I wanted to tell you about Spur so many times before ‘cause it’s one of my top 3 favorite restaurants in Seattle and you just *must* go there. That is, in case you like brilliantly-good food, amazing cocktails, the feel of a sophisticated downtown/neighborhood gastronomic pub, and fab music from the 70’s, 80’s, and early 90’s (Led Zeppelin, Talking Heads, Echo and The Bunnymen anyone???) Well, do you?

I sure do, and that’s why I couldn’t say no to an invitation from TexaSweet Citrus’s PR saying “Spur Gastropub tomorrow night… Bring your appetite for this special four-course, Texas grapefruit-inspired menu… Chefs Brian McCracken and Dana Tough will create a special multi-course menu highlighting the versatile, sweet flavor of Texas Rio Star Grapefruit.”

Grapefruit?

I was absolutely positive that Spur chefs will play and create exciting dishes with it.

There are many restaurants that I like in Seattle but so far only Spur succeeds in creating brainy food that tickles not only your intellect but also your tummy and soul. (I’ve been to some restaurants that get out of their way to make creative or molecular food but the end result is boring and not particularly appetizing.) The first time I had dinner there (with my husband) I declared that if I wasn’t married, I’d go and kiss the chef.

So… The meal started with carbonated grapefruit segments. It was like eating/drinking solid grapefruit-flavored soda—it was a bit confusing but an exciting, new experience with this fruit–

and lovely Gougères (French cheese puffs)

Followed by radicchio and grapefruit salad with candied pecans and blue cheese

Spot prawns with carrots mash, a foam of something on top—there was a lot going on in this dish—baby cilantro, and grapefruit. The grapefruit was warm which was a surprise—when was the last time you had warm grapefruit?

Sous vide duck, fennel, Brussels sprouts. That crunchy crust was so oo-la-la-delish

1 cocktail (The Empress, a signature cocktail at Spur that “will never leave the menu”, they promised. (The menu changes frequently/seasonally)) and 4 wines paired with each course to try…

And for dessert, passion fruit custard, grapefruit sorbet, fromage blanc ice cream, and streusel

I couldn’t decide which photo makes it look prettier—it was SO good. Have I said “brainy” enough times already? You can easily tell how much thought was put into each one of the dishes.

Thank you Spur Gastropub and TexaSweet Citrus Marketing for a mind-blowing dinner! I’ve got a “whole lotta love” for you.

“Finally” was the first word that came to my mind when I got an email from Norma announcing a “celebration in honor of Chef John Howie’s new cookbook:  Passion & Palate:  Recipes for a Generous Table.” Chef John Howie is the owner of Seastar restaurant and raw bar (as well as Sports and Steak) which has been, and still is, one of our favorite restaurants since we move to WA about 10 years ago. I’ve been waiting for this cookbook ever since.

So, yeah, finally. He wrote a cookbook.

The launch party was a lot of fun with some of my favorite dishes:

Raw, fresh oysters with shallots, grapefruit and pomegranate seeds

(The recipe is in the book.)

Scallop ceviche with mango-kiwi relish (It’s in the book!)

Sushi… I love their pickled ginger (That red pile in the front)—it’s the best!

(And what do you know? They are all included in the book!)

Chubby oysters in a creamy leek sauce and silky deviled eggs with Ahi tartare (It’s in the book!)

I believe this was a Mahi Mahi ceviche with pineapple relish. Yum yum.
(And if I’m right then… It’s in the book! Page 55)

Shots of porcini soup with truffles cream (You guessed it, it’s in the book.)

All this beautiful food spearheaded by Chef Howie

Superb wines were poured by the charming sommelier, Erik Liedholm (Fantastic suit, BTW) from champagne to sauvignon blanc to an esoteric wine/grape I never heard about before and can’t remember it’s name, to pinot noir, and moscato—Wow—I tried them all.

No, it’s not in the book (Or maybe it is?) It’s close to home, from Willamette Valley, OR

A tower of desserts: Lemon poppy seeds cookies, White chocolate Irish cream truffles (It was so soft, like a baby’s butt!), Chocolate hot chili truffles (I Love, love chili & chocolate together), and Ginger snap cookies.

Fun party,

and then we went home

They say that 350 people tested the recipes.

What should I make first?

Mussels Provencal or crab cakes?

No, no, no that is summer somewhere else in the world…

Here’s summer in Seattle…

(We didn’t even get a chance to cut off the price tags…)

Sorry for not being around much lately. With summer and all, you know, I’ve been away doing other stuff. Well, summer only lasts here about 2 months! Only!

When I moved here 10 years ago people would say “Let’s meet for coffee” and when I’d say “OK, when?” and open my calendar (It was in paper, no iPhones back then) they would reply “Ahhh…sometimes in September or October.”

I thought they were kidding me back then, but now I get it. With such a short summer, no one wants to do things they can do later in the year in the summer. Meet for coffee? We can do this during winter.

Seattle summer is a time to be outside, outdoors, out there. Unless you are sitting in your warm-to-hot car defrosting your bones.

But I just had to stop by for a quick post and tell you about this book that my friend Keren wrote—I’m very proud of her!—because you might be traveling to Seattle, or maybe you are a local but still, in this book, you will discover many food places that you have never heard of before. You might need this book.

Keren covered every place: restaurant, lounge, bar, coffee shop, food truck, specialty food store, market, events, etc, worth mentioning in her book. She has done an extremely thorough job.

I’ve been living and eating here for 10 years and I haven’t heard about many of the places in the book.

It’s a small and lightweight and you can carry it in your purse and check mark every place you went to.

Get a copy: Food Lovers’ Guide to Seattle: Best Local Specialties, Markets, Recipes, Restaurants & Events by Keren Brown

Also see: Food Lovers Guide to Seattle Book Launch Party and many other upcoming events (especially for moms at a local café in Seattle) with Keren—click here.

And a list of places to start checking out at Sexy Food: One-On-One With Keren Brown by Linda Miller Nicholson

Enjoy, travel, and feast!

Recurring technical problems with including pictures in my posts are a true pain in the butt and it makes blogging so much less funner… (Can you telll that I’m pissed?) But, this cup of latte before your eyes is perfection and if you’re in the neighborhood (That’ll be about a 3 hours drive from here), I wouldn’t want you to miss it!

This was the smoothest, sweetest, most creamiest, bestest 12 oz. double-shot latte I have ever had in my life and it had the fluffiest frothed (organic!) milk ever–that desrves a triple !!! One cup in the morning and I did not need, nor did I crave, any other latte the whole day.

It is seriously, and dangerously, addictive. (Don’t say I did not warn you!) A drink of the Gods. It was absolutely heavenly.

No other latte I’ve had before or since then has come close to this goodness. Now… I must move to Portland.

Or endure the pilgrimage. (Hey, it’s only a 3 hours drive… In each direction.)

Gotta return to Coava.

They have excellent pastries too from bakery Nuvrei. Awesome, awesome pastries!!!

Photo by Eran Megiddo

I read about the place for the first time on Ashley’s blog (gorgeous photos in her post). And this is what keeps me blogging, posting-pictures-butt-pain-and–all… ‘Cause you people must know about places like Coava and all the good food in the world (While you’re in Portland, go to Pok Pok, triple !!! No pics to prove it… Eran???) ) and this is what blogging is all about, right? Telling the secrets, spreading the news, sharing the knowledge, and making sure no one is going to miss out on the good stuff!

Go!

Photo by Eran Megiddo

We just came back from a 2-days trip to Whidbey Island, WA. Ah, what a place! So laid back; just what I need/ed.

The first town we visited was Langley. It has beautiful shops, galleries, restaurants, and a public beach… Charming.

It was chilly and cloudy that day so we spent more time on the main street and its shops than at the beach. I lingered for a long time at The Star Store which has so much good looking stuff from clothing to toys, to food, to kitchen ware… In short, lots of pretty things. (Thank you to my family for being so patient while I touch, and check, and try on, and fumble all “the stuff”.)

Then we had lunch at Prima bistro.

Of all the amazing food that we ordered, I will never forget this bucket of 1½ pounds of Penn Cove Mussels “à la marinière”. What can I tell you? I fell in love with it!

I used to think that ordering mussels meant that I had to work a lot in order to get tiny morsels of food that are hiding inside the shell, unlike say, a steak, which is right there under my nose. And that while I was busy eating it, piece by piece, in small bites, with long intervals of time between one mussel to the next, I’d just get hungry all over again… Bottom line, I thought it wasn’t worth the trouble. But oh, I was so wrong.

That dish… It’s the kind of dish that can brighten up your day and bring you back to life. It makes life seem like one, big, happy party. Maybe the wine I drank helped too. But anyway… Butter, wine, shallots, celery, parsley, lots of garlic (Do they add chicken broth to steamed mussels? I’ll have to check), it was so rich and yet so light and refreshing. Fresh. And the fries? Who cares? I forgot about the fries. Just focused on the mussels.

And I shared fresh, local Penn Cove oysters with my Mother-in-Law. They were so plump and buttery and sweet and decadent!

See how fat they are?

These are the fattest oysters I’ve ever had! Yum yum. No need to add anything to them either.

The second day, we drove to the even more laid back Coupeville

It was a much nicer day with a sunny morning. (Most of the days so far the sun came out only in the afternoon. Oh well… Can’t complain, right?)

We headed directly to the beach.

At the end of the wharf in Coupeville, there’s a small coffee shop called Local Grown, where this guy, William, the owner,

pulls the most perfect shot of espresso in his charming coffee shop.

I had to ask him what’s his name because the coffee was so perfect. So were the kids’ chocolate milks with real whipped cream on top.

I didn’t have such a wonderfully made cup of coffee in a long, loooooooooooong time. (How come all the good coffee shops are far away?) It was fresh, bitter and sweet; really kicks you in the butt to wake up and start your day just by smelling it.

I’m pretty sure that whoever came up with the “wake up and smell the coffee” phrase had this sort of cup of Joe in mind (Unlike the prevalent stale, burnt, pale, sour ones you can buy at that store that starts with an S). Anyway… Let’s head back to the beach,

and to gazing at mussels that got stuck to the poles as well as fast swimming little fishies

     

And a little something for the pet lovers amongst you…

Then, it was time for lunch. We had a great time at Front Street Grill. Of course I had to order the local mussels again, and they were good, but Prima’s mussels ruined it for me – theirs was the best out of the two. Now I need to find where I can get some, just as good, in Seattle. If not, then I’ll just have to go back to Whidbey Island more often.

So, how’s your summer so far?

***

By the way, we lost a doll + her little bottle, so if you ever go to Coupeville and stumble upon it, let me know asap, OK?

Thanks!

We got there right on time. One minute before the sun disappeared behind the mountains. Can you see it?

I turned around and snapped this,

and the sun was gone. Sunset has begun.

It was date night. We had dinner—the restaurant was fancy, the food was good, a bit pricy, and overall OK but not worth mentioning to you (We won’t go back)—so, there won’t be much talking about food today. However, afterwards we went to the beach, to lazily sit on our bottoms for hours and gaze at the sunset and the water.

I was in desperate need for some quiet time–rest time for my crazy multi-tasking, tired brain—with no one around around to call “Mommy! Mommy!” and ask me for this or that. I desperately needed to sink my feet in the sand and feel the cold ocean water between my toes…

Summer is short; I count every day that goes by. And each day that passes without enough outdoors time makes me nervous—winter is waiting around the corner.

All I want is to get as much time as possible with water and sand, sand and water, and lots and lots of sun, and yeah, a little bit of sweating won’t hurt either.

Now I warn you, you are about to see a lot of feet!

Ready? Here we go:

Because I badly needed—I still do—a lot of this,

And I encourage you to do so as well, and hurry, before summer ends!

and stare at this,

for hours…

and more and more of this splashing in the sand—well, sort of…

and gazing at the ocean for hours and hours

I call it Water Therapy. I really, really need one.

Water Therapy, in my book, includes: sitting or lying, hardly moving, rarely talking, and a lot of water and horizon staring…

Looking up

and looking down, watching the ferries go by, back and forth from Seattle to the islands

But then, then, bad habits take over

I just can’t sit still for more than 15 minutes—this is what motherhood does to a woman! (Apparently, men are less affected…)

And I really really needed to feel my feet touch the cool sand (Because right now, for example, I have two kids talking to me at the same time, one about Lego and the other about hair clips…) before summer is over.

And, back to the blanket, to sit and do some more gawping and gaping and gawking, and not much moving,

Just staring at the horizon, and the water, the ferries, the boats, the sail boats, the planes… Gosh, there’s so much traffic in this world!

***

What is your must-do summer activity you just can’t seem to get enough of???

***

Look at this child dance!

***

We moved to WA State 9 years ago. It was summer. August. And it was raining… We were newlyweds, but, really, rain in August? I almost strangled my newlywed husband – we moved here because of him – on the plane. “RAIN IN THE SUMMER? Where are you taking me?”

Nine years later, I know it is the rain that makes this area so gorgeous. And in summer, on non-rainy days, this is one of the most beautiful places in the world to be spending the summer. It’s hot, but not too hot, there’s lots of water all around – the rivers are running strong (unlike miserable trickles I’ve seen in other countries) and the lakes shimmer in the sun, salmons are migrating back to their “homes”, and abundance of green trees and plants and flowers are everywhere you look. It’s just perfect. And let’s not forget The Mountain…

Most of the year, Mt. Rainier hides behind a veil of clouds, but when it is finally out, it’s stunning. I recalled a quote about it in a book I read on our first year here, Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie.

The book is wonderful thriller. I’m not a big thriller, suspense, or mystery books’ fan, but this book got me hooked. Plus, the plot happens in Seattle and there are lots of mentions of places we visited. That only made the book seem more real and scary, especially on a dark, stormy, winter night.

Nine years ago we lived in a rented small single-family house. All my life up to that point, I lived in tall apartment buildings in the big city, with at least a dozen of neighbors, and where all the streets are completely lit with street lights. The transition to living in a quiet town, short houses at ground level, with distance between houses and neighbors, a random street light here and there, old windows with locks I could break with a toothpick, and a thin front door even I could break with a slight kick, scared the hell out of me. Especially on a dark, stormy, winter night. Especially when I was alone in the house. And especially when reading a thriller where the plot takes place partly in my town and nearby places.

My husband left for the gym (those were the days when we still worked out) and I stayed at home. All alone. By myself. I sat on the couch in the living and read the book. It was dark and rainy and windy outside – oh, I’ve said that already – and the trees’ branches banged against the roof, the wind shrieked through the window cracks, giant leaves flew in front of the windows like silhouettes, broken twigs scratched the siding. I looked outside; the darkness was so thick and endless. I dared not look out again.

Terrified and scared by the story of the Indian killer in addition to the storm outside, I froze and shrunk into the couch, my finger squeezing the pages of the book which I could not stop reading. I did not move, I did not get up, not even to pee, until my husband, finally, returned home.

Back to the mountain, I looked up the quote for you. Here’s how Alexie describes the mountain:

“The shadow of Mount Rainier rose on the southern horizon. On a slightly overcast day, the mountain was just a ghost, a subtle reminder of itself, a brief memory. With unlimited visibility, the mountain was spectacular and surreal, rising as it did over the urban landscape of Seattle. Daniel knew accidents had occurred on Seattle freeways because of drivers who were distracted by Rainier’s beauty. Local Indians had always believed that Rainier was a sacred place, not to be climbed or trivialized. Daniel wondered if any Indians had wrecked their cars because of the view of the mountain.” (p. 218)

On the first day at the park, Mt. Rainier’s summit (14,410 ft. high) was mostly behind the clouds.

As we drove higher and higher, all the way up to Paradise visitor center, the weather became more like winter (unlike the pictures in my previous post – a totally different climate). The trees were covered with snow,

some squatting under the weight of the heavy blanket of snow.

Lots of snow!

And the mountain was completely veiled behind the enormous clouds,

while the other side was sunnier

We spent the night at Paradise Inn, a hotel that was built in 1916. I’m sure it was remodeled since then but it still feels old. Let’s just say it’s been years since I’ve seen one of these… No, it’s not a toilet;

It’s a sink with one faucet for hot water and the other for cold water.

Or this,

But the view from our room…

changed quiet dramatically:

	after 10 minutes
after less than an hour	a bit later…

And here is The Mountain, basking in the bright sunlight and big blue sky

No photo does it justice.

Can you see little tiny us?

So I thought maybe if we go to Reflection Lake, you’ll get a better idea how gigantic and magnificent it is. But, Reflection Lake is still mostly frozen right now.

Here it is in 2001

And 2002

And from I-90 floating bridge (that’s about 3 hours drive from there…)

And from Vashon Island

And I’ll show you Mt. Baker (another volcano, 2 hours drive from here) with its own Reflection Lake. That was a fun easy hike…

What? Are you still here?

Go take a hike!

***

Eight years. 8 years since the last time we visited Mount Rainier National Park in WA State. Ahhh, we were younger, we were prettier, and we were kid-less back then. But the kids have grown; grown enough to endure the 3 hours drive (non-stop) it takes to get to the park + the additional hours of driving inside the park in order to see lots of cool “stuff”. It’s a huge, huge park with lakes, waterfalls, snow, wild life, snow-capped mountains, and The Mountain, that is Mt. Rainier (an active volcano).

The kids were great on our trip to Lake Chelan (besides the usual arguing, whining, and such), so we thought they are ready for a trip to Mt. Rainier.

I’ve got one warning for you: in this post you get to see only trees. You’ll see The Mountain in the next post, OK?

I have a feeling you won’t mind

To get them kiddies in the mood for some nature adventure, I offered a little bribe. “Whoever sees a deer first, gets ice cream! Who ever sees a bear first, gets a laptop!!!”

“REALLY? A laptop?”, Junior got excited. (I knew this will get his attention. I tell ya’, the 7 years-old of our days are not the seven year-old kids of the old days when I was seven years old) “And it will be just mine?”

“Yes” I answered surely.

“But won’t we be dead if we see a bear?”

“Are you sure? A laptop? Will you give him a laptop?”, his father whispered to me.

“Sure I’m sure. If we see a bear, we’ll be dead and eaten by the bear anyway, so I won’t have to buy Junior his own laptop”, I volunteered more details.

“Well, you’ll have to see the bear from up close” said his dad to clear things up.

“And you need to pat his fur” I added and demonstrated.

“Yes!” his loving and caring father approved. “If you only see the bear from far away, you will get to see a laptop from far away. You’ll need to get up close.”

And that pretty much sealed the deal.

And then we stopped at our first destination. An easy, short hike, perfect for families with lil’ kids, The Trail of the Shadows. (Sounds spooky, no?) As fate had it, I was the first one to see a bear! It was on this trail,

“Bear!”, I yelled.

But a little old lady held the bear in her arms. It was cute and fluffy and had a pink ribbon and I was too embarrassed to ask her if I could take a photo of her and the bear. Or the bear alone. However, a few steps from there, I did get to see this:

For real.

One ice cream for me!

Dear Bambi stood very close to us, minding his own biz, chewing lunch.

Broken trees

This John Muir guy sure does write some cool stuff… So I Bing-ed him. He sure was a cool guy.

“Trees receive a most beautiful burial.”

It reminded me of how I explained my father’s death to my son.

***

And now, some family photos, overly exposed, courtesy of my loving husband… Don’t I look radiant?!

The end.

For now… Next, The Mountain!