumble, topped off with whipped cream, which was more than worth the calories.

The crème de la crème came in the form of  “Green Eggs and Ham.”  And here is how it went: two homemade English muffins layered with beautiful prosciutto, fried eggs and drizzled with pesto. All of this was topped with a bright arugula salad that lightened up the whole dish.  It was lovely.  It was perfect.  It was the best breakfast I have ever had.

Katharine has the same trepidation as

Elizabeth about eggs, and opts for scrambled

over fried.  Stay tuned to find out more on

Elizbeth and eggs!

So good in fact that I went back the following morning, and ordered it again. This time with Jack, who ordered the same thing as Katharine (which was the fried egg sandwich).  When it came down to it, what I ultimately loved about Huckleberry was the attention to detail.  Like my favorite restaurants in the Bay Area, it focused on quality and source of ingredients.  It’s a fundamental belief I’ve subscribed to all along, and it makes all the difference.

For anyone who lives in LA, close to LA or plans on visiting LA: do yourself a favor and treat yourself to a trip to Huckleberry.

Happy eating,

Lindsay

Why not try this?

A Girls' Weekend in The City

What girl doesn’t love a girls’ weekend?  Yes, we’re talking about the time honored tradition of ditching the boys, grabbing some martinis and talking to the point of having your vocal cords bleed. The location and various activities don’t hold as much weight as the food and drinks, but the company you share them with certainly does (not to mention the obnoxious eighties hits to sing along to at the top of your lungs, possibly after imbibing one too many of the previously mentioned libations).

Thus, after months of promising to do so, Elizabeth shot up the 5, with a lady copilot in the passenger seat, to San Francisco, Lindsay’s home kicks.  As we’re sure many of you know, San Francisco is a fabulous place for those who love eating and drinking. And luckily for us, we managed to spend the weekend taking full advantage of what it has to offer.  

Upon Lindsay’s suggestion, we went with a group of fun-loving gals to Mission Street Food for dinner on Saturday night.  This special gem practices an unusual and innovative concept: borrowing the space of a Chinese restaurant deep in the Mission District on Thursday and Saturday nights, local guest chefs churn out some of the city’s most delicious and affordable food. Most dishes are around $6-$12, so price doesn't hold patrons back from sampling a bit of everything. The menu changes weekly; thus, every time you come back, there is something new to experience! 

A highlight of our meal was Lung Shan's Vegan Delight, a bowl of shiitake and oyster mushroom dumplings floating in a miso soup. The tender dumplings and sumptuous broth had us moaning with our eyes closed.  Another favorite was their take on an all-American favorite: cheesecake. A honey mascarpone filling atop an oatmeal lace crust and sprinkled with candied walnuts created a result that was soft and perfectly sweet on top, light and crispy on the bottom. Oooo-eeee! 

The menu that night featured other intriguing items that we ordered merely out of curiosity, like the Sonoma foie gras "corndogs" with homemade fig and bacon "ketchup". It’s items like these that keep people coming back again and again— it's difficult to find restaurants that offer delicious innovation at such reasonable prices, even in San Francisco. All in all, it was a lovely meal spent with some fabulous ladies. 

After stuffing our bellies and downing some wine, there was really only one thing left to do:  DANCE!  

It’s hard to mess up a Sunday morning breakfast following a night of spastic dancing and (maybe…) one too many drinks; however, it’s also hard to find a Sunday morning breakfast that hits it out of the park like the one we experienced at Outerlands.  Lindsay has been here many times and was happy to make the introduction on Elizabeth’s behalf. We let Lindsay’s boyfriend, Jack, tag along since he’s always a good time and game for culinary exploration.  We started our morning with a divine Blue Bottle Coffee cappuccino, but diverged with our entrees: Linds went savory and E went sweet.  Both meals were made with Outerlands' house-made bread and, if you’re like us, those two words together can only mean good things!  

Linds didn’t have to think much after seeing the cleverly named “Eggs In Jail” on the menu that morning.  Having been treated to her Auntie Kitty's version growing up, this particular dish held special meaning for her.  Early on, Lindsay's brother, Kyle, (who also happens to be Elizabeth’s husband) came up with with his own appropriate name for the dish: “Eggy in a Bready.” Tall and handsome compared to its homemade counterpart, the thick bread (coming in at two inches!) made for a dramatic jail for the eggs. The quality of the bread upped the ante, and tasted as delightful as anticipated. 

(See what we mean about the bread?!)

After much struggle, Elizabeth decided on the Moroccan French Toast, two thick slices of levain soaked in cinnamon and orange and topped with toasted almonds.  Crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, it provided the kind of melt-in-your-mouth bites that one hopes for, but rarely gets, with French toast.  

It doesn’t take much arm twisting to get us to order dessert and thank goodness we didn’t stop ourselves this trip. Sublime is the only word for the butterscotch pot de crème we split after breakfast. A 3-inch ramekin filled with an exquisite combination of caramel crème, toasted pecans and fleur de sel. Every bite was perfection, and we don't use that word lightly! We wish we could show you what it looked like before we ate it, but alas…it didn’t last long enough for us to take a photo.  

Looking forward to our next girls' weekend... Possibly in LA?

Happy Eating,

Lindsay and Elizabeth